19 Illustrated Short Stories Of The Exact Moment A Real-Life Relationship Had Run Its Course
When I wrote about the "wake-up call" moments exes realized their former partners didn't love them anymore, I heard from over 600 readers who anonymously shared their own moments of realization with me. Here are some of those anonymous confessions, illustrated:
1.The One Who "Might Grow To Love Me"
"I told him I felt like he was trying to keep me isolated from his life because while he had met a lot of my friends, he'd gone out of his way to make sure I didn't meet his. He said he didn't want them to meet because he wasn't sure if he'd ever love me and was with me because there was a possibility that he could grow to love me.
"I was in such a bad place emotionally at the time that I still stayed with him for months — I was afraid of being alone. Things only ended after nine months because he moved to another city for work. He always viewed me as a short-term thing, and I always hoped for more.
"I was left behind feeling used and unlovable. My biggest regret was not ending things then and there."
—Anonymous, New York
2.The Ex Who Wouldn't Even Lift A Pinky
"I was married and had been accepted to a prestigious school with, what I thought was, support from my husband so I was setting up an apartment in the city where the school was. My husband was with me as I went to IKEA to purchase furniture. When I asked him if he could help me move it in, he said he didn't feel like it. I ended up moving everything up three flights of stairs.
"The marriage was over within three months."
—Anonymous, 50, Oregon
3.The Ex Who Made It Clear Who They Really Were
"We were both healing from previous relationships when we started hooking up. We enabled each other into destructive behavior. And she was emotionally abusive. When we argued heavily, she was quick to shove and slap me, and turn things up a notch with terrible insults. The police were called a couple times, and other times, friends would have to break us up.
"After all these situations, she would call or text trying to make up, saying she was in a bad place or whatever, and I fell for it. I did love her, and I was determined that if I stuck through things, it would get better. But between all the lying, insults, and abuse, during our last fight, she took the glasses off my face and broke them in front of me. In that instant, it clicked.
"She left my place and within a couple hours, she called and told me how 'this isn't the real her,' but I knew. I told her to come get her things and it was over. She tried over the next few weeks to reconcile, but I didn't budge.
"My glasses were broken, but everything became so clear. She didn't love me. She was using me.
"I'm now happily married with two kids. It took me awhile to trust my wife when we originally got together, to trust her love, but in time, I did, and I'm glad I've moved on. I don't think it gets enough attention, but men can definitely be emotionally abused as well."
—Anonymous
4.The Business School Wannabe Who Couldn't Be Bothered
"I was about to go to my hometown across the country for two months and he elected to spend my last day in town studying for the GMAT at his house. He had been casually on and off studying for this exam for over a year and had no set test date, so it certainly wasn’t urgent or necessary. I broke up with him while on that trip.
"He never ended up taking the GMAT or going to business school."
—Anonymous
5.The Ex Who Stopped Grabbing Their Butt
"I started noticing he wasn't calling me during the workday anymore to chat. He used to call me a few times a day because both our jobs at the time allowed for it. Then, he stopped grabbing my ass when I'd bend over near or in front of him.
"It sounds silly, but the decline of those small gestures tipped me off. We broke up just a few months later."
—Anonymous, 42, California
6.The Ex Who Lived Their Life Together On His Terms
"At dinner with friends, he told everyone we were retiring to San Diego. It was the first I had heard of it. But it was par for the course. We lived his life, not our life."
—Anonymous
7.The Army Wife Who Abandoned Her Injured Spouse
"I realized my first wife didn’t love me when I came back home from serving in Afghanistan with a broken neck from an improvised explosive device attack. Day one coming home, I was banished to the living room couch at our house on base, since I couldn’t lay flat because of my halo brace. She never once tended to me or my injuries. Left me alone on the couch every night for almost 12 months. We divorced the following year."
—Anonymous, 35, California
8.The One Who Had A Threshold For Their Ex's Breathing
"My ex said that I was breathing too loud when we were in bed. And it was so hateful."
—Anonymous
9.The Man Who Outran His Wife On Crutches
"My foot was broken at the time, and was sore and aching by the end of my workday. My husband and I had made dinner plans, so he came to pick me up after work. He asked how I was and I told him I was sore from the crutches.
"When we arrived at the restaurant, he parked a block away. I didn't know that at the time exactly because he chose the place, so I figured it must be around the corner, which is already too far when you're sore from crutches. It was FAR! I was understandably slow and he walked yards ahead of me out of impatience. At one point, I stumbled on a sidewalk crack.
"By the time we got there, I was too upset to eat. I didn't want to cry in public. He put his own convenience over my physical comfort. If he'd loved me, he would have dropped me off in front of the restaurant, then found parking. Not make me walk in crutches."
—Anonymous, 34, California
10.The One Who Couldn't Think Of A Single Thing
"It was during a marriage counseling session. We were given an assignment the week before, to list what qualities, personality-wise and/or physical, that attracted us to each other. I gave it a lot thought and came up with probably 20 or more items.
"He couldn't even write down one."
—Anonymous, 64, Florida
11.The Long-Distance Ex Who Suddenly Went Cold
"We were in a long-distance romance. He played poker every Thursday night. I sent him a cartoon of a chair, a ladder, and a phone playing poker with a funny quip. He said he thought it was lame. The tone of his voice at that moment made my insides go numb.
"I knew something had shifted."
—Anonymous
12.The One Who Couldn't Even Watch A Movie
"My husband is always sharing movies, shows, articles, and social media posts with me. I always watch them, even when I don’t want to. Last month, one of my favorite movies of all time started streaming after not being available for more than a decade. I was so excited to have a family movie night. I even explicitly said, 'I love this movie so much and can’t wait to share it with you.'
"Ten minutes in, he was on his phone. Thirty minutes in, he went to his home office to smoke weed and didn’t come back until the last ten minutes of the movie. There have been lots of similar things but this moment just crystallized for me that he really doesn’t give a crap about my feelings at all.
"It’s heartbreaking because with our current financial and family situation, I can’t leave."
—Anonymous, 43, North Carolina
13.The Ex Who Had A Chip On His Shoulder
"We were grocery shopping and I pointed out that the price of a bunch of small bags of chips was less than half of one very large-size bag with the same amount of chips. I wasn't trying to make a deep point. I was just surprised and chatting. They responded, 'Whatever, no one cares,' with total contempt and walked off down the aisle.
"That small moment wasn't even a fight, but it showed me that it was over and that they no longer cared about me or the random things going through my head.
"Our 9-year marriage lasted another 11 months as we went to counseling but that moment was when I knew they had no feelings left for me."
—Anonymous, 32, California
14.The Ex Who Acted Like She Wasn't Even In The Room
"I realized that my ex-husband did not love me at all when an acquaintance looked at me and said, 'He acts like you're not even in the room.'
"For 6 years of our 10-year marriage, I had been trying to get my husband's attention unsuccessfully. He mocked every interest I had, told me that my chosen profession was meaningless, and I was causing us to be 'poor,' even though I was the only one working a full-time job. I was also told not to touch him unless I was planning to have sex with him.
For some reason, it took the words of someone who was almost a stranger to make me realize it was because he didn't love me, not because of something I could do or change about myself.
I guess constant gaslighting will make you doubt yourself."
—Anonymous, 42, Midwest
15.The One Who Treats His Wife Like A Roommate
"He said something so hateful to me, and I began to cry. He told me, 'Quit blubbering. It's not going to work. I'm not feeling sorry for you.' I didn't want his sympathy. Those tears were from the realization I meant nothing to him. He wasn't there to comfort me at all.
"This happened January 2021. We're still together. We're roommates. No intimacy. It's tough being an older woman and alone without family."
—Anonymous, 68, Florida
16.The Ex-Husband Who Moved Into The Guest Room
"I knew he no longer loved me when after an argument, he moved out of our bedroom and spent nine months sleeping in the guest room.
"He was even snoring while I spent the whole night crying over my husband of 10 years having broken me in a million pieces. That's when I knew."
—Anonymous, 44, Illinois
17.The Ex Who Watched His Girlfriend Move Out
"I had just graduated from nursing school and was deciding between two jobs. My now-ex told me he felt I should take the job that was out of state because he knew it was the one I really wanted.
"For our three-year anniversary, his card said he was excited for our future, wherever we lived. Then, he turned around on me.
"He started saying he needed to 'think about' if he was going to move with me, even though he made it seem like he was initially on board and supported my decision. For three months, he watched me pack my stuff. He watched me get moving quotes. He said that since I'd taken time to decide on which job would be the best fit after all my hard work, he should be able to take as much time as he needed to decide if he was coming with me and if he wanted to stay together.
"We'd been together over three years. That was the moment I realized that he didn't truly love me, just the convenience of us.
"I told him I didn’t want him moving with me."
—Anonymous
18.The One Who Didn't Know How (Or Just Didn't Care) To Merge
"We were driving and I was telling my ex-husband who worked in the automobile industry about all the issues with my aging car. I said, 'I think it's time we get something newer for me to drive.'
"He completely ignored what I said, and announced he'd been in contact with some car dealerships about trading in his four-year-old vehicle. He knew we couldn't afford two new vehicles so I asked if he really felt he should be the one to get a new vehicle. After all, mine was breaking down so regularly. He turned to me and said, 'I actually never think about what you need.' I was stunned into silence, then realized those were probably the most honest words he had ever spoken.
"In hindsight, his actions always conveyed that. The difference then was that I'd finally 'heard' it for the first time. He left me later that year, after I found out about his infidelity."
—Anonymous
19.The Ex Who Lost Sight Of Their Partner's Face
"After being together for 20 years, since our first year of college, I finally got contact lenses. I put them in on a Saturday morning, and then my ex and I spent the day together. We did chores, ran errands, went wine tasting, and not a word about my contacts was mentioned all day.
"Then, when we were halfway through dinner sitting across from one another, he said, 'Your face looks a little different today.'
When someone stops seeing you, they're not looking."
—Anonymous, 42, California
What's your own moment of realizing an ex no longer loved you as much as you thought? Share your own story in the comments or through this anonymous Google form. Your moment of clarity could inspire someone else's epiphany.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
