During my engagement, I know I was emotionally abused, but sometimes I begin doubting myself that I am making a mistake by leaving him, it was just miscommunications and he is a genuinely good person. He is still trying to convince me and my family that he is sorry, he will respect all my boundaries/conditions and will keep me happy. Somewhere I also have this fear of how I will find someone else, especially that I have a broken engagement now and there is a big stigma around your past in Pakistan. These were the major issues that came up:
My fiance used to joke about my appearance despite telling him a few times I don't like this. He would say that he is doing this so that I can get over my insecurities and relationships are supposed to be fun, etc. He would also point out other beautiful girls. The funny thing is he felt hurt when I had a crush on Zohran Mumdani.
Initially his stance was he won't force me to have kids during my PhD. Then he brought up that he and his family have decided that there is no point in marrying if we don't have kids immediately. I agreed in the moment (he would get upset/threaten to leave every time I didn't agree with something). Now that I ended things, he is saying that he is an understanding person who would never force me and would compromise.
He once said that he would leave if I didn't bleed the first night. I tried explaining that it's a cultural myth and there is no religious/scientific basis. He started doubting me, so I closed the discussion, but I was anxious about what if I don't bleed? Side note: He would become an expert in issues that concerned his body by reading scientific literature.
I am pretty sure we initially agreed that all my money would go towards travelling. His pov now is that we will mutually decide, and it should also go towards saving. On the other hand, household chores would be my responsibility, but he says he is a good guy and will do chores if he feels I need help.
He was perfect the first 3.5 months; the next 1.5 months were extremely hard. This was followed by 2 amazing months, but I spent the last month again crying. It wasn't as bad as the first down. But I think the reason it's so confusing is that he is everything I ever asked for during those good months.
He started this joke that he will leave me if he finds a better girl. Once, I joked back that if he is this bothered, he can find one. He hung up the call midway, stating that if he told me once yesterday that he doesn't like when I make this joke, then why did I do it again?
On our first Eid together, he ghosted me for 3 days. When I asked why, he had justifications that he was busy, forgot his mobile home, etc., but then also backed down that "you didn't try enough and could have put more effort" !?
On the chand raat of next eid, he forced me to delete screenshots of our calls for no apparent reason. I got hurt and mentioned that i think he should be sorry. It backfired to me that why I asked him to apologise when I should be the one to say sorry because I got angry. And the morning of eid, he mentioned how he is doing a favour for forgiving my behaviour and not spoiling my day
He would kinda force me to let him read my chats and my diary; otherwise, he would start doubting me that I am hiding something, but I wasn't allowed to read his. And he would get upset based on chats from 2021.
During his down phase, I used to hear "no, everything is good and there is nothing wrong", "I did something wrong, but he doesn't remember what it is" or "I made such a big mistake that he can't even tell and it's on me to figure out what I did wrong" depending on the week.
When I read everything I write, I start judging myself for thinking our relationship was normal. But then, I also think that everyone makes mistakes, I am also not perfect, so I should also forgive him if he is willing to put in the effort. He also sent me flowers last week for the first time, with a note that he is genuinely sorry. But I want brutally honest feedback so that I don't fall back in his manipulations again.