Reddit Stories - Betrayed AMBITIONS_ UNVEILING the Triumph Over Family FAVORITISM_

Episode Date: September 28, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #betrayed #ambitions #family #favoritism #triumph  Summary: A compelling tale unfolds about overcoming family favoritism that led to betrayal of ambitions. Discover how one navigates through challenges to achieve triumph amidst familial struggles.  Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, betrayed, ambitions, family, favoritism, triumph, overcoming, challenges, struggles, growth, relationships, personaldevelopment, resilience, determination, success, familydramaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Father shatters my aspirations to shield favored sibling and declines to cover my educational expenses, but I eventually exact my retribution. I, a 32-year-old male, have a sibling who is 28 years old. And we were raised by our dad, 56M, ever since we were in middle school. My dad has always favored my brother over me and with time, I got used to it. I was never the kind of son that my dad wanted because unlike him, I had no interest in sports or doing the typical macho stuff that boys do. I was always more into more typically feminine things which is why I was a huge mama's boy growing up.

I loved everything to do with the kitchen, reading books, and even singing. My dad tried to make me play football with him but I was no good at it so gradually, we grew apart. My brother, on the other hand, was exactly the kind of son that my father wanted. He was a rough and tough boy, not afraid of getting dirty while playing or even getting hurt. He was the perfect son for my dad and it was very obvious that he loved my brother way more than he loved me. He'd always have great things to say about my brother but never me. My mother never never played favorites, though. She was fair to both of us and that's why I loved her more as well.

I did put in an effort to befriend my dad and spend time with him but once we'd grown apart, he didn't seem too keen on fixing our relationship either. Unfortunately, the glue holding our messed up family together, my mother, passed away when I was in eighth grade. She'd been suffering from cancer and by the time we realized it, it was too late for her to be saved and she was gone before we knew it. My mother's passing pretty much devastated me and I kind of spiraled. During that time, my only solace was the kitchen and I'd whip up something new every day as if my life depended on it.

My mother was a great cook and she'd tell me often that had she not been forced into taking over her dad's business, she probably would have become a chef. So cooking was the only thing that brought me any comfort since my dad and brother were no help in dealing with my feelings. They suppressed any emotional reaction they'd had to my mother's passing and, if anything, grew even more distant from me when in normal families. Something like this would have brought us closer. My fixation on cooking pissed my dad off even more and he'd keep bugging me to get out of the damn kitchen and do something more manly. One day, when he'd had enough, even told me that if he saw me in the kitchen again then

he'd make me do all the other household chores as well. He told me to be more like my brother and man up, which ended in a huge fight where I told him he never loved me and he agreed to it. It was finally out in the open and I guess that was pretty much the last day that my father and I spoke to each other so openly because after that, I stopped trying to win him over altogether and he didn't seem to care about it either. For the next few years, I spent all the time I had in my room, listening to music and studying new recipes. I was determined to make this whole chef thing work out, not just for myself but also for my mother. Meanwhile, my dad and I only spoke when it was absolutely necessary. My brother didn't care about me much either and ignored me just like our dad did. So after my mom passed away, I basically had nobody I could count on.

Finally, when it was time for me to apply to colleges, I decided to apply to a few of the top culinary schools as well as normal colleges so that I'd at least have a shot. I didn't know if my dad would agree to it, but I had to try, at the very least. I'd already interned at a restaurant secretly that summer and had some experience and had managed to make them write a recommendation letter for me since that had helped greatly so I did end up getting accepted into several of the schools that I'd applied to, including one of the best which just so happened to be in France. I was thrilled that this was finally happening for me, but I was equally nervous since this would mean having to ask my dad for permission. I'd already made up my mind to beg him to let me go if he seemed to be reluctant

because I just absolutely had to make this happen for myself. I wasn't prepared to give up on my dreams under any circumstances so I did tell my father about it eventually and while I was ready for him to reject my request saying that it wasn't a masculine profession, I was absolutely not prepared for him to decline paying my tuition at all. I still remember being really confused when he told me that he wouldn't be paying for my education at all since it wasn't as if my dad was poor in the slightest. As a matter of fact, he was pretty well off and could easily afford to send me to France. But money wasn't the reason he wasn't ready to pay for my tuition at all. It was the fact that if I went to France and joined such a reputable school, it would make my

younger brother feel insecure. As it is, he was struggling with his grades and couldn't bring himself to focus so my dad wanted me to either go to community college or find a way to pay for my own tuition. I was astonished that he would do something so cruel to his own son and didn't know what to say to him. I tried to tell him that I needed this, but he was hell-bent and was absolutely unwilling to pay for my tuition. He even told me that my brother's well-being was his topmost priority and he doesn't want me competing with his son. I could hardly even believe that this was happening because I couldn't even imagine any other father in the world crushing their child's dreams like this just for their favorite. After a lot of pleading and sobbing, when he still refused to budge,

I ended up getting into a huge fight with him where I said a lot of things to him and then left his house for good. I started living with my maternal aunt, my mother's older sister instead. The only reason I hadn't moved out earlier was because I found comfort in the house where I'd grown up with my mom and also because I didn't want to change schools, which I'd have to do if I moved in with my aunt since she lived pretty far away from the high school I went to. I told her all about my dad and how he'd outright refused to pay my tuition and that I needed her help. It felt like crap asking her for a ton of money since she wasn't as rich as my dad, but she reassured me that she'd take care of all my expenses.

Somehow, she managed to get all her friends to pitch in and sent me to the culinary school of my dreams and I'm always going to be grateful for that. Once I got there, I worked part-time as well and tried to make the most of my time there to make all the money that was being spent on me all worth it. I worked really, really hard and made my way up. When I graduated, I was one of the most skilled chefs there and even got a job just a few months after I graduated. I started working at a really high-end French restaurant and I'd send half of my salary back to my aunt to repay whatever debt I had, slowly but steadily. I was just lucky that I didn't have to rely on a student loan or maybe I'd never be able to pay any of it off. Anyway, I worked in France for a few years before finally

moving back home once I'd saved up enough to open up my own restaurant. It's been a couple of years and in the meantime, I worked at another restaurant here as the head chef while also working towards my goal of opening up my own restaurant someday. It was all finalized a few weeks ago and I was able to finally open up the restaurant I'd been working towards for so long. Two of my friends from back when I was in France also joined in on my business idea and are co-owners with me, which is why I was grateful when they allowed me to choose what we were going to name the restaurant. They happened to be from the same state so we were all okay with opening our restaurant and my city of choice as well. I chose to name it after my mother, which was a really

lucky coincidence for us since my mother actually has a really beautiful and uncommon name in the city we'd called our home, no less. It was all finally falling into place. A few days back, we even had a little party for a few select guests before we were officially open for business. Of course, I invited my aunt and a few of her friends who'd also pitched in to help pay for my tuition. I also invited some of my friends back from school, but that was pretty much it. I didn't invite my father and brother because of obvious reasons. Even if I'd wanted to, I couldn't have since I hadn't spoken to them ever since I'd left home, and neither had they bothered to ever get back in touch with me. I guess all of us were better off this way. But I should have known that they would definitely

show up to piggyback on my success someday, and that's exactly what happened at the party we threw. They showed up an hour before the party was due to begin but weren't stopped by security since we shared the last name and they claimed that they were here to surprise me. At least that bit was true, I was definitely surprised when I saw them. My dad and brother greeted me like nothing awful had ever happened in the past and were really worn towards me, probably for the first time in my entire life. I was shocked to see them so I just froze when they first entered the restaurant. My buddies noticed that something was off and after politely greeting my family, they left

us on our own and I'm thankful that they were able to pick up on my discomfort. I still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing them again when they dropped another bomb on me and showed me a gift that they'd brought for me. It was a portrait of my mother and my dad even told me that he'd commissioned it for me to hang up in my restaurant. As soon as he'd heard that a new fancy restaurant with this name was opening up in our city, he'd known that it was definitely none other than his son and even told me that he'd always known that I had it in me.

My brother too was jumping on the bandwagon and praising me and telling me that he was immensely proud of me. I couldn't believe my ears and knew instantly that something was very strange about all of this. I didn't say much and kept waiting for them to get to the point because I knew there must have been a reason for them to be here. I let them speak and eventually, they did get to the reason they were here. Apparently, my brother was working as a bartender now and even that was possible just because my dad had managed to convince a friend of his to give him a job at his club. My brother's grades had kept falling throughout high school and college, and that's why he didn't end up in the high-paying positions my dad had always expected from him. On top of that, he'd also been slacking during his high school football games, which is why he wasn't able to get a sports scholarship either.

And ironically, he's the one who ended up having to go to community college because he got rejected everywhere else. What they wanted me to do was make my brother a partner in the business so that he'd have a more respectable position even though. he had done absolutely zilch to deserve it. I had the urge to laugh in their face but somehow managed to hold back and instead told them that I'd think about it. I wasn't going to think about it, though, I just didn't want to turn them away. I wanted them to stay for the party because I had a much better plan in mind to humiliate my family who'd come out of the woodwork as soon as they received word of my success. They seemed reasonably pleased but, boy, oh boy, they had no idea what was about to come.

After a while, our guests started arriving and in an hour or so, everyone we'd invited was there. I spent the evening socializing while my dad and brother also did the same and I even heard them boasting about me to a few people while I marveled at their sheer audacity. Towards the end of the party, it was time for the hosts, namely me and my partners, to give a toast. My friends went first since I wanted to save the best for the last. Then, finally, it was my turn to speak in that day, I was finally going to speak my heart out. I started off by thanking all my guests and raised a drink to my mother first since she was the reason I'd even ever been able to achieve so much.

I strongly believe that it was her faith in me as a child that had made me believe I could do any of this at all and that had stayed with me, even after she was gone. After I'd paid my due respects, I decided to get to the D.I.'s respect as well. I brought up how I'd had to take a loan for my aunt and her friends to go to culinary school and thanked her as well. And then, finally, I got to the reason I'd had to take a loan for my tuition in the first place, my family. I brought up how I'd grown up with a father who never loved me or had any faith in me and always berated me for having feminine interests like cooking and a younger brother who was the replica of my dad. I told them all about how my dad had refused to pay for my tuition

out of fear that I'd end up becoming more successful than my younger brother who was his golden child, which is why I ended up leaving home. But despite all odds, I was able to rise and become who I am today so in a way, they did deserve some credit for creating all the hardships I've had to face, or else I never would have found out how resilient I was. A lot of people shot my dad and brother the nastiest looks they could manage while I was saying all of this and even they had the good sense to at least look ashamed even though I knew that they didn't feel that way in the slightest. Anyway, I then walked over to my dad and brother and actually hugged them, putting up the same pretense that they had when they visited me today. Two could play this game. I announced that

because they'd shown up to celebrate my success today, I'd forgiven them for whatever had happened in the past and was even ready to give my brother the job of the bartender at my restaurant. To other people, this obviously seemed like a really emotional reconciliation and they ended up actually clapping for me at the end of my speech and there were a few wolf whistles. Only my family and I knew that this was nothing more than an attempt to humiliate them, which I'd done quite successfully. But they had to smile and act like they were super grateful for what I'd done since they couldn't exactly storm out angrily, which is exactly what they wanted to do.

After a while, when the crowd had cleared out and it was finally time for us to go home, my dad and brother confronted me right outside my restaurant. They were furious and I swear there were angry tears in my brother's eyes. They demanded an explanation for what I'd done and if I'd never intended on making my brother a partner then I should have just turned them away as soon as they arrived. I just laughed and told them that this was my form of paying them back for everything that they'd done for me over the years and this is exactly what they deserved. Then, I walked away and didn't bother to look back even when I heard my brother crying about how this was the cruelest thing that anyone had ever done to him. My dad was also livid and even yelled after me to tell me that I'd regret this, but I didn't care since I was already in my car and was driving away. That happened a couple of days ago and I haven't heard from them since.

My aunt thinks that I might have gone a little too far with this one and should have just kicked them out at first but I don't agree with her. This was well deserved. Ida for humiliating my father and brother. Update 1. Hey, I decided not to reach out to my family to Apollary. in spite of what my aunt had said about me being way too harsh. I don't feel sorry about what I did so I'm not going to pretend I do and go out of my way to say so. They could have taken the opportunity to apologize to me when they visited me but they didn't do so. I explained this to my aunt as well and while she still believes, shouldn't have done what I did,

she hasn't said much about it. I guess this is just one of those areas where we agree to disagree and I'm okay with that. In other news, my brother has made sure that he goes behind my back to talk crap about me to all our friends back from school. It's unfortunate that we went to the same high school since this just means that random strangers from school are now texting to confirm the rumors that I'd humiliated and then kicked out my dad and brother from my restaurant after feeding them three-day old food on purpose. Yeah, he exaggerated the story to make himself seem like the victim which is pretty unsurprising. ordinarily, I wouldn't care about petty rumors, but I don't want potential customers taking these rumors seriously so I've texted my brother that if he doesn't stop spreading lies about me and my restaurant then I'll make sure that he loses the job.

That he is right now, too. I'm hoping that it works because I really don't feel like dealing with their unnecessary crap right now. I'm really busy with work and this just isn't the time. Update 2, LOL, my brother texted back saying that he was going to stop. only when I'd make him a partner. I don't even understand what level of idiocy and delusion this is. Besides, if he wants to be a partner then isn't it a pretty stupid idea for him to be talking crap about the same restaurant? I'm pretty sure this is my dad's tactic to ensure his darling

son lands a high-profile job without doing any real work but unfortunately, it's not going to work with me. I've told him that if he doesn't stop then he'll be hearing from my lawyers and that he's in absolutely no position to be negotiating with me right now. The only reason I haven't done anything yet is because I don't want to get caught up in unnecessary drama but I'll definitely mess him up if he tries anything funny after this and he should take this as my last warning. I really hope he does for his own good. Update 3. So, guys, it's been around a month since the last update and since I've been really busy, I haven't been able to fill you guys in on what happened after that. My brother did stop talking crap about me behind my back, but they were still pretty desperate to join in on my success.

So my dad decided to pay me a visit with my brother a few weeks ago, just to intimidate me. They showed up at my house, threatening to sue me for using my mother's name for my restaurant and even told me that they'd already spoken to a lawyer so if I didn't want any trouble, I needed to make my brother a partner as soon as possible. Obviously, I called their bluff immediately since no lawyer would take up such a stupid case. I think they were forgetting a very important fact, that she was my mother too and not just and as far as I was concerned, no law could stop me from using her name. By then, I'd had enough of their bull crap so I told them that if they didn't leave me alone then they'd be forcing my hand and I'd have no option but to call the cops. My brother lost his temper at that point and tried to grab me by the collar, but luckily,

My dad held him back. I think it was the constant humiliation that had finally gotten to him and he'd snapped. Well, it wasn't my fault and they were lucky that I didn't call the cops right then. I told my dad that he needed to get the hell out, but he only told my brother to go cool off in the car and that he wanted to speak to me in private. After my brother left, he tried to manipulate me by telling me that if my mother knew what I was doing to them, then she'd be really upset with me and I should bury the hatchet at this point. I told him to leave me the hell alone because even I was at my limit. He couldn't just use my mother to get his way, that was just low. And to be honest, we were way past the point of reconciliation.

Not once had either of them apologized to me even once, so I really didn't understand why they expected me to forgive them without even asking for it. As for what my mother would feel, I'm sure she would have felt equally let down back when my father had refused to pay for my tuition and for that matter, every freaking time he made me feel awful about myself. So he should be the last person to give me a sermon about what my mother would and wouldn't like. I know she's proud of me, wherever she is, and nothing that my dad says is going to change that. At least my restaurant is doing well and hopefully, we'll be able to expand soon enough.