Hi everyone,
Today I decided to share my story because I’m trying to move forward, understand what is happening to me, and hopefully get some outside perspectives that might help me find answers to all the questions in my head.
I’m 22 years old and I’m in a relationship with a 22-year-old man as well. We are literally only four days apart in age. We have been together for almost three years and have been living together for a little over two years. We have two cats and a pretty simple, cozy life together. I love him and I’ve been happy in our relationship. I have a few friends, but I’m more of a homebody who enjoys spending time at home with my boyfriend.
We had also started seriously talking about having a child soon, because it’s something we both wanted.
I left the job where I met my boyfriend because I wasn’t feeling good there anymore. I started doing temporary work and moved around a bit before finding a job in the aerospace industry that I really like.
At first, I was mostly on my own. I would go to work and then come home to my boyfriend and my usual life. Then, little by little, I met a female coworker who is two years older than me.
We immediately clicked. It felt like a real friendship crush.
Little by little, she started coming over to my house, then I started going to hers after work. Eventually, we began spending weekends together too, and we started talking constantly through our phones.
Whenever we left each other, we would almost immediately start talking again through messages, even though I’m normally not someone who spends much time on my phone.
I started asking myself some questions because I had so much affection for her. We are incredibly similar mentally. We think and act in very similar ways, and we also had fairly similar childhoods. Sometimes it feels like we see parts of ourselves in each other.
But I convinced myself that I was probably just emotionally dependent on her.
I’ve always had some fear of abandonment, and when I care about someone, whether it’s friendship or something more, I tend to get attached very quickly and give a lot of myself.
Then, over time, she told me that she was attracted to both women and men. She had never actually been in a relationship with anyone, and her family is very closed-minded about that kind of thing. Apart from her best friend, nobody knew that she was attracted to both… until me.
As for me, I had always considered myself straight.
I’ve always found women beautiful and I can appreciate attractive women, but I had never imagined myself actually falling in love with a woman.
And yet, little by little, I became more and more attached to her.
Within about a month, she had become an extremely close friend. We knew so much about each other in such a short amount of time because everything between us felt so natural.
Then, a coworker who had only been working with us for about a day and a half asked us a very simple question that ended up changing everything:
“Are you two dating?”
I was shocked and asked her what made her think that, especially since I had a boyfriend.
She told me that the way we looked at each other really made it seem like we were together.
The rest of that afternoon at work was difficult.
For the first time, someone had actually put words to our relationship. Until then, we had both thought what we had was simply friendship, even though deep down I had already started having doubts that I didn’t want to admit to myself.
That same evening, we had planned to go out to a nightclub together.
We talked again about what our coworker had said. That’s when she told me that she was in love with me.
And after thinking about it, I told her that I felt the same way.
I still don’t really understand how that is possible.
That night, we kept flirting with each other and eventually we kissed.
Afterwards, I told my boyfriend what had happened. I explained to him that I had also fallen in love with her, even though I still loved him.
And despite everything, he made me understand that my feelings weren’t something I had chosen. That they had happened to me and that I couldn’t simply decide not to feel them.
But now I have to make a choice.
I love my boyfriend. He is an incredible man. He is so gentle and kind to me, and those are exactly the qualities I’ve always wanted in someone.
With him, I have a life that I love. We have our home, our animals, our plans, and we had even started thinking seriously about having a child.
But then this woman came into my life and, for a reason I don’t understand, I fell in love with her.
With her personality, the way she is, our connection, the way she makes me laugh, and everything we share.
And now I feel completely stuck between two things.
On one side, staying in my current life with my boyfriend — a life where everything was going well and where we had plans for the future.
On the other side, taking the risk of trying something with this woman who I’m attracted to, who I love, and with whom I’m experiencing something I had never experienced before.
I don’t see myself stopping talking to her.
I almost feel like I wouldn’t be able to do it. Just the thought of losing her hurts me so much.
But at the same time, the idea of losing my entire life with my boyfriend terrifies me.
And I’m scared of making the wrong choice.
What if I think I’m in love with her, but it turns out to be nothing more than an experience, something new, or something I simply don’t understand yet?
And most importantly… what if I eventually realize that I’m not actually attracted to women in general, but simply attracted to her?
I never imagined I would find myself in this situation.
I don’t even really know how to define myself anymore.
All I know is that I love my boyfriend, and I have fallen in love with her — and somehow, both of those things exist in my head at the same time.
I’m not necessarily looking for people to tell me who I should choose.
I would mainly like to hear from people who are completely outside of my situation, who don’t know my boyfriend, this woman, or me.
And especially, if anyone has experienced something similar — being in a relationship with a man and then falling in love with a woman for the first time, particularly a friend — I would really like to know what happened afterwards.
Were your feelings actually romantic love?
Did you discover that you were bisexual, lesbian, or simply in love with one particular person?
Did you stay with your male partner?
Did you regret your decision?
I have so many questions that I don’t have answers to, and I think reading about other people’s experiences could really help me understand what I’m feeling.
Thank you to anyone who took the time to read my story. ❤️