what if he it you? (hit him back! heh)

Jessie;The Word; MALAYSIA TODAY

if you loved someone and he hit you. what should you do?
If an arguement you got into: Te fiercest verbal fight you've ever had in the blissful three months of your, we-are-now-an-official-couple existence. And suddenly he slaps you.
How would you react? Would you leave him there and then? Would you tell him off and say that if he ever hit you again, you'd walk out of the relationship? Or would you, after much pleading and apologising on his part, go back to the way things were before the incident, silently praying it will never happen again?
It's really difficult to decide when you are besotted by the man who had stolen your heart, whisked you off your feet, showed you what romance was all about....until the painful episode.
For a person who's just fallen in love, you don't walk the ground, mingling with mere plebians anymore; you glide. You float in the air. You're way up there in the sky.
That is why one's judgement can often be clouded when it comes to his abusive ways.
A girlfriend of mine - so pretty, charming, educated, highly intelligent, well brought up - when her boyfriend slapped her hard, stayed on in the relationship. The abuse came after months of him throwing things all over the place and at her whenever they argued.
Yet until today, long after the affair ended, she still says: "He had a bad temper, maybe I deserved it. I said some hurtful things to him..."
Does a woman "deserve" to be hit? It seems as if this girlfriend of mine felt she did.
And that is actually how an abusive relationship starts really; with woman allowing herself to be hit or at least, making up excuses for him.
But be forewarned: These men won't change. They may feel bad afterwards. They may say sorry a thousand times later. But more often than not, the woman will experience a repeat performance... many repeat performances, really.
In thes issue, we look into the minds of the abusers through swollen, blacken eyes of their victims.
Beware the violent man and the tragic consequences of staying with the man who doesn't think twice of beating her up.