MY EX STOLE MY SMILE

Eva Komuves, 49, discovered a horrifying truth about her partner after moving in together

- 

Stood on the craggy rock, I looked out across the crystal blue waves that seemed to stretch on forever. 'The view's beautiful,' I said to my handsome date.

'Mine isn't bad either,' he smiled, gazing right at me. It was May 2019, and after meeting on a dating site, we'd arranged a first date, hiking up Cave Hill in Belfast.

Like me, Rob, known as Lorn, was outdoorsy. I'd been single for more than a year, and Lorn, then 41, was so charming. As the days went on, we shared our first kiss, went on long bike rides and talked for hours. Lorn wrote me romantic poems too, but after three weeks of dating, when we met up, Lorn was stressed.

'I've got nowhere to live,' he told me, explaining he'd been forced to move out of his home. Although we'd only been dating a few weeks, I offered him a place to stay. But within days, his personality changed.

AVOIDING ARGUMENTS

Grumpy and lazy, he'd make snide remarks. 'I don't like you wearing shorts, you should dress your age,' he frowned. You might wonder why I didn't kick him out there and then, especially as it was so early on in our relationship, but I had such low self-esteem, I believed him.

When I got up early to do yoga, he complained if I made any noise. 'Turn off the bathroom light,' he'd yell at me.

I started using candles and tiptoeing around my own home, just to avoid conflict. I worked as a massage therapist and he checked my messages from clients.

'Cancel all your male customers,' he raged. I told myself it was easier to agree than have another row.

I tried to enjoy the good times together like when we went hiking, rather than dwell on the times he was angry or jealous. Then, in summer 2021, when we'd been together for two years, a friend phoned while I was at home. 'Lorn has a profile on a dating website,' she told me.