I was with Emily for three years before it became clear that we weren’t right for each other.

We had got to know each other quickly. She was everything I wanted, and I did everything to please her and make her love me.

We had sex the second time we met, behind a skip outside a bar. I was behind her, and she tipped back her head to meet my kisses while I pulled up her dress and fumbled with my trousers. I could tell this wasn’t her style, and it wasn’t mine either, but we got caught up in the moment. Emily was so pretty and as we sat in the bar, buying each other drinks and moving closer, I couldn’t wait to touch her.

A year later we rented a place together. I found Emily to be kind and well mannered and I knew we would get on well. We worked in the same area; her as a newly qualified primary school teacher and me as a psychiatric nurse. Our friends got to know each other and we built a community. We worked hard and were often short of money, but when I look back on that year I realise how happy we were.

After a year of living together we started getting on each others’ nerves. I felt stuck in a rut at work and applied for all kinds of jobs, in offices, bars, and even for a job as a classroom assistant at Emily’s school. Anything to get me out the hospital. I didn’t get any interviews started thinking vaguely about leaving town to find new opportunities.