I’m a 22-year-old male, and I’ve been in a relationship with my girlfriend (23) since 2024. We’re both working now and have stable IT jobs at different companies.
We’ve met only around 10 times in the past two years because she lives in Bangalore and I live in Mumbai. Initially, she was in Mumbai for her studies and was my senior in college. We started dating during her final year, and after she graduated, our relationship became long-distance. In the beginning, we still met occasionally—maybe twice a month—but overall, about 90% of our relationship has been long-distance.
Despite the distance, we’ve both stayed loyal.
However, over the past month, she has repeatedly told me that she will eventually leave once her parents arrange her marriage. She doesn’t want to go against her parents. From the beginning, she had made it clear: if her parents agree, we’ll get married; if not, we’ll break up.
I believed that if I secured a good job, I might have a chance of convincing her parents. I worked toward that and did get a good job.
Now she says her parents are very religious and strongly care about caste, which makes things even harder. She keeps saying she’ll leave sooner or later, and this is affecting me mentally—I can’t think clearly.
Back in my final year, another girl (now 18) had proposed to me, but I rejected her immediately because I was committed and didn’t want to cheat. I even blocked her at that time.
After my girlfriend started saying she would eventually leave, I reached out to this girl again just to check on her. Now we’re in touch, and she seems interested in a friends-with-benefits type of situation.
I’m confused. I don’t want to break up with my girlfriend, but it feels like I don’t have a choice. At the same time, this other girl keeps me emotionally hooked—she texts me occasionally, maybe once a week, just enough to keep me engaged.
I don’t know what to do anymore.
Edit: She already said that she's not ready to talk to her parents. She won't be talking to her parents and just gave up on the relationship for any long term plans. I lost hope the moment she gave up.
Yes i made a mistake too. But I can't stay in a relationship where I'll be used till she finds a new one right? And i still love her and the other girl I've been talking to was my friend and my gf knows her too. When i shared my problem with her she confessed that she likes me and if i feel depressed or something she will be there for me as a friend.
She asked me if I'm okay with fwb and i said I don't know and I haven't talked to her since then.