Rihanna kissing Chris Brown was the dramatic highlight of the MTV Video Music Awards, and some reports claim they got it on even more backstage. Rihanna had just won Video of the Year, but Chris was the big winner.

The cycle of domestic abuse came full circle at the stellar event, just like it started on the eve of the Grammys in 2009 when Brown beat Rihanna unconscious and fled the scene. For all he knew, she was dead.

Sure, he was arrested and later convicted and still endures some scorn. But make no mistake Chris won.

Rihanna’s embrace and passionate kiss sent a clear signal that she is ready to sacrifice her dignity and self-worth to recapture what ever they had before that fateful night– on Brown’s terms.

You may recall, the 2009 incident began after Rihanna discovered that Chris was flirting with another woman via text messages. After dating for two years, she had a reasonable expectation of fidelity from her boyfriend. But Chris didn’t want to hear it.

One thing led to another; they argued. Rihanna was a different woman then. She had a high sense of dignity and self-worth, and she refused to tolerate cheating. She threw his phone out the window of his car and he went ballistic, beating her savagely.

But almost immediately after the attack, Rihanna began exhibiting a variation of Stockholm syndrome often seen in victims of domestic abuse. She began rationalizing his behavior and empathizing with him. “He was clearly blacked out. There was no person when I looked at him,” she told Diane Sawyer soon after the attack.

In the years since then her empathy has only grown. “I truly love him,” she said in her eye-opening interview with Oprah. “I’m not at peace if he is unhappy or he is still lonely. I care. It actually matters that he finds peace.”

After last night, in the wake of earlier reports they were hooking up in private, they are all but publicly dating again. But this time don’t expect Rihanna to demand fidelity.

Officially, Brown is still dating Vietnamese model Karrueche Tran, but unlike Rihanna, pre 2009, she doesn’t give a sh*t who Brown is with or what he does as long as he takes care of her, if a quote in HollywoodLife can be believed. A true pimp/whore relationship.

And, you can bet Rihanna won’t ask any questions about who he’s texting this time around.