Congratulations. You've learned one of life's most important lessons...that you never know what you have until you lose it. And boy did you lose it. Of course, you can't really be blamed for all of it. Every relationship is 50/50. I never should have allowed you to get away with even an eighth of the crap I did. The simple fact is that I was foolish enough to wait for six and a half months for you to turn back into the person I fell in love with, only to realize too late that that person never existed.

Things couldn't have started off better. We got along great, and you were so sweet and romantic, who could help falling in love? And when you asked me to go out with you exclusively, I thought I would just float away on sheer happiness. Of course, once our relationship was secure, you started changing. If you had a bad day at work, or had a fight with your family or friends, you would never resolve the issue where it began. You would bring everything home and vent it on me in a spout of ugliness and hate. But did I leave then? No, I waited for the man that I loved to come back. And I did see him quite a bit between arguments. Unfortunately, he was slowly being phased out by a monster.

During the next few months, we bounced back and forth between just seeing each other and going out. You told me you weren't seeing anyone else, and I said even if you do, just tell me first and I'll be fine with it. I was very good at pretending. But, even though you weren't seeing anyone else, things just kept getting worse and worse. You stopped caring about where we were when you went off on your tangents of verbal abuse. My friends started telling me to break up with you, and even fought with you about your treatment of me. I was oblivious to all of this. I just kept searching for that perfect man in you, who by now had almost disappeared.

Then, one balmy August night, my suspicions became too great to overlook. I asked you if you were seeing someone else and you said yes. That was the final straw for me. The one thing I had asked of you was too great. So I ended it, the very next day. Of course, it took a while to wean myself off of you. We had a few moments of physical passion before I realized that I was just going to get sucked back into your web, and that possibly this time I wouldn't escape.

This was nearly 6 months ago. Last week you came to my door, begging for forgiveness and another chance. The forgiveness I gave readily, for the hate that you carry with you will consume you more than it ever does the person who caused it. But, as for the second chance, I say this: Not a chance, T.J.. Not a chance in hell.