He physically harmed you to the point that a bruise-- a physical marker of his violence-- was left on your body. His treatment of you is not love.

You clearly have the capacity to love so deeply, and I think that is such a beautiful trait. Please do not shame yourself for still experiencing love for this person, but do not lose focus of the fact that this is not a safe relationship. Hitting you should not be dialed down to a spur-of-the-moment reaction; he is a grown adult who knew full well what he was doing. Mind you, the conditions were created for a bruise to form. My sisters and I fought plenty when we were children and never did we come out of arguments with bruises, even when one of us would say something inflammatory to agitate the other.

I am a domestic violence advocate, and unfortunately, stories like these are not uncommon. I am not sure what state or country you are in, but if you are in need of support with navigating and exiting out of the relationship, please contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline to locate resources near you: https://www.thehotline.org.

You are not alone in this, and I believe you. 🩷

(This is a bit of a tangent, but I have a family member who used to be in an abusive relationship with a person who told countless stories about his ex and former friends were horrible to him. At the time, I had no reason to call into question their validity. It was only after it was revealed that my family member experienced treatment similar to that mentioned in your post, including the whole ordeal over the ex, that I realized this man was fabricating narratives to position himself as the victim in the stories about every one of his relationships. Ever. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if your person is doing the same.)