Reddit Stories - Betrayed by the Lake_ UNVEILING the SCANDALOUS ENCOUNTER with my Foster Sibling_

Episode Date: June 10, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #fostersibling #familydrama #betrayal #scandal #siblingsSummary: A shocking tale unfolds as a foster sibling reveals a scandalous encounter by the lake, leading to betrayal within the family. Emotions run high as relationships are tested in this gripping narrative of deception and secrets.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, familydrama, betrayal, scandal, siblings, fosterfamily, lakeencounter, emotionalconflict, relationshipdrama, hiddensecrets, shockingrevelation, trustissues, familybond, dramaticconfession, siblingrivalry, unexpectedbetrayalBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

discovered my partner getting cozy with my foster sibling during our intimate late getaway, prompting me to confront her. I'm a 22-year-old male. My brother Felix 18M is adopted. My parents saved him from an abusive home when he was a kid, so they were always really protective over him, and he was always the favorite. I'm not trying to sound like I'm whining, it's just the truth. This made me feel bitter toward him while growing up.

Even though Felix is an adult who just started college, my parents still doed on him. Up until he moved out they made his meals and they still schedule his doctor appointments, which they didn't do for me at his age. I don't even think Felix knows how to do laundry. They bought him a new laptop for college while I had to save up for mine. They co-signed for his apartment while I had to live in the dorms with a random roommate who stole my shit. Just little things like that. I met Emma 21F at university and we've been together for about three years.

She's so damn sweet, funny, beautiful, and we're super close. We've talked about moving in together when we graduate, and she's even mentioned wanting to marry me someday, though we're obviously too young now. I thought she was the one, honestly. We even have this stupid inside joke where when one of us says, So what are you thinking for dinner? The other one has to say I was thinking maybe. and then we both laugh.

It's dumb but it's our thing. Felix was accepted into the same university as me, and while he probably could have gone to a better one, he got into three Ivy Leagues with scholarships. Our parents forced him to go to mine as they thought it would be safer and make visits easier if we lived in the same city. They didn't even discuss it with me.

They were like, isn't it great? You two can spend more time together. Even though we barely hung out at home, Anyways, I think my girlfriend Emma is interested in Felix, and it breaks my heart to think it. And this is probably my fault. When I was helping Felix choose his classes, because of course our parents asked me to, his major had overlap with Emma's so I signed him up for a couple of hers. This is because A.

I didn't know what the fuck else to go off of, and B. If they're in the same class, I could see them afterwards and show Felix around campus, or give him a ride to the grocery store, etc., and get to see my GF. I never even thought of what could go wrong. First day I went to see them after their class, I introduced them to each other, and we went to get food at this sandwich place on campus. I realized that they were getting along really well. She laughed at his jokes, asked him about random facts from their studies,

and then marveled at how smart he was after he knew the answer. Don't get me wrong, Emma was still. far more all over me, so at that time I thought it was just her being her sweet self. She's nice to everyone, it's one of the things I love about her. But over time, their friendship became harder and harder for me to bear. Felix has this way of interacting with others that's very flirtatious, and he doesn't seem to notice. Like this one time we had a friend gathering at our house and Felix told one of the girls that she's so pretty that if he saw her picture being used to sell frames at the store, he buy the whole shelf or something like that. But he seemed surprised when she asked him to go

out with her later on and told her no. He does this behavior with everyone, even other dudes, and now with Emma. It drives me crazy because no one else finds this behavior creepy the way I do, but I guarantee if an ugly guy acted like Felix, suddenly my parents wouldn't find it so cute. I fucking hate how every time Felix meets someone new they're immediately obsessed with him. It's been this way our whole lives, and it's just because he's got those fucking dimples and that innocent puppy dog look that makes people want to protect him. Meanwhile, I'm just the boring normal brother. Even at his welcoming dinner with my friends, everyone was fawning over how charming and funny he was while I just sat there like an idiot. The first thing that got to me was when we went to a restaurant because my parents were in town, and Emma was invited.

She noted how good her food was. Felix asked if he could try some, and she said yes. But instead of scooping some of it out of her plate like a normal person, he gently tugged on her sleeve, guided her spoon into his mouth, and thanked her. She just giggled. Am I crazy for finding that intimate? My girlfriend feeding my brother from her spoon. My parents just thought it was cute.

That's when I started noticing little things. There was this other time when we were at a bar. they let Felix in because my friend works there even though he's not 21, and Emma asked him to take a photo of us. But after taking one of just us, he took one with just him and Emma without asking me. He had his arm around her waist. She'd posted the photo of them together on Instagram with the caption Science Buddies and a heart emoji. She didn't post the one of us. After that, I started noticing more things.

If she updates her appearance, Felix will notice and compliment her. He joked that if biology doesn't work out for her, she could easily fall back on a modeling career. I've heard him say this kind of shit to countless girls, so I told Emma it means nothing. She seemed weirdly disappointed when I said that. He's also invited us to hang out with him in the past, and even if I can't go with them, will still ask her to go with just the two of them. Who the fuck asks their brother's girlfriend to hang out alone? He texted her once asking if she wanted to get lunch because he was near her apartment.

She said yes even though we had plans to watch a movie later. She ended up being late to our plans because their lunch ran long and she came back with a little gift he bought her, but still. She seemed so excited about it. Emma has never stopped him. At least at first, she'd laugh it off dismissively, but a little. over time, it was clear she was enjoying the attention. She began talking about him a lot, like funny things he did in class, and asked a couple times what he was like when he was younger. When the winter quarter began, they joined some classes together and for the first time

Emma didn't bother to ask me to join any of hers. I used to sit in on at least one of her classes a week even though I'm an econ major just to spend time with her, but she didn't even bring it up this time. They would hang out together after class without me. They had these inside jokes I didn't understand. One time I heard her call him Lab Rat as a nickname and he called her microscope and they both cracked up. I asked what it meant and Emma just said, oh, it's just a stupid thing from class and changed the subject. And when the three of US did hang out, she'd give him more and more attention, looking at him while smiling as if he's the best thing ever. I just wish she'd look at me like she used to. I remember before Felix showed up, Emma used to text me all the

time, like we were constantly in communication. Now sometimes hours go by before she responds, but when I'm with her and Felix texts, she answers right away. I've checked her phone, I know that's shitty, but I was getting paranoid, and saw that they text almost daily. Nothing explicitly romantic, but they talk more than I realized. They send each other links to they think the other would like. She never does that with me anymore. One day I overheard her and her friend in my apartment, where her friend complained there are no men in our major with both brains and brawn.

They're in stem so all the dudes in there are probably built like the Chicago Bean, and Emma quietly replied that's not true, just look at Felix. I have to admit I cried on my floor that night. Like literally sitting against the wall and my bedroom crying. Emma has told me I'm smart before, but never in that same admiring tone she used with Felix. And she certainly never commented on my body in that way to her friends, that I know of. The absolute worst thing was when our friend group was at McDonald's, we were joking about this flyer we saw on campus asking for nude models that paid really well.

Suddenly Emma, in front of me, told Felix he should sign up for it. This turned into an uncomfortably drawn-out conversation between Emma and a few other friends about my brother's body and how he would be perfect for artists to sculpt, they worded it grossly, albeit in a joking manner, and how he needs this, he'd been job-searching. They were saying things like he'd be perfect with your swimmer's build and the class would love to draw your shoulders. Emma kept being insistent, saying seriously, you'd make so much money, genuinely trying to convince him. Felix kept saying no and giving valid reasons why he didn't want to, but Emma kept being pushy, telling him to apply. She and the others didn't quit until Felix stopped responding. I just sat there like an idiot eating my fries while my girlfriend talked about how my brother

would make a great nude model. I'm not confrontational at all, but in a car ride home I passively said that that whole conversation was kind of weird and it was uncomfortable for me to hear about how badly my own girlfriend and her friends wanted my brother to get naked. Me and Emma are the unsurious type, and I said this in a pretty joking way. But she seemed to take it seriously. She said what? Like my accusation was the stupidest thing she's ever heard, and she said she was just trying to be like a good older sister to Felix and help him get a job. I told her that while I want him to get hired too, it's not like I'd urge him to do only fans or something. She told me I'm

sexualizing a job that's innocent, which I can get, but I told her that regardless, Felix looked uncomfortable and probably felt sexualized since they were making comments about specific parts of his body. She got all defensive saying she didn't mean it that way. We went back and forth for a bit over this, never really raising our voices but both being upset, and I ended up dropping her off at her own place instead of taking her back to my apartment. After that, things were weird for a couple days. She didn't text me as much. When she did text, she seemed distant, typing shorter messages than usual. I saw her on campus with Felix once, sitting on a bench talking, and I didn't approach them. I just watched from a distance for a minute then left. I'll also say that since Felix moved here,

I tried to become an extra good boyfriend for Emma. If Felix complimented her hair, I buy her an expensive hair product and compliment her even better. I've always spoiled her, but feeling competitive, I really upped my game. Last month I spent like $200 on concert tickets because Felix mentioned liking the same band she did. I know that that was a really backwards way of solving my insecurities, rather than just talking to Felix or Emma. But I didn't want to admit that I'm jealous of Felix, like I had to all the time when we were kids. I just want one fucking area of my life that's mine, that gives me its undivided love and attention, and I thought that Emma was that for me.

Now whenever she mentions Felix or I think of them in class together, I feel physically ill. It's driving me insane. That's just to say that the day after the semi-argument, I felt insecure again and texted an apology to Emma. Then I proposed that we go and visit a nearby Lake Town that she'd been wanting to do for a whole year. She already had a plan of everything she wanted to do there. It's always just been me that was too busy with classes and my part-time job. So she was super excited. She chose a weekend and we

spent the prior week planning for it, deciding the activities and packing and she booked us a hotel room. She had all these ideas. She seemed genuinely happy planning it all. For a moment things felt normal again, like they were before Felix showed up. When she talked about getting that ice cream she had this excited look in her eyes, and when I made a joke about getting a king bed at the hotel she blushed like she used to when we first started dating. It was nice. But before we headed out on Friday, she asked me a question that fucking destroyed me. She asked if we could bring Felix. No other friends she didn't ask if we could make it a group thing. She asked for just Felix to come.

I asked her why on earth we bring my little brother when it's supposed to be something romantic for the two of us. She explained that the three of us are always hanging out, and she's told Felix about the lake and invited him to go sometime in the past, so it would be rude not to bring him. I just stood there in shock. A romantic getaway that she'd been wanting to do for a year, and she wanted to bring Felix. I asked if she was joking, and she wasn't. She said it would be fun with him there too. She said he'd been feeling lonely lately and could use the trip. When I asked where he would sleep, she said, I mean, obviously we'd need to get a room with two beds then as if I was being dense.

So not only was she inviting him, but she was literally suggesting we change our sleeping arrangements from sharing a bed to not, just to accommodate him. After bottling up everything for so long, I finally blew up at her with how upset the two of them made me. How I felt like a third will whenever it's the three of us. I mentioned the flirting and the conversation I overheard, and even briefly mentioned how my parents did this exact thing to me, admittedly they have nothing to do with her, but still told her I'm so tired of being someone's second favorite. I told her it felt like she was more interested in spending time with Felix than with me. I brought up the time she was late to our plans because of lunch with him, the way she lights up when he texts, how she always laughs harder at his jokes than mine. I asked her flat out if she had feelings for him.

I don't think I've ever been that direct or confrontational with anyone in my life. She responded by saying I was totally exaggerating as I'm acting like she cheated. When she didn't do anything. I never accused her of cheating, she said all their interactions have been platonial. and she kept explaining her side of things to where I began to feel guilty for getting so emotional. She said I was being paranoid and that there was nothing going on between them. She said they were just friends and that she was trying to be nice to him because he's my brother and she knows how important family is.

But I told her I was sorry and wouldn't go to the lake with her anymore, which pissed her off. She said the hotel in a couple places she booked times with would charge her a cancellation fee, but I didn't care. She started crying and saying I was overreacting. I just couldn't do it anymore. The thought of watching her smile at Felix all weekend while I pretended everything was fine was too much. I left her apartment and drove home without saying anything else.

This happened about a week ago and I haven't seen them since. Felix texted me, asking to talk just the two of us. I assume Emma told him about our fight, but I blocked him. My parents called asking why I wasn't talking to Felix, and I made up some excuse about being busy with schoolwork. They seemed suspicious but didn't push it. The next day Emma texted asking if we could talk, and I just didn't respond. She sent a few more messages over the next couple days, but I couldn't bring myself to answer. I saw her across campus once and ducked into a building to avoid her.

I know that's childish, but I just couldn't face her yet. Do I genuinely think Felix is interested in Emma? No, he's probably just sheltered as fuck by my parents and doesn't know better. But do I think Emma likes him? Yes. But I still love her, so damn much. I can't stop thinking about her. We've been together for three years and up until Felix showed up, things were perfect.

But what if I'm wrong? What if she just thinks he's a good friend? In their defense, I've never really told Felix to stop the flirting, nor really mentioned to Emma that her friendship with him bugs me. I'm also the one that put them in the same classes and introduced them. Maybe this is all my fault for being so insecure. But then why did she have to invite him on our romantic getaway? I just don't know what to do.

Update, a lot of you were pretty harsh about my attitude toward Felix, which I guess I deserved, but some of you don't understand what it's like to grow up with someone who's constantly the center of attention. And to the people saying I'm making this whole thing up, I fucking wish I was. But anyways, here's an update to what happened between my 22M girlfriend, 21F, and adopted brother, 18M. I tried keeping track of things as they happened, but sorry if this post is still long and confusing. A lot has happened since my last post, though most of it is just conversation. and not like dramatic advance or whatever. Clarifying points from comments,

I blocked my brother as I was pissed at him for causing all this. I didn't tell him why, though, just blocked his number. Juniors can have classes with freshmen at my school. There's pathways that you need to graduate, but you can do them at your own pace. Emma is actually doing a five-year program so she's taking some lower-level classes now that she didn't have time for before. My GF never told my brother to do only fans.

I brought it up as a comparison for the model thing. Some people in the comments thought she actually suggested that which is not true, why didn't I think Felix liked Dema? I hated how he acted with her, but it was tame compared to what he does with his guy friends from HS. He's just an extremely physical person which I think comes from his past. My parents told me once that when they first got him he wouldn't let anyone touch him at all, and now he's gone the complete opposite direction, sorry for insulting y'all in STEM. I was just making a joke. I'm sure some of you are built like Greek gods.

On to the update, after reading a lot of your comments, I realized that I needed to at least hear Felix out before jumping to conclusions. So I unblocked him and texted him asking if he still wanted to talk. He responded right away saying yes, and we met up at a coffee shop off campus where we wouldn't run into anyone we knew. The reason why Felix texted me was apparently because Emma asked him about my upbringing, and something she said made him think I was mad at him. She had mentioned that I seemed upset lately and wondered if it had anything to do with how our parents treated us growing up. Felix said he thought I'd been avoiding him, which I had, but didn't know why. I asked him straight up if he was into Emma and he said no, and said he agreed to go to the lake because he thought I was the one wanting him to come.

Apparently Emma had told him that we were planning this trip and wanted to know if he was free that weekend. He assumed she meant both of us wanted him there. I asked to see their texts, which I know is a violation of privacy, but I was desperate. He hesitated but agreed, which surprised me. We sat there for like 20 minutes while I screen. scrolled through their conversation history. The texts weren't really explicit, but they still felt intimate. Emma gave him compliments, affirmations, and nicknames, and spoke to him lovingly

in a way that made me feel special to her when she spoke to me. She asked Felix for help with schoolwork constantly to fixate on how smart he is, he's genuinely brilliant, I'll give him that, told him about her dreams for the future, and asked him for advice about one of her deepest struggles. family issues she's only discussed with me before. There was nothing that alluded to cheating, but I somehow still felt betrayed. She sent him memes almost daily. She asked about his day all the time. She even sent him a selfie once asking if her new haircut looked good, he said it did.

They talked about their classes, professors, assignments, but also deeper stuff like their childhoods and fears about the future. I saw a message where she said you understand me in a way most people don't which made my stomach turn. I thought I was the one who understood her best. Felix's texts were mostly jokes, and the affectionate ones were pretty much just texts he sends to our mom, like Miss You. Or you're the best. With heart emojis. I trusted him at this point, so I tried to explain how they made me feel.

He apologized profusely and said he'd stop talking to Emma. He told me he had his own crush and joked I should ask her out on a weekend trip to get back at him. Felix said he was just trying to be friends with my friends so I'd hang out with him beyond just giving him rides. He said he didn't have many friends here yet since he was new to the school, and since I already had an established friend group, he was trying to fit in with them. He asked if I blocked him because I don't like him, and it was hard to explain that no I don't like him, but that doesn't mean I don't love him. I tried to explain my hostility by pointing out our parents' favoritism, and Felix replied with something like you're right, they do seem to like me better. Maybe you're adopted.

He's never really taken that seriously. We both laughed it off. I asked Felix to describe how Emma acted with him, and from what I could understand, Emma and her friend commented on his appearance often, knew he was at the gym routinely, and they visited him a few times while he was trying to work out. Emma frequently offered him rides and insisted that he come over to her apartment to drink, as he'd never done it before. He didn't tell me sooner because he doesn't know what behaviors are okay or not, no shit,

and thought Emma just wanted to be his friend. He said once they were studying together in the library and she put her head on his shoulder when she was tired. Another time she helped him pick out clothes when they ran into each other at the mall. He said she was always touching his arm when they talked, and she once straightened his collar before a presentation. Little things that aren't exactly crossing a line, but together painted a picture I didn't like. I gave him a crash course on relationship boundaries and why neither of their behavior was okay, and advised him not to flirt so much with everyone.

Felix said he just tries to treat women like he treats guys, but promised to try and curb his behavior. He seemed genuinely sorry and said he'd be more mindful in the future, especially with my friends and girlfriends. After talking to Felix, I figured I needed to hear Emma's side too. We texted back and forth for a bit before agreeing to meet. I had a few exchanges with Emma that I'll just condense into one, when we finally met in person at a park near her apartment. She looked like she hadn't been sleeping well, which made me feel both guilty and vindicated at the same time. She said that when we had our argument over the lake, my anger came out of nowhere, and it scared her that I seemed like I was accusing her of cheating. She said she had no idea I was feeling this way and wished I had brought it up sooner.

She apologized for being close to Felix, but reminded me that I've never went into detail about my history with him. She said she thought I'd be happy they got along so well. I apologized for not communicating. When I brought up the texts, Emma opened their DMs for me to point out the one that bothered me, but I could barely explain why they did. I asked why she invited Felix on the trip, and she said she mentioned we had plans to go and Felix seemed interested. She claimed she was just being polite by including him. However, she showed me texts where Felix asked if he could come over, not the other way around like he claimed. She denied ever visiting him at the gym or commenting on his appearance beyond normal compliments you'd give any friend.

She admitted they had gotten close but insisted it was purely platonic and that she saw him as a little brother figure. She said she'd been making an effort with him because she knew how important family was to me, even though I complained about him sometimes. Emma said he'd cut him off if this bothered me, but I told her we needed a break, because whether the interest Felix described was true or not, I believe. it. She started crying when I said break and asked if I meant breaking up. I said I didn't know yet, that I just needed time to think. She was very emotional, but eventually understood that it was my own issue, and not just something she did. She thanked me for being honest with her, and supported that I wanted to work on my insecurities. There was a lot of back and forth between the two of them that I've left out, so at this point I was exhausted. Their stories didn't match up,

and I had no idea who to believe. Part of me wanted to believe Emma because I love her, but another part of me felt like I'd seen the signs with my own eyes. But yeah, I confronted Felix about the contradictions in their stories and he seemed nervous. He stood by what he said, and suggested Emma may have skipped class to see him at the gym. He did in fact go over to her place to drink, and when he described what happened,

his words were all over the place and his story kept changing. First he said it was just him, Emma, and a couple others. Then he said there were like ten people there. Then he said maybe it was more like five or six. He couldn't keep the details straight. Felix is a bad liar so I felt this was a cover-up and demanded to tell me if he slept with Emma. He got really flustered and denied it, but his face was bright red. He claimed his memory was hazy because the others gave him way too much alcohol and went on about how he was so

drunk that he threw up in the bathroom. He said he barely remembered parts of the night, that they played some drinking game, and that someone, he thought Emma, helped him to the bathroom when he got sick. He said Emma told him he could crash on her couch, but he insisted on going home, and someone drove him. I didn't fully believe him. I know his tells and he seemed like he was lying. I asked Emma about this and she didn't see him get sick, which makes more sense as she's very responsible with alcohol and I don't think she would let someone she cares about overdo it. She said he had maybe three beers total and seemed fine when he left, definitely not blackout drunk like he was implying.

I don't know why they tell me about this in the first place, but I'm starting to think they drunkenly slept together and now they can't get their story straight. The other day, Felix notably cut back on his affectionate slash flirty behavior with some of his friends, so it seems like he's trying to show me he can listen to my advice. I saw him talking to one of his friends and he kept a good amount of distance between them, didn't touch them once. But I feel like he wouldn't listen to me that much if he wasn't super guilty, which almost makes me believe more that he had sex with Emma. I said some pretty mean things to him when we were alone, but I regret it now, because I'm probably overthinking. It would be really out of character for both of them to have an affair, as Emma was always loyal, before this shit, and Felix has never cared for dating.

I kind of want to make Felix and a muck want to go out. Text to Emma to see if she was lying about her feelings for him, but if she says yes, I'll just feel like ass. And if she says no, I still won't know if she's being honest or just saying that because she knows he wouldn't actually be interested. I'm so tired of feeling paranoid, and I wasn't prepared for Emma's absence to be so surreal to me, and now I just feel detached from reality. I haven't been sleeping well. I keep checking my phone hoping for a text from her, then remember we're on a break and feel sick all over again. I've contemplated contacting the others at the drinking night to hear their story, but I also just want to focus on other things right now. I think I'll take the comments' advice and look into counseling.

It's been a tough few weeks since this all happened. My parents called me yesterday asking why Felix seemed so down, and I had to lie and say I had no idea. I just don't know who to believe anymore or if I'm just making all this up in my head because of my issues with Felix. I guess that's it for now. I might update again if anything significant happens, but right now I'm just trying to get through each day. Thanks for reading this far if you did.