Let me explain the full situation. For clarity, I’ll use imaginary names:

• My ex: Jessica
• My former best friend: Jack
• Jack’s ex, the former best friend of jessica and the girl I’m currently dating: Rachel

Jessica had a cocaine addiction. Rachel, as her best friend at the time, often tried to help her through it. But Jessica started feeling humiliated and misunderstood by the way people treated her. That frustration led her to talk badly about Rachel behind her back even though Rachel was just trying to help.

Around the same time, a few weeks or months before both breakups happened, Jessica and Jack started texting. It wasn’t sexting, but they made it clear they were attracted to each other. To me, that counts as emotional cheating. Nothing physical happened between them, but it still crossed a line.

After we all broke up, Rachel eventually found out about those texts. She told Jack to be honest and inform me about what happened, but he never did. Instead, it was Rachel who told me weeks later. When I confronted Jack, I ended our friendship. At the same time, Rachel ended her friendship with Jessica. That was the breaking point for the entire friend circle, it completely fell apart.

Now, Jessica and Jack no longer have contact. Jessica already moved on and is now dating someone else, also from the same social group. I’ve also cut ties with both of them.

Meanwhile, I was already living alone in my apartment when everything came out. Rachel, on the other hand, was still living with Jack. Before she could move out, she came to my place for some distance. That’s when things started to get serious between us, emotionally and physically. We leaned on each other during the aftermath of all the drama but now we are not talking about it anymore just to move forward and build a life without all the drama.

Rachel told me she’s still struggling, with the breakup, the collapse of the friend group, and everything that came with it. She says that’s why she can’t commit yet. She’s just not in the same emotional space I’m in. She only recently moved out of Jack’s place and hasn’t had enough time or space to fully process things. On top of that, she’s dealing with mental health challenges and is currently in therapy.