Reddit Stories - BETRAYED_ ABANDONED for a High School SWEETHEART After Three Years of Devotion_

Episode Date: June 14, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #relationships #betrayal #heartbreak #highschool #youngloveSummary: A high school sweetheart feels betrayed and abandoned after three years of devotion. The heartbreak ...and betrayal lead to a painful realization of the fragility of young love and the harsh realities of relationships.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, relationships, betrayal, heartbreak, highschool, younglove, love, breakup, loyalty, trust, emotions, pain, realization, fragility, harshrealitiesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Committed to the ideal man following a three-year relationship until his former high school sweetheart resurfaced, he abandoned me for her and called off our marriage, but eventually returned. Back crawling. My fiancé and I had been together three years. He was my first boyfriend. We laughed, cried, worried, and were happy together. Our families had mixed really well. Our moms became close friends really fast. He was my best friend, my confident, my support, my comfort. I looked at him and could see our future together. God, I'm even crying remembering one time we took a blanket,
Starting point is 00:00:39 went outside, and looked up at the stars like in some book. I never thought something like this could happen to me. The man I loved could have never done anything like that to me. It all started about a two months ago. His ex, high school sweetheart together seven years, moved back to our country and wanted to catch up with Mark Fake name. He told me they broke up because they were unable to sustain a LDR when she left to pursue postgraduate studies.
Starting point is 00:01:07 They hadn't been in contact for about five years. She sent him an email. He showed it to me and it was completely platonic. She was just curious about what he had become. He asked me if he could meet her and I said yes. I trusted him. So he went, but when he came back, he was a bit withdrawn. He is usually really chatty, but he was dismissive.
Starting point is 00:01:32 When I asked him how it went, etc., I let it go. However, the following weeks he was often on his phone. He picked random fights with me and didn't look me in the eyes when we had sex, didn't whisper loving words either. I'm really touchy slash clingy and in our three years together, he had never once recoiled or refused my embrace, but he started doing it. I usually hug him like a koala when he comes back home from work. I'm a bit childish.
Starting point is 00:02:01 I know, but he only let me do it twice. It was such a sudden change. I asked him what was wrong, but he just said he wasn't feeling too good nowadays. On a Saturday, I went to visit his grandma as we usually knit together. She taught me and I was gone the whole day. I feel really close to her because she adopted me easily and reminds me of my own who died when I was in high school. When I came back, I found him packing his house. stuff. My whole world fell apart. He was being so cowardly. He told me he was sorry for making me
Starting point is 00:02:37 suffer like this, but sometimes life gives you a second chance and you have to recognize it for what it is. That he loved me, but when he met his ex, he realized the feelings weren't the same. He said he regretted letting go of her. That he had found himself again. That it had been a difficult choice for him but he had to take this chance. His ex wanted to him back. She had realized what she had lost and risked losing for good when he told her he was getting married. He supposedly refused her at first but as time passed, and they talked together as old feelings came back. He hoped I would forgive him one day and understand. I cried as he was talking. It sounds stupid but it was as if it was a stranger in front of me. He said he would still pay rent
Starting point is 00:03:24 and part of the bills until our lease was up and I can find another place. He makes a little lot more than me and I wouldn't be able to afford living in our apartment on my own. I begged him not to make this mistake, that he was being fooled by an idealized memory of their past together, that he was having cold feet. But he was like a wall, he didn't even look at me. At about 10 p.m. there was a truck outside with one of his friends waiting for him. He apparently came to help him move. I wasn't really close with that particular friend, but he did seem sorry for me. Mark hugged me goodbye and left. I hadn't cried that hard in years. I slept in our spare room not to feel the emptiness of our room with his things gone. I sunk to the deepest pathetic and tried to call him,
Starting point is 00:04:10 but it went to voicemail. I had no idea where he went but assumed he was now living with his ex after three weeks of talking again, how ridiculous. I'm really lucky to have supportive friends and family. My best friend even moved in for five days. My parents wanted me back home. My parents wanted me back home with them but I wasn't ready to leave. Mark is a bit messy and I'm a manic so it felt weird having everything perfectly neat. I missed his messiness. It was as if he was the one making our house a home. He used to joke about me wanting the house to look like it was on sale or in a catalog. Not waking up to make breakfast, not seeing him read lying on the sofa while I studied felt weird. Not buying his favorite snack or powder proteins when doing groceries felt weird. I felt
Starting point is 00:04:57 really lost at first. It was like grieving. Usually when people break up their relationship was going south, but to me it came out of nowhere. I still loved him, I was still planning the wedding and working on my side to build our future together. It was all gone in a day. I wish I had been smarter and refused to meet as one that got away. His family was dumbfounded. I still went to see his grandma and she told me he was a fool that he would come back crawling to me. She was was the first person who managed to make me laugh. His mom, my mom and I started making calls to cancel all reservations. Luckily the store accepted to take back the dress. We didn't pay much for the location as we cancelled early. Next was to inform the guests. He had been
Starting point is 00:05:46 gone for about three weeks then. His family was furious with him so they didn't contact him much. The only contact I had with him was the signed check he made to cover the wedding cancellation. However, about a week ago I received a letter from him. He apologized for leaving me like this. Said he made the biggest mistake of his life. That he couldn't even believe what he had done. That he was writing me this letter because he didn't have the courage to face me. You were right, I was running after a perfect relationship that had never existed.
Starting point is 00:06:20 I regret it so much. I thought I was in love with her, but in reality I was in love with what she represented. My younger self with no responsibilities and only dreams. I had cold feet and got afraid of moving forward into this new segment of my life. I couldn't stop thinking about you when I was with her. She is not you. She doesn't know me or loves me like you. She doesn't smell like you.
Starting point is 00:06:46 I missed hearing you sing randomly throughout the day. I missed having someone nagging me to pick up. I missed planning Halloween parties for the kids with you. At the time I'm writing this letter we would have probably been decoration shopping had I not been a fool. Everyone told me but I was being a blind fool. I would do anything to go back in the past and slap some sense into myself. I would do anything for you to forgive me. I know we have already started canceling everything but I'm ready to pay for everything myself. You can date someone else to even scores if you want as long as you come back to me.
Starting point is 00:07:21 I would write the whole letter but I'm on my iPad and it's tiring. I just gave the important part. I just gave the important parts. He kept on with apologies and begging me to forgive him. Now I told my family, left friends out for the moment, and his mom and grandma. Grandma had a very satisfying told-you-so moment. However, she is rooting me to forgive him. His mom was supposed to send a formal letter to guests to tell them the wedding was off, but now is waiting for my answer. I don't know what to do. I love him with all my heart, but what he did to me I don't know if I can get over it. He made me feel worthless. He threw me away as if I was no one to him after three years.
Starting point is 00:08:03 He gave up on us for some ghost from his past when we were at our happiest. If he can leave me when we are doing good, how will we sustain a marriage? Will he leave the moment things get hard? He hurt me so badly and expect me to forgive him. He wants us to meet on Sunday, but I'm not sure. I'm willing to. I need some perspective. What would you do in my situation?
Starting point is 00:08:26 Update, I didn't plan on updating or at least not so soon but I have another problem. I'm really thankful to everyone who answered and comforted me. You guys gave me the strength to look forward and not make a decision based on nostalgia. I felt really alone in my pain but, thanks to you I felt a little less lonely. So Mark wanted to meet on Sunday but I unblocked him from my phone and told him I didn't want to meet and to please not contact me anymore. He answered please, baby, I need to talk to you. can we meet another day? I know I fucked up really bad and hurt you deeply, but I'll do anything
Starting point is 00:09:02 to make it up to you, anything you ask I'll do it. Needless to say it just angered me more, how dare he use terms of endearment with me. I just blocked him again after that. I met his mom on Saturday and told her to proceed with the notification of cancellation. We had an emotional moment and she told me even though she would have really wanted us to stay one big family, she would have done the same in my place. She had hoped I would find the strength to forgive him, but she understands. And so the wedding is indeed still being cancelled. My poor brother, I told him personally, had already bought his plane tickets from Australia but got a refund.
Starting point is 00:09:40 I rearranged all the furniture in the house and bought new bedding sets, to make a new start and move to the spare room for good. It looks really different and I like it. Apparently he told our friends because some brought it up to me, asking if we are getting back together, but said they didn't want to side. On Sunday evening I had a visitor. I never have people coming this late usually, it was around 9 p.m. When I went to look through the peephole I saw Mark, with his ex. I seriously had a moment of panic. He must still have the key for the main entry since he managed to get to my door without using the intercom. I don't know if it was a coward thing to do, but I just chose not to open. I know they knew I was there and I heard him out. I heard him
Starting point is 00:10:25 asked me to please let him in, that he just wanted to talk through the door. Honestly, even though I feel better, I don't think I'm emotionally stable enough to deal with him and especially him with his ex. They stayed about 15 minutes and then they left. I thought he would get the message, but they came again yesterday around the same time. And I didn't open again. They waited even longer. I know I'm not being an adult. So now I don't know what to do. I feel nervous in my own house because I dread the moment they'll come back. He knows my schedule and he came at the time where I usually come back from my Zumba class. However yesterday was a holiday so we didn't have class. I'm afraid
Starting point is 00:11:07 he will come again and I don't think I can face him. What should I do? I know I can't run away forever but I need more time. Is this worth calling the police over? I fear it would make the problem bigger than it is and hurt our family relations. Our moms are really close. And really he is not dangerous, I think. He didn't contact me enough for it to be considered harassment anyway. Should I just be a big girl and open the next time he or they come? Or do I wait it out? Also, why the hell is he bringing her? I'm curious, but I want to stand by my decision. Next story, girlfriend started hanging out with a 40-year-old co-worker behind my back. When I said I was uncomfortable she called me insecure and left for his house anyway.
Starting point is 00:11:55 Me male, 21, and my girlfriend, 20, have been together since I was 16 and she 15, and we have been inseparable since then well. Until now, we work at the same company and have done so for about two years now. We even work in the same section. So lately she have been getting closer to our colleague male, 40, and I have not seen a problem with this since he's 40. But recently they have wanted to hang out after work separately from me and our other friends. Things they do is just go for a walk, run or hikes which normally take around 40 minutes to an hour which is normal, I guess. But now my girlfriend wants to have a movie
Starting point is 00:12:34 night at his house, and they are going to watch the latest fast and furious movie. I asked to join but they need to be alone because they are going to talk about friend stuff, she said they were like best girlfriends. At first I thought, okay, that's fine I guess, because again he's 40. But now after the fact I'm starting to worry that they are getting a little too close. Am I going crazy or is this something male and girlfriends do normally? I don't really have any experience in just that because I don't really have any girlfriends that I am that close with except my girlfriend. So please I need some advice or just outside views on this. Edit, just from the first few comments I would like to add some details.
Starting point is 00:13:15 First, she is acting just like normal to me loving, caring and overall like the girl I fell in love with. Second, this may seem a little bit arrogant but if I may self-glaze a little, I am six for blonde, fit from going to the gym for five years, love cooking, traveling, and hanging with friends and family. He is five, eight bald, not really fat, but on the more out of shape side, and is kind of a gamer I guess, and I mean computer games. So he only has a handful of friends, and the same at work. I do not say this to bully him or belittle him in any way it's just straight facts. Third, my girlfriend said that after meeting some of his friends at a local get-together here, she said it felt weird being so much younger than everyone at that specific table that she just
Starting point is 00:14:01 kept it short when she said hi to them. Final, so if you put all this together, I can't see any reason to why I should have been suspicious earlier. Update 1, March 28, 2025. Thanks for all the comments and DMs. There is no way I can answer all of them, so I will try to make an update now as I feel almost responsible to do it for the big response from the community. She actually went through with it. Earlier today, we sat down to discuss just how I felt about this whole thing and that it is weird for her to go alone home to him as he is a fine G40. I was very clear about my opinion. I was very clear about my opinion, about being excluded from this whole thing and that it is not all right for me to feel like I am third wheeling my own relationship. Her answer, I did not take you for such an insecure man
Starting point is 00:14:47 after five years together. Honestly, this kind of broke me. How is it okay for her to just set my feelings aside with a comment like that? I must admit I am absolutely not the best with expressing my feelings in this kind of way and it feels very uncomfortable for me to open up like that to someone even if we have been together for years, and I can kind of see why when Rat was her. response. After that one little comment it really sank in that she actually don't care about me anymore. The rest of the conversation went downhill from there on. I started to accuse her for cheating. She started throwing a fine G-fit about how dared I accuse her of things like that after five years together how didn't I trust her? After about 20 minutes of this I was honestly
Starting point is 00:15:27 broken down. So I just walked out, didn't say anything just walked. I was out for about 30 minutes just to try and clear my head from this whole conversation. When I came back, she was waiting for me with just one question, do you think I have cheated on you? I said yes, I really do. And then I think I did something stupid. I showed her my first post to get my point across even more that the things I'm feeling and thinking about
Starting point is 00:15:53 is the all-around opinion in the comments. She was stunned and silent for a bit, and I think she actually kind of saw why I felt the way I did. Her response after that? I must go the 40-year-old is waiting to start the movie and I think we should have a small break from each other. She went she FNG went to him after our fight. What did it do? I went to my father at his work and actually cried in his arms for the first time in probably 15 years. And now I'm at home in bed and have talked to my landlord and she is very understanding and she
Starting point is 00:16:25 said that I can take my name from the lease any time I want. What now? I'm in my bed feeling totally empty, numb, sick, furious. And to be honest, I went kind of the hook when I came back from my dad. I threw some shit on the floor actually cut the networking cable in the wall as she is maintaining a blog that she is very passionate about. I won't link it so don't even ask as I don't want to give that POS more activity on it. This update went probably just the way people expected it to do. So I hope people is happy my relationship is probably 100% over to spare me in the future. But please how can I come out on top on this? I have to see both on Monday when we get to work.
Starting point is 00:17:08 I don't think I can handle this so please advice is more than welcome. I might do another update later on if I can mentally go through this again as per now I literally can't handle it I am mentally breaking down as I am writing this. Update 2. March 31st, 2025. Holy shit, Ada, thank you for the overwhelming response on my little situation if you can call it that. There is no way in hell that I will be able to answer even the minority of the comments and DMs, so I will do my best to update you guys as I really do think I almost owe it to you after the incredible response. Well, where should I begin? When I look back on my personal response on this, it was really
Starting point is 00:17:46 childish for me to start breaking stuff and cutting wires like I was throwing a tantrum, which I probably was, I have set out to replace the stuff that was ours and the stuff that was mine doesn't really matter, and the internet wire will be fixed tomorrow. This has shown a whole new side of me that I didn't knew existed but honestly can you really blame me to hard for this? This has been hands down the worst weekend in my life. And I was actually surprised that I didn't really saw any comment calling me out on my bullshit behavior. Now on to the rest of this, I left of when I was laying in bed and typing out what happened on Friday. The rest of that Friday I did just that I kept in bed for the rest of the night and could not sleep as I was
Starting point is 00:18:24 just thinking about all our memories and that we will never create new ones. As well as I was think way to much about what they probably was doing in another bed. The Saturday I did a big mistake I started to drink, that lead me to go to a party and honestly I should not have done that because I drunk called my now ex and asked one last time if it really was over for us and indeed she said yes. And this is why you should not drink after something like this because unlucky for me one of her closer friends was at that party and one thing lead to another and we ended up in bed together, and I did this only to make my ex mad. You can't imagine my regret on Sunday. I have never done anything like this before and will never do again.
Starting point is 00:19:04 And I said as much to the friend and apologized profusely for using her for this, and she said it was okay and she understood but you could see that it hurt her more than she said, and I feel like the biggest asshole in the world and I can't even imagine how she feels and I really deserve all the shit my way from you guys for this. After all that I also felt as I cheated on my ex for doing this, I can't explain why I just did, probably because I had sex with someone else the day after we broke up a five-year relationship. The rest of the Sunday I was dwelling in what I just did and absolutely despising that it is Monday tomorrow, and I am actually feeling sick to just go to work. Monday today comes and it started
Starting point is 00:19:42 probably the worst way possible. My ex and our colleague comes to work in the same car, and when I tell you it felt like that burning coal in my stomach becomes absolutely all-developing black hole I can't describe it better than that, but being a man I guess I just tried to ignore it. I must have not been so convincing because she came right over to me and said that it's not what it looks like, he actually had just picked her up at our house I have slept at my dad's house from Sunday to Monday. This did not make me feel any better whatsoever because how can I believe that? But I did also apologize for my behavior from Friday and that I had acted childish and immature, she said it's okay and that it was understandable why I did what I did.
Starting point is 00:20:20 Then after that the rest of the day got even worse if you can believe that, somehow the word of our breakup had already spread like wildfire on work, and to my delight apparently it was almost like an open secret that my ex and our colleague had hooked up at least once before on a business party, and that was it for me today, I called it, and went to my boss told him I was sick and went home. A couple hours later I'm just sitting here trying to eat it's not going so good, and just thinking about how my colleagues at work could hold such a secret for me and I can't even imagine continue working here anymore, so I'm also sitting and looking for new work as we speak. And as it stands right now, I've taken my name of the house lease and will start to pack my stuff tomorrow to move out and move
Starting point is 00:20:58 into my father in the meantime whilst I find a new place. As the last post I do really appreciate some advice and this time I will try to be more active when it comes to the comments and DMS. I am also tired of hearing you are young find someone new. My problem is I don't really want anyone other. So what do people think about my current situation? The definition of a shit show? Edit, I have gotten a ton of messages that said I was unbelievably childish about all my decisions, and I know I was. Just calling me out being childish is one thing, but please leave some advice or something at least so I can at least take it as some sort of helpful criticism.
Starting point is 00:21:38 Forward slash forward slash.

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