Why would she go back to her ex after bashing him?

[Anonymous]

2 months ago, I went on a couple of dates with a woman I used to work with. During the first date, she bashed her ex (calling him racist, cheap, negative, etc). On the second date, she didn’t bring him up at all. I reached out to plan a third date and she ghosted me.

She randomly re-appeared a couple of weeks later to say she had been thinking about me. I remained positive and told her I was doing well and hope she is too. She never replied.

Yesterday, one of our former co-workers called me and told me he saw her at the mall with her ex. Why would she get back with him if he’s such a bad person?

[Anonymous]

A girl even though she bashes and complaints about her ex in a negative manner doesn’t necessarily mean she wants to end it.

She may still love him and knows he still loves her.

The other is she was probably sexually active with him, during sex a girl if she doesn’t have a high body count will develop a pair bonding and emotional attachment to him, the bonding will be strong if they been together a while, had frequent sex and he did mainly deep penetration with her. This attachment is part of the reason why many girls will go back to her ex and some girls a new guy may not necessarily break that pair bonding, not in the early days at least.

[Nikki1989]

Despite negative feelings or experiences, she may still have underlying feelings of love or attachment.

[Asker]

It sucks, but that makes sense.