She Stole My Boyfriend, I Married Her Dad
*MANUEL*
There were five stages of betrayal I knew of.
Shock and denial.
The initial discovery shatters your reality, leading to disbelief, numbness, confusion, and questioning everything you knew.
Anger.
Intense rage emerges, often directed at the betrayer, yourself, or the situation, as a way to cope with underlying pain and sadness.
Bargaining.
You might try to "fix" things or understand what went wrong by replaying scenarios, hoping for a different outcome, or making deals with a higher power. Or just trying to understand how that could happen. How someone you love could do that to you.