For the last seven years, this 26-year-old woman and her 26-year-old fiancé have been together. Her fiancé proposed to her a little more than a year ago, and she was elated to say yes to him.

Their wedding date is set for later this year, and they’re also planning on having a baby soon as well.

She originally met her fiancé in middle school, but then they wound up reconnecting when they attended college.

She really thought she would spend the rest of her life with her fiancé, but his recent confession has thrown a wrench in her plans.

“However, devastatingly, he revealed to me a month ago that he’s cheated on me several times during our relationship, with the most recent incident occurring last August,” she explained.

Her heart broke upon hearing his confession, and her fiancé then blamed some trauma from his childhood as for why he cheated at all.

Her fiancé claims that he never liked cheating on her and got no enjoyment out of it. He insists he felt guilty after every time, and he felt compelled to tell her the truth so as to avoid starting their marriage on lies.

“While I understand he’s been through trauma, there’s no excuse for cheating,” she said. “My world has been turned upside down because he was my everything.”

“He was sweet, supportive, and seemingly perfect. He’s supported me through mental breakdowns, grad school, career changes, etc.”

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“He was the guy who opened my car door, bought me flowers for no particular reason, enjoyed spending time with my family, and was always thoughtful, kind, and caring.”

Throughout the seven years she’s been with her fiancé, she has made it crystal clear to him that cheating is her number one dealbreaker.

Now that push is coming to shove, she doesn’t think it’s that easy to leave him over his infidelity. She’s furious with her fiancé for ruining her trust, and she is aware that their connection can never be the same.

There’s no way to recover 100% from cheating, and she isn’t sure how to even take the first step on the path to healing.

“He’s begged for my forgiveness on hands and knees several times and has given me a lot of verbal affirmations that he loves me and the whole I messed up speech, even sharing his remorse with his mom, who supported me and told him that I have every right to leave him,” she continued.

“He’s willing to follow any terms or conditions if I decide to stay, admitting his mistake and regretting hurting me. Is a relationship salvageable after infidelity? How do I recover from this? Should I move on? I hate the thought of starting over, but staying feels equally daunting. Once a cheater, always a cheater?”

“I’m grateful this came out before we got married, but maybe if we weren’t living together, I’d leave him completely.”

They’re coexisting peacefully under one roof for now, and they are talking to one another. Despite that, she does frequently feel overwhelming waves of emotion.

For example, sometimes she sobs uncontrollably or can’t bring herself to get up out of her bed. Her fiancé rushes to console her, quickly admitting he knows he made a colossal mistake while stating he’s ready to be strong for the two of them.

The thought has crossed her mind to cheat, too, in order to get revenge, as she’s hopeful this will make the pain more bearable, but she can’t bring herself to retaliate.

She just can’t wrap her mind around how her fiancé could even cheat on her once, let alone multiple times. She does not believe there is ever a valid excuse to cheat.

Anyway, she’s desperate to find out if there is any way to salvage her dreams of marrying this man or if she should walk away.

What advice do you have for her?

You can read the original post on Reddit here.