I remember the way it felt when you kissed my cheek that day. The truth I had known all along had just come out, although you wouldn’t confess to your lies; you thought it was better to make up excuses.

I could tell by the look in your eyes and the way you rubbed my arm before you stood up that you realized you wish you had just come clean all along. The fact of the matter is that you dug yourself so deep into the lie that you felt it was senseless to come clean. You’d rather keep your dignity than make me look like the sane one. You sat there denying everything, when all I wanted was the truth.

It was over at that moment, and you still didn’t have the decency to tell me what really happened a few nights before. I remember the words I spoke that night: “I didn’t think you were like this.” I can still taste the sourness of them, because I really didn’t think you were one to manipulate another human being. I thought your heart and soul were bigger than that.

But I thought wrong, because you were exactly that type of person. You knew exactly what to say, and when to say it. Because you knew how to work your words, I got lost in something that didn’t actually exist. I got caught up in the sweet gestures, the kind words and the look in your eyes when you told me how much I meant to you — and it all turned out to be some kind of joke.

OK, maybe it wasn’t a complete joke — maybe part of you actually did care about me. But how do I know what to believe when there were so many instances where you couldn’t be honest with me?

You scarred me. You set the belief that every other person I meet will be just like you. Do you know how difficult that is to overcome? Once trust is shattered, even the strongest and most sincere apology can never glue it back together. If someone is willing to give you a second chance after you screw up the first, you would think your actions would change. But no, you just showed me why I should be wary about who I give second chances to.

But don’t worry — I don’t want you to think you’re the only pathetic person out there in the dating world. Believe it or not, I rekindled the trust that you took from me, only to — you guessed it — have it come crumbling down once again because of someone else. Soon I’m going to have a long list of people I wasted my time on, and I’ll be sure to mail it to each and every one of you, because I know you would all be the best of friends.

So to the first, second, third and every other guy who may play me in this lifetime: it blows my mind that you don’t have a conscience. How you can play me so well and make me believe that everything is just fine and dandy is beyond me. I feel bad when I realize that I forgot to press send on a text, and yet you somehow can manage to create a web of lies, and go on with your day as if honesty isn’t the foundation of a relationship.

There is something I would like to thank you for, though. And that is for showing me what I don’t want in someone. You showed me the warning signs of a toxic relationship. Yeah, you may have broken a piece of my heart, and at that time all I wanted was for you to come clean. I wanted nothing more than for things to go back to normal, with your arms wrapped around me. But I soon realized that there was never anything normal about our relationship. You made me feel as if I wasn’t worth the truth, and now, looking back at that thought, I can’t believe it even crossed my mind. In the end, you are the one who wasn’t worth the months invested in something that could have been.

You had your fun stringing me along and playing with my mind; now you can stop your immature games. Don’t put another girl through what you put me through. I know I deserve an apology, but I know you’ll never give me that. So I'll settle for you not breaking someone else’s heart the way you broke mine.