Reddit Stories - Betrayed the work husband betrayal a story of rejection jealousy and new beginnings

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #betrayal #workhusband #rejection #jealousy #newbeginningsSummary: A story of betrayal involving a work husband, rejection, jealousy, and new beginnings unfolds in a gripping narrative that explores complex emotions and relationships.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, betrayal, workhusband, rejection, jealousy, newbeginnings, relationships, emotions, storytelling, drama, workplace, friendship, trust, forgiveness, growth, conflict, resolutionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Colleague embraced me and referred to me as her office partner. When I declined her, she manipulated fabricated messages to have the recent hire dismissed, and now she's spreading tales to my spouse. Me being in her hotel. I, 34M, work in a small office and we have about 30 people working here. Mary, 35F, is one of my co-workers. We have been working together for six years.

now. We have six people in our department, and we have to frequently travel across the state as our work involves overseeing government projects. We always travel in a group of two. Although my travel partner changes based on the project, Mary and I are generally put on similar projects and enjoy each other's company. My wife also likes Mary. Overall, we have a very healthy work relationship. On to the incident. Yesterday, we had a happy hour in our office, and we were all drinking after work hours and chatting. It was a group of around ten people that stayed back. Mary was blabbering about how we both have been traveling together so much in the last year.

She was roasting me for my habits while traveling like always forgetting stuff in my hotel room, being sweaty and stinky when I join her for breakfast in mornings, because I go to hotel gym. Everyone was laughing and she was making it sound how unbearable I was to tag along, all in good fun. I also told some funny and sweet stories about her and agreed with her saying that I can be difficult to be with sometimes. Mary came to me and hugged me tightly and told me that she loves me, and I am her work husband. It was all innocent on surface, but she might have been a bit drunk and just didn't let go of her tight hug. Also, I hate that phrase as I do have a wife that I promised to be with forever, and not just in non-working hours. After a few seconds, I started becoming uncomfortable and also saw a few people staring at us.

So, to defuse the situation, I took her hands off my shoulder and told her, she was my work sister and that is why I love to annoy her so much. That seemed to have upset Mary and she left and went back to her desk and was sobbing silently. I tried to apologize to her, but she told me how embarrassing the whole situation was. She said that she just met work husband in platonic way, but me calling her work sister made her sound like a creep in front of the whole office. She was also angry that I aggressively removed her hands from my shoulders while hugging. I tried to reason with her that I do not like the work husband phrase and also people gave dirty looks when she said it. So, I was just trying to make sure people do. not take her words in the wrong way. We talked for a few minutes afterwards and Mary calmed down.

She hugged me again and left. I felt really guilty afterwards because I can see Mary's point. I made her sound like a creep by implying that she meant something inappropriate when she called me her work husband. However, I was a bit uncomfortable in that situation and just did not want people to call us that, or assume something wrong. Am I the odd for calling Mary? my work sister. I am sitting in my office writing this and a bit worried if I embarrassed Mary in front of everyone. Update 1, a lot of you are asking for update, so I am writing it here. Thanks everyone for your comments and giving me confidence that I did not do anything wrong or inappropriate. As I was sitting in office the next day, I knew things would be a bit awkward

between Mary and me. Mary ignored me the whole morning. Initially, I was planning to go and apologize to her, but after the post, I decided that I do not need to do that as I should be the one who was offended. Everyone in the office could see that we were acting weird, and I heard some people gossiping about us. One of the ladies also came to me and asked me if I want to talk about Mary and me. Around 3 p.m. in the afternoon, I was sitting in my office working. Mary came into my office and closed the door behind her. She was angry at me and started saying that I need to stop being an asshole and stop ignoring her. I told her to sit and to talk about what is going on.

She told me that she feels humiliated, and everyone has been starting at her the whole morning because of what I did. I also stood my ground and told her that I was okay with her making fun of me, but calling me her work husband and hugging me in front of everyone for a long time made the situation awkward. She told me to get over myself and that I should know exactly what she meant. Mary said that I made a big deal of what was supposed to be a joke and made it awkward for everyone. She said calling someone work husband is a normal thing and just means that she knows me intimately like a spouse would.

She said that because we spend so much time traveling together, she knows all the intimate details of how I behave outside work. I stopped her and told her that I felt offended by the term work husband because I have a wife and I do not want people to use that term to describe our relationship. I told her that she would not understand as she is single, but as a married man, I really do not want anyone to describe me as a husband in any capacity. She said that I am again misinterpreting what she was saying. She felt that as we have known each other more time than I have been married, she knows me more intimately than even my wife. I have no idea why she feels that way, and I also behave like her husband when we travel together. She went on about how we go out to dinners together after work, how I always insist on having breakfast together in morning, to plan our actions of the day, and I walk around in my underwear,

referring to my gym shorts, around her in mornings. She also talked about how we spend hours talking to each other during road trips and how I am the only man she can trust with any secret in her life. She said that I am the definition of work husband, and I am just in denial. I was a bit angry at this point. I told her that I do all that because I consider her my friend and she is delusional if she feels she knows me more intimately than my wife. I told her I do not want to hear that term again and it is extremely disrespectful to my marriage. Only one woman gets to call me her husband and that is my wife.

Moreover, if my actions are giving her such ideas, maybe we need to stop being friends. She became apologetic afterwards and told me that she did not mean to disrespect my wife, and it was not her intention. She apologized to me and told me to just let it go. She said that she loves traveling with me and she does not want anything to change between us. She again said that I am misinterpreting her statement and just wants to move on. She came to hug me again, but I just told her it was okay and stepped back. I also talked to my wife about the incident that night. As expected, my wife was angry at Mary and told me that she hates the term work husband.

She asked me if Mary has ever flirted with me during our trips or has a crush on me. I truthfully told her that I really have not felt that way and she may have just said that because she was a bit drunk and is now being stubborn about it. My wife said that she feels a bit uncomfortable about Mary now and says that it strike one for Mary and I need to try and put more distance between us while traveling. If she ever repeat the same behavior again, I should report her to HR. I promised my wife that I would try to reduce my interactions with Mary outside work hours and be more guarded around her. Update 2. Thanks everyone for the comments and explaining the urgency of the situation. I discussed it with my wife and have set up meetings

with my manager in HR today. I plan to not file a complaint, but document what happened last week and why it made me uncomfortable. I do not have any upcoming travels this week due to holidays but have to travel next Tuesday with her to a work site. I will discuss with my manager on what my options are.

However, I feel a little distance between Mary and me for some time would be the right solution for now. Update 3. September 3rd, I wrote a while ago regarding my co-worker friend, Mary, being upset with me for calling her my work sister when she called me her work husband in front of everyone. I'm sorry to leave everyone hanging, but the next few weeks were busy, and the issue was eventually resolved. Thanks to everyone for the comments, they really helped me when I talked to my manager about the situation. However, the last week has been crazy, so I wanted to get some opinions on what I should do next.

After my last post, my wife and I were no longer comfortable with Mary's behavior. Although a part of me thought I was overreacting and that it was just part of Mary's personality, I felt the need to protect myself. I requested a meeting with my manager in HR to document my side of the story. I wrote down everything and told them about the incident at the party, as well as Mary coming into my office and the comments she made. I made it clear that while I did not want them to take out of the party, action against her, I wanted to emphasize that her behavior made me uncomfortable, especially

her comments about knowing me better than my wife and remarks about my shorts. My manager had already heard about the incident at the happy hour, as everyone in the office was talking about it. He told me he would try to shake up the travel schedule to minimize our travel together. The issue was that only four people in our company generally work on off-site audits, and the other two co-workers did not want to split up because they claimed they worked well together. As a result, I continued traveling with Mary for the next couple of weeks, but it was awkward, and I kept my distance. My manager then called Mary in me to his office and informed us that he was planning to train a new auditor, Carolina 26F, and set up a schedule

where she would travel with me for one week and then with Mary the following week. We were asked to train her. I liked this arrangement because it meant I no longer had to travel with Mary. Carolina turned out to be a great travel buddy, and I made sure not to get too comfortable with her. I always dressed professionally when we went for breakfasts, avoided late-night drinks, and maintained healthy boundaries. Things were great until last week. Last Tuesday, I could feel everyone staring at me when I entered the office, and I was immediately called to a meeting with my manager and HR.H.R. asked if I had anything to report regarding Carolina and if she had made any advances toward me during our work trips. I told them no,

that Carolina had been very professional the entire time. I asked why I was being interrogated, and they told me they couldn't disclose any further details, but that Carolina was being investigated by HR for inappropriate conduct. I left the meeting, and Mary came to my office, asking what had happened. She mentioned that she was also told Carolina would no longer be traveling with us and that we were asked to travel together again. I told her I had no idea what was going on. I messaged Carolina to see if she was okay and if she needed to talk. She asked if she could come to my office, and I agreed. Carolina explained that someone anonymously sent messages to her boyfriend, posing as someone from the office over the weekend. The men's

Message included screenshots of Carolina sending some inappropriate pictures she had taken in her hotel rooms during our travels and flirtatious messages. This person claimed to her boyfriend that Carolina was trying to cheat with him at work, and he was just trying to warn them. Her boyfriend went crazy after seeing the pictures, ghosted her, and then sent the messages to HR as revenge. Carolina was in tears, telling me that she had only taken those pictures for her boyfriend and had no idea how they had. got leaked or how those messages even existed. Her boyfriend was furious because he also received the exact pictures from Carolina and knew they weren't fake. I consoled Carolina, but she's in deep trouble, as our workplace takes such things very seriously, because we work on government contracts, and I'm sure everyone suspects I am the anonymous messenger. I was told that the matter would be

investigated, and Mary and I would be working together on the project again. My manager says, said there was nothing he could do and also mentioned that they might go through my emails and messages on my company phone as part of the investigation into Carolina. Mary seems very happy about the whole situation and keeps talking about how excited she is to revisit the restaurants and bars we use to frequent during off-site trips. She also keeps referring to Carolina as that pervert. The whole thing is just crazy. My wife, of course, believes that I would never do anything inappropriate with Carolina and that I wasn't the anonymous messenger. However, her conspiracy theory is that Mary, who was also traveling with Carolina, may have

unlocked her phone and accessed the photos. It feels far-fetched, but the fact is, I'm not thrilled about traveling with Mary again. I don't think I have any other recourse to get off this project except leaving the job, which isn't possible at this time. I know many of you work in HR, and I would appreciate any advice on what I can do next. Update December 4th, 17, 2024. I wrote a post six months ago regarding calling my coworker, Mary, work sister, and upsetting her in the process. Things got really weird afterwards and I was paired with another coworker, Carolina for

work trips. Someone anonymously tipped Carolina's boyfriend that Carolina was engaged in messaging explicit pictures to her coworker and he in turn reported her to our HR as revenge before breaking off with her. No one explicitly said it, but I could see that everyone suspected me to be the other person. After that, Mary and I were again asked to travel together despite of my reservations, mostly because others did not want to travel with me. I am sorry I did not write an update because nothing noteworthy happened until last Friday and my wife, Brooke, and I have been arguing ever since about what to do next.

I have been applying for similar positions in the last few months, but it is hard to find a similar job in this market. Brooke has expressed her reservations on me traveling with Mary but also understands that I would stop traveling with her if I could. We have bills and mortgage, and I cannot just leave my job. Just like most commenters on previous post, she believes that Mary framed Carolina. I have been extremely professional with Mary during our travels. Things are not as before where I would consider her my close friend.

I am always guarded around her and try to spend most of my time in my room after work. Carolina stuck around for around a month after I wrote the post, when the HR was investigating the incident. I tried to support her initially and also told my manager that she has been very professional. However, rumors started spreading around that I am going above and beyond to save her job, and she spent a lot of time in my office talking to me alone. We mutually decided that the optics were not good and started distancing ourselves. She resigned a month after the incident because she told me she cannot take it anymore. From what I know, she is still looking for a job.

Mary, on the other hand, seems to be happy on our work trips. Although I act extremely professional around her, a part of me knows that she might be the person who framed Carolina, I have no proof, just intuition. I also feel Mary is the one spreading rumor about Carolina and me in office. She always plans for dinners after work and sometimes asks me to get a drink at the hotel bar as before. I generally avoid drinking on these trips now. There were a few times where she insistent that I get a beer, but I told her that I am already on thin ice at work, and promised Brooke I will not drink on these trips.

This has not stopped her from getting hammered and me having to drop her to her room at the end of the day few times. Brooke has been very supportive through the whole time and has never once suspected me or blamed me for anything. She has asked me to not drink on these trips and also to make sure I call her every night when I reach my room and when I go to sleep. I also voluntarily installed location tracking app on my phone so that she has a peace of mind to know where I am during these trips. On to the incident from last Friday. We had a Christmas party last Friday at our office. Brooke joined me, and the party was great. Mary asked me for a dance, but I declined, and Mary did not look thrilled about it.

Brooke was lovely, and we danced together for most of the night. There was one point where I was talking to my manager and few other collogues, and Brooke was talking to my manager's wife. Mary interrupted them and started bragging about how she has to take care of me during work trips since I'm so clumsy. Brooke also joined in on how I am clumsy and forgetful I am at home. Mary then told Brooke that I make her feel safe on the trips and told her about the incident where she got drunk and how I took care of her by dropping her to her room and sitting by her bedside until she fell asleep. Mary insisted that I am a gentleman and nothing happened, but how I also show care for her. Brooke knew about the incidents when I dropped her to her room. However, at no time did I enter Mary's room.

Brooke did not say anything at that time, but when we got home, this turned into a huge argument. I told Brooke that I did not enter her room and just led her to her room and immediately called her and told her about the incident. I even showed her the text conversation where I messaged Brooke after leaving the restaurant and when I got to the room along with timestamps. After Brooke calmed down, she told me that she believes me, but it's crazy how fluently Mary lied to her, in front of my manager's wife. She told me that Mary is just trying to plant a seat of doubt in her head, and she cannot pretend anymore that she is okay with Mary. She told me that Mary ruined Carolina's career, and if she does not get her way, she might do the same to me. Brooke has asked me if I can draw a red line on traveling with Mary, and if my manager does not except, I should just resign. I feel Brooke is right, and nothing is more important to me than

her. However, it feels so shitty to be in this situation where all my hard work to reach this point in my career will be ruined. I do not know what to do next. I am really hoping to get advice and ideas on what I can do here. I just feel so trapped and not sure what I can do at this point. Next story, Mom told me my biological dad abandoned us before I was born. So I messaged him 20 years later to tell him off, and learned my mom never told him she was pregnant. The story I got told at 14 was that my dad wasn't my biological father. He was the man who married my mom after I was already born, and basically my mom and dad thought at the time I deserved to know this because a few people in our environment kept saying how I didn't look like him and I was asking them if I was a woman. maybe adopted or something. Yeah, I know. Very little was spoken of the man my mom got pregnant

with, but the basic gist of it was that he didn't care about mom being pregnant, didn't want a child in the first place and then she didn't want anything to do with him any further, so she cut all contact. No child support because my mom's family is well off. I won't bullshit you and say I wasn't hurt, but I got over it quickly enough with the help of my mom and dad. Sadly, mom and dad got a divorce last year, just felt like they didn't love each other that way anymore, I guess. They're still good friends with each other though, no drama, for which I'm grateful. Still, this sort of prompted me into thinking about my biological father lately and I ended looking him up online. To know what I expected to see really, but he's just, normal, I guess.

I might have been thinking he'd have this kind of asshole look to him because of how he rejected me before I was even born. Anyway, one night after drinking more than I should with some friends on a night out, I did a stupid thing and sent him a message, basically accusing him how he's horrible, evil, and other less polite words, because of how he abandoned me. Next morning, after I actually remembered what I did, I see his reply to me. It's polite, but confused and he has no idea who I am or how I'm supposed. to be related to him. I had my dad's last name, saying in the end that I probably got the wrong person and wishing me the best. I don't know, it just pissed me off, even though I was sober, and a bit hung over, so I fired up several paragraphs to him about who exactly I am,

who my mom is and what he did to us. His reply came in the evening and it was quite extensive, but I'll sum it up for you, they broke up with each other, on bad terms, after they were together for a little over a year, she never mentioned any pregnancy to him and when he tried to contact her later afterwards, because he felt like shit how it ended. She rebuffed him and blocked him and that was the last time he tried getting in touch with her. Needless to say, me being pissed off at him was gone in a flash, and now my father was the one angry at my mom for doing this. I was wondering how to talk to my mom about what I found out, but I didn't have to bother, because my father contacted her first and confronted her about her hiding me from him.

We're getting to know each other slowly, mostly over the internet, though we talked a few times over a video chat, because he doesn't live in the same country as us. It'll be time soon enough to meet IRL and I'm nervous like hell, but by all accounts and the way he's talked to me, and held back on sharing me with the rest of his family, I think I'm going to like him a lot. Why the fuck did she do it? She says she has not. She says she has no idea why she really did this, blames it on pregnancy and stuff, but I don't see how the pregnancy could have influenced her for my whole life. I love her, but there's times when it's just the two of us and I can't help but hating her for denying the both of us a chance to know

each other as I grew up. I can tell my father is hurt about this, though he doesn't talk about it directly. And my mom probably can guess how I feel, given that she just starts tearing up at times she sees I'm angry or being curt with her. I'm split in half, happy when I'm talking with my father, but mad like hell when I talk to my mom after. I want all this to get better, but at the same time, I want her to hurt. What do I do now? Update, I found out why she told me the lie that my biological father didn't want me. It's maddeningly simple and stupid. She was basically getting to know my dad, her now ex-husband, and he wanted to know about my father's involvement in our lives. Put on the spot, she made out this ridiculous story about how he didn't really care for having a

child, they didn't keep in touch and over the years it evolved into a fucking theater play, which is what I got years down the line when I asked about my father. My dad, I guess, didn't want to put salt unwound, so he just avoided that subject in the future, until I asked about it. That's it. That's the whole reason why I didn't know my father for my whole life up until recently. No, really. Because she didn't want to look like some spiteful, crazy woman who neglected to tell someone

they're a father, she made this up. Which is some bitter irony for her, because she does look like a crazy and spiteful woman with the lies she told about my father. I am so mad at her. I can still barely control my anger around her. All I want to do is hurt her until she's. she feels really hurt like I was when I found I missed out on knowing my father all along and am getting to know me as well. I restrain myself more often than not, but goddamn, this isn't

something that's going to be just pushed to the side. I don't know what we'll do, and I know that sometime in the future I'll probably reestablish having a good relationship with my mother, but right now, it's just not happening. But on the brighter side of things, I met my father. Some people mentioned in the last thread that I should be careful how, when, and where I met him. Someone thought I would be flying out of our country to meet him, I think. But given how everyone that knew him back then and now had nothing but good to say about him, I connected with my father's side of the family, have plenty of cousins, aunts, uncles, and so on to talk with and meet.

And it's a bit overwhelming just how many of them are there and how overjoyed they were to find about me. I gave him a few dates when we could meet and he picked this last weekend. He flew back on the Friday, visited his parents, my grandparents, and man, that's so weird how I have another set of grandparents to the whole mix, and then we met up. I really don't know what I was expecting. I mean, yes, we talked and he seemed very understanding and kind and good and so very interested in meeting me, but I guess there was just that fucked up fear of him not liking what he actually saw and leaving, no, really, thanks for this shit, Mom. It didn't matter in the least. As soon as we

met, there was just this moment, I don't know how to describe it, I don't really think I ever had anything like that before and he just hugged me and I could feel him shaking, I think he was holding himself back from crying, and I started crying for no real reason and then we talked and just spent the rest of the day together. We pretty much spent the whole weekend together, from the moment I got up we talked and by the time he was boarding his flight I didn't want him to leave ever again and he won't not really he wanted to know everything about me and I literally mean everything and I guess what really made me actually love him is him asking to meet my dad asking me if that was okay with me and then thanking him for his part in raising me

they talked some more with each other while I was busy with something else and I think they became sort of friends I don't really know what to call their relationship So to all of you who helped me deal with my fucked up situation, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. Even if it seemed like I was just venting out loud on the internet, thank you. Thank you all. Except those one or two people who thought my father is a rapist and an abuser, seriously WTF.