Reddit Stories - Episode #10 - Heartbreaking Confessions and Family Secrets Bedtime ( Over 9 Hour Compilation )

Episode Date: October 16, 2025

#redditstories #sleep #sleepstories #bedtimestories #fallasleep #familysecrets #heartbreaking #confessions #longcompilation SummaryEpisode 10 shares heartbreaking confessions and hidden family secrets in a soothing 9-hour bedtime compilation. Emotional yet calming, these stories are narrated to help you relax, release daily stress, and gently fall asleep. Perfect for night listening, guiding you toward deep rest and peaceful sleep with powerful storytelling. Tagsredditstories, sleepstories, fallasleep, bedtimestories, relaxingconfessions, heartbreakingstories, familysecretscompilation, longbedtimeaudio, soothingnarration, 9hourstorytime, calmingconfessions, sleeplisteningstories, dramaticfamilydrama, peacefulnightlistening, bedtimecompilation, deeprestaudio, stressreliefstories, nighttimelistening, relaxingbedtimecompilation, sleepbetterstoriesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Harmful sibling disrupted my marriage ceremony to argue that my children were insignificant because I had them prior to getting married. Her subsequent actions were so irrational that law enforcement had to intervene. I, 24F, got married about a week ago and unfortunately, things went quite haywire there. Let me start right from the beginning, I have an older sister, let's call her Stacey, 26F, and we have always had intense sibling rivalry. And I'm serious about it, we hated each other growing up because all we wanted to do was one-up each other.

We never got along and even as we grew older, we continued to loathe each other. It was all subtle, we made sure that we never outwardly showed people how much we disliked each other, but it was all there under the surface. She and I didn't talk to each other when we were living together and would only put on a show for our family members, whenever they would come over. But even our parents knew that we didn't like each other and never did they. they even try to fix things between us. I guess, in a way, that's what led to a lot of things going wrong eventually.

But I'll come to that later. She moved out when she was 18 for college and I was really relieved because that meant I could finally be myself around the house instead of constantly trying to walk on eggshells because of her. She would only come back for the holidays and brag about how great her life was since she was going to one of the best business schools in the state. I was a little jealous of her, but my only priority was to work. work harder than her and get into someplace better than her, which I did get to do because I got

into an Ivy League school. So that was a pretty huge slap on the face for her and I was celebrated in a much bigger way than she ever was. I thought that getting into an Ivy League school would put an end to our competition, but that didn't happen since one day she just announced that she was starting her own business and with some help from my dad, she actually did it. Now I don't know if it was luck or just hard work, but it took off a couple of years ago and she moved to Japan to expand the technology aspect of her business. It was a grand success and our parents were proud of her. That was about two years ago and since then she has been living in Japan. But unfortunately, things were not really going well for me after I graduated from college and the fact that Stacey was

accomplishing so much just added salt to the wound. I had found a job but it was nowhere near as glamorous and satisfying as whatever she was doing. So I quit soon after I joined. That turned out to be a huge mistake and I know it because I should have just stayed there and worked my way up, but I was being a fool and competing with my sister when in fact, I should have just been focusing on myself and my career. It was a really stupid move of me and I regret it, but it's done now. After I quit my job, there was a phase where I was waiting for something to just fall into my lap and when it didn't happen, I started getting depressed. It also didn't help that Stacey was doing great in her own field and her business was something that my parents would brag about constantly.

I hated it, but I couldn't even say anything without sounding bitter and jealous. Even though I was feeling both of those things, I had to hide it whenever I met with my family and pretend to be happy for Stacy, because anything other than happiness was an unacceptable emotion. That was around the time that I met my husband, Jackson, 25M. I'm so glad that I did because meeting him practically changed my life. It had been about six months since I had quit my job and had been waiting for some better opportunity to come by, but with no such luck. Like I said, I was really depressed and I was getting very frustrated with my life so I downloaded a dating app. I wasn't exactly looking for anything, I just wanted to hook up with people and use it as an outlet to distract myself from how badly things were going for me. I was struggling

to cover rent and even by the basic necessities for myself, I had to depend on my parents for money. They would send me money every month. I also had a certain amount of money set aside from when I was working but none of it was enough and I was really struggling with the bills. My parents would help me out and I would promise them every month that I would return all the money to them. As soon as I was able to I could always hear the disappointment in their voice and that just drove me crazy because I knew that I was not doing my best and it was very difficult for me to come to terms with the fact that at that moment, Stacey was doing far better than me and I was a huge disappointment to my parents. So I was using dating apps and random dates with me I didn't even like much to distract myself from my feet.

and for a while, it worked. I went out on a few days for a few weeks with me who was only interested in hooking up and nothing more. It was mostly just casual, but that changed after I matched with Jackson. He was a really interesting guy to talk to it first and he ticked all my boxes. He had also been a straightest student when he was in school, but after he graduated from high school, he actually went to culinary school and was working in a restaurant when he matched with me two years ago. He was funny, charming, and just the right amount of masculine. But at the time, I had told him that I wasn't looking for anything serious when he asked me out on a date after almost two weeks of talking to each other online.

He told me that he was looking for something serious and was not interested in having a casual relationship. He was dating to marry. I liked the fact that he was honest and upfront about what he felt so I decided to give it a try, not knowing what was in store for me. I went out with him after agreeing to a first date, just to see how it went. And it went incredibly well, it felt like he and I had known each other for years, and I think it was pretty much the best date I had ever had in my life. We had a lot of fun and with him, I really felt like I was not trying to prove anything. Which was the first time that I had experienced that so that was a nice change of pace from the way that I usually feel around other people.

It was an easy conversation and we just clicked. and I don't know what changed, but I decided to give our relationship a real chance. We went out on a couple of more dates, but after we had been together for just three months, I found out that I was pregnant. The only thing that I was worried about at the time was how Jackson would react to it, nothing else because he already pretty much knew everything about me that he had to know. Within the first few weeks of our relationship, I had told him everything about myself and my family, especially the part when I had spent my entire life competing. with my sister and trying to outdo her, but being with him made me want to be a better person,

a person of my own. He already knew everything about me and I think I knew everything about him too by that point. In fact, he had been the one to push me to snap out of my depressed phase and actively start looking for a job instead of just waiting for something to come to me. So I ended up taking back my old job in the company that I quit and I think it was one of the best decisions that I had ever made. And when I found out that I was pregnant, I didn't really have a lot to worry about. By then, I had been working for almost a month and things with Jackson were also going really well. The only thing that I was concerned about was how he would react to this because most people would just think that it was too soon and back out of the relationship because

they would get scared. But deep down, I really wanted to have the baby since it just felt right. I can't explain it in words, but I just felt ready to be a mother. And to my surprise, when I told Jackson about the pregnancy, he was actually really supportive. He told me that it was my body, so I could decide whatever I wanted to, and he would stick with me, no matter what I decided to do. And when I told him that I wanted to keep the baby, there was nobody happier than him. He told me that he had actually wanted me to keep the baby because he felt like he was ready as well, even though he was young and had just been together for three months. He told me that he didn't want to sound crazy or come off too strong, which is why he had left it up to me, but my choice had made the happiest man alive.

We agreed that even though we were having the baby, we would wait to get to know each other better before we got married. It was decided, we went through with the pregnancy and a couple of weeks later, we even found out that we were having twins. So that was another big surprise, but we were rolling with it. He moved in with me shortly after we found out about the pregnancy and introduced me to his parents around the same time. His parents were really sweet and they seemed to love all the kids equally, without ever forcing anybody to compete with each other. It seemed like a healthy family and it was the first time that I was ever seeing how it functioned because I have never experienced it personally. However, I was kind of skeptical about introducing him to my family because I knew that my parents were not going to approve of my life decisions. I was a bright student with a great future ahead of me, but I had decided to have kids with a man I had barely known for less than a year, and I had even moved in with him.

Any parent would disapprove of this, and my parents would probably lose their heads. So I kept putting it off until I started to show, and then, I knew that there was no hiding it anymore. I arranged a meeting with them when I was four months along and decided to tell them everything. I had invited them over to my house and had Jackson be there for me for me for me for me. moral support. They knew that I had been dating Jackson for a while, but they didn't know that I had been living with him and that I was also going to be the mother of his kids soon. So when I told them about it, I expected them to be angry and yell at me or something. But they reacted in a very unexpected way and actually seemed to be happy for me. They were thrilled and hugged me

and stuff while congratulating me on the pregnancy. And when I told them that I was actually having twins, my mother almost fainted out of happiness. It was an unexpected reaction, but I was glad that they were not mad at me. In fact, after they got to know about it, they even threw me a party and announced to everybody that they were going to be grandparents soon. I had also told them that Jackson and I didn't want to get married just because we were having kids together. We wanted to live with each other for a while before making such a huge commitment and they were fine with that as well. They were really supportive of everything and I was shocked but it was a happy kind. I was just really grateful that my parents were on my side on this because I would have hated it if they turned against me or tried to change my mind about things.

I even talked to them about how they were being so supportive and I had actually not expected that of them. So they told me that they were aware that throughout our childhood, they had never really been good parents in the sense that they had never stopped my sister and me from competing with each other and they thought that they were doing a good thing. They thought that they were doing us a favor by constantly pushing us to do better, but in doing so, they realized that they might have screwed things up for us in the long run. And this realization happened when they got to know that I had quit my job because I wanted to do something better and they knew that this decision had been influenced by the fact that Stacey had started her own business and was doing really well, which is why I also wanted to do something of my own and outdo Stacey. I found it weird that they knew about this, even though I had never really mentioned it to them. but they said that as parents, they knew what was going on and they felt responsible for it. So they wanted me to know that they would be there for me no matter what and I didn't need to constantly compete with Stacey to prove that I was worthy of their love and affection.

They would always love me and they were equally proud of both of us because we had always done our best and that's what mattered to them the most. It was a much-needed conversation and I'm glad that I talked things through with my parents because it made it a lot easier for me during the pregnancy and even afterward because I could freely asked my parents to help me out with the kids while Jackson and I were working. They had told me that they had had a similar conversation with Stacy as well, but apparently, it didn't really go as well as they had expected it to. She had just laughed and said that she didn't need them to say such things because she genuinely believed that I was a sore loser,

which is why I was having a breakdown and that's why my parents were trying to cut me some slack by telling us that they were equally proud of both of us. But she knew what the truth was. She just refused to except that our parents had been really trying to turn over a new leaf and be better parents. She was just convinced that she was more worthy of their love because she was doing better in life by her standards. My parents told me that they would talk to her when she would come back for the holidays because online, it was just not the same. So they promised me that they would talk to Stacey and have the same conversation that they did with me so she would also stop trying to compete with me because up until that point, she had been going above and beyond and trying to

make me feel bad. Ever since I had announced the news of my pregnancy, she had been sending me backhanded compliments and making stray remarks that were completely uncalled for in the family group chat just to put me down and make me feel bad about the pregnancy, even though I really didn't think there was any reason for me to feel bad about it. But to her, it was obviously a failure, and a huge one at that, because I was knocked up before marriage and was living with some guy who I barely knew. So to her, this was a huge one for her, and she believed that now, she could say whatever she wanted to me. It was really getting on my nerves, and I had almost wanted to leave the group chats several times, but my parents were the ones who convinced me to stay because they said that

they were really trying to be better parents and they wanted us to stick together so I stayed for their sake. My parents promised me that they would put an end to this or at least they would try their best and if they were unable to do so, then I was free to leave the group. So, So when Stacy came back for Christmas, my parents told me that they were going to talk to her and they did, but unfortunately, she was too far gone by then. Her sole aim in life at that point, first to humiliate me and make me feel as small as she could. She was insufferable that year, even though she had been quite annoying for the past couple

of years before that as well because of her successful business. But that year was much worse, because not only had she just come back from Japan, But she had also come back, knowing that I was pregnant and not even close to her in terms of success and wealth. And she did not let go of even one opportunity to remind us of that, the entire time she was just bragging about herself and shooting me looks or even asking me if I was not happy for her. It was just really awkward and uncomfortable and I had to leave the party early because I was trying

really hard not to lose my temper or end up crying in front of everyone. So after that Christmas party, my parents tried to talk to Stacy so she would cut it out, but instead, she said that she had worked hard to get where she is and she wasn't going to let me take that away from her. So she was going to brag about it all she wanted. And I would just have to deal with it. So that is the point where I decided that I would cut ties with her and I left the group. My parents also believe that it was for the best. We hadn't spoken in two years and I had no idea what she had been up to, but recently, I heard from a couple of my relatives that she was back from Japan with a baby. I heard about it for the first time around four weeks ago and apparently, it was a miracle baby who was just two months old.

My parents told me that they had been on video calls with her several times before she came back, and had never noticed anything of her, let alone that she was pregnant. She said that she had wanted it to be a surprise for everyone and said that she had become a mother and had recently gotten married to her husband, the father of her children, in a private ceremony, just a year ago, and now she was finally ready to talk about it. The timing was nothing less than suspicious because pretty much everybody in the family knew that I was supposed to get married around the same time but now thanks to her, everyone could only talk about her marriage and her daughter. She said that her husband was still in Japan because he had a lot of work and he couldn't make it, but she had come here with her daughter because she wanted her family to meet her. But I couldn't let something like that get under my skin because I was getting married and that was supposed to be a magical time. So even after she came back, I continued to avoid her. Unfortunately, it didn't matter anyway, because she found a way to ruin my wedding. She turned up on the day of my wedding, uninvited, just after the ceremony.

I'm honestly, just thankful that at least whatever happened, happened after the ceremony was over. She crashed my wedding, and when I saw her among the guests, I almost flipped out, but Jackson and my parents helped me calm down because apparently, she had snuck in, and if I made a scene, then I would just be right into her hands and make my wedding day all about her. So as long as she was not actively doing anything terrible, we could just let her stay and deal with it later. I was getting married in Jackson's aunt's farmhouse, so the security there wasn't tight anyway, which is how she managed to get the first place. Now, I kind of regret not spending enough money on security because had I done so, we could have been able to avoid a lot of things.

Throughout the time that she was there at the wedding, all that she was talking about was how she was incredibly lucky because of her miracle baby and how my children were illegitimate and didn't count because I had them before marriage. It was incredibly insulting because she was saying that to everybody that she met while socializing at my wedding and everyone who talked to, later on, came up to me and told me about it and I had to just smile and let it go because I didn't want to fight with her and ruin my own wedding. It was incredibly difficult, but I was getting through it somehow. At one point, I almost lost it, but before I could even say anything, the place was stormed by the police. I had no idea what was going on, but they made us seal the exits and we were locked in. Within seconds, they had arrested Stacey and it was really disorienting because there was a woman who was screaming and crying and holding the baby that was supposed to be my sisters and claiming

that it was hers. After that, it was a blur of statements and handcuffs and stuff like that. It was not until much later that we figured out that the baby had not been a baby. Apparently, all the pictures that she had been showing us were taken from a friend's social media account, and she had photoshopped herself into it like some sicko. And the worst part of it was that all the times that she had met us with the baby, she had actually been babysitting for her friend. She had been living with her friend ever since she came back from Japan

because she had ended the lease on her own apartment and was looking for a place, so she was babysitting for free, which is why she had never invited our parents or our relatives to visit her and had only been visiting them. On the day of my wedding, she decided to take it a little far and attend my wedding without her friend's consent. What she had done was take the baby out while her friend and her husband were asleep and refused to take any calls afterward, which is why her friends had to get the cops involved and have her arrested. Thankfully, she had been talking incessantly about my wedding and how she wanted to take me down, so her friends had to been able to guess where she would be. And that's how they had been able to track her down and

have her arrested. It was literally crazy and I can't believe that it happened but it did in my family and I have still been having a hard time coming to terms with it. To think that Stacey was extremely competitive was one thing, but knowing that she was actually willing to go to such extreme psychotic lengths just to prove to our parents that she was better than us, was very concerning. Now she is begging her friends not to press charges against her because she's obviously not going to win that one she'll end up in jail. So nothing has happened yet. But for some reason, she's blaming me for all of this and claims that apparently, I was only getting married to rub it in her face. Now let's not forget that I haven't been in touch with her for almost two years and haven't even

spoken to her ever since our last interaction. I had even been gracious enough to let her crash my wedding because I didn't want to make a scene and humiliate her. She is the one who took my wedding and turned it into something ugly, if anything, should be the one blaming her. So yesterday, when she reached out to me and told me that I needed to convince her friends that I had driven her to do something crazy, I told her that I wish she would end up in prison because that's where she belongs. Either that or the psych ward because she is crazy. But right now, my parents think that I need to help her out and convince her friends that

she was not thinking straight because I had been tormenting her with the news of my marriage and kids. just so that they don't press charges against her and get her arrested. So far, since she had been living with them and babysitting the infant anyway, the case is a bit more complicated and the police haven't been able to figure out what to do about it and can't proceed without the consent of her friends. It would have been a clear-cut case of kidnapping. Had she not been living with them and actively taking care of their baby in their absence?

But that's not the case here. So that's why she still managed to evade being jail. And she has been claiming that they had already consented to her taking the baby with her, but there is no way yet to confirm it. So she's not in trouble yet. All we need to do is convince them, but I'm not sure I want to do that. I really don't think that she deserves any help from me, of all people. But my parents think that it will be wrong on many levels for me to turn my back on her. So I'd offer wanting my sister to end up in jail.

Update 1. Okay. So I have decided that I'm going to cut ties with my entire family, including my parents. Yeah, they were very helpful during the pregnancy and after birth, but I'm just done with them now. I think I need my space for a while and whether they are supportive or not is secondary to me right now. I just want to be with my husband and kids, period. And I can't do that if I'm getting caught up in their drama. So I want to be out of this because it's really messing with my head now.

and I'm grateful for my parents and everything that they did after I announced that I was pregnant, but I'm just really tired of everything. As for Stacey, I think it's very obvious why I don't want to help her. She doesn't deserve my help. And she dug her grave herself so she can get out of it on her own. Jackson thinks that it's the right choice and yeah, that's it. Update 2. So I just heard from a couple of my relatives that Stacey is in big trouble because her friends have decided

that they are going to press charges and pursue this matter further. So far, Stacy has been claiming that she had her friend's consent to take the baby with her whenever she pleased, but that's going to be difficult to prove in court and given her behavior during the wedding and how she had been claiming the child to be her own. I can't think of any way she can get out of this. It's upsetting, but honestly, I can't say that I'm surprised. I'm also not speaking to my parents currently and I don't think I will until they tell me that what I did was the right thing and they're sorry.

for asking me to help her, which is a lot to ask. But I don't want to speak to them until they realize how badly they had messed things up for Stacey and me as kids. They need to really understand that this is partly their own doing. Update 3. Hi. So Stacey is on trial right now and we don't know what's going to happen to her, but she's looking at jail time for around five years now if she gets convicted,

but she is mentally unstable so that might get cut shorter. Anyway, that's not our business. So Jackson and I are still going on our honeymoon and we are going to try and make up for a terrible wedding. I can't ask my parents to babysit because we are still not on speaking terms. So we are going to have to ask Jackson's parents to watch our children while we are away, but it's just going to be for two weeks, so it's not a long time. I'm just hoping that my honeymoon is better than the wedding and I have a feeling that it's going to be since that will just be me and Jackson. I hope you enjoy this story.

partner pressured me into purchasing lavish furnishings I couldn't afford, then insisted on being served because he contributed more money. When I attempted to depart, he restrained me and took off with my belongings. My phone. My 25F, soon-to-be ex-boyfriend, 28M, have been living together for the past few months, dating for about three years. I work full-time, as does he, he makes significantly more than me. Probably close to 3x more than I do, but I honestly couldn't tell you exactly how much he makes because he's very dodgy about his income. We split our bills, he pays about 60%, which is honestly still a bit tight for me but I have been making it work, and I have no savings. When we moved and together, we each had our own belongings that we were bringing. I had my bed,

he had his, he had a couch, etc. Our plan when moving in was to use his bed as our bed. We mine would be in the guest room because his was larger. We weren't planning on keeping his couch forever, but agreed to buy one at a later time because I couldn't financially swing a deposit, first month's rent, all other moving expenses, etc., plus a new couch. Before move-in day, he threw out his bed and couch

and decided he wanted to buy new furniture. He had a bed bug scare due to his elderly grandmother's home having bed bugs and he thought he brought them to his apartment after visiting her, ended up not being bedbugs, so I understand why he threw them out. Here's where things get frustrating. He knew that I couldn't afford to buy new furniture at the time, and I would need some time to save up so he agreed to pay for the furniture

and I would pay him back in increments each month. He ended up purchasing a very expensive mattress and a brand new couch, which I was there to help pick out. I told him numerous times that if he really wanted to go with these expensive pieces of furniture, it would be a while before I could pay him back in full for my portion. He proceeded anyways, and I gave him my budget for how much I could pay him each month on top of rent and my personal bills. While I recognize that he has spent a good amount more than I have, I am still living outside of my means with this financial agreement that we have. We have had arguments because of this and he states that I should just do whatever he asks of me because he has been so generous with finances he asks dumb things of me all the time.

For example, I had gotten home from work early after an extremely long week, and I had been so generous with finances. and was relaxing on the couch when he comes home. He goes into the kitchen, and I hear him say, Will you make me a snack? As he's opening the fridge. I get irritated, because I had just gotten home and wanted to relax, and didn't understand why he couldn't make his own snack as he was standing with his head in the fridge already,

so I said no. He gets extremely upset. This turns into a massive argument about how he is completely financially supporting me and I'm just not grateful for it at all, and all he's asking is that I be nice to him. I explained to him that I'm not going to do everything he asks of me simply because he can afford more than I can. I told him that it was unfair for him to use my financial situation as a control tactic. He went on to tell me that I am simply not equal to him because I am a woman and he is a man,

this is a wild take emo, and I should just listen to him and not have an attitude when he asks me to do things. This set me off. I told him that I cannot do it anymore and I would like to. to move out, he has told me multiple times that he can afford to live here without me, so I figured it wouldn't be an issue. There are other things that led to me calling a quits, like frequent boundary crossing, rude name calling from him, and him being borderline abusive physically, he likes to playfully pin me on the floor, bite, grab, immobilize me, etc. He calls it being playful but it seriously makes me angry and I have made it very clear to him. Now, I am essentially

hold up in our guest bedroom, looking for a way out because I have no savings and living with him has drained my financial resources. I know that the longer I stay here, I will just continue to dig myself deeper in the whole financially. I have family, but they are hours away in a different state, and I cannot leave my job without notice. I've been looking for places in this area that I can afford, but it's an odd time of year to rent and there aren't many places available. I just don't know how to get out before I lose my mind. Any and all advice is welcome. Update, it's two days later and I have officially moved out of state. To all those saying he is physically and financially abusive, you are correct. The night after I posted this, he came into the spare bedroom where I was

sleeping and woke me up at one o'clock in the morning. He grabbed my phone out of the bed, and stormed off with it. I followed him and tried for a few minutes to get my phone back from him. I eventually got it back, and he followed me back downstairs, then upstairs, then back downstairs. He followed me around, grabbing me by my wrists, attempting to pin me onto the floor or the bed. He would pick me up and try to carry me outside of the house as I was yelling at him to stop and just let me go back to sleep. He followed me downstairs where I was getting back in bed to go back to sleep because it was the middle of the night. He jumped in the bed with me after undressing himself and wrapped his arms and legs. around me, immobilizing me and then proceeded to try to bite me. I did poke him in the eye by

accident, while trying to shove him off of me. I was swinging my arms at him as much as I could while being pinned down by his arms, legs and entire body weight. He didn't stop until I screamed at him that I wanted nothing to do with him and to leave me the FCK alone. At this point, he becomes furious, gets up and says that if that's how I feel, then I can just get the FCK out right now. He then goes to the closet with my clothes hanging in them and tries to pull my clothes out of the closet. I go to stop him, pulling his arm out of the hangers and he stumbles back, running into the closet door. He continues to shout about how I can get the FCK out and find somewhere else to stay, or go to a hotel. I broke down sobbing, just completely drained, mentally and physically after

going around for about an hour trying to get him to leave me alone. I end up calling my mom a little after 2 a.m., sobbing, and telling her that I need to come home and I need help. I tell her what's going on as he, my ex, is still standing over me in the guest bedroom. I'm sitting in the bed and he is standing next to the bed just watching me. As soon as he realizes that I am talking with my mom, he switches up really quick and says to my mother, I'm really sorry you're dealing with this. She is going through Nicodine withdrawal and is treating me like shit. I started yelling at him through my sobbing, with my mother still on the phone, telling him to leave me the FCK alone, to go away and let me go to sleep, etc. He begins recording me on his phone at some point. This goes on for a bit,

I have my mom on the phone with me and my ex is just standing in the guest room next to me while I'm sobbing in the bed. I attempt to go upstairs, out onto our back deck to talk to my mom without him standing over me. He follows me, still playing the innocent victim. I again, start yelling and telling him to leave me alone. Eventually, he gets irritated enough by my yelling for him to stop following me and leave me alone, and says that he will go somewhere else for the time being, he'll pack a bag and give me time to move my stuff out. My mother is still in the phone, so he is using a very calm tone of voice and acting as though

he's been extremely rational and calm the entire time, while I am a hysterical mess. While he is gathering some of his things, my dad wakes up and my mom fills him in on what is going on. My dad immediately said he is going to call the police. My ex overheard this, looked at me and just said that's crazy and walked out about 20 minutes later, after throwing his house key at me. My parents did call the police. They showed up probably 10 to 15 minutes after my ex left the house. I spoke with the police about what was going on, and they informed me that my ex had called them before my parents even had. He called the police immediately after he overheard my dad saying he was going to call the police. He also told the police that I attacked him,

I hit him several times in the face, open and closed-handed. He told the police that I punched him in the face. I had a red mark on my wrist from my ex grabbing me that I showed the officer, and he said that there wasn't anything there that he could see and there was no legitimate reason for them to remove either of us from the home. The officer told me that my ex could return to the home if he wished to, and that we would just have to not interact with each other. There would be an affidavit submitted to the court with each of our statements and they will determine if charges will be filed against either of us. The officer left and returned with a domestic violence resource pamphlet,

and asked me to give him the key that my ex had thrown at me before leaving the home. I complied, and the officer told me that my ex had been sitting just down the street from our house, and would be returning in about 30 seconds but that I need to stay on the guest bedroom level, and my ex needs to stay on the top level and we need to not interact with each other at all. I agree to do that. My ex returns, I am back in bed downstairs, still on the phone with my mom after several hours. My parents decided that they were going to come get me, so they got on the road during my conversation with the police officers.

I remain on the phone with my mom all night, attempting to sleep but only being able to doze for a few minutes at a time before waking again. In the morning, my ex comes walking downstairs on the level that is supposed to be off limits to him, per our agreement with the officer. I overhear him on the phone with a reporting center for reporter abuse of adults or children. He gives them my name and information, and I also overhear him say my sister's name and something about violence in that family. About 20 minutes later, he comes downstairs again as I am packing my things. I tell him he needs to go back upstairs and leave me alone. He just says I will.

Just so you are aware, I'm having a PFA filed against you, so I need to know when your parents will be here so I can let my attorney know protection from abuse order. I ignore him, and he walks back upstairs. I go on with packing my things, and some time later he comes back downstairs. I am in the guest bedroom changing, and he pushes the door open. It wasn't completely latched. He was not supposed to be down there, and starts asking me again, when I am leaving.

I tell him to get the fuck out, he can see that I am changing and stop coming downstairs. He then says I need to know what date you'll be leaving so I can file the PFA. Once I file it, you can't be here. I said, okay, great. He walks back upstairs. My mom and dad start talking about how what he is doing is an intimidation tactic, and I'm just questioning why he's claiming he is so afraid of me that he needs a protection order, but he's not afraid of coming downstairs and trying to talk to me multiple times.

walking around for no reason on speaker phone with the reporting center. The whole situation just felt like he was baiting me. My parents eventually showed up, they called the police ahead of time and asked that an officer meet them at the house because my ex was still there, with free range of the house while I was still hold up in the basement bedroom. My ex, of course, spoke with the officer when he arrived and appeared calm, stating that he will go elsewhere while we do what we need to do to get my stuff moved out. He stated all he asks is that we just lock up after we leave.

The officer stays outside the home while we move all of my belongings. He ends up staying for probably close to 1.52 hours. After packing all of my things, I tell the officer that the home is locked, the key is left by the door, and I will be returning to my home state. I went to my office building. I had spoken with my supervisor early that morning so she was aware of what was happening. I met with her, and she informed me that they understood me having to leave so abruptly and they would be paying out all of my sick leave and PTO to cover me for the next four weeks and that if at any point I wanted to return, they would reserve my position. I thanked her and apologized profusely about the situation.

I feel so horrible about leaving a position with no notice at all, and one that has been a really fantastic job that I saw myself staying at long term and was so generous and understanding about my situation. I am now back in my home state, with my parents and siblings, and I feel like I am living in a fever dream. None of it feels real at the moment. This is possible the worst 24 to 48 hours I've ever experienced. I am not looking forward to what my life will look like if I have to go to court over this, if my ex actually files for a PFA and or his statement leads the courts to believe that charges need to be filed on me. I don't know what is going to happen next, but I am out and I am safe. Next story, boyfriend left me right after my cancer diagnosis, then I found out he had a fiancé. Years later, I'm a guest speaker at university while he's still working as security guard.

When I was 21, I dated a guy who was too old for me. Kevin was 37, an older student in my university program. I'd just gotten out of a bad relationship and thought Kevin was great. Of course, it was red flags all over the place, but I was so naive bad. then that stupid me didn't question this. Kevin and I dated for six months. He quickly told me that he loved me and asked me, pretty aggressively, to move to his home city to be with him after graduation. Great, right? Still ignoring the red flags. Except in my last semester, I was diagnosed with cancer and my world kind of fell apart after that. The day I got my diagnosis, Kevin made out with another

woman at a party in front of me, and I left the party in tears. He broke up with me that night by email saying that we weren't a good fit anymore because of my impending medical emergency, but he was only with me because he took pity on me after the end of my previous abusive relationship, and by the way, all our friends thought I was annoying and no one liked me. I felt punched in the gut. My memories of that week are a blur. I had to drop out in the middle of the semester and get a medical leave of absence with the university. In the meantime, Kevin would follow me around campus demanding to know why I wouldn't talk to him and that I forgive him. I remember looking at him like he was insane. So you're

apologizing for what you did? I asked, of course not, I didn't do anything wrong, he answered. But it's not fair that you're angry at me like this. I told him to go to hell and just focused on getting my paperwork squared away and moving back home for what became a lot of chemo. Honestly, this period of my life was a fucking nightmare and I don't like thinking about it. I became suicidal and was diagnosed with depression, so I was seeing a psychiatrist while getting chemo. I lost most of my friends because I guess people didn't know how to deal with my illness. A few stuck by me and those people are not only still my friends today, but now I even work with some of them. In the months after I left school, Kevin would badger me over texts saying he didn't

know what happened between us and demanding again that I forgive him. I was in the middle of more chemo, so I told him I forgave him just so he'd leave me alone. As soon as I forgave him, he vanished and I never heard from him again. I blocked him on Facebook just to be sure he couldn't slink back. Later that year, between chemo, I run into this strange woman at a university event off campus. I've never met her before, have no idea who she is. A bunch of students and alumni are are having dinner together and she's talking about her fiancé. Guess who it is? Kevin, of course. I'm confused because a few months of dating is a short time to know someone before you get engaged, but what do I know since Kevin was very fast in telling me he loved me and asking me to move in with

him? But when I ask how long they've been together, she says something crazy like three years. At this point I'm in total shock and realize Kevin was having an affair with me, that our whole time together was a lie. I had no idea. I left in a daze and cried in the parking lot. In hindsight I should have warned this woman but at the time I was in shock, sick, not interested in starting drama at a table full of strangers, and I was exhausted. I thought later of finding her on Facebook but I didn't know her name and I worried telling her would start another round of harassment from Kevin, so I dropped it. So the good news is, I'm obviously still here and happily in remission. Two years after leaving school, I finally felt human again and went back to finish my

degree. By then I was doing really good. Made new friends, finished therapy, started my career. Life is totally different now. I'm well known in my field and have been invited back to my university as a guest of honor. My professors want me to speak to the students and I'll have a chance to network with other visiting alumni who are a big deal in my industry. It's an amazing opportunity and I was looking forward to it. Only problem is, I saw Kevin's on the guest list, and so is a woman sharing his last name who I assume is his now wife. When I saw it, my heart sank. The guest list is small, maybe 50 alumni, so we're bound to run into each other. I can't not go because this event is important and I already promised I'd be there. Plus, I mean, I don't want to

avoid doing things out of fear of running into this asshole from my past. How do I handle running into Kevin again? Do I treat him like a stranger? What if he tries hugging me like we're old friends? It's something he would do. I also have no clue if I should say something to his wife. I don't want to open this can of worms from my past. I'm losing sleep over this and don't know what to do.

Update, well, thanks for your feedback, guys. Wanted to give you an update. So something I failed to mention in my last post is that my mom used to teach at my alma mater before she recently retired. She didn't know about my brief relationship with Kevin years ago. After writing my post, I decided to share with her everything that happened. Mom immediately got this weird look on her face and said she knew exactly who I was talking about because she used to teach in my department.

She said, I don't think Kevin will be a problem for you. When I asked why, she said, trust me, you'll see. That guy is kind of a loser. So I went to the event, and it was amazing. I took some of the advice here and brought a girlfriend so I would never be alone in case Kevin tried to pull something. I met a bunch of alumni and ran into a couple people who I lost touch with when I got sick. Everybody were thrilled to hear how well I'm doing, and my speech got an ovation when I was done. Anyway, Kevin showed up with his wife.

I don't know how to say this without sounding mean, but he's gotten fat and is going bald. I was surprised at how old he looked until someone told me he's almost 50 now, which means he lied to me when we were dating and said he was younger than he really was. Also, I heard from old classmates that Kevin is still studying for his degree, plus working nights as a security guard now. Kevin was the only person at the event who avoided me. Like, it was obvious. I thought he was going to avoid me all night until I accidentally found myself alone for 30 seconds,

which is when he nervously approached me to congratulate me. I smiled, said, thanks, and kept moving. He tried cracking a dumb joke to me later, but I just ignored him, which seemed to frustrate him. Overall, I just spent the night focused on the people around me and forgot he existed. Interestingly, he managed to repeatedly piss off a bunch of people, including his wife and one of the deans, throughout the night with stupid comments. It got so bad that people started a running joke about, what an insensitive moron Kevin was.

I'm so glad I went and didn't allow one jerk from my past to make me hide. I had a great time and was surprised at how unafraid I felt when I saw Kevin again. The memories from that time of my life were so traumatic, but now he's just some jackass I once knew. I'm not sure now WTF I ever saw in him or why I was ever scared of him. Oh, and by the way, I recently started a great new job that came with a big raise, which means I'll my student loans paid off this year. Life is good. Thanks for your help, Reddit. Edit. Two things I wanted to add, an acquaintance recently told me that apparently Kevin and his

now wife were in an open relationship for a long time, including while he and I were together, and that she closed the relationship again a few years ago because she got annoyed. I can only imagine the shenanigans. I feel better knowing he didn't cheat on her, even though he still cheated on me, and of course he didn't tell me about his wife at all. Whatever, my favorite part of the evening. I blocked Kevin on Facebook years ago, so he's had no updates whatsoever on my life including the fact that I go by my birth name now. In college, everybody called me by a nickname, but no one's used it now in years. So all night he kept calling me by this super old nickname. People kept looking at him like he was crazy and asking,

why are you calling her that? And Kevin got super frustrated because he realized everybody was in on some joke that he didn't understand. No one would clue him in, I guess. Comment where OP has replied, Ashley Boom, Oh, this update gives me life. I'm so happy to hear of your success, congratulations, and well done. So glad you were able to finally move on from this idiot. You are clearly two very different people. OOP, it's so obvious now that the only reason we were even together was because I was young and naive.

Now that I'm almost 30, he doesn't make any sense to me. It's so weird and creepy. I hope you enjoy this story. I drove my partner's fresh vehicle to see my family and falsely claimed it as my own. They discreetly traded it to finance my unmarried siblings trip. Now my partner is taking legal action. and I'm cutting ties with my entire family. So the question suggests that my parents decided to sell what they thought was my car to fund my sister's self-care vacation and buy her a couple of expensive gifts because she just got divorced. I, 26F, drove to my parents' house and my boyfriend's new SUV because it's a pretty sweet ride and I really wanted to go on a long drive in it. My boyfriend, Tyler, 28M, had been saving up for a really long time to buy a new car and he has had this one. for almost two months now. He and I have been together for two years and last month. He moved in with me.

My parents live quite far away from me. It's usually a six-hour drive from my place to theirs and we meet maybe just once or twice a month. Last weekend, they had invited me over to stay for a couple of days with them since my dad was not doing well because his heart was acting up again. I decided to take the new car after talking to Tyler about it because my old car was in the shop for repairs. I didn't tell my parents about it being Tyler's car because I didn't think it was relevant. When they asked me who it was, since they seemed pretty impressed by it, I just told them it was mine. I didn't know what it would lead to, I couldn't have possibly thought that they would sell it. Anyway, on the fourth day of my visit, I had gone to meet a friend, and when I came back, the car was gone.

I started panicking immediately because I thought it was stolen. But when I went inside to speak to my parents about it, they told me that they had sold the car. I was shocked and they explained that when I had shown up with the car, they decided to take a couple of photos of it and send it to a bunch of their friends to ask if anybody would be willing to buy. And one of them had found an interested buyer who was willing to pay quite a sum for the car. I honestly don't know what kind of idiot would buy a car without bothering to have the title of the car signed over to them. But I guess they were able to find somebody who was foolish enough or maybe desperate enough to do that.

When I asked them what they had done with the money, they told me that they had transferred the funds to my sister so she could take a well-deserved break because her divorce had just been finalized a couple of weeks back and she needed to indulge herself in some self-care and had even ordered a pair of diamond earrings and a bracelet for her. Online. They asked me not to be mad, but clearly, since I had bought the car, I was doing really well, and my sister had blown a lot of money on the divorce, so she really needed this. They could have paid for it with their own money, but they had to save for retirement as well, so they really expected me to be understanding of this and why they had done it. I was so furious that I didn't even know what to say to them, and I just

started screaming in their faces, telling them that they had screwed up a big time because the car wasn't even mine, it belonged to Tyler, and they would have it from him once he found out about this. My parents had met Tyler a couple of times, but they were definitely not close. so even they received a shock when they found out that the car belonged to him and not me. But instead of being apologetic, they started freaking out and blaming me for not telling them the truth about who the car belonged to. They said that because of my decision to fake it, they had endangered themselves and quite possibly the person who had offered to buy that car. Apparently, they had planned on selling the car without my knowledge, and once I found out about

it, they would just convince me not to press charges against them, and that would be it. But now, since they found out that the car didn't even belong to me in the first place. They were scared of what was going to happen and started bugging me to talk to Tyler and convince him not to press charges. They claimed that they had been fully convinced that I would not do anything to hurt them, and that's why they had sold the car when they thought it was mine which is just insane, I don't even know how to make sense of that. Essentially, they were planning on taking advantage of the fact that I was family

and they were going to emotionally manipulate me into letting this slide, but with Tyler, they were not so confident and wanted me to do something to fix the situation. I told him that they could just contact the person who had bought the car and have him return it as it is, but they said that they had already sold it and transferred the funds to my sister, so that was not going to be possible. The only reason I was even negotiating with them was not that I wanted to protect them, but because I wanted the car back because I knew how hard Tyler had worked for it and the fact that my parents were still trying to defend the decision of selling the car for my sister's sake was pissing me off. So I told them that if they didn't do what I asked them to, then I would talk to Tyler and make sure that he pressed charges against them.

And then, we were at a stalemate because they thought that I was being too cruel and that my sister had really been through a lot, so she deserved this vacation and the gifts that they had ordered for her so they couldn't just take it all back from her after they had already told her about it. They claimed that she had been really happy when they had transferred the money to her and told her to take a vacation with that money and had even mentioned the gift that she would be receiving once she came back. home, and they couldn't take that happiness away by telling her that they had canceled the gifts. And she would need to return the money as well. So I told them that I couldn't care less about her happiness. I just needed the money back with the car, and if they didn't do it, I would speak to Tyler and they said that they knew I wouldn't do anything to hurt them. So I got my phone right in front of them, called Tyler, and explained the situation to them while they just looked horrified

and told Tyler that I wanted him to press charges against my parents. I was very pissed off, and I could hear that even Tyler was very upset, so he told me that he was going to speak to his lawyer and do something about this. After the phone call, my parents started screaming at me once again and pushed me out of their house, saying that I was a horrible human being and that I did not deserve to be called their daughter anymore. I was fine with that, but then, they started saying that none of this would have even happened if I had just told them that the car did not belong to me, but instead, I had chosen to lie about

it and now, they were in trouble because of me. They said that I was just insecure that my boyfriend had a brand new shiny car, and I couldn't afford to have the same, which is why I was trying to show off in front of them to impress them because they knew that I was just going to amount to a failure and nothing else. They had been right about it that their entire life, and I couldn't stand that. I found that very offensive when I tried to argue that I wouldn't even have brought the car with me if I had known what they had in mind. But they said that they had only sold the car because they thought, that I was family and that I would understand their predicament. But clearly, I was only interested in faking my lifestyle to impress other people.

That was almost three days back and since then, I have been living in a hotel, waiting for Tyler to show up here and we have been in touch, but I just can't help thinking that maybe this is my fault because I didn't tell my parents whom the car actually belongs to. So I'd have for telling my parents that my boyfriend's car was mine when I visited them? Edit. Many of you wanted to know more about my relationship. with my family. Well, as most of you might have figured out by now, there is a golden child in the family, and it's obviously not me. It's my older sister, she is seven years older than me and I don't have a

good relationship with her. We have had no contact for the past couple of years and it's not something that we decided on purpose, it's just something that happened organically. She lives out of state and rarely ever comes back home, and when she does, I don't visit my parents then because we don't get along. My childhood was not that bad, to be honest. Even though my parents were kind of biased towards my sister, I never felt like I was being sideline or anything. This car incident just came out of nowhere, I had no idea that they were capable of doing something so crazy.

Trust me, if they had treated me badly my entire life, I wouldn't even have stayed in touch with them. Earlier, it was only little things that used to bother me about my relationship with my parents, but they were very kind to me otherwise and were good parents all over. And that's why I stayed in touch with them. That's why I would visit them every month. This recent incident, though, just came out of nowhere. I think they're getting old and senile. That's why they thought that this would be something acceptable and I would just let it slide because I was family or whatever. They were wrong, though.

And even the things that they had said towards the very end of our last meeting, while they were pushing me out of the house, that they had always believed I was a failure and I wanted to prove them wrong, I don't know why that came from either because they have always been very supportive of me. They had never implied that I would grow up to be a failure, maybe they believed it in their heart, but they never let it show and were very good actors because I had been totally convinced that they loved me. This whole incident was the first one that was completely out of the blue, and I don't know what would have possibly driven my parents to act this crazy. I mean, I know that my sister's divorce was pretty bad, her husband had been cheating on her and had still managed to get away

with it without paying her alimony and a dismal amount of settlement money. But still, that's not an excuse for my parents to act like this. Anyway, I hope that helps you guys make sense of why I had to stay in touch with my parents and come to a conclusion about what I should do. It's kind of urgent, so I would appreciate quick advice. Update 1, hey, so yesterday after I posted my update, most people told me that I had absolutely no fault in this. I did not want my parents asking questions about why Tyler had done with his car and stuff,

so I just decided to tell them one white lie. There was literally no way I could have known that it would lead to all of this, and I don't need to beat myself up about it. And yes, my parents might have treated me decently in the past, but after what they have just pulled, I don't owe them anything. Tyler showed up this morning and he told me the same thing that people in the comments had been telling me, that I don't need to feel regret or guilt related to any of these. He is going to deal with this in his own way, and all I have to do is testify against my parents.

Because he has had his lawyer draw papers for a lawsuit and is pressing charges against my parents. And you know what? I'm going to be with him on this. They totally deserve whatever is coming to them, and they cannot dodge the consequences of this. In the evening, we plan on going to my parents' house and talking to them, giving them one last chance to fix their mistake, but I highly doubt that they are going to do it. Their only priority right now is making sure that my sister gets to indulge herself. I already tried reasoning with them earlier, but they were not receptive to it.

If anything, I'm pretty sure that they're just going to feed me the same BS this time as well, but Tyler thinks that it's worth a try because he doesn't want to waste his time fighting this out in court when he can just settle it outside. Of course, if they don't do as we say, then we will have to take this to court. It has been a couple of days, so even they might have lawyered up by now and I'm pretty sure that they're cooking up some lie against me to make them seem like the good guys here, but I know what happened and all I really need is just the contact number of the guy who bought the car and I will be able to sort this out in a jiffy. Anyway, since I don't have that right now, we are just going to have to suck it up and talk to them one last time so that we can tell them how bad it's going to end up for them if they don't get back the car at any cost. The one good thing that has happened so far as Tyler is here with me, so I feel much less stressed out about everything. He has been very kind and compassionate towards me because he knows that this is not my fault and if anyone is to blame here, it's going to be my parents.

Update 2 okay, so a couple of things have happened. As I said, we went to my parents' house to speak to them and told them that we were giving them money last chance to fix the situation, but just as we had expected, they did not take us up on that offer. When we rang the doorbell and my dad opened the door to see us, he told me that he knew that he could count on me to realize that what we were doing by getting them into trouble was not right and that he was ready to forgive me. They were so delusional that they had literally assumed that I was there to apologize to them and not give them one last chance to fix the situation and I found it kind of funny. So Tyler had to explain that we were there to talk to them about what was going on

and he said that he was here to tell them that he was pressing charges against them so they had better get the car back or else, things would not turn out well for them. My dad got offended and told Tyler that he had no right to speak to him that way when he was standing on his property and asked us to get out of there, but I stood my ground and told him that we were not going anywhere until he had given us the contact details of the person he had supposedly sold the car to because we just wanted the car back. We didn't want any trouble, neither for us, and nor for them. In fact, after this whole debacle was over, I planned on leaving them alone forever. And when I said that,

My mom came around and said that she didn't care that I was threatening her. She knew that she had another daughter to count on, and she was going to make sure that everyone cut me off. After that, Tyler and I realized that there was no talking to them about this. We would just have to go ahead with our threats and do what we had come here to do, so we left because it was pretty pointless. He then contacted his lawyer and said that he was ready to press charges because he had tried to sort this before going a legal way and now, we were going to do what we had to do.

So that was that, and then, we returned to the hotel and both of us were in a pretty nasty mood since my parents were wasting a lot of time and it was affecting us badly as well. We were just discussing demanding some settlement money from them as well along with the car in perfect condition for all the time that they had wasted and also in case the car had any damages, we were going to get that money from them as well. And while we were discussing it, I received a phone call from my older sister. I did not pick up because I couldn't possibly imagine what she would have to say to me, but then she called me a couple of more times, so I finally answered,

and then, she started lecturing me about how I was harassing my parents and it was not right because they had raised me so I need to be grateful to them. I was pissed off, I had already mentioned that and I really didn't want to speak to her, so I told her that maybe she believed that I owed them anything but what they had done. I did not think along the same lines and things had always been different for her, so it's not like she would even understand where I was coming from. I tried to hang up, but then she said that it was just typical of me to be ungrateful for everything that has been done for me and I got very pissed out because first of all,

I don't even know what she was referring to and secondly. I think what my parents had done was extremely unethical and stupid so they definitely did not deserve to be excused by me like she believed they did. And then she made that comment, I asked her what she was referring to because I don't remember a single time. I've been ungrateful to my parents, and she had the audacity to say that she was not talking about our parents, but she was talking about herself. That caught me off guard because I really couldn't recall any incident like that and just as I had expected, she started ranting about something arbitrary that had taken place years ago. She told me that she had decided to go

no contact with me, if you guys might remember, in my original post, I had mentioned that neither of us decided that we were going to go no contact, it just happened organically so I don't know where that came from, because of my ungrateful behavior. Apparently, she believed that back then, I got a really high-paying job because of her. My sister and I work in the same field, but even then, I was really shocked by that claim that she made on the phone because I could not remember anything like that happening and I was very lost. And then she started explaining and you know what? Just hold on guys, her logic is going to blow your mind as well. Apparently, she believed that she was the one who was responsible for me getting that really

great job back then because she had decided to move away with her husband and had withdrawn her application a couple of days after she had applied, after which I got selected eventually. In what universe does that make her responsible for getting me the job, I will never know. Anyway, she believed that she was owed a thank you after she decided to move away and left the job to me. And when I did not thank her for anything, she decided that she was never going to speak to me again until I acknowledged what she had done for me, which never ended up happening. So we didn't speak for the past couple of years. I was so confused because I didn't even know what she was playing at, trying to make it seem like I was ungrateful when I didn't even know about any of these

expectations that she had for me. And even if I had known, I wouldn't have thanked her because they were completely unreasonable. I told her off instantly and I said that she said that she had. she was, in no way, responsible for me getting the job. I am just as qualified as her, and I was just a bit younger at the time. But even then, I'm pretty sure that I got the job because of my own hard work and perseverance, and not because she opted out. I told her that I didn't care if she thought that I was ungrateful. I just wanted her to leave me alone because I had said that I was going to make sure that my parents returned the car to me in perfect condition. And if she thought that it was unfair on my part, tough. Was not going to change my mind, and she was a fool to think that she could call me,

say such stupid things to me, and then try to make me feel differently about this situation. I also told her that obviously she would never find any faults in our parents because she had always been treated like a princess and I had been treated like I was just a normal kid, and even though I had never resented any of them for this, it was about time that I started acknowledging it. Then I hung up and blocked her and now, we are in no contact permanently, I'm making sure of that. After the phone call, I discussed things with Tyler and we are not sure if our parents put her up to this, but if they did, they just made things worse for themselves. Anyway, it has been an incredibly long day and it's almost one in the morning now. We have another long day ahead of us

tomorrow as well, so I'm just going to try and get some rest. It was very important for me to vent out my feelings here because even though I did speak to Tyler about it, I just wanted to talk about it some more and get it completely out of my system. And that's why this was such a long update. So thanks for sticking by until the end. It means a lot to me, for the ones who read it all the way see you guys soon, I'll keep you guys updated on what happens next, and hopefully, my parents won't put up much of a fight anymore after this because I'm really sick of everything and I just want to go home to my normal life now. Update 3, hi, so it's around noon right now and as it appears, Tyler and I might not have to go to court at all because this morning, my parents showed up at the hotel and started groveling, trying to get us to stop whatever it is that we were planning on doing.

When we got a phone call from the front desk this morning, I was confused about whether I should let them up or not, but Tyler said that maybe we should talk to them because they might have changed their mind after last night. So we let them up and when they were in our room, they started apologizing profusely, saying that they had thought things over after last night and they really didn't want any trouble so they would really appreciate it if we could settle this out of court. They told me that they had contacted the man who had purchased the car from them and were talking to him, trying to convince him to come back. Apparently, he was ready to go on a cross-country road trip, but I personally think he might have been planning to run away because I can't think of anybody in their right mind

who would have been willing to buy a car that they didn't even have the title to, and this was apparently coming at a really inconvenient time for him. But they were able to manage to convince him, somehow, promising him that they would return two grand more than the amount that they had sold the car for. So we might be getting Tyler's car back after all, and we are really happy about it because we are relieved that we don't have to stay here for long, since the guy who bought the car will be showing up at my parents' place in a couple of days to return the car. Getting involved with the court here would mean staying here for several days and we didn't want that,

so this is a better option, to be honest. My parents also tried to apologize to me for their behavior and said that they had realized how wrong they had been, but I told them that that was completely unnecessary because no matter what they said at this point, I had made up my mind and I was going to cut them off as soon as I went back home. They seemed a bit unhappy about that and said that they really wanted to make it up to me, but I told them that my decision was finally and I really didn't want to speak to them because this had been a terrible experience for me and they had completely humiliated me in front of my boyfriend the day before and had been insufferable since they sold.

The car without my consent, so I really didn't want anything to do with them after this. They looked very upset while they were leaving, but at least this nightmare is going to be over now and Tyler and I can finally go back home. Update 4 Hello So a couple of weeks had passed and we got the car back. It was in the same condition that we had kept it in, so thankfully, my parents didn't have to pay any damages but they found out about the car just in the nick of time because if the guy had taken it on the cross-country road trip, things would have been much different. Anyway, my parents drove the car down to our place and tried to speak to us, to apologize to me once again and get me to talk to them, but I told them that now that the car had been delivered, we had nothing more to talk about. They were really desperate too, and I could tell that they really wanted to continue being a part of it.

my life because I don't think they are getting any grandchildren from my sister any time soon. But Tyler and I made it very clear that we did not want them loitering around our house and made them leave by threatening to call the cops on them when they said that they were going to stand around until I forgave them and said that I would keep in touch as I had previously. It was their own rotten behavior that had changed everything for us, and then needed to realize and acknowledge that. Until they did so, nothing would ever change. Anyway, that was two weeks ago and recently, Tyler proposed to me and we are hosting an engagement party at our place this weekend. Invitations have already been sent out, and I have heard from a couple of relatives that my parents and my sister are very upset that they did not receive one, since they thought that at least something as big as this would make me reconsider our situation and, I would extend a hand of peace towards them to make things right again.

I would say it was a pretty unrealistic expectation to have for me because none of them had been kind to me, and Tyler and I were on the same page about whether we wanted them at our party or not we didn't. It's a really important day for us, and if they can't be nice to me, they don't deserve to be around me. Besides, even if I thought about making things right with them and inviting them, then the day would become entirely about us and our family drama and not about our engagement so we decided to steer clear of that. And they kind of shot themselves in the foot by talking about this to our relatives because they definitely didn't have any nice things to say about me. They thought that I was being brady and kind of silly by blowing things out of proportion.

Well, so maybe I'll just stay this way and keep my distance from them and then they won't have to deal with my brattiness anymore. I hope you enjoy this story. I wedded my partner who assured me she ended communication with her former lover, discovered she's been covertly conversing with him, deceived me about his relocation to California, now she desired. an open relationship. Relationship. I recently married my longtime GF., eight years, who I'll call Amy. Important context. While we have been together that whole time, the first five years were not exclusive, did not live together, and for two years were 1,200 miles apart though we made regular visits. When she and I first met, we were both married but in open relationships. My wife,

myself and Amy's husband were required to travel for extremely long periods of time, sometimes years, with minimal opportunities to return home, security contractors. Amy is an ER nurse. Three months before she and I met, while her husband was home on a six-month break she met a local cop and started a relationship with him. We'll call him Chris he introduced her to some pretty extreme SNM and BDSM, which she found she deeply enjoyed. Unfortunately, it rapidly escalated past anything even remotely healthy, and became abusive. This rapidly began to destroy her marriage and family, and despite her husband giving her an ultimatum, she persisted. I was unaware of the abusive, obsessive nature of her relationship with Chris until Amy's husband told me. I had

noticed that Amy was becoming increasingly erratic, but had no explanation. I broke it off with Amy. A month later she reached out saying she had realized how toxic the relationship. was that she had broken up with Chris, blocked him, and if I was interested would like to start seeing me again. I verified with her husband, then started sleeping with her again. This was still very much a booty call level of relationship at this point. From that point on, over the next eight years, we would become closer and closer and eventually marry. However, about four years ago she mentions that he had reached out to her over some pictures she posted, unrelated, that they had a good conversation where he asked why she had broken it off with him, and they had both reached some closure.

I noted that while I was glad for her, how could he have reached her if she blocked him? Her reply was that while she blocked his number she had forgotten to block him on IG. I let it go. A couple years ago in a conversation with her friend, I find out that during a medical emergency some years back, but after she supposedly blocked him, that it had actually been Chris that she called to take her into the ER and stay, not this friend. I confronted Amy, she said that when she told me she had a friend take her she just didn't think to explain who exactly. This has remained a very touchy subject for me, for all the reasons stated. We are also no longer in an open relationship, now that I have stopped traveling, among other reasons. We moved back

to the area in the same town that Chris was an officer in, about two years ago. A few months ago, just before we married, she commented that I could be less touchy about Chris now that we are getting married, and after all he had retired and moved to Florida, we are in Midwest. I asked how she knew that, and she stated that she read an article about his retirement. As he retired as a lieutenant and the first K-9 officer, that was barely possible but I was unconvinced and asked her point-blank if she had been talking to him. She said no, point-blank. A week ago, I was reading an article about Belgian melanosis and saw an article about Chris attending the retirement ceremony for his former K-9. The ceremony was only six months ago, and would mean he was in the area until very recently.

So I dug, and I'm good at it. Now I have all the dates, times, houses, etc., for the man. He retired nine months ago, left for Florida right after the K-9 ceremony. But there is no mention in any article of him moving, and there wouldn't be since he moved well as he. after retiring. So I confronted Amy, and this time she says Chris reached out to her out of the blue via text and they chatted. When asked how that was possible if he was blocked, she said he had a new number. We had a big fight, and I've spent a couple days considering what to do. Right now, I plan to confront her tonight. Even if it is true that she forgot to block him on IG, why did she have a conversation when he reached out? Even if she was confused and called him to go to the ER.

why did she hide that from me for years? Even if he texted her, randomly, after years, after he moved to Florida, using a new number, why did she have a conversation and tell him that she now lives in town? My full intention is to ask for a divorce tonight. A-I-O? Edit, for those who've asked for more info, her husband and I are still close. Let's call him Dan. He is still working.

The more to the story is that I had a really bad day. that left me unable to keep traveling. As soon as I was home full-time, and more to the point laid up and not earning, my wife divorced me and tried to take the money and the kids. No need for details there, but I wound up with the kids and the money all got burned on attorneys. Amy had always been the one who had to stay home,

so she and I started spending a lot of time together doing life things. Dan was glad to have someone he trusted with her and their kids, and despite me being half-speed he felt good having someone around to keep her from tangling with the too bad crowd, including Chris, which should have been a bigger red flag than it was, but I still hadn't come out of that King of the Hill mentality. So the change was when I stopped traveling, Amy and I started living together, her husband Dan left permanently, I adopted her kids, and my wife divorced me, lost custody, and kept traveling, though her travels are all stateside. Nothing doesn't have, and at this point doesn't want,

a romantic relationship with anyone. I'm sure he still has a list for finding relief, but he is allergic to any sort of permanent situation. While he would never be willing to, and I don't want to, have me adopt his kids, they were 14m, 10m, and 8F when I met them, 18m, 14m, and 12F when I came home for good, and 22m, 18m, 16F now. He has given me power of attorney on their behalf and they all call so, there's that. And yes, I'm sure there's that. are a lot of people who judge all of us for the choices and lifestyle we've made. But we are all human and the things required of the people called on to do the things that we do lead to a lot,

a lot, of compromises. We make the decisions we do based on the things we know at the moment. Hindsight is only useful when you start looking forward again. Update, September 29th, 2024. First, thank you all. It seems pretty shallow, but the validation and criticism, I've gotten from the original post really helped me externalize and get some perspective. Also, some of you all are hilarious, some of you are compassionate and thoughtful, and others made me appreciate that no matter how stupid I get somebody will find a way to outdo me. Leading with the headline, I had the conversation, I told her I am divorcing her, it went as badly as expected. She and Chris have not been physical, but we got to the heart of the reason

she has been in touch with him. I am exhausted, but feel you. I feel like I have some clarity of mind and purpose I have lacked for quite some time. I'll probably feel more chatty tomorrow, but for now that's what I have. Edit, more coherent update now that I've slept on it. In another reply in the thread below I have my take on what she told me, and her reasons and I won't repeat at all. And yes, this is my opinion and what I choose to put on here, and I'm sure if she were on here she would have some reason to explain how none of it is her fault.

about it, the pattern is clear. She even said as much herself, but we don't always hear what we don't want to hear. All of her relationships have come through our professional community in some capacity or another. She is attracted to the men in it and the lifestyle, or at least this version of it. She married Dan because he's exciting and dangerous and mostly absent. She got to have the money, the kids, an exciting husband, near total independence because he was only home maybe three or four weeks a year, and because of the circumstances she could also sleep around freely. So did Dan to be clear. This was fine until Dan spent an extended period of time at home. There was a lot said there about how unfair, unreasonable it is when one of us comes back home with zero idea of

how things work, or why, and start acting as if our opinion of what home life should or should not look like needs to be followed. I get that, actually. Long story short, she was never and is not now interested in a normal marriage. She wants and enjoys the lifestyle she had, first with Dan and then with me. It ended with Dan when he came home and tried to play house. It ended with me when I came home long term and tried to do the same thing. For that matter, that's what ended my marriage with my first wife, me coming home and acting like I own the place rather than an occasional visitor. Amy did enjoy the more normal life with me but also wants the old excitement. She wants to have her cake, can eat it too. So she reached back out to Chris because she did like what they did until Chris

went too far and Dan was about to leave home again, leaving her alone with Chris around. Bonus excitement for her at the time because she got to literally watch me confront Chris at our home and send him away. But things have changed since then and the new circumstances mean she can hook up with Chris and do much more extreme things than she does with me while also having me at the house to keep Chris in check. Only catch is that it's no longer on the up and up, so she and Chris would have to sneak around, maybe that made it more exciting? Almost works, but I clue in and realize they are in contact and unravel the whole thing before they have an opportunity to act on it.

More, Chris definitely scratches a sexual litch than Dan and I did, do not. Dan and I are similar in that we can and do enjoy some level of BDSM, etc. But as it escalates it becomes much too similar to work things we don't want within a million miles of our homes. I'm happy to put the handcuffs on you and hold you down, but once we get to heavy impact play, cutting, or God help me see and see the level of nope is so high it could put me off for weeks. So yeah, Chris is a better lover than I am in that regard. More, alcoholism. I know my short reply last night while tired was pretty ugly.

Yes, there is truth there but no, it isn't that simple. I was quoting her, but a lot of what she said was intended to be her. hurtful. I appreciate the kind questions and comments. I have tried medical marijuana, but it's a terrible fit for me. It made me physically less coordinated, but also made me feel more alert. The combination takes me from a level of hypervigilance that already requires medication, and that I am slowly improving with CBT to flat out dangerous paranoia. So, hard pass. For whatever reason, I have little reaction to local anesthetic so it's difficult to treat the pain locally. The solution has been stronger meds like opiates, but since I don't have a death wish nor any desire

to inflict a drug-addicted dad on my children I left those behind completely at the very first opportunity. So now I take a crap ton of ibuprofen, of course, right? Lidicane patches, not particularly effective but better than nothing, bio-freeze, weekly massage therapy, and yes, more nights than not I wind up drinking at bedtime in order to get to sleep. I've gotten a lot of advice about this over the last few years, and a lot of suggestions. I don't imagine anyone here has a better idea, but please feel free to make a suggestion. I'm 100% open to anything that works without turning me into a monster. Next story punched my late husband's affair partner when he showed up at my door demanding

I stay quiet about their relationship. It felt like I stood up for myself after years of Absale. My husband died and I have to pretend that he was a great man who loved me. I punched my late husband's affair partner when he showed up at my door demanding I stay quiet about their relationship. After years of abuse, it felt like finally standing up to my husband after my abusive husband died, I felt relieved and free. Three months later his secret male lover showed up at my house demanding I keep quiet about their affair. For the first time in my life, I stood up for myself and punched him. It felt like finally hitting back at my husband punched my late husband's affair partner

when he showed up at my door demanding I stay quiet about their relationship. It felt like I stood up for myself after years of abuse. My husband passed away three months ago, I was relieved of that. He abused me financially, mentally, and even physically. When I got pregnant, he convinced me to quit my job saying that he would take care of me. I could never buy anything again without asking his. permission. I couldn't even buy a cream without asking his permission and he decided if I could or not. Even months ago that I had a little money of my own I had to ask him for permission

to buy something. What was mine was his and his was his. But I stayed there because I still loved him and I didn't have a place to go. I had too low self-esteem and let myself be stepped on. When I stopped loving him he had already had his first affair. He made me believe that I was to blame for the affair because I didn't want to have sex months after my birth that left me torn and I had to receive stitches. I was already planning my exit and saving money little by little while I was working selling things from home since he wouldn't let me work outside because he was very jealous. I wanted to pay for a lawyer. He was having another affair with a friend of his which luckily kept him busier and I didn't care anymore that he didn't pay attention to me. I wanted him to

stay as far away as possible. I knew that man and he knew me, I could have made a big fuss, but I didn't. I kept quiet planning my way out while he and that man slept together in secret. I only felt disgusted by my husband, nothing more. But my husband died in a way I never would have expected. He is now a martyr when someone dies all the sins of that person disappear. Because that's what even my family thinks. Those who knew about his affair and how he manipulated me are now talking about how good man he was and we shouldn't insult someone who's dead. Everyone around me talks about how beautiful our relationship was, his family talks about what a great man he was and how always he focused on giving everything to me and our kid.

His affair partner hugged me at the funeral saying that my husband loved me, his friends told me what a great person he was. Everyone talks about how good but he was and how he is now an angel in heaven. And I have to pretend to be sad. The day he died I cried a lot. The day he died I cried a lot. but not out of sadness, I cried with relief and I felt free. It would have taken me too many years to save to pay for lawyers with my little store without him realizing that I was keeping money in secret. He would have kept everything, he would have made my life a hell and I know it because he had told me so every time I stood for myself.

But now I have the house, I have everything, I have the monthly money for being a widow, I have my children totally with me. I have started the psychologist, everyone thinks that I do it to cope with my grief, but no, it is to overcome the abuse I suffered from him. It was really hard to pretend being sad in the funeral, but I did it for my child, I did it because now everything is over and I'm free. If I made a fuss, my ex-mill would have done something so that I wouldn't keep anything, they were just like him. But now I'm just a sad widow who needs help in their eyes, the silly widow who didn't know anything but that's helping me to be free and have what I deserve.

Sorry for the bad English, I use the traductor for many parts. Edit, we are not from an Islamic country and here same-sex couples can live and marry freely. He just cheated on me with a man like he cheated on me with a woman, I guess he was bisexual. That's where Op has replied, Organic 2003, I am stuck on his affair partner hugging you and telling you he loved you. She had the balls to show at the funeral. Damn you have more control than I could have ever mustered. Cheers to a life full of fun and love.

Boop, his affair partner was his football team made and friend. He is a man. Thanks p.m. underscore me underscore happy underscore thanks. Your husband had an affair with a man or another woman? You have a child? Or children? Boop, his first affair was with a woman, I think. The second with a man, of which I know, maybe he had others that I don't know.

For privacy reasons I don't want to reveal the number of children. so I prefer to leave it at that it's only one skeptical update. October 5th, 2024. It's been several weeks since I last posted and I didn't expect my post to end in another places. Honestly, I had totally forgotten that I posted here but a few days ago the lover and friend of my ex-husband. I have started calling my deceased husband that way. I don't want to be eternally tied to the idea that he is still my husband even after death. When death did me the favor of separating us, visited my house,

saying that he found my post. I didn't expect him to find this and it scared me a bit, but honestly there's nothing I can do about this anymore if someone has posted it elsewhere without asking me first. One of my sons let him in when I hadn't heard the doorbell, so I had no choice but to let him in to not make a drama in front of my kids and I wanted to know what he was going to say. Once alone he told me that he knows that I know about him and my husband having an affair because of the post I sent to TikTok, although I never did any post on TikTok. That's why I think someone uploaded this there. He told me that my husband was not the best husband, but he was a great friend to everyone and a very hardworking man to everyone, that even his family misses him too much

and even though he had his mistakes in the past, that I should let go of the past and stop digging into it because we're all better off like that. He was insisting for a while to such an extent that I felt intimidated by him to the point he reminded me of my husband and it is the first time that I have that feeling with a man that is not my ex-husband. I can talk peacefully with them, but this situation made me feel on the verge of a panic attack because of his attitude. He's basically scared that I'll tell everything. He's gay and I don't know if he has a boyfriend but maybe he does and that's why he doesn't want me to say anything about their affair. I've been a submissive woman for years. My ex-husband turned me into a fearful woman that I wasn't before. He made me the kind of woman

who was always going to put her head down but when he died I felt so happy and liberated, I cried with relief for days. And when this man came into my house to do, he was a lot of, he made. And when this man came into my house to tell me what to do, it was like seeing my ex-husband giving me instructions about how to behave and what to do. The man who knows very well that I was in an abusive relationship because he knew how my ex was and chose to sleep with him anyways. The man my husband made me cook for and then fucked him as if I were just a maid was at my house telling me that my ex was a good person and that I should shut my mouth. He was telling me what to do and I just punched his face. To be honest I wanted to slap him but for some reason I felt so angry that I was a good person.

I hit him and it felt like hitting my husband too, I don't regret it and I felt good. I yelled at him and told him to leave where I was going to tell everyone what happened. He ended up leaving the house and he has been quiet since that day. My main plan was just to shut my mouth and let go of the past, but that is one thing and a totally different thing is that this man comes and wants to impose on me what to do as if I were a doll. Maybe my reaction wasn't the best, but I'm tired of people telling me to shut up. I never managed to say anything to my husband and that day I felt that I somehow did that. I haven't told anyone yet nor do I think about doing so, but if he does something I won't hesitate twice before this time whether to make a TikTok or post on Facebook talking about everything.

With the issue of the house, with the economic crisis I am not sure that anyone can afford what a house like this is worth, but for now I've focused on finally being able to get a better job in the future to be able to rent a house and be able to rent this house. That's could be a really good way to have money. My other goal in the future is to buy a small piece of land, no matter how far it is, I want to have something that is my own and my children. My children don't miss their father too much and I understand them. It has taken me a while to get them a child psychologist, but recently they started to go to their sessions and they are doing well. I also go to a psychologist.

I think the best thing I've done is to start making excuses for my ex-mill and my own family for not seeing them as often as before and I've started the stage of cutting off contact little by little making excuses with work or that we're not at home, although I still have to let my ex-mill come home from time to time. I think even my kids are happier when they see that my own mood is better. I doubt that many people are interested in this, but thank you for the messages I received, although many do not understand that cultures and laws are different in here buying a house or moving to the other side of a country in a month of impossible for many. Comments where Op has replied, Lama underscore Lama underscore 48213, the audacity.

He thinks you are still the maid. Good for you for showing your strength and sending him on his way. The nerve. I would strongly advise you to coach your children to not allow anyone in that house. Not just for AP if he returns. This includes the family you plan to distance yourself from. Oop, yes, they know that they should not open the door to strangers, but they open the door to people they know because my ex-husband always sent them to open the door for him.

Skeptical I have begun to explain to them that they should not open the door to anyone without telling me first and now I leave everything with a lock and key. I hope you enjoy this story. Father's spouse pretended that her former partner had passed away in order to wed him, but while I was on duty, I spotted him, leading me to uncover the deception and reveal her deceit. As a 34-year-old woman, I find myself in a difficult situation. Loss for words and turning to the Reddit community for help. I come from a pretty well-off background and have lived a privileged life all along. My parents always gave me everything I wanted. They were college sweethearts and had a strong, loving marriage.

When I was just eight years old, my parents got into a terrible car accident. When we found out the news, I was with my grandparents and we all wrote. rushed to the hospital. Getting outside during their surgeries was deeply traumatizing, not knowing if they would make it. Sadly, my mom didn't survive, but somehow, my dad pulled through. The guilt of living while she didn't became a daily struggle for him. In the aftermath, he struggled with his role as a parent, especially while I was dealing with the grief of losing a mom. My aunt, dad's sister, super close to him, stepped in. She got us into therapy to navigate, our issues, and that's when my dad started attending grief support groups to connect with others who

had lost their loved ones to horrific accidents. In those support groups, he crossed paths with a woman named Linda, who later became my stepmother. My dad and Linda quickly became close friends, and eventually, she met me. Over time, their relationship deepened, and they started dating. They married three years later despite everyone thinking that it was too soon and have been together ever since. Right from the start, my aunt had reservations about her and expressed her concerns, but my dad was convinced that Linda was good for him, and their connection was undeniable. Before marrying, my dad explicitly told Linda that he would be the sole parent responsible for me and give me any type of punishment. He didn't want her to step into the role of my mother,

but rather to be a responsible and dependable adult figure in my life. Fortunately, she has largely respected those boundaries and hasn't interfered much in my life. Linda had informed us that she married before, to her ex-husband, Mark, who died in a fire in their building years ago. She would always paint this picture that he was broke, and life was a constant struggle for them to make ends meet. We felt sorry for her as we knew how it felt to lose a loved one. I looked forward to meeting my dad, and now, she's living the high life in comfort and luxury. Linda has a thing for splurging on pricey purses and shoes, regardless of the occasion. She loves being the center of attention. Over the years, Linda and I have kept things friendly. At the start, she tried to play the whole

let's be friends card, but I quickly nipped that in the bud. I give her respect as much as I can for being my dad's wife, but our connection pretty much stops there. Although I wasn't suspicious, I always kept my distance. Now coming to what happened, I just finished college and landed a job with a cool tech company. The only catch is, it's on the other side of the country. Dad was pushing for me to join his company, but I really wanted to carve my path in a tech gig, starting from scratch and learning the ropes on my own. Before I left, Linda threw a small get-together with close family and friends. It was heartwarming, but everyone seemed sad about me moving so far away. On the morning of my flight, as I shifted across the country and settled into a new

city, I was both excited and nervous to live on my own for the first time and start a new chapter of my life. On my first day at the office, I was introduced to everyone. It's a huge place, mostly filled with hardcore engineers and coders. Given the nature of our work, we spend a good chunk of our time in the office itself working into late hours of the night. About a week ago, during lunch in the office cafeteria, I noticed a guy who looked familiar. He was talking to my boss as they had lunch. The man seemed to have a familiar face, but I couldn't quite place him. I was sure that I had seen him from somewhere and thought maybe he was someone who lived in my hometown. As I was lost in thoughts, my co-worker came up to me and asked me to get ready for a presentation for a new client, so I quickly wrapped up my lunch and left.

As I entered the conference room, I noticed that familiar face sitting beside my boss. Our boss introduced him as a potential client we had to present to. Everything felt a bit hazy, and I couldn't quite catch his name as I was still figuring out where I knew him from. I quickly set up the projector and got started with the presentation. Throughout the meeting, a nagging feeling persisted, like I had seen him somewhere before. The man seemed impressed and it seemed like he was ready to get on board with us. I beamed, leaving my boss and him to dive into further discussions. Once their discussion was done, I saw the man heading for the elevators.

I couldn't shake off the feeling, so I followed him, and we ended up in the same elevator. He noticed me and smiled politely. I didn't want to seem like a stalker, so I casually mentioned how he looked familiar to me. He looked at me inquisitively and I asked him if he was from my hometown but he shook his head. He asked my name and told me that he had never known anyone by my last name. I realized there was no connection so I let it be, awkwardly shook his hand again, and thanked him for choosing our company for his project. Later during our team meetings, my boss informed us that this new client we had onboarded

was this self-made tech guy who needed our help to polish up his app. His name was Mark in the app we are supposed to design is going to revolutionize recyclable waste management. When I heard the name, my stomach dropped. It suddenly clicked why I thought he looked so familiar to me. It's because I had seen his photo on one of my stepmother's albums. I vividly recalled the day when my stepmother and dad were out, and like any other curious kid, I found myself rummaging through everyone's stuff in our house. I found a photo album tucked deep into a drawer and realized from the photos that it belonged to my

stepmother. I was casually flipping through the pages, oddly looking at her pictures, when I stumbled into a picture of Linda standing with a man. They looked at the camera, smiling, dressed in winter clothes, standing in front of a Christmas tree. The festive backdrop added a touch of warmth to the scene. I never directly asked Linda about the man in the photo, but I had pretty much figured it might be someone from her past. Back then, it was just a peek into Linda's past, nothing significant. Little did I know, this seemingly innocent image would soon collide with my present, sparking a flurry of questions

and revelations about the man I encountered at work. My thoughts raced, drawing connections between the client I knew and Linda's supposedly late ex-husband from her history. I was confused as to how Mark was still alive when Linda told us that he had passed away years ago. I felt lost, unsure of what to do, and talking to Linda about it seemed out of the question. If she had been lying about her ex-husband all this time, there was no way she would suddenly come clean. I needed solid proof before confronting her, confirmation that the man, who is our client currently, is indeed the same person, Mark. Since the revelation, I have been sticking close to my boss during meetings with Mark,

hoping for a chance to talk to him privately and dig deeper for the truth. Today, with my boss on medical leave, it felt like the perfect opportunity to talk with Mark. We got done with our meeting and I asked Mark if he wanted to have lunch with me at our office cafeteria. He agreed and we went down for lunch. We talked about our work and our conversation slowly drifted to family. I shared with him that my mother had passed away when I was young. Mark looked sympathetic, his expression reflecting a mix of understanding and compassion. I then eased into the conversation, mentioning that my father was married to a woman named Linda.

Mark's reaction was noticeable, he went really quiet and looked up to see me like he was trying to process what I just said. The revelation seemed to hit him like a sudden gust of wind, catching him off guard. His brows furrowed slightly, and he took a moment to process the unexpected news. Looking at his reaction, I asked him if he knew her and he slowly nodded. He asked me to show him a picture of her and when I did, he gasped in surprise. I started talking about Linda's version of his past, The Fire, Financial Struggles, and his apparent demise. The initial furrowed brows deepened into a more pronounced look of disbelief. I could see the gears turning in his mind and

as he struggled to process the narrative I was laying out. Mark then went on to share his story. He spoke about being married to a woman named Sarah and how they enjoyed two beautiful years together. Sadly, Sarah's life ended in a skiing incident during a vacation. The loss threw Mark into a deep despair. At the suggestion of a friend, he joined a grief counseling group in his community to cope with the pain. It was within this group that Mark crossed paths with Linda. She shared a heartbreaking story of losing her husband to a tragic incident, a shooting in her neighborhood. The camaraderie in the grief support group provided solace, assuring Mark that others, like him, were navigating the heavy grief of losing their spouses.

Over time, Mark and Linda became friends as they found comfort in each other's company. Mark entered into marriage with Linda one year later, hopeful that this could be his second shot at happiness. Things went well initially, but one day, while discussing his work. will, trouble brood. Mark shared that in the event of his death, his house would go to his brother's children. Linda became quite upset, questioning why he hadn't designated the house to go to her. Mark explained that it was a family home, and he intended to keep it within the family, ensuring she would be financially cared for throughout her life with his savings account money. She asked him about his life insurance money and he disclosed that he had put his brother as his

nominee. This sparked a huge fight with Linda adamant that she deserved the house and the money. After that clash, Mark and Linda's relationship took a nosedive. She started picking fights over trivial matters and even accusing him of infidelity without any proof. The conflicts escalated to the point where they both found it unbearable. Unable to sustain their relationship, they eventually reached a mutual decision to divorce as it became clear that things weren't working out between them. But to Mark's shock during the divorce proceedings, Linda did a complete turnaround. She accused Mark of financially abusing her throughout their marriage to exert control over her. Linda, being younger than Mark, managed to make this story seem believable,

casting a shadow over his reputation. As the divorce unfolded, Linda's false stories took a toll on Mark's life. Her accusations not only damaged his standing but also had a ripple effect, affecting his relationships with his friends and family. Following his lawyer's advice, Mark had to pay a substantial alimony payment to Linda so she would not continue to tarnish his character publicly. Since then, Linda had seemingly disappeared from his life, and today was the first time Mark had any news of her.

Listening to his story left me in shock. Mark's revelations painted a dark picture of Linda's actions, a calculated scheme of deceit and manipulation. As our conversation unfolded, it became apparent that Linda had meticulously crafted a fabricated tragedy, falsely claiming Mark's demise in a non-existent fire. This sinister plot allowed her to integrate into yet another grief counseling group, potentially targeting her next victim. The scheme aimed to garner sympathy, portraying her as a grieving widow burdened by a tragedy she had invented. Sadly, my father had fallen prey to her convincing tales. After our lunched together, I assured Mark that I would uncover the truth about Linda's deceit.

I have spent the whole day mulling over the details and trying to figure out my next steps. Even now, as I am writing this, I still can't shake off the disbelief and anger simmering within me. It is astonishing to realize how seamlessly she has woven herself into the fabric of our lives, all for the purpose of financially benefiting from my father. On the one hand, I feel conflicted that my father seems generally. genuinely happy with Linda, and I am unsure how to break the news to him as it can potentially hurt him. On the other hand, I know that Linda knowingly joins grief support groups to find vulnerable individuals she can target and manipulate. The fact that she lied about her husband's death in a building

fire to gain our sympathy and trust adds another layer to her deceit. I feel conflicted as to how I should proceed further. Will I be in a whole if I tell my father the truth and confront Linda about her past? Update 1, taking everyone's advice, I chose to confide in my aunt about the situation. I needed another adult to believe my story before confronting my dad. Not wanting to take a leave from work as I have just joined the company, I invited my aunt, Hilda, to visit me here. She flew here last night and was overjoyed to see me. I had planned to take her out for breakfast and I had invited Mark also. I wanted her to hear the whole story from Mark.

I was shaking in anticipation as I drove her to the cafe. When we entered the cafe, Mark was already there waiting for us. I walked up to him with my aunt behind me who looked at him and gave me a curious look. I told her there that we needed to discuss something with her, and concern flashed across her face. After placing our orders, I turned to my aunt, revealing that this was Mark, Linda's ex-husband. Mark politely smiled, and my aunt looked at him in disbelief. I asked Hilda if she had ever seen Linda's ex-husband in pictures and she shook her head. I told her that I had when I had gone through Linda's photo album.

Although my aunt didn't know what Mark looked like, she knew that Mark was supposed to be dead so she looked at him in shock. Mark then showed her pictures of him and Linda on their wedding day, honeymoon, and other events. He went on to explain how Linda had deceived him into marriage and eventually, when she discovered he was unwilling to give her any of his properties or life insurance. they ended up in a bitter fight, leading to their divorce. Mark revealed how Linda had almost ruined his life by spreading lies to his friends and family. She only agreed to vanish from his life after he agreed to pay a substantial amount of money as alimony. My aunt was in total shock the entire time. I then explained to her how Linda purposefully joined grief support groups, seeking out vulnerable individuals to exploit, especially those who are wealthy widows. She then befriends them. She then befriends

them and marries them in the hopes of securing a hefty inheritance. Hilda, still in disbelief, bombarded Mark with questions, digging for more details about Linda. Each answer seemed to deepen her shock. As Mark continued revealing Linda's deceitful actions, my aunt's disbelief transformed into a mix of concern and outrage. Hilda looked at me and emphasized that we needed to talk to my dad about this as soon as possible. She stressed the importance of revealing the truth to him before the situation spiraled further out of control. She was afraid that Linda might put my dad through the same fate as Mark. Mark agreed with her and warned us that Linda was capable enough to do this when it came

to matters of money. I nodded solemnly, finding solace in the fact that my aunt now knew the truth and we could together reveal the truth about Linda. Mark and Hilda exchanged numbers so Mark could send her his pictures with Linda. With these photos in hand, my aunt and I felt a sense of empowerment as we knew. now had proof to show my dad and the rest of our family. As we left the cafe, there was an unspoken understanding between Mark, my aunt, and me a shared determination to untangle the deceit woven by Linda and protect others from further harm. Since returning home, my aunt and I have

been trying to figure out how and when to break this news to my dad. We don't want to confront him in front of Linda as we don't trust her anymore. It remains to be seen what we do next. Update 2, everything about Linda to my dad this Thanksgiving. I was determined to be with my dad when we revealed the truth to him as I didn't want to talk about this on the phone. Taking a break from work during Thanksgiving, I flew back home for our yearly family gathering and celebration. Upon my arrival, our home was adorned with festive decorations, and Linda welcomed me in. This marked my first encounter with her since learning about her past. I awkwardly smiled at her and hurried to greet my dad. It had been a while since I saw him and I realized just how much I missed him.

The family gathered for Thanksgiving dinner and we all had a wonderful time together. I was with my dad and I kept exchanging glances, uncertain about finding the right moment to address the challenging topic with my dad privately. The next morning, I took my dad out for lunch, using the pretext of discussing my ongoing projects. Knowing Linda's disinterest in work-related discussions, I was confident she would not join us. My dad seemed surprised when Hilda joined us for lunch, thinking I had invited him alone. Without wasting much time during lunch, Hilda started to ask him if he had ever investigated Linda's past. My dad stared at her blankly and said he had never done that.

I then showed my dad pictures of Mark and Linda, asking him if he recognized the man. He nodded, saying it was Mark, Linda's ex-husband who had passed away. I went on to tell him that Mark was indeed alive and that I had met him at work. My dad looked at me surprised as I went on to explain that Mark was never dead. Linda had divorced him after finding out he wasn't going to transfer any of his properties to her after his demise. In the process of their divorce, she had tried her best to ruin his reputation among his family and friends. My dad leaned back, processing the unexpected revelation. After a moment of silence, he looked at me and asked,

How did you find out about all this, and why didn't Linda tell me the truth? I took a deep breath, explaining my unexpected encounter with Mark at work. I told him how Mark came into my workplace one day as a potential client which eventually led me to confront him. Mark had no idea Linda was my stepmother, and he was as surprised as we were when I told him about the false story Linda had told us, claiming he died in a building fire. The expression on my dad's face shifted from surprise to a mix of shock and realization. He seemed torn between the truth I presented and the years he had spent believing. leaving Linda's fabricated stories. He started asking more questions about Mark and Linda's past, trying to understand the

extent of the deception. My aunt, Hilda, interjected, explaining that Linda had manipulated Mark by meeting him at a grief support group and claiming her last husband died in a shooting accident. She had then married him to financially exploit him during their marriage. Hilda emphasized that my dad needed to recognize the severity of Linda's actions and think about the next course of action. As the weight of the situation settled in, my dad looked confused and betrayed. I felt bad for breaking my dad's heart.

He admitted that he felt blindsided by Linda's deceit and was struggling to accept our version of the truth when he was told something entirely different by Linda. As our last resort, we then decided to FaceTime Mark so he could directly talk with my dad and help sort out any further confusion. Initially hesitant, my dad eventually agreed. Mark and my dad engaged in a lengthy, detailed discussion about Linda. As the conversation unfolded, my dad was compelled to confront the reality that Linda had been deceiving us for all these years. The weight of the truth finally

settled on him, and it was evident that this revelation had shattered the image he held of Linda. He was white as a sheet and was struggling to comprehend the extent of Linda's lies. Amid the revelation, my aunt, Hilda, did her best to comfort him, understanding his profound shock at discovering the truth. I asked my dad to take his time and come up with a plan for what he wanted to do next. I assured him that both my aunt and I were there to support him through whatever decisions he needed to make in the aftermath of this shocking revelation. The gravity of Linda's deception weighs heavily on us all, and the path forward remains uncertain, but my dad's well-being remains my top priority. I will make sure to stand by dad and support him in any way I can

and hopefully, Linda doesn't get to continue manipulating and hurting our family. Together, we will navigate this challenging situation and ensure that my dad finds the clarity and resolution he needs for the next chapter of his life. Update 3. It's been two months since my last update and a lot has happened since then. First of all, following the truth bomb, my dad confronted Linda, leading to a heated despite her persistent lies, my dad presented evidence, including pictures of their marriage. He then told her that Mark had met me at work and told me everything about their marriage. Linda cornered, finally conceded defeat.

Overwhelmed by guilt, she came clean about her lies, laying bare the extent of her schemes. My dad asked her to immediately get out of our house much to my surprise. This was the first time I had seen my dad raise his voice. Linda, visibly shaken, shot an angry glance at me, seemingly blaming me for exposing her past. I felt no sympathy for her, after all, I owed her nothing. Taking a firm stance, my dad decided to file for divorce and initiated discussions with his attorney. Initially, when he parted ways with Linda, my dad was not the same. He was sad and shattered.

Luckily, we are a close-knit family, and everyone rallied around him, offering us support during this tough period. The revelation about Linda's deceit left everyone as stunned as we were. Despite Linda's attempts to reach my dad, he blocked her on all fronts. I was pretty sure she wouldn't dare to message me, given that I exposed her truth. Today, I see my dad going through a tough time, but I am also glad he's separating from that awful woman. I genuinely hope he finds healing and moves on to better days after this tough chapter. Amidst all this, my bond with my dad has grown stronger. We share our thoughts and feelings more openly now, helping each other navigate the emotional aftermath of Linda's deception.

It's clear that the healing process is slowly happening, and we will take some time but eventually move past this obstacle together, leaving the shadows of the past behind. I hope you enjoy this story. Wicked stepmother pretends to be sick numerous times to deceive her son and daughter-in-law into relocating, but when the scheme fails, she warns of legal action against her own son after genuinely injuring herself. I, a 24-year-old woman, received married to my boyfriend of five years, Mark, 25M, two weeks ago. I've known as family and most of them like me, even my mother-in-law Julie, 47F, used to like me until we told her that we won't be living with them after our wedding. I don't know why it came as a shock to her that we didn't want to move into my in-law's

place after marriage since we'd always lived separately. Mark and I got an apartment right after college ended and that's how we've been living for five years now. His parents have a trucking business and are pretty comfortable so they have a two-story house of their own with enough rooms for themselves, their kids, and their grandkids too. It had been designed by my husband's grandpa and then his dad had added more rooms as their own family grew so the house means a lot to them. Mark has two sisters, one older by three years and one younger by two years. His older sister has been married for three years now and even has a one-year-old son. She's continued to live at her parents' house with her husband and son and my younger sister-in-law also lives with her parents. So it was

expected of us to live with them too, but they never discussed it with us and just took it for granted that we'd be living with them. After the engagement, while we were preparing for the wedding, that's when my mother-in-law brought this up with me and I told her that we wouldn't be moving into their house after the wedding. She just casually asked me when I planned on shifting our stuff from our current apartment to their house so she could start cleaning the rooms because Mark's room hadn't been lived in since he left for college. Then I told her that we weren't moving and she seemed surprised, as well as my father-in-law, but he didn't say anything and neither did Mark's sisters. But Julie had a lot to say about it and lectured me for about half an hour about the

importance of family values. That I shouldn't be breaking a home apart and also that if I didn't live with them, it would become very difficult for me to handle a baby on my own and survive my pregnancy by myself. So I gave her some more bad news at the time and told her that this wasn't my decision alone. It was Mark who didn't want to go back because he liked living with me in our apartment and soon enough, once we were financially better off, we'd probably move into a house of our own. It'd take a few years but it would happen for sure. Mark wasn't present in the room at the time of our discussion and when he came back, Julie took him aside to speak to him in private. I knew it could be nothing good since her face was already very sullen after I told her that we wouldn't be moving in with her and then after a while, I heard faint noises of shouting coming from their room so I knew that they were fighting about this.

When Mark and his mom finally came back to the living room, both of them looked extremely upset and Mark announced that we were leaving very abruptly. On the drive back home, he told me that he and his mother had had this conversation earlier as well and he'd always maintained that he wouldn't be moving back to the house at any point because he didn't. didn't like living with a bunch of people. He didn't hate his family like his mother was making it out to be, but he needed his privacy and he needed his time alone with me. Even at our own house, Mark would occasionally retreat to the bedroom to read in silence or just have some alone time and I'd do my thing in the living room. It wasn't necessary for us to be fighting to get some me time and we believed in letting

people have their space, which is why Mark and I found it so easy to live together because we didn't constantly smother each other. However his family and especially Julie was guilty of doing exactly that so he knew that living with his family in their house would mean that he would have to constantly make sacrifices with his personal space, privacy, and time throughout his life like he had to do in his childhood and even in his teenage years. His always had this never-ending need to know what her kids, and especially her son, were up to it every single moment in the day and it all felt a little crazy to him because he didn't

think it was fair for her to constantly intrude and meddle in her personal life which she'd do in the past. like go through his stuff when he wasn't home and even occasionally use his phone or computer at home. When he'd confront her about it. She'd dismiss it by saying that she just wanted to know so she could protect him because she loved him and he ended up having to accept it because he'd start feeling overwhelmed and guilty while asking for some space from his mother who seemed to love him so much. He wasn't willing to make those compromises anymore during his adult life as well and that's why he'd moved out in the first place. After the fight with his mother about where we'd live once we were married, he and I didn't speak to

his mother for some time although we kept in touch with the rest of his family. They'd been wise enough not to meddle here. But then a couple of weeks later, Julie came to our apartment to make things right. We apologized to both of us for assuming things and then arguing with us about it in the months leading up to our wedding. We fixed things and were back on good terms for the rest of the days. Our wedding went beautifully without a hitch and we thought, everything would be just fine, but that's not how it's been for the last few days after our marriage.

Two days after our wedding, Julie called us in the middle of the night and told us that she was having trouble breathing and would have to be rushed to the hospital. We told her we'd be right there, but she insisted that we come home first. We were in a state of panic so we didn't question and both of us drove as fast as we could to my in-law's house. Upon reaching there, we were told by Julie that her breathing issues had subsided and she felt kind of better but said that we needed to spend the night there so she could feel better. We were almost 100% sure that she just cried Wolf to trick us into coming over and spending the night there, but we didn't say anything because nobody else in the family was saying

anything either. We didn't want to offend her in case she was telling the truth so we spent the night there and left the next morning. Then this happened again a couple of days later and this time, she said that her nose was bleeding profusely and it refused to stop. This time we were prepared and told her that we'd meet her at the hospital, but she said that she wasn't going to the hospital because she was too exhausted and had their family doctor come over to see her. Once again, she insisted that we come over because it apparently

made her feel relieved and safe. I don't doubt that it does, but it was beginning to feel really manipulative at this point and of course, when we got there, she was perfectly fine. We couldn't even say anything because she hugged us and told us that she was so happy to see us. It's very difficult to call someone out for lying and manipulating us when they're squishing you with their hugs and yet again, we spent the night at their house against our will. By then we'd caught on and I think so had the rest of my husband's family because they'd just stand there like silent spectators while Julie would welcome us. So all of us knew that we'd been deceived and manipulated into coming over to spend the night but nobody said anything. We knew we were being pushed into doing something we didn't want to do and eventually, this would mean that she'd bring up the topic of moving in with her so we needed to put an end to this. So when three days ago, she called us up

yet again, I convinced my husband to let it slide and switched off our phones so she couldn't contact us. Unfortunately, we'd forgotten that there was nobody at home that night and Julie actually was on her own. Her daughters and their families were out of town attending the wedding of one of their friends and her husband was working late. She'd called us half an hour after midnight and that's when we turned off our phones and gone to sleep. We didn't find out until the next morning what had really happened in this time, something actually had taken place but we hadn't been there to help her out. The next morning, when we woke up for work, we turned our phones on and saw about a dozen texts from both my mother-in-law and father-in-law.

My mother-in-law was requesting us to come by because she'd apparently skidded and fallen off the stairs. She couldn't get up because her ankle was all twisted, but, thankfully her phone had fallen just a couple of inches away from her so she was able to grab it to call us. She'd tried to call her husband first, but he hadn't answered so then she called us. I don't understand why she didn't just call 911 first, but I didn't say that to anyone because Mark's really upset and so is my father-in-law. He texted us this morning to tell us that he was disappointed in our behavior and a bunch of other texts telling us that we needed to be a little more grateful that we had such a loving

person in our family even if it meant having to put up with her overbearing nature. When we found out that she'd fallen and hurt herself, we rushed over to their heads. house where she was out of guilt and there, we first ran into my father-in-law who was very annoyed with us. He told us that she'd eventually called 911, had to be taken to the hospital all on her own, and driven back home by a bunch of strangers with none of her loved ones. His phone's battery was dead so he hadn't been able to receive her calls and we turned our phones off on purpose. There was no point in her calling her daughter since they weren't even nearby and so, she just had to deal with this all on her own with none of her family by her side and she was

very upset about it. He warned us that she was in no mood to talk to Mark, but he insisted on seeing her, mostly out of guilt and because deep down, he did love his mom. I liked Julie too, but I just didn't want to live with her. We went ahead anyway and decided to speak to her so we could apologize but we'd underestimated just how pissed she was at what had happened. As soon as we entered her room where she was resting, she yelled at us to get the hell out and that she didn't even want to see our faces right now. I left the room because she seemed a little too hysterical, but my husband stayed and tried to pacify her. I could hear everything from outside the door and he was trying his best to explain the situation to her. He told her that he'd forgotten

that everyone else would be busy that night and so he'd switched his phone off, but we'd only done that after she called us the first time, so she knew that we'd switched our phones off to avoid her. She brought that up to argue and so Mark was forced to confront her about the previous times that she'd called us urgently even when there had been no medical emergency at all. He told her truthfully that this time, we'd actually believe that there was no problem like the other times and so we ignored her calls and went to sleep. Now that the truth was out, we expected her to at least acknowledge it and own up to it, but instead, she lashed out at Mark even more for questioning the truthfulness of her previous claims that she was sick and needed us to be there for her.

She told him that he'd failed as a son and even told him that she was going to sue him. At that point, I felt like it was necessary for me to defend my husband because it wasn't fair for her to put all the blame on him when she had also played a part in creating this situation. I went back into the room and tried to tell her as calmly and politely as I could that if she hadn't cried Wolf and manipulated us the first two times, then maybe we wouldn't have doubted her this one time when the emergency was genuine. I didn't want it to come off like I was blaming her for this situation, even though it was partly her fault. So I tried to make it sound like we were all at fault here so we could just be done with this. She waited for me to finish and glared at me while I was speaking, then told me that she didn't even consider me a part of her family so me turning up or not made no difference to her anyway.

That stung, but I still didn't back down and told her that whether or not it mattered to her. Both my husband and I were sorry about what happened, but it would be unfair for her to threaten us with a lawsuit when she'd made some mistakes here too. She ignored that altogether and went back to talking to Mark and told him that she needed some time to think and wanted us both gone right now. Mark was very disappointed and so was I. We left the house and while I headed to work, Mark went back home. I moved on with my day but I still felt bad about what had happened. It's been two days now and while I've been able to go back to normal, Mark is still upset and he's taking this very hard.

I tried to talk to him about this and insisted that it wasn't really his fault. But he said that he feels awful about what happened with Julie and is taking all the blame upon himself. Nobody else from his family has reached out to check up on him either and I thought that was odd so I decided to call my father-in-law to talk about this. This morning we spoke and he told me that Julie was still upset and he didn't think apologizing right now was going to help. He wasn't supposed to tell me this but she was actually really angry, more than sad, and was planning on going no contact with Mark.

I was a little alarmed when I heard that because I felt like if she cut him off then part of that would be my fault too. I don't think that what happened was entirely our fault and so the way that Julie was acting made me feel like she was taking things too far. I know how sad Mark is and he's beating himself up for this. And because he feels bad about it, I feel bad about it too because I was the one who convinced him not to answer Julie's call the other day. I had my reasons but even then, I don't understand what to do now. Ida for convincing my husband not to answer my mother-in-law's call after she manipulated and tricked us into staying over at her place by pretending to be sick two times previously. Update 1. Hello, guys, firstly, thank you for commenting and reaching out to us. I didn't expect so many people to read and react to my post, but I'm thankful that you guys did.

I made my husband go through the comments on my original post too and now he's finally feeling a little better since most people agree that he wasn't wrong in ignoring his mother's call. She'd already lied to us twice and we hadn't said a thing, so of course, what else were we supposed to think? As for the lawsuit, we're not too worried and I'm 100% sure that she was bluffing to scare my husband. Mark's a really sensitive guy and he can't stand it when people are mad at him, especially when it's people he's close to. So Julie acting this way with him hurt him and her threatening to sue him for neglecting her made him feel even worse about what had happened. We talked and he told me that he really thinks that we should have been there. and I agree with him, we should have been there under normal circumstances, but that's the problem. The circumstances were not in Julie's favor and that was her own fault. She was the one who was

crazy enough to lie to us the first two times and that's why all of this happened at all. It's not fair for Mark to take the blame all on himself and for Julie to let him. A good mother would never have put us in a position like this at all. I'm not denying that Julie loves Mark but her way of of expressing it has been really skewed and totally messed up. I don't think it's healthy and so Mark and I have come to the conclusion that now, if she does want to go no contact, then we should probably let her. There's not much that we can do because she's already made up her mind about this. He has apologized several times now, but she refuses to see him or even talk to him and I think she's actually waiting for us to move in with her to compensate, but that's not going to happen.

She cannot guilt trip us into moving in with her and living in the family home because we've made it very clear, right from the beginning, that all of us living together under one roof was never on the cards for us. I've been living away from my parents ever since college and so had Mark and we like we're not going to do something we don't want to just so that Julie forgives us. Most importantly because the thing that she's making us feel so guilty for isn't even our fault. Mark has said that he's going to stop trying to contact her now and if she does reach out to him to talk to him, he's going to keep it civilized but he's not going to entertain any demands that she's bound to make. Update 2, it's been close to nine days since we last met Julie and she yelled at us both for disappointing her.

In my last update, I said that Mark and I were not going to contact her or apologize to her anymore since we weren't the ones who were completely at fault here. And we'd thought that she would be the one to reach out to Mark if she didn't hear from him for a while. Turns out that we were right about all the things that we'd guessed and she had indeed been planning to hold that one incident against us to make demands that we probably would have given into, had we not always. already discussed the possibility of her trying to guilt trip and manipulate us into moving to their house. Today, she called Mark while he was at work and he answered since it was during his lunch break that she'd called. She told him that she'd thought things through and had decided to finally forgive us both

for screwing up colossally and Mark thanked her. Then she went straight to business and said that even though she had forgiven us and understood our side, she now wanted us to move in with her so something like this wouldn't take place again. At that point, her agenda was pretty close. clear. She wanted to first make us feel guilty for whatever had happened and then used that guilt against us to manipulate us into doing her bidding. It was sly and calculative which is something I never would have expected from Julie because, in the past, she'd always been really

sweet and supportive of us. But now, she was demanding that we move in with her or else she'd be forced to go no contact with us. Mark said no without missing a beat and told her that he appreciated her forgiving us, but he also stood up for himself and reminded her that she'd lied to us twice already before the incident and us deciding not to show up when it counted had a lot to do with her previous attempts to lie to us. So it wasn't fair for her to dump the entire blame onto us and act like she was flawless in this situation. She got mad and called him ungrateful and selfish and then went on to accuse me of turning him against his own family and forcing him to choose between the two. That's never been the case and Julie knows it, but she just needed a scapegoat

because she didn't want to believe that Mark was his own person now and wasn't obliged to spend every living moment with his mom. She couldn't handle that and so she dragged me into their argument which made it even bigger. After Julie started talking crap about me, Mark disconnected the call without another word because he knew there was no point in trying to talk to her anymore. She'd made up her mind and wasn't open to listening to anyone else's perspective and besides, He didn't want to waste his lunch break arguing with her. He told me about all of this a couple of hours ago and I'm glad that he chose to stand up, not just for us, but also for himself.

I know it must have been really hard for him because he grew up in an environment where family was everything. He'd been taught right from his childhood that family comes first and he was never supposed to do anything that hurt his family. But something that he said today while talking to me about all of this touched me. He said that his mother was his family but I was also his family. family and he needed to stand up for me more because I was the family he'd chosen to have and he owed this to me. I don't cry easily but that made me tear up a little bit because it was just really sweet. He and I are probably not going to hear from Julie or the rest of his family for a while

now because she was really pissed off on the call. But we're honestly okay with that. Update 3, hey, guys, it's been almost a week since my last update and Julie has been acting pretty horrible, but she hasn't said or done anything to us directly yet. She's blocked both of us so we can't see her posts and stuff, but she has been sharing a lot of sad posts on Facebook and claiming that she's lost a really important member of her family. She isn't naming Mark, but when people, mostly her relatives, are texting her to check on her, she's telling them about how heartless Mark is and how I'm responsible for tearing their family apart by poisoning him against them.

She hasn't told anyone how she tried to manipulate us first so we'd come live with her, but sure, with the bad guys. It's fine with us, though, because most people are coming to us with this to ask if it's true and once they get the whole picture, they don't believe Julie anymore. She's always had a tendency to exaggerate things so nobody's taking her seriously. I don't know how she takes herself seriously, to be honest. But whatever, Mark's happy and so am I, so none of these things should matter to us anymore. We're trying not to let her pettiness get to us, but if she messes with us on a personal level,

then she'll have held to pay for. I hope you enjoy this story. Relatives tried to pressure me into marrying my wealthy relative instead of my unemployed partner. I declined and was subsequently ejected. Twelve months later, my relative is incarcerated, I am contentedly wedded, and pregnant. I, 26F, have been with my fiancé Lance for five years. For some context, I come from a very traditional and frankly money obsessed family. My mom, 52F, has always been clear about her priorities, wealth and status. My dad, 55M, is more laid back but still leans heavily on my mom for decision-making. I have a younger sister, Rita, 24F, who is the golden child. She's never worked a day in her life and is more than happy to reap the benefits of our parents' money. Then there's Kyle, 27M, my cousin,

who's extremely wealthy and always the apple of my mom's eye. Kyle and I grew up together, and while I've never had feelings for him, my mom has been hinting at me marrying him since we were teenagers. He's successful, owns several properties, and has a business empire, according to my mom, making him the ideal husband. But I've always made it clear that I didn't want to marry for money, and I love Lance with all my heart. Our wedding was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives.

We had everything planned, the venue, the dress, and even the honeymoon. Lance and I worked hard to make it happen, even with our limited budget compared to what my mom wanted. She insisted on adding extravagant elements, but I pushed back because I didn't want her money to overshadow the love and effort Lance and I were putting into this day. The tension was already building. My mom had this idea that weddings should be grand, opulent events, something to brag about to her friends. but I was more interested in celebrating our love with close family and friends. Then came Lance's job loss, and everything changed.

One week before the wedding, Lance came home looking exhausted. His company had gone through massive layoffs, and unfortunately, Lance's department was one of the ones hit hard. I could see the guilt in his eyes as he told me the news. He kept apologizing, thinking he'd let me down right before our wedding. but honestly, I wasn't mad at him. I was scared, but not because of the wedding, because I knew how much this job meant to him. I decided to postpone the wedding. Lance wanted to find another job quickly so we could still go through with it soon, but I didn't

care how long it took. I love him, and I know that no matter what, we'll get through it together. My family's reaction was a different story. When I told my mom about the job situation and our decision to delay the work, wedding, she flipped out. She started talking about how it was a sign that Lance wasn't good enough for me. Then she said something that left me speechless. She suggested I marry Kyle instead. According to her, this was the perfect opportunity to secure my future. Thinking Kyle would solve all my problems, financial security, family pride, and she'd be thrilled

to show off at a grand wedding. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I love Lance, and the of abandoning him because of a financial setback was absurd so I refused, and marrying my cousin? That's just you. But my mom didn't stop there. She gave me an ultimatum. I had one month to rethink my decision or I'd be out of the house. I couldn't believe it. The room I've called my own for 26 years was suddenly up for grabs. She told me Rita would be moving into it because I wouldn't need so much space anymore. It felt like she was pushing me out, not just from the house but from the family itself, all because I wouldn't marry Kyle. To add insult to injury, my sister Rita jumped at the chance to take over my room. She's always been spoiled and entitled, but this was a new low.

She walked into my room the day after my mom's ultimatum and started measuring it for her new furniture. She didn't even ask if I was leaving yet. She just assumed I'd give up my life with Lance to marry Kyle. I tried talking to my mom again, but she stood by her decision. According to her, I'd be throwing my life away if I didn't marry into wealth, and she wasn't going to support me if I didn't make the right choice. My dad didn't say much, just the usual passive agreement with my mom. I confronted Rita about taking over my room before I'd even made a decision, and she just shrugged.

Well, you'll be gone soon anyway, so why does it matter? She said with this smug look on her face. It hurt more than I'd like to admit. She's always been the favorite, but this was next-level betrayal. After the confrontation, I knew I couldn't stay in the house any longer. So I decided to move in with Lance, despite the uncertainty of our financial future. We may not have much right now, but we have each other, and that's enough for me. I started packing my essentials, and when my mom saw what I was doing, she didn't try to stop me.

She just watched. Rita, on the other hand, was practically giddy about getting my room. Moving out of my childhood home was hard, but what was harder was realizing how little my family valued my happiness. They were more concerned about appearances and money than the fact that I had found someone who truly loves me. Lance was supportive through all of this. He felt guilty, thinking he'd caused this rift in my family, but I told him that none of this

was his fault. This was my family's choice, not ours. I'd offer refusing to marry my cousin and choosing to move in with my fiancé despite his financial struggles. Update 1. Moving in with Lance was the right choice for me, but it wasn't without its challenges. We were barely getting by with Lance's savings and my modest income. It was hard adjusting from planning a beautiful wedding to figuring out how to pay rent. Some days, I wondered if we'd made the right decision, especially with the pressure from my family looming over us. Lance was applying for jobs left and right, but the market was tough.

There were days he would come home dejected, and it broke my heart to see him feeling so defeated. We agreed to scale down our wedding plans and focus on saving money until we could afford a small ceremony. Even though it wasn't the grand affair I once envisioned, I was content knowing that we'd be married, even if it was in a courthouse with just a few friends. Meanwhile, my mom and Rita were thriving. At least, they thought they were. My mom made sure to remind me every chance she got that I was making a huge mistake. Whenever I would speak to her on the phone, which was getting rarer and rarer, she'd casually mention Kyle, how he had just bought another property or expanded his business.

It was as if she was trying to convince me that I still had time to change my mind. Rita, on the other hand, made herself at home in my old room. She'd redecorated and even sent me pictures of her new space, clearly trying to rub salt in the wound. The worst part was the smug satisfaction in her voice whenever she'd talk about how comfortable and luxurious her life was at home. It was clear that she and my mom felt like they had one somehow. Surprisingly, my dad reached out to me more than I expected. He never outright said it, but I think he felt guilty about the way my mom and Rita had treated me. A few times, he quietly slipped me some money to help with rent and groceries, saying it was a gift and not to tell my mom.

While I appreciated his help, it was a stark reminder that he was unwilling to stand up to my mom or Rita. As for Kyle, he was furious that I had turned down the chance to marry him. I didn't hear this directly from him, but through my mom and other family members, it became clear that he took my refusal personally. He thought that marrying him was the best choice for both of us, and he felt insulted that I chose Lance over him, especially when Lance was now unemployed. It didn't help that my mom kept fanning the flames. constantly telling Kyle that I was making a huge mistake and how disappointed the family was.

Eventually, Kyle stopped hiding his feelings and even started making veiled threats toward Lance and me. He warned me through our family that I would regret my decision, and he made it known that he wasn't going to be as forgiving as I thought. As the weeks went by, I started hearing more disturbing rumors about Kyle. Turns out, his successful business wasn't as legitimate as he liked to make people believe. There were whispers within the family that Kyle had been involved in some fraudulent activities, manipulating contracts and forging documents to secure some of his wealth. The cousin that my mom had been pushing so hard for me to marry was a con artist. At first, I didn't believe it.

But as the rumors grew louder and more consistent, I realized there was truth to it. It became public knowledge within our extended family that Kyle's business was under investigation, and he was being sued by several clients who had been scammed. My mom was in complete denial. She refused to believe that her perfect nephew could do something so wrong. When I confronted her about it, she brushed it off, saying that people were just jealous of Kyle's success and were trying to bring him down. But I could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

The scandal hit my family hard. My mom, who had spent so much time praising Kyle and pushing me to marry him, suddenly went quiet. When the news broke that Kyle might face criminal charges, she panicked. She started calling me more often, but this time the tone was different. She wasn't gloating about how much better my life would have been with Kyle. She was practically begging me to stay connected to the family, as if she needed to hold on to some sense of control. My dad, on the other hand, remained distant but supportive. I think he always had doubts about Kyle's success, but he never voiced them. Now that Kyle was exposed, my dad quietly stood by me,

offering more financial help when he could. But it was clear that he was torn between supporting me and keeping peace with my mom. Rita, who had always idolized Kyle, had her world shattered. She had been so wrapped up in his wealth and success that she couldn't see the truth. She went into damage control mode, trying to protect her own reputation, but it was clear that her influencer or dreams were slipping away. No one wanted to associate with someone connected to a scandal. The final nail in the coffin came when Kyle was officially arrested on charges of fraud. The whole family was thrown into chaos. My mom was devastated. Everything she had built up in her mind about Kyle came crashing down, and she was left scrambling to figure out how to save face.

She reached out to me, asking if I would reconsider reconnecting with the family and attend some family gatherings to smooth things over. I was shocked. After everything that had happened, she still thought I'd come back into the fold like nothing had changed. I refused. Now, I find myself in a strange position. My relationship with my family is fractured, but I feel free. Lance and I are struggling, but at least we're building something real, unlike the facade that my family clung to for so long. Update 2, despite everything, and I decided to go ahead with our wedding. We had put it off long enough, and even though things weren't perfect, we didn't want to wait for the right moment anymore. We chose a small, intimate

garden wedding, nothing like the grand event we had initially planned, but it felt more personal and true to us. The ceremony was simple and beautiful. It was held in the backyard of Lance's parents' house, which they'd graciously offered for the occasion. The guest list was short, close friends, a few supportive family members from Lance's side, and my dad. My mom and Rita were noticeably absent. I didn't expect them to come after everything that had happened, and honestly, I didn't want them there. Walking down the aisle, I didn't feel any of the regret or hesitation that my family had tried to instill in me. Lance looked at me like I was the only person in the world, and at that moment, nothing else mattered. My dad walked me down the aisle, and while he wasn't very vocal about his feelings,

could tell that he was proud of me for standing up for what I wanted. He even gave a little speech during the reception, which, knowing my dad, was a huge deal. It was short and simple, but it brought tears to my eyes. He said, I've always believed that love should guide us, not money or status. I'm proud of Lucy for choosing love. It was all I needed to hear. One surprise at the wedding came in the form of Kyle's parents. They had been pretty quiet during the whole fallout with my family, but on the day of the wedding, they showed up unexpectedly. I wasn't sure how to feel when I saw them there, but they approached me with nothing but

kindness. Kyle's parents had been embarrassed by their son's actions, and they wanted to apologize for the way everything had turned out. They explained that they had no idea about Kyle's fraudulent activities and were ashamed of how things had spiraled. They also made it clear that they had to be able to. tried to stay out of the drama my mom had stirred up, but now they wanted to extend an olive branch. They even brought us a wedding gift, a very generous one. It was unexpected, to say the least.

They gave us a check to help with our future, something they said was a gesture to make up for all the chaos Kyle had caused. Lance and I were both shocked by their generosity, but we accepted it graciously. It was one of the few moments in this whole mess where I felt like things were finally settling down. After the wedding, Lance and I moved into a modest apartment. It wasn't anything luxurious, but it was ours. We both agreed that we wanted to start fresh, away from the expectations of my family and the drama that had surrounded us for months. Our focus was on building a life together, one that wasn't defined by money or status. Lance finally landed a new job a few weeks after the wedding, and while it wasn't as high paying as his previous one, it was a fresh start. He was happier,

less stressed, and it felt like we were slowly getting back on our feet. We started saving for the future, talking about the things we wanted to achieve together. We've been focusing on our careers and our relationship, planning for the future. While it's been a struggle, I wouldn't change a thing. We may not have the wealth that my family always dreamed of, but we have something better, a relationship built on love, trust, and mutual respect. That, to me, is priceless. It's been one year since our wedding, and looking back, it feels like a lifetime ago that we were dealing with the chaos caused by my family.

Lance and I have been through so much, and despite all the challenges, we've come out stronger than ever. For our one-year anniversary, Lance surprised me with a romantic dinner at a quiet little restaurant in town. It wasn't anything extravagant. but that's what I loved about it, just the two of us, reflecting on the past year and how far we've come. I remember sitting there, holding his hand, feeling so grateful for everything we had overcome together. We toasted to love, resilience, and our future. The best part of the evening wasn't

even the dinner. After we got home, Lance shared some incredible news. He had just been promoted at his job. It wasn't just a small promotion either, this one came with a substantial pay raise and more stability. He had worked so hard over the past year to rebuild his career, and I couldn't be prouder of him. This promotion felt like a symbol of everything we'd gone through together, a sign that better days were finally here. I wish I could say that my family had completely stayed out of our lives, but they hadn't. Over the past few months, my mom has been making more and more attempts to reach out. She's been calling and sending messages, trying to make amends. She even went as far as sending a card on our anniversary, congratulating us and saying she was

ready to move forward. Rita, too, has been trying to get back in my good graces. She reached out a few times, mostly with half-hearted apologies about the way she acted during the whole Kyle situation. She admitted that she had been jealous, jealous of the attention I got from Lance, jealous of the independence I had, and even jealous that I had the strength to stand up to my family. While part of me wanted to believe that they were genuine, I wasn't so quick to forgive. After everything they put me through, it wasn't that simple. I didn't want to cut them out of my life completely, but I also didn't trust them the way I used to. So, I decided on a cautious approach. I agreed to limited contact with both of them, text messages and occasional phone calls, but nothing more.

I needed time to heal from the damage they caused, and I wasn't going to let them waltz back into my life like nothing had happened. Just when I thought life couldn't get any more surprising, I found out I was pregnant. Lance and I had talked about starting a family, but we weren't actively trying. So, when I took that pregnancy test and saw the positive result, I was in complete shock. The first person I told, of course, was Lance. I'll never forget the look on his face when I showed him the test, pure joy and disbelief all at once. He hugged me so tightly that I could barely breathe, and for the first time in a long time,

everything just felt, perfect. We laughed, we cried, and then we started talking about our future as parents. As if things couldn't get any better, my dad came through with an unexpected gesture of support. While my mom and Rita had been making their weak attempts at reconciliation, my dad had quietly been watching from the sidelines. He didn't say much during the family drama, but I think he understood more than I gave him credit for. One afternoon, he called me and asked if we could meet for lunch. I was hesitant at first, but I agreed. When we sat down, he didn't waste time with small talk. He got right to the point and told me that he wanted to help us with a down payment for a house. My dad wasn't usually one to make grand gestures, but this one meant the

world to me. He told me that he had been saving up for a long time, and while my mom didn't know about it, he wanted to use the money to help Lance and me get our first home. He said it was his way of apologizing for not standing up to my mom when I needed him most. I could see how hard this was for him, and it made me realize just how much he cared. My dad wasn't the kind of person to express his emotions easily, but this gesture spoke volumes. I accepted his offer with gratitude, knowing that this was his way of showing his love and support in the only way he knew how. I hope you enjoy this story. Pompous Factory required that I allow Sill and her latest spouse from her third union to reside in my residence following the passing of my spouse. I consented, relocated, and accommodated

them with all the bills. For months ago, I lost my husband. I still cannot believe it as I am writing this because I still feel like he is here with me every day. I am always hoping that I might wake up tomorrow and realize it has all been a very bad dream. He came back from work one day, and after being at home for half an hour or so, he suddenly collapsed on the ground. Of course, I called the emergency number immediately. They sent an ambulance to our house. They told me to give him CPR, but even though I tried, I probably didn't do it properly

because I had never learned it before. My husband basically died in my arms. It happened so fast, it was a matter of minutes. The ambulance arrived only to confirm his death. Then the police came to and asked me a lot of questions. The medics took the body away, and they told me an autopsy would be required because there was no obvious reason for death. I agreed, of course.

Even if they hadn't said it was necessary, I would have requested it myself because I had to know why it happened. In my head, nothing made sense because he was. was just 33 years old, young, and healthy. I couldn't imagine any reason that would make him just drop dead. After everyone left, I was in a state of shock. It felt as if I was losing my mind. I cried, I talked to myself, talked to God even though I have never been that religious. Then I pulled myself together enough to call my mill and tell her what happened. My mill has never liked me. From the moment we got introduced to each other, she didn't like me.

I had no idea what I did to make her hate me. I had always been polite to her, so I didn't know what her problem was with me. For example, I was never once included in family events like trips away when my husband was alive. She didn't really seem to have any interest in talking to me, and I was given a backhanded comment about being there for my partner when he was going through a tough time because he confided in me and not her. I never overstepped her boundaries, and always tried my best when I was around Mill to get to know her as best I could, but sadly she never saw my efforts. Sill was exactly like my Mill.

She was cold to me and would ignore me for no reason at family functions. She would even talk over me on several occasions purposefully ignoring me. My husband noticed this and tried to talk to her several times about it, but she never changed. Whenever we used to meet, Mill and Sill never once asked me about my career slash parents to see how my life was going. Mill once even called me stuck up and spoiled just because my parents sent me to a private school, and she was a public school teacher. My conversation with Mill only focused on her son. I even know she tried to talk my husband out of marrying me and told him to keep looking for a better partner than me. Fortunately, my husband didn't care about her opinion and proposed to me anyway. When Mill found

out that he had proposed, she freaked out and called to tell me that I should strive to be the best wife for him and take care of him the way that she has taken care of him all these years. I was a bit offended, but I tried to not take more offense to her words. Esten never even reached out to congratulate me despite the fact that my husband called to inform her. She only talked with him and refused to even acknowledge me. My husband and I had already decided to pay for our own wedding, so when Mill offered to pay half for our wedding, we declined graciously. This made her even more upset and she started to tell my husband how sad she was that he didn't need her anymore. So to compromise, we told her that

we would love it if she wanted to organize the rehearsal dinner for us. She agreed, and we appreciated the gesture. However, as the wedding approached, things took an unexpected turn. The night before the wedding, she embarrassed me in front of family and friends, saying she couldn't wait for the wedding stuff to be over and how stressful it had been, even though she did not contribute financially or in any planning. Despite this, we hoped the rehearsal dinner would be a positive experience. When I offered to help, she declined, stating she had it all taken care of. However, upon arrival, it became evident that the preparations were not as anticipated. The rehearsal dinner turned out to be a collection of plastic tablecloths on picnic tables and cold Mexican food.

During the wedding, she kept acting upset, and it made the whole celebration feel a bit off. She got drunk and started behaving inappropriately with the other guests, so we had to ask Sil to escort her out. My Sil protested trying to justify her mother's behavior, but my husband stood firm and eventually, both of them left together. My husband reprimanded my Mill strongly the next day and they had a huge fight. Ever since that day, both Mill and Sil had as little contact with us as possible. Years passed since we ever talked with them. So when my husband passed away, I had to gather my courage and give my Mill a call to tell her about what had happened. When I told her, she couldn't believe it at first, and then she started to blame me. She was yelling that it was my fault, that I killed

her son, and that she was going to make me pay for it. I never thought that she would support or comfort me at these trying times, but I also wasn't expecting her to react to something like this. I also had tried to inform Sill but she didn't pick up my call so I hoped she would hear the news from Mill. The next day a doctor contacted me and told me that the first results of the autopsy of my husband revealed the cause of death, which was a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot that had blocked the main pulmonary artery. The doctor basically told me that my husband had no chance. I could have done absolutely nothing, and even if the ambulance was right there with us, they could have done nothing too. I got a copy of the results and called Mill again to inform her

about the results. She listened to the result and seemed a bit calmer, so I thought she would be okay. We agreed that she would be coming to my house that evening to talk about the funeral, will, and everything. Little did I know what was about to happen. She arrived that evening, but she wasn't alone. She had the police with her. We live in a relatively small town and we only have one police station in our area. These were the same officers who had come to my house the day my husband passed away and had already asked questions to me regarding his death. They remembered me, and Mill started to tell them that I was a murderer, that I had killed her son, that I had planned at all. She really thought that they would arrest me with her speech. I remained calm and informed

the police that I was ready to show them the copy of the autopsy that I had received earlier. They nodded and I got it to show it to them. The police read through the copy, and they tried to explain to Mill that it wasn't a murder and that her son had died. because of a medical condition that no one could have caused. She, in turn, started to argue with them that they shouldn't believe the paper, that anyone can make and print such fake documents these days. The officers tried to convince her as much as they could yet she continued to yell and create a scene. They were really nice to me, they told me not to worry, and then they left because obviously

there wasn't any crime. Mill was furious about it and swore that she was going to put me in prison anyway. I was not worried about her words because I knew I was innocent, and the authorities knew it as well. The next thing we clashed on was the funeral. My husband and I never really talked about death because we were quite young to think about death and we had not planned to die anytime soon. However, I remember that once when we attended the funeral of someone last year, my husband said how he would like to be cremated instead of buried when he dies.

And that's what I thought I would be doing, I was going to cremate him. Mill, on the other hand, wanted to give him a traditional burial so when she found out about my idea, she started to yell at me again. She was like, oh, you just want to get rid of my son's body so there would be no evidence against you, right? You've planned everything. Sill, who was standing nearby, joined her as well and accused me of trying to erase any evidence and planning all of this just to hurt them. I was starting to lose my patience with their cruel words. I stuck by my words and told them that if they wanted to bury something of him so badly, they could bury his ashes.

Mill threatened to sue me but I laughed because I knew there was nothing that she could do. She even told me how I allowed the hospital to butcher her son, meaning the autopsy. I looked at her incredulously and asked her what she meant by that. I explained to her that it was a necessary procedure to be done. The hospital people deemed it necessary and we needed to know why my husband, passed away so suddenly. Sil then started to accuse me of how I would have killed him because of our mounting pressures in marriage.

I scoffed and informed her that we were a two-income household with no children so we had absolutely no tension. I assured her that whatever happened to him was completely unexpected and it had nothing to do with any household stress whatsoever. As if these arguments weren't enough, Mill continued to fight with me over the days for things when I was organizing the funeral music, the place, the coffin. She even didn't want certain people to attend, and I was like, no, it's a funeral for my husband and he would have wanted these people to be there.

Everyone who wanted to say goodbye to him for the last time was welcome, and I wouldn't push anyone away. I could see the resentment on her face, but there was nothing that she could do. After the funeral, we had to go and meet with the lawyer to discuss my husband's will. As the lawyer read through the document, it became clear that my husband had left everything to me. Mill and Sill, however, completely lost their minds. Accusations flew like arrows. They accused me of killing my husband for the money, labeling me a gold digger. I couldn't believe her words. Their reaction was not only hurtful but also completely unfounded. The pain of losing my husband

was already overwhelming, and their baseless accusations only added to the heartache. She somehow believed that her son would have lived if he hadn't married me, that he died because of the life with me. I understood that she was hurt, she was a mother, and she lost her son so despite all the tension, I had always held my tongue, understanding her grief was clouding her judgment. But I didn't deserve this attitude.

I loved him too. I told her that it wasn't fair for her to blame me for my husband's death and that I was financially capable enough also so my husband didn't have to leave anything for me, but he did because he loved me so if she and Esther had a problem with it. They were welcome to form their own judgment but that I wasn't going to sit here and listen to them take out their anger on me. I made it very clear to them that they were welcome to contact me once they had calmed down and understood how ridiculous and baseless their accusations were. Two months passed with neither of them contacting me.

This was already a tumultuous time in my life and honestly, I was just glad that they didn't make it any harder. My parents spent several weeks with me at home because I was too afraid to spend time alone at that. the house. Every corner of my house reminded me of my dear husband. I had spent countless nights crying myself to sleep. My dad, seeing my state subtly suggested that I should sell the house so that I could live with them for the time being and my mom agreed. They were concerned about me but I didn't want to let go of my house as it felt like the last connection I had with my husband and I was too afraid to give it up. Last month, out of the blue, my mill called me, breaking the silence. Surprisingly, she asked how I was and inquired about the well-being of the house.

The unexpected call caught me off guard, and I hesitated for a moment. Despite the challenging history, I tried to keep the conversation civil and updated her on my situation. I mentioned the ongoing struggle of adjusting to life without my husband, the difficulty of navigating through the grief, and the emotional weight of being in the house that held memories of happier times. Then, out of blue, my mother-in-law dropped a bombshell. She straightaway informed me that my sister-in-law had got married again. I was shocked as I had not been invited but Mill told me that they didn't want to disturb me as I was still grieving for my husband. I found it a bit odd that my Sill could get married so fast with someone I had never even heard about. My Mill then continued

saying that she had decided that since Sill didn't have a place of her own. She had asked Sill and her new husband from her third marriage to move into my house. I was taken aback by her demand and struggle to form words. I asked her if she was joking with me, but my me went on to say that she was in fact very serious and that Sill and her husband deserved to live together after marriage, but she did not have space at her own house to let them move in hence she had asked them to move in with me. The weight of this announcement hung in the air, and I found myself trying to compose a response amid the whirlwind of emotions that now enveloped me. I explained to her how that this was my house now,

and that the notion of someone else moving in with me so abruptly without asking for my permission felt intrusive and overwhelming. I told her that I would be happy to host Sill and her new husband for a few days if that's what they wanted but I didn't want them to move in with me for weeks. However, my mother-in-law insisted, emphasizing that my husband had left the house to me, and since I was now living alone, making space for my sister-in-law and her husband was expected of me as a dutiful daughter-in-law if I still wanted to be a part of their family. Despite my efforts to convey my feelings and reservations, she stood firm on her stance,

making it clear that her decision was non-negotiable. The weight of her words left me grappling with a sense of helplessness. Despite how much I protested that this was my home, my mother-in-law argued that as a widow living alone, I had the space and resources to accommodate them temporarily. frustrated and unwilling to engage in a prolonged argument, I was about to tell her if Sill and her husband ever showed up on my doorstep then I would call the police, but suddenly, an idea sparked in my mind. I knew that living in this house where I had shared countless memories with my husband would be hard in the long run as it would continue to remind me of my husband everywhere, so if Sill and her new husband wanted to live in this house, they were welcome to do so

as long as they paid their own bills. I also knew that if I told Mill right then about my plan, wouldn't agree and make an issue out of this as well, so I kept quiet and simply decided to agree to her absurd demand. I called up my parents and informed them of my plan with my sill and they told me that they had my back. Slowly, I began to pack up my belongings so I could move in with my parents, making room for my sill and her husband. Meanwhile, to transfer the utility bills to my sister-in-law's name, I diligently reached out to each utility provider. I informed them of the recent changes in the occupancy of the house and inquired about the essential steps to update the billing information for the bills. I filled out the necessary forms so that they would now be billed to my

sister-in-law. When the day arrived for them to move in, I handed over the keys and explained that as a wedding present, they had the entire house to themselves. Sill was overjoyed and called up my mill and excitement who seemed pleased that her daughter and her new spouse could live without any disturbances. Watching them rejoice, I think they both believe that I had given in to their demands and given up my house entirely to Sill. I shifted back into my parents' place and have been living with them ever since. My parents still kept my old room so it feels nostalgic to be back here. I feel much better here than how I felt back in my house. When the month ended, I think Bill started arriving, addressed not to me, but to Sil.

Electricity, water, and other utilities, all in her name. Confused and frustrated, Sil called me, demanding an explanation. It was then that I calmly informed her that since she and her mother wanted to live in my place, they would be responsible for all the bills. You see, before moving out, I had shifted all the bills to her name except for the deed of the house. Sill erupted in a fit of rage, shouting and expressing her displeasure. She threatened that she wouldn't be paying the bills. I scoffed at her and told her that if she didn't pay the bills on time,

she would have to then pay the fines which would be coming in her name as well. This pissed her off even more and she continued to yell while I smiled in satisfaction. Soon after, my mother-in-law called, yelling at me for daring to charge her daughter for bills. She claimed that my Sill and her husband couldn't afford it as they were almost broke and that I should pay their bills from the goodness of my heart. I firmly told her that it was never going to happen and after bickering with me for a while, she announced that because of my stubbornness to not pay their bills, Sill and her husband were now planning to move out as they couldn't afford to pay for the utility. I told her I would be happy to have my house back and my mill accused me of being heartless and prioritizing money over family. I didn't say anything to her and she cut the call in anger. The tables had turned and I felt relief at the prospect of regaining control of my home.

What was initially a scheme by my mill to inconvenience me had backfired on her and sill. I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction, knowing that I had not only stood my ground but also exposed the hypocrisy of their demands. However, I do feel a bit guilty and I am here on Reddit wondering if what I have done makes me in a whole? Update 1, thank you to everyone who has shown their support for me. I've been so sad ever since my husband passed away, but reading all your comments and your personal experiences with losing loved ones makes me feel a bit better to know that I am not alone. To answer the most important question that everyone keeps asking on why I even allowed my sill and her husband to move in the first place, it's because my mill is not an easy person to argue with. She is extremely narcissistic and will do anything to have her own way.

I also knew that ever since the lawyer had announced that my husband had left the house for me, she had her eyes on it. My sill is just a pawn in her play who goes along with whatever her mom wants. I am sure they thought when I moved out that I had cleared their way to take over the house and they had not expected any retribution. My sill and her husband have moved out and she has begged me to pay the outstanding bills as she has no money and doesn't want to be penalized. I have agreed to pay the bills for last month to clear her due and will then change the utilities to my name now that she won't be staying in the house. I guess my sill has learned a valuable lesson. Update two, it's been an interesting last week. As you know since my last update, my sill moved out of my house in frustration

after she found out that the bills were coming to her name. I cleared her dues once I saw for myself that she had genuinely moved out of the house. I have changed all the locks in the house. For the time being, I am still living with my parents. Two days ago, Mill reached out to my parents in a bid to complain to them about how disrespectful I have been. She had continued to call me and yell at me for what I did to Sil, but I guess she wanted to take it up a notch. She called my mother's phone in the morning to tell her how difficult I was making her life

by forcing her to live with Sil and her new husband when I could easily offer my house to them and pay for their bills. My mother, who has known all the antics of my Mill, calmly explained to her that now that needed to take care of myself first and she should take care of her own daughter and encourage the married couple to move out and live on their own instead of depending on a widow like me to take care of them. My Mill didn't expect this reaction and tried to justify saying that any good daughter-in-law would have done this but because it was me, she had to live with such disappointment. My mother retorted that the actual disappointment was her and her own daughter for expecting

someone else to take care of them and warned her that the next time she ever called me or threatened me, we would go the legal way. This scared my Mill straight and she tried to say how this wasn't such a big deal but my mother wasn't having it. Watching my mother stand up for me felt good and taught me that Mill was just a big bully who forced other people to match her expectations. Since then, she and my sill haven't contacted me and I pray that they continue to stay away from me. I am also thinking of selling my house so I can start afresh at a new place where my in-laws can't show up unannounced and disturb my peace ever again. Update 3. It's been three months since my last update. I have finally listed my house for sale.

The decision to do this hasn't been easy, and it brought up a lot of mixed feelings. It was sad to let go of a place filled with memories, but it also felt like a step toward a fresh start. I have been talking to a therapist to help me deal with all the emotions. It's been a safe space to talk about what I'm going through and find ways to handle it. Therapy has been really helpful in understanding myself better and figuring out how to cope. Dealing with grief is tough and every day is different. Some days are really sad, and others are a bit more hopeful. I'm learning to accept that ups and downs.

Having people around me who care has made a big difference. Friends and family have been there for me throughout all this. It's not always easy, but I'm learning more about myself and feeling stronger each day. I hope you enjoy this story. Insane groom Zilla Silbati humiliated me and used me as her private cash machine, all while deceiving and controlling my own sibling with a false pregnancy. Therefore, I revealed the truth and called off the arrangement. The wedding.

Look my brother, M38, Aaron is super smart bookwise but can be a fool when it comes to affairs of the heart. I am not mad at him about this and I don't want to hurt him but. Heather F-27 is Sith Lord of a woman, powerful, manipulative, and ugly underneath their masks. It sucks more because I introduced them. Heather and I, F-32, met playing DND and we stayed in touch after that group disbanded. She met Aaron at my birthday party and they dated in secret for a year before telling me and our mutual friends. They got engaged at my next birthday party and he asked me to be his best woman, a female best man. because he and I have always been incredibly close and Heather frowned at him and said that was ridiculous

and I obviously should be her most since we're friends and a female and woman go on the bride's side. The moment became awkward and I told them I am happy to stand for them on either side because at the end of the day it's about them as a couple, not the individuals, and whatever they wanted I'm an idiot. I can list in great detail all the disturbances and the force that should have told me she was far more trouble than she was worth even if she were encrusted in diamonds but my brother had been deliriously happy and and I rolled a one on inside, I guess. The short list of problems was that Heather assumed the MO is also the wedding planner, point of contact to the bride, free makeup artist, and pays for the bridesmaid dresses and the bachelorette party. I compromised by committing to doing the makeup for free, I did modeling in my 20s and know

how to make do, help plan the wedding with her and my brother, but could not financially pay for the dresses she wanted. I would pay for mine but not the others, and the party so I offered to do one and she picked the dresses, the more expensive, and I paid it without complaint. She had all the bridesmaids except for me pay for the whole Bachelorette trip, even those who couldn't come, but blasted me in the group chat about it like apologizing for the cost of the trip since Ops not financially contributing which led to the girls asking me how and why I ended up not paying anything. Things like that kept happening. I am going to pause here and say my brother is a senior staff engineer

at a huge tech company and teaches programming at a huge school, so he makes plenty of money. When I asked my brother why he wasn't helping pay for stuff at the wedding, he looked incredibly puzzled and asked what I meant. I immediately shut up realizing I stepped in it and he said Heather insisted she pay for her half of the wedding and they joint pay the joint parts, cake, venue, etc., to say to her haters she's not marrying him for his money. I know I am the awe for stepping in that one, I admit. There's more, but I don't want this to be a novel, so I will jump to the part one might be more law four. I hosted the bridesmaids and Heather at a planning party she wanted and we sat, working on odds and ends and drinking lots of wine, when one of the girls, Amber, F20,

asked if she can change her hair color. Her own wedding is coming up and she got a long waitlisted spot with a salon on her wish list to dye her hair and she wanted to go red. For a note I am black and use weave to shade and style my hair in crimson red twists. Amber said she would want about my shade and that it complimented my skin tone. Heather chuckled a bit at that and I kind of looked at her like what? And she said that it was fine and she's no bride Zilla, but she would prefer only one of us look that tacky. I felt hurt as Heather knew me before I went red years ago and back then told me how great I looked and that I glowed and now I'm tacky. I asked her if she meant it that way and she shrugged and said it's about the people, not how good they look, she said.

I didn't get it and the other girls started chiming in and Heather just said, oh my God, calm down. I didn't mean anything wrong. I won't let Op ruin my wedding entirely. It's really okay. We all are going to start looking different in our 30s, etc. I was the oldest of all the girls there and I kind of chuckles it away and said Heather was the one who gives me compliments on how much I still look young and like I did when I did fashion modeling. Nothing big just commercials and small local runways as it once was my dream to be like on Victoria's Secret or whatever amount, and she snorted something like you can't do runway now and you know it. Okay. At this point I flat out asked her if she had something to say to me and she said that since I had been so sensitive

about her asking me to do things, be wedding planner, paying for the party, etc. For her wedding she didn't want to bring it up, but she wanted me to change my look back to when you were so pretty like when we met that meant going back to my natural light brown hair, losing weight, I am five feet seven inches, and 120 pounds and wearing shapewear to fit in a smaller dress. Then she said, look at these lovely ladies, right? It would mean a lot to me if you all could shine up there, I said that was hurtful and I liked how I look now. I had lots of body issues trying for that dream in my twenties and skipped meals, drank too

much and worse, and hated my body. Now I do have curves and I love them. I offered to wear a wig for the wedding if my hair color was an issue and she just got quiet and changed the subject. To keep from everyone watching me get upset I just shook the wine bottle and laughed something about it getting empty and saying I was going to the kitchen to get a fresh bottle. Heather was there after a couple minutes and started saying, hey you know I love you no matter how you look, babe and I just shot but I look tacky.

And she shrugged and said that's why she didn't want to ask me. She knew I wouldn't focus on anything other than perceived slights. I handed her the new wine bottle to bring in and I stepped outside to calm down. It's still on my mind. The wedding is this summer and I am kicking myself for being sensitive. It's messing with my head. Now I can't even dream of standing up in front of everyone we all know in a bright dress. The M.O. dress is a different color and cut than the other bridesmaids.

The way I am but a part of me thinks I am letting her under my skin and should not worry about how I look. I don't want to be M.O regardless though, Wipida if I step down. I don't even know what I would tell my brother. Sorry for the nerdy references. It's a coping mechanism. Edit, couple of FAQs and things I didn't think to add. Brother has a pre-nup.

It wasn't really a trust thing but he just figured it would be there for them to point at and rebuffy rumors that she is with him for money and I am told. told she enthusiastically agreed. She does not have a full-time job, she works retail and does some theater work at my job as an actor. She lives with her sister and sister's spouse in the city as she is in school. She took a few years gap from high school to college. Her sister is kind of how we met as she is part of my gaming group. I do not work in software not do I make a lot of money compared to my brother. I am single and live alone and make okay money in nonprofit theater to survive. Aaron and I don't have any other family. We've been each other's family after I came

out as bisexual and our grandfather disowned me. Aaron went no contact out of support for me. We are also not biological siblings as Aaron is adopted and I am miracle baby. Our dad walked out when I was a kid and our mom passed away when I was a teen. Update 1. I tried to write this update on my original post but it got too long. So sorry but I am a bit of emotional and at this point tipsy. I immediately got comments saying the similar thing that I would be the odd to not tell my brother the truth. It was devastating and I admit some of the comments were worded in a way that really hurt, but at the end of the day I was asked if I was okay with Aaron marrying a person who will hurt him and something in my brain clicked. I love my brother

more than anything and I realized now I was being spineless and selfish to not come to him with this. From the beginning of me being M. O. Heather monopolized my time. I can be pinpoint exact moments I was slowly pushed out of regular contact with Aaron. If I was not working, or doing my side gigs, all my time was on the phone with her or footing the bill at dinners and lunches with her over the wedding. Someone mentioned that she was trying to keep me and Aaron from spending time and I realized they were right. Anytime I called him and she was there, she would take the phone to talk wedding stuff, etc. I would be so worn out at the end of my days I wouldn't even reply to texts. I feel so stupid.

I was a coward and so afraid of losing my only family I forgot to be family to him and that's hard to even type, but it's true. Aaron called me early, apparently a bridesmaid who was at my house the night I mentioned in my last post, Sophia F-26, who is one of our good friends apparently suggest he reach out to me and when he asked why she didn't say. I didn't realize, but I have been miserable since that party at my house. I didn't know how much I seemed off. It was brought to my attention how far out I seemed in public and how withdrawn I've been in general. Aaron called and asked if I was all right. I know the wedding is stressful, Heather has been a wreck. And I snapped and just started crying and hung up. He was at my place within the hour and I told him everything.

I don't remember seeing him so mad in my life. I am skipping a bunch to be brief. He asked me how much I spent on the wedding and I just handed him my phone with my bank app and the bridesmaid chat all open and he scrolled and asked me why I would not mention this to him. I explained and he shook his head. He wrapped me in a hug and told me not to worry and ordered us food. After he left Sophia texted me and Aaron in a new group chat with the three of us some recordings from when she was making tick ticks and the like and various bridesmaid events with Heather in the background and nothing more. I saw it indicated Aaron saw it,

but he hasn't said anything yet other than I will use a fake name for myself as I have the others. Francesca, turn off your phone if you can. I will drop by tonight. I put my phone on Do Not Disturb and am on my couch drinking and waiting. Update 2. Quick random update. I am a bottle of wine and so forgive my dyslexia I am doomed scrolling Reddit and Facebook and Heather has blocked me on Facebook and through an app for my texts I can see she's texted many times.

I have opened nothing and won't until Aaron arrives. In the meantime I am truly in, good, tears over your support and advice. I was never a strong person, that was our mom, but you and my friends make me feel strong and I cannot express my gratitude. I will update when I can, but it may be tomorrow as I am passing that line of tipsy into more than tipsy, L.O.L. But seriously, thank you all so much. Update 3. My Venmo popped up and Heather's sister Haley just sent me money, no description on it. Just a bride emoji. Also Aaron says he is on the way. As I am on Facebook I am seeing more of the girls and the bridal party in different chats having issues with

Heather. I am more of an insta slash Twitter gal so never even saw it. I am messaging them back now. Editing in to say I am trying to post the update but having issues may have to make it two separate posts. Update 4. Star Date the next morning. y'all encouraged my nerdy side, sorry, LOL. Happy weekend, everyone. I was shook at how much my notifications blew up more than the Death Star. Bear with me as I soared through everything because it's a lot and I had a lot of wine last night stressed drinking and today I am slightly paying for that, LOL.

I'm dyslexic but we'll do my best here and try take my time. First, some background that came up in the comments. Some of you called it, but yes, I suffer from an abusive relationship myself. He doesn't even deserve a nerdy fun name, so we will just call him Jeff. Jeff was emotionally and physically harmful to me and encouraged my dieting in my 20s constantly calling me fat, etc., and that was him being nice. Whenever I tried to leave, he would either intimate or gaslight me or both. The short of it is, Aaron finally figure out what was happening as I had gone so low contact with

him and let's just say you wouldn't like Aaron when he's angry. Jeff is so far in my rearview one would think he's a mirage. Also, I finally watched all the recordings Sophia sent Aaron and I there just snippets that she never posted due to lighting slash noise slash or something being said that she didn't want on the internet but with Heather somewhere in it or heard in the background. Not all of it was her hurling insults at me as some are from outings I could not attend and she put down others. I mentioned before Sophia is close to both Aaron and I and we have sibling like love for one another and also that Sophia is gay. One video is just Sophia holding her phone down as Heather explains why Sophia's girlfriend can't be at the wedding. You guessed it, Heather checked the homophob box. She just hit bigot bingo. I am so embarrassed I ever thought she was my friend. Many other videos were Heather's put downs to me. Sophia even managed to get the tacky convo from the point after Heather called me tacky the first time on.

There is much more to add I will put another update on with what happened. happened last night. Update 5, onto what happened. By the time Aaron got back to my place, I was less tipsy and more wine drunk. He looked at me and said I needed to lay off the celestial absinthe, D&D joke. He looked exhausted. I apologized as I felt I had imploded his life and he snapped at me something like, don't you dare apologize for telling me the truth ever. And what on about how hurt he was I never told him about any of it? I apologized and he reminded me of Jeff and how bad things could have gone if he hadn't figured out what Jeff was doing to me. I suffered in silence and things could have escalated and he could have lost me.

I am all he has and he would never have forgiven me or himself. I told him he was right and from now on no lies and no secrets between us. He made me pinky swear, like we did when we were kids. He then told me what happened. He got to his house and listened to every single one of the recordings. He had sent himself items and screenshots from my phone, including all the payments he could find of what I spent and calculated it. He wrote me a check and the total is staggering. I don't know if everyone is like this, but sometimes it is hard to keep a running tally on a specific expense over time if you just spend a little here and a little there over a year. But let's just say the check will replenish my lost savings and then some. He then called Heather over under the guise of wanting to have dinner with her.

When she arrived he was sitting in his living room and acting casual. He was recording the whole conversation on his computer nearby where he teaches tech so the audio was perfect when he played it back to me except for when Heather was moving about his house doing things here and there in other rooms as she talked to him. But he stayed on the couch by the desk. He was casual and asked about the wedding planning she lamented how much there was to do but how excited she was. He asked about me how is Francesca doing? I haven't been able to catch up with her and Heather said something about how she is trying to coach me on being M.O. But that it's fine as she just wants him to be happy and have his adoptive sister in the wedding. Aaron and I never used the word adoptive.

He is simply my brother. Adopted or no. I never knew she used that term when I wasn't around. I can't quite pin it down as to why. There's nothing wrong with him being adopted or anything, but it just didn't sit well with me. He kept it chill asking her questions he already knew answers to and she clearly would lie to him. He brought up the money and maybe he should contribute since he does make more and he doesn't mind. That's when the big lies happened.

She claimed to have worked many shifts and saving a lot of money and the like to pay for her half. Then she blamed me on the super expensive bridesmaid dresses claiming I made a big deal about not looking my best in the much more affordable dresses she had wanted, etc., but made it out like she compromised by yielding to what I wanted even though it was more expensive. I am making this really short, but she made me out to be this diva and would imply how I must talk him into buying me expensive things. And that the Bachelorette was going to be her biggest expense because I am a city girl and would not stand for a small dinner which is what Heather wanted. Absolute wookie pooh-pooh, but whatever. Aaron toyed around a little longer before saying, Hey, you should come listen to this and started playing some of the videos. You can be

hear Heather saying things like who is that. That sounds like me, but that's not me, but he kept playing them until she just goes, what is this about? He said he knew the truth and is giving her the chance to tell him the truth. She pretended she didn't know what he meant and Aaron just said, allow me to be very clear. I know you've been lying to me. So tell me the truth. She started crying and asking why he's doing this to her and asked what she did to deserve this and he got angry. He stated lying wasn't even the worst, but how he treated me. His sister and Heather's supposed friend. A lot was said between them, but he never raised his voice and at one point she was screaming and he said, I won't even speak to you if you're just going to yell. They argued

more and he told her to get out and that the wedding is off. He said he expects her to pay me and him back for all the expenses or he will bring her to court and then as she was crying, he called her sister Haley to tell her that Heather is on her way back home and laid out everything so Haley knew exactly why they were calling it off. The recording ends there, but according to Aaron, he put Heather's things in her sister's car for her. Yes, I am pedally specific about Heather not owning a car, and locked her out. She stayed at the door crying for a minute and left. Aaron says he took a moment to cool down when the drama started back up. Out of all the bridesmaids, only one was singularly Heather's and not a mutual friend of ours or a friend of mine or

errands. Kim hated me at the very beginning because she is Heather's true best friend and should have been the M.O. But made up some crap that I threw a fit I wasn't important in the wedding so long-suffering Heather bent a knee and made me M.O. Kim called Aaron and yelled at him that Heather is at her house heartbroken and depressed because the other girls lied to him to make her look bad. Heather is willing to forgive him and take him back, but he needs to acknowledge the truth. She said Heather would only get mean to defend herself from us ganging up on her and that Kim witnessed it firsthand. She told him I was the worst one and would make snide remarks to Heather about taking my brother away from me and how now I was alone and had no one. She implied something

else that I won't repeat here because it's disgusting but a hem-luck-and-space mom, if you know you know. Then she dropped that Heather is also pregnant and the stress cannot be good for her or the baby. Aaron said that he was almost considering talking to Heather and seeing things from her perspective because he was dumb and he did think he had loved her but it was the last parts that snapped him out of it. He said if Heather perceived she was being attacked, he almost felt bad, but he also knew me well enough to know

that I am far too not confrontational, then Wham, baby? He told Kim that this is impossible as Heather's rule was no intercourse until marriage and he respected that, but now Kim and Heather are claiming that he was drunk one night and he and he and Heather did the deed

and must not remember as he was practically passed out for most of it, which I won't begin to even touch that here, but I have never felt more angry, in my life. Aaron doubts this as he has never been so drunk he would forget things and on top of that, why would she keep it a secret from him after the fact? More to it, but those are the cliff notes. It was late and Sophia couldn't come over so we facetined her to thank her. She and her girlfriend were eager to hear what happened and Aaron told the whole thing over again and Sophia's girlfriend let he told Aaron to immediately demand a medical confirmation of pregnancy and a paternity test as well as if

Heather pinned down the when and where. She reminded Aaron that he has cameras all over his home and in the main room so this can be easily disproven, but to also tread carefully because she can see a mile away that if Aaron refuses to be conned by that Medusa A Dollar Homeworld or wannabe, she will try to spin it making him an aggressor. She is pre-law and her dad's an attorney, so Aaron will call him today and will speak to Heather only through his attorney going forward. We also open some of Heather's texts to meet together and screenshots each one, but I was sleepy because of the wine and fell asleep. When I woke up Aaron was on my tablet still reading and screen sewing and he seemed oddly chipper.

I asked what's up and he informed me that Heather's sister Haley reached out and she will be going to the doctor with Heather to see if Heather is really pregnant but Haley is doubtful as she never mentioned it nor has Haley noticed any signs. It seems Haley is on his side and over her shit he also wants to thank Sophia and the other bridesmaids for helping us and is thinking about keeping the venue and just having a party in place of the wedding but he isn't sure. Honestly, I don't think he slept and he looks awful so I cancelled all my plans and I'm going to make sure he rests and takes care of himself.

Nothing has been decided but he now sees how manipulative Heather can be. I know he is heartbroken but he's putting on a face for everyone. I know far too well eventually he will need to mourn the relationship and I am determined to be here when he does. I think that's everything for now. I wanted to share with everyone who has been so supportive of us even if it meant kicking in the pants to get me to be honest with my brother. To my fellow brown coats and rebels, thanks for helping me feel a part of a broader nerdom, it feels awesome. I hope you enjoy this

story. Is it incorrect for me to convey to my mother and her spouse that I am eagerly anticipating reaching the age of 18 to move out of their residence? As a young man of 16, when I was just a child of my mother, aged 34, had an affair and left me and my dad, 35M, for a wealthier man, for two years, I only saw my mom like four or five times, I can't even remember but not more than that, then she disappeared and didn't contact us again. I even thought that she was dead. I think my dad thought it was too much responsibility for him or was angry at my mom, and somehow wanted to take everything that reminded him of her away so he sent me to live with my maternal aunt and I only saw him like two or three times a month, for half an hour.

Unfortunately, my aunt died of cancer last year. I thought my dad would take me in but he's busy with his new family, wife and kids, my grandma, dad's mother, wanted to take me but then my egg donor came out of the blue to take me. When she came to take me, it was the first time I saw her in nine years and it felt weird and it sucked that she hugged me and kissed me as if nothing happened in those nine years. She married the man she left us for and they now have three kids, 10m, 8F, 7F. I've been living with them for six months now and I spend most of the time in my room, since we are in another city six hours away and I have no friends here. We rarely speak. She tries to talk to me but I ignore her and her husband. They try to include me in activities but it sucks

seeing them play the perfect family when I missed everything as a child so I don't really like them. Her husband tries to make me call him dad. He tries to spend time with me and talk to me. He knows I love tennis so he learned about it and has listed me in tennis lessons and wants to talk about it all the time he sees me. He even wants to take me to some matches. He introduces me as his son and I hate it since all I see is the guy that stole my mom from me when I needed her the most.

It happened yesterday. He asked me to go with him to the grocery store. And then he met a friend of his and as his friend hasn't seen me in any family photo. He asked about me and then my first. my mom's husband said, He is my firstborn, you didn't know about him because he was living with a sister of my wife's. I didn't make a scene there, but when we got out, I told him to never say he is my father, he is just a home wrecker who stole my mom.

We got home and he told my mom then my mom, almost crying, said, you hate us that much, don't you? So I said, of course, you left me and now you want to act like nothing happened by playing the happy family. T.B.H. I can't wait to turn 18 and leave and I'm not sure if I ever want to see you again. She started crying and her husband comforted her, so I just went to my room. They tried to talk to me, but I've just ignored them. I told a friend of mine about this and he says I'm TA. Update one, not really a big but something is something I guess since a lot of people have been texting me. My mom and stepdad have been so apologetic. They try to talk to me but I ignore them. I know it makes me

sound terrible, but I can't. I've tried to look at them differently since I posted here by the first time, but I can't. Heaven knows I've tried. I want to try therapy. I need someone to talk to, and I let my mom know it again, but her husband keeps insisting that we must go together to do some family therapy. I don't really want him there because I don't see the point of it. So, I'm going to do what somebody suggested, I told him that I'll do the therapy with him, and once we are there, I'll tell the therapist that I don't feel comfortable with him there. Maybe that works. I don't even know if this is moral or even fair, but I don't know what else to do since he has refused to let me go by myself. He already booked the appointment. It's this Tuesday at 3 p.m. So that's what's happening now. I'll let you know if my plan works. Verdict, not the a whole. Comments where OP has replied. Malibu Cat 48, NTA I'm so sorry for the life you've had. It's hard being a team. under any circumstances, but you've been dealt a bad hand, and your feelings are valid.

Is there any chance you could still live with your grandmother? Your mother and her husband are trying to make up for the wrong she has done, but if they care, they might let you live with your grandmother if it would make you happier. If that isn't possible, see if you can get into therapy. It won't change your situation, but it will help you cope with it. Good luck and I hope things work out. O.P., they don't want and my dad doesn't want. want to take me. Commentators asked about why O.P.'s mother not visiting him and if O.P.'s

father's family hated her. O.P., remember, I lived with her sister. Not my dad's family, so there was nobody stopping her from visiting me. No bus 5303. NTA, I'm sorry, but you mom is way too much. She expects you to jump into her arms and everything will be okay. It's not she cheated and now she wants to be in this perfect fantasy land where as sunshine and rainbows my advice turned 18, get a job and bolt. O.P., I tried to get a part-time job now, but she refuses because her husband convinced her, I need her permission here. Mini update, My Life Sucks. Mom and Dad try to fix what they did, but what they don't understand is that once a heart is broke there is no way to put it together as it used to. Now they cry as if they were the victims here. Ha ha ha ha, isn't that

hilarious? Comments where O.P. has replied. Commentator asked how O. O.P., is doing. O.P., I'm doing a little better. Therapy sessions are just the therapist and me, except for the first one in which my dad was present. Because he wanted to tell me something important, anyway, I'm doing better for myself. I'm stuck here, but I'll make sure this man pays for my college. I'll move out anyway. Small update, he wants to adopt me. Mom's a fair partner, the man she left me for now came up with a great idea of adopting me, and I'm like, dude, no matter how hard you try, I'll never forgive you, you'll never be my dad. The jerk bought me a car on my 17th birthday and that's when he came with the wonderful idea of adopting.

I haven't used that damn car, my friends call me ungrateful because they wish their parents gifted them such a thing. The only good thing about living with them is that I can have my privacy and they respect it. Sometimes I feel sorry for him because he is trying so much to make it up to me, but then I remember all the damage he caused and many abandonment issues I have because of that. My mom? Well, we kind of improved our relationship. I wouldn't say I trust her. I wouldn't say I love her either, but we've got to have open conversations in which we bear our souls. I don't buy some of her shitty excuses but others seem reasonable even more now that I look backwards. We've had some therapy sessions together in which we both cry like babies ha ha ha ha. Comments where Op has replied.

Night 300 about the adoption thing. I don't know the laws about regarding this, but I think child welfare professionals will ask the kid how they feel and they will determine if this is in the child best interests. In your case, if you've shown such big hatred towards him to the point you had do go to therapy, then an adoption will probably not happen. The adoption will also result with you resenting him even more. To be honest, I don't know why he thought that it will be a good idea after you've shown

how much you don't like him. About your friends. If you've already told them how much his actions screwed you and still invalidate your pain and only see the money your mother's partner spend it as a proof of affection, then drop them. These friends are materialistic assholes that I would not be surprised if they will end up doing what your mother has done. B.T.W. How do you get along with your half-siblings? O.P. I don't really know the kids. We've interacted a few times but we aren't like super close. Update 2. It's been a little.

a while. Hi, guys. I know it's been a long time since I posted here for the last time. Tbh I had even forgotten about this post until I saw a video on TikTok like five days ago. It was my original post and some people were asking for an update. I wanted to comment to let them know what had happened but my profile picture is a photo of me and I didn't want to feel vulnerable. And I also think that if everything started here, I should post the update here. It was hard to log in since I had forgotten the password but I see that a lot of you guys have been reaching out. I highly appreciate that you guys want to know if I'm okay. Sorry if I haven't replied to your comments. I have not checked my Reddit account in one year and the reason why I post this five days later.

It's because I didn't have much time. I'll tell you why. Sorry if I make any mistakes typing this. It's a Saturday at 11.08 p.m. and I'm on my phone. Grandma died like eight months ago. We weren't close but it was still sad. I could attend her funeral. That's where I saw my dad for the last time. He has cut me off his life completely and I don't know why. I saw him at the funeral. We hugged. I've tried calling him after that, but he didn't pick the phone. And like two months ago he blocked me on everything. It's hard, it hurts, not going to lie, but I won't beg for a relationship. He'll regret it one day to find out he rejected someone who loved him and looked up to him, someone who'd have died for him. I'm already 18, I'm preparing my

uni application to attend the uni next year. I want to apply for an architecture program. I'm already working as an assistant at an architecture firm. A job my stepdad got me because he is friends with one of the senior architects. They don't pay that much, but it helps me get some experience. My mom and I have improved our relationship. I wouldn't say I trust her or I love her as a child should love their mom, since I still hold some resentment, but our relationship has improved a lot. She still refuses to answer some of my questions. I don't think she ever will, but we have made some progress. She doesn't want me to move out. I'm planning to do it January next year, since I just turned 18 and need to get figure out some things. As for my stepdad, it might

sound weird, perhaps I'm just being manipulated or this is a consequence of my traumas, but I've never felt loved by anyone like by him. I think he truly cares about me, he worries about my needs and insecurities. One day I even told myself, so this is what a parent's love feels like. Maybe, just maybe the lack of affection given to me by those who were supposed to love more than anything make me appreciate the things he does a little bit more, because I need you to understand that I didn't have that growing up. My dad never called me to see if I've got home or school safe or if I needed something, but S.D. does. I'm literally bearing my soul and I have never said this to anyone, but I like when

he calls me son I just pretend I don't ha ha ha. I still call him by his name but he tells me he dreams about the day I get to call him dad. I don't think I ever will, but let's see what happens. He was against the idea of me working since I didn't need to cuss he can provide, but ultimately, he doesn't have a say. He tells me I don't have to worry about rent or funds because he will provide, but I don't think I want to be totally dependent for five years. So this is pretty much what has happened. I don't know if this is the update you were waiting for, since some of you wanted me to run the second I turned 18, but I still need to find things out and be capable of affording a place. Now on to the next story. Story 2. Am I wrong for not cooking Thanksgiving dinner

and spending the day at the beach instead? I 27F have solely been responsible for cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 20 plus people for the last eight years. I do all the shopping, cooking and setting up. Months before Thanksgiving I start looking at grocery prices and tweaking recipes to fit dietary restrictions Caribbean family, vegans and pescatarians, meat eaters. I also make enough for the college-aged kids to have leftovers. I usually make three turkeys, two party pans of mac and cheese and a party pan of mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, collard greens, yams, mini-safood kishis, stuffed mushrooms, rolls and a salad from scratch. Plus all the desserts apple pie, sweet potato pie, cheesecake, homemade ice cream and breads also from scratch.

I start making stocks and doze Tuesday night. I bake my bread for stuffing and make my cheesecake and pies Wednesday after work. Cook all day Thursday so we can sit down and start eating it by four so my aunts who work the night shift as nurses can enjoy. Every year people invite unexpected guests and it becomes 30 plus. I would be okay if it were plus ones but my mom invites her friends and their kids. My mom and aunt ask me to make additional turkeys and some sides for their units. I never feel appreciated for everything I do to make it special

and accommodate everyone. This year I'm separated from my husband and I really don't feel like bending over backwards cooking for people who don't even leave me leftovers to make a sandwich the next day. This year I've decided not to cook and just spend my day at the beach, the only bonus to living in Florida. I was asked how much the adults should zeal me for Thanksgiving groceries at the beginning of the month and I told them I'm not cooking. Today I received a zeal from my uncle and when I returned it he asked why, I reminded him in the family group chat I wasn't cooking. Now they want me to cancel my plans and cook. Am I the odd for not wanting to? Edit 1, this is my favorite holiday but my separation has left me emotionally

exhausted and without any passion to cook. Edit 2, I don't actually mind the cooking for my family, I look forward to it. The unexpected guest a little. The thing bothering me is that I expected to do this year is that I wanted to celebrate the only holiday I look forward to with my husband. I wanted to share the dishes that I love and scheduled chaos with him. I'm upset because I don't get my husband. They may not understand it, but I took on this holiday because I enjoyed it. Comments where Op has replied. The fact that everyone relies on you for all food is insane and you should all bring dishes. It's partially my fault since I'm neurotic when it comes to this particular holiday. I want traditional American food and they revert back to Caribbean roots. When I first started it was

just family and I that was 15 people now after a few marriages. It's 20 base that's without the three leaving to work the night shift at hospitals. I genuinely enjoy it but with the stress of my separation I mentally do not have the fortitude to do it. A regular dinner for myself is hard enough to put together. We rotate holidays. New Year's and at one's house, Easter and Christmas Eve at Aunt 2's house, 4th of July at Aunt 3's and Thanksgiving at mine. How do you cook three turkeys? Intervals. I start with a spatchcocked one early in the morning. For leftovers, I start the whole one at 11 a.m. and pull it out at 3 p.m. For dinner and the table. For the third I break it down into six pieces. Also use it for leftovers.

That one goes in when I pull the whole one. More on the emotional toll this is taking on op. I've been going through a separation I've lost 30 pounds this year because I don't have the passion I once had to cook nor an appetite. They've noticed my lack of cooking and commented on it. I'm usually okay with cooking for that many, but the emotional toll the separation has left me leaves little to no energy for anything but work and necessities.

I eloped last year and they don't. don't acknowledge the relationship being significant. I mentioned not cooking over the summer because I'd be with my husband but A. In late October I was clear I wouldn't cook and to make other arrangements. How long have they known you're not cooking? I told them late October, I reminded them mid-November and today when I receive the money. Delegate Try delegating in 2021 after surgery and it was a mess even though I was in the kitchen

showing them how to do simple things like great cheese or pass the potatoes to through a food mill. They have all the recipes and exact ingredients down to the brand, but choose to substitute cheddar with velvita and ask why it doesn't taste the same. Someone says oops mom should cook this year and oops response made me spit out my drink. The last good thing my mom made was breast milk. She's permanently banned from the kitchen due to almost fires and food poisoning instances. OOP is voted antea. Update. excuse typos currently enjoying the small four pack of Woodbridge wine while watching the crown with my husband by his bedside. More on that later. I actually listened to you guys and I didn't

cook. The weather wasn't the best so I didn't end up at the beach but sat by the pool did some work and journaling. I enjoyed margaritas by the pool and wine at dinner. I don't know how I was able to drink all day and get everything done by 4 p.m. dinner was late. We didn't end up eating until 6 p.m. so the people who worked that night just took to go plates and couldn't eat with us. My mom called a few times from the kitchen asking how to turn on the oven, make a pre-made ham and turkey. My aunt asked for the recipes that I previously emailed and asked if I could come over and supervise. I ignored the calls and texts. I did end up carving two-thirds turkeys ate and helped clean up and went back to bed. My mom's friend ended up bringing herself and six other people,

empty-handed. The creepy family friend did the usual show up empty-handed, eat, grab to-go plates and leave. My cousins were bummed they didn't get leftovers for finals. They were also shocked to see that their favorites weren't made and it didn't taste the same. No one took leftovers home besides my mom's friends, they cleaned us out. I think they finally realized how much goes into it because my aunt complained that she had to go to multiple stores even though she was making one-third of the food. My mom ordered from the fresh market and that was too much. Thanksgiving Day my husband and I spoke and had a great conversation about moving forward with the separation what it's going to look like for us financially and a rough timeline of when we should be legally divorced. Saturday morning I get a call from my husband's local hospitals saying that he was got injured while running.

He had a stress fracture that resulted in a complete break in multiple places and needed surgery. Since I'm legally still his wife and he has not updated his emergency contact I flew up. and I am currently at his bedside hoping I can get his family out here to take over. He didn't expect to wake up with me being there but was happy and thinks we should try counseling. All in all I'm emotionally drained. Working from his bedside. I should be able to take him back to our house tomorrow and get him set with his family and friends to take over. It's been nice being in a cold city and seeing him after so long, but I'm sure this marriage is over.

Thanks for all the advice. My therapist actually told me I have to start putting myself first and this was a good first step. Comments were Op has replied. Anyone telling off the people who took leftovers? It's polite in my culture to send guests home with food slash gifts. Even for a casual visit I've sent people home with something as little as a few plant in or a few pieces of fruit. We make so much because it is common for people to stop by unannounced for holidays. My creepy uncle has brought Tuberware or asked for leftovers at formal events.

He's a physician and I've seen him do it at fundraisers I've attended for work. I hope you get some counseling and start putting yourself first. I called my therapist when I landed and she literally said we just talked about this why did you drop everything and I said I'm still his wife and he'd do it for me, which is true. My nail lady called me a dumb bitch and asked to pick up something from a store here we don't have back home. Why did you separate from your husband? Different religions, backgrounds, and cultures. Honestly, we care about each other but between communication issues and the fact that everything was rushed we never really got to know each other and after a few blow-ups where both parties

said or did something inexcusable it's better for us to call it quits now before we truly despise each other. We're back to a point where we can speak without attorneys and clearly I'm here caring for him, although sleeping in one of the guest rooms versus what uses to be our room. We just don't want to go back to where we didn't recognize ourselves or each other. Just because you're his emergency contact doesn't mean you have to go to him. Yeah, but that's still my husband. I personally felt like I had a moral obligation to be there until we could get his family state side. He needed surgery and I know how much medical situations freak him.

Plus this also saved me the cost of shipping some of the items I still have here. Would he do the same? He has done so recently as well. I was hospitalized for dehydration a few weeks ago when things were contentious and missed mediation because of it. He left a work trip to be by my side, even though it was minor. We don't hate each other we just don't work as a couple. I hope you enjoy this story. Just a kind prompt prior to the video starting, you will listen to two narratives in this clip and both come with fresh developments.

Moving on to the initial tale. I invest excessively much time in my bunker and now my wife is mad at me. My grandfather was an incredibly talented man who also suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, and he was convinced that the nuclear apocalypse was going to end the human race at some point. So he built his own bunker and then buried the entrance because he was convinced that both the KGB and the CIA were watching him and wanted to keep the bunker a secret. Yes, he was a crazy man, My dad inherited his house but never lived there, so when I had my first child in 2018 and got

married in 2019, my dad made me an incredibly generous offer for the house. I bought computers that were more expensive than the house. The bunker became kind of an urban legend, mostly because my old grandpa used to tell a lot of crazy stories, but out of curiosity I went looking for it and found the entrance. The old man really did it. So, thanks to being stuck at home during the uneventful 2020 and 2021, I started to remodeling the bunker to look less like a fallout vault and more like my own man cave, everyone loves it, especially the kids, my nephews and friends' children, so the house is

decorated to my wife's taste, while I can do whatever I want in the bunker, play gaming. Fix computers, set up a whole home server, work from home, etc. However, lately she has been complaining about me being distant and spending a lot of time there and less time with her and our child. She is pregnant again, so she said she was worried, but I just promised to spend more time at the house. After a few weeks that wasn't enough for her and she accuses me of abandoning her. I'm asking for judgment here because I'm trying to be there for my family, but this bunker feels like it's the only thing that's really mine and where I can actually have a break. But my wife has said she's going to seal the entrance otherwise I might miss the birth and not

even notice. Should I just move all my stuff into the house and forget about it? Am I really being neglectful, or is this just her pregnancy hormones talking? To be clear, I do help with the house chores and spend time with my son when I'm there and I have an intercom in the bunker so my wife can just call me if she needs anything and I'll go up there immediately. ETA everybody is asking me this. I spends at least six hours at the bunker on weekdays, I work there so I think is reasonable, and at least four hours on weekends, but yeah, or right, I need to make arrangements. I forgot to mention, our son goes to kindergarten so my wife has time to work and sometimes be alone at home. ETA 2.

Guys, I swear I'm taking notes, I'm just trying to understand what I should change about myself and how to talk to my wife about this. Remember that I spend at least six hours working, not scratching my belly, my manager allows me to log out early if I finish my work for the day but can't log out if I've been working for less than six hours. I also spend time talking with my team on Slack. ETA 3 So many of you are picking up on my language. I would appreciate if you explain calmly why my choice of words is so bad so I don't fuck things up when I speak to my wife. Mini update, I had a talk with my wife.

Overall I think it went well since she told me everything, but there are so many raw emotions right now and I was sent to sleep in the spare room. She had no mercy on me but we needed this talk so we can have a clear path for our future together. More about the bunker. The entrance is like 900 feet away from the house. There was also a tunnel connecting it to a hidden place on the basement, but it collapsed. I don't know how many years ago, so we sealed it. Yes, the city inspected it and is okay.

I didn't bother with the tunnel because it seems to be badly built and there was a risk that could keep collapsing if we tried to fix it. We also had to add more columns and reinforcements to make sure it won't collapse. I was recommended to have. Yearly inspections Clarify you say you work in game Are you doing those at the same time? No bro, when I mean working, I mean having a fight with my I-D-E until shit works

and when I mean networking, I mean talking to my team on Slack. Speaking to your team is as important as doing the work itself also can be spent reading doc, then after finishing, I can game for like an hour before going up. Yeah, I see how bad it sounds, your sometimes can be two hours, but hear me out. I usually don't play online games, but single-player games with a linear story and clear objectives, so is easy to do the till next checkpoint, though modern games can be saved at whatever point.

And logout. Yeah, I think I should stop doing this or do it inside the house. Where did you work before you had the bunker? Before getting married, I just went to the office every day but had my main computer in the bedroom. When we first moved into this house, I got a room to play. my computers, during this time, yes, had more contact with my family but it was harder to make it feel like an office. Update 1. I talked to my wife. I asked her to be very honest and I promised to let her talk until she was done. First of all, it's not just about the time I spend in the bunker now,

but she felt completely alone taking care of our little baby while I spent almost all of my free time remodeling and building and when it's done I'm just down there. I explained to her that it was basically my office now. She understood and apologized and then continued to explain herself. I'll just quote the gist of it because we talked for hours. I haven't been my own person since my first pregnancy. I feel like a doll. Every day is the same. I'm bored, frustrated, angry. Just when I thought it might get easier, I get pregnant again, how many years until I can just be me again. You have a big hole underground where you can play and not care about the word. I haven't read a book in years. I can't read two pages, without falling asleep. Yes, the house looks nice, but what about a place for me?

I don't want a Kindle, I don't want audiobooks to listen to while cooking or driving, I want a physical collection, where do I put them? When was the last time I went to a library? When was the last time you gave me something made of real paper? For context, she's always been a bookworm, loves books, and the aesthetic of having shelves full of them, but it's true she hasn't read in a long time, her a Kindle for our anniversary and I pay for her audible subscription, I thought those would be good substitutes, but they're not stop thinking that a screen can solve everything. I need you with me, I married a human, not a sim, download some emotions. I want to write again, but how? When? Will you read my first crappy drafts or just take a look and say it's okay? Can you have our son in the bunker for a few hours a day? He's bored here, he won't be bored down there. It was hard, but I needed it, and she needed it. I'm going to move my gaming consoles into the house and see if I can set up Steam link to

stream games from my gaming PC to our TV or something. We agreed to go on dates outside the house, and I'm going to take on more responsibilities around the house. I want to address something. I was told by my parents that I had to help with the house, help with the kids, but then I come to Reddit and it turns out that helping is a problem. You talked a lot about mental load. This was the first time I heard about it, who was supposed to teach me that.

Helping, not having addictions, being loyal and always being there seemed like what every good husband does. Now I realize it was just the bare minimum. I feel like I have to relearn everything, and it's hard to realize that I'm a bad husband and father for thinking that the bare minimum was all I needed to have a long and happy marriage. I became a Reddit villain by being clueless, but I accept that. I'll see you again soon. Thank you all.

Update 2 Hey Guys, I hope you remember me, I'm the Bunker Guy, not much has happened in terms of big events, but things are getting better. After the talk I had with my wife, I started taking more responsibility around the house. I've been taking on as much as I can so she can rest, except I'm a terrible cook, so I have some frozen and instant food that I just heat up and call it done, but I've been taking our son to school and picking him up, spending more time with him in the bunker, he loves it. I've been gaming in the living room because I moved my consoles there and successfully set up Steamlink. So overall, my wife is sleeping more and has a few hours to just do nothing. She is much calmer now. She said she loved being able to just chill on the couch and not have to worry about anything. This pregnancy has been rough on her emotions, so I'm glad to see her like this.

She also spent some time with me in the bunker, doing her own work, sleeping, or just hanging out. She even got the Sims and started playing again. The first thing she did was build an almost exact replica of our house. We also did a lot of cuddling down there and even had sex. I have to admit, I'm loving every second of this new dynamic, even though there are still a few things that need to be changed and tweaked. I offered to build a room for her in the bunker, but she says it gets a little claustrophobic after a few hours and she likes sunlight,

so that was declined. Then I suggested building a shed for her, she said nothing, but after a few hours showed me a shed she built on the Sims, a hexagonal brick structure with a U-shaped couch in the middle, a door, and bookshelves on every wall, connected to the main house by a fenced-in path. I think it looks nice, so I will send it this week to the same people who helped me rebuild this bunker so they can convert it to CAD. Nothing is perfect yet, I have a lot to learn and haven't started couples counseling yet, that will be in about two weeks. But I'm trying my best. I have been an idiot for way too long and have a lot to make up for. Thank you all again. Now on to the next story, story two. My stepfather wasted my time, so I decided to go on our family vacation without him. I honestly am at a loss for words, I just don't understand why this is happening to me.

I'm 30F, me and my husband, 30M, have been married for five years, together for 11, literally had a movie-like relationship, just a constant honeymoon phase, of course, it got boring here and there, and there were bumps along the road, but I would have never thought of this, ever. Yesterday, I was looking up a recipe on Pinterest using my husband's phone, when he got a message from a contact called Internet Company, but it was a video, which I thought was weird, so I clicked on it. Within the video there was a little girl saying, Dada and a woman in the background that got super excited. I couldn't believe it, I scrolled up, tons of texts, all about different things, when he'd be visiting, if he could pick, a girl's name, let's call her Kelly,

Kelly up today, daycare four, let's call her Dina, date nights, all sorts of stuff, I couldn't believe my eyes. I managed to find the woman on Facebook, all it did was really hammer it in that this was really happening. I tried to convince myself that those weren't his kids, maybe he was just cheating on me with someone with kids, please let him be cheating on me with someone with kids, this woman had two daughters, worked an office job, and posted pictures of her daughters and what she made for dinner every night. I took a breath and messaged her, it was so, so, much worse than I could have ever imagined, these two girls were both his, one being 11 months and the other being four years old. I already was panicked at the thought of him

cheating on me for four years. Until I asked how long, 10 if I'm G years, they had been dating for 10 years, he kept up a double life for 10 years. He kept up a double life for 10 years. I don't even want to fathom how, apparently this woman had no idea, he always claimed he had to live away from her for work, he visited every weekend, which, FYI I work 16-hour shifts on the weekend, and returned during the afternoon. And go straight to bed, she showed me countless videos and images of them together. I just couldn't believe it. How could he do this to me? Why would he do this to me? We have been trying for a kid for four months. I was so excited to go through this experience together, but that's wrong. It wouldn't have been together. I'm so glad I'm not pregnant. I can't imagine living this lie while pregnant. I just can't look past this. I feel like such an idiot. How could I not tell? Why wasn't I concerned about never seeing him on the weekends? Why didn't I wonder why he took such frequent business trips? Why didn't I question why he was getting so many texts from an internet company? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why did he waste my time like this? Why did he hurt me like this? Why the hell did he do this? I don't even know how to confront him. I can't sleep.

I can't even be around someone like that. Someone who could do this to me. I'm so heartbroken. I can't ignore it. My life is a lie. My life is ruined. I don't know how to even try to move on. Update 1.

I've gotten into contact with a divorce attorney. I'm obviously going to divorce him to all the people saying we should just be sister wives. Pretty small update. But I wanted everyone to also know a bunch of info, because the same questions keep getting asked. So here's the actual update. I haven't confronted him. After dozens of comments advising me not to,

me and the other girl, I'll give her a fake name now, I guess. So let's call her Jenny, no her name is not Jennifer, have been talking, she has agreed to not confront him only because we are married. I did in fact learn that my husband was supporting this other family of his,

and apparently Jenny makes a very low paycheck, so she was in his financially dependent on him, me and Jenny also got two sides of my husband, me and my husband's life was eerily good. I guess you could say, never had any huge arguments. In fact, we rarely argued ever. And if we did, it was usually about me wanting him to get a different job, because I was led to believe he was only making 31k a year, which is super low for his occupation. We had an amazing intimate life, all the normal couple bases, but apparently, he wasn't so nice to Jenny, he was far more distant, literally also, yelled at her all the time.

Treated her like trash, only for him to bring her amazing gifts and take her out on amazing date nights and tell her how much he loved her the next week. What the hell? But that's not I.T. He loves his daughters oh so much, even though he's screwing over their mom and acts like such a good father, that makes me mad, like super mad. I can't even fathom why, he's not 100% trash. Shouldn't I be happy? But I'm not. I'm so mad at him, it's eating away at me that I can't just scream at him about how horrible he is. Now, here's a whole bunch of info. To answer a bunch of questions, how didn't you notice money missing? Our finances were kept separate. We also got a pre-nup when we got married.

How did he keep up visitation during COVID? Apparently, he didn't. Jenny said that he mostly only called, and FaceTimed. If she dare brought it up, he'd just hang up on her. Real good guy I know, why were you on his phone? gasp, could it be? My phone was almost dead, so I used his. Yes, I noticed he had calls from her, but she was saved as internet company so I paid little mind. Oh, and funny thing is, I'm saved a spam call in his phone, which fun fact, was a joke between us because I used to

call him five times every day during our early 20s. People used to literally call me spammy. I occasionally got mad at him. Because how would he know if it was spam or not? Pretty effing mad I didn't get weirded out faster. How didn't you figure out via social media? Slash how did you find her? 1. I usually only use Facebook to look at stupid memes and talk to friends. 2. I had her phone number. That's how. Why didn't you text her instead of messaging her? Got this one as a private message, but I talked to her on Facebook because I didn't want him to see my number on her phone somehow.

I know, paranoid and whatever. Why don't you just convert and be sister wives? Why? Why would I do that? How didn't you notice? Slash why did you get married so young? Ike, maybe I trusted my parter of 11 years? We got married young because he wanted two, and we could. How could he have the energy to keep up a double life? I'm not him, I don't know, honestly, it's beyond me why he would be with me and her at the same time. It makes more sense for him to have been with her full time than me. What about family? He told Jenny that he cut his family off years ago. He didn't, and Jenny grew up in foster care, and was never adopted. Funny thing is, his family probably won't care that he cheated on me, they'll only care that they were dare kept away from their grandbabies.

Update 2. Hello everyone. I am back. I've moved out of our house. I'm staying with a friend. We're getting divorced. I confronted him with said friend, just simply because you never know what can happen, but at least I got some form of closure out of this. First off. he wasn't sorry at all, didn't even ask me to stay, just huffed and said okay. If this is what you want. When I asked him why, he just looked up at me, didn't say a word, I asked him how, how he could keep this up for so long, what did he say? Because you both went along with it. So of course I asked further, as many of you guessed, Jenny knew, for some odd reason she was okay with this, I still don't understand why she would lie to me instead of he don't know

just blocking me or something, I'll admit I was upset, very upset and confused, so I asked again why would you do this? He told me that he was cheating on me with her since the beginning of our dating, that she was just a fling though, and he didn't expect either relationship to really last, but it did. Woo-hoo, when I asked him why to cheat in the first place, because I was young, could get away with it at that time, so why not? He fucking disgusts me, I asked why he married me instead of her, because you were the better choice. When I asked him to elaborate, he definitely elaborated, Jenny didn't have a good job, so she was a bad investment, you, Jenny was uglier, once again you, Jenny wasn't as good as me, she wasn't as clean as me. She wouldn't be as good

of a partner as me, and so on, I asked why he would even have sex with her if he liked me better. Because she was more kinky, for your information, I am not kinky, at all, I'm very vanilla in fact, I asked about the kids, of course, he clarified that the first kid was an accident he literally did the air quotes. Jenny poked holes in a condom, which he found out about but never confronted her. Of course I don't know if I can trust this. He had a second one with her, because in his mind, he could handle one, so why not too? What type of dumb fuckery is that? When I asked about how he treated Jenny, he confirmed that he did in fact, only see her on weekends, but claimed to have never treated her poorly, he said he treated her as the mother of his children and respected her as such,

but never treated her as a romantic partner. Apparently she's only there to screw, not to love, at the end of it all. He asked if he could talk to me privately, I couldn't find a reason not, so I sent my friend out of the room, he told me that he still loved me and that we could work this out if I really wanted to, that he would abandon Jenny and his daughters but still pay child support, I said no. To which he let out the most dramatic sigh I'd ever heard in my life. I before saying have it your way then, then wearing the most smug smile I've ever seen, like he'd won the biggest battle of all time, I was left conflicted, I cried in my friend's car all the way to his house. It's like my now ex. Could just change everything with a flick of a switch,

I can feel myself already wanting him back, but I'm not going back, I'm never going back, I've got a lawyer, so does he, the papers are signed, all that's left is court. I can't believe how much my life has changed this year. I went from getting giddy to go home to see my husband's smile. To dreading it, hating it, wishing to never see it again, I don't know whether Jenny really knew, but I'm guessing she did. I mean, how did she not know for 10 years? But that being said, how didn't I know for 10 years? Whatever, I just wanted to let Reddit know that this is what's happened. This didn't happen recently but I forgot about the whole Reddit post. I've got other things to worry about if you didn't notice. Huh, I don't know what to trust. I don't even want to reach out to

Jenny I don't even want to know the truth anymore, you know Matthew. If you manage to see this, honestly, I applaud you, congrats, you did it, you ruined everything, you got away with it for over a decade, and it's finally over, I wonder if you'll go back to Jenny or just find some other girl to trick, to destroy, all I care is that you leave me out of it. I'm looking forward to moving on and minding someone who actually loves me. I hope you enjoy this story. Samantha's sibling engaged in a romantic entanglement with my spouse of a couple of lunar cycles, conceived a child, and audaciously prepared my belongings and evicted me to take up residence. With him and my parents supported them. Just three months ago, I, F-28, was married to the love of my life, Wes M-32, after being with him

for four years. And today, I'm in the process of divorcing him, and my life and family have completely fallen apart. I have no support from my own family and the only people I can rely on are my friends, thank God for them, or I'd be a bigger mess than I am now. I don't know why this happened, or what lesson I'm supposed to learn from it. All I know is this is unfair, and I don't know what I did to deserve being stuck in such a horrible situation. I have an older sister, Meg, F-34. Meg and I have always had an okay relationship. There's a big age gap between us. so we never really had the chance to form that sisterly bond. I wasn't even a teenager when she left for college out of state.

I wouldn't say we hated each other, well, now we do, but as kids, I don't think we hated each other at least I didn't hate her, but we also weren't the typical close best friend sister duo. There's no Elsa and Anna going on here. Our parents, too, never forced us to develop a bond. We did things as a family, but both she and I were allowed to be our own people. people, which was a good thing. Years later, when I went to college, things improved a little between us. I think since we were both adults, we could relate to each other better. I didn't go to the same university as her, and we weren't in the same state, but we still talked more than before,

which is why this coming from her was the biggest shock of my life. When I was 24, I met Wes. He was an alumnus of my college and had come for a party. That's where we met, hit it off, and started dating soon after. By year two of our relationship, I had introduced him to my family. He popped the question a year ago, and we got married three months ago. I had the perfect life, I'm not going to lie. I had a fiancé who loved me, a good job in a field I chose for myself, and Wes was doing well, too. Everything was going great until three months ago. Meg, on the other hand, had a more difficult personal life. She got married when she was 25 to a man none of us liked. It was obvious he wasn't good for her, but no matter what we said, she wouldn't budge from her decision. So we let her be

because that's all we could do. It wasn't a happy marriage by any means. He forced or rather manipulated her into leaving her job, which she did, making her financially dependent on him. My parents and I asked her many times if she was okay with it and told her we'd support her if she wanted to leave, but she always said no and asked us not to meddle. The breaking point for us, or rather me, came when she claimed I was hellbend on destroying her marriage because I had no one of my own. This was five years ago, before I met Wes. I knew then there was no point in arguing with her or trying to make her see sense. She was behaving like a woman who was blind and loved by choice, and any help offered was seen as an affront. That was the last time I spoke to her about her a

whole of a husband, and we had very limited contact for close to two years after that. When I was 25 and she was 31, she finally got divorced. I never asked her the reason because I didn't want to meddle, not even a little. She tried to talk to me about it, but I always shut her down. Call me cruel or whatever, but I didn't have the energy or willingness to participate in it again. For years, I tried looking out for her, but in the end, I was blamed and shamed for it, and there was just no way I was engaging again. It pissed her off a lot,

because I assumed she wanted support at that time, but I was out. This isn't to say I was downright cruel or mean to her. We patched up, sort of, and spent time together talking, hanging out, she'd moved to my state, and she even ranted about her issues to me, but I never gave any input. She was welcome to grieve and complain,

but I wasn't going to open my mouth when it came to her ex-husband. She knew this, and it pissed her off, so much so that she sometimes tried to rile me up and get a reaction, but I knew better than to fall for it. Wes, for his part, could never understand the dynamic between me and my sister. He used to defend her and say that her judgment was clouded because of her husband, and that I shouldn't hold that against her. According to him, it's natural for people to behave this way when they're in love or when they've made a decision for themselves and it turns out to be wrong. No one likes to admit they screwed up, especially when others told them not to do something. I agree with him on this. No one likes being told, I told you so.

But downright accusing someone of being a homewrecker is vile and disgusting, and I wasn't going to put up with it. And it's hilarious how she accused me of being a homewrecker when she's the one who had an affair with my husband. Anyway, so Wes and Meg had an okay relationship, in the sense that it was as okay as I allowed. I didn't engage with her much, so Wes's contact with her was limited as well. We met when we had time, and he always had a more sympathetic take towards her than I did. All through my relationship with him, I never suspected they were involved. Their interaction was limited, and I never imagined I would have to worry about something like this because Wes wasn't the kind of man to cheat.

We got married three months ago, and everything was great. We had a great ceremony, our families were happy, and everyone attended. It was wonderful, but we postponed the honeymoon because we wanted to go on the Disneyland cruise. We knew we wouldn't get leave for two big vacations. So, right after the wedding, we focused on decorating the house. I had moved in with him, the house is in his name, and things were good for the first couple of weeks. Well, I only got a couple of weeks with him because, about a month ago, my dear sister called me up crying, saying she needed to talk. I didn't have the energy for another one of her sob sessions, and I said the same to Wes,

and for a change, he agreed with me. Little did I know what was coming. I told her I was busy, but she kept insisting it was urgent and we needed to meet. I invited her over, and Wes was there too. She looked uncomfortable, and Wes, in hindsight, seemed like he wanted to be anywhere but in that room. She told me she was pregnant, and then started crying. Before I could ask anything, she said Wes was the father. It took me a minute to process what she was saying. I looked at her and Wes, who, to his credit, looked as shocked as I was and I started laughing. I thought it was some elaborate prank. But Wes wasn't laughing, and Meg was still crying. I turned to Wes, asking what was going on, and he muttered, you can't be pregnant.

I asked what the hell he meant by that, and before he could answer, Meg interrupted and said they'd hooked up a month ago, and she was sure Wes was the father. I swear I couldn't think straight for a minute. I just stared at her like a deer in headlights, and when she didn't say anything else, I looked at Wes. He broke down crying, saying it was a one-time thing, that it meant nothing, and that he never thought she'd get pregnant. As if that was the issue.

I told her to leave, and I told Wes to get out. too. I couldn't look at them anymore and needed time to process what had happened. Meg looked at me like I was the one who had committed some unforgivable crime. She had the audacity to say that she should be the one staying in the house since she was pregnant, and I was not. It took every ounce of self-control not to slap her right there. I looked at Wes in disbelief, and he told her to leave, which she did. Wes left too, though I don't think they left together, but at this point, who knows? If he could get her pregnant, he sure could leave with her.

I think I sat there for hours, unable to think. My mind was just numb. I don't know where the time went, and I had a few calls from West during that time, but I had turned off my phone because he was the last person I wanted to talk to. I couldn't believe he had betrayed me like this. This wasn't something I thought he was capable of. I couldn't even process the betrayal from Meg's end because I was still in shock over what my own husband had done. And then I saw a text from her. It essentially said that while she was sorry for what

happened, it couldn't be changed. She was pregnant, she knew she was going to keep the baby, and it was in the best interest of the entire family for me to move out so she could move in with Wes, allowing him to take care of her and bond with the baby when it was born. I was appalled at her audacity. I couldn't believe she had the nerve to say this to me after sleeping with my husband. but I also knew I couldn't stay with Wes anymore. Despite my numbness, I knew that from the moment he confirmed it was his child. I couldn't stay with a cheater, and I definitely couldn't stay in such a screwed-up family dynamic. I knew I had to leave.

Whether or not she moved and was between Wes and her, but I knew I had to leave. I decided to call my mom and dad to tell them what had happened, but before I got the chance, my mom called me first. She told me Meg had spoken to her, and while it wasn't an ideal situation, I had to understand that this was Meg's last chance to be a mother. I asked Mom if she was serious and if she understood the gravity of what Meg had done. Mom was quiet for a moment and said I was always welcome to come back home to her and dad, but Meg was 34, and she deserved to have a family after what happened with her ex-husband. I told Mom there were hundreds of other men Meg could have had a family with, and she couldn't be defending her sleeping with my husband. husband. Mom said she understood I was hurt, but I had to look at the bigger picture. She said

maybe it was God's well because Meg got pregnant so easily, and if it was, I had to make way for his plan rather than focus on my own life. I cried for the first time after hearing this from Mom. I couldn't believe she was supporting Meg over me when I was clearly the one who had been wronged. I disconnected the call. I knew there was nothing left for me. In the snap of a finger, entire family had been taken from me. My husband, my sister, and my parents. I was all alone, and there was nothing I could do to change that. That's when I knew for sure I was moving out and going no contact with all of them. They could all eat crap. This was just too much for me to handle. It's still too much. It's only been about two months since I found out, and I hadn't thought

they'd drag me into more drama, but here we are. I can't escape them. I can't escape them. unfortunately. Anyway, that night, I texted Wes that I still didn't want to see him for a couple of days. He called me back immediately, but I didn't answer. He sent a barrage of texts, apologizing and saying he didn't know what had come over him, but I wasn't in the mood to engage. I called my friend Sarah and briefly told her what was up and that I needed a place to stay until I could figure something out. She told me I could stay as long as I needed. She came over with some wine and pasta, and we ate while I cried and cried like I hadn't cried in years. She stayed with me for two whole days, thank God for good friends, and helped me pack my stuff.

It was so much easier to deal with things having her around. There were moments when I went completely numb and couldn't get up, and she took charge and got things sorted. Once my stuff was packed and loaded in the car, I called Wes and told him he could come home now. It took him 20 minutes to arrive, and when he did, he couldn't look me in the eye. He said he was sorry and that he was glad I was giving him a chance to talk, and even though he had no justification, he still hoped I'd forgive him. I didn't say anything, just handed him the house keys and got in the car. By the time he realized what had happened, I was already gone with Sarah. I haven't had any contact with him since. He has sent texts,

but I haven't responded. I filed for divorce immediately, and while he initially tried to fight it, he eventually stopped. I stayed with Sarah for about three weeks before finding a place of my own. It's a small studio, but it's more than enough for me. Wes is the only one who's still unblocked on my phone, and that's on my lawyer's advice. I've gone no contact with my parents and sister, and I prefer to keep it that way because I don't have the energy for their toxicity anymore. I thought they would get the hint and stay out of my life, but I guess that's not how it's supposed to be because now, I see Meg on my doorstep. I don't know how she got my address or what she wanted, but there she was, saying she needed to talk. I closed the door in her face because I didn't want to

see her, let alone talk to her. But she didn't leave. She kept banging on my door, and I told her to go away, or I'd call the cops, but she didn't leave. She did stop knocking, but she didn't leave. I found that out the hard way. After about 20 minutes, of silence, I assumed she was gone and decided to go out. I got into my car, but what I couldn't see was that she had followed me in her car. I stopped on the way to grab coffee, and she stopped me there. She said I had to talk to her, that I owed it to her. I yanked my arm away and told her I didn't owe her anything, and she could get lost for all I cared. She said she understood I hated her at the moment, but as the ante to her baby, I had a duty and had already failed to discharge it.

I had no idea what she was talking about, and I told her in no uncertain terms that I wasn't her kid's aunt. I'm no aunt to a child from my ex-husband, and I needed to be kept out of this mess. She said if I had warned her about Wes, she wouldn't be in this position, and I wouldn't have had to end my marriage. I didn't know what she was talking about, and I admit, at that point, I should have walked away, but curiosity got the better of me. I asked her what was wrong, and she broke down crying. She said she had no idea Wes would be such a terrible partner and that I had been living with someone like that for so long. She said he didn't help around the house at all. There was no emotional support from his side, and it felt like living with a zombie.

She had hoped that as the pregnancy progressed, he would bond with the baby, if not with her, but she said it was worse than being with her ex-husband. He did nothing around the house, no chores, no spending time with her, nothing. He had even told her she shouldn't expect him to be involved with the baby. He said he was willing to keep her and the kid in the house and would handle the finances, but the house and baby were her responsibility. She said she tried dishing it back by not preparing his meals or doing his laundry, but somehow he managed his own chores and went to work, leaving her feeling helpless. She said if she had known he would be this way,

she wouldn't have revealed who the father was and would have raised the kid on her own. but I had led her to believe that he was a wonderful partner, which is why she dropped the bomb, but now her life was worse than before. I told her I had no idea how she had the nerve to blame me after sleeping with my husband, but I wished her luck, and she could do whatever she wanted since I was out. She said I couldn't leave her like this, but I wasn't in the mood to listen anymore, so I left the cafe. Now, I'm sitting in my car typing this out because I don't know what to do, how to feel,

or who to talk to. This is such a big mess, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to make my way out of this. I just hope she doesn't contact me again, and I hope Wes doesn't find out she met me. I'm worried if he does, he'll start texting and calling me again, and I don't have the energy to deal with that anymore. Edit, I went through all the comments, and they've opened my eyes to what really happened. I was too stunned to process Meg's reaction, but now I realize she may have purposely baby-trapped Wes because she thought he was a good partner, especially after her horrible experience with her ex-husband. I'm not excusing Wes he hurt me beyond repair, but the more I think about it, the more likely it seems.

Her entire tirade earlier was about how she felt cheated because Wes wasn't the partner I propped him up to be. But why should that bother her? Why would she say that if I'd told her the truth, things would be the same? It's disgusting and appalling how vile she can be. I can't believe I second-guessed my second-guess my after what she said. And the confusing part is that Wes has never been the way she described him. He's always been so hands-on, and her description seems like a lie. I've never known him to be a slacker, and this behavior baffles me completely. I don't know why he's doing this, and I don't want to know either. I'm still struggling with the betrayal, and it's been very hard to adjust to this new normal. I don't want more drama at their expense. They can have the

mess they've created. I'm out. Update 1, I wasn't out of this. No matter how hard I try, I keep getting pulled back into their chaos. I had no intention of telling Wes about my meeting with Meg, and I had no desire to contact her again. I had left them to their own devices, but Wes showed up at my house. I don't know how they know where I live. I know Sarah hasn't told them, and I haven't had anyone over who would snitch. Maybe they're stalking. me from work or West still has access to my location, though I know that's not possible. Anyway, when I opened the door, it looked like I was meeting a ghost. He was a shell of himself. His cheeks were sunken, and he had dark circles as big as craters. If I didn't absolutely

hate him, I might have rushed over and hugged him. That was my reflex, if I'm being honest, but I had to control myself. He said he needed to talk to me one last time and wouldn't bother me again. I let him in, and he spoke for about half an hour. He apologized over and over, saying he was disgusted with himself. He told me that Meg came over one day while I was at work, looking for me, and when he told her I wasn't there, she broke down crying. She started off by saying she regretted not having a closer relationship with me and would do anything to fix that.

Wes said she asked for his help in making this happen. She was crying a lot, and he said he was consoling her. and one thing led to another. I couldn't control my anger when he said that. I told him there was no justification for what he'd done, and he said he knew he had screwed up and had no excuse. He said he just wanted me to know what had happened. He swore that was the only time anything like that had happened,

and he had wanted to tell me immediately, but Meg begged him not to. Even when she told us she was pregnant, he said he was against her keeping it and had asked her to abort it, but she was adamant about keeping the baby. Wes said if I gave him one more chance, he would cut off all contact with her and the baby and start fresh with me. He said he had been acting like a terrible partner on purpose to show Meg they would never be a family, no matter what she tried to pretend. He told me my parents and Meg were manipulating him into accepting the situation, but he knew it was wrong. I asked if he was going to marry Meg, and he said he was in the process of kicking her out.

He had tried backhanded tactics, but they hadn't worked, so now he had to face it head of. on and kick her out himself. He still held out hope I'd forgive him, and he said he'd chosen to wait for me. I told him there was almost no chance I'd ever go back to him because I couldn't get over the betrayal. I said nothing could be worse than him sleeping with my own sister. I told him he had the luxury of ignoring what happened and moving on, but I was stuck with his family for life. There was already too much unavoidable involvement on my part, and I didn't want to complicate things further. He begged me to reconsider, but I stayed firm. I told him I was going to proceed with the divorce, no matter what, and there was no point dragging it out. He looked heartbroken,

and it was just so sad. Despite everything, I still love the guy. That's the worst part. I love him so much, but I can never overlook what he's done. That's the tragedy of it all. Update 2, for those waiting for a dramatic update, I'm sorry to disappoint you. I've gone completely low contact with Wes, and the divorce will be finalized in a couple of weeks. He's kicked Meg out, and she somehow found a way to blame me for it, but honestly, at this point, I don't even care. My parents tried getting in touch with me to argue Meg's case to Wes. I don't know what kind of stuff they're on to even suggest something like that, but I didn't respond. There's no point talking to people so indifferent to other people's pain that they don't even know what to say. Other than that,

life is normal. I mean, as normal as it can be in these circumstances. There are still days when I break down uncontrollably, but overall, I'm doing better. I have my friends, I have my job, and I keep myself busy, and I don't think I should expect any more from myself so soon. I genuinely feel the worst is over, and I know I'll be going no contact with the baby too. I know I know it's not the baby's fault, but it's best for me to stay as far away from this mess as possible. I hope you enjoy this story. At last submitted for separation from my inactive spouse after he embarrassed me at supper with his former partner. Departed with our child and stayed away for the night, and now he's pleading for another opportunity.

28F recently left my husband Carson, 28M, over a fight about his behavior at a dinner with his ex and now, he and all our friends are accusing me of overreacting and being too sensitive so I'm here for an unbiased and objective set of opinions. Carson and I have been married for five years and even have a four-year-old son together. We were together in college and got married shortly after graduation and we've been together ever since. I quit my job for a couple of months after marriage but rejoined six months after my son was born. It was a tough decision but I had to make it because Carson's income alone wasn't enough for the three of us. So I decided that I was going to put my degree to use and actually contribute to the household expenses. That decision of mine led to a lot of dispute

because Carson believed that it was an insult to him somehow and it showed that I had no faith in him. I had to convince him for quite some time to make him believe that this had nothing to do with his capabilities but I just believed that two heads were better than one and so, it was important for me to work. He was miffed with me for quite a while but eventually, he came around since it allowed him to take some time off of work and spend it with our son. The downside of this was that now, I ended up doing both the household work and my job. Carson is a personal trainer at the local gym, so his job is a lot more physically strenuous than mine. I have a desk job so he thinks that I should do most of the household work which I think

isn't exactly fair because even though I don't have to do a lot of physical activity at my job, it's still pretty tiring and I have to work longer hours. We agreed that he'd do at least some of the chores back when I started working at first. But I would always come back home to a badly done job and his excuse was that he was just too tired and we'd fight over that, so eventually I gave up trying to make him do things and started doing all the chores on my own.

I got sick of the regular fight, so I took up smoking as well because I was always stressed out from my job, doing all the work at home, and also raising our son. He'd pick up our son from daycare, but I was always the one dropping him off because he wanted to sleep in on most days.

I did all the cooking, cleaning, and laundry alongside my job so occasionally, the meals wouldn't be perfectly done because I'm not exactly a wonder woman. I spent the last couple of years living like this while also putting up with Carson and his relentless jibes at me about my sloppy cooking, which he didn't even realize was kind of his own fault because he didn't know how to cook. I put up with all of it simply for the sake of my son because I knew that if I decided to leave, it would have a bad impact on my son's life. Last year, I was a good impact on my son's life. Last year, I gave up and hired a maid whose salary comes out of my pocket. That led to more mocking by Carson because he thought that it reflected poorly on my

homemaking skills and he would constantly talk about how his mother, his aunts, and so many other women he knew could easily manage working as well as taking care of their home and family. I would argue with him that these women probably had supportive husbands as well, but then he would just laugh it off and tell me to relax because it was just a joke and that would annoy me even more. We did have good times occasionally but what stuck were the times that he would get on my nerves. And I'd been thinking about divorce for quite some time now. I finally snapped last week when he brought home his ex-girlfriend for dinner.

His ex-girlfriend, let's call her Emily, 28F, was his prom date from high school and they were together for almost six years in high school until they finally broke up because they were going their separate ways for college. He was at the store to bring home some groceries and that's where he was. ran into her because she'd recently moved into this neighborhood. So he invited her over for dinner, without even asking me and making sure that it was okay with me, which was the first strike. Now I knew that these two were quite an item in high school because a lot of his friends would bring her up and tease him about it, even after we got together and still do. But that didn't stop

him from acting a little too friendly and flirty with her at dinner. I could tell that he was trying to piss me off and it was working. That was strike two for me. And then finally, he started joking about what a sloppy housewife I'd make and that I'm lucky that I have my job to use as an excuse because otherwise, he wouldn't be able to explain my miserable cooking skills to any of his guests. He was making jokes at my expense because his ex-Emily was a stay-at-home mom of two daughters and he believed that she was doing a far better job at basically everything as compared to me. He informed me that Emily was actually at the grocery store to buy ingredients for some French delicacy that she wanted to make for her husband and then he cracked a joke. about how I'd never be caught doing something like that and both of them had a great laugh about it. He even made a joke about me smoking and said that I just wanted to show off how stressed out I am but in reality, I don't really do a lot. Unlike Emily who does everything perfectly and then,

he told me to watch and learn. By then I was almost in tears but I didn't want to give Emily the satisfaction of watching me cry, so I held back and didn't say a word, just smiled through it all. It was a humiliating experience for me and by the time I served them ice cream for dessert, I'd made up my mind that I was going to leave that night. I waited for Carson to go to bed and he was fast asleep for half an hour. I usually do the dishes at night and don't go to bed until he's asleep anyway, so it wasn't that unusual for him. Once he was snoring, I packed a few of my clothes and other necessary items and then I took

some of our son's belongings, booked a cab, and headed over to my parents' house. It was close to midnight when I reached and as soon as I got to the doorstep and my mother opened the door, I tried to explain but the only thing that happened was that I started sobbing like a baby. That led to my son also crying because he was cranky and confused. I had to bring him along because I wasn't sure if Carson would be able to take care of him in my absence and I didn't want to abandon him to find out. My parents took me in, with no questions asked. Once they'd put my son to bed, I was finally able to calm down and tell them everything. They heard me out patiently and told me that I could live with them for as long as I needed to and that my father would put me in touch with a lawyer soon enough.

And nothing happened until the next morning when Carson finally found out that I'd left with our son. The next day Carson called me to ask where I was and he seemed very panicked. I told him the truth and I told him that I couldn't put up with his behavior anymore so I was leaving him and I was going to file for divorce. When I said that, all the panic in his voice disappeared and he started like, laughing. He told me to cut out the drama and just come back home. That was an incredibly infuriating thing that he said, so I started yelling at him and told him that he was an incompetent, lazy, selfish, and misogynistic man and I didn't want to be with him anymore. And that I would

rather be single for the rest of my life than go back to him. That's when he finally seemed to realize that I was serious and I was not just saying this for dramatic effect. Instead of just apologizing, he started fighting with me on the phone and told me that I was overreacting and making a big deal out of nothing. He told me that he was just trying to lighten the mood around Emily with his jokes and there was no need for me to take things to heart. But here's the thing, his jokes weren't funny. They were really cruel and mean, especially given how I was trying my very best already and he just kept pushing me to my limit every single day. He kept insisting that he was just joking and he didn't mean any of it and I just couldn't explain to him that I wasn't leaving him just. over the jokes. There were a lot of factors involved and I'd been thinking about this for quite some time. Once it finally got into his thick skull that this wasn't just about the jokes, he started

playing the victim and accused me of leading him on because I'd said that I was already planning on leaving him and this was just the last straw. It was a very frustrating conversation, so I disconnected the call after a while because I didn't want to scream at him and lose my temper again. I knew that there was no talking to him and explaining things to him because he was just unreasonable and stupid and I regretted ever even marrying him or getting together with him then. Little did I know that my problems were just about to get worse because after that phone call, he involved all our friends and everybody started texting me to tell me that I was being extremely unfair to him. It was just text after text of people telling me that I needed to think

about our family and my son, and put them first instead of myself and letting a few stupid jokes get to me. I told everybody that there were a lot of things that they didn't know but everybody just kept saying that I shouldn't destroy a marriage and a home over some jokes. So I even put up a post, explaining everything that I mentioned earlier on in the post and seemed to pacify certain people. Carson also saw that post and he told me if these were the problems that I had with him, then I should have told him and he would have worked on it. It was ridiculous because I did keep telling him, for years on end, that I didn't approve of certain things. But it had no effect on him and he just continued behaving the way he always did.

He never changed. It was like talking to a wall and I was just done now. But after that post, he started telling me that he would change and he would be better and he just needed one last chance to make it work. He also got some of our friends to try and persuade me to stay and they also promised me that he would definitely change for the better and be a good husband. But the fact that he kept involving our friends in this, just rubbed me the wrong way. It didn't work in his favor because it made me feel like he was trying to peer pressure me

into not getting a divorce, which was a pretty manipulative and childish tactic. I also just didn't believe that he was capable of changing anymore because I'd given him a lot of chances to improve over the past few years but he never had. And I was sure that even this time if I decided to stay with him, he would probably try to put in a real effort for a few months, but then he'd be back to his old behavior. I just didn't want to risk it because I wasn't getting any younger, sister and I was sick of being a single mother despite having a husband. And all things apart, I didn't think he was the correct role model for our son. I definitely didn't want my son to grow up in a household where behavior like Carson's was normalized. I had stayed with him for so long for my son's sake

and now I was going to leave him for the same reason. I didn't see anything unfair or unreasonable about whatever I was doing so I went ahead and filed for divorce a couple of days ago and today, he was served. He was furious, mostly because he didn't even want a divorce in the first place. And also because he realized that I'd filed for full custody of our son and was also demanding that I get to keep the house that we used to live in the divorce, or we could sell it and split the money 60 to 40 percent, with me getting the larger share. That house was a wedding gift from both our parents, so I thought that it was fair that either I get to keep it or we could split the money that we get from selling the house. But either way, I believe that I was entitled to the larger share

because of all the hard work and efforts that I'd put in for the last couple of years, ever since I had my son. I was working full-time, raising my son, and also doing all the household work without any help from him and I strongly believe that I was entitled to at least the house. The rest of it he could still contest. I wasn't even demanding any alimony, so I thought that it was a completely fair petition. But Carson believed that I was being unreasonable and that even if I wanted to get a divorce, I shouldn't have filed for full custody. Because it's about our son, and he is just as much his as he is mine. Which is fair, but I just don't think he's up to the task of being a father. And I haven't tried to take away his visiting rights, so he can still come by and see his son whenever he wants to.

He just doesn't get to stay with him full time. He doesn't even know the first thing about our son. He called me today, after he was served and told me that I was being insane and this was a gross overreaction. He told me that he already didn't even agree with the divorce and now that I was demanding full custody in the house. He had reason to believe that I was just being hysterical and wasn't thinking straight. I told him that I had come to this conclusion after a lot of thinking and it hadn't been easy for me either and I tried to explain things to him rationally, but he was so upset that he just started sobbing on the other end and that made things very awkward for me. A husband isn't much of an emotional guy and I guess that's pretty obvious from everything that I

just said, so his just breaking down is a very big deal. He was crying and he told me, very emotionally, that he'd never expected that he could ever even stand to lose me someday, which is why he'd taken everything for granted, and begged me to give him just one last chance to prove that he could be a good husband and a great father. It was incredibly hard for me to stand my ground, but I had to tell him that my decision was final and that he had realized things a little too late. I couldn't just go back to that life again now. He started crying even harder and for the next couple of minutes, I just had to to stay on the call and try to console him, which was weird and uncomfortable for me. Eventually, he stopped crying and told me that he'd never be able to forgive me or even himself

if our son suffered because of this. I told him not to worry and said that this was just a temporary arrangement because our son is still pretty little now, and that we could renegotiate the terms of his custody in a couple of years, when he was a little bit older, so he didn't have to worry about him. I told him that this was going to be hard on both of us, but we just had to make the of our situation and try to be strong for the sake of our son. But then after I said that, he abruptly hung up on me and then I didn't hear anything from anybody for the next couple of hours. However, now all of a sudden, all our friends have started texting me again to tell me what

I'm doing is wrong on a fundamental level and that I need to reconsider my decision. They're telling me that since Carson is begging for one last chance, I really should consider it, instead of being so cold-hearted and thinking about my family. At first, it was just a few people but now it's practically everyone that we know and I seriously have started to reconsider because maybe I am the A-hole here. I don't even know anymore. So I'm here. I'd offer filing for divorce from my husband in full custody of our son because he doesn't help me? Update 1, hi, so I'm back here after a really busy week. I was busy with my attorney, preparing for the negotiations. Carson and I are meeting with a court-appointed mediator first for both, the divorce

settlement and the custody case. I'm not too worried about the divorce, but the custody battle has me pretty stressed out. I know our son prefers me, mostly because he spends a lot of time with me and always has. Carson's always tried to have a relationship with our son solely on his terms, but we all know, that's not how kids work. So our son has always been a lot closer to me as compared to Carson honestly, it's his own fault. And also like I said, Carson doesn't know the first thing about raising children so it'll be a huge blow to me if he ends up getting partial custody because I do not think he's responsible enough to handle that. My attorney and I are preparing for everything that they can throw at us and well, it's so far, so good. I was stressed out and nervous about

everything, which is why I was rethinking my decision that peer pressure didn't help. What did help was talking my heart out on this platform and the comments mostly took my side on this. So thank you for all of that because it helped me realize that I was actually doing the right thing and I shouldn't let anybody distract me from that. It's been a really long time since I've had any help from anybody with my life and now that I'm finally living with my parents and they're helping me with everything, I realize how stressed out and tightly wound I've been ever since I got married to Carson. This was something that needed to happen and it was long overdue so now that it's finally Carson really should have seen it coming in the fact that he keeps involving our friends

again and again just makes me even more sure of the fact that I'm doing the right thing for all of us. He might not be a terrible person to other people, but he hasn't been the best husband or the best father. Let alone the best, he hasn't even been good. So this shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, especially people who don't know anything about my personal struggles in my marriage and home, like most of my friends who are judging me for leaving. I was taking it too hard because these were the people who've been friends with me since when it comes to taking sides. I know whose side they're on. So their priorities are clear now and I don't mind it. But I'm just not going to let their judgment get to me because they don't know anything about me or my situation. Update two so today,

Carson came to visit me and our son at my parents' house. I hadn't explicitly mentioned it but he knew that I was living here and it took him a week and a half to finally come visit us, which is a pretty long time. We have to meet for our mediation sessions in a couple of days and this was our last informal meeting before the legal process began. After this, we're only going to meet with our lawyers. So I expected this to be bad for me and I thought that he was going to make a scene but he didn't do any of that, surprisingly. He was pretty normal when I opened the door and let him in and even made small talk with me and my parents. It was awkward and felt really strange, but I guess in a way, it was comforting for me to know that he wasn't here to stir up drama. After a while, he asked me

if he could see our son because he missed him and wanted to spend time with him, which is why he'd visited. That was cool with me, so we went to our son who was playing at the time, and he seemed overjoyed to see his father after so long. They had a fun time playing and I sat in the room and watched them play. it was pretty heartwarming. Right before Carson was about to leave, our son asked me when he could see his dad again and that was it. I instantly knew that I was not going to demand full custody anymore. I spoke to Carson at the door and he acknowledged that he had been a lousy father so far. But he wanted to put in an effort and at least be a better father than he had been as a husband. He told me that he was ready to learn everything that it took and was even willing to hire a nanny

for the things that he believed he hadn't been able to learn yet. He requested me not to demand full custody and settle for partial custody. I agreed with him and told him that I was ready to do that, so right after he left I called my attorney and told him that I no longer wanted full custody of our son. It's going to take a while but we can fix this. Update 3, hi guys, so the divorce negotiations have begun, and surprisingly, Carson and his lawyer are going pretty easy on us.

which is his way of saying that he's sorry, probably. It's been going well so far and we're trying our best to be amicable. We have also started working out a custody arrangement for our son. Right now, it's all informal and verbal agreements, but we think that he should spend half the month at my place and the other half at his place. And that's what we're doing right now, my son's supposed to go live with his dad in a couple of days. I'm still going to go see him every few days because I don't think I want to go two weeks

without meeting him. Carson has also asked his mom to help him out and I trust her. Because even though Carson wasn't the best husband, she was a great mother-in-law and has been nice to me even recently after I filed for divorce. Not a lot of people would do that, not even my friends did that. So I like the woman. Now, I just hope that everything works out for us, as a family. I have no grudges or ill will against my soon-to-be ex-husband. I hope you enjoy this story. Family members requested that I vacate my flat while continuing to cover the rent, so that my favorite sibling could reside there without charge. As a 22-year-old woman, I have been residing in my parents' additional living space. Apartment in a condo for the past three years while going to

college in Massachusetts. My parents, both 50s, bought the place as an investment property years ago before they moved to Iowa. Over the years, my strong-headed father kept having issues with every tenant, leaving the place empty for a while. That was until I got admission into Massachusetts Institute of Technology and I had to move up there. My parents figured they'd let me live there and pay cheap rent while I went to school. It was a pretty sweet deal, $1,250 a month for a decent one-bedroom in a college town, utilities included. Sure, it's not a palace, but it's been my little home away from home. Coming from an Amish family, my upbringing was pretty strict, especially for me as a girl. My parents always drilled into me that a woman's place is to serve

and support the men in her life, no matter what. I've always struggled with this, wanting to forge my own path but feeling the constant pull of familial duty. Also, my exposure and access to technology was pretty limited in my formative years. So it's quite ironic that I'm now studying computational and systems biology. A bit more backstory on my family. I'm the younger of two kids. I'm the younger of two kids, and it's always been clear that my brother Noah, 27M, is the golden child. He's the smart one, the charismatic one, the one who can do no wrong in mom and dad's eyes, especially dads. Growing up, he got the best of everything, clothes, toys, praise, you name it. If we got in a fight, I was always the one who got punished and told to be more accommodating.

I remember one time when we were teens, I saved up my allowance for months to buy this beautiful. dress. But when Noah decided he wanted to go to some concert in town the same weekend, Dad made me give him the money, saying he would give it back. But he never did. I cried for days, but what could I do? The strict Amish rules just never applied to Noah and I hated it. I think that was when I started wanting more for myself. Anyways, Noah's been living the high life in the city for the last few years, working at some fancy tech startup in Boston even before I moved to Massachusetts. He was so close to me distance-wise, but he was so far at the same time. He never asked to meet up and we aren't a call or hug type of siblings. So basically, we aren't

close. I didn't mind not seeing my brother despite being in the same city. It was a breather for my childhood oppression. But here's the twist. Apparently Noah's company went belly up months ago and Noah didn't tell anybody. He hoped he'd bounced back, but it never happened. Now Noah's out of a job and a place to live. Do the theatrics. My mom called me up last week, all frantic and sniffily, going on about how poor Noah is going through a rough time and needs his family support. I was expecting her to ask me to let him crash on my couch for a bit until he gets back on his feet. Which, I mean, I wasn't thrilled about, but family is family, right? But oh no, my mom had a very different idea.

She straight up told me that I need to move out of the house and find my own place. Fine. It's not above them to displace me for their golden child. But here's the kicker. She said I had to keep paying the $1,250 a month rent so that Noah could live there instead. One, they appreciated the petty income from the house and didn't want to lose it. But at the same time, she didn't want to collect any money. from her precious baby. I was floored. I sputtered out something like, but mom, I'm still in school,

I can't afford to get my own place right now. But she just kept laying on the guilt trip, saying how I needed to do my part for the family and how Noah is going through a tough transition. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Like, in what world is it okay to kick out your kid who's been paying you rent, just to give a free ride to your other kid? I tried to reason with her, saying Noah is a grown man who can figure out his own living situation. But mom just started crying about how I'm abandoning the family in our time of need. Admittedly, the rent is quite cheap and I'd never be able to find another place like that. Dad wasn't much help either when I called to plead my case. He just kept saying your mother has a point and we all have to make sacrifices for family.

Then he started on this whole spiel about how as a woman, it's my duty to put my brother's needs before my own, how I should be grateful for the opportunity to support him. I wanted to scream. What about the sacrifices I've made? I've been busting my butt in school while working part-time to pay my own way. Where's my parade? I've been on a full scholarship for the past two years, not asking them for a dime for tuition. To be fair to me, I haven't always been perfect to those around me.

There have been times when I've given into my parents' demands just to keep the peace, even when it went against what I wanted or needed. Like when I skipped my best friend's birthday to go to some family reunion I didn't even want to attend, just because Dad said family comes first. I'm not proud of it, but I've played the role of the dutiful daughter more times than I can count. But this time, something in me just snapped. Maybe it was the stress of classes and my upcoming finals, or maybe I was just finally sick and tired of always being expected to put myself last.

I finally put my foot down and told them no way, know how am I moving out and subsidizing Noah's free-loading. You'd think I just announced I was running off to join the circus from the way they reacted. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I'm not sure if I'm being too selfish or if I'm being too selfish. I know Noah's not a bad guy, but he's always had everything handed to him on a silver platter. I don't think he truly understands how hard I've had to work for everything I have, because he's never had two.

He's one of those favored by heaven types. He was good-looking, always did well in exams even without reading in his first app after graduation was a hit, learned to a startup. And my parents have always enabled him, making excuses and smoothing the way. It's like they can't even see how unfair they're being. Admittedly, fate has dealt its own justice. I won't even denials. I won't even that I felt a little happy when his startup went belly up. If they want to let Noah live in my apartment rent free, that's their prerogative as the owners. But I'm not going to keep paying for a roof over my head that I'm not even sleeping under. I've started looking for cheap rooms to rent near campus, but it's slim pickings this close to the start of the semester. I'm trying to

stay strong in my convictions, but the guilt is eating me alive. My whole life, I've been made to feel like my needs come second to the men in my family, and it's hard to shake that programming. So, dear Reddit, please tell me, Ida, for refusing to move out of my house and keep paying rent so my brother can live there for free? Is it okay for me to put my own oxygen mask on first for once? Or am I really being a selfish, disobedient daughter like my parents say? I'm honestly questioning everything right now. Part of me wants to just give in to keep the peace and not be the difficult one in the family. But a bigger part of me is screaming that this is my chance to finally stand up for myself and stop being a dormant. I'm just so tired of always feeling like I'm not enough, like my dreams

and aspirations will always play second fiddle to the men in my life. Is it so wrong to want to put myself first for once, to want to feel like my needs and feelings matter too? So, Ida for standing up for myself this time? Update 1. Wow, y'all lit my post on fire. First off, I want to thank everyone who took the time to read and comment, even those who don't agree with me. It means a lot to feel heard and validated. I did want to clarify a few things that seemed to cause some confusion. Yes, I am Amish, but I am not currently living in an Amish community. I left when I was 18 to attend college.

Getting the right certifications after attending Amish schools all my life was intense. That is a whole other story in its sense. But just because I'm not living the traditional Amish lifestyle anymore doesn't mean those values and expectations don't still weigh on me. To the person who asked if I'm really Amish because I'm using technology and going to college, yes, I am Amish. But just like any culture, there's a spectrum of how strictly people adhere to traditional ways. My family is on the more conservative end. But that doesn't mean I'm not Amish just because I've chosen a different path. To those saying I should just suck it up and do what my parents ask because that's what daughters are for or you should be

grateful they're letting you live there at all, kindly take several seats. I'm not a child, I'm a 24-year-old woman paying my own way through school. The fact that my parents own the apartment doesn't give them the right to uproot my life on a whim. And to the delightful individual who suggested I should be thrilled to give up my space for my brother because it's a woman's honor to serve the men in her life, newsflash, this isn't the 1800s. Women are not. dolls put on this earth to cater to men's every whim. My dreams and goals are just as valid as my brothers, and I'm not going to sacrifice myself for him. It's funny how no one seems to be questioning why Noah, a 27-year-old grown man, can't sort out his own living situation.

If the roles were reversed and I was the one who needed a place to crash, you can bet your bottom dollar my parents would tell me to figure it out myself. For those questioning why I even maintain a relationship with my family if they're so controlling. it's not that simple. There's still my parents and I love them, even if I don't always agree with them. Cutting off family is a huge decision and not one I'd take lightly. I'm hoping that by setting boundaries and standing up for myself,

we can find a healthier dynamic. To the happy folks saying I should just get over it and that this is not a big deal, easy for you to say when you're not the one living it. Put yourself in my shoes for a moment. Imagine being told your whole life that your wants and needs comes second to everyone else's, especially men's. Imagine finally building a life for yourself, only to have your family try to uproot it for the sake of your already privileged brother.

It's not about the apartment, it's about the principle of the thing. And to the brave keyboard warrior who called me a spoiled brat for not bending over backwards to accommodate my brother, kindly take a stadium's worth of seats. It's not spoiled to expect basic respect and consideration from your family. It's not brady to have dreams. and ambitions of your own. I'm not asking for special treatment, I'm asking for equal treatment. Some of you have asked why I don't just move out and let my parents deal with the rent. Believe me, I would if I could.

But have you seen the rental market in Massachusetts lately? It's brutal. Even with my scholarship and part-time job, I'm barely scraping by as it is since I absolutely hate asking my parents for money. Giving up this cheap rent would mean crashing with friends. I'm not the type to live with other people. I get that family is supposed to help each other out. But I've spent my whole life being told to put my own needs last, and I'm tired of it. So no, I don't think I'm the asshole for refusing to bankrupt myself emotionally and financially for my brother's sake.

It's time for Noah to put on his big boy pants and figure his shit out. And it's time for my parents to stop enabling his entitlement at my expense. Anyways, thanks again to everyone. who's offered support and perspective. It really means the world to me. I'll keep you all updated on how this shakes out. Wish me luck. Update 2. Hey everyone, I'm back with another update. First off, I want to say a huge thank you to all the people who reached out with messages of support and share their own stories of familial struggles. It's both comforting and heartbreaking to know I'm not alone in this. To all the other daughters out there who have been made

to feel like your needs and dreams come second to the men in your life, I see you, I hear you, and I stand with you. Your feelings are valid and you deserve to take up space in this world. So, here's where things are at now. Despite my protests, my parents went ahead and told Noah he could move into the apartment. He showed up last weekend with his stuff and has been crashing in the bedroom while I'm stuck on the couch. And, I paid. Fine. I know I am not so. I'm not supposed to pay, but Noah is already here and I am tired of my parents calling to express their disappointment in me. It's just moving out to let my brother live there and I acted like the world came crashing down. Their words, not mine. But one thing I didn't compromise on is

living here. I'll keep living there and keep paying rent. I can't even begin to describe how stressful and uncomfortable this whole situation is. I'm trying to study for finals but it's impossible to concentrate with Noah lounging around all day, leaving his crap everywhere. He acts like he's on some kind of vacation while I'm scrambling to keep my head above water. The worst part is, he doesn't seem to have any sense of urgency about finding a new job or place to live. He just keeps saying he's figuring things out and that I need to be more understanding. It's like he doesn't even realize how much he's disrupting my life. He eats my groceries, uses my toiletries and uses my face towel on his body. Meanwhile, my parents keep calling to check

on Noah and make sure he's settling in okay. Not once have they asked how I'm doing or if I need any help. It's like I'm invisible to them. As if living with Noah wasn't stressful enough, I came home from a particularly grueling day of classes to find him hosting an impromptu brainstorming session with two of his tech bro friends. I walked into the apartment to find empty pizza boxes and beer can strewn everywhere, and the three of them huddled around the coffee table, shouting over each other about their next big app idea. They barely even acknowledged my presence, let alone the mess they'd made. I tried to go to my room, well, the living room couch, to decompress and start on my mountain of homework, but their voices kept piercing my brain. Every time I thought they were wrapping up,

they'd start in on another round of bro, what if we, and dude, that's genius. After two hours of this, couldn't take it anymore. I marched out and asked them to please keep it down, as I had a lot of studying to do. They looked at me like I'd grown a second head, as if the concept of being considerate was totally foreign to them. Noah had the nerve to say, chill out, sis. We're working on the next big thing here. You'll thank me when we're millionaires. I wanted to scream. As if his hypothetical future success somehow justifies making my present life a living hell. I ended up having to go to the campus library to get any work done, and by the time I got back, they were gone but the mess remained.

I spent the next hour cleaning up crushed chip crumbs and sticky beer spills, fuming the whole time. It's bad enough that Noah feels entitled to my space and my family support. But to bring his obnoxious friends into the mix and act like I'm the unreasonable one for wanting some peace and quiet in my own home? It's beyond infuriating. I'm trying my best to keep my cool and focus on my studies, but incidents like this make it clear that Noah has no respect for me or my boundaries. Something's got to give, and soon, before I completely lose my mind.

I'm trying to stay positive and focus on my studies, but it's getting harder every day. I'm exhausted from sleeping on the lumpy couch and stressed about how I'm going to afford rent if I have to move out. I've been skipping meals to save money and my grades are starting to slip. I feel like I'm drowning and no one even realizes. It's like my whole life has been upended and I'm just expected to smile and bear it. There are moments where I just want to scream or cry or run away and never look back. But I know I have to stay strong. I didn't come this far just to give up now.

Once I'm done with uni, I'll move far, far away. So I keep telling myself that this is temporary, that I'll find a way through this. But some days, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. To everyone who's reached out with words of encouragement or shared their own stories of overcoming family drama, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your support means more than you know. Please keep me in your thoughts as I navigate this mess. I'll be back with another update soon.

Until then, I'm just taking it one day at a time and trying to remember my own worth. We've got this. Final update. Well, folks, it's been two months since my last update. I totally forgot about it and finals kept me occupied. It's been a wild ride but I think I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. After my last update, things came to a head in a big way. I was at my wits end with Noah's freeloading and my parents' constant coddling of him.

I was seriously considering just begging one of my friends to take me in. But then, a miracle happened. Noah and I got into a huge argument one night about him leaving his dirty dishes all over the apartment. I was just so fed up with his entitlement and lack of respect. I started crying, telling him how much his presence was affecting my mental health and ability to focus on school. And for the first time maybe ever, he actually listened. Like, really listened. He said he had no idea how much stress he was causing me and that he'd been so wrapped up in his own problems.

He hadn't even considered how his actions were impacting others. He apologized for taking advantage of my space and my parents' generosity. We ended up having a really long, honest talk about our childhood and how our parents' favoritism had affected us both in different ways. Noah admitted that he'd always felt pressure to be perfect, and that his fear of failure had made him avoid dealing with his problems. It was like a weight lifted off both of us, finally understanding where the other was coming from.

We hugged it out and agreed to start fresh. The next day, Noah called our parents and told them he was moving out of the apartment and that they needed to start respecting my boundaries. He even offered to pay back the rent for the time he'd been staying there. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I never thought I'd see the day where Noah stood up to our parents on my behalf. Of course, they didn't take it well at first. There was a lot of guilt tripping and waterworks from mom and stoic disappointment from dad.

But for once, Noah and I presented a united front. We told them that their blatant favoritism and disregard for my needs ends now, or they risk losing us both. It was a tense few weeks, but I think the message finally sunk in. They've started calling to check in on me, not just Noah, and Dad even apologized for not considering my feelings more. It's not perfect, but it's a start. As for Noah, he's moved in with some friends and is actively job hunting.

We've been talking more, trying to build a real sibling relationship not tainted by our parents' influence. It's a work in progress, but I'm hopeful. And me? I'm just focused on finishing this semester strong. I passed my finals with flying colors and even got a summer internship lined up. For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm in control of my own life. I know my family still has a lot of work to do to break out of old patterns and truly see each other as equal. But I'm proud of the progress we've made and the way I've learned to stand up for myself.

To everyone who's followed along on this journey and offered support, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Your kind words and sage advice have been a lifeline for me. I hope my story can serve as inspiration for others going through similar struggles. And to my fellow women, especially those from conservative backgrounds, your voice matters. Your needs matter. You matter. Never let anyone tell you different. This isn't the end of my journey, but it feels like a beautiful new beginning.

Onwards and upwards, my friends. I'm rooting for us all. I hope you enjoy this story. The former partner of the bridegroom disrupted our wedding, so I abandoned him at the ceremonial platform. Currently, his guardians are interested in purchasing a residence for me due to fix his error, but he insists that I hand it over to him since he's homeless. Hi, so I was supposed to get married last month but that ended up not happening because my ex-fiancee Scott is an idiot. And now he's driving me crazy because his parents want to buy me a house to compensate for his idiotic behavior and he thinks that I shouldn't accept it.

I don't understand what to do now. For context, Scott and I are both 25. We met in college and have been together since graduation. He didn't ask me out before even though we had a back and forth flirtation thing going on every. since we became friends in our second semester. However, after we graduated, he finally worked up the courage to ask me out and I said yes. After dating for a couple of years, he proposed to me last year and I said yes. He and I have had a perfect relationship and I didn't think anything could possibly go wrong but man, was I wrong? Before me, Scott had been with only one other woman

and that was his childhood sweetheart, let's call her Caroline. I had never personally met her, but I had seen a couple of photos of her from his high school yearbooks. They had been voted best couple when they graduated and it made sense because they had been together since middle school. He never spoke about her but I did get to know from a couple of his friends that they had been inseparable while they were growing up. They had been best friends when they were in elementary school, which turned into a relationship by middle school, and by the time they were in high school, they were actually planning to get married. Unfortunately, it didn't work for them because Caroline's father wanted her to go to business school in New York, which was really far away.

They tried to make things work and continue the long-distance relationship, but they couldn't and it led to a lot of fighting. So they broke up a few months after college started. I didn't know about any of this until much later because Scott introduced me to his school friends after we had already been together for three months. I did find it weird that he hadn't mentioned anything about Caroline when we first started dating because it felt like a pretty significant thing to skip telling me since they had been together for so long and even had plans to get married after college. Also, the fact that they had broken up in the first year of college and by then, Scott and I were already friends and did have a bit of a cute little flirtatious thing

going on. I had no idea he was struggling with a breakup at the time. Even after we started dating, he didn't tell me anything about Caroline. And since he had deleted all photos of her from his social media, I couldn't find out about her myself either while I was stalking him before we started dating. I don't think his school friends would have mentioned Caroline either, but one of them slipped up. The day I learned about her had also been the day of our first big fight as a couple, so I remember it quite clearly, obviously. It had been his birthday and he had invited all his school friends over so he could introduce me to them and we could have dinner together. I had already met his family and since we were in college together, I knew that group of friends as well.

These were the only people who didn't know me so we hosted a special dinner on the day of his birthday for them to get to know me but it was actually I who got to know Scott better that day. While we had been talking after dinner, Scott left the room to attend a call from a relative since his friends were making a lot of noise to mess with him, just like guys do. Once he was outside, one of his friends mentioned that he was pleased to see that he and I were so happy together because he genuinely hadn't expected Scott to ever be able to move on from Caroline. I had been caught off guard when he said that because at the time, I had no idea who she was and they realized that immediately after I made a face and asked who that was. They tried to brush it off, but the cat was already out of the bag and I pushed them to tell me who they had been talking about. So they were forced to tell me about Caroline and her history with Scott. They probably knew that they had messed up and tried to cover it up by making it seem like no big deal, but as soon as I heard that Caroline and Scott had been together since middle school and had plans to go to cover.

college I knew that this was a big deal and I had to confront. Scott about it after his friends left. Everyone had sobered up by the time Scott came back to the room and cleared out quickly afterward. Once everyone was gone, I decided to bring Caroline up and ask Scott why was this the first that I heard about her because it seemed to me like he was trying to cover up a very important part of his life and hide it from me. I could tell at the time that he was very uncomfortable talking about this because he kept saying that it was no big deal and tried to downplay the significant of that relationship. He tried to convince me that Caroline had meant nothing to him and that it had just been a stupid high school relationship, which he had completely moved on from. But I didn't buy it

because I was hurt that he hadn't told me anything about this woman. I insisted that he tell me everything because it was important for me to know, but he didn't think that Caroline had anything to do with our relationship and refused to talk about her. When I kept pushing him, he snapped at me and told me to mind my own business. So that led to our first big fight and I ended up spending the night at a friend's place because he had been simply horrible that day. He had told me that it wasn't his job to make me feel less insecure, especially when it came to a past relationship that he didn't even want to discuss. He completely glossed over the fact that he had kept this a secret from me for no real reason and made it all about me and my issues, saying that I was getting insecure

over a past relationship from high school and it showed that I had a lack of trust in this relationship. so it was insulting to him. He somehow convinced me that I was getting upset for no reason and that the only reason he hadn't told me about Caroline was because he knew that I would react exactly the way that I did and get upset because he had been with her for a long time. But I would refuse to believe him if he said that it didn't mean anything to him anymore and kept feeling jealous and insecure about her.

He played it quite cleverly and a few days after the fight, I started to think that I had probably made a bigger deal out of it than what was necessary and blown it all out of proportion. So I apologized to him and he forgave me as long as I promised him that I wouldn't bring Caroline up again. He told me that the reason he didn't want to talk about her was because she was really clingy and annoying and it was embarrassing for him to talk about her because it just reminded him that he had wasted so many years of his life with her. And he didn't want to waste more time talking about her when he was with me now. So I promised him that I wouldn't bring her up again and we decided to move on from that fight. I did meet his school friends several times after that and Caroline only ever came up once because I guess he had probably instructed them all not to talk about her around me ever again.

The last time that I heard about her was just a couple of weeks after the fight and I had run into the friend who had mentioned Caroline the first time that we met at the grocery store. He told me that Scott had told them about the fight that we had and he felt like he needed to apologize for it because it wasn't his place to say anything about his relationships, past or present. and he felt bad for causing a fight between us. He told me that I had nothing to worry about, especially if it was about Caroline. Irrespective of the length of their relationship, he had never seen Scott as happy with her as he had been with me. He probably said it in order to do damage control, but I bought it and it made me feel really happy because this meant that whatever Scott had said about him having completely moved on from Caroline was true and the reason he was so.

Secret of when it came to her was actually because of what he had studied. and not because he was still in love with her or whatever. And that was pretty much the last time anybody ever brought Caroline up. His family knew better than to talk about her around me and his friends had learned their lesson, so I never heard about her again and a few months later, I had forgotten about that episode entirely. We went on with our lives afterwards and things were simply great between us. We did have a few ups and downs like every other couple, but it was nothing out of the ordinary and I didn't have any second thoughts about marrying him.

But I guess I should have because our marriage ended up not taking place because of Caroline, ironically. So I guess I should have taken her more seriously instead of being overly confident in the strength of our relationship. Things had been great even up until the morning of the wedding and Scott had been as happy as I had ever seen him. There was literally no way that I, or literally anyone, could have predicted what was about to happen. I had even walked down the aisle and he was about to say his vows when any bride's worst nightmare happened. Caroline came running through the entrance and demanded that we stopped the ceremony and that she couldn't let this take place, especially when she knew that Scott was her soulmate. I knew what Caroline looked like, I had seen her before in the yearbook photos and I had wished

that I would never have to see her in real life because I couldn't imagine any happy circumstances that would lead to us meeting. I was in shock and I froze up there at the altar, as did some Scott and everyone else who was present there. We didn't have any security measures in place because this was supposed to be a really private and intimate ceremony and there were really not many guests who knew about this anyway, so hiring a security team didn't seem like a priority. We were also having this ceremony on Scott's uncle's property which wasn't open to the public and most people didn't know about it. I regretted all of that later, once I realized that the wedding wasn't going to happen. But while I was standing there at the altar and waiting for someone

to say something. The only thing that I could think of was that Scott was obviously going to kick her out and he wouldn't entertain this because in the past, he had made it very clear that he didn't like her. So you guys can probably imagine how horrified I was when instead of telling her to get out, Scott actually started talking to her about how she had managed to find us because we hadn't exactly publicized the details of our wedding. He seemed to have forgotten about the vows altogether and was just having a conversation with her while everybody looked confused. The two of them completely ignored me and she started confessing her love to him at our wedding. She told him that she had found out about the wedding because she had still been in touch with a

couple of his friends from school and they had just casually mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. She told Scott that she had never stopped loving him but she didn't come back all those years because their breakup had been really bitter and she had been waiting for him to come around. When she heard that he had started dating me, she thought she was going to give up on him but after she learned that we were about to get married, she realized that she couldn't let this because then she would regret it for the rest of her life. The only reason she had even been late to the ceremony was because of the traffic and she had actually intended on reaching about an hour before the ceremony was about

to begin and talk to him in person. But that hadn't been possible and so she had to interrupt the wedding after it had already started. She told him that she loved him and always had and now it was up to him if he wanted to work things out with her, but if he was sure about me then she would leave the ceremony and we could all pretend like this never happened. This discussion had been happening right in front of me. And strangely enough, since he was actually entertaining it,

nobody knew whether to kick her out or just to let them talk. When Caroline said that she would leave if Scott was sure about me, I thought that he was finally going to tell her to go away because the opportunity to do so was right there and I was actually willing to forgive him even up until that point. But instead of saying that he was sure of me and was going to go ahead with the wedding, he started arguing with her instead of just doing the normal thing. He told her that she had been unfair to him by attending a different college and breaking up with him because that had never been part of the plan and now she was here confusing him, just because she hadn't been able to make up her own mind.

He accused her of being selfish and never thinking about his feelings and Caroline apologized for it and tried to tell him that she would change. By then, almost ten minutes had passed since she interrupted the ceremony and I had come back to my senses. They were having a full-blown conversation about the past and I realized that this was turning into all. all about them. I was nothing but a supporting character by that point. I felt incredibly hurt that Scott was entertaining this conversation instead of just showing her out and all eyes were on them now. Even my parents and my bridesmaids were frozen to their spots because they didn't know what to do and I can't even blame them for it because everything that was happening was just so strange. I couldn't take it anymore so I decided to walk away instead because it had become increasingly

clear to me that no matter what Scott said, he still did have some feelings for character. and had been playing me like a fool all along. Even as I started walking away from the altar, he didn't try to stop me and only said that he would get back to me when he had dealt with the situation at hand and that I could go wait in my hotel room until he had sorted things out here. Once I was inside my room I completely broke down

because it was insane to me that instead of kicking her out of the venue, Scott was actually trying to talk to her and making it all worse than it already was. My wedding day was supposed to be the happiest day of my life, but because of Scott and Caroline, it turned into a complete nightmare, something straight out of a badly made rom-com. And as it turns out, I was not the leading character here, I was the idiot who gets dumped on her wedding day because the guy is still in love with his ex, but I had been too blind and stupid to realize it earlier. While I was having a breakdown in my room my parents and my

bridesmaids came by a little later, maybe 15 minutes after I left, and told me that they had left the venue because Scott and Caroline were still talking and had excused themselves to have a priestly. conversation before they returned to the ceremony. I couldn't believe it and started crying again because at that point, there was just no hope and I knew that I wasn't going to get married that day. My parents told me that they had told all the guests from our side of the family to go home and then come up to my room because they didn't think that the wedding was going to happen. They suggested that they take me home with them because this was quite insulting for everyone and I said yes to that. So instead of waiting for Scott to be done with his conversation with Caroline and

finally come to talk to me, I decided to go back home with my parents. My bridesmaids very graciously offered to take care of the situation with the guests so that I could deal with this on my own and within an hour, I had packed up my things and was heading back home with my parents. I kept crying throughout the car ride while my mother tried to comfort me, but even then, some small part of me was hoping that maybe Scott would call me and ask me to come back or he would beg me for forgiveness and then we could still get married because I refused to believe that this was happening to me right now. However, he didn't try to reach out to me until the evening and that was only to explain to me that he had decided not to get married or to get back with Caroline. Because he felt like neither of those options were suitable for him right now and he needed to be alone for a while so he could sort out how he felt about both of us inside his own head before he came to a conclusion. So all of that had been for nothing, eventually.

In the text, he told me that he had been talking to Caroline for a really long time and they had discussed everything that had been left unsaid during their breakup. In doing so, he realized that maybe he hadn't completely moved on from her, which is why it had been so difficult for him to talk about her but now he couldn't run away from his feelings anymore. And he didn't think that it was fair to me, so he was breaking things off with both of us until he was clear about what he felt. He mentioned that his parents were going to be.

going to take care of all the expenses so I didn't have to worry about any of it and then he said that he was terribly sorry for whatever had happened and for ruining what was supposed to be a beautiful day. He said that he hoped that I could forgive him someday but until then, he felt that we should take some time apart. When I read that text, I swear I started crying so hard that I almost threw up because I was devastated. I actually felt physically ill for the next couple of days and couldn't even go back to my house so I had to stay with my parents while they nursed me back to health. Scott's parents handled everything and were actually pretty nice to me because they reached out to me a few days after the day of the wedding and apologized to me for what

their son had done. They told me that they were really ashamed of everything that had happened and were willing to do whatever it took to make it up to me. But I couldn't ask anything of them because this wasn't their fault. They were really decent people and Scott's behavior was all about him. They had nothing to do with that. So that was it and once the wedding vendors had been paid off, I decided to take a break and just sort of process everything that had happened. Because it's not every day that you spend months planning a wedding with a man that you love, only to have it ruined by his ex-girlfriend. I can joke about it now because it's been almost a month and I have been talking about this in therapy and trying to work out my feelings.

But it still hurts. I have no idea what Scott had been up to because I had deactivated all my socials and blocked him from everywhere after I had replied to his text and told him that I was making it easier for him to decide between me and Caroline by removing myself from the equation and now, he didn't have to choose anymore. After sending that message, I blocked him and he didn't try to reach out to me after that. However, a few weeks ago his parents paid me a visit and told me that they had come into a lot of money because his dad had just made CEO, and that came with a significant pay raise. So now they wanted to buy me a place of my own, which they had been planning to do anyway. It was originally supposed to be a wedding gift for me and Scott,

but now it was going to be a gift to me to make up for whatever had happened. I have been living with my parents ever since the day of the wedding because the house that I used to live in earlier was one that Scott and I had leased out together and I was afraid that if I went back, then I would run into him and I didn't want that. My bridesmaids had been the ones to pack all my things and bring them back home for me a week after the day of the wedding. And they had told me that the house had been completely empty when they showed up there, so they knew that Scott hadn't been around and had left with his things before me. I had spoken to the landlord and he had also confirmed that Scott had backed out of the

arrangement and now I was his only tenant. So I told him about whatever had happened and said that I wouldn't be coming back because it was just really difficult for me to return to our home. And I couldn't move back for practical reasons as well. The rent would be too high for me to pay by myself. So right now I have nowhere else to go and I also know that I can't live with my parents indefinitely. And if his parents were nice enough to offer then I don't see any reason for me to reject it. But Scott found out about this somehow and has since started hounding me from different phone numbers to try and pressure me into rejecting them because he is apparently homeless now and has been living in his car for the past few weeks. He believes that he is entitled to the house

and that I should tell his parents know so that they approach him instead. He hasn't explained anything to me like how he ended up homeless and living in his car or why he isn't on speaking terms with his parents anymore and claims that it's none of my business. But he keeps saying that I can't accept the offer because he needs a house more than me right now and it would be really selfish of me to say yes. I really want a place of my own and I don't think that there is anything wrong with me accepting his parents offer. Wibta if I let my ex-fiancee's parents buy me a house while he's homeless? Update one, okay, so I told Scott that I wasn't going to give him the benefit of the doubt unless he told me the truth about how he ended up

homeless. And he finally confesses to me that after the day of the wedding, he decided to resign from his job and go off for some soul searching. He didn't even wait for the two weeks and just took off. He ended up spending a week in the Japanese islands and blew through a lot of his money. He didn't keep in touch with anyone for that one week, not even his parents. He had been expecting his parents to help him out by letting him live with them when he came back, but they were obviously really angry because he had disappeared without a word and hadn't even bothered to give them an explanation. But now he expected them to help him out just because he was back. So they got into a big fight and he told them that he didn't need their help, but he soon realized that he had no place to go

since he had ended his lease for our old place and he couldn't count on his parents. He could get a new apartment but that would take some time and he didn't have a stable income right now so he also had to look for jobs. He couldn't live with any of his friends either because he had fought with them as well after the day of the wedding, for being loose-lipped around Caroline and telling her about the details of the wedding and none of them were talking to him anymore. So he had no one at the moment, but, thankfully he heard about his parents' offer to me from his father's realtor. That guy didn't know about the wedding falling through and had contacted him to ask what kind of house he was looking for because he had assumed that when Scott's father told him to start preparing a list of potential

properties. He was probably referring to the wedding gift that they had discussed earlier. And so he had reached out to Scott, which is how he found out that his father was buying a house and he knew that it was for me because his father had told his realtor to look for places near my workplace. It was actually quite impressive because it must have taken him a lot of detective work to come to that conclusion but now that I knew the truth and all my questions had been answered, I had no use for him anymore. So I disconnected the call once he was done talking and blocked that number as well. It was a really mean thing to do, but I don't care. What he did to me was far worse than this pettiness so now, I have a free pass for everything. Update 2, I finally

reached out to Scott's parents and I told them that I was ready to accept their offer because I really felt like I deserved it. I also told them about Scott's homelessness and they told me that they were ready to help him out, as soon as he came to his senses and apologized to them. But if he couldn't own up to his mistakes then there's not much that they could do for him. And I agree with them, it's about time that he learns to clean up his own messes. He has been trying to contact me ever since I hung up on him the last time but that door is closed now. I hope he realizes that and stops wasting his own time because it's pretty embarrassing. Update 3, hi, it's been a couple of weeks since the last update and I have officially moved into my new house. Scott's parents and my parents were all

great help and I recently even hosted a housewarming party where everyone was invited, including my guests from the wedding because I wanted everyone to have a nice time since they had all been really gracious and helpful in the aftermath of the wedding fiasco. Everyone congratulated me because I seemed to be doing a lot better than the last time they saw me and I really am. I feel a lot better now. As for Scott, I don't really know what he is up to. A couple of my friends told me after some online stalking that he has moved in with Caroline, or at least that's what it looks like from his social media. Because he is definitely living in a woman's house, that's for sure, given the feminine decor and everything. But I don't care now, it doesn't matter to me. He can live wherever he wants to as long as it's

far away from me. I hope you enjoy this story. Joyfully wedded to my spouse of eight years, yet I cannot rid myself of the strong allure to a recent colleague who recently revealed his emotions for me. I have been in a fulfilling relationship with my marvelous husband since we were 2021. We have an amazing relationship with each other, still make time for dates every week, and really just enjoy each other. He became my best friend pretty instantly from when we started hanging out in high school, and that still hasn't changed today. I have a girlfriend who I do call my best friend, and outside of my marriage she is. but even that doesn't compare to the friendship I have with my husband. We've had our rough patches, but never anything very severe.

There are some things I need to change about myself and things he needs to work on as well. Nothing relationship ending, just things that we need to do to be better people and better partners, and I doubt this will ever change as it's impossible to just be perfect people. We don't have any children, nor are children in our future. We both work and bring home pretty decent money, although we've both had small. small patches of unemployment in the past and were supported by the other. There's never been any hostility over the finances, regardless of who is making more or who is supporting whom. Our marriage has survived depression, alcoholism, and a couple of physical medical

conditions, all met with overwhelming support from each other. We are a great team. Our sex life is great and really active. A dry spell for us is going to work week without having sex because one or both of us are just too exhausted, but that is not very common. We get along well with each other's families, and my family has really bonded with my husband. As far as they are concerned, he's just another son slash brother. He's everything I could have ever hoped for in a husband and more, and I really truly love him. Now, I've felt myself attracted to others in the past, and I'm sure he has been through the same, but it's not anything we've ever discussed with each other. I know that it's normal and it's never been anything too intense before. If I find myself starting to get feelings

for someone who I see a lot, it doesn't take much to shake off. This is the first time I've ever dealt with feelings so intense and I don't really know what to do next. My co-worker is very attractive, super friendly, and I just enjoy being around him. We started working at this company around the same time, roughly eight months ago. We were in training together for a couple of weeks which was absolute torture. My feelings came on strong and came on quick. I'm sure I've turned red when he flashes me a smile. It would be embarrassing enough if I were single simply because we work together, but I'm married and I feel like that probably looks really poorly on me. We don't work together anymore, but our departments are close and if he walks through my section he'll put

his hand my on shoulder and give it a squeeze to get my attention when he's walking by, then flash me that smile. I'll make conversation if we pass each other or are at a work event together, but I do the same with pretty much everyone I've worked with slash currently work with. We don't have each other on social media, haven't exchanged numbers, and don't see each other outside of work. I was invited out to a bar nearby by him and a few others a couple of times, but turned them down. I work in a male-dominated field, and didn't feel right being the only woman out at the bar with a bunch of guys, especially one who I do feel this way about. I avoid his floor at work when possible, and if he's on lunch at the same time I'll say hi as I pass but just grab my stuff and

eat on the patio or on another floor. I try to just avoid thinking about him or remind myself of how dumb I'm being, but I can't shake this feeling. I'm not afraid I'm going to be an idiot and let passion take over or any of that nonsense, and I think all of those excuses for one-time mistakes are garbage. I'm in control of my actions and could never be so cruel to my husband. I just don't know what to do to shake these feelings. The last time I felt such a strong desire for someone was when I met my husband. We were great friends instantly, and hung out slash fooled around for about a year before we made things serious. I was very young when we got together, and none of my relationships prior were very serious. I just never felt so strongly attracted to someone, and didn't

think it was even possible to with anyone else. I don't compare my husband to my coworker or vice versa, and that's not what I'm trying to do here either. I've just been able to shake it off any time I've had feelings come on for someone else. It doesn't matter what I do with this guy, though. If I think about it him it's hard to get him off my mind regardless of what's going on around me. I have gone weeks without running into him and he won't cross my mind, but then I can catch a glimpse of him when I'm strolling into work and my heart will start racing faster. I have a desire to be around him and be close to him, and I just need it to go away. I feel like I'm in high school all over again, except instead of daydreaming in class I'm trying to get this dude off my mind and get some damn

work done. I know that Reddit is big on full disclosure, but this is not something I will discussing with my husband. These feelings aren't coming out of neglect or want in my relationship with him. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by being with him, and there's nothing that he can do that would fix this for me. If you were feeling the same way about someone, I can honestly say I wouldn't want to hear about it. If he felt neglected and like my actions were causing him to desire affection elsewhere, then that would be a different story. I know that this is something that would affect him really bad, and I don't want him to feel uncomfortable for the 40 to 50 hours a week that I'm in the same building with this guy when there's nothing he could do or say

that would change what's going on with me, and there's no chance of me crossing a line. I just don't see the purpose in creating an issue in my marriage when there isn't one. Update 1. I, 29F, have been with husband, 29M, for eight years. I have feelings for a coworker, 30M, that I can't shake. Before the update, I would like to clear something up that I think I may have worded poorly. My job is not male-dominated in the sense that there's employees and like four women. We're probably closer to 25% to 30% female employees, the rest being male. We all give each other a hard time and play around, and it's not just all the guys here petting on the women.

I've only had female co-workers mess with my hair as they're running by, similar to what I do with my sisters. The extent of touch that I've gotten slash given to any of the guys here has been a pat on the back for a good job in a rough close, handshakes, pat on the shoulder and passing to get their attention while going to make copies. And I've hugged one male coworker who was retiring, and whose wife was there for the retirement party. This isn't a stuffy office setting, but this isn't HR's nightmare either. That being said, I did need to find a way to put distance between coworker and myself given the reaction he got out of me even with something as simple as I contact. So, now on to the update. I am friends with my husband's boss's wife, and gave her a call to help get his time off.

His employer is very lenient on time off, and I just set it up so that they were expecting him to call out. We had a romantic extended weekend away, and it gave me a chance to really appreciate him. Thank you to the Redditors who advised putting more focus on us. I don't think I would have planned the surprise otherwise. Now, back to work. A lot has happened in the last month, and I'm planning on going no contact with co-worker the very second that I can. Shortly after I returned, I found out that he had put in for a transfer into my department, and had also been added onto my

team. No problem, I'm an adult, I can behave like an adult, and the time away to clear my head and reevaluate where I was putting my energy had had a bigger effect than I anticipated. Well, things got a little weird. He started grabbing me coffee when he'd pick his up because I took on a new project and was showing up earlier slash staying later than normal, but didn't do this for anyone else whose workload had increased. About four of us took on new clients. Our lunches lined up a little more frequently, I got friends slash follow requests on social media, declined, stuff like that. I felt like he would stand a little closer to me than what was comfortable, but at this point still felt like I was reading too much into it. It was confusing and difficult given that this

feeling isn't wanted, but I do just feel drawn to him, like there's a connection I desperately want to break. I always park by the smoking section because I have a filthy habit and like to be close, and he caught me tonight while I was walking out to my car. He stopped me and asked to bum a smoke, and we talked for a couple of minutes. He then said he had something kind of uncomfortable to talk to me about. He told me he had felt really attracted to me since we first met, and that working more closely with me has shown him that he has some real feelings for me. He says he knows that I'm married and will respect any boundaries I set up, but that he hasn't felt this strongly about someone before and he couldn't live with the what-ifs. Apparently he went so far as to end things with his girlfriend, and is now staying with his parents for a couple of weeks while he gets a new place lined up.

He said he could feel something between us and didn't think it was only him. I told him that I am very happily married and that he shouldn't mistake my friendliness with flirtation, and that he needs to learn more appropriate boundaries with coworkers. I asked him to give me distance and that if it wasn't work-related there was no reason to discuss it because we are co-workers, not friends, and left. He looked a little defeated and apologized for overstepping. My husband is out of town on a work trip, so I had to come home to an empty house feeling the weirdest mix of emotions I've had since this whole mess started. Like slash you slash and underscore the underscore ether mentioned in my last post, this is most definitely something wonky going on with our pheromones causing the weird flutter of emotions. The way he came across letting me know he was okay if I cheated on my husband with him painted him in a whole new light. He doesn't seem like this charming guy anymore, just a Dushabag who probably hasn't been told no enough times in his life.

I have trouble falling asleep by myself and this whole situation has been a mess so sorry for any weird formatting. I'm exhausted and figured I may as well update while everything is fresh. I'm confused. I still think he's really attractive but I'm not equal to. repulsed by him as a person overall. Edit well, this certainly blew up way more than expected. I just wanted to thank those of you who responded with advice and kind words. A special thanks to everyone who didn't read the first post and have been calling me a tease and a slut, it's nice to get a good laugh in. To those who missed my comments addressing it, my husband will be given full details of our encounters when he returns home. I don't want him getting worked up while he's so far away.

I won't be telling him about my feelings towards co-worker, because they are irrelevant to the situation that is now progressing. Anyways, mini update. I didn't go into work today, but I did get an email from coworker. It starts with what seems like a sincere apology to then offering to buy me dinner this weekend to make it up to me. I responded with your advances made me very uncomfortable, and I will say again that I am not interested in setting you outside of work. His second email was another apology while making sure I knew the offer for dinner as friends to make it up to me would still be on the table. I did not respond to the second one, and he has not reached out again today. I am in a bit of a weird place.

Growing a bigger dislike towards co-worker, while still having those weird primal feelings. Planning a nice dinner in and some Netflix and chill when my husband gets home. Definitely putting in for a department change when one becomes available. I've spent a little time browsing job postings, but I do love where I work so I don't think that's the best solution. Comments where OP has replied. On telling her husband. I talked to him a bit before bed and let him know the gist of it. I didn't want him getting worked up while he was away, so I just told him a co-worker asked me on a date and we joked about it a little.

I'll be going into detail with him once he gets back, though. And I'm definitely telling my husband about this encounter. He's away for a few days and I don't want him getting worked up over all of this before we can discuss it face to face. He won't know about my crush, just that I've been approached and shut it down. Those are the important details. I've gone out of my way to avoid this coworker before he moved to my department and it became impossible. I never had any plans of cheating and I'm not worried about my feelings overcoming me. My original post was just asking for suggestions on how to make it stop, since I want doing a very good job at a on my own. And exactly this. I know it's something that would upset him. I'm telling him about the

encounter with my co-workers since if anything happens again and I need to go to HR about it. I don't want it to be some big surprise. My husband doesn't need to know about my crush because it's entirely irrelevant. OOP on her thoughts of infidelity. Thanks. I really am, and I'm a lot more sure of myself than I was when I first posted. Maybe it's that I've been cheated on in the past, but I have a no-tolerance policy for that kind of bullshit. Don't cheat and don't help anyone else cheat. Her thoughts on the Sleesball wanting an affair. I disagree, but in an attempt to keep my post short I didn't go into quite as much detail as I maybe should have. He made it pretty clear that he was open to having an affair with me, which screamed Sleazy in my book. And we only ever saw each other in passing.

so I didn't have much time to give myself away. That being said, regardless of whether he was sincere or not, there is so much wrong with this and so much that doesn't add up. I don't tertiary him, but regardless of what's really going on in his head I can't respect someone who makes a pass at someone and then later, especially if they're married. O-O-O-Pion passed dealing with a sleaze ball. I never flirted with him.

We tarn saw each other before he moved into my department, and I'd never be the one to start conversation because of how I felt. I was friendly but didn't go out of my way for anything. The coffee he brought me was declined every morning until it just sat on my desk. Or lunches were only at the same time when I left first. I declined all friend requests online and he still doesn't have my number. Aside from maybe blushing a couple of times, which is a physical reaction that can't be controlled, and something I do often over mundane shit anyways so not unusual, I didn't behave in a way that screamed I want you.

Just because I feel a certain way doesn't mean I've acted on it. On dealing with the sleaze ball in the office and staying away. Absolutely. I'm also considering putting in for a transfer as well when a new position becomes open. I love my company and don't want to leave over something as trivial as this, but I also just need to get away. on informing HR or her employers. I called my boss this morning and let them know what happened. While I'm not interested in talking to HR straight away, if this happens again I want a reference point to be able to bring up that way

I don't get any sort of why didn't you say anything to anyone when this stayed. Reaction Now on to the next story. Story 2 One day I found a series of voicemails on my landline between my wife and our neighbor, so I did this. I, 29M, and my ex-wife, 28F, were married for barely three years before I discovered something that scattered our marriage. My wife and I knew each other from college but only dated three years

after graduating. One of the things I loved about my wife was that we were like-minded and believed in a simple yet happy life. We were also Christians, and she was more devoted than I was. I didn't see this as a red flag because I came from a devoted Christian home, but I was only a Sunday churchgoor and nothing more. On the other hand, my wife was a worker in the church, and I think she functioned in about three different departments. This is just to explain how involved she was with church activities. After three years of dating, my wife and I married and started life on our fresh slate. We were so in love with each other, or so I believed, and we had no children. She said something about having kids from age 32, so we could find our feet before we brought

babies into the world. I am a very peaceful and quiet person in nature, while my wife was an extrovert. She was the kind of person who literally knew one thing or the other about the neighbors, the people in the church, or whoever she found herself around. So, this is to say a couple of people did not really like her because they felt she was overdoing it sometimes. As mentioned earlier, I went to church only on Sundays because my job demanded most of my time during the weekday. My wife worked with shifts and always had her way of fixing her shifts in her favor, so it wouldn't clash with her church activities. Throughout our marriage, I admired her dedication, and most times would tease her and say I'd be like her someday. As a couple, we drove to church together on Sundays and had been doing this for almost two years.

Our church was small, so everyone knew everyone there, and we were like a big happy family. When we were getting close to the second year of our marriage, I noticed that my wife and our preacher were getting too close, but I didn't think anything was wrong. My mistake. Most times, if he was in our street, he would drop by our house to either say hello or discuss some things with my wife and each time I asked her about it, she'd either mention something in church or come up with an excuse. In the end, I didn't think about any of the reasons she gave, I only asked, and whatever response I got from her, I wouldn't think about it. Nothing fishy crossed my mind because I trusted my wife so much, and I didn't even nurse the idea that something could be happening between my wife and our preacher.

Most times, he'd drop by our house, and I'd ask him to wait for my wife to come home, and I'd try my best to take care of him until my wife returned. I did this most of the time because I respected our preacher a lot, and I felt it was bad to have a man of God over and not treat him as one. For once, I never wondered why our preacher was always driving along our street like he claimed and would always drop by my house. It felt natural to me, and I honestly believed our house was not the only house he dropped by. For months, I watched my wife and preacher get close until I got shocking news from his wife. That Sunday, my wife and I went to church as usual, and we enjoyed the sermon and every bit of service. After service, while we exchanged pleasantries as usual, our preacher's wife pulled me from the midst of people and said she had something to tell me in private. When we had our privacy, she told me something that changed the direction of my marriage.

She told me my wife was having an affair with her husband, and I thought she was pulling my legs, but it was the truth. According to my preacher's wife, she had been doing some investigations because her husband had been acting differently at home, and after she did some digging. She saw that her husband communicated with my wife the most, and she even found some sensual messages between them. To also be sure of what she found out, she hired someone to follow her husband so she could confirm, and she told me that every Sunday evening, my wife and her husband, the preacher, would go to a cheap apartment downtown and they would spend time there for hours before they returned home. Even with everything she said, I didn't believe her because I could vouch that my wife went to work on Sunday evenings. I had dropped her at her place of work a few times, and it didn't make

any sense to me. All of my doubts were cleared when she showed me that the preacher had been spending donation money. The same donation money has psychologically brainwashed people to donate so he could use it for the Lord's work. After hearing enough, I thanked her and got the address of the downtown apartment she talked about. I also told my wife not to bother about coming home, and I drove off angrily. I was heartbroken when I witnessed it, and my wife kept blowing up my phone the whole night. She left multiple voicemails saying she could explain everything and we needed to talk. That night, I could not sleep because I thought about all the areas or things I must have failed as a husband for my wife to cheat on me. The next day, she came by the house and met her

bags packed on the front porch. I told her we were done and she would hear from my lawyer soon. Then I banged the door in her face. Meanwhile, I posted the recording from the night on our church platform, and everyone was shocked and disappointed. And with the help of our preacher's wife, I posted the financial records too. This one, in particular, caused many of our church members to stop going to church, and they insisted they would only return after our preacher was replaced with a new preacher eventually. I divorced my wife so she could go and be with her lover, and the preacher's wife did the same thing.

The town we lived in was small, so the word spread fast. And she was shunned by our community until she went back to her parents' town. This happened about a year ago, and I still have not gotten over it till now. Women just have their ways of doing the most embarrassing things. I had to stop attending church services so the matter could die down. To date, I feel embarrassed whenever I bump into a familiar church member. I may fall in love again, but till then, I'll end. enjoy my single and peaceful state. I hope you enjoy this story. Father expelled me once he remarried

because I symbolized his previous errors, therefore I confided in someone about the years of mistreatment from my parents. My dad losing everything. Hi, so a little over a year ago, my mother eloped with her affair partner. She had been having an affair with somebody from her high school for almost two years and finally, they decided to make a run for it. They almost got married. but my mother had a change of heart or something, and she decided to do it the right way. So after being gone for almost two weeks, she decided to come back with divorce papers,

and my parents got officially divorced. She didn't want custody of me, which was surprising because my parents don't get along with each other, but more than that, they don't get along with me. Anyway, she cut off all ties with everyone and relocated to someplace in Europe with her husband, her partner, and that was good for them, but not so good for me because that left me

with no other option. But to continue living with my dad and after my mother left, he was even worse than before. He used to hate me earlier, but after my mother left, he started loathing me. Because I was a constant reminder of the fact that he used to be married to this woman, and she humiliated him by running off with some other man. My parents were big on stuff like their reputation, and how people perceive them, which was a major part of the reason why, in spite of the fact that they never liked me, they decided to keep custody of me and made sure that I was always presentable and never spoke of the way I was treated at home in public. So even though I had been brought up pretty comfortably, my life has been miserable

because of my parents, and on top of that, I could never even talk about it to anybody because I was scared of what would happen if they ever found out. However, recently, I had to speak up because of how my father kicked me out of the house. I'm 17 right now, but I'm turning 18 in three months, so my father thought that it would be the appropriate time to kick me out. He decided to get remarried since almost more than half a year had passed since the divorce was finalized. I knew that he had been dating his secretary, I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that if I had started around the time that my mother had filed for a divorce

my father probably thought that there were no obstacles in the way now. But they kept it private until the reverse was finalized and a few weeks after that, they decided to announce on social media that they were together. And then, three months ago, they got engaged, and just about two weeks back, they got married. I was there at all of the ceremonies, but it was only an obligation. My dad didn't actually want me there, and it had been made very clear to me that all I had to do was smile, for them, and talk about how happy I was that my father had decided to move on in life. So I did exactly that, but in spite of it, they decided to label me as a reminder of my father's

mistakes in the past and told me that I had to move out and fend for myself now. The two of them decided to have a meeting with me a few days after the wedding and told me that now that they were married, they did not want me living with them anymore because they wanted to start everything all over again. My dad, especially, did not want me lurking around and since I was already turning 18 in a couple of months and was supposed to start college, it would be better for me to move out now. I had always known that no matter how much money he had, it wasn't going to make a difference for me because he had always made it very clear to me that after I turned 18, I was on my own. So I always knew that I would have to pay my own way through college, but it doesn't even commence until a couple of months.

And I had no idea where I was going to find any sort of accommodation or how I was even going to afford it until college finally started. Besides, even though I had been accepted into a couple of places, I would need money to secure my spot and the problem was that even if I wanted to take out a student loan, I needed consent. to help me out with it. I did not have any savings of my own because even though I had known that I would have to live life on my own after I turned 18. I had been forbidden to work by my parents because they thought that people would question it if they saw me since my parents were pretty well off financially and my decision to work would be a questionable one in that case. So out of fear that people would find out about the situation at home, about how they treated me, my parents decided to tell me that I was not allowed to work, which is why I was at a dead end right now.

I even tried to bring this up with my dad and my stepmom so they would be at least a little sympathetic towards me, and I told them that I couldn't exactly move out because I had nowhere to go, and I didn't even have any money of my own, but they chose to be quite nasty about it and told me that it was my problem now. I had until the end of the week, but after that, they would expect me to pack my stuff and be gone. I tried everything, from reasoning with them to fighting with them, but nothing seemed to work. So I ended up having a total breakdown in the living room, but even then, they did not seem to care. They just went about their own business and completely ignored me, and I realized that I had no other way left, I had to speak to people and stop being scared of the consequences.

Without putting much thought into it, I decided to pack a couple of things up and went to my grandparents' house. My mom's parents passed away when I was very young, so my dad's parents are the only grandparents I have ever known. So far, they had absolutely no idea that I was being treated so badly at home. My parents had drilled it into my head that if I ever spoke up about the fact that they ignored me at home and tried to make it into a bigger deal than it was, they would make sure that I would pay the consequences for it. And they were not joking. I knew that I had always kept my mouth shut, and my grandparents had no idea until that day when I went to them and I told them everything.

I told them that my father expected me to find a place to live and sort out my life on my own in just a week, but that was not going to be possible and I really needed them to help me out right now. I honestly didn't think that they were going to be helpful, since they were actually pretty similar to my dad. They also put a lot of thought into appearances and stuff and I'm guessing that was something that my dad had inherited what he hadn't considered was the fact that my grandparents were also not as shallow as him and if they put up a show. of being quite dignified and classy, it was because they were. So when I told them everything, they were outraged and told me that they would take care of me

and I didn't need to worry and make myself anxious about the future because I have had enough of that for a lifetime, judging by whatever I had told them. I've been living with them since then and they have retrieved all my stuff from the house, but that's not where it has ended. My grandpa has actually fired my dad from the company and now, my dad will have to give up everything, from the company house to the car. My grandpa runs our family business that his grandfather had started and has been in our family for ages, so naturally, my father had also joined him and in a couple of years, my grandpa was

going to retire, and my father was going to take over. Now, it seems unlikely because my grandfather has decided to let him go quite unceremoniously. My dad is threatening to sue him but my grandpa isn't scared in the slightest because the lawyers are sharks and even my dad knows it. Besides, from what I've been hearing, my grandpa actually has caused to fire him, so it can't just be a wrongful termination suit and if my dad decides to go ahead, it will definitely end up in a loss for him. Apparently, my dad is not very good at the business part. From what my grandfather has told me and that's a big part of the reason why my grandfather is not scared of the lawsuit because even firing my father, he had done it on the grounds that he is not competent enough. Of course, that was the official reason.

The unofficial reason was that I had told him everything and now that he knew how I'd been treated, he wanted nothing to do with the son anymore. It didn't even matter that my father was his only child. He literally told me that he would rather not have the business being handed over to my father after what he has found out and is considering letting somebody else take over our family business when he retires. The only reason he had given my father so many chances to learn the ropes of the business and had always retained him in a higher position,

even though he was not really capable of the job he was there for, was because my grandfather wanted to keep the business and the family. But now, he believed that it would be for the best if he gave somebody else a chance because his son was clearly not worthy of it. My grandparents have also been exceptionally kind to me since I showed up at their house and told me that if I had ever spoken to them about this, they would have made sure that I was taken away from my parents right that instant and placed in their custody and care instead.

I wish I would have known that, but I was just really scared of how my parents would react and they understand that, so we are just trying to undo all the damage that my parents have done. So far, it's been pretty great for me because my grandparents have told me that they're going to take care of all my expenses and I don't need to worry about anything. It's pretty relieving because now, I don't even have to think about how I'm going to pay for college, I can just have fun and live my life on my own terms instead of constantly being anxious about my father. I thought that now that I've left my father's house, my grandpa and my father could fight it out in court, and I wouldn't have to be involved, but I guess my dad has been

on dragging me into this mess and making me feel guilty or something because he hasn't stopped texting me since the last two days. I guess he is struggling to cope with the fact that I finally told my grandpa and now, he is going to have to face the consequences of everything that he has put me through in the past. Well, not just him, but also my mother, but since she's not directly involved right now, it's going to be he who has to pay. Besides, it was not my mom who did. It was not my mom who decided to kick me out because she got remarried again, she left. My father was the one who decided that the house did not have any space for me anymore, even though the house that he lives in was thanks to the kindness of his own father, since its company accommodation and even though he never

deserved it. He got the job and managed to keep it because of my grandfather. But now, he has been messaging me from several accounts, telling me that what I have done is massively messed up and that he thinks that I'm vindictive and cruel. He thinks that it was really petty of me to go and talk to my grandfather about whatever he had said because he hadn't even done anything wrong. The only reason he had wanted me out of the house was because I was turning 18 in a couple of months and I should have been looking out for myself at this age anyway. He tried to seriously downplay exactly how badly I had been treated in my childhood by saying that lots of kids don't get the necessary kind of love and affection from their parents and they don't make a big deal out of it

like I am. My grandpa had accused him of neglecting me and he decided to tell me that I wasn't neglected, I was just acting like a brat because my father had refused to support me all his life. That was a blatant lie because I definitely was neglected, maybe not in the conventional sense of the word since I always had food to eat, clothes to wear, and stuff like that, but I literally cannot even remember one instance of my parents sitting with me, trying to talk to me, going on family trips and stuff. I was always just ignored and even on a few occasions we did take vacations together. The three of us lived in separate rooms and it was mostly just for photos that we would

get together but after that, it was back to our unhappy family life. So I definitely think I was neglected and initially, I was just ignoring all the messages that my dad was sending me, but then, he sent me one message blaming me for everything that was happening to him because apparently, not only was he losing the house. My grandmother had decided to buy that very property from the company and transfer it to my name. So I would be getting that house and not just that, but my father would also be losing his inheritance to me. He told me that. He told me that it was all my fault and I feel kind of weird that I'm going to be getting everything that he's losing. Wipta if I decided to go ahead and accept the house and inheritance that my father was supposed to get?

Update 1. Hey, everyone. So it's been two weeks since I left my dad's house and well, he's in the process of being evicted right now. Also, guys, I didn't know that this was not a widespread practice, but yeah, my grandfather's company is a finance company and it offers accommodation as a part of the compensation package for employees in higher positions, like my dad, my grandfather, and a couple of other people. I didn't know it was that common, but anyway, a lot of people had been asking why my dad was going to lose his home and why was he living on company property anyway if it hadn't required him to relocate or anything. The cost of housing in our state is pretty high, which is why my grandfather offers accommodation, but anyway, that's not the point. So my grandmother is already in the

process of buying the house and my dad has been served with an eviction notice. So he needs to find someplace to live within four weeks and then he has to be gone. At least he gets four weeks to find a place for himself. He had given me just one week. I think we are being far more lenient to him than he was to me and thanks to the comments here, I'm no longer blaming myself for whatever he's going through. I think he totally deserves it and I have started to block all the accounts that he had been texting me from. I hadn't been doing that earlier because I thought that if I blocked him, he would just create a new account to text me and get under my skin, but well, he can do that if he wants to. I just want him to know that I don't care. Living with my grandparents has been really nice.

They are indeed like my father in some respects. He used to be pretty big on punctuality and stuff and table manners and so are my grandparents because they like maintaining appearances, but they are so much better than him that I actually feel like I'm living with a genuinely good family right now. Most importantly, they actually seem to care for me and speak to me more than my parents ever bothered to. It's a nice change of pace and I could get used to this, but I'm trying not to because in a couple of months, I'm going to have to leave for college. However, until then, this is where I'm going to stay. Now that all of this is out of the way, I would like to address some things and comments that have been made on my original post because it's concerned. A lot of people on the original post called me a doormat and said that I was spineless for never standing up for myself.

I would just like to remind people that I'm a couple of months away from turning 18 right now, which is still actually pretty young. For 18 years of my life, I have been conditioned by my parents to believe that if I stand up for myself or if I make a big deal out of the fact that I have always been emotionally neglected, they are going to make me pay the consequences of it. They had made sure that they did everything in their power to intimidate me into keeping quiet and I was just a kid, I couldn't have done anything. So it's not a matter of being spineless or not, it's just that I was very young and it was their job to protect me and not treat me like that and scare me into keeping my mouth shut. To the people who were questioning how brave I was, it shouldn't have been my duty to be brave in the first place, it should have been their duty to make sure I was protected and felt safe. But I was terrified of them and you guys don't even know how much it took for me to stand up to them one time and talk to my grandparents about whatever I was going through. It's not like I had never tried when I was 11 years old, I had a bit of an outburst at a family gathering about something that had happened at home, probably them just not giving me enough attention, and they took me home immediately and grounded me for a month. I was not allowed to interact with them even at meal times and pretended like I didn't even exist, which was obviously not easy for an 11-year-old.

to deal with. I had to spend one whole month alone in my room because this incident had happened over winter break and I couldn't even go to school to meet my friends. It was a horrible time for me and I learned my lesson after that, to never speak up about what happens at home in public. After something like that, I was obviously too scared to speak up and I don't think it's fair for people to be accusing me of being spineless or being a doormat or whatever. Anyway, even if I took a stand for myself a little too late, at least I did so and I I'm proud of myself for that. Old habits die hard, we all know that, and it's going to take me a lot of time and energy to actively undo all the damage that my parents have done. I guess that's why I was

even questioning the fact that it would be the right thing to accept everything that was supposed to go to my dad, but now would be given to me. But I know that I deserve this, and I'm not going to shy away from talking about my experience anymore. Update 2. Hi, everyone. So it has been a pretty eventful week since I last posted and my dad has finally started the wrongful termination lawsuit proceedings against my grandpa, but like I said, none of my grandparents are worried. In fact, they don't even seem to care about what's going on. I was a little worried because I did not want them to be facing any sort of losses, be it financially or reputation-wise because of my father's actions, but they reassured me that whatever happens, they are well equipped for it.

They have a team of lawyers specifically to deal with stuff like this, and they're going to have this claim squashed within weeks, if not days. So that made me feel slightly better and ever since I started blocking all the accounts that my dad was making to disturb me, even he had stopped trying to get in touch with me and guilt-tripping because I guess he realized that it was not going to help. I also made my grandparents read all the messages that he had sent me so far and they made me send them to the team of lawyers as proof. I don't know exactly what it was going to prove, but I did whatever they asked because I want to be of help them in any way that I can since I still do feel kind of bad that all of this mess has been created because of me, in a way.

And because of this lawsuit, my grandmother and my grandfather's company have also had to put the process of selling the house that my dad has been living in on hold because it's a disputed property right now. So I guess if not anything, at least my dad has been successful in pushing back the date of his eviction. But if I have luck on my side, he's not going to be able to push it for much longer. I really do think that I have luck on my side because my grandparents have been encouraging me to speak up about my experience living with my parents and right now. Pretty much all of the family is aware of how my parents have been treating me when I used to be living with them and all of them have cut my father off. They think that this is the right thing to do

because so far, my father had always been pushing me to keep my mouth shut so that he would be able to maintain an appearance of being very sophisticated and well brought up, but in reality, that's not the case at all. And this would be the biggest loss for him, the loss of his reputation amongst his family and I think that's the way to go. He has already been ostracized by his family, and when word of his legal battle with his father because of his termination gets out, he's probably going to be shunned by his friends as well

because they seem like the type that would do that. I might be wrong, but I'm really hoping that I'm right. Update 3, hi, so it's been a couple of days since the proceeding started and I guess things are not going too well for my father in court because today, he showed up at my parents' house to speak to them in person, without any lawyers. To be honest, I'm not surprised, and neither should he be because according to my grandfather, he did definitely have a reason to fire my dad officially. Anyway, I was the one who actually

opened the door to him and let him in, but he didn't even acknowledge my existence. He waited for my grandparents to enter the room and only then he started speaking and he told them that he was ready to come to a settlement out of court if they would be willing to do that, but my grandpa shut it down instantly. My grandpa told him that right now, he was not in a position to be making demands and he was the one who had started this fight. My grandpa was perfectly happy to just let him go without making a big deal out of it. Nobody would even have to find out why he was getting fired, but now, since he had started the fight, he had to see it through and my grandpa was not willing to settle. He made that very clear to my father, even though my father kept insisting that none of this was his fault. He had just felt

very insulted by the way he had been treated and had made a decision in the heat of the moment, but now that he was losing, he was ready to let it go. After the discussion got a little heated, he decided to turn to me and pointed at me and said that if they needed somebody to blame, it should be me. Which was just bizarre because I don't think I have any fault in this, but anyway, I didn't even react, I just walked away from the situation and went back to my room because I didn't think that it was necessary for me to even interact with him. He was not even worth my attention, and that was what I needed to show him. So I went back to my room and a couple of minutes later,

I heard the sound of shouting, and then the door slamming shut. Then, my grandparents came to my room and told me that I did the right thing by not responding to him because that just would have instigated him even more against me. My dad had apparently called me disrespectful and bratty before leaving my grandparents. They were going to fail me just the way they had failed him, which is a huge claim to make because the only reason he had a job and a house

and a secure future for so long was because of my grandparents. Apparently, he had been irresponsible and a bit of a party animal, and when he was young, which is when he met my mother and gotten married to her eventually. He hadn't even started working in my grandfather's company until eight years ago, since he wanted to strike out on his own and all his failed business ventures had also been funded by my grandfather. Basically, my grandfather had given him everything that he had asked for, and in spite of that, he was still so ungrateful. After his last failed business, my grandfather decided to give him an ultimatum and hire him in his own company so he could keep an eye on him and train him in the ways of our business so he would be able to run it after my grandfather retired.

For eight years, he had waited for my dad to get to the level he had expected him to, and for eight years, my dad had continuously disappointed him, and now, whatever was happening, had been a long time coming. I had just been a catalyst and I don't think my dad understands or is ready to accept that he is at fault here. Anyway, he's going to have to duke it out with my grandfather in court now because his attempt to come to a settlement out of court was a bust because of his own behavior. And he can do his worst, for all I care. Update 4, hi, so it has been a couple of months and I'm starting college next week. I didn't even realize how quickly the weeks went by, but anyway, here's an update for everything that has happened in the last couple of months.

First things first, my grandfather obviously won that case and my dad walked away with pretty much nothing. I think my dad just gave up and let it all go. It might have also had something to do with the fact that his secretary-turned-wife had filed for divorce, which is not a surprise because everyone knew she was a total digger, but I hadn't expected it to end so fast. Anyway, the bottom line was that my dad gave up trying and let it go. After that, we did not hear from him and I think that's a good thing. However, my grandpa heard from a couple of other relatives that he had moved into an apartment in the suburbs. My guess is that he'll probably try to start something of his own,

and I wish him all the best, I really do. Things have been great with my grandparents and I've really enjoyed living with them, but now, it's time for me to move to college soon enough and I'm pretty excited for that as well. For the first time in my life, I'm going to be living on my own without any restrictions, apart from the ones that my college decides, but anyway, it's still going to be better than living with my parents. I'm looking forward to this and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse began to think he was a participant in a covert television program, suspected me of engaging in clandestine telephone conversations regarding him, and then warned of taking action against me in the presence of our children. So I got him arrested. My 30F, Spouse, 35M, has been experiencing behavior that has only become increasingly concerning. In the past two months now, he has been talking about things that he claims are happening but he's never mentioned before. As some background info, when his behavior first starting getting concerning, I managed to convince him to go the hospital to get checked out for his mental health.

He wasn't even seen by a doctor and he was told he just needs to take a certain medicine to help him sleep. The issue is he also smokes weed so this medicine does not mix well with that. He won't quit smoking. We also have two very young kids. Back to the weird recent behavior, he claims he had an old email with an inheritance that got hacked and he needs access to it. I tried helping him get on it, but he hasn't used it in literally the 12 years we've been together. I only knew of its existence previously when I helped him switch his Facebook login and that was an email attached. Another example is that he believes everyone is talking about him to me and everyone else, I mean literally everyone else.

He thinks there's some sort big thing planned to hurt him or do something horrible to him soon and that we're all on it. On a few other separate occasions he's asked about a show that we're on and asked how much money I'm being paid to keep a secret. He also thinks I'm having secret phone calls and that I've apparently left the room to accept these calls, which then results in me coming back crying about something I've apparently discussed on the phone. Whenever I try to explain to him that none of this is happening, he fights back saying that I'm just lying to him and to tell him the truth. that I need to tell him the truth or something bad is going to happen. It's gotten so bad, he ended up getting fired from his job because he was barely showing up. He kept going to the cop station to make a report instead of going to work.

After he got fired there was some sort of tense situation where they ended up calling a wellness check for him, because they were afraid he's going to come back and hurt someone. The cops showed up while I was also home and he said he wouldn't hurt someone, he only acts in defense. In the recent weeks, he's gone from screaming at me demanding answers to just not talking to me at all. At this point, I'd rather he just not interact with me. The reason I'm writing this is because of what happened today. It was a nice day out and I asked if he would come with me for a walk with our kids, to which he agreed to.

He barely spoke a word to me or the kids on this walk. And when we came across a playground, I asked if we should take the kids there for a few minutes of play. He then got upset at me for suggesting it and said I always control everything and I'm the queen of the decisions. I didn't even tell him we were doing that, I just asked. When I mentioned this he just said do whatever you want, like always, so I figured why not. So I played with the kids at the playground and he did his own thing. Someone left a couple various balls there and he was throwing them around. He then picked up the football and threw it in my direction.

It flew past me a couple feet from me. I asked why he did that and he said, why are you upset? It didn't hit you to which I responded well, what if it did? He then said if I wanted it to hit you in the head I would have thrown it that way. Then he started on a rant about how he's going through the same thing with everyone lying to him. After which he sat down in the corner of the park and was doing literally nothing. I was getting upset, so I packed up the kids and started walking to leave the park. I said to him we're going home and started walking away.

Apparently he tried to yell out to us but ended up taking a different way home than we did. He told me this when he met me on the street when we were almost home, saying that next time I want to be an idiot and walk away maybe stop and listen for him calling out. I didn't hear him but honestly he could have easily caught up to us. I was getting more and more upset and said I wanted to go for a drive to get coffee and he said fine. I said I wanted to take the kids and he asked why. Then I said fine, you stay home with them and he said no they can go with you and started putting them in the car. I got in the car and he got in the passenger seat, to which I asked him if he's coming with. He said yes and to drive.

I told him I didn't want him coming with because he's being mean and he said he could be a lot meaner. As I started driving away he kept going off on the usual BS he's been talking about lately and I told him I don't want to hear it. He started screaming at me to keep driving and shut the fuck up. I stopped the car and told him to get out and he made a motion like he was going to punch me but punched his hand in front of my face. At this point I started crying and yelling at him to get out and he yelled back, no, just drive. I then said I should just drive him to the police station for that and he said he would choke me unconscious before we even got there. I was crying even more at this point and said I don't want to be with him anymore and I want him out. he said no. He continued to be a dick for the rest of the car ride, where I pleaded with him to not

treat me this way, especially in front of our children. It's not fair to them, or to me. He said to not bring them into this. I said how couldn't I, they are literally in the car. Anyway, after I drove us home, he asked how long I've been waiting to break up with him and who I'm replacing him with. I told him I haven't been and there's no one else, which of course he doesn't believe. When he got inside he even taunted me saying I should take you to the cop station in a girly voice. He's outside smoking and I'm inside with the kids writing this. Of course I'm shook up currently but I don't know what to do. We only have the one vehicle which is in both our names. The place we rent is actually my mom's so we don't have a lease but we both have our addresses attached to this place on our licenses.

He wasn't always like this, literally only the past couple months his behavior has been this bad. I missed the person he used to be, I missed that he would spend time with me, with the kids, but he spends all his time by himself now. I don't know if he's going through some sort of manic episode or what's triggering this change in behavior, but I really don't know what to do. Is there something differently I can do to help him? Every time he talks to me about whatever situation he doesn't accept any answer I say and also won't accept if I say nothing. Edit, I just wanted to update and let you all know we are safe.

I'm sorry for not saying anything sooner. I'm a bit overwhelmed with how popular this post got and will give an actual update later. Thank you for the advice and comments as well. I will mention a couple things. We are not in the U.S. where we are, marijuana is legal, so my spouse does get it from government-run dispensaries. I don't think there's a chance his stuff gets laced aside from the fact he mixes cigarettes with it, a lot of people mention meth. There is just no way. He doesn't go anywhere random, he doesn't talk to people outside of our household, aside from the few times he would go to the police station. I have his location on his phone so I can see where he goes when he leaves. Update 1, hello, first of all, thank you all for the comments, messages, etc. on my previous post.

Obviously it got a bit too much to keep up with responding but I just want to say I really appreciate the help. To give an update, I left the house the night I made the post, but went back home the following day. I wanted to be able to collect some sort of evidence I could use, because my spouse has been really good at downplaying his symptoms to any authority figure. I want to mention that I had been present at most doctor and hospital visits prior, so I know what they did recommend for him. I felt at the time that they did not give him enough help for the crisis he was obviously going through. Anyway, continuing on, the couple days after the Sunday post, he did not really engage in much conversation with me or our children. Every time he entered the room,

I set my phone to record. I did not get anything until Thursday, when he finally started talking to me again. He was questioning who I have been talking to about him and who has been trying to sabotage his life. Obviously I denied everything, because there is no one talking to me about him, aside from this Reddit post, which he didn't know about. This started to anger him, which included him yelling at me and saying if anyone is talking to me about him, to bring him to the house so he can take care of them himself. I tried to not to engage anymore. This made him more upset, as he was continuing to demand answers from me.

He would then say, oh, I want to hit you or don't make me slap you when I was either not answering or just saying I didn't know what he was talking about. I got this on recording. After he ended up walking away and leaving the room, I took the kids to bed, locked us in our room and tried to sleep. The following morning, he insisted on driving me to work. I told him I wanted the car, to which he disagreed with me and said he needed it. After dropping out kids off, he started going off on me about how I am stupidity, dumb, a bitch, etc., for keeping his inheritance. Again something he is clearly having delusions about, from him.

I tried to disengage completely, keeping myself to far side of the passenger seat, which caused him to grab me by the back of my neck and pull me closer to him, where he told me to listen to him. I obviously reacted to this and was super upset, telling him to please focus on driving and not touch me again. After he drove me to work, the last thing I said to him as he was still going off on me with the car window open was you desperately need help. Once I got in, I called my boss and let her know what happened. She came in, canceled her appointments for the day, and took me to the police station. We made a report, although the sergeant we initially spoke to seem to be against us making a report, he kept saying he will be homeless if I report him, like he's the victim in this scenario. I told him my safety and the kid's safety should be more important, and he brought in a different

officer to make the statement with me. Once I completed that statement, they let me know to stay away from the house as they were going to arrest him, and we'll call once he's out of the house. About five hours later, he was arrested. Apparently he was very compliant, and with all the information I provided, they actually took him to the hospital, and he is currently on a 30-day psychiatric hold. He will be going to court at some point for uttering threats and assault, but seeing how he doesn't have a criminal record, I'm sure it will just end up being a slap on the wrist. So as of now, I am home, safe with the children, and we are getting our locks changed. I will also most likely get a protection order, but in an ideal world, he gets better and that's not necessary. I guess we will see in the future. I want to again, thank everyone for their comments and assistance.

A lot of you made some excellent points, and although I know some of my decisions probably seemed like dumb ones, I was trying to figure out the best solution logistically for us. Any other future updates will be on my profile. Update 2, it's been a while since I updated. I still get messages asking how I am and to update again. I apologize in the delay. Anyway, onto the actual update, my spouse is doing a lot better. He received the treatment he needed in the psych ward of the hospital,

gets a shot every so often instead of taking pills, and only smoke cigarettes now. He's back to his normal self, engages in conversation with myself and our children like he did before this crazy shit happened, has a job, and honestly, is being a better partner overall. It took a lot of time for me to feel like I could trust him again, but we've taken a lot of time to work on things and get back to how we should be. I know a lot of people wanted me to leave and never look back. But you have to realize how he acted in my initial post was nothing like how he is as a person. Obviously he had some sort of weird psychosis happening, which could have been a result of a high intake of marijuana, plus a couple added stressors. I don't want to go into too many details because it will give away where we are, but basically something traumatic happened under 10 years ago that happened again a month before he started acting strange. It was one of those types of events that forces you out of your home for undetermined amount of time. Anyway, that's all the detail I want to go into. Obviously he was affected by it more than I thought.

because when this event happened, I was the one having a difficult time and he was my rock. But after we were able to go back home and have some normalcy, that's when things started changing for him. It started with him randomly needing to gain access into an old email, to thinking he was being recorded all the time like he was on the Truman show or something, to thinking that everyone, including me, was out to get him. This is when the threats of violence started happening. I was obviously in disbelief because in the entire time we've been together. nothing like this has ever happened. I never once felt like I was unsafe. I never felt scared until the threats continue to come, and he started to escalate. After he made excellent progress in the hospital and I had many reassuring conversations with the psychiatrist, I allowed him to come home when he

was discharged. It was so hard not having him around, I cried all the time, our kids really missed their dad, and he really missed us. He needed to get help, and I'm so thankful I was able to find an effective solution. This will most likely be my last update. I don't really think I'll need to add any other details, but again, I just want to thank everyone for their messages and comments, even the ones who called me an idiot, l-ol. Next story, X used the power of attorney I forgot about to sell my house, empty my bank account, and sell all my belongings while I was getting medical treatment abroad. I have gone from terrified to white-hot anger to just cold in my stomach and all sorts of other feelings and it is taking me some time to write this so I apologize for anything

which is unclear. Background, I was just out of the country for over two months while I was being treated by specialists for medical problems I have. During that time I had my personal valuables kept at a storage company which was supposed to be good for security since I don't have close family and didn't want to leave things like my computer sitting around in my apartment for that long. I also have some payments I get which I made sure would automatically go to an account because I have renters in my old house and want to make sure certain bills get paid without me having to think about it. I thought it was all set up good enough that I could be out of the country and focus on what I needed to focus on then come back to everything as I left it. A while ago when I was in a lot of pain and on a

lot of medication I had a lawyer help me make sure my now ex could make decisions for me if I was incapacitated. Honestly, I had totally forgotten about this because at the time I was very foggy, I barely remember anything about it. The night before my flight, my ex told me they could not be with me anymore because of my health problems, saying I was going to die and they did not want to be with me for that. My issues are pretty bad and yes my life will maybe not be as long as it might have been but I really could not deal with that at the time mentally so just said okay and went on my trip. We had been together for 16 months but not strictly living together. Now, I came back to learn somehow my ex has started taking and maybe selling everything.

They have paperwork saying I was incapacitated plus the power of attorney I granted them. I was not incapacitated at any time during my treatment. I don't know what doctor could have signed such a thing. During the time I was gone, my ex has used this to check my belongings out of storage and I have no idea where my things are. I am worried it has all been sold. Stuff has also been taken out of my apartment. The tenants in my house were told by my ex that I was bedridden and they would have to move

so my house could be sold. They are month to month and took this at face value and already moved out before I got back. They informed me that a realtor had been showing the house to people. I managed to get in touch with the realtor and when I got him to understand the situation he freaked out. There is already a buyer because my house was listed very far under market value. Stuff was already signed, some money has already been paid, the buyers are already getting ready to move in. I told him to cancel everything and that this was not authorized in any way. He said the paperwork my ex had was legit and he needs to figure out how to handle this.

I am waiting for more details. The account I set up before I left is cleaned out down to pennies I missed an important payment because of this. The bank says yes, my ex accessed my account and everything was in order because I was incapacitated. My ex knew I was setting this account up and what it was for. they probably got details about it from my apartment. I have talked to my ex and the police. My ex barely responds but when I stood at their door and screamed they finally told me that I was in a coma, not true, so they had to sell my things for me.

I think I heard them saying you won't need it anyway through the door. The police are telling me a few things. I tried to report my ex for theft for stealing my things from storage and was told it is a civil issue. I told them the rest of the story and it's like they don't even know how to respond to me. Sitting at the police station seems to just be wasting my time because no one there seems to be able to do anything. They say come back tomorrow when someone else will be there. Supposedly officers went to my ex's place and were shown the paperwork. Tomorrow I am going to see a lawyer who advertises help with elder abuse power of attorney fraud which is the closest thing I could find.

If they can't help me then where do I go next? Is there some key thing I can say to the police to get them to arrest my ex right this second and stop this? I have to believe this will all be fixed eventually, but how screwed am I? Comments where op has replied, deleted, did you ever actually give a POA? You need to revoke that ASAP. Oop, it is possible. I signed documents giving them the ability to use my money for me to pay bills and do other things a while ago because I was unable to leave the hospital.

I will be able to take care of that with the lawyer tomorrow, I hope. And I know I seem like an idiot. I did not really understand what I was doing at the time. I was in a lot of pain and did not have an exact diagnosis yet and I must have thought it was the right thing to do, but I don't even remember exactly when it happened because parts of that time are all a blur. Update, I was being a bit paranoid when making my original post because I did not want to get condescending responses.

I'm a woman in my early 30s and my ex. as a man around the same age. It has been a strange few days. I met with my lawyer Monday morning and she was very supportive. Even though she usually deals with elder abuse, she said my situation was very much within her expertise and seemed excited to have me as a client. She was also very angry.

After last Saturday I have not had a lot of emotional energy so it was nice to see someone be like that on my behalf. I spent a while in my lawyer's office and later in the day my ex called me, My lawyer had told me not to talk to him for now, so I did not answer. We listened to a message together, though, and my ex said he was selling things for my benefit and was investing it for me to help with any bills I have to pay. My ex also said they were interested in getting back together since I came back safely

from my trip. My lawyer laughed and it was a very surreal moment. After just a day my lawyer found out that my ex had done something like this before. He had been with a person who was very sick for a while then took off with the contents of a joint account and their car right before they died. The person's estate got into a legal battle with my ex and got the car back, but not the money in the end. She thinks this is basically what my ex was doing to me and that they probably did it other times too, but was not always sued over it or it was in other states. The whole relationship we had was just fake, I guess, and he misread the situation

when I was leaving to go see specialists thinking I was probably not coming back. That also explains why he never had a job if he just makes money off people like me. My lawyer sent a lot of letters out to lots of places on Monday, including one to my ex. They were all about revoking the power of attorney I had granted and the one to my ex had a bunch of demands in it telling him to produce my money and belongings as well as copies of the power of attorney and the other documents my ex had about me. She spoke with the realtor and some other people about my house and the unfortunate reality is I should probably let the sale happen and take the money.

That is not really what I wanted to hear, but it's not the end of the world. She also had me get someone to change the locks on my apartment. Wednesday was a weird day because my ex showed up at my lawyer's office with some of my stuff. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what that was like, but I do have my computer back. My ex also produced the access codes for online investments made with my money, which seems to have pissed off my lawyer, because it's going to be a headache making sure I get all my money back. She has dealt with this before and is going to help me recover as much of it as possible. She also says we will almost definitely be going after my ex for money because there are a lot of

problems with what he did and the power of attorney itself is very suspect. But she needs to talk to the hospital and some other people first. My lawyer says it's a big deal that the paperwork my ex was using to say I was incapacitated is from when I was hospitalized around the time the power of attorney actually happened. To sum it all up, now I have to sum it all up, now I have to say, my computers back, but my money is in online investments and it may be difficult to get the full value back. It is also likely that the rest of the money from the sale of my house is coming directly to me. My lawyer is super awesome and she is spending a lot of time devoted to this for me,

which feels really good. I just saw my local doctor and he doesn't like that I am under so much stress right after I came home, so I'm going to try and relax. I hope you enjoy this story. I am a physician who never desired children but my spouse pledged to become a full-time parent, only to retract that commitment following the arrival of our infant, leading to a significant dilemma. Fight I, 36F, am a neurologist and I absolutely love my patients and my job. I believe there is no greater honor in life than being able to help others.

The road to my medical degree was not easy, and it was paved with many rejections. I was a troubled teen in high school and I didn't get accepted into any colleges my senior year. I had to work my way up starting with remedial classes at my local community college. When I finally got into medical school at 26F, I was absolutely thrilled. I met my husband, 37M, in my third year of medical school, we have been married for four years now. My husband works in marketing, and I make three times his salary. From the beginning of our relationship, I was very upfront that I was unsure about having biological children. My dream was always to adopt from foster care and my husband seemingly understood this.

However, after his befriend had a baby boy last year, he began to really press me on having children. I was initially very against this idea because I was just beginning my career, I wanted to wait a few more years before revisiting the topic of children. In August of last year I found out I was unexpectedly pregnant due to a condom breaking during sex. I was initially considering an abortion, but after many heartfelt conversations with my husband, we decided to keep the baby, and he would quit his job and stay home until our daughter was old enough to start preschool. There were several factors that went into our decision to have him stay home with our daughter.

I make significantly more money than him, so financially it just made more sense. I am in the first few years of my career as an attending physician. After four years of med school and a four-year residency, I am just starting to practice on my own, whereas my husband has been in his career for 15 years. I was very clear I had absolutely zero desire to stay home and be a housewife. I respect stay-at-home mothers but my work is my life, and I would go crazy at home all day. This just isn't a lifestyle I want whatsoever. Finally, I am not comfortable putting my child in daycare until she is old enough to express herself,

verbally. As a victim of immolestation when I was young, I just do not trust people enough to leave my daughter in the hands of strangers when she would be unable to report abuse slash neglect. Our daughter is nine weeks old today and I am preparing to return to my practice in a few weeks. This weekend, I left my husband alone with our daughter while I attended a medical conference out of state. The conference was amazing but when I returned home, my husband began acting weird. Today when our daughter was napping, I pressed him to tell me what was wrong. He absolutely broke down and said he doesn't think he can do this. He expressed how trapped, alone and overwhelmed he felt all weekend.

He now wants me to extend my maternity leave and is talking about trying to get his job back. This made me freak out, and I asked well what will we do with our daughter now? He responded by suggesting I leave my practice and work from home. I said absolutely not, and he suggested daycare. At this point I just lost my shit and screamed if I knew you were going to back out of your promise to take care of our daughter, I would have never had your child. I know I completely overreacted and I would never trade our daughter for anything, I love her so much. But I am so upset with my husband and I'm not sure how to move forward at this point. Additional information from OOP to address some health slash medical issues.

OOP, a few people have brought this point up, and I'm just going to address it here. I started hormonal B.C. at 17 when I lost my virginity. Unfortunately for me, I'm the kind of woman who gets practically every single side effect in the three-page pamphlet. I tried a bunch of different kinds, but I eventually decided it was not for me. I got a copper IUD installed for a few years, but I ended up getting it removed early because it gave me severe cramping. I've been using strictly condoms for the past several years now and I have never had a problem. Also, this may be TMI, but I never allow my husband to ejaculate into the condom while his penis is inside me. This is for extra safety slash peace of mind.

Maybe 2x a year he will come too fast or unexpectedly and cannot pull out in time. The night we conceived my daughter, he came unexpectedly into the condom. I didn't think much of it because it happens occasionally, but now I'm really rethinking some things. Comments where OP has replied, commenter one, how does a neurologist work from home? NTA, he's quite happy for you feel trapped, overwhelmed and alone? Time for him to grow up.

Oh, O-op, if I transitioned to a WF role, I would likely have to give up caring for patients as a neurologist. I'd probably end up doing consulting work for a health insurance company. Sounds soul-sucking, I know. Commenter 2. Why in the world would you go to work after nine weeks? Don't you have a year of paid maternity leave? Oh, O. O.P. Not in America. Honestly, you're lucky to get any paid maternity leave in this country.

Commenter 3, NTA but, O.P. I would consider the red flags here. He wanted a child and you unexpectedly got pregnant. Now he wants to go back to work and the deal unexpectedly changed. Plus, why he felt alone and overwhelmed when he stayed home but seems no concern for you to stay home and surely feel the same. Update, September 29th, 2024. Hi everyone, it's been a few months since I made my original post. I did not expect my post to get so much attention, and I was frankly overwhelmed by it.

Thousands of comments and hundreds of DMs, and I even found my post screenshot and uploaded on Twitter. To everyone who sent me kind and supportive DMs, thank you very much. I appreciate it more than you know. To those who sent me nasty DMs, criticizing me as a mother, you are part of the reason why 40% of female doctors go part-time or leave medicine altogether within six years of completing their residences. Women can want a career and a family, like men have had for hundreds of years. This does not make us evil monsters. To those who sent me DMs seeking medical advice, I am not comfortable giving medical advice over Reddit and I sincerely hope that that you find the care you need.

To those questioning why I was not on birth control, I addressed this more in a separate comment. But hormonal birth control does not work for every woman. Even board certified abjans will testify to this. After trying my best with every birth control under the sun for nearly 10 years, I decided condoms and pull out would be enough. Was this a stupid decision?

Yes. But 40% of doctors are overweight, so we aren't always the best at taking care of our own health. Regardless, I have no regrets, I love my daughter and would not change a thing. Okay now for the actual update. A few days after I made my original post, I realized how awful what I said to my husband was. No matter how upset I was, I never should have used our daughter as leverage in an argument.

Even if I had to quit my job tomorrow and become a single mom, I would still do it for her because I love her more than anything and I would choose her every time. I still feel awful that I said this, it was truly a terrible thing to say. Another thing I dropped the ball on was not being more patient and accepting with my husband. For some context, my mother came from out of town to stay with us for the first eight weeks after I gave birth. My husband did contribute greatly, I'd honestly say they both did 50% of the work with the baby for the first week or so while I recovered, after that we split the work between the three of us. So, for him to go from two people supporting him

to being on his own for a whole weekend in a matter of about ten days was obviously a huge shock and I should have realized this. His complaints about feeling trapped, overwhelmed, and alone are the exact reasons why I have no desire to be a song. Yes, we had a deal, but I should have given him space to express his concerns openly without me flipping shit. I stayed at my sisters with our daughter for a few days, after the fight to give my husband some space.

He would come to visit her every day during this period, but we agreed not to talk yet. When I came home, I apologized to him for mishandling the situation. To my surprise, he actually apologized too. He told me that he never intended to back out of our agreement. He just became so overwhelmed that he was unsure he was capable of caring for our daughter properly. He apologized for giving up so fast and suggesting that I WFH. He told me that no matter what we decided to do, I should not leave my practice.

At the end of his apologies, he said that he wanted to give being a stay-at-home dad another shot. We then had a very long conversation about how we would handle things from there. He told me that caring for our daughter was not the overwhelming part, it was trying to keep up with the cooking and cleaning that was difficult. So, we decided to hire a maid and buy one of those meal kit delivery services. He joined one of those new parent support groups to help reduce his isolation. Three times a week, my sister-in-law has agreed to come over to babysit for a few hours so he can go to the gym or have some me time. I also told him that if at any point he feels like he can't be a sod anymore, to please tell me. I made it very clear that while I would be slightly disappointed, I would be much more disappointed knowing that he was burnt out and upset while caring for our daughter.

Since this, we've also taken steps to strengthen our marriage, going on date nights once a week. I don't yet feel comfortable leaving our daughter with anyone besides family so most of these date nights include long walks while pushing her in the stroller or Netflix and take out on the couch, but hey, it's been working. Addressing the whole poking holes in the condom thing. No, I do not think this happened. I honestly did not even bother asking my husband this. I felt that an accusation of this magnitude would be detrimental to our marriage, especially when it was already in such a fragile state. My husband has agreed to get a vasectomy, so we don't have any more happy accidents. He is scheduled for later this year, and we are abstaining from PIV until then.

This whole situation has made me realize I needed to go back to therapy, and I've been seeing my therapist for about six weeks now. My CSA hadn't impacted my life for about eight years prior to this, but having my daughter and dealing with postpartum anxiety has stirred up some really dark thoughts. I know that I am being overprotective due to my trauma, and I want to work through this so that I can be a good mother and a good partner. A lot of people told me to leave my husband, and I'm sure a lot of people reading this may think that I'm making a mistake. I know that I am not. My husband had a weak moment and broke down, but he does not have a pattern of being. being unreliable, dishonest, or unsupportive. He supported me through my final two years of med school, and throughout my residency. Please try to remember that my post highlighted the worst

moment in our relationship. It did not show the eight wonderful years we have had together. Comments where OPP has replied, comment or one, oh dear. This is all very step 40. Boop. About a year into my husband and I dating, I was studying for the USM step two exam. This is an absolute monster of an exam. Nine hours in one day testing you on all your clinical knowledge. Your residency match heavily relies on your step two performance. Obviously, I was beyond stressed. About six weeks before my exam, my husband, and I had dinner reservations for 8 p.m.

I was exhausted and accidentally fell asleep at 6 p.m., standing him up for dinner. At 9 p.m. he knocked on my apartment door to see if I was. was okay, and I broke down as soon as I opened the door. All the stress and anxiety came flooding out, I was sobbing in his chest telling him that I could not finish medical school. He spent all night comforting me and he continued to be there for me the entire time. He brought me meals twice a day, so that I did not have to cook, did my laundry every week, ran my errands, took care of my cat, and gave me many back massages because I spent so much time hunched over my textbooks. He emotionally supported me the entire time. He never let me lose sight of my dream and did everything

he could to help me through my difficult time. This is who my husband is and now I am returning the favor. I am supporting him however I can as he makes this difficult transition into being a sod. Call me a step forward wife all you want, but it's just not worth it to me to throw away my family over one horrible fight. Upp on if she will have any more kids and if not, any procedures to be done Nope. My husband is getting a vasectomy. Tried copper IUD for a bit, but it gave my horrible periods. I am so sick of family planning being 100% on women. I do not want to deal with the side effects of hormonal birth control for another 10 years when hubby has agreed to a quick outpatient procedure. Next story, proposed to my girlfriend and started planning our wedding.

But then she suggested a threesome with her crush. So I canceled our wedding. Now her family blaming me four. So, this is quite a long and sad story that I need to vent as is really hard for me to deal with so far. I, 24M, recently proposed to my now ex-fiance, 23F, after two years of dating. We met by mutual friends at work. We started talking as friends, we went on dates and on New Year's Eve we officially started dating. During the beginning of our relationship she mentions this guy, Marvin. According to her, Marvin has always have a crush on her and during the first months of our

relationship he texted her several times asking her to leave me and give him a chance. We used to say how pathetic this guy was and how she despises him for suggesting she would leave me for him. I must clarify I'm nothing special. I'm a five feet four inches Asian nerdy guy. Time goes by and after two years on dating I decided to propose to her. So on New Year's Eve I gave her the ring and she say yes in front of her whole family. I have some money saved, she doesn't work, so I started looking for venues, catering, invitations,

decor and everything. I spent it a high amount of money as her parents are not in the position to help with the expenses and I have enough savings to go through this comfortably. One day, while we're running errands we started talking about having a threesome. We are in our 20s so there's a lot of things we want to try. We discussed for a while on how we could find someone and she quickly says I have someone on mind I asked to and say replies with Marvin. I know that was the first red flag, but I let it pass. I asked why him and she just answered she was sexually attracted to him.

I asked about why she would say she hate him first and then choose him as her first option for a threesome and she replies is only a one-time thing. So I told her it was okay but we needed to talk later to set rules, limits, and I would like to talk to him personally because. before giving the green light. During the next couple of days she's acting really excited and she comes to me show me hotels, and when are we going to meet with him and how exciting everything is? I told her we need to talk things first as is not as easy as it sounds and we need to have some limits. After that she calmed down for a day or two and starts to bring the subject up again. We reached a point where she insisted so much and bring the subject up so many times I ended up saying to her that she either calmed down or no threesome is going to happen. She apologized and mentions

I was right, but something didn't feel right. That afternoon we were having a nap and while she was sleeping I went through her phone and I found how she was cheating on me with him for a couple months now. They have been meeting while I was working and she even sent them one of those BDSM tests you can find online to see if his kinks matched with hers. To say I was furious is an understatement. She woke up while I was checking the phone and I confronted her. She started crying saying she was sorry and how she didn't know what she was doing. I packed my things and stormed out to stay at a hotel. That night I got a call from her parents saying how I was ruining the engagement and acting as a baby while I was the one who bring the topic of the threesome and how her daughter wasn't at fault.

I hung up without saying anything and started canceled everything I had for the wedding. She called me the next day apologizing and asking me to come back. Her whole family is sending texts asking me to man up, as I was the one at fault, and not breaking the engagement. Ada for canceling everything? Update 1, September 5th, 2024. Hey guys. Thanks for everyone's advice, I appreciate the support and the mean comments. Both perspectives were helpful.

Now, let me address just a few things before. continue one. My ex stopped working to go to college. We met at work, but she quit once we move and together. Two, yes, my now ex-fiancee told her parents we were breaking up because I suggested the threesome and got mad when she mentioned Marvin. And her parents believed her. Three. Yes, I needed reassurance to make sure I was not the one in fault. I've been conditioned all my life to be a doormat so it's hard to stand for myself. Here's the update. After seeing all your messages I reached to my fill so we agreed to meet at a nearby mall to talk about the reasons why I broke the engagement. I did have a good relationship with him as we both share the same interests and hobbies

so I figure we could have a conversation. We met and even though he looked mad, he agreed to listen. I did took screenshots of the conversations my ex-fiancee had with Marvin and I showed them to him. After looking at everything he told me my ex gave them a totally different story. According to what he told me, my ex went to them crying saying I was breaking the engagement because I wanted to have a threesome and once she picked Marvin as the third I snapped at her. He also mentioned Marvin has been going to check on my ex since my ex has been staying with them after we broke up. We went to my apartment and packed all of her belongings to move her out.

The ring was at the apartment as well, so I kept it. We're on our way to drop everything to her. her right now. I will keep you guys updated. Update 2, September 15th, 2024. Hey guys, I'm back. I know y'all have been waiting for this update. I had to create a new account because I got shadow banned on the other one. I apologize for the delay. So after picking my ex's belongings, me and my Phil drove to his house. The ride there was awkward to say the least. When we get there we walked in and we saw Mill, my ex, and guess who else? Exactly, fucking Marvin.

They were all at the living room. My ex looked like she had been crying for a while. Marvin was hugging her and Mill was seated next to her with a box of tissues. My Mill saw me enter and started asked Phil what I was doing there. He responded, we all need to talk about the situation, and he came to clarify some things. We all sat down and Marvin was about to leave the room when Phil said no. Please stay. You're part of this too. Marvin sat down but you could see he was not holding well. His right leg was bouncing and he tried his best not to make eye contact with me or my ex-Phil

started saying that I accepted to continue with the engagement, which made Mill and my ex smile, however I had one condition. Marvin must show him his WhatsApp conversation with my ex to him. At that moment, I was shocked. I was about to argue however I understood something. Most likely my ex had deleted the convo with Marvin, but there was a chance Marvin didn't. Marvin tried to protest, but my Phil insisted and asked him to do this for her daughter. My ex and Marvin glanced at each other and my mill was quiet looking at Phil. Finally after that Marvin stood up and left without saying anything else. My ex started crying again and my Phil told her to shut up.

He said I had show him screenshots of their conversations and he was disappointed to raise a cheating slut. Mill was in disbelief so I showed her the screenshots too. They both screamed at her how could she do something like that on top of lying to their faces. At the end, my Phil went to unload her belongings in the driveway and told her to look for some other place to stay as she wasn't welcome there anymore. Phil apologized to me and told me he would like to keep in touch to make sure I was okay. I came back home after all of that happened feeling empty, NGL. I think it was the adrenaline wearing off. I got one call of my ex, but I didn't answer.

I blocked the number and spoke with security at my building to trespass her if she comes by. I posted on FBE and Instagram about what happened and made sure to post the screenshots of the conversation to make sure she cannot twist the situation with friends and family. I will get most of my money after canceling the venue, catering and other stuff so I'm planning to move to another state. I got some STD tests done and I'm clean. and I'll be selling the ring to get my money back. So far that's the update. I don't think I will update any more on this, but I want to thank everyone, good and bad comments.

Hopefully everything goes better now. I hope you enjoy this story. I follow a plant-based diet, but I informed my partner that I may consume animal products while on my business trip to Japan. However, he reacted by shedding tears and ending our relationship because I refused to consume animal products. With him for years. I, 34F, have been vegetarian for about four years. My boyfriend, 34M, is a meat lover. He is an excellent cook and he loves steak and other types of meat. He's never asked me to start eating meat. I have never asked him to stop eating meat. I don't care what he eats, it's 100% his, and everyone else's choice. I don't talk about being vegetarian.

don't promote it, and I try to figure out my own food if I need to so I don't inconvenience others. Sometimes it's hard to find a restaurant with a vegetarian choice besides a side salad, so I'll do the legwork to find a restaurant everyone will like. My choice to be vegetarian hasn't seemed to be an issue or cause any big inconvenience. But maybe I'm wrong. When I went on vacation with my boyfriend's family for a week, his mom revised her risotto recipe to use veggie broth instead of chicken broth so I could eat it. I didn't ask, I think my boyfriend suggested it to her.

I was really appreciative. When my boyfriend and I went on vacation for a week, we both looked up restaurants that would have a veg option for me. We mostly ate at seafood places because of where we were vacationing, and I managed to find a veggie burger or something like that at most places. My take, I have a work trip to Japan coming up soon. I told my boyfriend I was considering eating meat during that week so I can fully experience the culture and food. That means sushi, wagu, ramen, things like that.

I'm not sure if I can actually get myself to eat meat during the trip because I think I'll feel guilty about it. My choice to be veg is because I feel bad for how animals are raised, treated, farmed, and the nature of how they're usually killed. I know I can get humanely raised meat, but I choose to abstain altogether. I miss sushi and steak the most, but again, I abstain. My boyfriend's take, he is upset that I would consider breaking vegetarianism for this week-long trip, but I wouldn't consider breaking vegetarianism to have a steak with him. It makes him feel like he's not worth it. It makes him feel like the trip and the co-workers I'm going on the trip with are more important than him.

I know he bonds over sharing food with people, he likes to cook for other people, and he's never been able to cook a steak for me and we've never been able to share a steak dinner together. We've gone to steakhouses before, but I just eat whatever else they have. It's not the same as us both enjoying a steak. He also said that all the effort to accommodate me being vegetarian seems like a waste now, his mom going out of her way to make the risotto without chicken broth, looking up restaurants where I can eat something besides a salad. Him cooking stir fry or other dishes and leaving the meat separate on the flat top grill

until I serve myself the veggies and then after that he combines it all together with the meat, things like that, me not being able to enjoy the best shrimp he's ever had on our vacation together. He was to the point of tears over us not being able to eat a steak together. I understand it would make him feel bad that I'd consider eating meat on the trip, but I haven't offered to eat a steak with him. I feel terrible for making him feel this way and making him feel less important or less worthy. I apologized for this and apologized for making him feel this way. I told him that's not it.

it's not that he's not worthy, that this trip is probably once in a lifetime and I'm afraid that if I have a steak here at home with him I'm concerned it'll become a slippery slope. I told him I don't want to stop being vegetarian. How do I navigate this? Editing to add, when he told me how he felt about this I listened, apologized for making him feel so poorly, and validated him. I understand why he feels bad, and I should have thought about how this might go before I said it, that I'm considering eating meat on the trip, out loud. During the conversation I thanked him for telling me how he was feeling and thanked him for telling me how important that would be to him. So I offered to have a steak with him, and I also let him know I don't want it to become a regular thing because I prefer to stay vegetarian, or mostly vegetarian, I guess, since having steak with him wouldn't be vegetarian. I know sharing meals together is important to him. It's also important to me. What I did not know, however, is that he was so badly wanting to have a steak together where I eat it.

too. When he cooks meat, I always comment on how good it looks and smells, and he has said before, I wish you could taste this. In hindsight, that comment from him was probably hinting at him wishing I'd offer to eat a steak with him. He hasn't asked me, hey, can you please eat a steak with me tonight or would you ever consider eating meat with me or for me? If he asked me those questions and I said no, and then I said I'm considering eating meat in Japan, that would be a different conversation. I haven't rejected him that way, but I also haven't offered to eat steak with him either until this conversation came up. I didn't know this specific thing was something he wanted so badly. I thought because he eats meat as much as he wants and we eat many meals together

that he was satisfied in this area. We've never been to a vegetarian restaurant together. I tried to make my vegetarianism as small as possible. I don't want it to be a thing. I bring food to his house, I get a side salad or kids grilled cheese at restaurants that don't have any other veg options. I don't make it a big deal, I completely understand why he feels bad. That's not what this post is about. I'm just wondering how to best move forward. I also just told him I was considering eating meat on that trip without thinking about it first. I didn't think about how he'd feel, he'd feel slighted, I didn't think about how I'd feel, I'd feel guilty and anxious about.

about the thought of actually going through with eating meat, etc. When we talked about it, I brought up that I'll have to slowly incorporate meat into my diet leading up to us having a steak together or to going to Japan if I choose to eat meat on that trip. I know that's a thing. Considering how anxious I feel about actually thinking more about going through with eating meat, I think it's best for me to just not eat meat on the trip. But now I still have to figure out how to address the topic with my boyfriend because now I know he wants me to eat steak with him, and I offered to do that for him.

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone. Update, October 30th, 2024. Here's what happened. This is going to be really long. During the two weeks leading up to me leaving for Japan, we got into a couple big arguments, and about five days before I left he told me he can't do it anymore. He can't take all the arguing, he's exhausted, I don't take responsibility for the things I'm doing wrong, and all I do.

do is focus on what he's doing wrong. I don't talk enough about the things that I need to fix about myself, I don't talk about my insecurities enough, and I don't take enough responsibility for the ways I communicate poorly and how that makes us fight. A little more context about the arguments. Argument 1. We had a talk one Sunday about how I was feeling. He could tell I was down, and I told him I was feeling lonely. He asked how else I'd been feeling lately and I shared that I've also been conflicted about some work stuff and some family and friend stuff. We didn't talk about the loneliness, just about the other things. He went into solution mode and was emotionless about it. It wasn't what I needed, but I went through that process with him first since he seemed determined

to get to the bottom of it. Throughout the discussion, a couple things rubbed me wrong way. First, he told me he doesn't think I actually feel that way. And second, there was no empathy. When he was done leading that discussion, he asked me how I feel. I told him poorly. The first thing I shared is that it's disheartening when he asks me how I feel, I tell him how I feel, and then he replies with I don't think you feel that way. This isn't the first time this happened. Other times when he's asked me how I feel or what I think about something, he's told me, I don't believe you. I don't think you feel that way. It doesn't make sense to feel that way. I think you feel like that because of XYZ, not because of the reason I gave him. The second thing I shared is that I would have liked him

to not only focus on analyzing the situation and to say something empathetic like, ah, babe, that sucks you feel so lonely. I'm sorry to hear that. What's going on? I told him I appreciated the solution mode discussion and that helped, and I also needed some empathy. He got and his body language changed. I asked him if he's upset. He firmly replied, yeah, I'm upset. I asked why and he said because I'm only focusing on the things he did wrong. He tried so hard to handle the situation well and he did everything else right, but all I told him is what he did wrong. I reminded him he did other things right. And I referenced back to other conversations where he has shared a grievance with me and I haven't given him what he wanted in the moment.

He wanted more empathy or more softness, for example, and he's quick to point it out and tell me what I'm not doing right and what he needs from me. This conversation kind of ended after that. I brought it up again a week or so later and he said sorry for not handling it well. Argument two, he told me he was making plans to watch a horror movie with his friend, Aaron. They periodically watch movies together, just the two of them, and that's fine by me. However, this made me feel insecure this time because I don't feel like he gets excited to make plans with me, really tries to make or initiate plans with me, besides just hanging out at home or something or saying we should go to the brunch place we like nearly every weekend.

Anyway, I got really quiet and started tearing up in the moment, and I was trying to process how I felt and figure out if it's worth bringing up or if I just need to handle it on my own and not tell him how I was feeling, because I know it's an insecurity of mine. He asked me what's wrong and I decided this is benign enough to talk about. I told him this made me feel really insecure. He told me it doesn't make sense for me to feel that way, I shouldn't feel that way, and he's never done anything to make me feel that way. I explained myself and explained why.

He loves horror movies and I want him to want to share that with me and I feel insecure about it. If the rest of our relationship was healthy, this probably would not have made me feel poorly. But I had been feeling not really wanted for a while, so this kind of tipped the scale. He persisted that it doesn't make sense for me to feel this way and listed reasons why I shouldn't feel that way. Eventually he said okay and he understood what I was saying. He asked me if I felt heard and I said yeah I think so. Then he wanted a chance to say his perspective.

He went right into how it doesn't make sense for me to feel that way, why I shouldn't feel that way, and that he's never done anything to make me feel that way. I got so frustrated because that contradicted what I thought we just resolved when he said he understood my feelings. He got upset because I was bothered about it again after I just told him I felt heard. He said he wanted softness from me and I wasn't receiving him well. We went back and forth after that, me trying to explain why his responses to me were bothering me, and him insisting the same things again. It never got resolved.

argument three i was leaving for japan on a friday night my flight was at like seven p m that same day he was going to drive about an hour away to spend the weekend with his best friend we talked a few weeks prior and i said i wasn't going to work that day so i could prepare for the trip and we agreed we'd hang out that day but never firmed up any plans or times we went out to dinner and i asked him what time he was planning to leave on friday to drive to his friend's house it was a genuine question with no feelings or anything attached. He replied between 3 and 5 p.m. I don't know what I was expecting him to say, but when he told me 3 to 5, I realized I felt bad because I wanted him to want to spend that time with me leading up to my flight, and maybe take me to the airport or something. I never expressed

this to him previously. We didn't talk about it yet. But in that moment, I told him I felt unconsidered and I wished he would have considered me. I screwed up because I should have told him I wanted to hang out leading up to my flight instead of saying I felt unconsidered. But at the same time I don't know if I would have felt comfortable telling him that because it would interfere with his friend time and change his plans. I'm not sure how he would have received that. Maybe well, maybe not, he got really upset. I tried explaining why I felt unconsidered and immediately his body language changed, he pushed himself back in his chair a little, made this smirk, scoffed, and started interrupting me. I got frustrated and heated and told him not to interrupt me when I was trying to explain my feelings,

and I can see he's about to get defensive. I was definitely triggered by his change in demeanor and his attempt to interrupt me. I thought to myself, not again. Not this time. Stand up for yourself and make sure you get to share your feelings. He got even more upset that I assumed he was going to get defensive, and he got upset I wouldn't let him interrupt me. He said he'd D-I-D. Consider me, his plan to leave between three and five wasn't firm, and if I just let him interrupt me, this big fight wouldn't have happened.

He said my feelings weren't appropriate because they were based on an incorrect assumption I made. The assumption I made was that he didn't consider me, and that his plans to leave between three and five were firm. He told me he just pulled that time frame out of the air and it wasn't firm. He didn't have dinner plans with his friend yet, so it was all flexible. When he explained himself I thanked him for explaining it, I apologized for assuming he didn't consider me, and I told him I see his perspective. He was really upset with me, though. So he explained again why what I did wasn't okay.

It wasn't okay that, one, I assumed he didn't consider me, two, I said, I wish you would have considered me, three, I called out his body language, and four, I assumed he was going to get defensive. Side note, me saying I wish you would to have to have. him is a no-no because it makes him feel awful, so I have worked hard to not use that phrase with him. I failed this time. I explained that those were my feelings based on the information I had at the time, and even though they were based on wrong information, it's still okay for me to tell him how I feel first, and then he can set the record straight. Then he can say something like, oh, these plans aren't

actually firm. Sorry you didn't feel considered. The plans are flexible. And I can say, okay, sorry for assuming that. I'd like to hang out up until I go to the airport. That didn't work for him. He insisted that if I just let him interrupt me, none of this would have happened. I ended up reiterating his point and apologizing three times. Also, over the summer, something similar happened with the roles reversed. He assumed something incorrect and he was upset about it, and I interrupted him to tell him what the correct information was, and he told me I need to hear him out first before I chime in with the correct information. Because his feelings are still his feelings

and they should be heard. It's hard to do, but I agreed. So I brought up that conversation as justification for why I should be allowed to tell him how I feel before he interrupts me. He still wanted to interrupt me because my assumption was wrong. Then he got upset that I changed my stance so quickly.

When he told me the plans were flexible, I apologized for assuming he didn't consider me and I told him okay, I understand. That works for me. He said he feels crazy when this happens, when I feel bad about something, he explains his side. And then I say, okay, I understand and I let my original feelings go and I side with him. He said that I'm gaslighting him because it seems like a big deal to me. Then he gets worked up, and then I back down.

I try to explain that it's normal and healthy for someone to be told new information and then take that information into consideration and change their approach. It's healthy for me to hear him out and say, yeah, I made an assumption and I shouldn't feel bad about this anymore. Anyway, he was really upset with me all night. The whole fight was because of my poor communication. When we woke up the next morning, I thought he was going to apologize to me. Apparently, he thought I was going to apologize to him. That's when he told me it's over.

Next story, husband asked for divorce on our 14th anniversary trip after I found him cheating. So I met someone new and now we're engaged while my ex is begging for another chance. My 47F husband, 47M asked for a separation on our 14th anniversary. While we were away in a foreign country to celebrate, while we weren't as close as we used to be, we almost never fought and generally enjoyed each other's company and families. We do not have any children. The night before our anniversary, he brought up he wasn't very happy in the relationship.

but didn't know why. The next morning, I asked to see his phone and he said no. He said I would find flirty messages with one or more other women on it. He had made some female friends through school and work and he said felt like there might be someone out there who was a better fit for him. I said I did not want to do a trial separation, as I don't believe you can work on something if you aren't living together. If he wanted to separate it would be final. He understood, but said it was something he had to do. After being away for only two days, we re-booked our flights home, flew home, and he packed some belongings and left. Seven days later he asked to come home and we started marriage counseling. He had a lot of trouble admitting he had at least one emotional

affair. The counseling was not helpful, he was defensive and not open to it. I suspect something physical happened with the other woman but I do not have any proof. He had deleted all his flirty texts, Snapchat, etc. So I could not see them. After four weeks of living together again and attending counseling sessions, he decided he no longer wanted to try to save the marriage and he was leaving. He packed up and left a few hours later. He stayed with a friend, found a new apartment and signed a one-year lease. I was devastated and even had to take time off work to process what had happened and attend individual counseling. After a four weeks, I started to feel a bit better. I went out for drinks with a group of four co-workers that live in my area and found I really enjoyed one of them, 42M, a lot.

I had only met him over Zoom before this. We started seeing each other a couple times a week. Quite quickly it grew into a truly amazing, loving relationship. I've stayed in counseling throughout as it wasn't easy to process the sudden ending of my long-term marriage at the same time as beginning something new. It's been about seven months now. My ex-husband eventually decided he wanted to try to save the marriage again, but I declined. He says I'm TA for starting a new relationship so quickly. Within six weeks of him leaving, our relationship was over as I can no longer trust him,

and he has hurt me immensely. I do not want a relationship with someone I cannot trust. Am I TA for moving on? Comments where Op has replied, commenter one. NTA. He literally said he felt there. be a better woman for him somewhere. He's cheated on you probably multiple times so he doesn't have the right to be mad at you for moving on when he couldn't even stay faithful to you. He can't

try to get rid of you and want you again. Comment her too. He was expecting Op to stay single, still want him and not move on. While he did whatever he wanted. Up, did you actually get a divorce? Oop, in our state couples must be separated a year before they can file for divorce. But yes, we will be filing when we can. The weight sucks, though. Update, October 25, 2024. I am not sure how to provide an update, so I hope this is right. The biggest update is that my ex-husband, 48M, and I, 47F, are finally officially divorced.

We split everything equally, and I bought him out. of the family home. Thankfully the divorce process was quick and easy once we waited the mandatory separation period for our state. When signing the divorce papers, he asked if I was sure I wanted to proceed, notably, while he was seeing someone else. He wanted to try again if I was willing. I wasn't, and thankfully he didn't fight it or make the divorce process more difficult in any way. My ex has been seeing this woman for quite a while now. I know he knew her before we split. but I do not know if he cheated with her or not. It doesn't matter to me.

I wish them the best. My relationship with my new partner, 42M, has continued to be amazing. It's the best relationship I've ever been in and I can honestly say I've never been more happy. He is kind, loving, and a great communicator. We moved and together a while back, and a few months later we became engaged. We plan to elope sometime in the next year. While it may seem crazy, I am extremely grateful for my exes cheating and the following heartbreak. Without it, I may not have found the happiness I have today.

I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse spends hours gaming and prioritizes their console over our relationship, prompting me to consider separation. I, a 34-year-old woman, have been in a 15-year-partnership with my 41-year-old spouse. Years and married for 11 years of those years. We have a seven-year-old daughter. We have sacks maybe once a year since our daughter was born. I'm always the one that has to initiate any type of intimacy. When we do, it's hard to get him to stay up and it's a lot of work on my end.

He's seen a doctor and there's no issues with labs and he won't take the little blue pill, because he says he doesn't need it and doesn't have an issue. My husband has always blamed our lack of intimacy on our daughter since she slept in the bed with us. I'll try to get him to go in a different room and there's a little bit of a little room and there's always some excuse like he's too tired, but then he will go up to our game room and play his video games. Our daughter has slept in her own room for over six months now and nothing has changed. His excuse is still well our daughter has slept in the bed with us all this time. My husband is a good person and a good dad. He works hard for his family. He works 60 hours a week,

but besides paying the bills that's the extent of it. He says he's tired and tells me I don't understand the stress of having to take care of the family financially. I work 40 hours a week, have a small business, make all of our appointments, do anything related to our daughter, I'm classroom mom, on PTO, and do all household choirs. I do all laundry, cleaning, make meals, grocery shopping, take vehicles for oil changes, yard work, I mow and take care of 2.5 acres, and take trash cans out. I do pay some of our bills and I pay for all of our daughter's extracurricular activities which definitely adds up. He just thinks my load of work and contributions does not amount to what he does. This past week I got on his phone because he saves reels on FB for me,

normally funny stuff and recipes he wants me to try. I saw in his search history all of these sexier girls and groups he's been looking at, which really pushed me over the edge. I wouldn't be mad if he came to me to have sex and I'd denied him sex. I confronted him about it and he says he doesn't look that stuff up and I told him I'm not naive and it's clear as day. Then the next day he says yeah he clicks on those girls' profiles and groups because he's a man and likes to look. He's been locking his game room recently while in there and when he says he's sleeping I know he's playing his PS and I guess now

he also looks at these different profiles. I've seen lotion up there a long time ago while cleaning and had asked him about it and he swears he's not jerking off but I'm not stupid and naive. I really just hate being lied to. He says I'm a hypocrite because I watch porn, but I wouldn't watch porn and take care of my needs if he would be intimate with me. It's also not like I'm going to a specific person or their profile when I do pull up a video. I've also been honest with him that I masturbate and watch porn. I admit I am a hypocrite and guess I'm just hurt, because it just seems it's me. To me, it feels he's not attracted to me or just doesn't seem to want me. He says he doesn't really have a drive and that's what I had thought, but after seeing what he

likes to click on I feel he just doesn't have a drive towards me. Looks wise people tell him he definitely leveled up. Overall, I take care of myself and put effort into my looks. I'm definitely not the hottest or most beautiful, but I'm not bad looking. He's overweight, short, and balding. Why do I feel like now I don't look good enough for him or excite him? enough to be with. I told him I want him to get rid of all of the gaming stuff and to not be locked upstairs and to spend more time with me and our family or it's time for us to divorce.

He said he's not giving up his gaming stuff and doesn't see how that's the problem. He told me that I'm going to ruin our family, because all I want is sex. I'm just tired of begging. I feel I shouldn't be begging for intimacy, affection, and him being present with his family. I do so much for everyone and tired of not getting anything in return. I'm tired of putting my wants and needs last. I'm tired of begging him to hang out with us and do family stuff. The only thing that excites him is to go upstairs in the game room and play his video games and I guess now I know he likes to do other stuff as well.

We've done the counseling stuff here and there and it gets better for a bit, but then goes back to our normal. So am I the asshole and a hypocrite? Am I in the wrong and taking things too far? Editing to add this about our child sleeping in the bed with us. We both allowed her to sleep in the bed with us. I had tried to boot her out to her own room sooner, but my husband kept saying she wasn't ready. She'd cry and it was a lot of work and bribery to get her in her own room. Editing to add another note.

There's definitely two sides to every story and you're just getting mine. We both have different love languages. Mine is affection and physical touch and is his acts of service. He likes a clean and tidy house and I do my best to keep up with everything home-wise. I tried talking to him what makes me happy and what I want, but he's not listening to me. I feel like a spoiled brat at times because yes, he provides financially well for us and I don't go without. It just sucks. I want to be seen again.

We used to be such a team and it's a pissing contest if you does what. My husband really isn't a bad person or dad. Our daughter is definitely a daddy's girl, mostly because I'm the disciplinary parent that makes sure she has to brush teeth, school work, and etc. On our days off together he'll do a few things with us and then say he needs to get some rest, but he goes upstairs and video games. He really does work too much.

He says he works so much, because he wants to make sure we're taken care of if something happens to him, which his dad was never there. and his mom did struggle when he grew up. Ada has no consensus bought, but based on the comments, Oop was NTA. Relevant comments from Oop. Your comment really stuck out.

Sometimes I do get to the point of frustration, because I wish he'd just see what needs to be done without me having to nag him. Every year I ask if he can put Christmas lights up and he doesn't do it until I finally snap at him. Christmas lights make me and our daughter happy and he knows it, so why do I need to ask him to do it every day? single year. My birthday is around Christmas and he doesn't do anything thoughtful. He says it's because

he's working and didn't have time to go get anything, but he can make time to game and order stuff for his games on Amazon. I tell him to make a cake with our daughter and have her make me a card, take her to Walmart and let her pick something out for me. I want him to show my daughter that I matter. I'm sure you saw the TikTok about the wife stocking not having anything in it and that's another thing I have to tell him to find the time to do for me with our daughter. I just want him to make time and may not have to nag him. I think I'm just tired too. I know gaming is his relaxing and winding down time, but he's not understanding prioritizing his family should be first. Update number one, January 4th, 2024. I am overwhelmed by the response from my first post and appreciate the feedback.

I wasn't expecting to write an update this soon or even at all. Also, I realized, I realized, as I was blindly rage writing my issues to a bunch of strangers, I didn't write the title properly. So I corrected it in this post update. Yesterday I messaged my husband the following. Why should we stay together, just for our daughter? What do you love about me besides being a good mother and wife? What do you like about me? What are things you want from our relationship that you're not getting besides financial?

What do you think I contribute to our relationship? Do you really not want sex or a physical relationship? Do you think that's not an issue? I need a physical and intimate relationship. That's something that's important to me. It's more than just sex. Am I not attractive to you? Do you not desire me?

Please be honest, why do you hide the fact that you masturbate? Why can't you see why I'm upset and that my feelings are valid? You think I'm upset over nothing. I feel you take my words as if they are water being poured into a cullender. You hold no value to what I say. Why can't you see my pain? You think this is easy on me? Have I thrown too many empty threats to you that you don't take this and what I say seriously?

Where can we go from here? Can we work it out? Sometimes my issue is that you can't be honest with me that there's an issue. I hate when you don't take accountability and place blame elsewhere. We're adults, we make mistakes and we should take accountability for what we say and do. I know I'm not who I was and I don't love who I am right now. I don't like nagging, yelling, and begging. Begging you for help, attention, and affection.

I'll go back get a better paying job and help more with finances if we decide to move forward. In return, you'll have to help more with our family. Help worry about finding a sitter for our daughter, who's picking her up from school, you'll need to help and call out when she's sick. Take off for field trips, help make her lunches, take her to extracurriculars, and help more with daily tasks. He never responded.

Instead I saw where he played over three hours on his PlayStation. To me that speaks volumes. Someone messaged me this link, link. That story really resonated with me and it hit close to home. I guess I'm at the point where I don't want a roommate anymore. I just want a partner that cares and can see the value I bring to our relationship and our family. Many of the originally post responses talk about how I just want sex and that's really not it. I want intimacy and a yearning to feel loved and longed for.

I want our relationship to be where we are a team again and it no longer feels like a pissing contest of who does what. I guess we are past that point of working things out. Now my concern is how to make this an easy transition for my daughter. I will continue to put a smile on my face and hold back my pain, because as a parent how she feels and what she sees comes first. I don't want her to feel blame or to be sad. I know it won't be easy, but thank you strangers for your advice even when some of it stung a little. As I've said I know it's hard to have an opinion when you're only getting one side. I'm not an angel in any of this and take accountability for my parts for the ending of this chapter.

I guess it's time to move on. Relevant comments from Oop. I appreciate your message and your perspective. I really do. When he gets home, he says how tired he is and bolts it upstairs to the game room to sleep before we can even get a hello in. Then I hear him on his game up there. I tell him and I tell our daughter how thankful I am for how he provides for his family. I've helped him lose weight and I've told him how good he's looking and how proud I am of his weight loss even though he's getting the results by medication.

I make sure the house is nice and tidy before he gets home, I pack his work bag, clean his clothes, make his lunches, and buy his snacks. What I get in return is most of our bills paid by him and nothing more unless I ask him several times to do something. When I ask him to go to a family event he says he's tired and doesn't go. When he goes he complains the whole time about how tired he is. He can't just do what I do and just put a smile on his face. I think I don't have any more to give.

I got to this point and asked him to make a sacrifice for me and his response was no response, but instead he played three hours on his game. When do I deserve to get some extra effort from our marriage? Brilliant underscore Chicken 153. I can totally empathize. Sounds like he's not even open or appreciative to kind things you're trying to do for him. Well, then the only other thing I could think of is trying to get him to open up to what's making

him unhappy to where he needs to escape to his games every waking moment. Put the onus on him to explain what he feels he is not getting that causes him to game non-stop. When I gamed, I would still make time for my family and it sounds like he won't. You may have already made up your mind, but if you're still on the fence, pushing aside your hurt and concerns temporarily and finding out from his perspective why he is checking out in gaming, might give you some insight. I'm guessing he wasn't always this way? Something seems to be fundamentally not working. Couples therapy could help but a lot of therapists are not that great. Not sure if it's an option, but maybe a separation or leaving for a few weeks could make him wake up. Barring that, if you do

go through a divorce, I wish you the best of luck. They are not fun. Oop, this was his response a day later. Up if I don't make you happy, then I don't want to force something that's not going to make you happy. I'm fine with what you want to do. I do love you and I shouldn't have to prove that after being together for 14 years. We can go our ways. I will financially support you and Landry to the best of my ability. Only have a few requests. That wherever you decide to move, please stay within 30 miles of each other so I can see Landry and I can help better. I can pay your mortgage on a $250,000 house if you put 100k down and will of course pay for whatever Landry needs. When we sell the house I want 100K and you can have everything else.

I need you to pay the Tesla off. I owe 33K. We need to at least get 600K for our home if not more. I hate that it's come down to this but will help you achieve happiness as long as we can agree on some terms with our child and finances. Update number two, August 11, 2024, seven months. months later. Hey, my fellow Redditors. Sorry to Ghost Reddit for a bit. I'm honestly not exactly sure where I left off at, but here are the most recent updates. I don't exactly know the best

place to put updates but figured I'd just make another post. After my second post I had found some thyroid nodules and thankfully they are non-cancerous, but I will still need to have a procedure to have them shrunk. My husband found out about them and was upset I did not tell him what I was going through medically. After that we spoke again about if he asked if we could reconcile and we did our best to address our concerns and we have been trying to work on things. He no longer plays his PlayStation, watches porn, or stays upstairs in our game room. I started working more and contributing more financially especially with all of the extra medical costs from all of the labs, testing, and needing to save for the cost of the procedure. Since I work more he has been helping out

with household duties and being a present parent. We are working on things, actually having sex, working on our health, and communicating more. After my possible cancer scare, I realized life is just too short to not enjoy it. I told him I am no longer giving energy to argue, be angry, and be around people that are more negative than positive in my life. He knows if we aren't going on the same path,

then I'm not going to stay in our marriage. Like many said, it's not healthy for our daughter to be with parents who stay together just for the sake of our child. He's finally listened to me and has started going to the doctor he's on a CPAP for sleep apnea, lost 60 IBS, and taking cholesterol medication. He now overall seems to be in a better mood. He told me he really didn't realize how long he would stay up watching the PlayStation and how that affected his sleep as well and has apologized for being so blind.

I can tell he's trying and is making efforts to be more involved and present as a husband and father. He is also taking lots more initiative in our relationship. He initiates sex and actually is back to foreplay and I feel like we have true intimacy again. I really think with the amount of masturbating he had death grip syndrome and that's why he had a hard time keeping an erection which was what ultimately led to the dead bedroom. The bedroom is fun again and I feel like we are how we were before having a kid. We've started doing lots of little things together like watching our weekly shows, having date nights, and we even took a week-long with just the two of us and we had a great time. I'm not saying everything is perfect, because we have our days, but we are on a very good path. I don't believe in throwing away

something broken until I've given my all to repair it. It's so easy to throw something away and start over with something new. Marriage's teamwork and both partners have to be willing to put in equal parts of effort to make it last. I hate it took the big wake-up calls to get here, but I'm glad where we are at in life. Again, I appreciate all of you in this Reddit community. Now on to the next story. Story 2. My son suddenly looks biracial, so I got a secret DNA test and he's not mine,

that can only mean my wife cheated. Hello all, throw away. I made this as short as possible, I'm sorry. I've been married to my wife for three years and together for five. Our son just turned two in early June, and to put it bluntly, he looks biracial. His skin is darker than I thought it would have been. He has curly hair when we most certainly don't, and his features just don't look like the standard white people which we are. He's a beautiful boy, he just doesn't look 100% white.

I asked my wife a few days after his birthday if she thought our son looked white. She said yes and asked if I'm accusing her of something. I said no because I genuinely wasn't. just was wondering. I know genetics can be weird sometimes. We fought and I apologized but I wasn't able to shake the feelings so I did the shitty thing and got a test done behind my wife's back. The results came in a few days ago and I'm not my son's dad. I feel conflicted about my son. I love him, but knowing that he isn't mine is leaving a sour taste in my mouth. Our son definitely prefers me and he's my world, but he's just not biologically mine.

I don't know what to make of my feelings. I'm a mix of emotions about my wife. I don't know how to talk to her. I'm angry, confused and feeling very, very betrayed. I'm heartbroken too. I still love her. She's working at the moment and I don't want to disturb her at her office, but I feel like I'm going to explode. This is all very difficult for me to process and I can't.

I can't think of when my wife cheated. We always hit each other's location. for safety purposes and I can't think of any suspicious friends that she has or had. We go on regular dates and our bedroom isn't dead. We were also trying for a baby around that time, so I don't know when she cheated on me or why. Ever since we married, she's been over the moon constantly showing off her ring and talking about me. She's like a teenager in love. How do I tell her that I know? Or get that ball rolling? I don't know what I want to do yet as stupid as that sounds. I've been stewing on it for a few days, but I still love her so much. Maybe someone can knock

some sense into me? I need help. Edit, I'm becoming overwhelmed with the comments, I'm sorry. I wanted to reply to a few, but I can't. I just wanted to say thank you for commenting and that I also hope our baby was just swapped as terrible as that sounds. Our baby didn't look by racial at birth. As he got older, he started developing features that didn't. didn't look entirely like ours. If our sun's skin didn't darken over time, I don't think I ever would have questioned anything. The other features can be explained as a fun little surprise or a few generation hops maybe. I know that genetics can be weird. Update July 17th, 2024, 16 days later. I don't know if anyone will see this as the subreddit I posted to

doesn't allow updates after 48 hours, but, hello if you do. Getting the bad news out the way first. my son isn't mine. I feel devastated and will be divorcing my wife. My wife and I had talked about our son a few days after my post and my wife cracked under the pressure. She admitted to cheating on me without me even mentioning the test I had gotten done. All I asked was if she really thought out son looked white. I mean it when I say that if his skin never got darker I wouldn't have known. She cried a lot and begged for forgiveness and told me that we can all still be a happy family, My image of her shattered right then and there. I'm going through heartbreak, so forgive any mistakes.

I'm currently living with my parents. I asked her when she even found the time to cheat on me and she told me that she would leave her phone in a location and use another. She told me that cheating was a mistake in an accident, but how was it a mistake if you had it so planned out? We were trying for a baby around then and she told me that she couldn't handle the pressure of it all and just wanted to escape. She didn't escape very well as she still got pregnant and acted like we were perfect.

Thank you again to everyone. My wife will now be known as my ex-wife. I apologize to anyone who would hope and thought it was a baby switched at birth situation. I'm somewhat happy it wasn't because that would be terrible, but extremely disappointed because that means he really isn't mine. There won't be any more DNA tests because she admitted to everything and showed me some text messages. There won't be any more updates from me either because I just want to move on with my life. I'll get everything sorted and figure out the whole custody thing. Thanks again, everyone.

Goodbye. I hope you enjoy this story. Remove my father who struggles with alcoholism from my life after he feigned sickness to avoid attending my wedding despite assuring me he would be there, only for my sibling to accuse and suggest that I should experience emotions. Sorry for my dad. I, 35F, have rewritten this so many times. It's just hard to get all of my feelings out. I apologize for this being long. I was very low contact with my father for many years. He and my mother had a bitter divorce when I was 18,

and he found his current girlfriend Debbie when I was 20. Without going two in death, he was physically and mentally abusive my whole life until I moved out when I was 20. When the pandemic hit, he started cold. calling more. With the state of the world and me being now in my 30s, I was more open to communicating with him. We very slowly would communicate with me setting very firm boundaries with conversation topics. He would occasionally violate them, scream at me, he'd go and time out, and then he'd be good for a while. When I met my husband Victor my father was actually excited for me. Spent

time trying to get to know him over the phone. Was happy for me. When I moved to Moved in with Victor, my father actually apologized to me for everything he'd done. For the first time in my life I felt hurt and validated by my father. He apologized for treating me like trash in favor of my siblings. He apologized for all the horrible things he did to me. And I cried. I felt validation and relief like I never had before. And I was then completely open to a relationship with him again.

When I got engaged, he was thrilled. He asked if he was walking me down the aisle, and I had told him no. It didn't really feel right to me, and I wasn't having bridesmaids or groomsmen, so it made sense to walk by myself. No one in my family was ever there for me, so why wouldn't I walk towards my next chapter alone like I did my adult life? He was disappointed but was okay with it. I told him we can have a dance if that was good with him, and he agreed. I told him everyone on my mom's side was excited to be able to see him again after so many years. years. Him and my mother have been cordial for years at this point, so there was no animosity.

He set up a dinner and had me and Victor over. It went very well. I was actually feeling positive about everything. We made plans for him to meet Victor's parents. It was a big deal because we had to travel to a different state to bring them. We made plans to make the trip, and coordinated everything. The week before the meeting, my father wanted to cancel. He said Debbie was having an exploratory surgery and she wouldn't be recovered in time. I said we had already made these plans but that's okay, and asked if we could just drive by and he could just step outside his home and say hi. Victor's father, who is in his 70s, was having an extensive surgery himself, so it was important to meet him now before he had it. He begrudgingly agreed.

When we pulled up, I was surprised she came out with him and looked completely fine. No bandages, walked fine, no indication of anything. I thought that was odd, but who am I to judge? They both came out, said hi, and we moved on. He made plans over the course of the next few months. Every time, the week of, he would cancel. The excuses started pouring out. His friend's car broke down and he needed to lend him money. We offered to pay for dinner, but they declined. Debbie was have exploratory surgery again. How many can one person have? Debbie had a doctor's appointments that he just found out about, they have to take the car to the shop, etc. lies he had told over and over again, some he reused from when I was growing up with him and I knew

he was lying. His favorite lies were always medical. He wanted to treat me for my birthday in the summer, but that never happened. After we had to reschedule three times I said, just forget it, we'll see you at the wedding. He started to be drunk on his phone calls again, started being argumentative again. But he was excited for the wedding. He was going to make a nice trip out of it with Debbie and stay a few days. Three weeks before my wedding I got a phone call from Debbie, they share a phone. As soon as I picked up, she demanded to know why I didn't tell anyone that the parking garage next to the hotel we had a room block in charge $25 a day to park. I was dumbstruck because, firstly, I had no idea that the hotel didn't count that.

We live local to the venue so we were just going home after the wedding. Second, it's a major city, of course they're going to charge. And honestly, $25 isn't that bad for the city. Thirdly, why are you calling me to complain about this? No one else had. I can't exactly change it. I told her I had no idea that no one else who booked a at the hotels had told me, and that $25 was actually a pretty good deal.

I told her that if they couldn't afford it, it wasn't that big a deal, maybe they only stay one day, or because they only live an hour from the venue they didn't have to stay at the hotel. The venue itself has free parking. She hung up on me. We were getting married on Sunday in early November. The Tuesday before the wedding, I got a phone call from my father that I missed because I was having an emergency doctor's appointment due to having been in the hospital the day before. Stress from everything exacerbated a prior medical issue, and instead received a text. The text said he wasn't coming to my wedding. That Debbie was having exploratory surgery and they couldn't come. That he would still send a card. I knew then that he was lying as he had lied

the whole year. I texted back begging him to come. I wanted him to come, it wasn't about money. that I'm his daughter, and this was the biggest day of my life. To come for even an hour. Debbie would be fine for a short time. She has family that could watch her for a couple hours. He didn't have to stay. He replied that it's not a contest of who's more important, and he was surprised at me. I gave my wonderful Victor my phone while I was sobbing.

I couldn't respond, I was hurting and devastated. He articulated a text, showed it to me for approval then. sent it. It said basically, very politely but firmly, that if he couldn't spare a couple hours of his time to see me on the biggest day of my life, then we will go back to no contact and I will never again speak to him. My mother, who's her own story for another day, even called him to scream at him for what he was doing. She knew his lies too, and called him out on them. He said, don't worry, she'll still get a card. I kept him unblocked up until mid-morning the day of my wedding. Not one message, not one call.

I was so upset and angry. He had raised my hopes of having my father be there for me, then killed those hopes without a thought. I blocked him the day of my wedding. My wedding day was absolutely perfect. It was everything we wanted. I felt a little sad right before walking down the aisle, and some friends who didn't know about my father asked me where he was. But other than that I didn't even think of him.

It wasn't until after Thanksgiving that I thought to check my blocked messages. He hadn't sent me one message the day of my wedding wishing me luck, nothing. But he did send one message on Thanksgiving. To summarize, it said Debbie will always come first. You should understand that. I don't understand it. I told my brother who still talks to him that he is dead to me, and if he asks, to tell him that.

My brother thinks that Debbie is the one preventing my father. from being with his family. I quite frankly don't care. He made that decision, and these are the consequences. He asked my brother how much of a wave he made not coming and my brother told him a big wave. But I'm not talking about it. So I made the decision my father will no longer be in my life, and I have so many emotions about it. But it's mostly relief, sadness, and anger. But I can't help but occasionally check my blocked messages now because some part of me just wants to know if he knows how badly he hurt me, or if he even cares. And some days I just want my dad. Sometimes I wonder if I'm doing the right thing by cutting him out of my life. I'd offer erasing him

completely forever going forward. Am I doing the right thing? And no, we still haven't gotten that card. Got a happy Easter text though. Comments where Op has replied, he may never have planned to come. I think you're right. I hate to think this was his plan all along. And some part of me still hopes that at some point maybe he was actually planning on coming. But ultimately I think this was his plan to drop out right before my big day. I'll never know. Thank you for your kind words.

Reading the support from such nice internet strangers is helping me heal and be at peace with my decision. Commenter, does he have substance abuse issues? Boop, yes. Growing up both he and my mother were alcoholics. The kicker? Back when he first dated Debbie and before I left, my father had custody of us after the divorce. I was old enough to leave, but I couldn't leave my brother alone. Another story for another day, I had found some white powder on the garage table. I had no idea what it was, and cleaned it off. My dumbass thought it was salt. Later, when Debbie and my father argued she came into my room and apologized for getting him back into drugs and confessed to me she started him on cocaine and pills. After his first

heart attack they apparently stopped the drugs and only use alcohol. Commenter, NTA. But one thing to be aware of. If slash when you find that you are expecting a child, he will come back, promising he is a changed man, promising a new start, promising it will be different, this time. At that time, ask yourself why you should ever let your child suffer the pain, confusion, manipulation and rejection that you did, and kick him back to the curb. Oop, that's Victor's fear. That I'll bend when a child comes around. He had a long talk with me about that, and he reminded me of my childhood and how he knows

I would never want to expose a future child to that. He's absolutely right. It does make me sad that my future kids will never meet my father. But ultimately it's the best decision. My niece met my father once at her baptism and then never again. She asks my sister questions and my sister doesn't really know what to say. Just that he was not a very nice person. Update 1, I got a request for an update and now I have some time now that things have settled.

Though there hasn't really been an update, more of. A development. First, I want to thank you for all your comments and advice. The fact that any of the took the time to write me a comment meant the world to me. You all truly encouraged me and strengthened my resolve. Right after my post, I had a good talk with Victor, and he echoed everything you all said. I even looked into deleting my father's number permanently from my phone, but apparently that would unblock him. After a lot of reading through the comments and reflecting on what everyone said,

I really started to think why I ever thought I was the asshole for cutting him off. Well, I guess I have my answer. My brother Devin, 30, is really impressionable. He lives with my mother, and while living with my mother can be a nightmare, they were doing well. My brother means a lot to me, I gave up school, a career, and took on three jobs to be able to help raise him for a few years with my dad after my parents' divorce. He has always struggled to truly be independent, mostly due to my father's coddling most of his life. He was the golden child, the only boy. In an attempt to help him succeed, some family members,

Mom sighed, decided to step up and get him out of my mother's house, and support him to a move to a warmer state to rent with some cousins. They even paid for him to fly out to the new state and see if he wanted to move. When he got home, he apparently went straight to my father's and spent four days there. I have no idea why. I called up my brother a few days. I called up my brother a few days after he returned back to my mother's. He said he was really looking forward to moving to the new state. After talking to him a bit, I mentioned that I was happy for him, but really sad I'd be losing one of my close family member I talked to. His response? Well, I'm the only family member who still talks to Dad so imagine how he feels. I was stunned. I said, I'm sorry, what did you say?

He got angry and just said, well, when I move Dad will really have no one. Because you refuse to talk to him even though it's been months. You really should feel bad for him. He doesn't understand how you can still be mad at him. All those feelings came flooding back. The doubt. The guilt. The am I doing the right thing?

And then the anger came. In that moment I realized that this is what my family normally does to me. and what my father normally does. He plays the victim. Makes everyone feel bad for him. Even though I am in the right, I am made to feel like a pause for having boundaries. I took a breath and explained to my brother Devin, Dad made his choice. He chose this. I was open to him being a dad, he declined that. He didn't want to be in my life. He has no right to complain. He did this to himself. I don't care if Debbie made him not go or not, he's a grown-ass man. And he didn't go to his own daughter's wedding. So he can stay

dead to me, it was his choice. My brother didn't have anything to say to that. Just rushed me off the phone with barely a goodbye. Hung up after I barely got the words love you out. I told Victor what Devin said and he was appalled. He wished I had taken the call near him so he could speak to my brother himself. I told him that my father brainwashed him. that he's not normally like this. He reminded me that Devin is a grown man and not a child anymore, and that I shouldn't excuse what he said. I became so upset. My resolve shaken once again. I felt awkward about the phone call, so I followed up the next day. He wanted to move the beginning of June. I asked him to visit before he goes from a car ride away distance away to a plane ride,

and he said he would see me mid-May for his yearly visit to me like always. Then a week before our normal visit date, I found out from my mother my brother texted her and told her he plans to move in four days and make the multi-day long drive to the new state. So he lied to me and didn't even plan on seeing me to say goodbye. Victor had no words, just that he's incredibly disappointed in my brother. My brother called me the day before he left. He sounded so happy saying, hey, what's up?

I told him, well, honestly, I'm a little hurt and disappointed in you right now because I'm assuming you're calling to tell me you're leaving tomorrow and you're not even bothering to say goodbye to me. He then was adamant that he told me. Then when I pointed out that he didn't, he erupted in anger at me saying I always play the victim, and why wasn't I happy for him leaving? And how dare I make him feel guilty, almost word for word what my father would say? I told him I'm thrilled he's moving and having a new opportunity. I'm upset he's telling me 12 hours before he's leaving and not saying goodbye when he literally has to pass within 20 minutes of where I live when he leaves.

After I started crying my brother apologized for not telling me. I offered to be up at whatever time he needed. I just wanted to hug him goodbye. He declined. Said he'd be back eventually. Victor was listening and was getting angry at my brother and how he was speaking to me. He's so agitated with him and a little. is hoping he starts acting like an adult in the new state. It's been months now since he moved.

I've heard nothing from my father. My brother and I talked occasionally on the phone with me checking in especially that first month. He is struggling where he is to get a full-time job, but he is doing everything he can to at least pay rent. He became busy in the last month, so I hadn't heard from him in a while. My birthday came, he sent me a happy birthday text and said he'd call later. At 11.45 p.m. I finally got a call from him. I was in the middle of a video game match with friends. After a brief chat I asked if he was free the next night. He said yes, so I told him I would call him the next day for a proper catch-up because he caught me in the middle of something. He hung up me, and didn't answer my call the next day. I haven't tried to call since. I did check for this post,

and I did not receive any messages from my father. Not since his happy Easter. Ever since him and my mother separated, he has always forgotten my birthday anyway, I'm at a loss. I don't know what I did wrong, or what I did to deserve this treatment from him. Is this all because I won't forgive my father? And I just sitting here just, sad.

All I've ever wanted is my family to love me, and I don't know what to do next. If you have advice for me, I just ask you say it kindly. My heart is rather full of emotions at the moment. Update 2, February 19th, 2025. I have gotten a couple requests for a further update, and I do have some new developments

so I can at least share something with you all. It's not a full pot of tea, but you can sip it from a dainty tea cup made up of my unresolved issues. Also, thank you all for your kind words. I appreciate all of you taking the time to comment and make me feel validated. Okay now for the update to the update.

My brother, in early October my brother called me, and was saying how he wasn't doing well in the new state, and he basically wanted to come back home. In a way, I wonder if he was fishing to live with me and Victor so he didn't have to return to my mother, but I would never live with him ever again. I basically just told him to talk to our mother and work out a plan to come back if that's what he wants to do.

I'm through trying to fix things for him. He promised to return for Christmas, which of course didn't happen. I haven't heard from him since. I've gotten the group holiday texts, but I absolutely refuse to reach out. He has broken every promise he gave me, and I am finally feeling strong enough to distance myself. Through my mother I found out he got a better job and was looking to stay there. I guess I wasn't needed anymore, so that's why I haven't gotten a phone call or text. And then just yesterday I found out he found out he was looking to stay there.

And then just yesterday I found out he isn't working anymore because his car has finally became a paperweight, a 20-year-old car that he never took care of. My mother used to force him to get oil changes and basic maintenance, and now without my mom there to annoy him into adulting, it finally died. So I feel at this point either my uncle is going to help him with a vehicle, or he's going to try and move back. I will bet money he will try to move in with my father if he does return. If that's the case, I do feel they will both join forces to try and manipulate me into forgiving them and using me. My father, he actually has been trying to reach out. I have received multiple texts from him every holiday saying how much he loves me and will love me always and wishes me and Victor well. I also keep getting calls and silent voicemails from random numbers.

My sister even met with him for the first time in years because my niece wanted to meet him. He tried again to justify not going to my wedding, and my sister told him that there was zero excuse. He should have gone to the ceremony at the very least. He kept trying to defend himself, but my sister kept shutting him down saying he could have made at least a minimum effort. While I'm not close with my sister, I greatly appreciated her saying that for me. Overall, she said he behaved himself and was fine. I actually was doing really good about not checking the messages, but I still once in a while have my curiosity get the better of me. Victor gets mad at me when I check. He wants me to not get sucked in again with either my brother or

father. He still plans on having a chat with my brother next time we see him. I do feel myself starting to feel bad. My anger just isn't as sharp anymore. But I'm holding strong reminding myself that I seem to only be his daughter when it's convenient. And that to me isn't a father. But, I'm still just a girl who wants her dad, and I am trying so hard to not fall back into his perpetual pit of assholery. Me, not going to lie, I've been lonely. All of my friends after the wedding have disappeared. I reach out to them asking how they're doing and get one word answers back which hurts. I've been trying to make new ones, but it's been hard.

I spend most of my days either working at home online for our business, or playing video games alone or with Victor. I love my husband, but sometimes I just want a girl day. My self-confidence has plummeted. I don't like what I see in the mirror anymore. We've been trying for a kid with zero luck, so that's taken a hit with my mental health as well. But I am actually going to my first therapy session next month, which I am incredibly excited about. So unfortunately my saga isn't over. If something major happens I'll definitely let you waffles know.

I hope you enjoy this story. Envious sill trapped me in a wardrobe during my baby celebration because she couldn't cope with the fact that I was becoming a grandparent before her. Hello, so I'll understand right into it. I've always had a very weird equation with my sister-in-law on recently, something happened that kind of pushed me over the edge. And not just me, literally everyone in the family. I, 28F, have been married to my husband, 28M, for three years and we have been together for six. A couple of months ago, we found out that we were expecting our first child together and we were thrilled about it. A few days ago this week, we decided to have a baby shower and invited our families and friends to our new house for the event.

My sister-in-law, Connie, 30F, and her husband were also invited to the event. Connie has been with her husband for eight years and married for five and they had been trying to have a baby for a really long time, but haven't been successful. Recently, they started their IVF treatments because even though neither of them had any fertility issues, they were still struggling with conceiving. Had she been a better person, I might have felt bad for her but after what she did recently, I'm glad that she hasn't been able to conceive yet because she's crazy and honestly doesn't deserve to be a mother. Connie and I don't really get along and I would say that it's her fault because I've always been

cordial with her, but she just has a weird attitude about everything. Earlier, she used to be nice to my face, but I had heard from several of her family members that she constantly put me down behind my back and made fun of a lot of things about me, so I slowly distanced myself from her. And then, eventually, we got to the point where we were only nice to each other for the sake of our family and nothing more. So inviting each other to events was more of a formality and we knew it. She had been invited to my pregnancy announcement party as well, and even there, all she had done was sulk and maybe I should have taken that hint and not invited her this time, but I didn't think much of it. Anyway, a couple of days ago, I had my baby shower,

and Connie and her husband also attended. They were one of the first few guests to arrive, so we had taken a few people on a house tour since it was a new home. And yes, this is quite an important detail. And anyway, after everyone had arrived, and the baby shower was in full swing, I was speaking to a couple of friends when Connie came to my side and asked me if I could show her where a bedroom was because she wanted to rest for a bit since she was feeling kind of nauseated. I thought that it was quite strange that she had come to me and not her brother, but since I was busy with my friends and also because I was heavily pregnant. I told her to find my husband and ask him since I really didn't feel like getting up. But she told me that she also wanted to speak to me in person and privately, which is why she had asked me specifically since she didn't actually need to rest. She just wanted to talk to me and and needed an excuse for it. That made me a little curious,

so I decided to excuse myself and got up to take her to the bedroom so we could talk away from everyone else. I actually thought that she was going to apologize for her behavior in the past or something, because she was being really nice and I guess that should have made me suspicious. But anyway, I didn't think of it

and started walking with her to the bedroom. And here's the deal with our house, it's pretty big and that means that our bedroom is quite a distance from the living room. There is a really long corridor leading up to it and on one side of the corridor, we have something like a supply closet. So while we were crossing that, all of a sudden, Connie grabbed me by the arm, shoved me inside, and locked me in. The closet was a small, dark, and cramped room where we were storing a couple of unpacked boxes on the shelves, our vacuum cleaner, and a few mops.

We hadn't yet installed lights in that room and there was no ventilation apart from a tiny window that was situated really high up in the wall. Everyone in the family knows that I suffer from severe claustrophobia, so a room like that is pretty much the stuff of my nightmares. I started panicking as soon as Connie shoved me into the room, and I kept banging on the door and telling her to let me out, but I knew that there was no point because she must not have stayed outside the door for long. And there was loud music playing in the living room,

where everyone was sitting because we wanted the baby shower to be fun for everyone, and it was more of a party than a shower. Besides, even without the music, there were a lot of people in the living room and I'm sure they couldn't hear me above the conversation because the supply closet was a little distance away from the living room. In spite of that, I kept banging on the door and screaming for someone to come help me until my voice gave out and I honestly don't remember what happened after that. I guess I must have fainted because of my claustrophobia since the only thing I remember after

that was waking up in the hospital. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be found about 20 minutes after I'd left the living room since it was time to open the presence, but I wasn't even there so people came looking for me. Apparently, after Connie had returned to the living room without me, she had told my friends that I needed to rest for a bit and that's why I'd chosen to stay in the bedroom and had sent her back to tell them. A pregnant woman choosing to take some time away from a party so she could rest wasn't all

that strange, so nobody raised any questions because what Connie had done was so absurd, it hadn't even occurred to anybody that she might have been lying. And then, eventually, when it was time to open the presence, people started looking for me, and my husband started panicking when he realized that I wasn't in the bedroom like Connie had said. He had the good sense to check the supply closet in there, he found me on the floor, unconscious. It didn't even take a second to call the ambulance so he could rush me to the hospital because he thought that something serious had happened and I had fainted because of some pregnancy-related complication since I hadn't even woken up when sprinkled with cold water. Our families drove behind us and my sister stayed back home

to handle all the guests. Until we reached the hospital and I regained consciousness. Nobody discussed exactly why I had been in the supply closet in the evening, even though I'm the kind of person who refuses to enter that space while there is daylight because of how cramped and small it is. I remained unconscious for about 10 minutes and when I woke up in the hospital, which is luckily just a few minutes away from our home, they ran some tests and stuff before telling my family that there was nothing they needed to be worried about. I'd just been knocked out cold because I had probably been in a very stressful situation and my blood pressure had dropped to a dangerously low level. That bit wasn't surprising because ever since I got pregnant,

I had been having a lot of trouble with my blood pressure and the way it was fluctuating constantly. And I guess the claustrophobia and the panic attack must have triggered me somehow, which is why I ended up and remaining unconscious for ten whole minutes. After I came to my senses, they took me home and my sister made sure that all the guests were served food and told them that I was completely fine so they wouldn't worry. Once I had come back home, nobody was in the mood to have fun anymore, so everyone went back home and it was just me and our families who stayed so we could get to the bottom of what had happened.

I felt exhausted, so even though I remembered exactly what had happened, I was in no mood to relive it and I just wanted everyone to leave so I could go to sleep. But luckily for me, my friends who had been speaking to me before I left the room with Connie had heard the conversation between me and her and they knew that it was Connie who had taken me out of the living room so we could go to the bedroom. And in all likelihood, she was the one responsible for this, so before they left, they had told my husband about it. They didn't bother me that evening. But the next morning, I found out from my husband that he had confronted Connie before the family had left, and while I was resting in the bedroom, they had been arguing in the living. room. Our families were there and so was he, and Connie kept denying that she had anything to do with locking me in the supply closet. She claimed that she had gone with me to the bedroom to apologize

for always being cold and a bit mean to me all the time, and apparently we had made up for the last couple of years. Then, I told her that I wanted some time away from the party, so I stayed in the bedroom and she came back. So she really had no idea why I had ended up in the supply closet and denied having anything to do with it. And since it was just her word against my friends, they couldn't come to a conclusion that evening. But the next morning, I woke up in a much better condition, and after breakfast, my husband asked me what exactly had happened and I told him everything. I told him I had kept banging on the door of the supply closet and begged Connie to let me out, but she probably hadn't even been there to hear me. He was furious and called the rest of the

family over once again so we could deal with the situation and this time, I was present as well, so she couldn't deny what she had done. I remember that that morning, Connie showed up looking really sick and pale because she probably knew that she was screwed. Her husband also looked worried, but I don't think that he knew exactly what his wife had been up to. Anyway, I recounted what had happened that evening and confirmed the fact that Connie was the one who had pushed me into that closet and left me there. Everyone seemed horrified and nobody really knew what to say because I don't think anybody wanted to believe that somebody they had known for so long. was capable of doing something so horrible.

Truth be told, I get that because no matter what kind of relationship I had with Connie, even I had found it very difficult to believe that she had done something so unhinged. But that was the truth, she had tried to harm me on purpose, and I didn't even feel safe around her anymore. After I was done talking, my mother-in-law, Pam, was the first one to speak up. She sounded really disappointed and resigned, and said that she should have seen this coming, because, For the past couple of months, Connie had been absolutely livid with me. The reason for that was that she felt like I was rubbing it in her face, the fact that I was pregnant before her, even though she had been married for longer than me.

She had even said that she was very unhappy with the fact that I would be the first woman in the family to give Pamela a grand kid and not her. But Pam thought that these ramblings against me were just harmless and petty, so she never brought it up with us. But she had no idea that Connie would go out of her way to do something like, this out of anger and jealousy. At that point, Connie started crying and said that she hadn't done this out of anger, but it was only meant to be a harmless and innocent prank. She claimed that she had no idea that this was going to go so wrong, and she had actually intended on just leaving me locked in there for a couple of minutes as a prank, and then she would let me out and apologize for not just locking me in for her behavior towards me for the past couple of years.

She said that she had completely forgotten about the fact that I was severely claustrophobic and when she realized that I had fainted in the supply closet, she knew that people would think that she had done this on purpose and that's why she had chosen to lie about the previous night because she was scared of the consequences. But now, she did not want anyone in the family to misconstrue what she had done and she had done it, so she insisted that it was just a prank and she didn't really intend to harm me. Unfortunately, for her, nobody really believed her because, well, it was. wasn't very believable. And I was very pissed off that she had put me through so much just

because she was upset that she wasn't getting pregnant as if it was my fault. I hadn't even been rubbing anyone's face like she was saying, I had only held a pregnancy announcement a couple of months back, and now, this baby shower. As far as I'm concerned, these are very common events, pregnant people host, and they are not meant to rub the pregnancy into anyone's face. If that's how she felt that was her own fault and insecurity showing. Also, what she had said about me being the first woman to give Pamela a grandkid, was just disgusting because this wasn't a competition or a race. The bottom line was that she was upset that she hadn't had any luck in getting pregnant and I hadn't even been trying, but I still got pregnant. And it sucks for her that she's having

to deal with fertility issues in spite of having all normal results, but that's really not my fault or my problem. And I had had enough rest, so I was furious the next morning and I told Connie that for the past couple of years, she has been nothing but weird with me, but I had never even done anything to her. In fact, I had always tried to be nice to her, and she was the one who had constantly faked it with me and then gone behind my back to talk crap about me. Even then, I had stayed dignified and just distanced myself from her, but it seemed like she was just never happy and wanted to make sure that she created enough problems for me. I told her that I could understand that she was feeling jealous and insecure, but for somebody to act like this, was just

demented, and I did not feel safe around her anymore. I told her that she was a horrible human being for what she had done, even though nothing had happened to me, something very easily could have happened, and I knew it was not a prank like she was trying to pass it off as. I knew that she saw me as competition, but unfortunately, I was not competing with anyone and she had no right to drag me into this for no reason. Then, I told her that I did not want her visiting or speaking to me anymore, and then, I turned to everybody else and said that if they spoke to her again then I would not speak to them. So it was either going to be her or me and that's when Connie started protesting, saying that I had no right to do that, especially when she had just been playing a prank. I could see that both she and her

husband were actually worried but I had said whatever I had to say and they could go on screaming but it didn't matter, since I knew that the rest of the family was also going to agree with me. Eventually, Connie got way too loud, and my mother-in-law had to step in. She told Connie to stay quiet because this was just the consequence of her own actions and she had lost the right to protest against it. And then, she said something that shocked us all. She backed me up and told me that I was right, it wouldn't be possible to look at Connie the same way because what had happened was just insane and nobody was going to believe her claim of it only being a prank. Then, she went on to say that she was cutting Connie out of her life for now and maybe in the future

they would be able to make up but right now, she didn't want anything to do with her. And that also meant that she was no longer going to be paying for the IVF treatments, so they would have to look for some other way to deal with it. My father-in-law, who is a generally quiet man and mostly lets Pamela do all the talking, also agreed with this and I'm not even exaggerating. Connie and her husband literally erupted at that point. They started screaming at Connie's parents and said that they couldn't do this since everyone knew that they were really desperate to start a family and they couldn't afford the IVF treatments along with everything else that was going on. So Connie's parents had been their only hope. For context, my in-laws are quite rich, but Connie's husband's parents aren't exactly on the same level so they couldn't have approached them for help.

Connie and her husband have just started a new business. It's barely been a few months so they haven't managed to break yet, which is probably why they were relying on Connie's parents for the money for the treatments. We didn't know about that before it was brought up by them and it was a huge deal that they were backing out of it since Connie had been pretty desperate to have a baby. When Connie and her husband started screaming hysterically, Pam stood her ground and said that given her current state of mind and the way she was behaving, she thought it was best for her not to have a baby right now and I couldn't agree more. Nobody had anything to say and Connie just broke down and kind of just fell to the floor while crying, and it was pretty pathetic to see her like that, but I wasn't going to go back on my word. She continued to sob on the floor for about five minutes and nobody said anything during that time. But then, she got up and I thought that she was going to speak to her mother, but she came directly

towards me and actually started begging for forgiveness. And I mean, she was really begging, she was on her knees and everything and said that she was genuinely and truly sorry for what she had done, but she knew that I could make this right by speaking to Pam and I just had to do it. Pam tried to be gentle with her and told her that her mind had been made up and not even I could change it, but Connie was not ready to listen. She was just hysterical and I don't think she was in her senses at the time. It was kind of awkward, so I didn't even know what to say and I really felt bad for her, but there was nothing that I could do. After a while, her husband grabbed her and got her to stand back up, and while she was still crying,

he walked out with her and left us all still trying to process what had happened. After that, everyone went back home and it's just been me and my husband since then. We haven't been speaking about what happened with Connie because it was sad after one point, but right now, I've been feeling a little weird about it. I know that what she did to me was terrible, but I was the one who put forth an ultimatum for the rest of the family and forced them to cut her off and that also meant that she couldn't have a baby because it meant no more IVF treatments. So I've been wondering if I was a jerk for doing that or not and that's what I wanted to know, which is why I'm here for an objective opinion. Ida for telling my family and my

in-laws to choose between me and my sister-in-law. Update 1. Hey, everyone. I would just like to first thank everyone who responded to my post and commented on it. The majority of the comments agreed that I'm not the one at fault here, so I'm pretty relieved because I had been feeling very heavy and guilty after what had happened. I guess I just hadn't expected her to beg for forgiveness like that and she had been pretty hysterical, so I guess I started feeling bad for her. I still kind of feel bad for her, but to be honest, this was something that she deserved. It wouldn't have been fair for her to get away with all of this scot-free because regardless of what her intention had been, I still don't know if it really had been meant to be a prank or not, but the consequences of it were not really good for me.

And to be honest, I think I'm still gonna stick by what I had said about her not being ready to be a mother just yet. If she is acting like this, so unhinged and irresponsible, just because she's pissed at me, then I'm not sure how she thinks she's ready to handle a baby. It's very obvious to me and I think it's clear to Pam as well that Connie has some serious issues. So until she deals with that, I think it's better for her to stay away from motherhood. I've spoken about this with my husband, and I told him that I've been feeling that I've been feeling. really bad about what happened with Connie, but he told me not to worry about it. Apparently, his sister had always been a bit of a hothead, but everyone had thought that she had left that kind of behavior back in her teens. She used to be one of your typical vindictive mean

girls back in high school and even in college, but this was not just mean, this was downright cruel. And I knew that she had always had a main streak in her, but for her to manifest in waves like this, I don't think anyone had seen that coming. Anyway, my husband, my husband, reassured me and after that, I felt considerably better about all of this. So I'm going to try and put it all out of my head now and just focus on having a happy rest of my pregnancy. Update 2. Hey. So eight days have passed since my baby shower, and since the event didn't exactly end well, we hosted a formal dinner for everyone tonight to make it up to them, and obviously, Connie and her husband were not invited this time. I hadn't opened any of the gifts, so I decided to open them

today, with all my friends and family around me. We were all having quite a nice time until dessert was served because that was the time around which Connie decided to make a post on social media, calling me out on my behavior. Yeah, the irony is astounding that after everything that has happened, she is the one who is calling me out. I had blocked her shortly after the incident had taken place, so I didn't know about the post, but she had tagged a couple of my friends and a few family members on it, so they were notified and read it out to me.

It was ridiculous, she had posted that apparently I'd always been in competition with her, and I had really thought that I won when I got pregnant before her. And she acknowledged the fact that she had lost her temper a couple of days back, during my baby shower, and had locked me in the closet, but my way of retaliation has been a lot more severe than what she had done. She posted that I had forced her family to cut her off and made sure that she wouldn't be able to get pregnant by convincing her mother not to contribute to her IVF treatments anymore. But unfortunately, my plan was not going to work because they had decided to pay for the IVF treatment themselves and they were definitely going to have a baby.

So the rest of the family could cut her off, but it was not going to make a difference to her because she was determined to become a mother and start her own family. And that family would be far better than the one she was born in. Since apparently her both family was too busy, sucking up to me instead of looking after the only daughter that they had. I tried really hard to feel offended at that post, but honestly, it was just such a huge joke that I ended up laughing at it and everyone else followed me. So we brushed it off as a big joke and didn't even talk about it because I wasn't going to let Connie ruin an event for me a second time. I'm pretty sure that she had picked this day on purpose as well to make that post because she wanted to gain sympathy and attention, but unfortunately, nobody really has any of that to spare for her. Not after what she has done, Update 3, Hey, so I have great news for everyone. I recently gave birth to a really beautiful and healthy baby girl.

She is six weeks old now and I already love her more than anything in this world. In fact, my husband and I are already fighting over who loves her more, but we know for a fact that we love her the most. Motherhood has been beautiful so far and I've had my fair share of struggles, but this has made it worth it. But this update is not going to be about my daughter, even though I could totally go on writing about her. This is actually going to be about Connie because she's getting divorced and I'm honestly not surprised that this is happening. I heard from a couple of people that she and her husband have been living separately for the past couple of weeks and they have finally announced on social media that due to irreconcilable differences, they are going to be separating. Apparently, they had tried really hard to make it work in the past couple of months after the incident with me, but I guess the stress of everything just got to them and they can't be together anymore.

And I don't think it's going to be an amicable divorce because they have decided to sell their business and had it been a mutual thing. I don't think they would have tried to do that because that business was their first baby and they had put in a lot of hard work into it. It's sad that they are separating, but not very shocking. Connie's parents are still not speaking to her,

though, even though I have told them that I would be fine with it if they decided to get back in touch with her after the news of the divorce broke. But they told me that unless she apologizes to everyone and does it sincerely, they are not interested in having any contact with her. Honestly, I count myself to be very lucky that I have such supportive and loving in-laws because I don't think everybody has been blessed by people like them in their lives. My own parents have also been incredibly supportive ever since I gave birth and even before that

and I feel really lucky that I have such a great support system around me. Connie could have had the same for herself if she had just bothered to be nice to the people around her but well, that was never one of her strong suits. At this point, I don't even feel angry, I just feel bad for her. She could have had a good life, regardless of the unexplained fertility issues, but she chose this for herself. Anyway, that's none of my concern anymore and I just felt like I had to share this year so I could get it out of my system. But now, all I'm going to do is focus on raising my daughter, and yeah, I can't wait for all the great parts of motherhood. I hope you enjoy this story. Reluctantly supervised the children of my step-sibling every evening,

but one day I contacted his spouse and informed her that I couldn't provide child care consistently. As a result, she has initiated divorce proceedings and I got blamed for ruining his marriage. Hi, guys. So, my stepbrother Aaron, 36M, got married eight years ago and he has two kids. His oldest is his daughter, five years old and his son is just three years old. I, 34F, have never been very close with him since it's not like we grew up together. My parents separated when I was very little and they had shared custody of me. My dad started dating my stepmom when I was 17, so I was pretty grown up by then and so was Aaron. That's why we never felt very close and we never even lived together as a family at any point

because by the time that my stepmom moved in with my dad, I had moved out for college. I was lucky enough to get a job right afterward, so I just never looked back in since then I had been living on my own. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with my stepmom and the same goes for Aaron, but I wouldn't exactly refer to them as my family since we are not that close. They are my father's family and I respect that, but that's about it. However, like I had said, we had never been on bad terms and recently, Aaron moved to my city with his family 10 days ago. He has a new project that he's working on here and will be living here for maybe a year or more. It was pretty convenient for his wife as well because his in-laws also live here and since his father-in-law is pretty sick,

his wife could stay with her family during the day until he came back home from work as well. My dad told me that he wanted me to show him around and help him settle in and I did that and I assumed that after that, my responsibilities would be over as I was just trying to be nice. But for some reason, Aaron assumed that I was just there at his back and call at all times and started dumping his kids onto me every evening. This started almost seven days ago. He just showed up at my house with his children, since I had just given him my number and address in case he needed help with anything

and asked me to babysit them for an hour or so and he would be back as soon as possible. He told me that he had some urgent work at the office. So he had to go back and since his wife had decided to spend the evenings with her parents because her father's health had been deteriorating, he couldn't exactly expect her to watch the kids either. And they were new here so they didn't have a sitter, so they were relying on me. To be honest, I'm not one for kids but because he had work and he was new to the city, I agreed to help him out until he found a sitter. I was not happy about this arrangement in the slightest because even though I work from home, it's still work and after I'm done, I really don't really don't

feel like doing anything but spending time alone. The kids are nice and I have to give credit where it's due. Aaron did not leave the kids at my place for more than an hour and a half, and he was always very punctual in picking them back up and would thank me for looking out for them. But this started happening every day and for the past seven days, I didn't have a moment to myself during the evenings. Two days ago, I even told Aaron that I needed him to look for a sitter because I couldn't do this every day and he promised me that he would. And then, yesterday, I had plans to go out with my friends in the evening since it was a Sunday and I had even told Aaron about it in the morning. I had told him that I would not be able to take care of his

kids this evening. Even though it was a Saturday and I knew that his job didn't require him to come in on a Saturday but just to be on the safe side, I had still told him. But then, the bell still rang at the same time as usual and I was just starting to do my makeup and when I went to the door, I already had a speech prepared in my head, and I knew that as soon as I opened the door, I was going to tell Aaron that I would not be able to take care of his children today since I had already told him about my plans. But I never got the opportunity to do so since he had just dropped his children at my door and as soon as I opened the door to tell him that I wouldn't be able to watch them, he had driven off in his car and left me with the kids. It was quite clever of him, I'll have to give him

that. He stayed outside my house in his car just long enough to see me open the door and then, he left. He had left a note with his daughter that said sorry, but it did not mean anything to me because now, I would have to cancel the plans that I had made. I was very upset and I was even more angry that he had tried to outsmart me. I tried to call him to get his kids, but his phone was switched off. So in my anger, I decided to call up his wife. She and I have never interacted much, I've only met her at their wedding and then, a couple of times on the holidays. But I did get her phone number a couple of days when they moved here. So I called her up and I told her that for the past week, Aaron had been dropping their children off at my place every single day at the same time and

then he would just be gone for an hour or so. While I knew that I had agreed to babysit for them until they had found somebody else, I couldn't do it on weekends as well and told her he had dropped the kids off at my place even though I had told him that I wouldn't be free to watch them today and I was just really upset about all of this. I told her I could understand that they were new to the place and needed some time to settle in, but this was no way to behave and that I couldn't encourage this, so I needed her to come pick her children up and she did not say much, she just said okay, and then she told me that she would be coming over in a while to pick the kids up. After half an hour, she showed up at my door, she was very sullen and we did not even speak.

The kids left with her and then, I did not check my phone since I was going out drinking with my friends and I only do this sort of thing once or twice a month maybe, so I like to stay away from my phone and live in the moment. I did not receive any notifications from anyone since my phone was on Do Not Disturb Mode last night and I only checked my phone this morning. I had like a thousand missed calls and messages and voicemails from everyone, my dad, Aaron, and even my stepmom, which was weird because she and I don't usually speak to each other much unless it's an emergency. I was very confused so before I called anybody back, I decided to go through some of the messages that these people had sent me. Most of them were accusations about me being an idiot and saying that I had

no need to talk to Aaron's wife about any of what was going on. I was still very confused, so I decided to call back my father first, and as soon as I called him, he started yelling at me and said that I had ruined Aaron's marriage, apparently. Even then, I had no idea what he was talking about, and my father finally told me that because of my phone call, his wife had been able to figure out that he was not going out to the park with the kids like he had been telling her and had actually been dropping them off at my place and taking off by himself instead. On top of that, Aaron had also lied to me about going back to the office for work because after my phone call, his wife had contacted a co-worker of his and he had told her that nobody from

their department really needed to come into work on Sundays and he definitely hadn't. Just to double check, she had even driven there herself to check if his car was at his workplace or not, and it was not there. She even spoke to two women who happened to be walking out of the office building and they said that nobody really comes into work after they have left for the day and she even specified what kind of car Aaron drives and they made it very clear that for the past seven days, he had come to work on time and left exactly at five. But he had never come back after leaving like he was claiming he had to for the past one week. They also told her that Aaron had just started working there, so his workload was not as much as the others, and he was always able to wrap up his work within office hours. and would leave on time. So they did not know why exactly he would have any need to come back at all,

much less come in on the weekend. So clearly, he had been lying, and now, because of the phone call that I made, his lies had been caught and she had confronted him, but he was refusing to tell her the truth and so. She was threatening to leave him and take their kids with her. She had already moved out with the kids last night to stay with her parents, and now, he was in a mess. I had also found it pretty weird that he would have to go back to work after leaving for the day

every single day for one week, that really did not make any sense to me, but I did not question it because it did not seem like my business, and I have a lot on my plate to worry about as well, so why would I care about that? But now, after I heard all of this from my father, I realized that Aaron had lied about a lot of things to a lot of people, and since he was getting caught now, he was blaming me for everything. So I told my father that while it was very sad that his wife had decided to end his marriage because he had been lying to her, even though it was exactly what he deserved and I probably would have done the same thing if I was in her place. I did not see how I had anything to do with this.

So my father told me that if I had never made the phone call to his wife, none of this would have ever happened. It was quite exasperating and unreasonable, so I told him that I had to make that phone call because I have a life and I have plans of my own as well. And I was not going to be apologetic for living my life on my own terms. But he started telling me that I had betrayed my family and said that I should have just stayed with the kids and told Aaron off when he came to pick them up instead of contacting his wife and going out of my way to create trouble for him. It was really annoying because he was trying to pin the blame of this entire situation on me, so I flared up and told him that I was not the one who had been lying to my partner. So if anything, he should be the one to blame, and Aaron should be the one getting yelled at right now, not me. But he just kept saying that what I had done was not right for the family and that I needed to apologize to Error.

because he was pretty upset about what was going on. I told him that I did not owe anybody any apologies and he should probably be telling Aaron all of this right now because he is the one who needs to sort out his life and then. My father said that I was his family and this is not what families do to each other. I said that he was definitely not my family but just my dad's family. That caught him off guard and he asked me if I really did not consider Aaron my family and I reiterated that by saying that I did not.

He then asked me if I even considered his wife his family and I still said no because it's the truth, I don't. I did not grow up with them, they never bothered to build a strong relationship with me and I was fine with it, but at the same time, it also means that I don't consider them my family. It was very simple and I really don't think that I said anything that offensive. It's not like they consider me very close to them either, so what's the big deal? But after I said that, my dad started sounding very curt and told me that if that's what I thought, then we had nothing further to discuss and hung up on me. I was genuinely confused in a couple of minutes after he ended that phone call.

He texted me that he had always expected me to respect him and the people that he loved and at least give them a chance, but I had obviously made up my mind, and I had decided that I was not going to respect my stepmom and stepbrother. And he owed certain things to them as well so he had decided not to speak to me either because what I had done to Aaron was not acceptable. He also brought up the fact that Aaron was not even putting me through much of an inconvenience. I was working from home anyway, and he would always drop the kids off after I was done with work and he would pick them up within just an hour. So what I did was not nice

and now, I don't even understand what to do. I'd offer calling my stepbrother's wife to pick their kids up because I did not want to babysit them. Update one, so I decided not to apologize to Aaron because my dad was just trying to guilt-trip me and I see that now. It's been a couple of days since we last spoke and I have not received any message from him since then. I know for a fact that he is immensely pissed off at me, but there's not much that I can do. I did talk to my mother about this and she told me that my dad was being unreasonable. And she almost never has anything bad to say about my dad, since they are still on good terms, but this time, she said that my father was acting irrationally and told me that she would speak to him. Yesterday, she called me up in the afternoon and told me that she had spoken to

my father on the phone and they had ended up in a fight as well over this. Because she had taken my side and he had told her that she was encouraging the wrong thing. So they ended up fighting and now, they are not talking to each other anymore either. The fight must have been bad because when my mother called me yesterday, she was really pissed off and given her temperament, she rarely ever takes that tone with anybody. But when I was talking to her, she told me that she was not going to talk to my father again until he had apologized to me because the things that he had said were absolutely illogical and unfair. Apparently, he had called me a spoiled brat and said that I had grown up to be somebody who could not care about anybody apart from myself.

And that's why I had ratted out my stepbrother, without even considering the consequences of what I was doing. When my mother had tried to defend me, my dad had cut her off and yelled at her saying that if she was on my side here, they had nothing more to discuss because he did not want to speak to anybody who was encouraging my behavior. When my mom told me about all of this, I was really pissed off, and even though initially I had thought that I would forgive my father if he came to his senses and apologized to me, now I'm not so sure. I don't think I'm going to talk to him even if he apologizes because the things that he said are firstly not even true and more importantly, they are very hurtful as well. And I'm not a child so he can't say whatever he

wants to and get away with it. I'm a grown woman, I have my own life and if my dad is going to be a jerk to me, I'm just going to cut him out of my life and move on. Update 2. So, a lot of things have happened since my last update. Last evening, I finally received a message from my dad. It has been almost two weeks since we last spoke to each other. After that, I had not interacted with him since my mother had told me a lot of things that he had said about me, and I had no interest in speaking to him after that. But I had forgotten to block him, so he sent me a message saying that Aaron's wife had apparently served him with the divorce papers, just a couple of days back and he was devastated. That really annoyed me because I don't know why he was giving me an update on the

situation when I hadn't even asked about it. I knew that he was trying to rub it in and make it seem like it was my fault. So I just ignored it and I blocked his number after that message. But then, he called me up from his work number and asked me if I had no shame or if I did not have any feelings at all because here, my brother was getting divorced because of me, and even then, I could not even bring myself to apologize, much less try to fix the situation. I was really annoyed with him at that point. So I told him that I did not find anything in this situation to feel ashamed of myself or even think that I deserve to feel guilty. I also told him that I was still not going to apologize.

He was getting divorced because of his own lies and I did not ask him to do that. I had only inadvertently exposed his lies, not even on purpose, and I will not even count that as a mistake because if he was acting that way, he probably did not deserve his wife. My father started talking about family loyalty once again, and I cut him off, saying that I had heard of the things that he had said to my mother about me, and beyond this point, I really had no interest in speaking to him anymore. I told him that if he wanted to support a liar, that was his personal choice, but he should not expect me to do the same because like I had said earlier, I did not count them as my family. So family loyalty is pretty much out of the question. It's his family, he can be loyal to it if he wants to. But again, he should also take into consideration the fact that Aaron is a liar, and if he

was yelling at my mother for encouraging my behavior, I could question him for encouraging Aaron's behavior as well. He started fumbling his words after that, so I took that opportunity and hung up on him. Then I blocked that number that he had called me from as well, but something tells me that he's not going to stop at this and he's going to keep calling me, again and again until I apologize or at least just do something about this. Anyway, while I did not hear from my father after that phone call last evening, I did receive a visit from Aaron this morning at around 7. I'm usually up by then to start my day with a jog in a workout session and was about to leave

for my jog when the bell rang and when I saw that it was Aaron, I was really annoyed. I told him that it was really early in the morning for any drama and I didn't want to interact with him right now. I could see through the window that he looked like he was in bad shape. His shoulders were all slouched and it looked like he hadn't slept in days, so he was definitely not coming with good news. It was going to be another painful discussion about his life. I did not want that so early in the morning, so I asked him to please leave. I did not want to be rude to him because honestly, I felt that the sight of him was just pitiful. But he told me that he had something really important to discuss with me, so he just wanted me to open up the door to him once and after that.

He would not bother me again. When he was speaking to me, he was talking to me very calmly, unlike my dad who has only been yelling at me ever since we got into this fight. And also, I really just felt bad for him, so I let him in. It was very awkward and I told him that I was sorry to hear what was going on in this life. But I said it very carefully, so as to not make him think that I was actually apologizing for calling his wife, because I was not. And I didn't even want him to think that on accident and pass that message on to my father.

Anyway, he told me that there had been a lot of arguments about the divorce and stuff for the last couple of days, but finally, his wife had blocked him and he had been served. I already knew that, but then, he said that he had been thinking about not contesting the divorce. That was a bit surprising for me because if he had been fighting for his marriage so far, I didn't understand why he was giving up now. But that's none of my business, and I just waited for him to come to the point of his visit. Finally, he told me that in the divorce petition, his wife was asking for a lot because she thought that he was having an affair, which he clarified was not the case. And that just made things even more bizarre because if he was not having an affair, then why was he lying to everyone about where he was going after he dumped his kids off at my place?

Anyway, I did not ask about it because again, not my business. He finally told me that the reason he was visiting me was because he wanted me to take his side during the divorce. He went on to say that all that I had to do was just record a testimonial for him, saying that he was a good father and that apart from the one day that I had called his wife. There had been absolutely no trouble handling his children for him, and that he had been very regular about the timings as well, that he would drop them off and pick them up at the same time, so it had never been any inconvenience to me. Honestly, I wouldn't have had a problem with saying that, but it was just bugging me that he was claiming that he was not cheating on his wife.

If he was not doing that, then what was he even doing? On top of that, I just did not feel like involving myself in something like this, so I told him that I really wanted to wish him luck with a divorce, but I was not going to involve myself in this directly. Aaron looked really annoyed with me and told me that because he was in this situation because of me, the least I could do for him was this. When he said that, I very politely reminded him that he was not stuck in this situation because of me, but because he had lied to his wife and left his kids at my house without even bothering to make sure that I was fine with it.

Then, he had the decency to look ashamed, but he also said that he knew that he had screwed up and he was paying for it heavily already. I just had to do this favor for him one last time. I told him that I would think about it, but that was only to get him out of my hair at that point because I just wanted to have some time to myself. And then, I stood up, indicating that it was time for him to leave, but he continued to sit on my couch and then. after almost 10 seconds, he finally revealed the reason why he had been missing on those days. Apparently, he was not going out of his way to see some affair partner but his half-sister, who also happens to be my half-sister as well. I was genuinely shocked when he said that and I immediately accused him of lying to me, but when he looked up, he told me that this was the reason why I was not told anything so far. He said that my stepmom and my dad had had a child

and their affair had actually been going on much longer before the divorce. For context, my parents have been divorced for 28 years and this half-sister that Aaron was referring to was 32 years old. But since my stepmom and my dad were not ready to end their respective marriages at the time, they decided to pretend that the baby was her husband's. However, his biological father eventually figured out that the child was not his and that she had been having an affair. So he left and they ended up getting divorced, but nobody took. told my mother anything about this. As for the baby, they put her up for adoption, and that was it. So far, it was just my mother and I who had been in the dark about these things and my dad got

really lucky when my mother herself suggested getting a divorce two years after my dad got my stepmom pregnant, saying that she was not happy in this marriage anymore and wanted to move on with her life. The situation pretty much fixed itself, and so as to make sure that things did not seem suspicious. My dad kept his relationship with my stepmom under wraps for the next couple of years, until I turned 17 and then, they eventually got married. It was a brilliant plan, I have to give him that. No harm, no foul. But recently, Aaron found out about our half-sister and decided that he wanted to build a relationship with her, which is why he had been visiting her. His wife knew the truth and that's why they had been contemplating the divorce, but eventually, she decided to go through

with the divorce because she was still not fully convinced that he wasn't lying to her. And now, he was enlisting my help for this because he didn't know anybody here who would be able to help him out. But I told him that after everything that I had found out just then, I could not offer him anything but luck. It was a lot of information to get so I told him that I needed to process this and think about it and I would speak to him later. Then, when he saw that I was really reeling from getting to know about my dad's dishonesty, he finally left and told me that he was sorry that I had to find out this way because this was so big, but he really had no other choice. Anyway, since then, I haven't done anything because everything is just so hazy to me right now.

I can't figure out a way to tell my mom about this, but I know that I'll have to. I don't even think that I have come to terms with all of this myself, but the photos and proof that Aaron showed me were pretty substantial and I can't exactly deny it. So this is it. Update 3, hi, so it's been a couple of weeks. since my last update. A lot of you must be wondering if I did end up telling my mother and yeah, I did. I told her everything that I had found out and initially, just like me, she refused to believe it, but I told her that I had seen the proof that had and after a conversation with my father,

she realized that it was the truth. Since then, we have cut off everybody. I'm not speaking to my father, and I also told Aaron that I was not going to be helping him out with his divorce. I just did not want anything to do with this side of the family and I don't know if I'm going to reach out to my sister but for now, everything is too fresh for me to move past it. My mother and I are just keeping to ourselves for now and she's the only family I have. As of now, all of this genuinely sucks, but I'm trying to move on, little by little, and build my trust back in people again. I hope you enjoy this story. Family members unexpectedly reappeared in my life after being deceived into believing I had wed a wealthy employer, prompting me to go along with the ruse to impart a valuable

lesson. As a 27-year-old woman, I am employed. As a financial advisor at a top company, I have had no contact with my parents for the past eight years. I have an older sister, Celeste, 34F, who is happily married with two kids. We maintain occasional communication but we aren't that close. When I was just 19 years old, an incident occurred that made me cut off my parents from my life. You see, my parents are devout Catholics, the type who take their faith incredibly serious throughout our upbringing, they expected both my sister and me to strictly adhere to these beliefs and follow a life path deeply rooted in their religious values. Instead of enrolling us in local schools, they chose to homeschool us. Their reasoning was that these schools didn't align closely enough

with their beliefs, so they decided to take our education into their own health. hands. They had a very specific vision for our futures and put immense pressure on us to choose one of the following paths, to become parents and have lots of children, or to pursue a life as a nun. Our parents expected us to conform to the traditional expectations of our community, and these were the only options they deemed suitable for us. My sister, who is seven years older than me, never dated, lived at home until she got married, rarely traveled more than 10 miles from our house, and didn't participate in any group activities around our town. It was clear why she was our parents' favorite. When she was just 22 years old, they arranged her marriage to Matthew,

the son of my dad's friend. At her wedding, they critiqued everything, from the readings to the order of events during an ordained priest officiated it. Luckily for my sister, Matthew turned out to be a great guy, and Celeste has a great life with her two children. Seeing that my sister had to get married at such a young age, I knew I wanted a different life than hers. She might have been content, but I didn't want to follow the traditional route. I was a young woman full of dreams, ambitions, and a passion for independence. I wanted to build a career, travel, and explore the world. My vision for my life clashed head on with the traditional expectations my parents held dear. When I graduated from high school, I really wanted to go to college, even though my parents were dead set against it.

I applied to a top university in our district and was thrilled to receive a full scholarship. But when I shared the good news with my parents, they were furious, and my dad had a complete meltdown. He began to shout at me, his words filled with disapproval and frustration. My mom, on the other hand, refused to look at me. My parents couldn't understand why I wanted to go to college when they believed I should be focusing on following the traditional path they had laid out. It was a heartbreaking moment, watching the people. I love the most in the world react so negatively to my pursuit of higher education.

The fallout from that argument was profound. It marked the beginning of a growing divide between me and my parents for the years to come. It was clear that pursuing my dreams was not in line with their vision for my life, and this incident was the catalyst for our eventual estrangement. Starting college opened up a whole new world for me. I learned things that challenged the beliefs my parents had instilled in me throughout my upbringing. I made new friends and gained a sense of independence that I hadn't experienced before. My parents, however, struggled to accept these changes in me.

They saw my newfound independence and the influence of my college experiences as a threat to the values they held dear. Our reunions during college breaks were marked by tension and misunderstandings. I felt like I was walking on eggshells, trying to avoid topics that would inevitably lead to arguments. The gap between our worldviews was. widening, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to bridge the divide. Despite all the changes, a part of me still longed for their acceptance, but it seemed like an elusive dream. After graduating from college, I was thrilled about the prospect of finding a job and kick-starting my career. I expressed my strong desire to pursue a career to my parents and eventually move out of their

house to follow my dreams. However, my parents were unhappy and didn't want me to pursue a job. They insisted that I should choose a life path that led to marriage and starting a family, in line with their strong principles. Our arguments got more and more intense, emotions were running high, and they fervently urged me to reconsider my choices. When I stood my ground and refused to heed their demands, they told me to leave their house right away. I was taken aback, shocked to see them react so angrily and abruptly over a decision that brought me so much happiness. I gathered my belongings and stayed at my sister's place for a few months until I could find a new place of my own. During that time, I made a solemn promise to myself that I would never go back to my parents' house. I wanted to live life on my own terms and achieve success and happiness outside the confines of their traditional expectations.

My decision to leave and pursue a career, however, deeply hurt my parents. In their eyes, I had diverged from their expectations and disregarded their wishes. for me. They responded by cutting off all communication with me, and it was as if I had been exiled from their lives. Over the years, whenever I talked to my sister, I made sure not to ask about them, and she didn't mention them to me. Now coming on to the incident in hand, I had been in a relationship with my boyfriend for the past three years, and he proposed to me three months ago. We decided to have a simple court marriage followed by a small dinner party with our close friends. I'm not a fan of big, dramatic weddings, and the fact that I couldn't invite my family to the wedding was another reason

for keeping it low-key. Everything seemed to be going smoothly in the following days, or so I believed until I received a call from an unknown number. I answered it, only to hear my parents on the other end. After all those years of silence, I couldn't fathom why they were calling me. It turned out they had learned about my marriage and wanted to offer their congratulations. I hesitantly thank them, a mix of emotions flooding over me. They continued to inquire about my life and well-being, and I answered their questions without much thought. It didn't strike me as unusual until they began to ask how it felt to be married to someone in a higher position than me at my company. Puzzled, I asked them to clarify what they meant. They went on to explain that they were delighted I had chosen to marry my boss. At this point,

my jaw nearly hit the floor. I couldn't fathom why they would think I was married to my boss. They told me that one of their acquaintances had informed them about this and that they couldn't be happier. The whole time I remained mostly silent as they continued to chatter about how proud they were that I was finally married. My dad expressed excitement about meeting my husband and getting to know him, while my mother inquired if I planned to quit my job now that I was married, with the intention of focusing on having kids and keeping my husband happy. Their assumptions left me flabbergasted. It slowly dawned on me that the sole reason they had reached. out to me after eight years was their belief that I had married my boss, which, in their minds, elevated my status in the society and they expected me to now become a traditional wife. Their condescending tone and expectations infuriated me, but I decided to play along.

I painted a picture of a life that, technically, was true as I did have a comfortable life with my husband. But I added in a bunch of lies, such as having 20 housekeepers at our Beck and call and living in a huge mansion with a swimming pool. My parents eagerly lapped up my story, and their excitement grew as they asked if I could arrange a meeting with my wealthy husband. Their excitement was embarrassing, considering their eagerness to reconnect with me hinged solely on the false belief that I had married my boss. While I played along and agreed to set up a meeting for the weekend, a plan was forming in my mind. I wanted to teach them a lesson, a way to make them understand the pain they had caused by

refusing to talk to me for all those years just because I didn't conform to their demands. Now, they were suddenly eager to be back in my life, all so they could boast about it in front of their community friends. It was a bitter pill to swallow, and I was determined to make them see the consequences of their actions. I talked to my husband about my plan, but he was unsure about it. He understood why I lied, but he was hesitant about starting things off on the wrong foot since he was going to be meeting my parents for the first time. After some convincing, he finally agreed to go along with my plan. I also reached out to my boss, who was actually a female and had become a close friend to me over the years I had worked at the company. I explained

the situation to her, and she found my parents' beliefs quite amusing. I asked if we could use her house for the day, and she readily agreed. I sent the location to my parents and set up the meeting they had requested. On the day, my parents arrived at the house, believing they were meeting my wealthy boss, whom I was apparently married to. Their eyes widened as they took in the size of the house and the expansive lawn. My husband and I greeted them, and my dad shook my husband's hand with a bit too much enthusiasm. My mother hugged me and congratulated us on our marriage. My husband, though initially hesitant, played his part flawlessly. He greeted my parents with a warm smile and engaged in small talk, pretending to be the wealthy boss they believed him to be. We sat down for lunch, and my parents

couldn't help but noticed the team of housekeepers who brought out our plates. My dad started bombarding my husband with questions about the house, his assets, and how I had ended up with someone of his stature. Despite my irritation with the question, my husband, to maintain the charade, spun an intricate about his wealth, success, and a story on how we met, all part of our elaborate act. Amidst the conversation, my dad, unable to contain his curiosity, leaned in with a twinkle in his eye and asked my husband, you know, I've always wanted to own a classic car collection. Do you have any vintage cars around that I can check out? My husband played along, telling my dad that he indeed had a few vintage cars.

They both headed off to explore my wealthy husband's car collection, which, in reality, belonged to my boss. Meanwhile, my mother hung back, and in a hushed tone, she confided in me. You know, we are so happy that you are married to a rich man because we have been struggling to make our house mortgage payments, she admitted, her eyes filled with worry. We are afraid that we might lose our home. I was left staring at her in disbelief as she continued, suggesting that now that I was married to my wealthy husband with a huge house and a vintage car collection, I could convince

him to help out with their mortgage payments. It hit me like a ton of bricks. The only reason my parents had reached out to me after all these years was because they believed they could benefit from my supposed rich husband's wealth. They never really cared about me at all. The realization was a bitter pill to swallow and a rush of emotions swirled within me. As I waited for my dad and my husband to return, I could feel the tension in the air. When they finally rejoined us, I took a deep breath and decided it was time to have a candid conversation with everyone. I turned to my dad and asked him directly if what my mother told me was true. He hesitated for a moment and then replied, well, I didn't expect you to ever get married, let alone to a wealthy man. Now that your husband

has more than enough, it wouldn't hurt to share some of this wealth with us. Both my husband and I were taken aback by the words that came out of my dad's mouth. My dad continued, explaining that he didn't have the money to pay the mortgage, and he couldn't turn to his friends for help because it would damage his reputation. Seeing my parents' desperation and their assumption that they could easily gain from my husband's imaginary wealth, I decided to take my revenge to the next level. With a wicked glint in my eye, I looked at my dad and said, you know what, Dad? We can help you with your mortgage, but there's a condition. You must first publicly apologize to me and acknowledge that you were wrong to cut off contact with me for the past eight years.

You need to do this in front of our entire family and friends at a gathering we will organize. My parents were taken aback, but it's not like they had any option. They reluctantly agreed to my terms. Over the next few weeks, I organized a family gathering where I invited our relatives and close friends to join us. My sister had no idea about all these circumstances and was taken aback that my parents had decided to reach out to me after so long. I made sure to keep my sister in the dark about my revenge plan as I knew her strong convictions might lead her to spill the beans to my parents. On the day of the event, I was happy to meet my extended family after such a long time

and meet some of my parents' long-time friends. Everyone congratulated me on my marriage to my supposed wealthy boss and kept asking if we were trying for kids. I was getting irritated with their close-minded questions, but to maintain the charade, answered all their questions with a polite smile. Amid the cheerful chatter, my dad decided to call everyone's attention for a toast. He rose from his seat, raising his glass high, and began by expressing his happiness to be there among family and friends. He congratulated my husband and me on our marriage.

My dad continued with his speech, proclaiming his pride in how I had turned my life around and was now married to my boss. He spoke about the embarrassment he had initially felt when I had expressed my desire to pursue a career, and how I had supposedly brought shame to his family at the time. He declared that he had now chosen to forgive me because I had finally chosen the path that he and my mother had wished all along. The room remained still as his words hung in the air, and little did my dad know that this gathering was indeed about to take a turn he hadn't anticipated. As my dad concluded his speech, the room was filled with an expectant hush. Most of the guests believed I would rise to thank him for his words, but I had in

entirely different intentions in mind. It was time to reveal the true purpose of this gathering, to set the record straight, and to finally address the eight years of estrangement. With all eyes on me, I began to speak, thank you, Dad, for your kind words and for being here today. There's something I need to confess in front of everyone. As I spoke, a collective murmur rippled through the room. I am married to my husband, I continued, but he isn't the boss of my company. My boss is actually a woman and a very close friend of mine, and it was in fact her house that you visited earlier. The wealth and the lavish lifestyle you saw was all a charade. Someone had lied to you that I had married my boss and I went along with the lie just to find out

your true intention. I had then insisted on having this gathering so I could reveal the truth about our family. My dad's face shifted from pride to shock, and there was a moment of stunned silence. I recounted in front of everyone how my parents had cut off contact with me for eight years because they disapproved of my desire for independence and the pursuit of a career. But suddenly, they called me out of the blue when they believed that I was now married to my boss, who was supposed to be rich. I disclosed the real reason was that they wanted our financial help as they couldn't afford to pay for their own house.

They had reached out to me after all these years with the sole intention to leach off my rich husband and tried to convince me to ask him to pay for them. It was a shocking revelation as everyone registered the truth. I went to clarify in front of everyone that although I wasn't married to my wealthy boss had assumed my husband and I did have a very comfortable life with equally high-paying jobs. I emphasized that the comfortable life we led was a result of my decision to break free from them and pursue a career rather than rushing into marriage and motherhood. The room was filled with a mix of emotions, from surprise and disbelief to understanding and even disappointment. All eyes turned to my parents, who now appeared embarrassed and exposed. The guests started whispering to each other as my husband and I got up from our seats,

triumphantly and left the gathering. Our work here was done and a sense of satisfaction washed over me. I had finally put an end to the facade my parents had maintained in front of their community all this time. All of this happened last week, and the aftermath has been quite revealing. I have been receiving numerous calls from people since the incident. While the majority of them applaud my courage in standing up to my parents and unveiling the truth in front of everyone, my sister and some relatives believe that I went too far, humiliating my parents in front of everyone. So, am I the a-hole for going along with my parents' lies about being married to my boss so I could take the ultimate revenge on them? I appreciate all the responses to my post.

After reading your comments and suggestions, I felt compelled to give my sister a call and share my perspective. I explained to her that I was only 19 years old when our parents kicked me out, leaving me with emotional scars that persisted for years. Their decision to cut me off was solely based on my desire to pursue higher education and choose a life different than what they wanted. It was an incredibly painful experience for me at such a young age. I made it clear that I never looked down on her choice to get married, but it wasn't the path I wanted to follow.

I described the hurt I felt upon discovering the real reason my parents wanted to reconnect with me after all these years. I posed a question to Celeste, asking if she would ever treat her own children differently and cut them off if they made a decision she didn't like. She solemnly responded with a no. I pointed out that as a parent herself, she should understand that what my parents did to me was extremely wrong. This is why I felt compelled to teach them a lesson they wouldn't forget. My sister, after hearing my side of the story, expressed sympathy for the challenges I had faced. I had always kept my feelings to myself, so she hadn't fully grasped the extent of my struggle. Celeste admitted that she had no idea how I'd felt all these years, and she understood

now why I took the actions I did. While she couldn't entirely stand behind my revenge, she assured me that she wouldn't hold it against me. I was happy after my conversation with my sister. As for my parents, they haven't reached out to me since the incident, and I have no plans to initiate contact with them first. Given the way I expose their truth, I can only imagine they are seething with anger. It remains to be seen whether they will reflect on their actions and attempt to rebuild our fractured relationship or continue to blame me for their actions. For now, I stand by my decision to bring these issues to light and hope that they will have learned a valuable lesson. My mother reached out to me today while I was at work. She expressed how she and my father felt

humiliated in front of everyone, with my father harboring anger towards me. She continued to admonish me for lying to them, but I reminded her that I had simply played along to uncover their deceitful intentions. My mother attempted to justify their actions, explaining that they believed I was finally going to conform to their idea of a good girl by giving up my career and focusing on my family. I made it clear that I had no intentions of doing so, especially with the financial stability I had achieved, and the prospect of a promotion at my company on the horizon. I reiterated that I had no regrets about my actions, as they had only revealed my parents' true facade. She also shared that some of our relatives and friends were talking about them now,

and a few had expressed to my parents that what they had done to me eight years ago was wrong. This revelation seemed to have further infuriated my dad. I didn't want to continue having this conversation with my mother anymore as I knew it wasn't going to go anywhere, so I cut off her car. call. I didn't want to continue having this conversation while I was trying to work. My parents were said in their ways and so was I. I was just glad that the aftermath of the gathering was creating ripples of change not just within our family but also within the broader circle of people who were privy to the situation. Update 2. It's been three months since my last update and a lot of things

have happened since then. I decided to begin therapy. I realized that I hadn't been dealing with the estrangement for my parents in a healthy manner, and the lingering resentment had been a heavy burden for years. While I had exposed the truth about their intentions, I didn't want to continue holding on to that resentment. Therapy has been a step towards finding a healthier way to address my past and emotions. As for my parents, they agreed to sit down and have a conversation with me, largely due to my sister's heartfelt pleas. I had been initially reluctant to meet them, but my husband encouraged me to give them a chance. We all gathered at my sister's place,

and I chose to remain silent as my parents took a seat to initiate the conversation. My mother started by expressing her regret for our previous encounters which really surprised me. She admitted that she had been doing a lot of soul-searching and had realized that their actions had hurt me deeply, and she now understood the pain it had caused. My father, who had remained silent until then, acknowledged that cutting off contact with me eight years, years ago had been a mistake in that they were determined to make amends. He explained how their strong commitment to their beliefs had prevented them from seeing things from my perspective. I remained cautious, opting to listen more than speak.

Their words seemed to come from a place of genuine reflection, which was a positive start to our conversation. My parents shared how they had been seeking guidance from their community, which had helped them see the error of their ways. While it was challenging, I understood that it was the first step toward some form of reconciliation. My sister appeared relieved with how the conversation was progressing. She had been a silent yet supportive presence during our discussion, and her hope for a renewed bond between our parents and me was evident in her expression. Seeing her optimism gave me some reassurance that perhaps, with time and effort,

our family could find a way to heal and reconnect one day. Despite the challenges ahead, it was a comforting thought that we were taking steps toward repairing the rift that had separated us for eight long years. I will continue to attend therapy and remain open to the possibility of reconciling with my parents in the future, though I will approach it with caution. For those wondering about my husband, we're doing great in our marriage. Our married life has been blissful so far, and he always supports my decisions. I'm really lucky to have a partner who loves me so much, and I look forward to growing old with him. We're not thinking about having kids right now, but we're open to the idea. At the moment, we're just enjoying our

lives and traveling the world together.