I'm going to start by saying it never happened to me and may not happen anytime soon. This is what I had to hear from a friend, which I consider a close friend! Not my story but his, in a sort of way.
"Bella, you are not supposed to be in this generation. You are too much of an old soul, a beautiful simple pure love type of woman. Too much of a hopeless romantic." Confessed my best friend in Italy a few months ago.
Can't deny my hopeless romantic side, guess that means I'll stay single for a while!
So as I was saying this is a short fact about a friend of mine who I would have never believed it happened to him. Especially him. Not my best friend from Italy, he is like my clone when it comes to love. But another friend, one I care deeply about.
As we were conversing, he had to mention that his best relationship was an opened one. (I don't know how would you react, but I kind of had a shock attack, not believing what I was reading.) Quite the big news when he has said he's the hopeless romantic type of guy. I felt like he had been lying to me all this time and trust me I got broken into millions of pieces, shattered because I just couldn't have imagined this of him.
Don't think I started judging him, I didn't, it may have come out that way, but I can't judge something or someone when I have no experience when it comes to this particular type of relationship. Cause let's be honest it's a tricky relationship. Not something I'm into, or interested in experience it. Not my thing! After all, he is a friend, and I cannot judge his beliefs, I don't have to agree with him which I didn't and try to understand which I tried my hardest to. Probably failing at it on the way.
I couldn't talk to him naturally, couldn't stop having the same thought ' my friend saying he is loyal yet sleeping around.' Even if it was agreed with his girlfriend at the time, it isn't something I expected from him.
I can't lie and say I moved on, forgetting about this shocking news, I couldn't. My curiosity got the best of me. I asked about it. He simply answered without trying to detail anything to me, staying positive, fearless of my opinion, which I believe changed as soon as he saw I wasn't alright with it.
We discussed the situation in a simple way, I tried to keep an open mind, trying to stay away from argumentative talks.
He simply explained how being in an open relationship made him feel like he was free to do as he wished. Being in bars and not worrying about flirting or talking to girls around. He felt like it was easier to talk to the girlfriend, no secrets, honesty, and trust. Plus the bonus, the cherry on top, threesomes or Ménage à Trois if you know what I mean.
Simple answer right? A very quick answer to why he thought it was his best. Barely any drama, trust, honesty and mutual respect. They would come back to one another for love and companionship, and the others were just sexual pleasures, one night stands, fun nights.
Reading this answer made me feel sick in my stomach " a hopeless romantic"... Please give me something to make me believe that. Trying to understand where he was coming from was much more difficult than I anticipated. Sharing your partner with others, free to flirt with whoever, sleep around even if it's meaningless sex. It is quite different from what I could imagine coming from a hopeless romantic but then again... I can't judge!
But then he did say the downside of things. It is hard when a few things come into play.
Being in an open relationship is far from being easy as some would think. When two people agree to stay as a couple but still have the freedom to sleep with others, they both have to know how to trust and stay away from jealousy. When jealousy comes to play, "Oh, but you have more partners than me" or " I can't have you sleep around, I can't share", the relationship becomes harder! Then you have the lack of trust, faith in your partner, the fear of losing them completely, fear they will start loving others. So when you are in an open relationship, it could come up as harder than a "closed relationship."
That said, let me repeat myself, I'm not trying to judge anyone who agrees to have open relationships. My friend had reasons on why he went into one.
If you want to have an open relationship with someone, please do yourself a favour and check, talk to your partner a lot, get everything straight.
This little fact might have come to a surprise, but at the end of the day, I can't just ignore my friend, judge him! It doesn't define him, it shaped him as a human being, but it's not the entire him. Yes, he had an open relationship before, but he is still the same old person I've got to know over time and I'm proud to be a part of his life.
When you think of the whole story, he might have not detailed anything or explained much at first, took his time to tell me the background, but at the end, the full story showed up, explaining everything. I may not be the best person like the one he once loved, but... I'm lucky in many ways...
"Never judge a book by its cover just like don't judge a person by its appearance."
~Bella
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