Reddit Stories - Episode #4 - Betrayals That Changed Everything AITA ( 9 Hour Compilation )

Episode Date: September 25, 2025

#redditstories #sleep #sleepstories #bedtimestories #fallasleep #aita #betrayal #familydrama #longcompilation SummaryEpisode 4 presents shocking betrayals that changed everything, through powerful AITA confessions and family drama. This 9-hour compilation blends captivating storytelling with calming narration, ideal for bedtime. Designed to relax your mind, reduce stress, and guide you gently into restful sleep while unfolding unforgettable betrayals and emotional nighttime stories. Tagsredditstories, sleepstories, fallasleep, bedtimestories, relaxingconfessions, aitabetrayals, shockingconfessions, longbedtimecompilation, soothingnightaudio, 9hourstorytime, familydramacompilation, sleeplisteningstories, calmingaita, deeprestcompilation, peacefulnarration, bedtimeconfessions, betrayalfamilydrama, relaxingbedtimeaudio, nighttimelistening, sleepbetterstoriesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Mill despised me and embarrassed me at her celebration, so my spouse and I decided to stop providing her with financial support. However, she reciprocated the gesture. My husband's mother Sharon has always harbored negative feelings towards me. I have no idea why, I guess nobody is really good enough for her darling son. And she did not like the fact that in spite of her clear disapproval of me, my husband still chose to be with me.

We have been together for three years and one year ago, we got married. Initially, my husband and I really tried to get her to like me, but she was always too high and mighty to care. She treated me like dirt and most of the time when I would visit, she would pretend like it was not even there, or else, she would act like I was completely unwanted. The only reason my husband and I would even visit her before we got married was because my father-in-law was very sick, but he was a good man. So, in order to spend time with him before he passed away, we would try to visit as frequently as we could.

Unfortunately, my husband lost his father three months after we got married, but he had been sick for a long time, so we were just glad that he was able to watch his son get married before he went away. After his demise, we also reduced our visits to Sharon significantly. It had been made very clear to us that she did not approve of our relationship and even on the day of our marriage, all she did was sulk about it. So if she didn't like me, we were going to make sure that we stayed away from her. My husband still stayed in touch with his mother but did not visit her as much as he used to. The reason he stayed in contact with her was because his father had left everything to him and only the house to his mother, so it was his responsibility to fund his mom. He would send her money monthly since she had been a stay-at-home mother for the majority of her life, and only her husband had worked.

She didn't have any money of her own. She was completely reliant on my father. in law. And after his passing, she would have to rely on my husband to maintain her lifestyle. However, my husband did not want her to know that his father had left no money for her, so in order to spare her feelings, he told her that his father had left instructions that all the money was to be directed to his son, but on the condition that he would have to take care of his mother, even though there was no such condition. And before you guys ask, we don't really know why my father-in-law did not leave any money to his wife. From what we knew, they thought. They thought, tolerated each other when they were together. I wouldn't call it a happy marriage, especially at the

point when I got to know them, but they were together, and I guess there was no reason for him not to leave anything to her apart from the house. Anyway, after my father-in-law passed away, it was my husband who had been taking care of his mother because even though we did not share a good relationship, I did not feel comfortable, and neither did he feel good about cutting her off entirely, and leaving her on her own. So while we reduced our visits to her house significantly, he said, he said, still continued to take care of her, and I feel like that in itself should have made her feel a bit grateful towards her son. Unfortunately, I don't think it had that effect. Last week, my husband was out on a business trip, and out of the blue, I received an invitation to Sharon's birthday party.

That was really surprising because so far, I have never received any invitations to any of her events, and it's always been an invitation to my husband saying that he is allowed to bring a plus, just to make it clear that she doesn't even acknowledge my status as his wife. But this time, the invitation was addressed to me in particular. I was very confused, so I spoke to my husband about it first, and he told me that he had received an invitation as well, but he had received that much earlier, and it was clear that my mother-in-law was inviting me as a second thought. He told me that he had made it very clear to Sharon that he would not be able to make it to the party because he had a work

trip that was more important, but if I wanted to go, I would be free to attend. Before that, he suggested that I should speak to Sharon on the phone and ask what this is all about because it's really confusing. So I took his advice and I called Sharon and I asked her about the invitation, and she told me that she was inviting me to make amends. She said that she was well aware of the fact that she hadn't exactly treated me well in the past, but she wanted to fix that because I knew that we were together for the long run, and if my husband really loved me, then she wanted to be respectful of that and wanted to give me a real chance. I was very skeptical about attending because so far, the kind of relationship that we had,

it hadn't exactly been pleasant to deal with her. But on the phone, she told me that she was really sorry about the way she had behaved with me, but she had spoken to a couple of her friends and had come to the conclusion that she really needed to step up as a mother and as a mother-in-law and do better. So this was her way of trying to make it up to me by extending an invitation to her birthday party and asking me to attend, so we could bond. And I know, I really shouldn't have gone or fallen for her act, but I felt like she was being genuine, so I decided to attend. It was a terrible decision that I really regret now, but anyway, the next evening, I got dressed and I went to the party.

I expected to be created personally by Sharon, but to my surprise, she had hired a doorman for her party, and right in front of me, he went through the guest list and told me that my name was not on the list. I was really confused, so I even opened the invitation to the party on my phone and showed it to him but to my surprise, he told me that what I had received was not even the actual invitation and he told me that somebody must have tricked me. That should have been my sign to go home, but I was genuinely willing to give Sharon a chance. So I just stood there, and I called her up and told her what was going on. She then came out a couple of minutes later with a bunch of her friends, and I thought that she was going to tell the doorman that I was a last-minute addition and invite me in. But instead of doing that, she started yelling at the security staff to throw me out and said that she didn't even know who I was. Her group of friends who were standing behind her,

were struggling to control their giggles, so I knew that this was pre-planned. But Sharon took her role very seriously and she started shouting about how she did not want any gatecrashers at her exclusive party, and it was only meant for her close family and friends. And since I was literally nobody, she made a couple of really hurtful comments about how she can't just allow any sort of filth to enter her house and I walked back to my car in tears before the security staff had to intervene. I didn't even say anything that day, mostly because I couldn't bring myself to do it since I was crying so hard. I drove a couple of miles away from the house before completely breaking down inside my car and calling my husband up to tell him what had just happened.

He heard me out patiently and consoled me, even promising me that he would cut his business trip short to come back home earlier than he planned so he could be there for me because this had obviously been a very humiliating experience for me. I could tell that he was very upset with Sharon, but he did not let his anger come through, while he was talking to me and just focused entirely on comforting me. So, I literally had no idea what was about to happen the next day. Anyway, I came back home that day, and I blocked Sharon everywhere that I could possibly think of and promise myself that I would never ever speak to her again or even give her a chance to speak to me. The first thing that I did the next day, I speak to my husband on the phone, and he told me that he

was coming back the day after. But while I was on the phone, somebody showed up outside my door and they were shrieking their head off when I went to check. I was really not surprised to find Sharon out there because I had expected her to show up at some point, but I did not know what she was screaming about until I heard her out. And I realized that she was telling me that she was going to take us both to court and make sure that we paid up. I had no idea what she was talking about, but luckily, my husband was on the phone, and when I asked him, he told me that the night before, he had sent a message to her. And in the message that he had sent to his mother, he had said that he was going to cut off her funds now because if she couldn't respect him or his wife, she had no business

taking money from us. He told her the truth, that her husband had not left her anything and all the money that my father-in-law had, it went to him. But I guess she hadn't yet put two and two together, and she still thought that her husband had left instructions for her son to take care of her for the rest of her life. And that's why she had shown up at my door, screaming about how she was going to take us both to court and make sure that she got the money she was owed. After speaking to my husband, he told me to just call the cops and that's what I did. I called the cops and had her escorted off the property but did not press charges against her. I was very pleased with the situation because the way she had treated me was unacceptable

and I was glad that she was getting her karma for it. She had humiliated me and now, she was going to have to look out for herself because as far as I knew, she did not have any money and had been expecting her husband to leave her something. At the time, I did not think there was anything wrong with what we were doing, and even when my husband returned, we were fine with our decision to cut off her funds and make sure she stayed out of our lives. But then, two days back, she sent us both and

an email saying that she was really sorry for what she had done, but she needed our help to survive because she literally did not have anything and she was counting on the kindness of her children. Referring to both my husband and I, I could tell that she was trying to butter us up and it did not seem very sincere, but now that I think about it, there is nobody to take care of her unless we do. And yet, I don't really feel like telling my husband to get back in touch with her or anything. We haven't even spoken about it yet, so I don't know what he feels, but I have been having a lot of mixed emotions on this topic. So Ida for wanting my husband to cut off my mother-in-law's funds after she insulted me? Update 1, hi, so first things first, I have received a lot of comments,

calling me stupid and stuff for wanting to give my mother-in-law a chance. I would just like to defend myself and say that I had genuinely and truly wanted to believe that maybe she was sincere about wanting to make amends with me. Everyone makes mistakes, everyone has an ego, and she is definitely not the first mother-in-law in the world to treat her daughter-in-law badly. But I have heard of people who have corrected their behavior and I thought that it would be the right thing to give her one chance, at the very least. Which is why I went to her party and I do regret it now, but I don't think that I did anything wrong. I was the victim in the situation, not the perpetrator, so I don't think it's fair to hate on me for being somebody who likes to give second chances. That's just who I am as a person and I'm not stupid or gullible. I'm just a person. I'm just a

normal human being. Besides, I had spoken to her on the phone before attending the party, and she had sounded very sincere. So the act that she had put on was so good that I literally felt like I did not have any reason to doubt her intentions. I feel like we have to give her some credit as well since she manipulated me quite well. Me attending her party and wanting to give her a second chance shows the kind of person that I am, and her taking advantage of my decision and humiliating me shows the kind of person that she is. That's the end of it. Anyway, I don't want to talk more about that. I just wanted to defend myself before more people started sending me hate. I have discussed it with my husband and while both of us regret whatever

happened at the party, we are just glad that it brought out her true colors, and we know what kind of a person she is now. Not that there was any doubt about it earlier, she was still terrible but now it's just more obvious. And we also spoke about the email that she had sent both of us and realized that both of us had been feeling equally guilty after it. But after talking it through, we realized that the only reason she was reaching out to us was not because she was sorry, but because she needed money to maintain the kind of lifestyle that she had so far. So she could pretend that we were her children all that she wanted, but the truth of the situation was that she did not have anyone else to count on and we were basically just her meal ticket. We pretty much

stopped feeling guilty after we realized that even though she did not have any money that had been left to her by my father-in-law, she definitely had some money. We spoke to the lawyer who had been the executor of my father-in-laws while he did not tell us why exactly no amount of money had been left to my mother-in-law, he did tell us that she did have a certain amount of money in her bank account that her husband had transferred to her before he passed away and if she was really struggling. She had a bunch of really valuable stuff that she had purchased and she could always just sell it. Worse comes to worst, she could approach her family for money and ask them to take care of her. The bottom line was, it was not necessary for us to keep funding her, even after she was so disrespectful towards us because

it wasn't like she couldn't survive without us. She just didn't want to because she did not want to spend her own money, that's how she had been her entire life. She wanted to portray herself as a helpless damsel in distress so that my husband and I would take pity on her and keep sending her money, even if she continued to treat us like crap. And for a while, while, she had us fooled and had completely manipulated us into feeling guilty for her, but we were not going to allow her to manipulate us again. She is a bit of a master when it comes to that, but we are also aware of her tricks and now, it's going to be very difficult to fool us. It has been one week since she sent us that email and we haven't responded to her yet.

Neither are we going to, we are going to continue to ignore her because we don't want anything to do with her. If she stops living such an extravagant lifestyle and living beyond her she is going to be able to make it work with whatever money she is right now. We are not going to take pity on her and help her out anymore because she had lied to us about being helpless in the first place. Honestly, I just feel relieved that I don't have to deal with her anymore because it had been very difficult for me to maintain the balance between hating her and still somehow dealing with the fact that she was going to be a part of my life through my husband.

But now that he is done with her, I'm feeling a lot better about things. He was never a mama's boy to begin with, let me just make that clear but like any other son, he wanted to be able to take care of his parents and that's why he had stayed in touch with her. Unfortunately, it's very obvious now that Sharon does not deserve it. She could have had a very easy life if she just tried to play nice with me, but what can I say?

Some people are just not clever enough and let their egos get in the way of what's good for them. Update 2, hi, so it has been two weeks since Sharon sent us both that email and after that, she did not contact us for a really long time. Yesterday, though, while my husband and I were having dinner, she showed up at our house once again. I was about to call the cops again, but this time, she was not yelling at us. Instead, after ringing the doorbell and making herself known, she just started crying at our doorstep. At that point, both my husband and I were really confused about what to do because this could be another one of her tricks to manipulate us into feeling bad for her and guilt-tripping us into continuing to support her.

But on the other hand, she was sobbing on our doorstep and I think anyone in our place would have felt just as bad. So after a brief discussion with each other, my husband and I decided that we were not going to open the door, but we were going to try and be gentle with her because the cops on her while she was in the state would not be a good move. We spoke to her through the intercom and told her that we were willing to give her some time to pull herself together and leave. But if she did not take that opportunity, we would be forced to call the cops. And we really didn't want to do that a second time. So now it was up to her what she wanted.

She replied, saying that she did not want any money from us. She just wanted to say that she was really sorry. She knew that this apology was coming a little too late, but now that she did not have anybody. She had realized how important it was for her to have. have her family around her and she couldn't exactly fill that void in her life with extravagant parties and time with her friends. Because even her friends had families of their own who loved them and spent time with them. So even if we did not want to send her money, the least we could do was at least visit her

sometimes because she really missed us and mostly, her son. We did not know what to say, so we just stayed quiet and she continued to talk after we did not respond. She said that she was also apologetic for the fact that she hadn't been completely honest with us. She hadn't told us that her husband had indeed given her some money before he passed away. But to be fair, we haven't been entirely honest with her either. She brought up the fact that just to spare her feelings, her son hadn't told her that her husband had left her absolutely no amount of money. And in a way, it was fair, but she felt like both of them had lied to each other and let each other down.

And that needed to stop if we were going to be a healthy and happy family. So she wanted to be truthful with both of us and said that a reason she did that awful thing on the day of her birthday to me was that all her life, she had believed that woman would ever be good enough for her son. She hadn't approved of me because I was too outspoken, too bold, and too ambitious. Which, I guess, is true. But I really don't understand how that was supposed to be a problem in our marriage. But anyway, that's the reason why Sharon had never approved me. And when she realized that her approval did not. not mean anything anymore, since my husband was head over heels for me, that made her resent me even more. She said that she had had to sacrifice a lot when she was married to her husband and they were never in a happy marriage, but she was content with him. And somewhere or the other deep down, she had started imposing the same burden of expectations onto me. And when I did not try to live up to those expectations, she started hating me. She hated the fact that her son loved me so much, which meant that she had serious issues, but she was willing to work through

them so she could maintain a relationship with us because she did not want to lose the only family she had. I thought that was pretty raw and real of her, but we are still wary of her. So after some silence, I told her that we would think about what we wanted to do, but for now, we just wanted some peace and quiet to mull this over. After that, she left and before leaving, she apologized to us for one last time. Right now, both. Both my husband and I are very confused and have no idea what to do. So we are here. Any sort of advice on what to do will be really appreciated because we are completely lost.

We really, really don't want to get manipulated into anything again, but we also don't want to be heartless. Honestly, neither of us has any clue what to believe anymore and I guess out of all the things that she said, she was definitely right about the fact that my husband's family had to stop lying to each other and keeping secrets. It's very ironic that in my last update, I had said that my husband's family needed to stop keeping secrets from each other, and in this update, I'm still going to be standing by that statement because what we have uncovered is so serious. So apparently, the reason my father-in-law's lawyer had been refusing to tell us the reason why my father-in-law had not left Sharon any money was because he had been giving explicit instructions not to tell us the truth. However, that was not really official or formal. It had just come from my father-in-law as a friend.

So since there was no binding document, he was free to tell us the truth, and since we kept pestering him, he was forced to. I don't know why, I just had a gut feeling that getting to know the truth about this situation would unravel a lot of things and I was right. Apparently, the money that Sharon supposedly had was not something that her husband had left her, but it was her affair partner. She had been having an affair with one of her friends from college, who used to be smitten with her back then and still was. Sharon had never spoken about it while the guy she was having an affair with was still alive but three years ago, around the time that my husband and I had started dating, she lost him to a heart attack. He did not have any family of his own so he had left everything to her and my father-in-law found out about it much later, when Sharon finally told him the truth a couple of months before he passed away.

At that point in time, there was not much that he could do, and he knew that he was dying so filing for a divorce would be pointless. So he decided the only way he could get back at her for this was not to leave anything to her apart from the house and leave all his assets to his son instead. He left the house to her on purpose, so she wouldn't suspect anything and wouldn't try to contest the will after he was gone. And we also found out that whatever Sharon had said to us about having to sacrifice a lot while she was married to her husband, that had also been a load of BS. My father-in-law had given her the option to work after she got married and gave birth to my husband, but she was married. was the one who said that she wanted to be a stay-at-home mom. The only thing she had sacrificed in her entire life was dignity because, throughout her life, she always got somebody else to carry her weight. Anyway, now that we know the truth, we also know that she was putting on an act the day that she

came to our house to tell us that she really missed us. I'm glad that we did not bother to reach out to her after that because that would mean that we got manipulated once again and we would feel pretty stupid if that happened. She's a liar, cheater, and an overall terrible human being, and the farther we stay away from her, the better it is for us. Update 4, hi, so Sharon tried to contact us again, even though it has been one month since we last spoke. I guess it has to do something with the fact that I recently announced my pregnancy on social media, but she pretended not to know about it in her email. She said that she was really looking forward to hearing from us because she thought that it had been enough time since

we last spoke and by now, we should have been able to come to a decision about what we wanted for the future. And she was right. It didn't really take us long to come to a decision about what we wanted, and what we wanted was for her to stay away. So we sent her a message, telling her that we knew everything about her affair and stuff and we did not want anything to do with her anymore. We told her that if she was all on her own right now, it was because she deserved it. She had never valued anybody in her life, and the only person that she genuinely cared about was herself. So she should be grateful that right now, she gets to spend time with the only person she loves, herself. If she runs short on money, she can always find another man to have an affair with and rely on

him instead. But for now, her son is done with her. It was a really harsh message, but it had to be said because she has bothered us enough and now that we are embarking on a new chapter of our life, we need our peace, and we need her to stay the heck away from us. I'm pretty sure that this message is not going to deter her and she's definitely going to try again in a couple of months when I'm in the later stages of my pregnancy, but my husband and I have already spoken about that possibility and decided that if she bothers us anymore. We are going to just file a restraining order against her and hope for the best. We are also planning on moving out of this house into a new one and we're going to make sure that

nobody gives out the address to her because, with a baby on the way, we need a bigger space. Anyway, I'm just looking forward to being a mother and I can't wait to start afresh. Forward slash forward slash. I hope you enjoy this story. Discovered my expectant sister concealing alcohol in her purse while mooching off me following her separation. I evicted her and now my spouse and mother-in-law are insisting I apologize or get divorced. I, 28F, have been married for three years, and my husband, 34M, and I have been together for six years including the time that we were dating. His family has always been nice to me and we've had a relatively normal relationship with its fair share of ups and downs, nothing out

of the ordinary. Last year, my sister-in-law Nancy, 30F, got married to her boyfriend, but unfortunately, just within a few months of their marriage, she realized that he had already started. an affair with his coworker. She caught him red-handed in their own house and was about to leave him, but he convinced her to stay. They went through a lot of couples counseling sessions and I thought they were doing well, but then about three months ago, we found out that they were getting a divorce. Apparently, in spite of all those therapy sessions, her husband had gone back to cheating on her and this time, there was no going back from it. So she left him and filed for divorce. It has been a really difficult time for my husband's family because unfortunately, Nancy also found out that she was pregnant about a week after she filed for divorce.

That made everything even more complicated, and now along with the divorce, she also has to deal with the custody battle that she hadn't signed up for. She was probably two or three months into the pregnancy, but she hadn't begun showing yet. But she's obviously really depressed and I really do sympathize with her, but that's the most that I can do, I can't exactly. fight her battles for her. A week ago, she approached me and asked me if I could let her live with me because she couldn't bear to live alone in her old apartment now that her husband was gone, and she had nobody to talk to. She also said that the rent was way too high for her to be able to afford on her own, so she needed a place to crash for a couple of months. I wasn't on board with that idea for a couple of reasons. The first being that my apartment is quite swamped already.

My husband and I just moved in here a couple of weeks ago and we haven't even had the time to unpack. I don't think letting another person move in here was the best idea. And the second reason is kind of personal. It's a fact that Nancy is a total slob. It's bad, her hygiene is really bad and she constantly leaves things lying around and people have to clean up after her. I'm personally kind of a neat freak and that's just not something I can deal with because it makes me feel uncomfortable and gets on my nerves. I did live with her for a couple of weeks when I first started dating my husband because my own apartment was being treated from mold and my husband was living with roommates at that point, so he arranged for me to live with Nancy for a few days. My parents don't live around here and neither do my husbands, so she was my only option and she was nasty. She would leave her clothes lying around all the time all over the house. She would leave dirty dishes in the sink for days because she was too lazy, she would barely clean her washroom and worst of all.

She would expect me to live the same way and be okay with it. I was honestly disgusted, but I didn't say anything to her because she was kind enough to let me live with her, and if I had the money at the time, I would have just preferred to stay in a hotel or something. But it's been years since then, and I honestly thought that she would have changed by now. I spoke to my husband when she approached me and asked me if she could move in with me, and my husband said that he would want me to agree to it. For context, my husband is currently working. in a position where he has to travel a lot.

So he's only home on the weekends, and I'm the one who actually stays here. My husband said that he felt awful for his sister because she was already going through a terrible divorce and then she found out that she was pregnant. It couldn't have been easy. He made a fair point and I'm not heartless, so I agreed to let her move in with me, at least until the divorce is finalized. This was a big deal for me because letting her move in with me meant double the household chores since I could obviously not demand that a pregnant woman do the heavy lifting around the house.

I could ask her to do the small stuff, like maybe folding the clothes after laundry and stuff like that, but nothing too difficult. Nevertheless, I let her move in with me, and I expected her to be a little more conscious of her living habits this time because she was living in my house. But unfortunately, she hadn't changed a bit and was still the same slob that I had feared she would be. And let alone helping me do the household chores, she ended up increasing my workload. She told me that she couldn't do anything around the house because she always felt too tired. Now, I have never been pregnant, so I don't know how it feels, but I highly doubt that anybody can ever be too tired to just simply fold laundry or maybe just keep their dirty dishes in the kitchen instead of just leaving

them around the house for me to find. She was constantly snacking, and every time she had something to eat, she would use a dish and then just leave it lying there for me to find, like a demented scavenger hunt. It was annoying, and I hated having to clean up after her, do her laundry, and cook for her, while she did nothing but watch TV all day. She didn't even go to work for some reason, and when I asked her about it, she told me that she had already started her maternity leave, but that seemed really because she wasn't even showing up yet.

And that's when things started getting a little fishy for me. I did my own calculations and figured that if she had been pregnant for as long as she claimed then she was probably in her fourth month and had already ended her second trimester. There should be a little bit of a bump, but there wasn't. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because a lot of women don't start showing for a really long time, but I realized that she hadn't even been to the gynecologist ever since she moved in with me, and it had been a few weeks. Now I'm not exactly proud of it, and I had no proof at the time, but I started suspecting

her of lying to me. She didn't look pregnant, and I don't know why, but I just got this vibe that she really wasn't pregnant and she was just claiming that she was so we would go easy on her. There is also the fact that she hadn't even mentioned anything about the custody battle, which was bound to happen if her husband knew that she was pregnant. All those things combined made me feel like she was lying, so a couple of days ago, I decided that I was going to go through her stuff and try to find something that would clear things up for me. I knew her routine and I knew that she would always take a nap around the same time every day. So one day I decided to take her take a day off from work and stay at home so I could go through her stuff while she was napping.

When I had made sure that she was sleeping, I grabbed her bag, went into my room, and started going through her things. At first, there was nothing very suspicious among her belongings, but then I got to the bottom of her bag and I found a second smaller bag. There was the sound of clinking inside and when I brought it out and opened it, I was shocked to find several bottles of wine inside it and some were even half finished. I'm pretty sure that pregnant women aren't allowed to drink, so she was either not pregnant at all, or she was drinking on purpose, both of which were really horrible options. So I took a bunch of pictures of that and when she woke up from her nap, I confronted her about it. I was furious because not only had she been lying to me

in order to live with me for free, but she had also blatantly betrayed her brother's trust in her by lying. I was also really mad about the fact that she had been making me do all the work around the house and avoiding all of it by using her pregnancy as an excuse. When I asked her about the bottles, she tried to tell me that she didn't even know about them until now, but I wasn't buying them. There were several nights in a row where I could hear her being awake in the room next to mine because she was quite heavy-footed and I could hear her pacing around the room until really late. I would also occasionally hear her singing in her room, but I never really thought that she would be drunk.

That thought had literally never even occurred to me and I had never asked her about it or intruded upon her privacy. But finding the bag of wine bottles in her possession was really the last straw for me. I had been putting up with her behavior and her habits for weeks, just because she was pregnant and I didn't want to be the kind of person who treats pregnant women with cruelty. But she had used that against me and I couldn't let that slide. So I told her that she had to vacate the house because I couldn't let her live with me anymore since she had been lying to me and making me work for her for weeks without even sparing a thought about how difficult it was for me. She tried to tell me that the only reason she had lied about the

pregnancy was because, otherwise, she knew that I would never have agreed to let her move in with me. She confessed that she had lost her job after the divorce because she had been late for several days in a row and was falling behind at work, so her boss had to let her go. Now that she had no source of income, but still had to pay for her lawyer, she had to cut costs somewhere. so she decided to move out of her apartment and move in with me so she could save on rent and everything else because I was the one purchasing everything and paying all the bills. So she had every intention of utilizing that to her advantage and living as a freeloader here until the divorce settlement came through or at least until she found a job.

I was shocked that she could even conceive of something so cruel and make me work like a madman all these weeks simply because she was too lazy and I told her to get out of my house. I was really upset and there was just no stopping me so she could. kept trying to argue with me, but I ended up screaming at her and having a meltdown so bad that she probably got scared of me and left on her own. Then a couple of hours later, I received a call from my husband and he was outraged that I had kicked Nancy out of the house. He told me that I had no right to do so because this was supposed to be a mutual decision since the house belonged to both of us and the rent was split equally. But I told him that was really unfair because he was not

the one who was doing all the housework since he wasn't even at home for most of the week. I was the one who was forced to do all the work while Nancy did nothing and used her pregnancy as an excuse to evade all her responsibilities. So yes, maybe we split the bills equally, but it still didn't make sense because I was the one doing most of the work. I would have to go to work, do my job, and after a long day there, I would come back to a dirty, disgusting house and I would have to do all the cleaning up and the chores that Nancy refused to do. And my husband, for some reason, expected me to coddle her and indulge her disgusting. habits. I told my husband that I couldn't live with Nancy because it really felt like she had been raised in a barn and she was a total slob. She had absolutely zero concern for the people that she was living with. And that was just unacceptable. And most importantly, she had been lying to us for weeks and

I just don't know how my husband was okay with it. I would not be okay if my sister claimed to be pregnant just to get out of work and started living with me as a freeloader. It was dishonest and honestly just ethically wrong. There was nothing that my husband could say to justify that, so, instead, he started playing the sad divorcee card. He told me that she was going through a rough time in her life and his family. I was supposed to look out for her instead of being so hard on her. And I get it, I would have loved to help her out, but if she's going to be selfish and have no concern or respect for me, then I don't see any reason for me to be kind to her. The only reason I even let her live in my house and did all the work without any complaints

for the past couple of weeks was because I knew that she was going through a rough time. But she made a mockery out of my concern for her by lying to me and there was no way around it. I tried to explain that to my husband but he was being really stubborn and insisted that I was in the wrong and that I needed to apologize to Nancy for being so harsh and take her back in. So we got into a really bad fight and that phone call ended abruptly without any resolution. I wasn't going to apologize to him because I didn't think I did anything wrong by kicking Nancy out of the house. She was disrespectful, she had absolutely no boundaries, and she made me work twice as hard as I needed to, just because she was too selfish and lazy to care about other people. I don't think anybody would want a person like that living with them. My husband wasn't in a position to speak about it because he didn't know half of it. He had only come back home thrice in the past couple of weeks and he would always come back on the weekends.

Whenever he would be around, Nancy would always be on her best behavior and act like the most innocent and helpful person ever. It wasn't like I hadn't noticed that, but I just chalked it up to her showing gratefulness and nothing much, but now I know that it was just an act. So her brother wouldn't suspect anything. It didn't matter, though, because even after my husband found out that she had been lying about the whole pregnancy thing only to get out of work, he didn't seem to care about it. I can understand that this is his little sister that we are talking about here, but that doesn't absolve her of everything.

And he also has certain responsibilities towards me, his wife. I thought it was unfair of him to demand that I apologize to Nancy and take her back in after she was the one who screwed up. Being cheated on does not give you a free to be a jerk to everyone else, that's just not how it works. So I expected my husband to understand that and get back to me within a couple of days, but that didn't happen. What did happen was that my mother-in-law reached out to me a day after my fight with my husband and told me that I was being a horrible person right now. She claimed that I was being selfish and I should really introspect because if Nancy felt the need to lie about being pregnant just so I would help her and let her live with me, then there was clearly something wrong with me. She said that family shouldn't have to think twice before asking for help and certainly not before offering to help, but I was the kind of selfish person who didn't care about anything or anyone beyond my own self. Nancy had told her mother all about the fight that we had and how hard I had been on her before kicking her out, which I thought was all well deserved.

But she thinks that I took it too far because Nancy had just been cheated on and I should have readily offered to let her live with me instead of making such a big deal out of everything. My mother-in-law thought that it wasn't a big deal that I was doing all the work around the house alongside my job because apparently thousands of working women all over the world do it every day, holding down the fort at home while also taking care of their family and I wasn't special for doing it. Here's the thing, though, Nancy is not my family. She's not my husband and she's not my kid, so I have literally no reason to take up that additional responsibility of looking after her. It was purely out of concern and love that I had taken her in, despite the circumstances. And she misused that to her advantage, so I don't think she deserved to live in my house after that.

I told my mother-in-law that instead of lecturing me about how I should treat my family, she should probably take in her daughter and make her a better person. I was really annoyed by the fact that she was trying to make me look like the bad guy here when it was her own daughter who had been lying about being pregnant, which is a pretty big deal. So we started arguing on the phone and she told me that she was going to teach me a lesson. Then she hung up, leaving me, wondering what exactly she was going to do. I'm not really scared of my in-laws because so far they have always been very nice and civil to me, but we have never had major disagreements like this yet.

So this is our first big fight and I think this is them showing their true colors to me. I didn't know what she was going to do until last night when my husband finally called me back after our fight. I thought that he was going to apologize and tell me that he had finally realized that his sister was wrong and that he shouldn't have fought with me over her, that I did the right thing by kicking her out because she had betrayed my trust. But instead, he called me and started yelling at me for being disresolved. respectful towards his mother. He said that I had no right to speak to her that way and that she was

pissed about the tone that I had taken with her on that phone call. She had apparently told my husband that I was not fit to be part of the family anymore and had advised him to leave me before things got even worse. I didn't even know where that was coming from because, in my opinion, I think I had spoken to her the same way that she had been speaking to me on the phone call. You can't be rude to someone and expect them to be perfect to you, and her being my mother-in-law doesn't excuse anything. Her behavior was bad and I just reflected it so if she was claiming that I had been disrespectful towards her, the opposite of that was also true. She had also been very disrespectful towards me. But my husband wasn't ready to hear it and he said that things were

getting out of hand, so I needed to apologize to his family and I needed to do it quickly. I thought that it was extremely entitled of him and his family, to even expect me to apologize after what they had put me through. These past couple of weeks have been really difficult for me because I had to do everything on my own, all because Nancy was too lazy, and they felt like she deserved to have a maid and I was that person. I told my husband very clearly that I was not going to apologize to anybody

and when I said that, he told me that then he would be left with no option but to leave me because I was being really heartless and he couldn't let me treat his family this way. My husband and I have had fights before, but none of them have ever been this bad, and we have never ever even spoken of divorce, so this is a big deal. I hung up on him yesterday after he brought up divorce because I didn't even know what to say to that. I honestly don't think that I did anything wrong even now,

but the way everybody has reacted to this is making me feel like maybe I'm the bad guy here and I don't even realize it. I have no idea what to do and this is too personal for me to share with other people. I have spoken to my parents, but they think that I should just let my husband go since it's pretty obvious that his family is more important to him than me. But they are my parents, so they're obviously going to take my side. So I'd offer kicking my sister-in-law out after I found out that she had been lying to me about being pregnant?

Update 1. So, it's been a couple of days since my husband told me that if I didn't apologize to him and his family, then he would have to file for a divorce. After thinking about this for a long time, I have decided that I'm okay with it. I can't help this and this is out of my control now. If my husband wants to prioritize his family over me, even though they're wrong, then that's on him. I can't think of a single reason why anyone in his position would defend his sister over me, and believe me, I have tried.

I put myself in his shoes and try to think what I would do in his situation, but I just can't bring myself to defend Nancy because she's just so wrong. She knew all along that what she was doing was messed up, she was making me slog on purpose. She knew that I would always be tired when I came back home from work in the fact that this was a new apartment and I hadn't even unpacked fully yet made everything a lot more difficult. But that didn't stop her from treating me like a housemaid and making me do all the chores while she used her pregnancy at the excuse to avoid even getting up from the couch. So pardon me if I don't have any sympathy for her. My husband and I haven't spoken since our last conversation,

where he told me that his mother wanted him to get a divorce, and he sort of agreed with him. her. It's his choice. He can do whatever he wants to do and I'm not going to stop him. I'm glad that he chose to be honest with me and tell me that he was thinking about divorce over this because I would hate for him to show me this side once we had been married for longer and had kids or whatever. I think I dodged a bullet here, quite frankly, and I couldn't be more grateful for it. I have talked to my parents about it and they have told me that they will be putting me in touch with their lawyer. I think that even if my husband doesn't file for a divorce, I'm might. I don't think I can just go back to having a happy marriage with him and act like

everything is all right after this. Because it's really not, his taking his family's side over mine is not okay with me. If I had been unreasonable or crazy in any capacity, then I might have thought that it was fine for him to threaten divorce over something like this. But I wasn't, they were the ones who screwed up, and instead of telling them off, he's threatening to leave me. There's nothing fair or normal about what he's doing and I don't want to be a part of it. of this. It was insulting enough when he threatened to divorce, me, only because I had kicked his sister out for literally lying to me. I'm not putting up with anything else now. So this weekend when he comes back home, he can either tell me that he's sorry and we can work this out.

Or I'm leaving, there is no other way out of this. There is a very real chance that he might not even come back home for the weekend like he didn't last time because we were fighting. And in that case, I will still be filing for divorce because then it means he's just running away from confrontation and this is not middle school. He can either own up and talk to me like a real grown-up or we can end this thing. It's going to be difficult, but it has to be done. I'm getting sick of not speaking to each other and giving each other the silent treatment. It just feels juvenile and unnecessary at this point. Update 2.

So, he came back home this morning, which was. was a really big surprise, because I hadn't expected him to show up. But he did come back. Unfortunately, we haven't spoken yet since he hasn't taken the initiative to speak to me. It's been several hours of silent awkwardness, and both of us have been avoiding each other like the plague. If I enter a room, he leaves and he's not even looking me in the eye. But I'm going to speak to him, that's for certain and I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I'm going to have to end it. I can't be married to a man like. I can't be married to a man this, who doesn't even deem me worthy of a discussion after a fight. This is just the first time

that this is happening because before this, we have only had petty fights. But if this is how he acts, I don't need this. It's just really stupid and immature and if he doesn't apologize soon, I don't think I can make it work with him. I have lost a lot of respect for him and his family over the past couple of weeks and this is not making the situation any better. Update 3. Hey, guys. So I am posting this really late at night because my husband just left the house a couple of hours ago. Yeah, we were not able to work it out and we decided that it was for the best if we part ways. It was not a pleasant discussion in the slightest and there was a lot of shouting but in the end, we were able to come to the conclusion that he would never be able to put his family second

and I would never be able to put his family first. It was just that. I was the one who approached him in the evening. He tried to avoid the discussion, but I told him everything. that had been on my mind for the past couple of weeks, and he told me that he still didn't think that I was right. He claimed that I should have been gentle with his sister instead of being so hard on her because she was under a lot of pressure due to the divorce and the infidelity and everything. I told him that letting her live with me was the part where I was taking it easy on her.

I was the one who was doing everything for her, but she wasn't grateful for it and so she had to go. I tried to remind him that he had certain responsibilities towards me as well since I was his family too now. But he didn't agree with that and it just turned into a crazy shouting match. When both of us had finally run out of steam, he told me that he was going to leave because he didn't think he could make it work with me and I agreed. It's really surreal to think that this is all it took to break our marriage apart, but that's how it is. I'm going to speak to my lawyer and file for divorce in a couple of days. It's sad but I really feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I think I'm going to be fine. Thank you so much for following my story and I hope you

guys pray for me. I hope you enjoy this story. Mom gave me up for adoption following my father's death and her romantic involvement with my relative. After a prolonged period of no communication, she located me on a social networking platform, pretending to want to reconnect. I am 17-year-old female, was recently contacted by my mother after 10 years of no contact. She put me up for adoption when I was seven years old, and thankfully, I was able to find a family willing to take me in. For the sake of clarity while I'm narrating what happened, I'm going to be referring to my biological mother as Julia and my adoptive parents as mom and dad. Julia had me with my biological father when she was probably around 20 years old, and she had to drop out of college because of me.

My biological father completed his education, and they got married right after he graduated. When I was around three years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and he passed away shortly after I turned seven. I guess the process for giving up my custody had already started long before my biological father passed away because my mother gave me away, and I moved in with my new family literally just one day after my dad passed away. I remember it as clearly as yesterday, even today, in spite of the fact that 10 years have passed since then, just because I was so upset and confused about what was going on. I remember being told by several people that I would be just fine, that my father was in a better place and stuff, but all I wanted to do was see how he was doing.

He had been pretty sick, but he was always there whenever I wanted to see him. However, I wasn't allowed to even say goodbye to him after he passed away. I barely had time to register and process these things when my new family showed up the day after my dad's demise, and my mom told me that these people were going to take care of me for a couple of days. But days turned into weeks, then into months, and eventually years. I kept waiting for my mother to reach out to me, and I remember crying a lot about this initially because I thought that my mother and my family had abandoned me. A few weeks after my mom and dad took me in, my biological grandparents came to see me, and they have been in touch with me since then. Back then, I was too young to be told the truth, but when I was around 14,

they could not evade my questions anymore. I just really wanted to know what had happened with my birth mother because I was well aware of the fact that I was adopted. I just wanted to know why all of this had happened since I distinctly remember getting along well with my birth parents when I was little. I found out the truth from my grandparents and my mom and dad eventually. Apparently, after my biological father's diagnosis with leukemia, my mother was devastated. But instead of being there for him, she started an affair with my uncle. That was horrifying in itself, but nobody even knew about it until six months before my dad's demise. Since his health had started worsening considerably at that point, my uncle and Julia

did not think there was any point in hiding their affair anymore because she knew that she wanted to be with him. As soon as my father was out of the picture, she was getting together with him. Julia and my uncle told their parents about it, and my grandparents were obviously disgusted with what was going on. But for my sick dad's sake, they kept their mouths shut about it. I was too young to understand, and they did not want my father finding out about any of this because he was already going through a lot as it was. Around the same time that they came clean about the affair to my grandparents, my uncle and Julia also announced that they were not willing to raise me and were considering putting me up for adoption. There was a lot of

Hugh and cry about it, but Julia was pretty firm about what she wanted. Apparently, she said that she had been much too young when she had me and she didn't even want to be a mother. She did not feel ready at the time, and it was only because of her parents' insistence that she had me and got married to my father. Had her parents not pressured her, she probably wouldn't have done either of those things, and her life would have been very different. So now that my my father was going to be out of the picture, she did not want me either, and she was going to put me up for adoption. It was obvious that they could not send me away as long as my father was alive, so they waited until he passed away, and after that, they allowed my mom and dad to finally take me in.

Even my adoptive parents were very shocked by my situation, but they really just wanted to adopt a child and complete their family since they had been struggling to conceive for a second time after their first pregnancy, and it was too risky for my mom anyway. I know that my parents probably wanted to adopt a much younger kid, but they told me that they hadn't heard about me from any adoption agency. It was actually one of my mom's cousins who told her about my situation since she used to be friends with Julia back then. As soon as they heard about me, they knew that they had to get me out. They didn't even care about my age and spoke to my mother in person without any agencies involved. My mother agreed to let them adopt me because

even she was struggling to find someone who was willing to adopt a seven-year-old kid through the agency. They spoke to Julia four months before my dad passed away, and a couple of weeks before his death. Everything had been finalized. Even my mom and dad had believed that after my father passed away, I would probably be staying with Julia for a couple of days at least, but she sent me away literally the next day. After I found out about the truth of the situation, I was really glad that Julia had decided to put me up for adoption, and I had been lucky enough to find such wonderful parents because people mostly go for younger kids when they are adopting. I found a really wonderful family, I love my mom and dad and my older brother, and I couldn't be happier. I also have literally

four sets of grandparents, so you can imagine how spoiled I'd been right from my childhood. Nobody kept in touch with my uncle or Julia after my dad passed away, and they were not even there for his funeral, which had been organized by my grandparents. I was there because it was a very somber situation, and I was already going through a very confusing phase, so they thought it would be better for me to settle into my new life. After finding out the truth about why I had been put up for adoption and why Julia did not remain a part of my life, I had thought that I would feel unwanted or at least a little upset about it, but I mostly just felt relieved that I did not end up spending life with my biological mother

and found my way to people who actually wanted me. I'm 17 now, starting college in a couple of months, and I bearer. even think about Julia or my uncle or what they have been up to. But for the past couple of days, I haven't been able to stop thinking about them because she reached out to me on Instagram to ask me if I would be willing to meet with her and mend things. I have a public account, and it's obviously not difficult to find me, but I couldn't understand why she was reaching out to me after so many years. So before I agreed to anything, I decided to ask her why she wanted to mend things with me all of a sudden. Then she sent me a long and heartfelt message about how so much time had passed,

but even now she regretted her decision to give me up and prioritize her life with my uncle instead of her commitment as a mother. She said that she knew it was not her place to demand that I come back to her as her daughter, but she at least wanted me to know that she was not all wrong here, and the only mistake that she had made was that she had committed to a lot of things when she was too young to understand the repercussions of it. There was a lot of pressure on her, and that's why she had made a lot of bad decisions, but she never regretted having me regardless of what my family might have told me. She was just not ready to be a mother, and she wanted to make things right with me. After thinking about it, I decided to say yes because I was just curious.

I did not tell my parents or my grandparents about it. I just went ahead and met her. Only after I met her did I realize that she was not asking me to meet her only because she wanted to make things right with me, she needed my help. I should have realized that earlier, but unfortunately, I have a tendency to try and see the good in everyone, even someone like Julia. We met for lunch two days ago, and initially, she seemed very warm and cordial with me. She tried to explain her side of the story, telling me that her parents insisted that she had to marry my father, drop out of college, and take care of me and stuff like that, and she just wasn't ready for any of it, but she had to do it because her parents insisted

on it. She later started feeling very suffocated in her marriage, and the news of her husband's diagnosis was the last straw for her, which is why she was driven to have an affair. She did not regret it because she believed that my uncle was the love of her life, and she was glad to find him because she has been happily married to him for the past eight years. While talking about my uncle, she started crying and told me that right now her marriage was in trouble, and that was part of the reason why she had come to me. She said that she needed my help in reconciling with her parents and not just them, but also my father's parents. After she gave me away for adoption without even telling them, they had cut her off for the last 10 years and had nothing to do with my uncle or her.

Both of them had been fine with it in the past, but for some reason, my uncle had recently started fighting with Julia a lot because he wanted to reconcile with his parents, and he knew for a fact that they would never accept him back in their lives after everything that had happened. for some reason he was blaming Julia for it because he believed that if she hadn't been so hasty in giving me up to my adopted parents and had waited for a bit, then things wouldn't have gone so sour between all of them. So now the only solution that she could think of was to get me to talk to my grandparents and convince them to reconcile with my uncle and her, and maybe then she could save her marriage from falling apart because she and my uncle had been fighting a lot over the past couple of weeks. And she couldn't think of any other way to deal with the situation apart from this. Honestly, there's nothing that I regret more in my life than having gone to meet that woman because clearly, she was not there to genuinely apologize to me, to offer an explanation to me, or even to make amends like she claimed. She was only there because her marriage was in trouble, and she thought that I could help her out. If I could, I don't think I would want to do that because she does not deserve my help after how selfish she has been. After hearing her out, I told her that her crocodile tears were not going to work on me, and I was about to leave, but she said that if I had been in her place, I would have understood her situation better.

She said that she had been forced to become a mother when she wasn't even ready to do it mentally, and in spite of that, she had tried her best to be a good mother to me. If I couldn't even see that because I was so brainwashed by my family, then that just meant I was no different from the rest of them. That just really ticked me off because so far she had only been a mother to me for six or seven years, and even then she had all the help in the world. I was pretty confident that she had not been told to drop out of college by my grandparents, that was her personal choice. They had told me several times that my mother had chosen to give birth to me, they had not insisted on anything but had only advised her to have me and then see where it goes.

She was the one who misconstruited as pressure from them, and if it came down to choosing whom to trust between those two people, I would obviously pick my grandparents. So I told her that she could sell her bologna somewhere where people would be stupid enough to buy it since I was not. I told her I did not believe a word of what she was saying even though I'd been willing to give her a chance to be honest and make amends with me like she said she wanted to, but she had cheapened her apology by trying to get me to fix her relationship without even trying to do it herself first. I told her that I was not obliged to do anything for her since we did not have any relationship. She might have given birth to me, but it was my mom who had raised me, not her. Then I walked out of the restaurant and went back home.

After that, once I got back home, I realized that she had texted me, and it was a voice note of her crying. I could tell that she was still inside the restaurant because I could hear the background noise, and that's why I felt a bit guilty because I'm pretty sure you have to be really devastated to start crying like that in a public space. She was crying and saying that it was really horrible of me to say that we did not have any relation because no matter what had happened, she was still my biological mother, and I was her flesh and blood, and regardless of everything, she still considered me her daughter. But I don't know what to tell her. I really just don't consider her my mother anymore, and I don't really want to feel bad about it because I don't think it's necessary. She hasn't been

my mother for the past ten years. I just feel messy and because of the way she was crying on the phone, and even now I haven't been able to bring myself to block her. I don't think of her as my mother, but she's still a human being who had a connection with me. Edit, hi, so I thought it was very clear in my post that I haven't told my family about it. I don't think they would be on board with my decision to go meet Julia, and that's why I did not tell them before I made my decision. I know I owe this to them, and I'm definitely going to tell them, but for now, I just wanted this to be something that I made a call on by myself. Besides, I knew that if I had told them about it, they never would have let me meet her because all of them hated her, and rightfully so. I know that for a fact. I guess I just wanted some closure, and that's why I went to meet her in the first place. I didn't know what I was expecting, I knew that she was going to apologize, and I just wanted to talk to her one last time. I guess it's just that her reaching out to me brought up a lot of mixed emotions, and I guess I wasn't thinking straight, but whatever it is, I did go to meet her,

and it's done now, and I don't think I would change my decision if I could go back in the past and do it. I needed some closure, and I got it, and I don't regret what I did. Sometimes you just have to forget about everybody else and do what you think is right. Even if it's a mistake, it's going to be your mistake, and that's what I believe. Update 1, I finally told my family that I had gone to visit Julia, and just as I had expected, they were not happy about it in the slightest. I met her last week, and I blocked her a couple of days back after she kept relentlessly bombarding me with texts and phone calls demanding that I speak to her again and give her a chance to explain herself. I didn't know what she was going to say to me, but I didn't even want to find out anymore.

I met her once and got my closure, but that's all that I needed from her, and it's not like she genuinely wanted to speak to me and make things right, she just needed my help, and and I'm pretty sure that's the reason why she's even contacting me after the fight that we had at the restaurant. Anyway, I didn't want to speak to her again, and I knew that it was about time that I told my family about our meeting as well. So I sat them all down today, my parents and all my grandparents, and I explained everything to them. My parents were obviously upset that I hadn't discussed this with them and I had just taken off without telling them who I was meeting, but they still seemed to understand. It was my grandparents who were really upset with me. They scolded me a lot, and I heard them out patiently because I deserved it.

I should have spoken to them first. Mostly they were just worried that my mother would have tried to brainwash me and tried to make them look like the villain since they knew her well enough to expect it. After they were done, I told them that the only reason I had met her was because I needed some closure, and I did not expect everyone to understand immediately why I had that thought process, but it was something that I needed to do, and I did it. The only thing that I was sorry about was that I did it behind their backs, but I promised them that I would never be dishonest with them ever again, and that seemed to pacify everyone. Then we started discussing the reason why Julia

had called me there and the things that she had said about my uncle wanting to reconcile with his parents and stuff. The one thing that all of us could agree on was the fact that there was definitely more to the situation than we were being let on. If she was trying to manipulate me into getting back into the family, it meant that they were probably in trouble and needed some sort of help. Since Julia had said that her marriage was in trouble and she had definitely seemed very distressed when she was on the phone and even when she met me, my grandparents deduced that she was probably being truthful about my uncle being pissed at her. Now, whatever the truth is, we're not going to interfere because it's not our place to say anything. My grandparents

were very clear about it. They said that they had stopped considering my uncle and Julia their family the day that they announced they were together while my father was still sick. The last straw was when my mother just gave me away without even talking to them or giving them time to explain things to me. They just got lucky that my adoptive parents were kind enough to continue to allow them to be a part of my life. So long story short, I have now blocked Julia. No matter what happens after this, I'm not going to be speaking to her again. I know that she's quite desperate to talk to me since the last few messages that she sent me were begging me to talk to her and telling me that her marriage was falling apart and so was her life, and she desperately

needed me right now. I felt really guilty ignoring all of that, but honestly, what does she even expect me to do? Even if I wanted to, I really don't think that I would be able to get my grandparents to speak to her or my uncle. If I was in their place, I wouldn't want to speak to them either, so it's completely fair for me not to want to interact with her anymore. I know. I know that that she can just make more accounts and keep trying to get to me, but it's not going to work, so I have decided that if she tries to reach out to me again, then I'm going to tell her that I'm not interested, and if she bothers me, then I'm going to report her. I did overhear my grandparents discussing potential reasons as to why my uncle would want

to contact them again after so many years, and they had been speculating that maybe they were having financial trouble. Since nobody from our family has been in touch with them, we don't really know what they've been doing. We know for a fact that they are still living here in the same city, but we don't know what they do for a living. Julia used to be a stay-at-home mom when I was living with her, but now I don't know. But one thing is for sure, if my grandparents are right and Julia and my uncle are actually trying to reconcile with my grandparents because they are in financial trouble, I will know for a fact that they don't even deserve the bare minimum respect that they receive from other people.

Because it is just disgusting human behavior, reaching out to your daughter who you have to have to, haven't spoken to in a decade so she can fix the situation with your parents just because you need money. That's literally one of the cheapest things I can imagine people doing. And yeah, I really hope that she gets her come up and see if that's actually the case here. Update 2, hey, so she reached out to me once again today. I had blocked her everywhere about 10 days ago, and after a week passed without any sign of her reaching out to me again, I thought that she had given up, but somehow she was able to find out where I go to school, that's why we shouldn't put out our personal information on public platforms.

It was a lesson learned the hard way. Anyway, when I started walking back home from school today, she showed up on my way out of absolutely nowhere, and I was pretty taken aback. It happened about a block away from school, and I don't live very far from my school, so I usually just walk home, but she showed up in her car and started yelling at me to get in. I told her I was not going to get into her car because I did not trust her, and I said that if she insisted or tried to create drama, then I would start screaming right there in the middle of the street,

and then she would be done for. She just told me she was not here to fight with me or bother me, she just wanted to talk to me, and she did not even care if I was not going to help her to reconcile with her parents. She just wanted to speak to me and reconcile with me at the very least. She claimed that everything had gone wrong the last time that we met, and she just wanted to make up for everything. She knew that I was going to misconstrue everything,

that she was saying is fake and think that she was putting up an act, but she wanted to tell me that that was not the case, that she really would love to make things right with me. I could literally hear how desperate she was in her voice, and I don't know why, I know I should have felt bad for her, but I just felt annoyed. So I told her to leave me alone, I did not want anything to do with her, and that's when her true color started showing again. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for not falling for her act the first time around since she was pretty good pretending that she was sorry and she really wanted to make things right with me. Anyway, as soon as I told her to leave me alone, I guess I had a bit of a tone, and she

completely freaked out at me because of it. She started cursing at me and said that she was trying really hard to talk to me politely, but if I was going to be like this, then she was going to make sure that she screwed up my life. The woman literally started threatening me, saying I had better watch my back and stuff now, but I just found it very amusing because what was she even going to do anyway? I just continued to walk while she cursed at me, and eventually she just drove off after flipping me off. I was so relieved.

Once I got back home, I told my parents about it, and once again everyone gathered around to discuss what was going to be done. Since she has threatened me, we have grounds for a restraining order, so we are guessing that we are probably going to go that way, and I don't have an issue with it. I would actually prefer that so that she cannot bother me again and again. Update 3. So a couple of days ago, my parents filed for a restraining order against Julia, and after she was served, that's when my uncle decided to reach out to his parents finally, and just like they had predicted, it was obviously because of money. They had been running a confectionery together for the past couple of years, but it has not been doing well for the last few years, so they were in desperate need of money.

They knew that if they reached out to their parents directly, it would not work, and that's why they came up with this whole act. But unfortunately, Julia lost patience with me, and it screwed everything up for them, so who knows, they might even get divorced because of this, and I'll be the happiest person if that happens. My uncle is still trying to suck up to his parents, trying to get them to give him some money and keep saying that he has nothing to do with the way Julia behaved with me, but as their only son, he deserves to get some help from them. Julia, on the other hand, is taking a very strange approach and has decided to be as nasty as she possibly can to her parents and me, and has been talking crap about us online without any fear of the consequences. All that's doing is making our case stronger, so I hope she continues.

We are pretty positive that we are going to be able to get the restraining order against her because it's pretty obvious that she is unhinged now. I don't even know why she's fighting it because the other day she made it pretty clear that she wants nothing to do with me anyway. It doesn't matter in the first place because I'm going to be leaving for college in the fall, and I don't think it's going to be likely for her to show up there since she's struggling with money. Regardless of whatever happens, my parents and my family are always going to be by my side, so I don't really think that I have anything to worry about. I hope you enjoy this story. My former closest companions university-aged child oversteps boundaries with my 14-year-old adolescent daughter. I am taken aback in distressed and unsure of

of how to proceed. We still maintain a strong friendship. With my childhood best friend. We grew up together, were there through each other's relationships. When we both married the loves of our lives, when we started having children, et cetera, our families are very close. She got married and had children a while before I did, so she has older children, one of which is a 21-year-old college boy. I am practically his aunt and know him very well. The past few days I could tell my daughter was in an unusual mood, but I didn't think too much of it. Today I go into her room and see her crying. I asked her what was wrong and she said she couldn't tell me and to go away. I don't know why, but I got a really bad feeling about the situation and asked to see her phone. She freaked out and

started to scream at me. After a while I got it out of her that she and this 21-year-old man have been in contact and talking testing calling over the course of the past year. WTF? My daughter was in eighth grade. She gave me more details about the situation and said that he would encourage her to tell him her problem so they began to form a close relationship. He started telling her that he really loved her and saw her as a little sister, but told her to keep their friendship a secret from me and my best friend, his mom, and our families. Here is what I know about their relationship he would video call her at night after everyone was asleep and they would talk into the night he would often go on rants to her about how they can't have a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship now and my daughter would not

really know what to say. She would just listen he constantly talks to her about inappropriate things that I don't want her exposed to right now, such as his drinking habits in college and stuff like that. He talks to her about his problems and I see an issue in this because a lot of his problems in college are nothing a 14-year-old needs to know about. I don't mind her knowing about that stuff, but I would like her to be taught about it in a more responsible way, his friend apparently called her drunk one time and began to say explicit, inappropriate sexual things about both her and my best friend's son, example,

you suck his D.K. already girl. I want to vomit. Whenever we have family gatherings, we usually let all our children hang out together and my friend's son joins them and of course we assume he's just babysitting and watching over the younger kids. Apparently at a gathering this weekend, he had took my daughter aside and kissed her on the last. lips. It was her first kiss. He told her he has feelings for her, but that they can't do anything

right now. I am livid that I'm why daughter feels that she might have feelings for him, but she is also shaken at the same time because she's uncomfortable. Deep down I know there's something telling her it's not right, hence why she's so upset. She told me she feels like she likes him, but at the same time she doesn't want him to come over anymore. I feel so sick, I feel like a shit parent for letting this happen under my own roof. How could I have let this happen? There is so much more, this is only a small portion of the stuff she's told me, but I think it pretty much sums up their relationship. I don't know what to feel right now. Part of me wants to go over to my friend's house right now and scream at her son. Obviously I'm not going to do that. But I really need some

advice. I'm going to tell my husband later and I know he's going to be extremely livid. I don't know what's going to happen with me and my best friend either. I don't even know if I care at this point about my relationship with her. I need to get some help from my daughter. I'm also afraid that she's leaving details out. I don't know how bad this is. Sorry I'm just rambling. My head is spinning right now and I can't get my thoughts together. Edit for more details. I asked her to show me the texts between them, but he apparently made her download this texting app that automatically deletes their conversations each day. He made her do this so that they wouldn't be caught. Update, I found that in the app Instagram you can privately message people.

I found this disturbing exchange between them. I believe the context is that my daughter blocked him on the texting app they used and the boy became extremely angry and messaged her on Instagram. The gray texts are my daughter and the white ones are from him. I am beyond pissed off right now. The exchange was from two months ago. Image transcript Oops, daughter, sorry I was just feeling lonely, had a bad day

Groomer, can you shut the fuck up for like a minute ever? Everything says about you. I had a long fucking day and I don't respond to your texts and you fucking block me. You're a piece of shit. Oops, daughter, frown okay. I'll just disappear then. Groomer, unblock me or I'll ruin you. You're a dumb eighth grade bitch you don't want to

to mess with me. Oops, daughter, okay I did. Image transcript over. Update two, earlier after my daughter told me about this situation, I told her to block all communication with him, which she said she would. I had checked in with her later to make sure everything was deleted and it thankfully was and I told her that she was very strong and that I was proud of her. She knew me and her father were planning on talking to his parents, but all of a sudden in the past hour she kept trying to convince us not to and kept insisting that it wasn't as bad as she made it out to be. She kept saying it was her fault and seemed to get increasingly anxious. Me and my husband sat her down to try and work through the feelings and ask her where it was coming from. When she broke down into tears

and told us that the boy knows that she told us and had messaged her. What I didn't know is that right before she blocked him she messaged him out of fear saying she was sorry but she had told me about their relationship and what had happened. She told him that she wasn't allowed to talk to him anymore or something like that. She blocked him without giving him the chance to respond. He apparently knows what her Tumblr account is and decides to create an account just to message her there. WTF? Here is the message he sent. I have never seen such a manipulative and horrific message, but it worked because it got to my daughter's head. She has been begging us to just drop everything. and leave him alone.

Obviously we are not going to do that, but I'm at a loss on how to convince my daughter that things will end up okay that we've all agreed to go to bed since it's been a long night. I've kept my daughter's phone in my room so he won't contact her in the middle of the night. Tomorrow we will deal with the situation

once we are thinking more clearly and are able to take the best course of action. Thanks so much to everyone for the overwhelming support. It's really nice to have a place to vent to people and the advice really helped. I'll try to make an update post later this week once I get the ball rolling on putting an end to this. Image transcript. How could you think I'm a bad person?

You're the person I trust the most in the world. Some of the things I have told you are things that I've never told anyone in the world. You are selfish and evil at heart if you can really turn against me like that after everything I've done for you. When I've told you that I love you, I really mean it. But you are crazy a.F. to interpret me saying that as something more, than just us being friends. You are like a little sister to me, why the fuck would I want a 14-year-old? You are delusional. Whenever I would speak to you about how we can't be in a relationship, it's because I thought you wanted something with me. I'm totally fine without you, dude. You are

the only one who needs me. I'm the only one who has helped you through all your shit. Went and turned against you who was there for you and talked to you whole night even though he had so much work to do. me who was there every time you felt depressed me i can name so many other things i kissed you on saturday because i thought that's what you wanted and felt like you would kill yourself if i didn't it's fucked up how you wanted and i felt like you would kill yourself if i didn't it's fucked up how quickly you can turn on me and use the things i've done against me to hurt me i don't know what else you told your mom but i'm tired of your drama and don't really want to be friends with you anymore. Sorry it came to this, but it's something I've been thinking about for months,

but all the stuff you do really affects and I think it's best for me if I cut out your toxic energy. If you care about me at all, you'll go to your mom and tell her that you lied and exaggerated like you always do. You owe me that after everything I've done for you. Don't screw me over like you screw all of your other friends. When you told me about your drama, I really wanted to believe that you were in the right, but maybe your friends were actually right about you being a terrible person because I'm starting to see your true colors now. Prove me wrong.

You are no better than me, dude. You let this go on for so long so you're equally at fault. Think about all the stuff you've done before you try to get me in trouble. Image transcript over. Relevant comments XMAN1971, praise her for coming to you. Don't blame her, she's 14 and she's a kid. Not sure if you have a legal case against the guy but at the very least intervene and cut off all contact between them.

Again, remember she's 14, don't be hard on her, not her fault. Oop, of course. I told her that I was so proud of her for telling me this but stressed that at her age she shouldn't be having relationships like this with 21-year-old men and that I'd much rather her be talking to boys her age. I told her that I don't want her talking to him anymore and she said okay, but I don't know if this sorry-year-old. excuse of a man will try to contact her again or even if she will reach out to him. I know at 14 she can't understand the severity so I don't know what got through her head. Oops replied to now deleted comment. I talked to my husband after he came home from work and he is just as angry as I am.

But he did bring up the point that the police will be unable to do anything if we don't have any real evidence. All we have is our daughter's word and we wish that was enough. frown like the other commenters suggested, we are going to keep fishing for anything that will give us an edge. My husband proposed the idea even though he agrees it's risky, but would it work to maybe trick the boy into saying something that puts him in hot water? Meaning, we basically use my daughter's phone to bait him.

I'm not sure about that though dot what we are going to do is go over to his mom's house at some point maybe tonight and have a chat. I occasionally go to their place since we are in the same neighborhood, and childhood best friends, L.O.L. And as shitty as it is, we're going to go over onto the guys that we're just going to stop by and drop the bomb on her then. We don't want to take the chance of anyone having time to cover their asses and truthfully I have no idea how my best friend is going to react in this situation. I know her son will be home since he is an intern this summer and probably will not be out late at night on a Wednesday that I appreciate the advice. It definitely

helped. Update post, July 13th, 2018, one day later. Hi everyone. I want to thank you all once again for the overwhelming amount of support and messages in my original post. Taking into consideration all the advice we received, our own gut instincts, and information we had on hand about the situation, we decided to move forward and get law enforcement involved in this situation. Our reasoning simply being that this guy knew exactly what he was doing and must be held accountable. for his actions. Getting the police involved certainly has brought a lot more information to fruition. A thorough search brought up some more disturbing text conversations between my daughter and this boy that was enough to charge him with indecency with a child and possibly assault. We will continue

to move forward with this and get our daughter the justice she deserves. The new findings, however, have brought up some more information about our daughter's well-being. At the time of writing my previous post, I knew she was having some problems with friends and friends. school on top of this current situation with the 21-year-old, but what I didn't know was how severe her emotional issues have been lately. I feel awful. I know teenagers are good at hiding the things that they want to hide, but I wish I noticed, or tried to reach out to her more when I noticed she was being moody or isolating herself in her room. The police showed us a lot of messages involving suicide ideation, possibly signs of depression, the phrases I'm a fuck up. I don't think anyone would care if I

disappeared. Being constantly said. They strongly suggested getting a counselor and provided us with some resources. Here is an example of another thing the police showed me. Some background, she has this friend at school, I'm going to call him Alex. She has mentioned Alex to me before. They have gone to school together since kindergarten and when she was younger Alex would come to her birthday parties. They are decent friends. She mentions him from time to time regarding basic things like how they have a group project together, etc. He's a really sweet kid from what I've seen. The police showed me these direct messages between the two of them on Instagram. I think he could be a good friend for her. He acts very unfazed and calm when my daughter is exhibiting manipulative

and volatile behavior, but that's still no reason to speak to someone in this way. I don't want to diagnose but I'm really afraid about my daughter's mental health and behavior. I don't know if it's BPD, depression, anxiety, what? I don't want to make her think that this behavior is okay in any way, but at the same time I know she must be hurting deeply to have to resort to treating people this way at this age. Basically, I don't want to make her feel like she's an awful human being, because she isn't, but I don't want to approach it in a way where it seems like I think it's okay. She says she doesn't want to go to therapy, but me and my husband agree that she needs to at least go to a preliminary appointment and speak to one. She is pretty open with us, but I know

there are things she doesn't want to tell us about and there are things that we really feel only a professional can help with. We've set up an appointment with both a therapist and a psychiatrist that I'm just rambling now, but I've always tried to give my daughter privacy, but I think it's time I monitor who she's talking to. I don't want her to feel like I don't trust her and like I'm spying on her so it's difficult. If there was just some way for me to see the contacts on app she's messaging without really seeing the message content that would help maybe. I just want to make sure she's not talking to anyone she shouldn't be. I don't know that we're glad that we can more forward

and potentially get the 21-year-old guy charged with something and have him out of our lives, but my daughter is far from being healed. Thank you again to all who helped weigh in on this situation. Much love to you all. Update, I've received some interest on how the parents of the 21-year-old, the mom is my best friend from childhood, responded to the the situation. Received this text from his mom not soon after the police went to their house. You could have given me a heads up before you went ahead and destroyed my family. L.O.L. I did not

reply to the text seeing as it was immature, I did not want to entertain it, and I had bigger things to worry about. She called me a bit later and I made the mistake of picking up. She began to berate me and told her that I had broken her trust and ruined her family and that they were going through hell. She said that she could have fixed things herself if I came to her first and that I didn't need to go to the police and escalate the situation. Said some stuff about how her son's life was ruined too. Some other stuff about how I'll burn in hell for this. I thanked her for the friendship and all she has done for me over the years, and told her I was not interested in debating whether or not I did the right thing outside of a court, and swiftly ended our friendship. Relevant comment.

Deleted, her son engaged in criminalized. activity on a child, but you destroyed her family. K. It sucks to lose a friend, and to be blamed, but know that you did the right thing. If he had robbed a bank, you wouldn't have called and given her a heads up that the police are about to be informed. Oop, exactly. The reason me and my husband agreed not to give her a heads up was because we knew she would freak out and try to talk us out of it. I know if it was any other guy grooming my daughter, she would have 100% supported me calling the police. I'm trying to limit the amount of contact with her and remain objective and pretty much behave Grey Rock with her because of how conflicted our interests in the situation are.

And I don't want the emotions between us due to our friendship to overcomplicate what we know we must do that it's really, really hard. Final update, December 13, 2019, 1.5 years after original post. It's been well over a year since everything happened and I figured I should give a final update to the community that was so supportive to me during such a difficult time for my family. I sincerely thank each and everyone one of you who gave me advice and showed so much love and support. After everything that happened last summer, we did eventually end up moving to a new state right before the school year started. My husband's job allowed him to relocate there, and after some time I ended up finding a job of my own here.

My daughter was able to start high school at a new school and it was the best decision we made. She's very recently 16 now and in her second year of high school, involved in track in Exce, has a wonderful new social circle and a boyfriend, who's actually her age this time, few. He's been over for dinner a couple times and he's a lovely young man, and treats my daughter with so much respect. I'm just so happy that she's happy now after everything's been through. There's still stuff she needs to work through so she is attending therapy regularly and it's helping her a lot. Overall, all the dust has settled and my family is happy, stronger and closer to because of all that's happened.as for the man who did all this to my daughter, we unfortunately weren't able to get too harsh of a punishment. We fought tooth and nail and were only able to get him to be slapped on the wrist with a large fine.

We've come to peace with it knowing that we did all we could and that he's out of our lives for good. We were able to place a restraining order on him so he won't be bothering anyone anymore, and he's on the sores for my best friend. a.k.a. the mother of this man. We hadn't talked to each other in over a year. A couple months ago, she reached out to me to tell me she was in my new state for a business trip and asked me to get coffee with her. I declined at first, but she called me and told me she just wants to meet for closure and that she's missed me and wants to apologize for her part and everything. We met for coffee and she completely apologized for the way she treated my family through all of this and told me she only did it because she was afraid of her family falling apart but now recognizes that it was

selfish of her. She wanted to be friends again in some capacity if I was okay with it. Dude thanked her for the apology but told her that I don't feel comfortable resuming a friendship with her and that it was best for us to go our separate ways. It was a really sad conversation. Me and this girl have been together through so much growing up. She has been my rock during some of the most difficult and scary times in my life and vice versa. It was hard not to be sad or second guess it, but I knew it was best. I don't want ties with her family or any connection there. Thank you again Reddit for everything. I'm so grateful. I hope you enjoy this story. Cameron requested my presence as a bridesmaid, had me organize and finance her pre-wedding celebration,

and later excluded me from her wedding due to my pregnancy. I later discovered that she had solely friend me to use me. So, my sister-in-law Bonnie, twenty-sixth. is getting married in a week and she just disinvited me from her wedding about three days ago. The reason for that is extremely petty, stupid, and selfish. It's because I'm pregnant, but I haven't even started showing yet and there is literally no chance that I'm going to be able to steal her thunder, which is what she's afraid of. It stings even more because she had asked me to be a bridesmaid a couple of months ago when she first got engaged.

Before that, we were not particularly close, and I was actually really surprised. that she had asked me to be a bridesmaid for her. I have been with my husband for five years, married for three, and before she got engaged, Bonnie had never put in an effort to build a relationship with me. She had mostly just been indifferent, so it wasn't like we didn't get along. But we certainly were not the best of friends,

and when she asked me to be a bridesmaid along with her other friends, I had initially been skeptical, but then she had told me that she was aware of the fact that we hadn't been close, but now. She wanted to fix that, and that's why she was asking me. It took a couple of minutes of convincing, but eventually, I agreed because I thought it was exciting.

Over the last couple of months, things had been great with her and I thought that we were becoming really close friends. I was an active part of the wedding planning and she trusted me enough, or so it seemed. One of the major things that she had asked me to do as a bridesmaid was organize her bachelorette trip to Bali. My parents have a travel agency

that I run alongside them, which is why she had that special request for me, and since, by then, we were getting along quite well, I agreed to do it for her. Usually, most travel agencies require you to pay a certain amount up front and the rest, you can pay after the trip. We have a similar policy, but just because Frankie is family, I agreed to organize the entire trip for her without any payment up front at her insistence. She had promised me that she would pay me back the entire amount after the wedding and would even get me to organize her honeymoon, which meant more business for us. All I had to do was pay out of pocket this one time, just for her.

Of course, I was a little dicey about it at first because this business belongs to my parents as well, but then, we have been doing well, and because she was family, I could afford to cut her some slack. So not only was the entire trip for her and all the other bridesmaids organized completely by me, it was also paid for by me. We had great fun for one whole week and I funded the the trip for six women all by myself, so I think that would be a big reason to be grateful to me, but I don't think Frankie seems to care. Because a couple of days after we came back from the trip,

I started to feel really sick in the morning and ended up puking my guts out. I get really easily scared when it comes to my health. So my husband and I immediately decided to visit the doctor to find out if something was wrong with us because I was convinced that I had caught some sort of stomach bug while traveling. However, that day, we learned that I was just six weeks pregnant and what I was experiencing was just morning sickness, so there was nothing to worry about. My husband and I were obviously thrilled, and we immediately contacted our families to tell them about it. We only told our immediate families, our parents and our siblings, and everyone seemed to be happy for us, with the exception of Frankie. When we told her, she seemed very subdued,

and even when she was congratulating us, it did not feel genuine. That day itself, we did not think much of it because we had other things on our minds, but a few days after that, I ended up receiving a text from Frankie, saying that she had decided that it would be best to disinvite me from the wedding. Given the circumstances and that she hopes that I would not take offense at this. I was really shocked because barely a week had passed since we had come back from her bachelorette trip that I had organized and paid for an according to me, there really wasn't any reason for her to be behaving like this.

I tried to call her after that, but she did not answer, and even when I tried to text her, she did not respond. I even spoke to my husband about it and he tried to contact her as well, but she just kept ignoring us. I was obviously really upset about it because I really couldn't think of a reason that she would disinvite me to her wedding all of a sudden, after everything that happened in the past couple of months, the way we had bonded and whatever I had done for her. She continued to ignore us for a couple of days, but I kept trying to contact her and three days ago. She finally answered one of my phone calls. She sounded really annoyed on the phone and told me that I needed to stop calling her so frequently, but I didn't care.

I just wanted to know why she was doing this and acting so weird all of a sudden. Then, Frankie snapped at me and told me that the reason she did not want me at the wedding was that I had managed to get myself knocked up right around the time of her wedding and as the bride, she did not want her pregnant sister-in-law stealing her thunder and told me that it really wasn't that difficult to figure out. After saying that, she hung up on me, and I was just shocked that this was the real reason. Before that, when she had been ignoring me, it had occurred to me that she had disinvited me right after we had found out that I was pregnant and the timing seemed a little too suspicious. But I had dismissed that as a reason because I really did not think that Frankie would be so petty and insecure. Of course, I was proved wrong later and the way she had behaved with me on the phone call had really upset me.

I also felt kind of use because of the whole situation with the trip and after speaking to my husband about it, I decided that I was fine with not attending, and I would also ask her to return all the money that she owed me. Even my husband was really upset with how his sister was treating me, and he told me that he was also going to inform her that he would not be attending. So that day, after that phone call, he sent her. a message saying that he would not be attending either because of the way she had behaved with me and that she needed to return all the money at the earliest. She replied to that message within an

hour, saying that we were being unreasonable and that she had a perfectly valid reason not to want me at the wedding because I was pregnant and she just couldn't risk it. I just couldn't understand what she was so afraid of because I was not even showing, so nobody would be able to figure out that I was pregnant unless I told them myself. And we didn't want anybody finding out yet either, so we were obviously going to keep that information to ourselves, and even her parents, the only other people who knew about it, were not going to talk about it. Besides, she has to give us some credit, of course we are raised well enough to know that we are not supposed to make announcements like these at somebody else's wedding and I would never do that to anyone. So, if anything,

it was she who was being unreasonable, and afterward, my husband got into a fierce argument. with her over the phone when she called him up to convince him to attend the wedding because otherwise, it would raise a lot of questions. Ultimately, they ended that argument on a really bitter note, and my husband decided to stick to his decision of not attending the wedding because of how I had been treated and he even told his parents about it, who didn't say anything because they wanted to stay out of it and we respect that. But things got worse when Frankie decided to tell her friends about what had happened because now, they have also started to back out of the wedding. We had a group text with all the bridesmaids and yesterday, I was removed from that group by Frankie.

I'm assuming that people started asking questions after that and Frankie must have told the truth because a couple of hours after I was removed, I started receiving messages from her friends, telling me that they were on my side here and that what Frankie was doing was really stupid and petty. I really appreciated the fact that her friends had reached out to me personally to tell me that they were on my side here, but I was also equally upset about the fact that she had decided to talk about my pregnancy to her friends without even consulting with me first. She knew for a fact that I wanted to keep my pregnancy private for a while and if she had brought it up in the bridesmaids group, it meant that her cousin also knew that I was pregnant. Since she was also a bridesmaid, her cousin hadn't

reached out to me but her friends told me that she had explained the situation to them in a couple of voice notes that she had sent to the group and everybody had heard those. I got really mad because she had no right to do that. My husband and I wanted to talk about the pregnancy and tell people about it when we were ready. Even if I made my peace with the fact that her friends knew about it, because it's not like they are connected to anyone that we know in the family or know any of our friends, her cousin also knew. And she was a part of the family so she could easily tell her parents about it and then the entire family would slowly find out before we were ready to talk about it. I did speak to the cousin right after I found out about the voice notes and

I requested her not to tell anyone about the pregnancy, but by then, she had already told her parents. Thankfully, she promised us that she would convince her parents not to talk to anybody else about it. It's pretty exciting news for the family if I'm being honest since my husband is the oldest amongst all the cousins in his generation and he's really loved in the family. Anyway, we managed to bring that situation under control, but we were still very upset with what Frankie had done because she had been running her mouth when there was no need to do so. So right now, we are very upset with her and I don't really feel like forgiving her. I know that she's getting married in a week and her friends have started to back out of the wedding.

They are threatening not to attend if Frankie doesn't fix the situation with me and that's why she has reached out to me to apologize and invite me to the wedding again. But I really don't feel like attending anymore now. It's not just what had happened and how she had behaved with me after she found out about the pregnancy that was bad enough on its own. But what she did recently, by telling her bridesmaids about my pregnancy without my consent, that's what really ticked me off even more. And like I said, I also feel really used because I feel like so far,

she was only being nice to me because she wanted me to organize the Bachelorette trip for her and because of his family, she could always pay me at her leisure, which is not something she would be able to do anywhere else. There are just a lot of things that are bothering me about her right now and I really don't think that I'll be able to sit through her wedding or attend as a bridesmaid after everything that has happened. I wouldn't have an issue with my husband attending or even with, her friends being there for her, but I personally wouldn't want to be there.

The problem that has come up right now is that my husband doesn't want to attend without me and her friends have made it very clear to her that they are not attending if I'm not going to be there because they believe that whatever Frankie said and done was unforgivable, especially considering everything that I had done for her so far. With the trip and everything. So she desperately needs me to be present at the wedding and even my in-laws have contacted me to try and tell me that she is miserable and she really feels apologetic for everything. So they would be very grateful if I managed to forgive her and attend the wedding for their sake. And I really wish I could forgive her, but even if I did, I really wouldn't feel right attending her wedding.

The most I can do for her this convince my husband and her friends to attend and be there for her but so far. Even that seems pretty impossible because my husband has his mind made up and has told me that he's not going to be attending any event where his wife isn't wanted and it's so sweet of him that I can't even bring myself to argue with that. As for her friends, I have tried to text them and tell them that I would really want them to attend the wedding and do their bridesmaids' duties because whatever is happening between me and Frankie is between us. And I would hate for her wedding to be ruined because of me. But most of them have just been dodging that topic and have told me that they are just doing what they think is the right thing to do and apparently, there are also other reasons apart from this, which is why they're not keen on attending the wedding. Right now, I'm just at a loss because the wedding is in a week and I truly don't know what to do. I'd offer refusing to forgive my sister-in-law and attend her wedding even after she apologized for messing up. Edith, so I spoke to her friends about the other reasons that they had for not wanting to be there at the wedding

and apparently, she has changed a lot ever since she got engaged and has turned into a bit of a bride assila. They were not really willing to bring it all up with me because they were not sure of how I would react and they did not want to make it look like they were gossiping about her behind her back because of one fight, but they were just finding it very difficult to deal with her in the past couple of months because of her terrible behavior. A couple of her friends had known her since high school and one of them had known herself since college and all of them agreed that there had been a significant change in her behavior in the recent past and she had been acting far more entitled than she used to be. Several times over the past couple of months, she had lost her temper with them,

she had snapped at them for stupid things and had expected them to do everything for her without even thanking them. And I had also picked up on this a couple of times while we were on the bachelorette trip and she had ended up being rude to some of her friends and even some of the staff at the hotel, but I did not think much of it. She had spared me that treatment, probably because I was paying for everything and she couldn't afford to make me mad, but looking back, I guess it was true. Apparently, the incident with me had just been the last straw because she had expected everyone to be on her after she told them everything about the situation with me, and when they had tried to tell her that what she was doing was not right and she owed me an apology. She snapped at all of them again and

told them that she was going to do whatever she wanted. That was the final nail in the coffin for most of them, and they realized that she had been treating them really badly and her behavior had become intolerable, to the point where they did not even want to be around her anymore. And after that last fight that they had because of the situation with me, they decided that they were not going to be attending the wedding and I think it's pretty valid. Honestly, they put up with this kind of disrespectful behavior for a lot longer than I would have entertained and at this point, I don't really blame them for wanting to back out of the wedding.

I don't even think that I can help it. The most I can do is try to convince my husband at this point. Update 1, hey, thank you so much for the response on my post. So, there are just three days to go before the wedding and I have decided that I'm not going to be attending. I have spoken to my in-laws about it as well and I've told them that I really racked my brains for a reason to forgive her, but after everything that I have found out, I really don't feel like being around her. Especially after talking to her friends about her behavior, I realized that she has not just been treating me like this, she has been treating everybody badly. The only reason I was spared for the past couple of months was because she had been counting on me to organize and finance her bachelorette trip until she felt like paying me back, probably because she didn't want to cough up.

up all that money at once since she was also going to have to think about the wedding expenses. And because she knew for a fact that she could convince me to cover her expenses until she could afford to pay me back, she had been treating me well. But now that the trip was done with, she did not feel the need to play nice with me anymore and that explained the sudden change in her behavior. It was clear that she was acting like a total bridezilla and I did not feel that it was necessary for me to put up with her behavior. My in-laws seemed disappointed, but they did not say anything, for which I am grateful. Of course, they are going to be upset about this because it's their daughter's wedding and since I'm not going to forgive her, even my husband is not going

to be attending and that's not going to be a good look for the family. So I can totally understand why they are disappointed, but I'm really glad that they did not question my decision or try to make me the bad guy here and were understanding and respectful. However, Frankie did not take this as well as they did. When I reached out to her, and I told her that I would not be attending the wedding and I really tried to convince my husband, but he doesn't want to attend either and there's nothing that I can do about it. She called me up and started screaming at me about how I was ruining everything for her and that I was the biggest attention seeker and that she knew for a fact that I was only doing this to get revenge on her. She said some really derogatory stuff to me and usually, I'm not the kind

of person to entertain this kind of behavior. I just cut them off, but this time I decided to hit back because I couldn't just let her get away with saying whatever she wanted to me. So I cursed back at her and I told her that all of this was her own fault. She had no right to be blaming me for any of it. I told her that if she had just been a decent and secure person and not disinvited me from the wedding just because I was pregnant, none of this would be happening in the first place. I also called her out on the fact that she owed me a huge amount of money because I had funded the Bachelorette trip yet. She had the audacity to behave this way with me. It just spoke volumes

about how ungrateful and entitled she was. She tried to downplay the importance of that by saying that I was being stingy and tacky by bringing up the money over and over again, but honestly, it was a huge amount of money and I never would have funded the trip had she not been my family. I had done it as a special favor to her

and I was going to remind her of it because the way she had been behaving with me required me to put her in her place. You don't bite the hand that feeds, I think everybody knows that. I told her that she was ungrateful and that I was right for not wanting to attend the wedding because, after the way she had been treating me and everybody else, she totally deserved this. So far, I had actually been trying to convince my husband to attend the wedding without me because I did not want to ruin it for her and her family, mostly for my in-laws because they were good people.

But now, I was glad that my husband had decided not to attend because she was just a straight-up terrible person and she had made her bed, so she now had to lie in it. After that, she started cursing at me again, but then I hung up because I had already said whatever I needed to say, and I did not see the point of carrying on the conversation anymore. Once that conversation was over, I called my husband, and I told him everything and he told me that I had done the right thing because under usual circumstances, even he would advise me to just ignore her but at some point. You just reach a place where you just have to turn around and hit back because the other person needs to know that they cannot get away with everything. And I'm glad that I said whatever I said, I don't even care if she's getting married in a couple of days. She needed to hear this. Anyway, after this conversation, my husband, and I know for sure that we will definitely not be attending the wedding and I know it will raise a lot of awkward questions for his parents. But at least I'll have the satisfaction of knowing that I tried my best to keep the situation under control and it was really not my fault.

Update two so, a very interesting update on the situation. I just got off a phone call with Frankie's mate of honor. She's one of Frankie's oldest friends, they have been together since middle school, and she was probably the only person who I hadn't spoken to so far. I've got to say, I wasn't expecting her to call me at any point but today, I guess even she came to her senses and decided to do the right thing. She is not backing out of the wedding, she just called me to tell me that I had been right about Frankie using me for the trip. When she called me, she started off by telling me that it had been really difficult for her to make this decision because Frankie was her best friend. but given her recent behavior, even she couldn't deny that she had turned into a totally different person and even though Frankie had always been a bit spoiled. This was just taking things to a whole new level.

She told me that she was going to honor the commitment that she had made and was going to see the wedding through as the maid of honor but after the wedding, even she planned on distancing herself from Frankie. But before that, she wanted me to know that she and Frankie had had a discussion about me several months ago, and Frankie had mentioned to her that I ran a travel agency with my parents so it would be quite convenient for her to make me a bridesmaid and improve her relationship with me so when the time comes. I would agree to organize and fund the Bachelorette trip in that way. She could take her own sweet time to pay me back, which is not something she would be able to do with other travel agents. So basically, I had been right about her, making me a bridesmaid and trying to improve her relationship with me, just so that she would be able to take advantage of my position. It was a little disheartening to know that I had been right, but at this point, I'm not surprised. I thanked her for telling me the truth because I knew that Frankie would never have admitted to it, and after that, she hung up and requested me not to tell Frankie about the conversation that I had with her,

which I'm going to keep a secret. Anyway, there's enough drama surrounding the wedding as it is. I don't think I need to add on to it anymore. I discussed that phone call with my husband and we think it's really sad that Frankie hasn't been able to hold on to any of her friends and now, she's going to lose her oldest friend, just because of her own terrible behavior. It would be one thing if she was ready to acknowledge it and work on it, but I don't think she is. I think she actually believes that having a ring on her finger entitles her to everything in the world and she can hurt and disrespect whoever she wants in the process.

I don't think she had to ask that she's not the only woman on the planet to get married and planning a wedding might be stressful, but you don't get to take that out on all of your friends and well-wishers without facing the consequences. Anyway, she's going to learn that now and she's going to have to learn it the hard way. I wish her husband the best, honestly, since I have a feeling he's going to need it. Update 3, hi, so Frankie got married two days ago and we did not attend. And as far as I know, neither did any of her friends whom she had disrespected over the past couple of months. Apparently, she had kicked all of them out of the bridesmaid group a night before the wedding and that was that.

The only two people who were there at the wedding were her best friend and her cousin. To be honest, her cousin was only there because her parents were going to be attending anyway and she did not want to create drama in the family, so she decided to attend and fulfill her bridesmaid duties. And we already knew that her best friend was going to be there as made of honor, so that was not a surprise. But deep down, we all know the truth, that all these people are sick of her and that it's all her own fault. A lot of people did reach out to me and my husband and asked us why we had not attended the wedding and we gave them the same explanation that our in-laws had come up with, that I was extremely sick, down with the stomach flu. And I needed somebody to stay with me and take care of me and that's why neither of us attended.

So in the end, I guess it worked out for all of us. Probably not in the way that Frankie had expected, but well, she's a grown woman and she can handle the consequences of her own actions. I just decided to write about it now because a couple of hours ago, I received the money that she owed me and now that we are even, I think it's time that we collectively move on from this episode. I don't think my husband and I want anything to do with her beyond this point and I'm sure that she feels the same way about us as well. Now onwards, I'm just going to be focusing on the positives, like my pregnancy and how I'm going to be a mother in a couple of months. My husband and I are really excited and that's what I'm going to stay focused on right now. I hope you enjoy this story.

A peculiar mother deceived me into coming over to her place, disclosing that she had a romantic involvement with my former tormentor from high school, which led to the dissolution of my parents' union. I, a 24-year-old woman, am set to tie the knot in three months. Months to my fiancé Andy, 25M. We've been together since college and he proposed a couple of months back, so I accepted without a second thought. My dad was the first to know because my father is the only parent I'm still in touch with.

My mother and I hadn't spoken in almost three years after she got drunk at the first Thanksgiving party I was hosting at my apartment and then insulted me and my food. It sounds petty but that was pretty much the straw that broke the camels back for me. My mother had always been kind of an attention seeker and would always try to outdo me. It would feel like she was constantly trying to compete with me or something and on the day of my Thanksgiving dinner, I finally confronted her about it. She was really drunk in making a scene so when I told her to cut it out, she started cursing me out and insulted me, my cooking, my appearance, and even started talking smack about Andy. At that point, my dad had to drag her away and leave because she

was becoming too much to handle and was ruining the dinner. Shortly afterward, my parents got divorced. My mother initiated the divorce, shockingly. Apparently, she didn't. She didn't. She didn't just didn't want to spend her life with my dad anymore, so she left without much of an explanation as to why she wanted a divorce. It's been three years since the Thanksgiving party and my parents' divorce. My mother and I hadn't spoken since then and I, for one, was glad about it. My dad was heartbroken when she left because he loved her truly and he had put up with a lot of her awful behavior through the years, only for it to go bust one fine day all because she suddenly fell out of love with it. It took him a while, but he's been doing better and I've never really cared

about my mother leaving. She was a terrible human being, very narcissistic and self-centered. I only wish I'd kept these things in mind when she reached out to me a couple of days ago, asking me to come visit her because she'd heard from a few relatives that I was getting married and she wanted to make things before I started this new chapter of my life. It was corny but her message was kind of touching. I was still skeptical, though, because she was still the same woman who had put me down my entire childhood and made me feel like I was never good enough. So I talked to Andy about it and he told me that I should give it a chance since she'd made the effort to contact me and it's been three years, so she might have changed.

It wasn't true but after talking to Andy, I decided to give it a shot and agreed to meet my mother. It turned out to be a pretty bad decision because after I agreed to meet my mother, she insisted that I come over for lunch. I had just planned on meeting her at some restaurant because I didn't think it was appropriate to go visit her house for the first meeting itself. But she talked me into it and I ended up agreeing. Two days ago, I drove down to the address that she'd given me and for some reason, it felt really familiar to me. I tried to recall how I knew this place but was struggling with it.

So I just decided to walk up to the door and ring the bell because it was probably just me overthinking all of this since it had been ages and maybe it was just nerves. It was only when the door opened that I realized what a horrible thing my mother had in store for me. So the guy who opened the door was none other than my math teacher from high school, who had hated me throughout and tried to make my life hell. I'm not even kidding, I almost did a double take when I saw him and decided to turn around to go back to my car. I thought that my mother was probably just pranking me because it would be just like her to send me to my nightmare from high school's house as a joke after telling me she wanted to reconcile with me.

I told him that this was probably just a mistake, apologized, and then started to turn around. But before I could leave, he stopped me in my tracks and told me to come back. I heard my mother calling out to him from inside the house and to my surprise. He called her honey and asked her to come to the door. By then, I'd put two and two together, but I was still having a hard time processing all that information because I had just never seen this coming. So while my mother came to the door, I just stood there like a deer caught in headlights. My mother finally appeared in the doorway and smiled at me pleasantly like it was perfectly normal

for her to be at my math teacher's house. I asked her how long this has been going on really quietly and she told me that this has been going on for almost four years now. She didn't even seem ashamed of it, she said it really casually to me as well. I freaked out when she said that because I knew what that meant and I'd finally figured out the reason behind my parents' divorce. I screamed at her and asked her how she could do this to me and my dad

because I was really upset, but I didn't even know what I was more upset about, her dating my high school bully or her cheating on my dad. I cursed her out for a little time while she tried to calm me down, but then I just left and didn't even look back when she started calling my name to stop me from leaving. I couldn't believe that she would do this to me and my father who had always been the greatest husband to her. I drove back home in a days and it was a miracle that I didn't get into any accidents

because I was honestly just not in it at all. As soon as I came back home, I broke down so badly that Andy had to drop everything that he was doing to console me. I hadn't told my father that I was going to meet mom and after what I'd found out, I didn't think it would be such a good idea anyway. So I just didn't mention it to him because I believe that I was protecting him. And for some reason, I also believe that saying it out loud, especially to my father, would make it very real. I did confess to Andy about it and he thought that it would be better if I told my dad, before he found out from someone else. But I just wasn't ready to do it. I did not feel mentally prepared to face the consequences even though it was not

really my fault. My mother tried to contact me after I left, but I haven't opened the text even now because I can't think of a single thing that she could say to me to make this better. I'm not exaggerating but my math teacher really hated me and he truly was my worst bully back then. He never missed a single opportunity to pick on me or to make me feel small and it did affect my self-esteem. And as for my mother, well, I already told you guys about the relationship that I used to have so it was already pretty bad and with the awful surprise that she had for me, I highly doubt I could ever trust her again. When I saw them together standing in the doorway like that, I honestly felt like the two biggest bullies of my childhood had teamed up to become an ultra-nightmare for me

or something. I felt awful after what I saw that day and was convinced that going to meet my mother to make amends had been nothing but a huge mistake. So I tried to put it all out. out of my mind and pretend that it never happened, but then I got a call from my dad this morning. We hadn't spoken properly ever since I met my mother because I'd been afraid that I'd blurt out what I knew and I knew deep down. He still had feelings for my mother. So when he called today, I tried to play it really cool, but he already knew about my mom and her boyfriend. And he'd actually called to confront me about it. At first, he asked me if I had visited my mother in the past week and I instantly said no, which was a lie.

and then my dad asked me if I was sure and I still denied it, even though both of us knew the truth. He finally told me to cut it out because my mother had called him the day before and told him everything because she wanted him to convince me to talk to her so that we could fix the relationship before the wedding since she wanted to be there for. Me. He told me that my mother had told him all about her relationship with my teacher and that she wanted him to talk me into forgiving her and coming back for another visit. I tried to explain my side, but he cut me off and told me that he wasn't disappointed in my mother or anything. He didn't even care about her anymore.

But he was pretty disappointed because I hadn't told him the truth as soon as I found out. He told me that he believed that I was the only person he could always count on, but I had really let him down this time. I tried to apologize to him, but he told me that he needed some time to think about this, and he believed that it would be for the best if we did not speak for a while. I was hurt by that so I tried to talk to him but he hung up on me before I could even get a word in. It's been a couple of hours since then and I've tried every single way to contact him. I have tried calling him, I have tried texting him and I've even tried to drive by his house but he wasn't at home. I don't know where he was because he has not responded to anything.

I even tried to talk to his secretary but she told me that he was busy for the day and wouldn't be available to talk. I knew that wasn't true and tried to get her to tell me. how I could reach him, but she told me that she had strict instructions from my father not to let anyone talk to him that day and that included me as well. After that, I kind of gave up on trying to reach him because it was clear that he did not want to speak to me. Not right now at least. I came back home from work a couple of hours ago and I've been pretty depressed ever since. I did talk to Andy about it but he really thinks that my father is right to be upset with me. I had the chance to come clean to him a few days ago when the incident took place, but I hid it from him, just to protect him.

Forgetting that he was a full-grown man and could take care of himself, but it was more important for me to be honest with him. Andy is right, but I also feel like my dad should understand where I was coming from because I knew how heartbroken he was when my mother left and I just did not want him to go back into that dark place again. I can understand that he's upset with me, but I think he should also cut me some slack since I was also struggling to come to terms with this incident. information. It's not easy for me to know that my mother was the worst person I'd ever known. I don't understand what to do. I'd offer not telling my father that my mother had cheated on him as soon as I found out. Update 1, so I know that most of you guys felt that I did not need to apologize to my father but I still did it anyway. Because I really love him, he is my only parent who actually cared about me growing up and I can't afford to lose him. Without his constant

love and support, I don't think I would be in the place I am today. It was messed up that he stayed with my mother in spite of her oddly competitive behavior around me, but even then he made sure that I was all right and tried to maintain the peace between my mother and me and I'll always value that. Because he was the one who brought a sense of peace into our chaotic family situation. I don't need to explain what I did and why I did it, but since I'm sharing certain things about my life on Reddit anyway, I felt like I need to tell you guys this and I hope there won't be a lot of judgment coming my way for this. Coming back to my father, I reached out to him yesterday after almost four days of not talking to each other and he finally answered my call. It was weird at first,

but then I just decided to get it over with and figured that I would worry about what he had to say after I apologized. So I just blurted out that I was sorry for not telling him what I had found out about mom and who she was with on the very day that I found out. I also explained to him my side of things and told him that I was just trying to protect him because I knew what state he had been in when mom left him. I just couldn't bear the thought of being the messenger who brought news like that to him and sent him spiraling once more. I did my very best to explain my thought process behind hiding this from him and told him that I was literally only just trying to protect him and not hiding things from him to protect my mother or whatever he had thought I was trying to do.

I apologized for it once more and then waited for him to say something. After a short pause, my father went on to tell me in a really sad voice that it wasn't me who he was upset with and he just thoughtlessly took out his anger on me the other day, which he was really sorry for. He told me that I was right and he was actually taking the news really hard. Because it was one thing to accept that his wife of more than two decades did not want to be with him out of the blue. But it was another thing to come to know that she'd actually been cheating on him with some other man all along and that was the real reason that she had left him. He told me that after almost three years of being away from her, he had come to terms with the fact that she didn't want to be with him anymore.

But after he learned that she'd been with another man, he just completely lost it. Then he finally told me what he'd said to my mother when she'd called him to make him talk to me about this. I didn't mention this in my original post because it was getting too long, but I really have to say that my mother has some audacity to go running to her ex-husband, admit that she cheated, and then ask him to do her a favor, all in one. one breath. And to think that she would even believe for a second that my father would force me to talk to her after she started dating the man who had terrorized me in high school. He was a horrible human being and so is my mother, but that's off topic for now. Anyway, my father told me that on the phone call, after my mother was done talking, he told her to go to hell because he wasn't doing anything that she'd just asked him to.

She was a cheater and a liar and she didn't deserve to be part of my happy day in the first place so I had done the right thing by running away from her house. If she really thought that my father was going to help her out here, then she should have just gone to a psychologist instead because she was clearly delusional. I have got to say, my father doesn't often lose his temper but when he does? Boy, is it worth a watch? We had a good laugh about what he said to my mother and how flabbergasted she'd seemed when my dad was done insulting her. She'd started blabbering like a fool after my dad said what he said and tried to accuse him of being cruel to her, but by then my dad had already disconnected the call. He wasn't about to let that woman gaslight him into believing that

he'd said anything out of line. And even though he's really upset that my mother had been cheating on him, I'm really proud of him for standing up to her and not letting her push him around like she used to. So for now, things are pretty good between my dad and me. I apologize to him, he apologized to me, and we're great. We agreed that we were going to be. to forget that this ever happened and bury the hatchet. A lot of the comments said that I had nothing to be sorry for and that my dad was being too entitled and I kind of agreed. But at the end of the day, he is my father and it's really important for me to have a good relationship with him, especially in the months leading up to what is supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Even Andy agrees that I

made the right call by reaching out to him first. So I guess that's that now. Update 2, hi y'all. I'm back here in this time, I'm back to talk about my mother. I, honestly, and truly wish I hadn't gone to her house the other day. Or better yet, I wish that I hadn't even agreed to visit her and make things right before the wedding. Because she's psychotic to deal with. I suppose three years of being estranged from her had made me forget exactly how crazy she was. It's all coming back now, though, I finally remember why I stopped talking to her in the first place. I blocked her a couple of days ago after I'd found out that she'd told my dad to talk to me and convince me to make amends with her.

I did that because I knew that she was the same toxic old snake that I knew and she was never going to change. And on top of that, she was dating the man who I hated the most as a teenager and definitely still do. I didn't see any need for me to forgive her and go back to talking to her because she had proven to me time and again that she did not deserve even a bit of my forgiveness. My life was going just fine without her, but somehow she managed to find out where I lived and decided to pay me a little visit along with her nightmare boyfriend. Two days ago, I was at home while Andy was outside in the garden talking to a client on the phone. I was also a little preoccupied with some work so when the bell rang, I forgot to check who it was and opened the door without knowing who was waiting outside.

And you guessed it, it was my mother and her boyfriend. Before I could even process anything, the two of them but, barged into my living room and sat down on the couch as if I'd invited them in. Once I was back to my senses, I demanded an explanation for what they thought they were doing and told them to get the hell out because I didn't want them in my house. My mother told me that they were here to talk things out like civilized and mature adults because we were family and we needed to stick together. I shot back saying that I didn't consider her family especially, not after what she'd done

to me and my dad so she could just leave like I was asking her to or I would call the police. She pretended to play innocent and asked me what exactly had she done to me and my dad to make us hate her so much. It was pretty exasperating but I was not going to let her get away with this. So I told her to her face that firstly she'd cheated on my father, who had given her a wonderful life, and who had she cheated on him with. She screwed him over for some mediocre high school teacher who thought it was funny to bully kids just because they were not very good at math, which was pretty much one of the pettiest reasons I could think of to pick on someone and bully them to such an extent that they started suffering from low self-esteem and would dread having to sit through his classes. At least her boyfriend had the decency to stop glaring at me then

and start looking at the floor out of shame when I said that. My mother, however, took a different approach and started trying to downplay what she'd done. She told me that it wasn't really a big deal because she could have had a great life for herself even without the help of my father and that he was not the great man that I always made him out to be by putting him on a pedestal. Now that was because my dad was a surgeon and my mother had never even been to college. So that was her bluffing, plain and simple and I called her out on it too. She then tried to make it seem like her boyfriend wasn't even that bad of a guy, even though literally anyone who went to my school would agree and could tell you how horrible

he was to most kids who were not good at math. He was a nasty bully and really should never have become a teacher, but my mother was too in love with him to realize that. So she went on to defend him and told me that instead of getting offended back then if I'd actually bothered to listen to his criticism and put in the work, then I might have been a better student, so it wasn't his fault. That's when I really lost it. I began to scream at her hysterically and I'm kind of embarrassed by that now that I think of it. But at least it got Andy's attention, who came rushing back to the house since he'd been busy with the phone call

and was so engrossed in the conversation that he barely even took note of who had come to see us then. Andy grabbed me and calmed me down because I'd really gone very close to them to try and intimidate them. He dragged me back and yelled at my mother and her boyfriend to leave immediately or he'd call the cops. They judged the situation and I must have seemed crazy because they left in a hurry. I kept ranting for almost an hour after they left and it must have taken me a while to calm down because when I finally did, I fell asleep almost immediately as I'd tired myself out. When I woke up, my dad had come over and he and Andy took care of me to make sure I was doing okay emotionally. And that was really sweet. Two days since, I haven't yet heard from my mother,

so I'm hoping it stays that way. Update 3, hi. So it's been four weeks since the last update and my mother has still not tried to contact me yet, so I'm really hoping that my meltdown from last time has convinced her to stay the hell away from me now. From what I know, she's been talking to everyone and trying to convince them that I am a horrible human being for cutting her off just because she loves the guy that she's with, but let's be real, nobody's buying that. By now almost all of their common friends and her relatives know that she cheated on my dad and they're not a fan of that. So she can continue to play the victim but my dad and I are happier than ever and that's how it's going to be now. I hope you enjoy this story. Jane referred to me as a

precious gem and declined my invitation to my wedding. Following my pregnancy, my factory sided with her and sent me cruel messages accusing me of ensnaring her son. Before I get into the incident, let me just give you guys some context. My husband, Alex, and I have been together for three years and married for a little over nine months now. Our decision to get married had definitely been influenced by the fact that I was pregnant at the time. But before anybody jumps to conclusions, let me just make it very clear that this was not a shotgun

wedding or whatever, we had been planning on getting engaged and married around that time anyway. Alex and I had been thinking about getting married at the time but hadn't gotten engaged yet, since we were waiting for the right time. And then when we found out about the pregnancy, we realized that this was exactly the right time that we had been waiting for because the baby seemed to be a sign from the universe of sorts. We were really happy and decided to get married within a few weeks of finding out about our pregnancy. It was not as if we were doing it because we had to, we were doing it because we wanted to. However, I don't think that everybody agreed with that, especially my sister-in-law. Nina, my sister-in-law, made her feelings very clear about the matter by calling me a gold digger who had baby trapped her younger brother and refused to attend the wedding.

Our wedding was pretty small, we literally got married in his family home's backyard with only our immediate families in attendance and a couple of friends. It was a really intimate ceremony, so I don't understand why Nina thought I was being a gold digger because if I really wanted to show off and profit off of my husband's wealth, the first thing that I would do was have an elaborate and lavish wedding with a bunch of guests whom I wanted to impress. Even while we had been dating, I knew that Nina and even her mom didn't particularly like me because I came from a pretty humble home in comparison to them.

My husband belongs to a business family, his dad's a business tycoon in the industry, and he has had a pretty comfortable life. Both my parents were teachers and I think they did a pretty good job raising me and giving me a comfortable life, so I'm very grateful to them. And I'm a working woman, so how wealthy or poor my husband's family is makes no difference to me. Never had and never will, and as long as Alex knew that, it didn't matter to me what his family thought so even though I knew that my mother-in-law and sister-in-law didn't really approve of me, I didn't make a difference. They always acted very snobby around me, but I never even

acknowledged it and I guess that would make them even more upset. However, neither of them wanted Alex to cut them out of their lives, which is why they put up with me and Alex was always very apologetic for his family's behavior, but I didn't want to put him in a position where he would have to pick and choose, so I never made a big deal out of it either until Nina called me a gold digger before the wedding. It was around the time that we sent out invitations to the wedding to our family since we had decided to skip the engagement. Before that, we had obviously announced and told everyone that we intended to get married, and even Nina had been present there. I could see that she and my mother-in-law were not happy about it, but did not say anything,

so I ignored their reaction as well. However, after she received an invitation, she decided to call me and tell me that there was no way she would be attending because, for a long time, she had hoped that her brother would come to his senses and realize that I was not a good match for him because I would never fit into this family. But since he was bent on ruining his life and the family's reputation, she had decided that she didn't want anything to do with him anymore. As a form of protest against this marriage, she would not be attending because I was a gold digger, and she had been able to see right through me, and she knew that I was just trying to trap my brother in a marriage with a baby and get my share of his family's money.

She even put up a public post on social media saying the same things about me but took it down later on at her father's insistence. I found that incredibly hurtful because the implication that I was only getting married to him and keeping the baby because I wanted his money, it was just really insulting. That was the day that I finally decided to tell Alex that I had had enough and I did not want Nina to ever have any contact with us again, and he gladly agreed. He was so angry that after I told him what had happened, he called Nina up and really went ham on her before telling her that he never wanted to hear from her again. And he also knew that his mother wasn't exactly on board with me either, so he sat down with me and his family and told his parents that he didn't care what they thought, but if they misbehaved with me, he would not hesitate in cutting them out of his life. To be honest, he didn't really have to say that to his father because my father-in-law has always been very humble and been very kind to me. But anyway, my mother-in-law probably didn't want to take the risk of having her only son cut her off, so she begrudgingly decided to accept me into the family. We got married and since then, I have had absolutely no contact with Nina. I thought that maybe after our marriage, my mother-in-law would not be so insufferable anymore, but I was proven wrong a couple of weeks ago, just a few years. days before my baby shower. It was obviously a given that after everything that had happened,

I was not going to invite Nina to my baby shower. Alex and I had decided to keep the guest list just as intimate as it had been for our wedding and it was pretty much the same people. But obviously, Nina was not on the list and I guess somehow, my mother-in-law had been able to figure it out. So a few days before the event, she called me to ask me if Nina was going to be invited or not and I said no. I don't even know why she bothered to ask. I think she must have known that she was not going to get a positive response. And when I told her that Nina had not received an invitation because I did not want her at my baby shower, since it was supposed to be a happy day,

my mother-in-law started freaking out at me and said that it was wrong for me to invite both our families but exclude Nina on purpose. She accused me of trying to isolate her son from his family, which didn't even make sense because I was not the one who had made him cut Nina off. He had chosen to make that decision himself because he didn't approve of her attitude towards me either. And even if I had forced him to cut off, could you even blame me? Anybody in my place would have done the same thing. And because I was heavily pregnant at the time, I was quite hormonal and irritable as well. So the second she started accusing me of random crap, I decided that I was not going to take this from her. I had enough of their

BS behavior towards me just because they had more money than my family and I had put up with them for long enough because I didn't see any harm in keeping things peaceful. But now, I realized that they thought my decision to ignore them, meant that I was scared of them and they could just say whatever they wanted to. And I would be fine with it. And that had to change, so I told her that I knew that Nina had a problem with my relationship with her brother and she didn't like me just because I wasn't uber wealthy like the rest of them.

I also knew that she was of the same opinion, but she had just decided to attend the wedding because she did not want to lose access to her son. However, now she could either choose to completely and fully accept me or she could choose to be arrogant and cut me out of her life completely because I was done with this behavior. She was a bit taken aback and tried to reason with me, but in the same tone, and I was not having it. For some reason, she kept insisting that Nina was a part of the family and that since I was young and new to this family, it was my responsibility to make sure that I respected everyone else so I should reach out to Nina and invite her. Just for the sake of peace in the family. I thought that her reasons were ridiculous and I straight

up told her that I was not going to do any of that and if she didn't approve of my decision not to invite Nina, she was free not to attend the baby shower as well. It was completely up to her, and in the heat of the moment, she started yelling at me and told me that she should have stuck with Nina when her daughter decided that she was not going to attend our wedding because I was not a good fit for the family and I was a gold digger who only wanted to be with Alex for his money, and had even gotten pregnant to make sure that it all worked out for me. She said that if she had to choose between her own daughter and her daughter-in-law, she was obviously going to choose Nina and it was not even a dilemma for her. Then, I just hung up because I was done with that conversation and blocked

her immediately afterward. But that was not where it ended, unfortunately, because she decided to reach out to me on social media before I could block her and send me a couple of of really awful texts. She told me that she knew Nina had been right about me all along and that somebody like me would never have been able to fit into their family because I wasn't even raised right, that I didn't have any class and that her son had made a grave mistake in choosing the right fit for the family. She also said that now that I was in my final trimester of the pregnancy, she was just waiting for me to have an affair with somebody else who's more in my league, file for a divorce from her son. And then try to get alimony and child support because that's

obviously what I was here for since I didn't even love my husband enough to try and maintain a good relationship with his family. Lastly, she told me that if her daughter was not invited to a family event, then it was hardly a family event and so, she didn't think it was important for her to attend either. That was the last text that she sent me before I blocked her on social media as well and like I said, since I was pregnant, I was quite hormonal and irritable, but I was also feeling very emotional and so, I ended up having a total breakdown over those messages. My husband had been at work that day, so I decided to call him and get him to come back home so he could calm me down and he did so. Alex is a wonderful person, so it didn't take him long to read those messages.

Take stock of the situation and immediately tell me that he had decided that he was going to cut his mother off as well. The only person in his family who had stayed in touch with us, even after that incident, was his father because, like I said, he was a good and humble man. My father-in-law even told me that he had tried to talk to his wife several times and explained that I was not the kind of person that they thought was, but it didn't even matter because it always ended in a huge fight and he had stopped trying altogether. My baby shower was only attended by my parents, Alex and his father, and a couple of our friends, and I was completely fine with that because I realized that these were the people who actually cared for me and I was really glad that my mother-in-law and Nina were not there. And then, a few weeks ago, I finally gave birth to my beautiful daughter, and even on the day of her birth, it was just a few people who were there. Once again, I was quite grateful that my Mill and Nina were not there because they were just negative presences in my life and I already made up my mind and I didn't want anything to do with them anymore. I had kept my cool and ignored their awful behavior for quite a while, but they had never changed. Even Alex didn't want anything to do with them anymore, so it was all good.

After the birth of our daughter, both Alex, and I got really busy with her and didn't have time to think about these things either. But I had taken note of the fact that neither of these had even bothered to reach out to us to congratulate us or even ask about the baby. I thought it was pretty strange that they claimed that they loved Alex, but didn't seem to care even a bit for such a huge milestone in his life. I had even spoken about this to him, but he told him. me that he didn't care because all that mattered was that I was with him and that our daughter was healthy. Besides, the only member of his family, who actually mattered, his father, had been quite active and involved, so we were fine with everything else. I honestly hadn't expected my mother-in-law to reach out to me anytime soon, but then, a couple of days ago, she showed

up at our house and started demanding to see her granddaughter. At first, I had even refused to open the door to let her in and I told her to go away, but she was somewhere. who had said that it was her right as the grandmother of the baby to be allowed to see her and I had absolutely no business trying to stop her. I found that laughable because she had suddenly just remembered that she was the grandmother of this baby and yet, she hadn't been there for the baby shower or the birth and hadn't even bothered to congratulate us after that. So she really wasn't a grandmother by any definition of the word, you can't choose when you get to act like family and when you don't want to. So I told her that I did not consider her my family and as the mother of the baby that she was to

to see, I think I definitely had the right to tell her that I wasn't going to let her in. And then, she continued to argue with me so I decided to bring out my phone and read out the messages that she had sent to me after we had our fight before the baby shower. I read them out in those exact words, and then I told her that after this, if she still expects me to let her back into my life or even be part of my daughter's life, then she is either delusional or crazy. And then I slammed the door shut and told her to go away before I called the cops. She still didn't go away, though, she stayed outside and kept yelling at me for a couple of minutes before finally leaving. After she left, I finally called Alex and told him what just happened and he came back home from work.

I am on maternity leave, so I'm at home most of the day, and I don't want this to happen again. So I told him that he needed to talk to his family and tell them that this was not acceptable. Earlier, it was they who did not want to accept me into their family and now, I don't want them as a part of my family. I think I'm being fair enough and what I'm asking for is completely reasonable. And my husband is on board with it, but surprisingly, my father-in-law thinks that I should give it some time before I come to a conclusion. Apparently, he was the one who had told his wife that she should visit me at least once and try to make things work with Alex and me, but I don't know what she was thinking, since instead of trying to make things better by apologizing, she decided

to come here and start a fight with me. If anything, it made the situation much worse than was before, but what I don't understand is my father-in-law's stand on the whole situation. He keeps telling us that he understands what we feel about his wife and daughter, and yet, he thinks that we should give the situation some time to cool down and then try again. Basically, he told Alex not to speak to his mother right now about anything to do with me because the situation is quite heated and he doesn't want her to feel even more hurt than she already is because she has been quite distraught over the fact that her son hasn't been speaking to her and Nina has been very upset about it. I find it incredibly strange that my father-in-law

expects us to take their feelings into account before we do anything, but that has never been the case with us. Neither Nina nor her mother has thought about me and how I feel about things or even how Alex feels about certain things before just saying and doing whatever they want Alex had decided to call his father up and speak to him before doing anything, and that has been his response. My father-in-law said that he has been having a hard time trying to keep everything together in the family and he doesn't want Alex to make things worse by telling his mother that she's not allowed to see her granddaughter right now and that she needs to stay away from our family. My only gripe with the situation is that if Alex doesn't speak to her right now, she's going to think that she can do this again, and I don't have the capacity to deal with it right now.

So it is very important for me that this is made clear to her so she avoids showing up again. Both Alex and I found it very upsetting that he was suddenly acting like this, even though he had always been on our side wholeheartedly in the past. We found it very difficult to understand what had caused the sudden change in his behavior and I had started to feel really agitated by how he had continued to argue with Alex, even after being explained everything. So in a moment of anger, I told my father-in-law that it was hardly shocking that he had decided to choose this time to be diplomatic about this whole situation because now that I think about it, that has been his statement. throughout the fight that I've been having with Nina and her mother. Because even though he keeps taking our side and keeps telling us that we are right, it doesn't really matter because, at the end of the day, he still hasn't done anything to show that he is actually with us.

His wife and daughter have said so many hurtful things to me and all that he has done is argue with them for a bit, but he hasn't gotten them to apologize to us. He expects us to be considered of their feelings at the moment. So I ended up saying to him that it was clear that they all belong to the same family now, and that created quite a stir because even Alex felt quite offended by that since he thinks that it's not very kind of me to group him and his father in the same bracket as his sister and his mom since he doesn't think that they are alike in any way.

Whatsoever. Now, he thinks that not only do I owe him an apology, which I do, but he also thinks that I owe his father an apology. His take is that families are complicated and his father probably didn't have any bad intentions, but I took it too far. Now I have apologized to Alex, but I'm holding out on the apology to my father-in-law because I'm still upset by the fact that he expects us to be considerate of Nina and her mother's feelings, especially when they have never been considered of mine. So Ida for telling my father-in-law that it's clear he belongs to the same family as my mother-in-law and sister-in-law is an insult? Update 1. Hey, thank you so much for all the comments and the advice that you guys gave me. It really means a lot, and yeah, after a lot of thinking. I decided to speak to my father-in-law. I didn't outright apologize to him and tell him that I was really terribly sorry for the words that I used, but I explained that it had come from a place of

hurt and betrayal and I also explained why I'd been feeling that way because all this, I had always thought that he was completely on our side and would keep fighting for us. But right now, the way he was trying to take a diplomatic stand on the situation, just didn't sit right with me. So I decided to call him and it was a bit disrespectful, so I would like to apologize. for that. We were speaking to each other on the phone, and he was reasonable enough, so he told me that he forgave me because had he been in my place, he probably would have been feeling the same way. And I probably had a lot on my mind as well, since we were new parents and the first time around. It's obviously very difficult to cope with so much that's happening. On top of that, my mother-in-law

must not have made it easier for me by showing up and trying to push me around. He told me that he completely understood that. But the day that it happened and she had come back home, she started crying immediately and was having a breakdown about how much she missed her son. So keeping that in mind, he had decided to tell us that we needed to let things cool off a little bit before telling her that she wasn't allowed to come here anymore because he was afraid that it would push her off the edge. He also explained that he was against how his wife and daughter were behaving. But he couldn't exactly abandon them, not at this point in his life because his wife has always been very supportive of him, even when he had his tough phases. And Nina is his daughter so well,

that's an explanation in itself. And I respected that, it was his personal choice and I'm not going to question it. Anyway, we talked it out and the conversation ended on a good note, so I'm happy with my decision to speak to him. Things between Alex and I are fine as well, since I apologized to him that day itself because I immediately regretted what I had said since I know that he really isn't like his mom or sister. He's very different from all of them and I love him, so I sorted things out with him immediately. We have also decided that we are going to wait before we contact his mother and tell him that she needs to stay away at the moment like my father-in-law had advised us to. Update two, hi, so it's been a little over a week since my mother-in-law visited, and we had their fight and today,

Alex, and I spoke to his father again, and he told us that we could speak to his mother now since she was back to her usual self, which meant that she had gone back to ranting about me all the time. Alex decided to unblock her just so he could send her a message, saying that he did not want her coming around after the incident that had taken place the other day since it was very obvious that she did not approve of me and if she was going to be disrespectful, then she had no business coming around and expecting me to let her see our daughter. Because our baby was my daughter first and her granddaughter second. He also told her that she had not bothered to even reach out to him and congratulate him when he became a father, so it's quite stupid of her to claim that she has

the right to see her granddaughter whenever she wants to because she's the grandma. He could understand that she and Nina had not reached out to me and congratulated me because they didn't like me, but they claimed to be as well-wishers and said that they loved him, which is why they didn't like me in the first place, so it didn't make sense that they hadn't even bothered to congratulate him if they cared about him so much. Honestly, it was a pretty valid point and he got a lot of the built-up resentment out of the system with that message. After he sent it, he blocked his mother again, and later on, we found out from my father-in-law that she had an anger outburst after she received that message

and she was going to come visit us again, so she could speak to us in person, but my father-in-law had stopped her, and that had ended another huge fight between the two of them. I know a lot of you think that he should leave her, but I don't think that's going to happen, and I know for a fact that even this time, he's going to make it work with his wife. That's just how their marriage is, don't me. Update three, hi, so my daughter is three months old now and things have been great with her. In the past three months, Nina and her mother did not try to contact us at all after that message that Alex had sent us and we were quite relieved. But we did stay in touch with his father, though, since even though he did not want to leave the side of his family, he was still nice to us.

And it was up to us how he wanted to deal with the situation, so as long as he was kind to us, we didn't have a problem keeping in touch with him. Recently, though, he had started telling us that because of that message that Alex had sent, he had been facing a lot of pressure from his wife and Nina to cut us off, and he had been fighting it as much as he could, but it was getting really hard for him to continue being diplomatic here. About a week ago, he showed up at our house with a duffel bag and asked us if we would be willing to let him stay with us for a couple of days.

We agreed because we have a guest room and a housekeeper, so it's not going to be any extra work for either of us and we could tell that he was having a lot of trouble dealing with the situation at home. He told us that things have been very difficult and he and his wife have been fighting almost every day. So we even advised him to get a divorce because that's not how a healthy marriage should be but he flat out declined. He had his reason since he couldn't abandon his family and stuff like that, so we managed to get him to agree to couples counseling at the very least. Then, a couple of days after he went back home and suggested the idea of couples counseling to his wife, Nina sent us an email saying that we had no right to interfere in their marriage,

especially me, since I was not even part of the family. That really annoyed me, so I brought up how she had changed her surname after marriage, so technically, she was the one who was not actually part of the family anymore, and then we blocked that email as well. I don't know why she's so desperate to talk to me if she hates me so much, but anyway, my father-in-law said that he and his wife are going to couples counseling now and I guess things might work out for them or even if they don't, they're still going to stay together, so it doesn't matter. But Alex and I are going strong and are having the time of our lives with our daughter, so none of these things matter to us. It's just a loss for his mother and his sister that they never going to get to know our daughter but

well, I guess it's for the best. I hope you enjoy this story. Housemate acquired a therapy feline, yet declined to tidy up after it. Consequently, I read, I read, recorded all occurrences and departed. Twelve months later, she reappeared with her cat and we concluded up in a fight. Hey Reddit, I'm in a messy situation, literally, and I need some outside perspective. I'm a 24-year-old woman and I live with my roommate, Claire, who's 23. For the most part, we've been good. We clicked when we first met, had similar ideas about keeping a place tidy, and we split the chores right down the middle, 50 to 5.5.5.5. 50. It was all smooth sailing. Then, a few months ago, Claire got an emotional support animal, a cat. I'm going to name the cat snowball. Now, I'm not a cat hater. I don't have any allergies,

and honestly, I thought it might even be kind of nice to have a furry little creature around. I was totally fine with it at first. Maybe even a little excited at the idea of having a pet around without the full responsibility. I had paid. pictured us chilling on the sofa, the cat purring between us. But, reality set in pretty quickly. The problem isn't the cat itself, it's the aftermath. Misty, sheds like there is no tomorrow. I'm talking clumps of white fur everywhere.

It's on the couch, on the chairs, clinging to the curtains, even somehow magically floating in the air. It's like living in a perpetual fur storm. And it's not just the hair. Misty has this habit of knocking things over. Little things at first, like pens off the coffee table, a stack of magazines. But then it escalated. One time, Misty launched itself off a bookshelf, taking a whole row of Claire's decorative

ceramic figurines with it. They shattered on the floor, little pieces everywhere. I spent a good hour helping her pick up the shards, feeling a little knot of resentment starting to form. And the scratching. Misty seems to think the legs of our dining table, thankfully Clare's, not mine, are its personal scratching post. They're covered in these deep gouges. The real issue, though, is that Claire doesn't really clean any of this up.

Or, not adequately, anyway. She'll maybe run a hand over the couch to brush off some fur. But it's back within an hour. She'll pick up the bigger things Misty knocks over, but she leaves the smaller messes. and the scratching? She just shrugged and said, that's what cats do. She keeps saying that Misty is an emotional support animal, and that having her helps with her anxiety. She says that the shedding and the occasional chaos are just part of having an ESA and that it's a small price to pay for the comfort Misty provides.

Meanwhile, my own anxiety is going through the roof. I like things clean. I need things to be organized. The constant mess is genuinely making me stressed. It feels like I'm living in someone else's disorganized world. It's not just a visual thing, either. It's the feeling of constantly having to be careful, of knowing that at any moment, another thing might get knocked over, another cloud of fur might settle on the clean laundry I just folded.

So, I finally brought it up. I tried to be as nice as possible. I said something like, hey Claire, I'm noticing. a lot of cat hair around lately, and it's been a bit overwhelming. Could you maybe try to vacuum a little more often? She immediately got defensive. She said I was being insensitive to her needs, that Misty was helping her through a tough time, and that I should be more understanding. She told me that cleaning actually stresses her out, and that the whole point of having Misty was to reduce her stress, not add to it. Then she said something that really got to me.

She implied that I should be helping to clean up the cat messes, since I supposedly benefit from Misty's presence. I don't. I'm neutral about the cat, at best. I certainly don't feel like I'm getting any emotional support from it. I'm just getting a lot of extra cleaning. I ended up cleaning the whole house it took four whole hours. I was so tired. I had back pain. I'm sticking to our original agreement. I do my house. I do my of the chores, cleaning the kitchen, the bathroom, taking out the trash, all that stuff. I even vacuum my own room and the common areas occasionally, just to keep things from getting totally out of control. But I refuse to spend hours every week dealing with the excessive amount of cat hair and the other messes that Misty creates. So, Reddit, am I the A-hole here?

Am I being a heartless roommate by refusing to take on extra cleaning because of Claire's ESA? Update 1, a few days later, okay. So I wanted to give a quick update based on some of the comments and questions I got on my first post. First off, thanks for the feedback, everyone. It seems like most people are saying I'm NTA, which is validating, but there were a few ESH and info votes, so I want to address those. One of the main info questions was about whether Claire has an official ESA letter. Yes, she does. She showed it to me when she first got Misty.

But honestly, it doesn't really matter, because our apartment complex allows pets anyway. There's a pet fee, which Claire is paying, so the ESA letter just means she doesn't have to pay extra for having a cat specifically. It doesn't give her any special rights to, you know, let the place turn into a fur-covered disaster zone. The other clarification I wanted to make is that Claire does clean. She's not a complete slob. She does her share of the regular chores, like dishes and taking out the trash. It's just the cat-specific messes that she's neglecting. The constant shedding, the things Misty knocks over, the scratches on the furniture,

those are the things she's not dealing with adequately. After reading all the comments, I decided I needed to try talking to her again. I really wanted to find a solution that would work for both of us, without involving a landlord or anything drastic. So, I waited until we were both home, and I asked her if we could chat for a minute. I tried to be super calm and non-confrontational. I suggested a compromise. I said, look, I understand that Misty helps you, and I'm not asking you to get rid of her. But the mess is really getting to me.

How about this? You commit to cleaning up the cat-specific messes, vacuuming the fur, wiping down surfaces, dealing with anything Misty knocks over, at least three times a week. And in return, I'll do a general vacuum of the whole apartment twice a week, just to help keep things under control. I thought it was a pretty reasonable offer. It acknowledged her needs while also addressing my concerns about the cleanliness of our shared living space. But she refused. She said it was too much pressure to have a specific cleaning schedule for the cat messes. She said it would make her feel like she was constantly being monitored and judged.

She claimed that having to clean up after Misty on a set schedule would actually increase her anxiety, which, again, defeats the whole purpose of having an ESA. Then, a few days ago, I found cat hair in my food. I had a sealed container of leftovers in the fridge and when I opened it up, there was a single, white cat hair, right on top. I know it's not the end of the world, but it was just the final story. It felt like a violation, like the cat hair was invading even my personal food space. It made me feel nauseous, and I had throw away the food.

It's getting harder and harder to stay calm and rational about this. I'm starting to feel genuinely resentful, and I'm constantly on edge, wondering what mess I'm going to find next. I'm seriously considering trying to involve the landlord, but I'm worried about escalating the situation. I don't want to make things even more awkward or hostile. between us. But I also don't know how much longer I can live like this. Our lease is up in six months, and I'm starting to count down the days. Update two, one week later, all right, things have

not improved. I haven't gone full nuclear yet, but I did take a small step towards involving the landlord. I didn't directly complain about Claire or Misty, but I did submit a general maintenance request for something unrelated, a leaky faucet, and in the additional comment section, I I mentioned that there was excessive pet hair throughout the common areas of the apartment. The landlord responded to the maintenance request pretty quickly, and they sent a general email to all tenants in the building, reminding them about the pet cleanliness policies. It was a pretty generic email, nothing specific to Claire,

but I was hoping it might at least make her think twice about letting the fur pile up. It didn't. There's been absolutely no change in her behavior. Misty is still shedding like crazy, and Claire is still not cleaning it up. I even saw Misty jump onto the kitchen counter, right next to where we prepare food, and Claire didn't even blink.

So, I decided to try one last thing before resorting to more drastic measures. I scheduled a formal roommate meeting. I know, it sounds super official, but I felt like I needed to make it clear that this was a serious issue. I even prepared a written chore chart, specifically outlining the responsibilities related to Misty. It included things like vacuum living room rug, minimum 3x slash week. Wipe down surfaces to remove cat hair daily.

Clean up any items knocked over by Misty immediately, and address scratching damage to furniture, ongoing. I presented it to Claire during our meeting, trying to be as calm and reasonable as possible. I explained that I wasn't trying to be controlling, but that I needed a clear agreement on how we were going to handle the cat-related messes. I even offered to take on some extra non-cat-related chores to balance things out. She refused to sign it. She said the chore chart was controlling and passive-aggressive. She accused me of trying to micromanage her life and said that it was making her feel like she was living in a prison, not a home. Then, she started crying.

She said I was attacking her mental health and that I was being completely insensitive to her struggles with anxiety. She told me that I had no idea how much Misty helped her and that I was making her feel like a terrible person for needing an emotional support animal. The whole thing was a disaster. I felt bad that she was crying, but I also felt like she was manipulating the situation to avoid taking responsibility. I'm not backing down, though. I'm sticking to the original chore division, plus doing the occasional extra vacuuming that I volunteered for. but I'm not going above and beyond to clean up after Misty. I'm also starting to document everything. I'm taking photos of the messes and noting the date and time. I'm not sure if I'll ever need this evidence,

but it makes me feel a little bit more in control of the situation. And, most importantly, I'm actively looking for a new apartment. I've started browsing listings online and contacting landlords. I'm determined to find a place that is clean, cat-free, and draw-me. a free when my lease is up. Update 3, one month later, things have definitely escalated. It's like living in a passive-aggressive war zone. Claire has started leaving notes around the apartment, criticizing my chores. Little things, like did you forget to wipe down the counter after you made breakfast? Or the trash can is overflowing, again. The thing is, I am doing my chores.

I'm meticulously following the original agreement, and I'm even doing the extra vacuuming I volunteered for. Her notes are completely unfounded. It's like she's trying to deflect attention away from the cat mess by making it seem like I'm the one slacking off. It's gotten to the point where we barely speak to each other. When we do interact, it's incredibly strained. She's become withdrawn and hostile, and I'm constantly on edge, waiting for the next passive aggressive note or snide comment. One day I was cleaning up the cat hair, and then she came and said sarcastically, oh, I see you are finally cleaning. I was furious that I just left. I went to a nearby cafe and calmed myself down. But the worst part, the thing that's really pushing me over the edge,

is the smell. The apartment is starting to smell faintly of cat urine. It's not overwhelming, yet, but it's definitely there. A subtle, unpleasant odor that hangs in the air. I haven't mentioned anything to Sarah because I don't even want to talk to her. I'm pretty sure Claire isn't cleaning the litter box often enough. I haven't actually seen her do it in weeks. I don't want to go snooping around in her room, but the smell is becoming increasingly noticeable, and it's making the whole apartment feel unclean, even in the areas that I do keep tidy. I tried using air fresheners, but they just masked the smell temporarily. I had a friend over the other day, and even they commented on the smell. They didn't say anything directly about cat urine, but they made a face

when they walked in and said, is something off? It was mortifying. I made some excuse about a cooking experiment gone wrong, but I was so embarrassed. I've stopped inviting people over altogether. I've officially reached my breaking point. I can't wait until the lease is up. Six months feels like an eternity. I've started researching options for breaking the lease. I've been reading up on tenant rights, looking for legal loopholes, and even considering talking to a lawyer. I know it's going to be a hassle, and it might cost me some money, but I'm at the point where I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get out of this situation. My own well-being, my mental health, has to be my priority. I can't keep living in a messy,

smelly apartment with a roommate who refuses to take responsibility for her pet. Update 4. Three months later, final update. Okay, Reddit, this is it. The final update. I'm officially out. It's been a long, stressful thing, but I've finally managed to escape the furry, smelly, passive-aggressive-aggressive nightmare that was my living situation. First, the lease breakage.

After a lot of research and back and forth, I managed to negotiate a lease break with the landlord. It wasn't easy. I had to pay a fee, basically two months' rent, which started. but honestly, it was worth it for my peace of mind. I presented the landlord with all the documentation I had collected, the photos of the messes, the dates and times, copies of the passive-aggressive notes Claire had left, everything. I also explained the situation calmly and rationally,

emphasizing that I had tried to resolve the issue with Claire directly, multiple times, but that she had been unwilling to cooperate. The landlord was surprisingly understanding. I think the photos of the cat urine stains on the carpet, which I discovered after moving some furniture, were probably the deciding factor. Claire, of course, was furious. She accused me of going behind her back and sabotaging her. She claimed that I was exaggerating the situation and that the landlord was being unfair. But the landlord had seen the evidence, and while they didn't explicitly take my side, they agreed to let me break the lease without any further penalties. The actual moving out process all right, to say the least.

Claire avoided me as much as possible. I just focused on packing my things as quickly and efficiently as possible. I hired movers to help with the bigger items, just to minimize the amount of time I had to spend in the apartment. The new apartment is everything I dreamed of. It's clean. It's quiet. It's cat-free. The first night I spent there, I just sat on the floor,

surrounded by boxes, and breathed a sigh of relief. Claire, predictably, sent me a long, angry text message after I left. She accused me of being a terrible friend, a horrible roommate, and basically, the worst person in the world. She said I was selfish, inconsiderate, and that I had ruined her life by moving out. She even claimed that I had traumatized Misty by abandoning her. I read the message, and then I blocked her number. I didn't know. I didn't need that negativity in my life anymore. I'm done. In future roommate situations, and I am planning on having roommates again, eventually, because living alone is expensive, I'm going to be upfront and honest from day one. Clear expectations, clear communication, and a willingness to

address problems before they become insurmountable. I've even been thinking about creating a roommate agreement template, something that covers all the basics, chores, guests, noise levels, shared expenses, and, yes, even pet responsibilities. It might seem a little formal, but I think it could prevent a lot of misunderstandings and conflicts down the road. Maybe I'll even post it on Reddit, see if anyone else finds it helpful. As for Claire, I don't hate her. I'm angry and I'm definitely still resentful,

but I also recognize that she's probably going through a tough time. I don't know the specifics of her anxiety, and I'm not trying to minimize her struggles. But I also know that her mental health isn't my responsibility. It's hers. And using an emotional support animal as an excuse to avoid basic hygiene and shared responsibilities is just not okay. I'm so glad to be out of that situation. I'm starting a new chapter in a clean, cat-free apartment, and I'm determined to make it a positive one.

I might even get a plant. Something that doesn't shed. Or maybe a fish. Something low maintenance. But definitely no cats. Not for a long, long time. I think a small little dog that won't cause much trouble would be good. A hypoallergenic breed, maybe.

Something small and fluffy that I can be responsible for, and that won't trigger a repeat of the great cat hair catastrophe of 2023. Edit, writing a small update to this. A few months after I moved out, I surprisingly received a friend request from Claire on Facebook of all places. I was shocked. I accepted it. She sent me a message saying she was sorry. But it was not a proper apology. The apology was filled with excuses and she still blamed me for everything that had happened. I had a new roommate. Her name was Jane, she was neat and tidy

just like me. She even made a roommate agreement, which I found it funny because I was going make one myself. One day when I and Jane were watching a movie, I heard a knock. It was Claire. I was beyond shocked. I slowly opened the door. Claire had bought Snowball with her. She said she wanted to apologize in person. She started talking, but I wasn't even listening to her. All I could see was Misty jumping on my new sofa. I immediately told her to get out. Claire started yelling at me again. Jane came and tried to calm us down, but Claire pushed Jane. I was furious. I pushed Claire back. We started fighting physically, pulling each other's hair, punching and kicking. Jane finally separated us. Claire left crying, while holding Misty. I had bruises

on my arm. My legs were hurting. Jane aided my bruises. Ruses. After that incident I blocked Claire from everywhere possible. That was the last time I ever saw her. It's been almost a year now, and everything is going great. Jane and I are best of friends, and we respect each other's space and boundaries. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse and Factory evicted me for failing to cover expenses or complete household tasks for an extended period since I'm seven months expecting, so I peacefully served him separation papers and initiated proceedings for complete custody. Custody of our baby.

Hi, so I am a 30-year-old woman and I have been working since I was 18. I did not really come from a financially well-off family and growing up. We did not really have a lot of money. I went to public school and I realized very early on in life that money meant a lot and so I made up my mind that I was going to skip college and start working as soon as I could because I wanted to be able to provide for my family. I did not have a father because he had walked out on my mother when she was pregnant with me. He did not even offer child support and he literally disappeared a couple of weeks after my mother

found out that she was pregnant and told him about it. So there was no way to track him and she had a lot of other things to worry about at the time, so she did not bother to do so either. And my mother got pregnant out of wedlock, which is not something that my grandparents approved of. They were very traditional and they actually wanted to terminate the pregnancy but she did do so and they ended up kicking her out. She was just 19 at the time and she was still in college, but she had to drop out because she did not have the means to be able to afford the tuition. And her family had cut ties with her, so she did not have anyone else to go to. So she started

working as a cashier in the nearby grocery store and tried her best to make ends meet because she was desperate and she also had to think about her medical expenses because of the pregnancy. Just a few months before I was born, she was told that she was having twins and that was even worse for her because now, she had to think about how she was going to handle having two children when she was barely prepared to have even one. In spite of all of that, she never considered giving us up and went through it all. I really have no idea how she was able to bring herself to do all of it on her own without anybody's support, but all I know is that she must have been really brave. She did not tell my twin sister and me about any of this until we were

16 and even then, she only told us because we had been pressuring her into telling us about her father and everything about how her life had been before we were born because we knew that we did not have any other family apart from each other and we wanted to get to know why. It was pretty depressing but it made me realize that I had to step up and really be there for my family. So I did not go to college and neither did my sister and both of us started working at 18. My mother, by that time, had made a lot of progress and was the floor manager at a nearby supermarket. We did not have a lot of money but we managed somehow and at the time, that was enough for us. But with age, I decided that I wanted to be able to provide a good life for my mother and her old age

and I wanted my sister to be able to depend on me. Even though we were twins, I kind of considered myself her protector, I guess that was because I was nine minutes older. So at 18, both my sister and I got jobs as saleswomen for a beauty company and it was a decent job. We put together a part of our salaries every month and helped our mother with the bills and the rent and it was a great feeling. I was much better at that job than my sister so naturally, my commission was a lot higher than hers and so after a couple of years, I got a big raise and I told my sister that she could quit her job to do something that she actually wanted. I knew that she did not actually want to be a salesperson and she was more interested in writing and stuff so I told her to do something about it because I wanted her to be able to live her dreams. After a lot of convincing, my mother and I were able to put her through college when she was 22 so she could get her degree in literature and even go to do her master's degree as well.

And now, she's a teacher in a high school and she's doing pretty well for herself. She also has a wonderful blog of her own and I am so proud of her. As for me, I am now working in a manager position, at a different company, and life is pretty good for me. I would not say that I have achieved everything that I had dreamed of but I'm getting there, slowly but surely, and for now. It is enough for me that I have been able to help my mother retire and have put my sister through school and enabled her to achieve her dreams. I am still a long way from being wealthy, which is exactly what I had set out to be, but I'm working my way up and I know I'll get there.

And on my way up, I happen to meet my husband, let's call him Nathan. He is two years older than me and we met each other about five years ago, at a concert that both of us were attending. He was a friend of an acquaintance and we ran into each other at the concert. He was really cute so I struck up a conversation with him and we found out that we had a lot in common. Both of us are into fitness and we love the same TV shows as well. On our first date, we also found out that both of us grew up without a father because he had passed away when he was really young and mine had never even been in the picture. We started dating and met each other's families after six months of being together. My mother and sister love him, but I don't think I can say the same for his mother.

I don't know why and I still have never been able to figure out why, but she just did not seem to like me. She was very cold to me the first time that we met and that's the way it has been ever since. She has never made an effort to get to know me or be close to me, even though I have tried to get on her good side countless times. And there is only so much that I can do to win her over until I get tired and stop doing it. So I should. So I should. I have tried to get to get on her over. So I I stopped trying after about a year of getting Nathan when I finally realized that she was never going to like me and I was tired of putting in an effort to get her to like me all the time. If she didn't like me, I was fine with it because I was only trying to get on her good side for

Nathan's sake, but I personally did not mind being disliked by people. So we were pretty cold to each other and I was fine with that. Nathan also addressed it and he told me that his mother just needed some time to warm up to people and she would come around eventually, so I took his word for it and did not sweat it. With my family, though, it was a completely different story and he seemed perfectly at ease with all of them. He even fit in perfectly with my sister's husband and her kids and whenever we were all together, I felt much more comfortable than I did when his mother would be around. So naturally, I would visit his mother with him as sparingly as I could because I knew that she did not like me and I did not find it necessary to visit the people who

did not like me or value me. Nathan never said anything about it back then, so I don't know what changed recently. He knew that I preferred to stay away from his mother and I'm sure that she would like it as well because she had made it very obvious to me that I was not welcome in her home. Anyway, that was how it all was back then, but there have been a lot of changes in the recent past and I'm not sure how to feel about any of it anymore. I'm just confused, I guess. About seven and a half months ago, I found out that I was pregnant and I was already a couple of weeks along when I realized it. I was very happy because I thought it was the person. I was the time to have a child because we had been married for almost a year at that time, and I was ready.

But I guess Nathan was not, because when I told him, he told me that he did not think it was a good time to have a child because he was still in the middle of setting up his new business and he would be very busy for the next couple of months with his business and we also had to think about the financial aspect and the implications of having a baby at this stage of our lives. He had quit his job about a year ago so that he could join one of his friends in the business that they were about to start together. He had already invested a lot of money and they were probably going to have to invest even more

so he was not exactly at his financial best, but I told him that I did not have any issue with it and I would try to step up and contribute more to the household until his business was able to bring in money. But he was still pretty skeptical about it and did not seem fully on board with the idea of bringing a baby into the world and even tried to convince me to terminate the pregnancy at one point,

but I was also very stubborn and I put my foot down and I told him that we could either have the start or I would walk out of this marriage because I had made up my mind. So he eventually had to apologize to me for even suggesting something like that and told me that he was just nervous. Which is why he was acting out like this. I forgave him and we decided that we were going to try and get through this together. At the time, it seemed like a good idea because I had no idea what was about to come. I knew that he was not going to be able to contribute much financially, so I decided that I was going to work for as long as I was

was able to until I was told not to come into work. Usually, my company has a policy of not allowing women in their third trimester to come to work, especially when they have much higher workloads, like I do. But for me, my boss was willing to make an exception because he knew what I was going through, since my husband was not exactly bringing in the kind of money that we were used to. So he told me that he could allow me to work until the seventh month of my pregnancy, but after that, he could not permit it because it would go against company policy. and after that, I had to go on maternity leave, whether or not I wanted it because he could not open the company up to lawsuits just because of me.

And I thought that he was being more than fair, so I was grateful for it. So I told Nathan about it and he was content with it at the time. He also told me that he was going to move us into his mother's house so we could save a lot on rent and we would not have to worry about that. I was completely against that idea and I could not believe that he was even suggesting it because he knew the kind of relationship that. I had with his mother. I disagreed with it vehemently and I told him that there was no way I was moving in with her because I knew that she would never let me live in peace if I was living under her roof. And I was willing to work hard and bring in the money but I would rather pay a huge amount of rent to live in my own home than move in with my mother-in-law just because we wanted

to save money. But he got mad when I told him that I was not willing to move in with her and he told me that I had just never even given his mother a chance and I was still doing the same. by refusing to move in with her when she herself had offered to take us in so that we would not have to spend an insane amount of money on rent and would be able to save for the future, so we would not have to worry about medical expenses during the pregnancy or after. I thought that it was really unfair for him to say that I had not given his mother a chance because as far as I was concerned, I had given her multiple chances to get to know me, but she was the one who never put in any effort. She was the one who didn't like me and Nathan had acknowledged it earlier when we were dating, but he suddenly did not remember. any of that when we were arguing about this a couple of months ago. I told him that if it was really about the money then we could live with my mother, but he told me that my mom lived way too far from his workplace and it would be very inconvenient for him to commute every single day.

We discussed it for almost a week before I finally agreed to move in with his mother because I was sick of fighting and he said that he had agreed to have a child with me. So now, I had to do something on his terms and I could not expect him to always do what I wanted him to do. And I was getting sick of arguing with him, so I decided to say yes at the time because I just could not take it anymore. In hindsight, I probably should have realized that this was not going to last because everything was going very differently from what I had expected from my pregnancy journey. After we moved in with his mother, I was really unhappy and had been for the past couple of months. She was really not a nice person to live with and the only person who seemed to enjoy her

company was Nathan. She treated me like I was an insolent toddler who would not listen to her and had a of rules for me because she said that she was worried about me and wanted her pregnancy to be perfectly healthy so I had to stick to healthy habits. Like she would make me go to bed at nine and if I did not agree, then she would just keep nagging at me until I did, which was very difficult because I'm used to living on my own terms. She would not allow me to store any kind of snacks in the house and said that they were all unhealthy processed foods so she could not let me consume any of it in good conscience. But I don't think it had anything to do with her conscience, but everything to do with exercising control over me.

I was really annoyed by all of it and I tried to tell Nathan that I did not like living with his mother and I wanted to move back into an apartment of our own and I was ready to pay for all the rent and everything but I just did not want to live with her anymore. But he would accuse me of being biased against her and said that I was only mad because this was his mother saying all of this and trying to look out for me but if it was my own mother, then I would not have an issue with it. So we had a lot of arguments about it and things between Nathan and I had been heated for a really long time before this. The only reason I did not just leave was that I did not want to deprive my future child of

anything and I knew that leaving was the easy choice and maybe the right one, but I wanted my kid to have a father because I grew up without one and it was not a very nice experience. So I was willing to do anything that it took to make sure that my child does not have the same kind of life that I did. But it was all pointless anyway and I really wished that I had left way long ago instead of waiting for Nathan to change or his mother to start being better to me. I had been doing chores around the house even up until I was six months pregnant and the reason for that was because my mother-in-law believed that exercise would be good for the baby and that's why she did not think that I deserved to get some rest after work. I would try to argue with her but she would not

have it and make me do my own dishes and laundry and I had cleaning duties for the kitchen as well. And if I didn't do any of it then she would start going on about how she used to do everything when she was pregnant and nobody even paid any attention to her because it was so common back in the day. I don't know what that had to do with me, but it just got to me so I would do whatever she asked of me. Just to avoid having to hear sermons from her about how hardworking she had been. So I guess you guys can understand that I had put up with a lot during the past couple of months of my pregnancy and one day, in the heat of the moment, I decided to have a lawyer draw up papers to make sure that my husband gives up his rights over our child.

I think I must have been really pissed off that day, something very annoying had happened and Nathan did not stand up for me, as usual, so I stormed out of the house and that's what I did. It was just a precautionary measure that I thought I should take because, at the rate that things were going, I didn't know how long I would be able to make this marriage last because Nathan seemed like he was trying to ruin my life on purpose or something. And I was really angry so I got those papers arranged because he was not even being a good husband at the time, so I didn't think he was even capable of being a good father. And recently, those papers finally came into use, after I'd been carrying them around in my purse for months, hoping that Nathan would change and I would never have to use them. But about a week ago, his mother-in-law told me that I was not welcome to live with him anymore because I was not contributing to the household enough. and that was because now that I had entered the seventh month of my pregnancy, I had finally gone on maternity leave and I had stopped doing my chores from the beginning of this month because I was too tired all the time and I had not been contributing monetarily for the past couple of months anyway, since that was the arrangement.

That I would not need to spend as much money as I would have to if I had been living away from his mother. But I don't know why, probably just to get on my nerves, the two of them thought that it was reasonable enough to ask me to either do the work in the house or contribute financial. financially. Nathan told me that his mother was very old and it was not possible for her to do all the work around the house so we had to contribute and do our chores. And if an old woman could do everything, pregnancy was not an excuse for me. And then his mother told me that I was not even required to spend as much money as I would have had to had she not opened up her home to us. So she felt that it was an obligation for me to at least do the work around the house if I could not contribute otherwise. I was shell shocked that they were saying these things and then it got worse. When my mother-in-law told me that I could either start doing the chores or paying for my share of everything and there was a third alternative as well, I could leave. Yet again, Nathan did not seem to have a problem with this and actually seemed to be in agreement with whatever his mother was saying. That was literally the last straw for me and I realized that I was probably better off not having a husband and my child would definitely not be worse off for not having a father either.

No father would definitely be better than Nathan. So I just told him your loss. as calmly as I could, and then pulled out the papers that I had been hiding in my purse for ages now. I handed those papers to him and then I walked out. I did not even bother to pack my things or anything and just walked out of the house. I got a cab and headed straight to my mother's house and once I was there, I just broke down. I could hear my phone ringing and I knew that he was texting nonstop after I walked out of the house, but I still had not responded to any of it. I spoke to my mother and I told her everything that I had been put through and how they had been treating me. She was outraged and she immediately told me to contact my lawyer and file for a divorce because I would be much better off without him and that was the fact of the matter.

She also told me that I did the right thing by giving him those papers before leaving and now, I had to file for full custody formally because I could not risk it and she made sure to remind me to ask for child support. It's been a week since I left and I only spoke to him on the phone a couple of days. and he told me that he was sorry about everything but just because he screwed up once, it did not mean that I had to leave and said that he was ready to step up and had even left his mother's house. All that he needed was for me to come back to him and give him another chance. He told me that he did not even mean what he said the other day and that it was just something that he had said because his mother wanted to scare me into doing the chores because she

thought that an active lifestyle would help me more and he realized now that it was. stupid and not worth risking his relationship with me for. I was very unhappy about everything and I told him that I could not be with him anymore, especially not after the way he had been treating me and allowing his mother to treat me for the past couple of months. And he told me that he thought he was doing us all a favor by saving money and living with his mom. But he was wrong and he was admitting it, so now he wanted a chance to fix his mistakes but I don't know if I want to give it to him because this is huge. I don't want my son to grow up without a father, but I don't want my son to grow up without a father, definitely don't want to put myself through the kind of things that I had been through in the past

few months of my pregnancy because these were really tough times for me and I don't even know how I got through it. So I'd offer not wanting to go back to my husband after he and his mother told me that I had to either contribute to the house or leave even when I was seven months pregnant. Update 1 Hello Thank you, everyone, for the kind of support that you guys have shown me and I really can't think of appropriate words to express how great I feel after going through the comments on my original post. It's really, really kind of you guys. I have decided to go through with the divorce

and file for full custody of my baby because right now, it's the best thing for all of us. I haven't spoken to Nathan yet, but I'm going to have to tell him eventually. It has been two weeks since I walked out and I've been feeling very strangely guilty about what I'm going to do, but I don't care. I have to think about my future and more importantly, I have to think about my baby's future. So if this is what it takes, I'm ready to do. I'm ready to do. I'm ready to do. I'm going to do. I'm to do it. My mother and sister are very supportive of me and even strangers on Reddit agree that this is the way to go for me. So what I'm doing can't be all that wrong. Update 2. So I finally told Nathan that I'm going through the divorce and I'm also filing for full custody, at least until our baby is

old enough to talk because I can't exactly trust him right now. He was not happy about it in the slightest and we got into a huge fight over the phone. He called me a lot of names and said that he regretted even meeting me or marrying me. He accused me of trying to ruin his relationship with his mother and said that he could not believe that I was now trying to deprive him of the experience of being a father. I was really mad because I was not trying to deprive him of anything, in fact, the only reason I had stayed with him all this while, was because I wanted him to be a part of my life and to be a part of his baby's life. But he was the one who had shown me, time and again, that he was not capable of it and I could not trust a man so incompetent and his mother, well, that was another story altogether

and I did not want anything to do with her anymore. She was a horrible human being and she had put me through the worst, so I did not owe it to her to be kind or say nice things about her. And if saying the truth counted as trying to turn him against her, then maybe she should just be a better person. But anyway, coming back to Nathan, I told him that my decision was final and no amount of arguing with me was going to change my mind. In fact, it was only making me believe that I was making the right choice by filing for a divorce in full custody. Because he was acting like a brat and that's the way he had been ever since I got pregnant. It was almost like he was trying to ruin his relationship with me on purpose just so that I would

leave. He seemed angry when I said it, but that's how I really felt. So you can't blame me for saying what I feel. And I had been keeping these things to myself for a really long time, I can't do it anymore. He needs to hear exactly what went wrong because we were married and we were together for a long time. Both of us deserve clarity and the truth. I was ready, to be honest, I don't think he is. But whatever. It doesn't matter anymore because everything is coming to an end and now, I'm just going to care about myself and the baby. Period. Update 3. The divorce is in the works right now and well, it is not easy. Nathan and I have not been speaking ever since that last phone call and I know that he is gearing up for the custody battle with his lawyer, but he can bring it on,

I'm not scared. I have my family and they have my back, so I am not really scared of anything right now. And I also know that I am doing the right thing, so it's fine. I have a good lawyer and I know that we are going to do our best. His mother has been spreading all sorts of rumors about me among our friends, but I don't care about that, as long as it does not affect the divorce. She's a pretty disgusting person and this is exactly the kind of thing that I would expect from her. From what I have heard, Nathan is back to living with her. Good for them, I guess. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse insisted that I resigned from my occupation to become a homemaker, then covertly engaged in infidelity with a 20-year-old individual and appropriated our funds. Presently,

He desires reconciliation after I initiated legal proceedings. Divorce Hi everyone. I love my husband and he's an amazing man, but we have flaws like everyone else. We both aged out of foster care and met at a youth fulfillment program, basically a work camp that helps kids with no families learn the fundamentals for living, finances, certificates, as needed. We were both 18 and stayed in contact after the program ended.

He made it clear he liked it. liked me, but I was truly petrified of men at that point in my life due to past experiences and rejected him a bit harshly. I reached out to apologize and we became friends, then a year or two later I saw he posted he on Snapchat he was in my area, I asked if he would want to go on a date so I could practice being comfortable around guys and he agreed. He never made a move, never touched me, never made weird eye contact. If I said no he didn't ask a second time, not even as a suggestion.

We went on these platonic dates for months with nothing happening, and one day I asked for a hug and then asked for a kiss and he asked me to be his girlfriend. We got married a year after and our seven-year anniversary is around the corner. We agreed we would not even think about having kids until we were older since both of us were the product of young parents. We've really just only focused on getting by on using as little money as possible and saving up every dime to buy a house. Thankfully, we got our house a few months ago and we were both able to quit our second jobs and for the first time only work regular 9-5S. Yay! I've discovered I really like gardening and baking and I love having a real home.

We have been discussing adding to our family by having a baby and I feel very ready to be a mom. Scared still, yes, but ready. But my husband brought up how sad I would be if I had to quit since I've worked so hard. I told him I had zero plans to quit, I would only take maternity leave. Plus my company allows maternal and paternal remote options for one year after birth, so I can just work from home if needed. I know it's a lot to do with a newborn but giving up the security of my paycheck is simply not an option. He told me this was what we worked for, to make our own perfect family opposite from what ours were

like and I was blindsiding him by changing my plans and I told him no plan has changed, I can have a career and be a mom. Plenty of women do it. He doesn't have to quit his job to be a dad, so why should I? He said it wouldn't work for a baby's needs and I told him okay, since I make more money than you do. Why don't you quit and I go back to work remotely after healing from birth? That way we have both hands on deck and we don't have a severe loss of income as I make $89,000

slash a year and he makes $52,000 slash a year. He mentioned that if I trusted him fully this shouldn't be a problem. I told him I trust him but I don't trust our current economy, but I left out that I really do genuinely think quitting my job with no savings, wiped out by getting the house, and relying on a man is absolutely stupid. He had plans made previously with his parents and had to leave so we said we would pick the conversation back up when he gets home but he's very, very upset. Matter than I have ever seen him and I don't understand why he just assumed I would quit. Not only do I not understand it, but it makes me trust him a lot less than I did yesterday. I have a bad habit of running for the hills when problems come up and not going to lie, this is making me really nervous.

Thank you for reading all of this if you have. I'm open ears to what could be going through his mind or why he is thinking like this, really just doesn't seem logical to me. He's been watching all of these videos of stay-home wives slash girlfriends and he feel like this is influencing him a lot. Edit, there was an update to this post. We are no longer together. Update 1, it's been a few days since he came home and told me he met a girl at work and she's a better woman than me, and that she has a son already and will be a stay-at-home wife or girlfriend or whatever the fuck. He gets his happy ending, I guess. He texted me right before I got

off work and asked me to pick up food. From one of our usual date night spots. I got home. I got home and noticed his car had boxes in it and a woman I didn't know. I tried opening the door but it was locked and she just looked at me. What little was left of our savings, he took. And both of our cats. I didn't see this coming at all. I haven't told any of my friends yet. His adoptive parents have been dropping me off food that I can't even force myself to eat. I haven't cried yet. I'm kind of still in shock. I wish I had a family to run to. I wish I had a family to to. But for now the internet has to do. I haven't answered any of his calls or texts. He keeps trying to check in, ask if I'm okay. How the fuck would I be okay? I never thought he would cheat. I asked him to

promise if there was ever someone else he would just tell me as soon as he knew, but they'd been together at least six months. So while he was calling me selfish for not wanting to put in my two weeks and be a stay-at-home wife, he was dating her the entire time. planning a future with her the entire time. I feel stupid. I should have taken everyone's advice more literally. When I asked him to go to therapy, he wouldn't. His parents think he's have some type of mental break.

I should have stayed afraid of him and avoided him. I should have chosen a better outcome for myself. I just feel like the same girl that no one wants to love anymore all over again. I know what he did isn't my fault. I know I could never stop him and really do I want a man who doesn't want me? Never. But that just doesn't stop it from hurting. Update 2, really want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of the people who reached out to me with well wishes.

Especially other spouses who experienced similar, it helps so much more than you could ever know. There has been a few things that have happened, and honestly I'm exhausted in every way possible so the input from folks has really been useful in organizing my thoughts and keeping an open mind. I couldn't help it, but for days I compared us and wondered what the fuck he could have been thinking until I realized she's a carbon copy of his biological mother, or at least the stories he heard about her since she died when he was five. I hate that I feel bad for him still, even after what he's done, but we offered him support for his thoughts, we urged him to go to therapy, I even offered to pay for it myself, and he was too prideful. I lost both of my parents too, at an older age with even more core memories with them, so it wasn't a boat he was in alone.

But he chose to act like it was and wallow in self-pity. He called me on our seven-year wedding anniversary, minutes after midnight, whispering apologies and saying he feels so guilty. I asked for what, and he just said, well, you know, what we're going through. I told him, no, it's what you're doing. We are going through nothing. I was abandoned by my husband exposed to God knows what while you were fucking her and coming back home to me. We were still having sex like every single day, so I made sure he knew just how disgusting I thought he was. Then he got pissed and told me he only started cheating because I couldn't follow his lead. Sir, look where you led yourself. Our entire marriage I've pushed him career-wise, hell, the job he is right now I applied to on his behalf.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty sure he doesn't, or didn't even know what my friend. full job title is. I pushed him to reach out to the adoptive parents when he started getting family obsessed but neither of us were ready for a kid. He went on about how I broke my promise first when I decided I didn't want to be a real mom by not quitting, that I was turning his adoptive parents against him because they are refusing to meet his new girlfriend. He blamed me again and then had the nerve to say that this could all be put on pause if I can learn how to make decisions that benefit a family and not myself. I asked point-blank if he was insinuating

that we could get back together if I quit my job. He told me, yes, I will always love you, but you make things more difficult than needed. I hung up and blocked him on everything. Spent the rest of the night hugging wine in the bathtub and wondering what the hell kind of person I had been sharing my heart with. The next day he went public with their relationship,

posting a photo to Instagram and most of our mutual friends reached out, with my closest friends commenting less than. Kind things on the photo. As it turns out, he and his new girlfriend have been together for seven, almost eight months. She is 20, her son is around two. I reached out to her ex, the father of her son, who she had left to be with my ex-husband.

She moved out in the middle of the day and took their kids so he was just as blindsided, if not more, than I was. We met up and went for a walk, stopped by a bar. literally cried, laughed, hugged each other, sang songs way too loudly and sobbed in public like a lunatic, but it helped so much. We also made sure to exchange evidence for any court battles. I'm a little iffy towards him for now considering that they had quite the age gap. She was 17 when they met and he was 26. He said she lied about her age and they met at a college party and the next thing he knew she was pregnant. He gave her money for an abortion but she came

back with baby clothes instead, so he tried to do the right thing and moved her in with him. Also, she's not actually allergic to cats. She just hates them. She also was very aware he was married and has been to the house multiple times. He admitted he had cheated on her before their son had been born, while she was pregnant, but that she didn't tell him she knew until after she had moved out with their son. He said he was still texting her every day, not just about their son, but also about possibly working things out. He wants her back, but she seems to be head over heels for my husband just like I was. I told him good luck, but yeah, not the direction I'm going in at all. This time he made his bed and he will lay in it for good. Our chances of reconciliation are zero. I have never

accepted someone back into my life after a betrayal and it won't start now. At first I wanted to make sure the divorce was going to be short and as simple as possible even if it meant giving up some things, but after that conversation, I have decided I'm fighting tooth and nail for everything I can possibly get. I live in a no-fault divorce state, but my state does have special laws for adultery, can still sue for it here, and the divorce attorney I consulted said it looks pretty good that I won't have to pay him alimony. He also told me to look into every single banking transaction in my accounts, as he did not think they got an apartment on his income without some extra cushion, aka my money, and he was right. Last year my ex-husband told me he got really

into stock trading and if he could invest some of my money as well. Guess who was never doing any stock trading and the screenshots he showed me were all fake slash pulled from somewhere else, and he had been sending that money to his girlfriend or saving it for their new place. I've been pretty enraged since finding that out. He asked his adoptive parents to ask him, me to allow him visitation rights to see the cats, after he had to give them back once he realized his new GF is allergic to them. I relayed that he needs to first, run me my fucking money, and then take it up with the judge. I didn't think visitation was a real thing for pets, but according to my lawyer it very much is. I officially filed for divorce yesterday and he emailed

me quite the colorful email about how selfish and bitter I am for not putting my pride aside and being so fast to file for divorce and refusing to let him stop by the house to see the cats that now. He's accusing me of cheating. I read somewhere that you never really know someone until you're divorcing them, and I can truly confirm that is true. I felt like you guys deserve some sort of update considering how much support I was given. I can't share more details for now but really thank you all again. Next story, Mom stole my grandmother's Christmas-themed engagement ring and gave it to my brother's fiance. When I demanded it back, my family called me selfish. I've been receiving messages nonstop from my maternal family and my siblings, and it has me second-guessing if what I'm doing

is going too far. This past Christmas, I saw on social media that my brother proposed to my future Sill, who will call Amy. I was initially happy for them until I saw the ring, which Amy posted photos of. I immediately recognized it as my grandmother's engagement ring, and phoned my mom to ask if she had given my brother the ring as a placeholder. She brushed me off, saying that no, she gave him the ring on purpose because I hate Christmas and Amy loves it. Context, I had always been closer to my paternal side of the family, especially my grandma. My grandmother passed away last year, and the only inheritance I got is her engagement ring. I was not meant to receive this ring until I'm 30. My grandmother loved Christmas, and it showed in her engagement

ring, it's an emerald-cut diamond with tiny circle rubies and oval emeralds to look like Holly. Also, I didn't always hate Christmas. Two years back, I lost my BF of 10 years, my childhood BFF, and my sorority sister in a car accident coming home from a Christmas party that we all intended. I've been in therapy, struggling with survivors' guilt, but I'm doing better now. I told my mom that the ring technically was meant to be mine and that she couldn't take it. She told me that she had a box of my grandmother's jewelry and I could just pick something else. I was stewing for a few days before contacting my paternal uncle, who is the executor. He was furious and told me that my mom had said she was going to give me the ring as a Christmas gift.

He then said he could be in touch with a lawyer if I wanted to press charges. We talked for a bit more before hanging up. Armed with this information, I texted my mom, brother, and future sill, saying that I had been in touch with my uncle and that I would press charges if the ring was not returned to either me or my uncle. My brother tried to say he really wanted to use the ring, that since I hated Christmas that I didn't deserve it. I let them text me, using their threats as future evidence. I told them they had a week to return the ring or I'd follow through with the police. Now, my mother's side of the family, as well as my other siblings, are hounding me.

They all think I'm blowing things up. I'm not. I know. I know. I know I'm not, but with how everybody is acting I feel like I'm going crazy. Update 1, Hey y'all. Before we get into the update, there are a few points I want to make clear that have been brought up for my last point. First, my mom and paternal grandmother were on good terms before her passing. They weren't besties by any means, but they were kind to each other, hence why my mother got a box of her jewelry, which mostly consists of brooches, but does offer a few of her better pieces like her locket and a charm bracelet. Second, my father passed of a heart condition the year I graduated middle school, which is why he's not dealing with my mom. Since his death, my paternal family has really tried to bridge the gap he left, hence why I'm so close with them.

Now, time for the update. The day after I posted, Amy, Future Sill, texted me privately and asked me to meet up with her in secret. We organized a meeting for the next day at one of the local diners to grab lunch and talk. meeting her was weird, since I didn't know how she would gauge the situation. Amy has never been mean-spirited, just blunt, not the rude kind of blunt either, she just a woman of a few words kind of deal. A few of the comments said she was the odd for accepting it, but the fact is she hasn't been in the family long enough to know about my connection to the ring.

She had only met my grandmother once or twice before my grandmother got sick. Once we sat down, she told me to tell her about my grandmother. which, I initially thought was weird, but I got to telling her some childhood stories about my grandmother. How I would help her pick tomatoes from her garden to make fresh sauce, how we used to go on her porch and just watch the sunset, how during Christmas Mass she always held my hand walking upslash down the large steps, since the crowds would often lead to me being separated. Long story short, Amy seemed reminiscent about the situation before she immediately apologized. She hadn't known about the ring, just that it was a family ring and that it meant she was one of us now.

When she had seen the text, she confronted my brother, who brushed it off as op as just being dramatic. It's not like it's the only piece she has, which is true, I actually do have my grandmother's pearl earrings and her pearl necklace, but that was a sweet 16 gift, not inheritance. That got Amy mad and she went to stay with her family. She apparently had been in my shoes before, having been jipped by her older relatives regarding her own grandmother's inheritance. She returned the ring and said she plans to break off the engagement. I told her to really think about that. She then smiled and said that she couldn't be a part of a family that was so backhanded and cruel. We talked for a bit more and left on good terms. My brother really dropped the ball. She was a good one. Yesterday, my mom called me and told me I had

gone too far and now Amy doesn't want to be a part of the family. I asked her what she expected when Amy was a good-hearted person who probably wouldn't want to marry into a family of liars and thieves. She said my brother was distraught when he came home and found she had left with her things. I told her maybe if they didn't try to take my ring, then maybe Amy wouldn't look at them like they were bad people and maybe she'd want to still marry my brother. My mom called me a slew of names before hanging up. I asked my uncle that, now that I have the ring, could I just keep it? My uncle said that was fine, since he knew I had a safe that I could keep it in, it's a fancy, fingerprint one where I keep my registered firearm and legal documents. He just made sure to document

me receiving the ring so that this way he didn't go nutty trying to find it for my 30th birthday. I now wear it on my middle finger, since it's a little too big for my ring finger. I went on a date with my new, we've been dating 910 THS months, partner this morning, and they loved it. I plan to post a photo of us tonight or tomorrow, see how much I can stir the pot. Thanks to all who supported me, I knew I wasn't crazy. I've been the least favorite kid for years and I've just gotten used to having to share or give up things. But, my grandmother's ring was my hill to die on, and depending on how their behavior is, I may go and see, am currently L.C. due to this drama. Update 2. Okay, a few things I wanted to say before I finally tell you guys how everything

wrapped up. Number one, and most importantly, I am so sorry for using that word. I had no idea the origin of the word gypt was derived from jipters and gypsies, and is a slur against the Romani people. I apologize for using the word and will phase it from my vocabulary. I meant no offense by using it in my post and really do apologize if I did offend someone. Secondly, I took the advice of some people and didn't block my family, which worked in my favor. Lastly, I really appreciate all the support I have received. It means the world to me. So, the top thing I should mention is about Amy. She recently moved, wanting a mostly fresh start. Her and I are still friends on social media, since we share common hobbies and interests.

However, she wanted a mostly clean break, and only remains in L.C. with me, her cousin, and her best friend. According to her pictures on social media, she's doing pretty well for herself. I am so proud of her. Next thing is my family. After a few days of posts, I kept receiving texts, emails, and letters from family. Yes, I got letters, that surprised me too. I got annoyed at all the harassment and sent all the screenshots of my conversations with my mom, brother, the group chat with them and Amy, and my uncle, all with highlighted parts that show they were wrong. Suffice to say that most of the family iced them out, the only ones who are still on my mom and

brother's sides are my youngest sibling. I don't think they have a choice since they still live with mom and are being forced to, and are one cousin who lives hours away, one of those Alpha Gigachad men the internet loves to mock. So, I'm not too worried anymore. Finally, me. I'm doing great. I recently started sewing since I want to start getting into cosplay, and I began doing yoga every morning. My partner and I still have date nights often, mostly consisting of board games, video games, or movies, who has money to go out in this economy we even looked into rescuing a bird. My partner is allergic to dander and they already suffer cause of my other pets, so this pet is for them.

Right now, my mom and brother haven't done anything illegal, but I did get security cameras just in case. The harassment has stopped, my partner and I are happy, Amy is doing well, and life is sweet. I think this is it, my mom and brother have finally realized they lost this fight, and I couldn't be happier smile. I hope you enjoy this story. My partner's former spouse's siblings vandalized my vehicle and bullied me for stepping into her role. I am pursuing legal recourse and have issued an ultimatum to my partner to cease communication with them or risk losing me. 25F. Am getting married to my fiancé, 29M, in May. When we first got together, he told me that he was married from 20 to 22 years old to his high school sweetheart.

We met when he was 25, but she passed away of sepsis from a botched surgery. He did, didn't cope well and stayed in contact with her family, namely her father and two sisters, 19 and 24. It was a soft spot for me for a while at the beginning because there was so much history they had that we would not have, and it was tough knowing that she was all around him. I never told him and decided to work through it on my own, especially with the fact that he would often spend time with her family during our relationship. Her birthday, their anniversary, and the anniversary of her death, he'd spend the day with her family. It was uncomfortable at first knowing the man I loved was reminiscing about the love he had with someone else,

but I kept trying to see it from his perspective, and the last couple of years, I am completely secure in our relationship. And it doesn't bother me much anymore. Well, he proposed this time last year, and I was over the moon. I love this man with all my heart, but I recently learned that he never told them that we got engaged. Now, I've been trying local coffee shops the past few months rather than my usual run and tried a new one. His L.W. sister worked there, and other than being awkward, she did a double take of my engagement ring and looked really unhappy. I didn't mention it and left. My fiancé told me that she kept messaging him on social media about it, and I wasn't happy that he kept it a secret.

He apologized and was very depleted by it all. He said that he didn't want to hide me, but he didn't want to hurt them either and that both of us were a huge part of his life. I understand that and let him off the hook slightly, I just told him to be up front with them from now on. That was that. At least, I thought so. A week ago, on Sunday, I got a message from the 24-year-old asking if I was happy with myself, that I would never replace his LW and that if she was still alive, he'd chose her over me every time.

She even said that he only kept me around for my money and something to stick his dick in. I supported, but I can't say that it's just a little. didn't affect me. When you're in my position, all these points are ones you have to work through, and it's not easy to get over those insecurities. It feels like a knock on the teeth when they're used against you. I mentioned it to him, and he comforted me and reassured me. He said he'd set boundaries with her, and I'd never have to hear from her again. Fine by me. That was until I found my car with horror and grave robber smeared in red paint. I had saved for this car for a year, it was very expensive. The tires were slashed and the windows cracked. I asked the store a few

doors down for their CCTV camera footage of that night, but it was blurry and didn't catch much. It did manage to catch half a license plate, though, and the color and make of a car. It was his LW's youngest sister's car. I told him I was filing a police report, and he asked me to hold off until he talked to them first. I told him no, but I would if they paid for the day. damages and apologize to my face. He set up the meeting for last night, and it didn't go well, to say the least. Everyone was shouting. The sisters told me they, yes, both of them, had nothing to be sorry for and that I should leave their family alone, including my fiancé and their family. He told them that it wasn't fair to him to be lonely forever and that he'd hope they'd be supportive

of him finding love again. They told him he was betraying L.W. and that he never loved her if he'd marry someone else. They didn't have a problem with him having a new girlfriend because he'd realized she was the only one for him and get tired of me. Now that hadn't happened, they were putting their foot down. The youngest told him to tell me that they were right and that he'd never love anyone like L.W. My fiancé broke down at the table. I picked him up and made us leave. I told them I'd be filing a report and suing for damages, and the next time they saw us would be in court. When we got back calmed down, I gave him an ultimatum. Either he cuts contact, or we call off the wedding and go our separate ways. I wasn't going to live my life with this harassment and someday subject my children to

their bullying. He said they would never bully a child, but I shot him down and said he didn't expect any of this either. He called their father, who was fairly chill about it all but still defended his daughters. They say I shouldn't control him and that I'm horrible for cutting them off. I don't know what to do. I can't live like this, and I don't think I should have to just because we're getting married. Comments, Caspian 4136, NTA what they did is completely unacceptable and I'm glad you're standing your ground and filing the police report. Look into a restraining order as well, since you must still have all the proof of the messages and such. As for your fiancé, I understand why he kept in touch with them, but he messed up big time by not telling them he's

moved on and loved someone else. These hate you from them, which is stupid as what did he expect. He needs to grow a backbone and put them in their place. Reflection Suite 722, NTA I understand why he keeps in touch with them and views them as family, but if my family treated a partner this way, I'd go no contact until they could treat us both with respect. He may be dealing with some guilt about moving on, but if you can work through your hang-ups regarding this, so can he. Nurtit knew that I would never replaces LW and that if she was still alive he'd choose her every time. Well, she's not so they can fuck off. Discharges. Sue. And try to get a restraining order. If he doesn't stick to no contact, move on. Definitely NTA. Update 1. Hey everyone, just a mini update to clear some things up

before I have a discussion with my fiancé either later today or tomorrow about my ultimatum. I didn't sleep at all yesterday or the night before for obvious reasons. There's a ding on my phone at least once an hour from them saying one thing or another, mainly the 19 years old and I don't know what they've told people, but I've got a message from one of their uncles and grandparents calling me horrible stuff too. So obviously, they've been spreading what's happened this week and twisting it. I haven't blocked them because I want to gather as much evidence as possible for the inevitable case. Regardless of any outcome with my fiancé, I will sue and file a criminal case for harassment and vandalism and seek a restraining order.

I just haven't had the mental fortitude to do so yet. I'm hoping my fiancé will help me. I haven't spoken to my fiancé since the argument at the table, other than to tell him either they go or I do. It was my choice to give him a couple of days to come to terms with everything, and I will contact him when I'm ready. from the first message to now, it has been a week. It's a huge way to contemplate leaving people you've known for 15 years and who you grew up with. He did set hard boundaries with the sister from the coffee shop as I've seen the messages. He said, paraphrasing, you have no right talking to op at all if this is how you're going to behave.

She doesn't deserve this and you've gone too far. Why are you being like this? And she responded with more name calling and back and forth. He ended by saying not to message me again and to make sure everyone else does the same. I was happy with that. At this point only one person in that family had an issue, to my knowledge, so it was silly to have him cut all of them off. It may not be enough for some, but it was enough for me to feel safe and comfortable. For those saying he needs therapy and counseling, he's already getting it.

He's been getting it since before we even started dating after an incident at work. I don't know about any of their family, though. The first time I had a conversation with any of them was that night. Now, some people are wondering what L.W. died of, and it was a botched weight loss surgery where she died of sepsis. People were wondering if he was somehow the reason behind the surgery, hence the family's insane reaction, but he was not in the slightest. He likes bigger women and wouldn't pressure something like that onto her, speaking from experience. I also want to clear up the not calling the police about the car thing. It was entirely my idea to not file charges in exchange for a face-to-face apology and damage payment.

He only wanted me to wait so that he could talk to her to see if she regretted it and then have her father pay the damages. At the time, we thought it was just the 19 years old that smashed up my car, not both daughters. Neither of us wanted to ruin her life. When I found out it was both of them, it was full steam ahead. Thank you all for your messages and hopefully I'll have a positive update for you tomorrow. Edit, I chose for him to take this space apart. It's not him being indecisive. I said to take time and that I'd reach out so that his decision is thought out. It's for me. I don't want to be chosen only to be three kids down the line and stuck in a resentment-filled marriage.

It's for me. Please understand that. Update 2. Well, what a wild morning I've had. My fiancé came over bright and early this morning, and I've never been so damn tired. You may want to take a seat because this will be long. Sorry in advance. First of all, I want to set the record straight here. A lot of people are coming for my fiancée over not cutting them off from the get-go, which I don't think is fair.

He's a very mild-mannered, calm and calculating person, and that's who I always knew he was. Nothing has changed. If he had been Rocky Balboa and flipped the cafe table shouting obscenities, he would not have been the man I fell in love with. He did exactly what I expected him to do and exactly what I was comfortable with. You may be attracted to other things in man and expect other things and that's awesome, but not me. Anyway, I texted him saying I thought it was time to discuss this and he was back at home not a half hour later. He'd been staying with a friend the couple nights we had no contact. We sat on our bed to talk because my back was sore from all the packing, and I wasn't going to force myself to sit at the table.

Before we even got to talking, he asked if we could cuddle for a minute. It definitely took some of the weight off and we were able to talk like a couple and not awkward strangers because, regardless of some people's beliefs, we do love each other and it took me a very long time to feel confident in that fact. Before anyone calls me a doormat again, no, I was still sure I would stick to my ultimatum. The first thing I asked was if he felt he had enough time to make his decision, and he said he didn't need time. He was very shocked and bewildered at how so much could change in just a week and how everything he knew was so shaken up that he couldn't think and went numb. He apologized that he didn't take a more defensive stance at the cafe and didn't want to make excuses for it. One explanation was that he genuinely didn't expect such a vitriolic response. He hid the engagement because he knew they weren't over LW's death and would be upset.

at the news. It wasn't like I would feel upset by them not knowing, which I wasn't really. He's known these girls since before they were in double digits, and he would never have thought they were capable of it. It came so far out of left field that he froze. I asked him if there was any possibility that either of them had a thing for him, and he looked very confused and disturbed. I said how I've had people tell me it's not uncommon for siblings to do this after loss, and he thought about it. Turns out you were right. He said the 24 years old, about eight months after L.W.'s death, made a move and tried to kiss him. He immediately left and told her mother about it.

Mother and father are divorced now but weren't then. She was a minor at the time and messaged him saying she would be 18 soon. So it wasn't a big deal. Her mother made her see the school counselor and didn't allow her to be alone with him for a while. It was years ago so he'd forgotten it ever happened. He said he was sure that wasn't the case now because it had been so long, but I'm not so convinced. Not that it matters anymore. He opened up his Facebook and gave it to me to read. 24 years old had been messaging him, but he ignored it. She ranged from telling him off to crying and saying how betrayed the family was to try to manipulate him against me. He said he was sure that he needed to put them behind him and had been thinking about it on and off since he proposed,

but couldn't bring himself to do it. After this week, the fire was lit, and he knew what he had to do. It was all abstract until suddenly, it became very real. He asked me how I'd been coping, and I told him. I felt like I'd done everything right, but somehow things turned out worse than if I'd been the jealous type and stopped their contact at the beginning. I tried to be understanding and put in so much effort to be secure in myself and our relationship,

only for everything I worked on to be thrown in my face like I've been. was a mistress who was cheating with him. He didn't blink the entire time and just listened. He said he should have been more observant and realized I was struggling with this so that he could help me, but I've always been the strong one, so he neglected two, and he'll do better. As I've said in a few comments now, his parents had him in their late 40s and are retired. He hates to involve them in negativity, but I was stunned when he said he's been talking to them about this since the first Facebook message. They were very understanding, but his father took a tough love approach. He said the best quote, I think I've ever heard.

Get your act together before the jig is up. They offered to come stay for a while and help us move. I don't think that's necessary, but I really appreciate the thought. On the subject of moving. I made it clear that I would not be living in this house any longer than I had to, and he completely agreed. His parents offered to find us a place in their state if we wanted to have more of a support network, and I'm honestly considering it after all this. They're only a state away from my own family, so we'd be a lot better off. His job is remote, and I should be able to find work there easily enough. I've also been in contact with a friend who's a mechanic, and they've quoted me between 1 to 2K for the damages, but that's in a cost estimate as a discount. A few people have said to get a

real statement and to shop around. The real cost is between 4 to 5k and that's just for the noticeable damage. My friend thinks they've done something to the engine, so thank God I couldn't drive it anywhere. He thinks I may be entitled to a replacement car altogether. If so, I will be sure to sue for it, and that's not going to be cheap. Still, after all the emotional things were discussed, he asked when would I be comfortable enough to go to the police? I made clear he was okay with that, or I'd go on my own. He said, the surest I've ever seen him, that this is what needed to be done, and he wasn't going to let them continue. He'd done enough to try and shield them, but he wasn't going to let it come at my expense. I'm currently in the bath frothing and bath bombs,

but we'll be going to the station as soon as I'm done. He's downstairs right now printing out the new quotes from the mechanics, and the message is 24 years old sent him over the past couple of days so we can go prepared. People have said that nothing will come of it, and you may be right. But I have to try. Hoping my local police don't have anything better to do. It's a small town. To finish, I made a point of asking again if he would cut them off or if I had to go. He didn't miss a beat and said that they were no longer going to be a part of his life, even if I decided to leave. He did ask for one last meeting to say goodbye to her parents to put a close on that part of his life. and to explain to the girls that this is not my fault but his decision after seeing how cruel they were

capable of being. After that, we would block them on everything and move forward. I was completely fine with that. So, there we have it. Writing all this out and being able to talk to people about everything has been both helpful and a good distraction from the dumpster fire that was my life. Everything worked out as well as I could have hoped. We'll see how his meeting with them goes. I'm sure they won't be very happy about it, but that's not my problem. Thank you all, and I'll update you after they've met up. Update three so we drove down to the police station with our block of paperwork and had a couple of hours of talk. They were so sweet about everything.

As some of you expected, they did say I should have come earlier, but they didn't really care because it was only a few days. They said that it often takes people about this amount of time to actually file charges if they weren't an immediate threat or danger, so unless someone was about to throw punches, I handed them everything and it looks like I've got plenty of evidence. They'll be contacting my insurance on my behalf to get the ball rolling, so they can come to do a check of my car themselves. And then they can open a claim with me if I want. They're not filing a claim, they're just notifying about the criminal damages. I filed criminal charges for harassment and vandalism and they'll notify me with

more details about my restraining order this week. My fiancé told the police that he was planning on meeting with L.W's family and asked if that would contradict my case, and they said no. We're not married at the time of filing, so legally, we're two separate entities in the case. Or something. So, my car is totaled. My mechanic friend, I'm going to call him Tom because I can't keep saying my mechanic friend. So Tom and his partner at the shop did a full check on my car, And this is the damage they found. Shattered windshield, for slash tires, two broken windows, paint, obvious, I think, an unknown substance in the engine oil and battered bodywork. They said with this amount of damage, I should just go for a new car so that's what I'll be doing.

If anyone is curious, it was a Volvo. I'd always wanted one and managed to buy one new two years ago. Either they get me a new car or they'd be set back about 60K. Either way, I'll be all right. The amount classifies the vandalism as a felony, so they could be looking at jail time too. Now, my fiancé met with the family on Saturday, and Tom sat by the window. I currently live in a one-party state, so as long as my fiancé consents, the recording can be used in my case. While it may not be as drama-filled as some of you may want, it was still pretty stressful to see.

They met at the same cafe that we had before, and Tom Saturdays. a few tables away. Fiancee arrived after their father and before them. They managed to have a calm conversation for once. Fiancé told him how he was feeling, and Phil was very understanding but still trying to minimize. He was saying things like, you know they miss L.W and they'll come around and just need time to come to terms with you moving on. He kept trying to initiate paying for the damages, but his fiancé wouldn't talk about it until the sisters arrived. It was like Butter wouldn't melt with the 24 years old, but 19 came in like the Tasmanian devil. My fiancé didn't acknowledge anyone until it had all settled down where then he said this would

be his last meeting with all of them and they'd be going their separate ways. He turned to the girls and said that he would miss who he thought they were, but the way they treated people, especially me, horrified him. He said that this was all him, and they needed to accept that I was not to blame. He even said that it was me who offered the apology in exchange for not filing charges. The 19 years old then interrupted, asking what charges, and saying that no one was going to charge them for barely touching a car. She was a deer in headlights when he asked what they'd done to the engine oil and the two looked at each other. Seems they didn't expect me to find that out. Cue up the grovelling. Twenty-four years old actually tried to touch his hand and told him he had to

stop me from pressing charges because this would ruin her and interfere with 19-yo's college. He said it was too late and the cops should be issuing a warrant soon, it can take a few days. I thought it was an instant thing but apparently not. This is when their dad got involved again and said for everyone to calm down and fix this like adults. Now he wants his girls to be adults. I see. He asked if fiancé would convince me to drop the charges in exchange for that apology and he'd pay the damages. When my fiancé said it was 60K, the eyes he'd go.

gave to those women would shave the hair off a cat. The video wasn't the best, but I swear I could see the color drain from their faces. I may sound awful, but I enjoyed it. Call me what you will. They kept going on about apologizing and that they'd pay, but he just said it was too late and he was done. He tried to be civil, but they were the ones that wouldn't let it go. Twenty-four years old actually asked him to set up a meeting with me so they could get to know me and put it all behind us. He didn't reply and after the silence they piped up again like so she won't even meet us. She's behind all this because she doesn't want us around. We'll see about that.

They went on and on and frankly it was funny more than hurtful. But they did incriminate themselves more and more for my harassment case and the nail in the coffin was when 19 years old said if we can do that to a car, imagine what else we could do. That, my friends, is both a confession and a threat of bodily harm. My fiancé said one loud stop before wishing Phil well and telling the girls to not come near me. He then got up and left. That's where the recording ends because we wouldn't be able to use anything afterward anyway. After moving, we're pretty much all packed up and have a truck coming on Friday. We'll be staying with his parents until we find a place. We're looking at buying this time but might

get an RV in the meantime so we're not all stepping on each other. I doubt his parents would mind at all. This is the last update for a while, I think. I have a wedding to finish, a venue to change, new invites, etc. and less than two months to do it. Send help. But, thank you all for being ears and helping me get through this. If only to distract me from ruminating and digging a huge mental hole. I hope you enjoy this story. Discovered my partner was unfaithful so I departed without revealing my pregnancy. Today, after seven years, he appeared at my residence insisting on complete guardianship of our child. Our son. I, 28F, have a seven-year-old son, Jack.

His dad happens to be my ex-boyfriend, Zach, 28M, but I never told him about the pregnancy. Zach and I got together in college and after we graduated, we got an apartment together and lived there for a while. He and I were pretty serious about each other. other. At least I was, I'm not sure about him anymore. I tried to talk to him about marriage once and less than a month after that. I found out that he texted his ex and actually complained to her about how clingy I'd become. He told her that he needed a break from me and so they'd made plans to go on a romantic trip together. I had only found out about all of this because she'd replied to one of his texts at night while he was asleep and I saw the notification. He'd changed his password,

but I knew what it was so I'd unlocked his phone, checked out the text from his ex and uncovered weeks' worth of texts exchanged between them where they were either talking about how stressed out he was with me or flirting like nobody's business. It was shattered when I found out and cried myself to sleep because I was completely head over heels in love with him at the time. We'd been together for almost three years by then, so I thought that marriage was the next logical step and that he'd be okay with me discussing it. I didn't intend on getting married that very second,

but I just wanted to make sure that it was on the cards for him at some point like it was for me. I wanted us to be on the same page, but unfortunately, he was reading a whole other book. It was just that one night that I allowed myself to cry, but from the next day, I pretended as if nothing was wrong and behaved perfectly normally so he wouldn't get the hint that I knew about his cheating. He was supposed to go on that trip with his ex a few days after I found out and I planned to stay with him for those few days and then, while he was away romancing his ex, I'd leave without a word or an explanation and cut ties with him for good. And that's exactly what I did. I waited out for those couple of days even though it was really hard to bring myself to stay with a man who I knew

had no love or respect for me but I didn't want to confront him about the cheating. I just wanted to leave without even a goodbye because I knew that would hurt him infinitely more. He told me he was going away on a business trip for the company, even though at the time both of us were just starting out and neither of our jobs required us to travel much, but I didn't ask any questions and just wished him luck. After he left, I packed all my things up in just one day and moved out. I'd already paid off half of the rent for the month and I moved back home with my parents. I had a friend who lives in a different state.

So I talked to my friend and told her everything, bought a one-way ticket to her city and moved in there. I talked to my employers at the office and thankfully, they let me continue working remotely until my notice period was up. In the meantime, I found a job there and got my own apartment there. It took me a couple of weeks, but my friend was really helpful and was there with me every step of the way. Zach wasn't able to contact me after I left because I did everything in my power to prevent it. I changed my phone number, I blocked him everywhere, and even told my friends and family about it so they wouldn't make the mistake of talking to him.

and I had a couple of friends who lived in different states so even if he wanted to find out where I was through trial and error, he wouldn't have been able to. I highly doubt he'd even want to in the first place, find me again, but I still wanted to make sure he couldn't even if he wanted to. I didn't want to be found and I thought that moving away from him and cutting him off would mean that I'd never have to see him or think of him again. That was until I found out that I was a couple of weeks pregnant. It was only a few weeks after I'd settled into my new apartment that I realized I'd missed a cycle and so I took a pregnancy test. The result was positive and since that was the first positive thing that had happened to me in a while, I decided to keep the baby and it's been the best decision of my life ever. Despite whatever is happening right now I still strongly believe that my son was my good luck charm because after I found out that I was pregnant, my life took a turn for the I loved my job, I made a couple of new friends in the city who showed me around and were of great help to me and I just felt better after finding out about the pregnancy.

I did hear from a couple of my friends back home that Zach was searching for me like crazy and they even asked me if I wanted to tell them about the pregnancy but I refused because I wanted to stick to my resolution of leaving without a goodbye. He didn't deserve any closure and he absolutely didn't deserve to be a part of my baby's life, which I know he'd tried to do if he found out about it. So I never told Zach about the pregnancy and even though a lot of people disagreed with I stuck to it and they also had the decency to not go on and tell him about it without my consent. That has lasted for seven years and now my son's in second grade. I'm working in a good position in the same company that I started out here at and I've been in a relationship for a year now with my

boyfriend, Mike. He's a banker and a way better man and human being than my slimy ex. It was all going so well for me until three days ago when Zach turned up at my door with a legal notice, demanding full custody of my son. I was shocked to see him here because I'd been very careful to cover up my tracks and before I could even process that he was right in front of me, he'd shoved the papers towards me and I received an even bigger shock because I'd never even imagined this happening. This was the stuff of my nightmares and it was happening. He told me that I could think about what I wanted to do now. I could either be prepared to fight it out in court or just be a decent human being for once and give up custody of Jack so he'd have a better life.

Then he left without saying anything and I just stood there in shock for another 10 minutes. Luckily my son was in school when Zach came by so he didn't see his dad and didn't ask any awkward or difficult questions. It's been three days and I still haven't told any of my friends about it, nor have I thought about what the hell I'm going to do now. I obviously know that what I did in the past wasn't the most ethical move, but it's been seven years and my son's been living with me, he's never even known his father, so I don't think any court is going to take away custody from me. But I still can't help but feel afraid. I've only told my boyfriend about this and the discussion I had with him was especially hard on me because I had to tell him the truth.

Earlier, Elle just told him that Jack's father had never wanted to be a part of Jack's life and so I was a single mother, but now I had to confess to him that I'd never actually ask Zach if he wanted to be a father or not. I just left after I found out that he was cheating and didn't even bother to correct myself after I found out that I was pregnant and that he'd actually been searching for me. Mike was a little upset that I'd lied to him about this, but he understood that these things were very painful for me to talk about and I would have told him in due course of time. Just not right now, because I wasn't ready to let him in on what had happened to me in the past. He was kind to me about that aspect, but he didn't mince words when it came to what I'd done to Zach. He said that it had been especially cruel of me to deprive him of the chance of being even after I got to know that he'd been looking for me after I left.

It was horrible of him to cheat on me, but that still didn't excuse what I'd done because I'd made sure that I kept him away from his son for almost a decade and he never would have found out either if someone didn't snitch on me. I'm still trying to figure out who'd do such a horrible thing to me. And now I'm just really confused about whether what I did was right or wrong. I know it was unethical and kind of messed up but to be fair, so it was cheating on me. That wasn't fair to me and what I did wasn't fair to Zach so I think it's even for us, but Mike doesn't agree and thinks that I owe Zach a huge apology. He believes that I need to apologize and hope for joint custody at best if he does, but I'm not sure if that's the only way out of this.

I don't think he has any legal right over my son because he's never been involved in his childhood. Granted, he was never given the opportunity to do so, there's a good enough reason for that as well. It's just all messed up right now and that's why I'm here on Reddit right now because what I think I need is a fresh perspective. So I'd offer never telling my boyfriend that I was pregnant and leaving him without an explanation after I found out that he'd been cheating on me? 8.1, hey, guys. It's been a week since Zach showed up and I've come to find out a couple of things since then. This is going to be a bit of a lengthy update because there are a lot of things that I have to talk about.

First and foremost, I'm not giving up custody of my son. Not even partial custody because Zach really doesn't deserve it. I know the comments section on my original post was pretty divided on whether what I did was all right or not, but I've decided I'm going to focus on the people who believe that it was totally justified in light of what Zach had done. He'd cheated on me and not just with anyone. He'd cheated on me with his ex-girlfriend whom he'd been with just before he'd started dating me. They'd only been together for a couple of months and had broken things off when Zach realized he just wanted something casual and then four months later, he started dating me.

So for him to throw away a three-year relationship for a fling that didn't even last six months was very insulting to me. Not just that, it was wrong on every conceivable level for him to lie and call me clingy, needy, and heavily emotionally dependent on him and whatnot. He'd said a lot of these things while complaining to his ex about me in the texts and I still distinctly remember all of it. None of these things were true in the slightest, but he just said it anyway to gain sympathy from his ex so she'd hook up with him. I'd only ever asked him about his thoughts on getting married because I wanted to make sure he wanted it at some point in the future

and I think after three years of being together, it's okay for me to ask, but the way he freaked out after that was a clear indication that he wasn't ready for anything. If he wasn't even ready to commit to me, then I really don't think he'd have agreed to commit to a baby. And honestly, at the end of the day, I was in no way legally obligated to tell him I was pregnant. Maybe it was unethical, but it was what I had to do to lead a good life and I don't see anything wrong with it. If he'd been a good, decent man and not cheated on me, then we probably still would have been together and had a kid together but he chose to screw things up for himself and cheat on me so now neither does he get me nor does he get his son. I don't care what anyone else thinks,

I know that I did what was best for me and I refused to feel guilty about it. I've also found out who was the one who leaked my information to Zach and it's none other than my mother. I was shocked, but when I finally told her about Zach showing up at my door, she admitted to telling him without even me having to prompt her. I wasn't even going to accuse her because I really didn't think that my mother of all people would do such a thing. I just called her up two days ago for advice and to talk to her in general since we hadn't spoken in a while because she seemed too busy. Now I know she wasn't busy, but she was avoiding me on purpose out of shame.

She told me that she'd contacted Zach after a friend of hers had told her that he had been promoted to vice president of the company he used to work in. Her friend happened to know Zach's mother so they were connected like that and for years after I left. Zach would try to reach out to my mother but she'd kept her mouth shut and avoided him. At this time, she reached out to him without even asking me and her reason to finally let him know about his baby was that she thought I wouldn't be able to handle the cost of raising a son on my own as time went on and that Jack needed his dad to be in the picture now that he was getting old. She didn't consult with me first because she knew I would have hated the idea of that, so she just went ahead and did whatever she thought was right. I couldn't believe it and I still cannot bring myself to believe that my own mother would do something like this to me. She knew how torn up I was after Zach's cheating episode and how long it took me to move on from that. She insisted that

she'd done this for my own good and that I'd thank her later but when I told her that because of what she'd done, Zach was now demanding full custody. She had no defense for her. She had no defense for herself and just went silent. I'm not as rich as Zach right now, that's something I cannot deny. I did a fair bit of stalking after my disastrous phone call with my mother and found out that he was now married to his ex, so he could commit to people who are not me. He's doing well in his life and he lives in a nice house, seems pretty well off and all that's really good for him. But I'm leading a nice life on my own and I don't think I need anyone's help, especially Zach's help after I rejected him so long ago and haven't even spoken to him in seven years. I don't know what possessed her to screw me

over like this, but I know that I'm never, ever going back to speaking to my mother ever again. I just cannot because what she did to me was immensely disrespectful. She just assumed that I would appreciate the help and told Zach my whereabouts without even thinking about the consequences. I'm lucky that Zach's just a slimy, entitled Dushabag and not a psycho or something because then my mother's decision to tell him everything would have cost me a lot more. more. I've blocked her everywhere and I'm not planning on unblocking her anytime soon. Or maybe even ever. As for the custody case, I honestly don't think he stands a chance because it's been seven years and my son's been just fine without him. At most, he can probably get visitation rights

or maybe even partial custody if his lawyer is great, but I really don't think he'll be successful in getting full custody at all. And he has nothing on me either like I can accuse him of cheating, which is why I left and never told him about Jack. But I've never demanded any child support or anything so he has nothing on me. I even have all the pictures of his conversations with his ex back from when I first found out. I'd never used it back then, but I'd taken photos just in case I ever needed them or if I maybe wanted to expose him at some point. I never used them but they're going to come in handy now.

I've been in talks with a lawyer for a couple of days and we're going to respond to the custody petition soon. Mike isn't happy about any of this, but he knows that ultimately, it's up to me what I want to do when he can't change that. If I'm being honest, I'm also reconsidering my relationship with him because his morals are kind of really different from my own and I think he's not taking this as well. He's not been supportive at all and has actually been really distant and weird about all of this. I don't know what it is, but just something about the way he's been acting is really off-putting for me so I might be rethinking this whole relationship right now. Update 2, hi. So Zach and I are going to meet with a court-appointed mediator first for the

custody case. We're meeting the day after tomorrow and to say that I'm stressed out would be a huge understatement. I've talked to Jack about all of this and he's a little confused because so far, he believed that I'd never been in touch with his father. Of course, I've never told my son the truth about why his dad's not a part of his life but whenever he'd ask, I just tell him that we left him behind and reassure him that his father had ever known him. He would have loved him, but unfortunately, he never found out. That was satisfactory for him and he wouldn't push more. I intended to tell him about who his dad was and the real reason behind his absence in our lives on his 16th birthday when he was old enough to make a call on whether he wanted Zach in his life

or not, but I guess I'm going to have to mentally prepare him for this right away, just in case this goes to court and he's dragged into it. So far, Jack knows that his father is bad. He's bad. He's and he wants to spend time with him because, of course, I can't tell a seven-year-old what custody means. I don't know what's going to happen, but I guess he'll be allowed to have supervised visits for a while and I'll have to put up with that for the sake of the case. I just hope Jack doesn't take too much of a liking to his father because I really cannot afford to lose the little guy. It's selfish, I know. But I just cannot do this especially when I know how hard I've worked to have the life I want and give my son the life he deserves.

Zach cannot just swoop in and take it all away from me. My mother has been trying to contact me for days now, but I'm not responding to any of her calls and texts. She's been using my dad's number to contact me when he's not around because she knows that I'm not going to block my father. He's been great, really supportive, and has even said that he was very upset about what my mother had done. They've been fighting for a while now because my dad's upset with her and she thinks what she did was for the best. The last time we called, my dad said he was getting sick of her so he was thinking about moving in with his brother for a couple of days until he felt ready to come back or something else. I'm not 100% sure, but I think he was hinting at leaving my mother and I really don't know how to feel about that. They're my parents and have been married for more than 30 years.

So I feel kind of guilty but I know I don't need to. It's just that there's a lot of fighting and toxicity in the air right now, what with my parents fighting? Mike and I growing apart slowly and Zach coming back with a lawyer to take my son away from me. Everything's just in a really messed up place for me right now, relationship-wise, which just sucks. Update 3 so, Mike and I broke up. It's been one and a half weeks since the last update and today, we finally have a baby. We finally had the talk. He'd been acting all weird and distant the past few days ever since I told him that I wouldn't be apologizing to my ex

or giving him custody and he didn't take that well. I did apologize to Mike for lying about Zach's history with me because I'd never told him that I'd been the one to hide my pregnancy and my baby from him on purpose after he cheated. But apart from the lying bit, I don't think I had anything to apologize for. So had he broken up with me for lying, I wouldn't have had any issues but he told me that he couldn't bring himself to be with a woman who had no morals, all because I didn't give opportunity to be a father after finding out

that he'd been trying to hook up with his ex behind my back. That wasn't cool and what could have been a civilized discussion turned into a really nasty fight which ended with him storming out after calling me a manipulative B-word. But at least it's over now and I don't have to deal with him. The custody meetings are going well and by well, I mean they're working in my favor which I'm really happy about. We've met twice so far and in the first meeting itself, it was established that I had my reasons not to want Zach around me and my unborn baby. thanks to all the cheating and the things he'd said about me behind my back to his now wife. So it's been agreed upon that what I did back then can't be held against me.

Moving forward, of course, I wouldn't mind if Zach got visitation rights or something so we've all agreed that he can meet Jack a couple of times a month, but they're all going to have to be supervised visits and it has to be on my term since I'm his primary parent at the moment and have been since he was born. The process isn't over yet, so I'm still yet to see what's going to happen ultimately. Zach can still cancel all of this and take things to court if he wants to, but I don't think he will since after the first meeting where I brought up the cheating. He did approach me afterward to apologize to me. He told me that he was young and stupid and that mentioning marriage had just really freaked him out, which is why he did what he did and that he was really and truly sorry about it. I forgave him because it's really water under the bridge at this point. I'm happy and so is he in right now. What matters to me the most is my son's happiness and I don't want him to grow up and

resent me for not letting him have a relationship with his father even when I had the chance to. Zax told me that he and his wife have no kids of their own and as soon as my mother told me about me and Jack, his first thought was to get pissed off, but now that he's seen me in person, it's not that easy for him anymore because he doesn't want to take away my son from me either, knowing that I've raised him all on my own. So we were verbally able to agree on the fact that we were going to put our personal differences aside and do what was best for Jack. Hopefully, by the next meeting, everything will be finalized because I just want to let the past go happily. Update 4, Hey, everyone.

First things first, Zach and I have been able to work out an arrangement where he and his wife fly out here to meet Jack and spend some time with him a couple of times a month to build a relationship with him and once he's a little older, we can rethink the custody arrangement. Both of them were incredibly thankful to me and wouldn't stop sending me thank you cards and gifts since I finally unblocked them. I figured since we were going to have to be parents to Jack now, we might as well do a good job at it. We're not friends but co-parenting is a job that's going to need us to cooperate and we need a good relationship for this to work. We're living in two different cities currently so it's going to be a little

difficult but maybe by the time we have to go over the custody arrangements again, I'll have moved back home. I'd come here to escape my past but now I guess I'm ready to go back because I have nothing to run away from anymore. It all sounds dramatic, but it's true. As for my parents, no points for guessing but yeah, they're getting divorced. Good for my dad, honestly. My mother always had been a bit of a control freak and that had led to some problems in their marriage earlier as well, but never at this level. I guess all's well that ends well, but even then, what my mother did was just not acceptable. I'm hoping for a quieter life now and I'm sure I'll get it because my conscience is clear and everything that was in the past has been

left where it belongs. I hope you, enjoy this story. Guardians expelled me at 16 to accommodate my siblings newborn. I shared their disregard on the internet and father pleaded when affluent grandparents warned him of losing his inheritance. Turned 16 just a week ago. There was no party, no celebration, and my parents barely even wished me before kicking me out of their house. The reason behind that was my older sister, Amanda, 22F. She's pretty much my parents' favorite and has always been for some reason. She's seven months pregnant right now and since we have a house with four bedrooms, my parents sat me down on the morning of my birthday to inform me that they now wanted me to move to my aunt's house

so the new baby could have the room. My parents have never really cared about me and have always done the bare minimum when it came to me but this was shocking even for me. I hardly expected anything from them and they were still letting me down somehow. They were very serious throughout the conversation so I didn't think even for a second that they might have been joking or this might have been a pathetic attempt to prank me or something. After they were done explaining to me that they'd need the new room and that I was apparently old enough to move out, we just sat there in silence for a while. They'd told me that they would

still take care of all my expenses until I turned 18 and make sure I was well fed and looked after but they just couldn't keep me with them in the same home anymore. I didn't want to argue but I did ask them why they couldn't just use the guest room for the nursery and they told me, after some hesitation, that they'd use that for Amanda's boyfriend to stay with them. So to sum it up, my parents had a room of their own, my sister and her boyfriend had a room and her baby would get its own room. Amanda wasn't at home and I could tell that this was on purpose so she wouldn't have to watch this happen and feel guilty. My sister and I were never close because of the age gap, but she'd never really been awful to me either. We were civil to one another for the most part,

but if she was okay with this arrangement and actually wanted me to leave the house so she could accommodate her new baby and boyfriend then maybe she wasn't the person I thought she was. I was disappointed and even more so because it was my birthday but I didn't say a word to them and just agreed to leave. By now I've realized that my parents are a lost cause, there's nothing I can say to them to make them love me and I've accepted that by now. So after they told me that they wanted me to move out and live with my aunt, I went up to my room and started packing. They helped me pack, but I think it was just to help me get out quickly. After I was done, they even dropped me at my aunt's house and were very happy talking to me

throughout the car ride but didn't notice that I wasn't responding and was just silently staring out of the window. Once we got there, they dropped me off at the door and didn't even hug me or kiss me before leaving. My aunt welcomed me happily because she actually does enjoy my company and as far as I know, she loves me more than my own parents do. I talked to her and after a while, I told her how disappointed I was with what my parents were doing. She was caught off guard when I said that and asked me to repeat whatever I'd told her so I repeated everything that had taken place that morning and her smile was instantly replaced with a frown. She didn't say anything to me but grabbed her phone and said that she had to make a call and went to the other room.

I didn't hear anything for some time but then I heard the sound of my aunt fighting on the phone in a high voice and that's rare because my aunt rarely ever screams at people and she's a really soft-spoken person so I knew someone must have pissed her off pretty bad for her to lose her temper like this. Then she came back to the room, all red in the face and still looking very annoyed, and I learned that it was apparently my parents who had pissed her off so badly. So my dad, her brother, had told her that I'd actually suggested this arrangement for the sake of the baby and I was completely happy moving out of my childhood home to live with my aunt. This is why she'd been okay with taking me in as well since she could tell I'd never really

been happy living with my parents and me making a suggestion like that didn't seem too odd to her when my dad was trying to convince her to take me in. She's a single woman in her late 30s and has no intention of getting married or having kids so letting me live with her was just like having a roommate for her and she didn't have to worry about the cost of me living here either since everything that I needed would be paid for by my dad. My aunt liked me and she thought that I was the one who wanted to live with her so she agreed to this arrangement. But now that she knew the truth, she'd called my father up to confront him about it because what they'd done was messed up and she had to give them a peace of her mind.

After the phone call, she was really upset and so was I because this was something I don't think any other kid my age goes through often. I'd always known they liked my sister more than me but this was a little extreme. They'd literally lied to my aunt to cover this up because they knew how insanely horrible this was. They'd literally chosen to give up their guest room for Amanda's boyfriend who's in his 20s, has a job, and lives in his own apartment. If they wanted to make it work, Amanda could have easily moved in with her boyfriend but it was at my parents' insistence that she'd been living at home because they wanted to be closer to her and they were ready to even sacrifice my comfort just to keep her close. I was very hurt and so. I was very hurt and so,

I decided to go online and expose my parents for whatever they'd been doing. I didn't know if my aunt would be on board with it or not, so I waited for her to leave the room for a nap, and then I took out my phone, typed out the whole thing, and posted it without thinking. I'd mentioned not only the events of that day itself, but also how my parents have never treated me fairly and that I've always been considered nothing less than a second-class citizen in my own home. I kind of had a breakdown while typing it all out and the post was not just me exposing my parents, but it was also kind of kind of. of emotional and by the time I posted it, I was in tears. I switched off my phone after that for some time because I was scared of the repercussions that this was bound to have. An hour or so passed and I tried to read a book but couldn't focus and then my aunt woke up, rushed into the living room where I'd been sitting ever since I arrived at her house and she asked me calmly if I'd

posted something. I truthfully told her that I had and that was it. There was no further discussion about it. So I switched on my phone and then saw that the post had been seen by several people in our family and I'd received a lot of texts from my parents and even from my sister in the meantime. A lot of my relatives had commented on the post and expressed how they were on my side. Some of them had even texted me and reached out to tell me that they were always there for me if I needed any help whatsoever. That was uplifting and I felt better until I went through my parents' messages, all of which were filled with hate and anger. Obviously, they weren't pleased with what I'd done and were demanding that I take the post down.

My dad had said a lot of things about me in his texts and even added that he wished I'd never been born, which was hurtful but unsurprising. My mom's texts were along the same lines and the only ones that were even slightly different were my sisters. She didn't say much but told me that she'd like to speak to me in person if that was possible and left it at that. I didn't know what to say to any of it and was just very overwhelmed by all the people I had to respond to so I just kept my phone aside again and didn't say anything to anyone for the next couple of days. But what I did was block my parents because I didn't have any intention of talking to them anymore. I knew they were legally bound to keep sending money for me until I turned 18 and apart from that,

I didn't think I had any reason to speak to them anymore. My aunt was also fine with it and if my dad had tried to contact her in the next few days, she didn't inform me about it and we pretended nothing had happened at all, which meant that she was on my side and supported whatever I'd done. That was enough for me and it was all the support I wanted or needed. For the past week, I barely had any contact with my parents but today, they showed up outside my school while I was about to leave and they looked pissed. My friends were all well aware of the situation between me and my parents, so they accompanied me outside and kind of acted like a human shield around me so I wouldn't have to interact with them if I didn't want to interact with them if I didn't want to interact with them if I didn't want to hear my name and I had to respond. I walked right up to both of them and told them that I didn't want anything to do with them anymore, but they didn't pay it.

any heed to that and told me that I needed to come home with them right away. I didn't understand why all of a sudden they wanted me to return with them when they made it so clear in the past that I was not a priority for them at all and felt like this was just them trying to redeem their image and reputation among their family members. So I told them that I wasn't going anywhere with them until they told me what was going on as a way to try and get to know why they were acting like this all of a sudden. On one hand, they looked pissed off and on the other, they still wanted me to come back home with them. They told me that they didn't want my friends hearing this, so I told them to back off a little

so I could speak to them in private. Once my friends were out of earshot, my parents told me that they were here to take me back because I wasn't answering any of their calls or texts and they needed me to come back so that they'd be able to get their inheritance still. They explained that after I'd made that post, pretty much everyone in the family had become aware of the situation and it had reached my grandparents. My paternal grandparents are quite well off and they threaten my dad by saying that if they continued to treat me like this, then he'd lose his inheritance. They'd been told that if they didn't try and reconcile with me, treat me better, and make sure I was loved and looked after then whatever my father was supposed to inherit would end up going

to my aunt since she was the one taking care of me even though she didn't need to. And my dad couldn't afford to lose the inheritance because it was a significant amount of money. My parents had a decent combined income of their own, but I know that had I been in their place, I probably would have also wanted the same thing for myself. The only difference is that I would have had enough brains not to make it seem like I was doing me a favor by saying that they'd take me back because they weren't doing me a favor. They were doing this for themselves and not for me and even then they didn't have the common sense to at least act like they were willing to let me live with them.

So I said that I didn't care about whether they got their inheritance or not and walked away without bothering to wait and hear them out even as they screamed at me to come back. I took the bus back to my aunt's house and told her what had happened at school and she seemed annoyed as well. To ensure that this doesn't happen again, she's contacted her lawyer so we can do something about my custody. Of course, it's still my parents who still have their rights over me and that has to be changed if I want to live with my aunt. I also called up and thanked my grandparents for trying to fix this, but I also told them that I really didn't want to go back to living with my parents because now that I'd spend a couple of days living with my aunt, I finally felt like, I was free. Living with my parents had been nothing short of suffocating and I'd kept hoping that things

would change but they never did. My grandparents didn't live in the same city so we didn't meet often but whenever we did, at family gatherings and the holidays, my parents were always on their best behavior so they wouldn't know how I was treated at home. It wasn't as if I was treated with cruelty but it was more like ignorance and avoidance. On the surface, it all seemed fine but if people spent a couple of days with me at my parents' house. They'd know that they mostly pretended I wasn't even there and cared only about my sister. And after she got pregnant, that just got worse and I was pushed to the sidelines altogether.

So I told my grandparents all of this and they reassured me that if that's what I wanted, to live with my aunt. Then they'd make sure that it happened and if my parents signed away their rights then they'd make sure everything I needed was paid for by them. I was happy after that conversation because things were finally looking up for me but it didn't last long since I just received an email from my dad a couple of hours back. It was not hateful or mean but just disappointing. He said that there was no need for me to post what had happened online and make this so public when the word of what had happened would have reached my grandparents anyway through my aunt. But now, along with my grandparents being mad at them, they also have to deal with a ton

of hate from their relatives and they're being ostracized which seems unfair. He told me that even some of his co-workers found out about this because the post was public and it had shown up on their feed since he was tagged in it. This wasn't a good look for him at work and what I'd done had just caused a lot of unnecessary drama in their lives according to me. So I'd offer posting about how my parents asked me to leave the house and move in with my aunt on my 16th birthday because my sister was pregnant and they needed my room for the baby? Update 1. So before I get to what happened, thank you so much everyone for bothering to take some time out and comment on my post. Your kind words mean a lot to me, so thank you.

Now to answer some of the questions a lot of you seem to have regarding why I hadn't left my parents' house before this and why I'd waited for them to ask me to leave, especially since my grandparents and aunts seemed willing to help. The reason for that is that I wasn't exactly treated cruelly like I already said in the original post. I was never treated badly as such, but I was just ignored and unwanted. That's a sort of mistreatment as well, but for me, I was just glad that I wasn't being beaten or spoken to badly. I still had a roof over my head and food to eat, so I had convinced myself that I was doing just fine and didn't think it was important for me to actually feel loved or anything. I didn't really realize that I was being neglected because it had become so normalized for me. And as for why I didn't approach my family for help, I just didn't want to burden them. I was also worried about what would happen if they refused to help me out and somehow my parents found out. That'd be very bad for me at home since my parents care a lot about appearances and

and stuff. And that's really why I just kept everything to myself and tried to deal with everything while suffering in silence. My aunt didn't offer to take me and herself because she didn't want to insult my parents and she wasn't even sure if I'd want to come live with her so we didn't do this earlier but now that this is what's happened organically, I guess it all worked out for the best. It happened a little late but still, better late than never. She's in talks with a lawyer right now to get my custody rights transferred to her and it's going to be a hell of a task to convince my parents to give up their rights since now the inheritance is at stake. But even if this goes to court, I know that my grandparents and aunt will have my back. My aunt's been very apologetic to me ever

since I came here because she's realized how neglected I was at my own home and feels bad for never trying to talk to me because she felt like it was not her place and letting it continue. At least the air is clear between me and my family now and I feel a lot better about the future right now. Then there's also my sister. So in my original post, I'd mentioned that she texted me and told me that she wanted to meet me in person if that was possible, but I didn't know what to say to her, so I ignored that text. She'd never personally been awful to me and had adopted the same behavior that my parents had. She'd just been distant from me for most of my life, but if she had to talk to me, she was generally nice. I thought that the whole idea of kicking me out so her boyfriend and child could live with her and our parents was her idea,

so I was upset about that as well since it meant that now she was going to start treating me badly and show her true. Colors so I didn't get back to her. We had a weird, tense, and strained relationship, but I still liked her better than my parents since she'd be nice to me whenever we did speak and it wasn't her fault that my parents liked her more than me. So when three days ago, she texted me again and asked me to visit her, I decided to call her and ask why she wanted to see me.

I wasn't going to go back home, which is where I assumed she'd be but to my husband. surprise, she told me that she was living with her boyfriend at the moment and wasn't feeling well enough to go out so she was asking me to come to see her so we could have a discussion about everything going on in the family. She told me that she had a lot of things that she wanted to talk to me about, so out of curiosity, I did go to see her. Once I got there, she first apologized to me for never speaking up for me even though she knew that our parents were playing favorites and never favored me. They'd always ignored all my achievements to celebrate hers and I was always the least wanted kid, but she never did anything to remedy that. She just never felt

comfortable speaking to our parents about this, so she just let it slide and since I seemed okay and fine with the treatment I was getting, she felt less inclined to say anything. She'd now realized that it was pretty messed up and wanted things to change. So she apologized to me. She also told me that the living arrangement was something our parents hadn't discussed with her at all, and she'd been shocked to find out about them kicking me out to accommodate the new baby and her boyfriend because she had no idea that this had happened. She'd never even asked for any of this and her plan had been to just live with our parents until the baby was a few months old and then she'd move in with her boyfriend. She'd wanted to move out earlier but had stayed only at my

parents' insistence. However, after my post, she realized that this couldn't continue and moved out within a week. She'd had a huge fight with our parents over her moving out because they believed that this was a bad decision and now they weren't even talking because she'd been accused of being ungrateful and selfish. None of which she'd been because she'd never promised my parents anything and they just assumed things themselves. So all that drama was for nothing. Ultimately, since my parents ended up losing both their kids, at least she apologized to me for being a bad sister and a bad person in general, which I forgive her for because I don't think choosing to be unforgiving and cold is going to help me in any way. We talked things out and she told me the same

that my aunt did, that from this point on, she'd be there for me no matter what. So that was nice. It's been a little less than a week since my original post and I still haven't heard from my parents after the email, so I'm guessing they've given up on trying to get me back. I'm sure my grandparents must have had something to do with it since they did call me in the middle to tell me that my parents wouldn't be bothering me anymore and that I didn't need to worry about them showing up at my school or emailing me again. I hadn't told them about the email that dad had sent, so I'm assuming that my parents and grandparents must have talked about things. I don't know what they would have talked about, but I'm sure my parents have given up now.

Update 2. Just three days have passed since my last update and today my aunt told me that my parents have agreed to give up their parental rights and the paperwork and stuff will be complete soon. She'll be taking over the legal aspect of my custody soon and I have mixed feelings. I'm happy that I'm finally going to have a home where I don't constantly feel unwanted and unneeded, but I'm also kind of empty and sad about some things. I feel weird that this is finally happening but this is for the best. This is what I wanted. Update 3. Okay, hey, guys.

A couple of weeks have passed since my aunt took over. She's my legal guardian now, so yay for that. I also found out that my parents only gave up my custody because after I told my grandparents that I didn't want to go back to living with them. They told my parents that they could either lose their entire and entire and inheritance or they could keep 50% of whatever they were going to receive initially and give up my custody and promise not to bother me again in any way. I guess we all know what my parents picked, L.O.L. I'm not surprised and at this point, I don't even care because this just makes me feel like I

dodged a bullet there. Good riddance for me. I'm still in touch with my sister, though. My parents are trying to get back on good terms with her before her due date, but she wants some time to herself right now, so she's told them that she wants her space and they need to stop bothering her every day. At this point, I can't help but just laugh at what a pathetic mess they've made of their own family. But whatever, I'm happy with my aunt and that's all that matters. I hope you enjoy this story.

Spouse covertly switched to first class and left me with our two young children on a plane, causing me to feel furious and consider ending our marriage while residing with my sibling. This is about my husband, Andrew, 32M. and me, 30F, and our kids, our three-year-old daughter, and our 1.5-year-old son. Some background info, Andrew and I have been married for five years and together for almost eight years. We met through friends and we have grown through life together. So far,

everything has been great, but he has had a lot to learn in the parenting department. When our daughter was born, he was very clueless about everything and I was the one who was doing most of the work. We did have a nanny to take care of her when both of us were away at work, but when the two of us were at home, on the weekends and stuff, I would find myself doing most of the work because he just had no idea how to go about it and constantly said that he was nervous to take care of the baby on his own. Gradually, he did learn, but it took him some time. I don't mind that, but after that, even after our son was born recently, he had a lot of trouble getting into the groove of handling two kids.

And because he took so much time to get used to everything, it almost felt like I was a single mother for a while. Every time that we would go out and take our kids outside with us, I was doing everything and he was just there. We had a couple of fights about it, but I decided to forgive him for it because I couldn't use this against him. The fact that he was taking time to get used to it, but eventually, I knew that he would do a good job at being a father.

Or at least I hoped that he would. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, we decided to take a family vacation to Los Angeles. It's a beautiful place and my sister, Abby 26F, just recently moved there with her husband, so I thought that I would take some time to go see her as well. We had been planning for the trip for weeks because traveling with kids was not that easy. Anyway, two days ago, we finally got to the airport and while we were there, Andrew told me that he needed to use the washroom and left for a while. I thought he would come back soon, but almost half an hour passed and I was getting worried,

so I decided to call him and ask him where he was. When I called him, he picked up instantly and was trying to beat about the bush when I asked him why he wasn't back yet. But I told him to cut it out, and then finally told me that while booking the flight tickets, he had upgraded himself to business class since he realized that he had enough points to do it. I immediately felt very betrayed and angry, and I told him that this was not cool in the slightest, but he said that he knew I wouldn't approve of it, which is why he hadn't told me. It was a very stupid thing to say, and it just made my anger even worse. I told him that he needed to come back to his family immediately, I was already very upset that he

had even tried to do something like this, and now, if he didn't come back, then I would just go home with the kids and he could go on the trip by himself. Instead of coming back, he started arguing with me and said that he had been working really hard for the family and he deserved a break. Besides, it was not even that long of a flight and he believed that I could handle the kids on my own for three hours. I tried to explain to him that it was not just about the kids, I just wanted him to be there with me because I thought this was supposed to be a family vacation, and if it didn't even start on the right foot, then what's the point of going on such a trip? I was really hurt and I tried to get that through to him, but he was so thick. He didn't even realize how upset. He didn't even realize how

said I was and just told me that he deserved a break and hung up. That move really pissed me off, because if we are talking about people who deserve a break, I think I should be the first in line because I'm also a working parent, and in addition to that, I also take care of the household and the kids with very little help from him. Yes, he does work longer hours as compared to me, but he also gets to relax when he comes back home, which I don't. So if I'm not asking for a break away from my family, he doesn't get to do it either. I thought, about going back home, but then, I decided that I was going to go on the trip and make sure that I made it worth it for me. My daughter had a lot of questions about why her father was not

with us, but I didn't answer any of them and just told her that once we got there, she would get all the answers herself. So we boarded the flight on our own and after he had hung up on me, I did not speak to him at all. I'm just incredibly thankful that my kids decided to be quiet that day and fell asleep as soon as they boarded the flight. Once we landed, I did not wait for Andrew at all. I didn't even wait to grab our bags. I just booked a cab and went straight to the address that Abby had given me. I was extremely upset and those three hours in the aircraft by myself had made me realize how unfair all of this was. So I went to my sister's house and when I showed up, she was really happy to see me. But then, I sat down and explained the situation to her and

she told me that I was welcome to stay with her and I did not need to worry about anything. I had left all of my stuff behind, but I was not worried about my own things, since I did not have anything important in my bags apart from clothes and shoes and those could be replaced easily. I was just worried about the stuff that belonged to my kids, but Abby told me that she would get it all replaced, and I didn't have to worry about any of it. After we had landed, Andrew had tried to call me several times, but I had just been ignoring him. He did not even have the address to Abbey's home, so he couldn't even show up. He kept texting me, asking me to answer the phone and tell me where I was, but I was very hurt, so I didn't bother. After almost two hours, since we

had landed, I finally decided to call him back and then we finally had a conversation. He was quite panic-stricken and he told me that for the past two hours, he had been waiting at the airport with all the bags that belonged to the family, but we were nowhere to be found, and he had been worried sick about what had happened to us. So I told him that I was completely safe and sound and the kids were with me. I told him that I was at Abbey's place and that I did not want to see him for the rest of the vacation and as soon as we went back, I would file for a divorce. He sounded shocked when I said that and told me that I was overreacting and making a bigger deal out of this than I needed to. He told me to come to the hotel and we could talk things through calmly,

but I was in no mood. I told him that this one incident had made me realize. I told him that this one incident had made me realize how unfair things had been for the past couple of years, ever since our daughter had been born. I also told him that he had said that he needed a break and some time away from his family, so now, he shouldn't complain about the time that he was getting since he had asked for it himself. He was very upset and tried to tell me that he hadn't mentioned it that way, and he was really sorry if I had misunderstood him, but he just meant that things had been really stressful at work since he was trying to provide for the family to the best of his abilities, and he just needed some peace and quiet.

I literally laughed out loud at that point and explained to him that I had also felt these exact same things, but I had never tried to abandon my family and run away from it. And that's what he had done, in spite of knowing that I was not happy about his decision. I told him that I had always been more involved with the household chores and raising our kids than he had ever been. I had actually been happy taking care of everything. Since I knew that we were a family and at the end of the day, we were going to stick together. but after what he had done, I was not so sure anymore. He tried to claim that he had equal contribution, but that was not true in the slightest.

I don't know how to explain it to you guys, but it was like I was one who was solely responsible for everything in the household, and I would have to tell him exactly what to do, and only then would he do it. We lived in the same house, and I'm pretty sure that he was aware that certain things needed to be done like, maybe getting the groceries on time or buying things the kids needed. or even things like washing the dishes or doing the laundry, it really, really sucked that I would have to tell him to get it done, or he just wouldn't do it on his own. I had tried to explain to him several times that he had free will,

he could see that certain things needed to be done, and he did not need to wait for me to come around to tell him to do it, but he always had excuses he was always too exhausted after work to notice these things and I had always accepted that excuse. But I believe that he owed me at least a discussion before he just upgraded himself to business class and left us alone. He was also only there for the fun part with the kids on the weekends, but when it came to raising them, teaching them right from wrong,

and keeping them disciplined, he barely was a part of any of that and he always got off being the good cop and the fun parent while I had to put in all the real hard work. I had these complaints against him for a long time and I had told him about it several times, and he always promised me that he would try to be more proactive, but nothing ever changed, and I was sick of waiting. For the past couple of years, I honestly started feeling like a single mother whose husband would only be around on the weekends like a fun relative, and not literally the father of her children. I communicated all of this to him and yet again, he told me that he would try to change, but this time, I was not buying it.

After the incident at the airport, I did not trust him anymore since he had really pushed me too far this time. I had made it very clear to him that I wanted him to be with us, and in spite of that, he had just ended the phone call. abruptly and left me on my own with our two kids. So I told him that now he could enjoy the vacation on his own, and I was going to enjoy it my way. We were already going to go our separate ways, and once we came back, I was going to make sure that we lived separately as well so he could get all the space to himself that he required so badly. After that, I hung up, and Abby said that I did the right thing because it was very obvious that Andrew had been given several chances to change and yet, he had not. After the phone call, Andrew kept trying to call me again and again and even started

texting me that he was really sorry and that he was going to fix the situation, but I just needed to come to the hotel and talk to him in person. He kept telling me that he was going to make things right, but he just needed a chance to speak to me, and after telling me to come to the hotel a couple of times, he told me that he could also come to meet me wherever I was. All he needed was the address to Abbey's house. But right now, I just don't want to see you. him. So I've been ignoring those messages, but a couple of hours ago, I received a phone call from my mother-in-law. She and I have never had any sort of animosities, so I decided to pick her up and both she and my father-in-law were on the phone with me. They told me that

they had heard about whatever had happened from Andrew and said that they wanted to apologize to me on his behalf. I told them that it was really nice of them to do so, but this was between me and Andrew. They did not need to feel bad for any of this. However, they not only contacted me for this reason, but also because they had heard from Andrew that I was apparently thinking about filing for a divorce and they just wanted to request me not to do that, because then it would make it very difficult for them to see the kids as regularly as they did. I tried to reassure them that I was not going to restrict our children from being able to see them. Truth be told, I haven't even thought about whether I'm going to file for full custody or not. It's very scary and at the moment, I'm not sure what I want to do, to be honest. Anyway, I tried to explain to them that things were going to be fine, but they were very panicky

and kept begging me to go back to Andrew and said that I should give him a chance. They said that we had been together for almost eight years and things have only hit a rough patch, but just because of that, I shouldn't think about leaving him so soon. I was sure about what to do before that phone call, but now, after getting off the phone with his parents, I feel weird. Andrew has still been texting me and keeps telling me to talk to him and says that he knows. that we can work things out because we have been together for almost a decade and have been through much worse situations, so we will definitely be able to work this out as well. I feel like I might

actually have overreacted since I can see that all of them are trying really hard to get me to go back to him. But I also feel that what he did at the airport was not fair at all. So I'd offer threatening to get a divorce because my husband decided to upgrade to business class and left me alone with our two kids right before a family vacation. Update one, hi, so. three days have passed since I landed in L.A., and I have been living with Abby and her husband. They have been kind enough to open up their home to me and have been there for me in this difficult time. I've been sharing clothes with Abby and the kids got some new clothes for themselves. However, we can finally go back to wearing our own clothes now because earlier today, I finally met

with Andrew and he brought along our bags with him. Last night, after a lot of deliberation and a discussion with Abby and her husband, I finally decided to do that. decided to respond to Andrew. I gave him the address and that was it. I did not say anything else. I figured that if he wanted to show up, he would come on his own and would not require me to say anything else. Besides, after all that had happened, I felt really awkward. This morning, he showed up with the bags and everything, and when he came, Abby and her husband decided to take the kids and go into a separate room. The kids were quite happy to see him since they had been asking about him a lot. There was a lot of hugging and screaming, and I instantly knew that even if I did

file for a divorce, I would never be able to get myself to file for full custody as well because of everything. They seemed to be very happy around their father, and he was just as happy to be around his kids. Anyway, once the kids were in a separate room, we finally got to talking. It was awkward, but he told me that he was really sorry from the bottom of his heart for not being a better father and a better husband. He said that he hadn't even thought that any of this was a big deal, but he hadn't exactly been thinking about how I felt and had just been thinking about his own self, and it was really incredibly selfish of him. He finally told me that he really appreciated everything that I had done for the family and how hard I continued to push myself all the time, just to keep

everybody happy. I told him that these were nice things to hear, but I needed real and tangible change, and I had given him several chances to do so, but he never took any of it. He never took any of seriously. And that was why we were in the situation today. I told him that what had happened at the airport had really hurt me and maybe I had overreacted a bit, but honestly, everything just kept piling on and I couldn't deal with any of this anymore. I thought that he was going to get defensive again, but to my surprise, he came to me, got onto his knees, and took my hands in his own. That was when I realized that I still loved him, no matter how he behaved with me because the way that I felt when he did that made me feel like I was safe and nothing bad could ever happen to me. I started

crying while he was on his knees, and he told me that he was really sorry and that he knew he needed to step up and be there for his family. He also went on to explain that so far, he had made his work his life, and every day that he would come back home, he would just be so drained and worried about the future. Since he believed that whatever he was making was not enough, so much so that he couldn't even bring himself to think about anything else. He even said that he had been taking anxiety medication for the past couple of months because of how stressed out he had been. I didn't know that and he said that he didn't tell me because he didn't want me to worry about these things. He said that he had fallen asleep at the wheel and he was ashamed of it, but he just

wanted one chance to make it work with me, and he promised me that he would make it worth it, and I would not regret it. I was still crying while he was saying all of this. So he wiped my tears, and sad beside me, and just like all times, I put my head on his shoulder, and we just sat there like that for a couple of minutes and I know this might not be the decision a lot of people will agree with, but I decided that I was going to stay with him. I really didn't care about what other people would say because I love him so much, I don't think I can ever love anybody that way. But I also love my children and I wanted the best for them, so I told him that I needed some time to think about things right now. And he told me that I could have all the time that I needed,

after that we hugged, and he went back to the hotel. I had discussed things with Abby and she told me that she has no advice for me. She just thinks that I'm a good wife and an even better mother, so she knows that I will do what's right for the family. I thought about things from Andrew's perspective after the conversation that we had today, and I guess it can't be easy to be in a position like that because while we both work, he definitely has always been more stressed about his work than I have ever been. He comes from a family where he has had to face extremely tough situation since his father lost his job and was struggling for a good couple of years when he was younger, so he knows what it means to struggle for money, and I guess that explains why he had been

so focused on his work and nothing else. It's not an excuse, I know, but it is what it is. Also, the fact that he had been so stressed out for so long and hadn't even told me about it because he didn't want me to worry, it just makes me realize that we have just had a lapse in communication and if we can fix that, maybe we can move past this. So now, I'm going to think about it for a while and then let's see what happens. Update 2, hi, so it's been a couple of days since my last update. Two days after that conversation with Andrew, I decided to go live with him in the hotel that we had rooms in. I finally got out of Abby's hair with my kids.

I thanked her for letting me stay with her and being there for me. She and her husband even dropped me off at the hotel, and since then, we have been staying together. We figured that our fight was leading to the kids getting disappointed since we had promised them a fun vacation and now, we were staying separately, and they barely got to do anything fun. So we are doing everything that we had planned, we would do, and the kids seem to be much happier now that we are together. I still have a lot of unresolved issues, but for the sake of the children, we are trying to keep all of that aside and just be there for each other as a family. I think that's the most important part of our lives right now, being there for our children. and making sure that they are happy. He was right, we have been through much worse situations,

so I think we can make it through this as well. When I came back to the hotel with the kids, I told him that I was not considering getting a divorce right now, but we still had a lot of things to work through. However, as soon as I told him that I was not thinking about divorce anymore, he was so happy that he literally hugged me, lifted me in the air, and did a full twirl, I don't even think he heard the last part and I didn't have the heart to repeat it

because I was laughing so hard. Anyway, he keeps saying sorry every morning and has been doing his very best to make up for everything. I'm literally being treated like a princess right now, and I can't say that I have any complaints about his behavior at the moment. If things continue at this rate, I might even forgive him a lot earlier than I had planned. Update 3, hi, so this update is particularly to address something that people have been saying. I've been receiving a constant stream of comments from a particularly hateful section saying that I'm a terrible mother and that I'm an idiot for getting back together with Andrew. I can understand that some people might not agree with my decision to get back together with him,

but only I know that Andrew and I have been together for a really long time, we have had our fair share of issues and what he did recently was not right, but if he is willing to work on it, then I want to give him a chance. I want to fight for our marriage and I don't think that there is anything wrong with it. Lots of women do it, and for some of them, things actually turn out to be great. And I want to believe that I am one of those women because Andrew has started changing right after we had that discussion. If he goes back to his usual self, then I know what to do. But as of now, I want to keep our marriage intact, and I really don't think there's anything wrong with wanting that for myself. The constant barrage of hate that I've been receiving is breaking my heart.

Lots of people have even been accusing me of being selfish for getting together with him, even though he's not a good father. I personally don't agree with that. I think he's a good father and he's trying to be better, so that's what really counts. Anyway, we are almost at the end of our vacation right now and things have been going incredibly well for both of us, so I had to break it to you guys, but all of you are wrong. Once we get back home, we are going to start couples counseling, and I know for a fact that it's going to help us. The only reason I'm even posting updates right now is for the well-wishers because quite a lot of you have been invested in my story and I wanted to know more. So if some people really think that I'm not meant to be with him,

then you guys are free to not read any updates on this post. But please, just keep your hateful comments to yourself because it's not worth it. Andrew and I are really happy together, and our kids are better off for it. Ultimately, we know what's best for our family, and I think people should really respect that. So if you're rooting for us to break up,

I'm sorry to inform you, but that's not going to happen. Update 4 Hi Everyone Wow, it's been quite some time since I came on Reddit My last post was pretty intense, I guess it was not a real update It was mostly just a rant about the hate I've been receiving But I'm happy to tell you guys that Andrew and I are still together It has been seven months since our vacation and after we returned we started looking for counselors near us and have been in couple counseling for the past couple of months It's been going really well for us, and Andrew has been cutting back on his hours at work as well.

He is more involved in the household now and takes care of the kids like never before. And now it's not just the fun part that he's there for, he's there for them at all times whenever he is at home. He doesn't bring the office back home with him anymore, and I'm really glad about that. It also really feels like we've been able to find each other after a really long time. We have ramped up the date nights and are trying to reignite the spark because while we were on vacation, we realized that we really did love each other. But things have just been so hectic and intense for the past couple of years that we had forgotten to show each other the love that we felt.

So we get our parents to babysit the children while we go out a couple of nights every month because we really need it. There's more to life than just work and kids. And I guess that was part of the reason why things were going so awry. Anyway, we have been actively working on our marriage and Andrew has never been a better husband or a father. Most importantly, the kids are happier than ever, and that's really what both of us honestly wanted. They are thrilled to have their father around more, and whenever I look at them, I feel like I made the right choice by sticking to him. Money is going to come and go, but ultimately, we are all that we have.

I think he had been a little too stressed about the future, but in a couple of weeks, we are going to take another road trip this time, and it's going to be much better. Our kids are quite excited about it and we are going to make sure that this time, everything is perfect. And you know what? Even if it's not, we want to find a way to deal with it, like a family. Because if the past couple of months have taught us anything, it is that we can do whatever we set our mind to as long as we have each other. And I know that it sounds like something straight out of a corny film, but it's true. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse's colleague at work shows contempt towards me in our residence. Eventually, I discovered that he was romantically involved with her after concealing their connection from me for a considerable period.

Hey, I am. 35F and my husband is 41M. We had children quite late into our marriage and they are currently 7F and 6M. I am writing today because my husband has a so-called workwife that I am starting to get worried about. First of all, there has never been a reason for me to not trust my husband until a year ago. All of our years together, and the majority of it being a long-distance relationship as my husband's workplace is quite far away and he sometimes has to stay in his work-appointed housing during his work week. Nothing has ever happened for me to lose my trust in him or to even doubt his feelings for me.

Except a year ago, when he started talking about Susie all the time. In our relationship, we often talked about how our day went, what has to be. happened at work, etc. at the end of the day. It was all pretty normal until he started bringing up Susie, his co-worker all the time and telling me how funny she was. For context, my husband is her manager and in the beginning, I assumed their friendship was completely platonic as she was a fresher when she started at his workplace. There is also a bit of an age difference between them as she's only 28 years old, so I have always just assumed his fondness for her is in a little sister kind of way. Anyway, my husband would tell me how amazing Susie was at work, and how he felt really happy to teach her about the ropes of the job.

I didn't really mind that until he started joking that she's his work wife. I knew the concept of a work husband and work wife, and to be frank I have never liked that. I was speechless when he mentioned this and asked him why he would refer to her that way. He then told me that because they spent so much time together, other colleagues started to joke around that they were perfect for each other and would even tell them that they would look good together as a couple. I felt extremely uneasy with the way he described the whole thing to me. I never knew Susie and him were that close, and I had no idea that his coworkers would tease them about it. However, a few months ago, some of his female co-workers started to mention a couple of things to me whenever I went with my husband to his office

parties and it seemed like they were trying to give me the heads up about his and Susie's relationship. For example, they have told me that on several occasions he has answered his phone to her with Hey Beautiful in front of everyone. He's been also heard to throw affectionate comments like, hey, sweetie, I'm not busy I have always got time for you, how's my work wife, and you shouldn't be so good looking then while talking with her. As you can imagine, after I came back home, we had a huge fight regarding this. My husband denied saying these things and asked me to stop overreacting and being jealous. I was shocked by the way he kept denying all of these things and trying to turn the table on me. I started shouting at him that I felt humiliated to find out from his

female co-workers that he had been calling another woman sweetie and beautiful when he never even used those words for me. My husband retorted that he is friendly with everyone including her and as his wife, I should be supportive of his career. We continued to fight and ultimately I banished him to sleep in the guest room for that night as I could not bear to sleep next to him. The next day, after I dropped the kids at school and both of us had calmed down, my husband sat me down to address my concerns. The first thing I asked him was why would his coworkers tease him about having a work wife when they already knew that he was married.

He told me that when Susie started working she had no idea about a lot of things so she would spend a lot of time shadowing his work and learning from him. Because she was younger than most, he never scolded her if she ever made a mistake. This would make his co-workers, especially his male co-workers. who were also his friends, tease him for spending so much time with her. This is how they started to jokingly refer to her as his work wife and Susie would also refer to him as her work husband. At this point, I felt livid at my husband, his co-workers, and at Susie. I would understand their teasing if they weren't aware of me, but even after knowing their

existence, they had decided to come up with such names. I started to cry at this point out of frustration and my husband kept apologizing to me. With tears running down my face, I asked him if he had any feelings for Susie. He immediately denied any such things, telling me that he had never thought of her as anything more than a co-worker. He told me that he was sure Susie didn't have feelings for him too because she has a boyfriend. I told him that I didn't believe that Susie didn't have any feelings for him because she had never been friendly with me during his office parties.

Looking back, I had never thought much about it, but now I did. He told me that I was reading too much between the lines and that she would never consider him that way when he was much older than her. He also told me that she and he were just friends and it's normal for opposite genders to be friends. Hearing this, I immediately called him out on this, because when I had a job before we had kids. He used to admonish me for talking to any male co-workers by telling me that they may not have good intentions for me and I should keep my distance from them. but now here he was being friends with a female co-worker and forcing me to accept it. I asked him if situations were reversed and he was in my shoes, would he be happy to find out I have a work husband,

and that I hid this dynamic from him all this time? This is when my husband couldn't even look me in the eye and started to cry with me. He told me how sorry he was for everything and that he slowly saw where I was coming from. He told me until then, he never thought he had done anything wrong thinking this was all harmless, but now he knows what I feel. He kept apologizing profusely asking me for another chance. I told him that I wasn't sure as I would have never done this with him. I also went on to tell him that I have always kept strict boundaries with my coworkers

and expected him to do the same. I have never been suspicious about him but what he has done is making me rethink. Hearing this, my husband got down on his knees begging me not to leave him. He told me that he loves me and are children more than anything and is ready to quote. his job if that is what it takes to keep our marriage. I told him I was not sure if I could believe that, and he told me that he would do anything to regain my trust back even if it meant starting from zero. I believed him then and decided to give him another chance. I did love my husband and wanted to believe that we could come out of this issue. We started going for marriage counseling

to regain our trust and as promised, my husband kept his distance from Susie. I have since asked some of his female co-workers who are friends with me on Facebook and they told me how my husband firmly asked Susie to ask a female co-worker for help in the future and not come to him for small things. I was happy that he was setting boundaries and everything seemed to be going smoothly. To satisfy my curiosity further, I researched Susie a bit and found out that she had been divorced thrice. This is pretty unbelievable for a 28-year-old woman. I found out that she was originally from Spain and had come to the USA as a 22-year-old. old only and married her first American husband. She then divorced him and went on to marry two other

men in the next few years. All of these three men were much older than her so clearly she had no issues with age difference. This made me realize that I was right to ask my husband to stay away from her. This all happened three months ago and since my talk with my husband, we haven't faced any issues until yesterday night. My husband was supposed to come home early for our weekly date night. I was looking forward to spending our time together as I had not seen him all week and had even made sure that my dad had picked up the kids from school so they could spend the night with my parents while I and my husband could get some alone time. Suddenly the doorbell rang and I excitedly opened it to see my husband standing in the doorway with none other than Susie. It was raining and they were soaking wet. My eyes widened looking at her and I angrily looked at my husband.

They both came in and my husband started to say that her car had broken down on the way. She was stranded in the middle of the road and had called him for help while he was on his way back home. They had called AAA for road assistance, but because of the rain and thunderstorms it would have taken a while so he decided to get her to our place instead of leaving her in the broken down car. After hearing this, I couldn't argue with him as I didn't want to be rude in front of her. I offered her a towel while my husband went to our bedroom to freshen up. I asked Susie if she wanted to have dinner with us and she nodded solemnly. I had prepared to go out for our date night but now I knew that we wouldn't be able to go out with this unwelcome guest in our house. I reluctantly started preparing dinner for the night.

When my husband came down after freshening up, Susie, who was probably waiting for him, told him that she needed to use the washroom too. I told her that she could use our guest washroom and Susie without even glancing at me asked my husband if she could use our master bathroom. He nodded and showed her the way and then came back down to help me out for dinner. I didn't want to be rude in front of her, so I whispered asking him if she was out of earshot and he nodded. This is when I started to angrily whisper to him that he should not have brought her back to our place without at least asking me he told me how he could not leave her out there in the rain and thought that as a woman I would understand. I told him that while I definitely understood that he wanted to help a woman out, he could have asked her to go back home in a cab instead of

bringing her to our place and spoiling our date night. He told me that Susie kept insisting that she was really cold and as our house was closer than her home, he had decided to bring her here. We kept arguing but at this point, there was nothing that I could do. Suddenly, Susie started calling for my husband from upstairs asking him for a fresh towel. I shot my husband a death glare and told him to keep working on the dinner so I could go and see what Susie wanted. I walked up to see her peeping out of the door smiling at me sheepishly. She told me that she wanted a fresh towel to wipe herself off after taking a bath and our washroom and didn't want to inconvenience me as she thought I was busy cooking so had called

for my husband instead. I told her politely that if she needed anything further in our home, she could ask me for it instead of my husband. I then fetched a fresh towel and gave it to her. Meanwhile, my husband had set the table and we eventually sat down for dinner. Susie came out to join us with water still dripping down her hair. She didn't even acknowledge me and walked straight to sit beside my husband. She started to start. She started to go. She started to I started asking what was for dinner and I told her that I had whipped out some pasta as I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for dinner. Her nose scrunched hearing this and she started to laugh telling me that she expected me to cook something better than just pasta. I stopped eating and looked at her blankly trying to comprehend what she was trying to insinuate.

Susie then asked if this is what I served to my husband every night when he comes home after a long day's work and I retorted back that it was none of her business what I served to my husband. Susie snickered at me and turned to look at my husband telling him that he deserved to be treated better than this. Hearing these words, I got up from my chair. I asked her who she thought she was to speak to me in our house. Susie then started shouting that I was being a bad wife to my husband and probably a bad mother to his children too. She started pointing out how I couldn't even cook him a grand meal when all I did was sit on my ass the whole day as I was just a stay-at-home mother. My eyes widened at this accusation and my husband, who had remained calm until then, firmly asked Susie to stop talking as what she just told me was out of line.

Susie then started to tell him that he deserved a better wife than me who could take care of him and his kids rather than a shoddy housewife like me. I wanted to slap Susie at this point for her accusations, but it was taking all my energy to keep myself calm to not make this situation out of control. I took a deep breath and looked at her squarely in the face. I told her that if she had such a great wife, then she would not have been divorced three times in the past six years. Susie immediately froze and I went on to tell her that I knew all about her shoddy past divorces

with her three ex-husbands which meant she clearly didn't know how to keep a marriage intact. I told her that I knew all of her ex-husbands had been much older than her, probably the same age as my husband. I went on to tell her that I knew exactly what she was doing and that she was nothing more than just a gold digger. Hearing this, Susie burst out crying. She started shouting that I was an evil person for bringing up her past while I smirked in satisfaction knowing that her secret was out in front of my husband who clearly had no idea about this.

I firmly asked her to get out of our house while my husband looked shaken by the whole ordeal. I kicked her out in the rain and closed the door on her while she kept shouting more abuse. She banged on our door and I told her through the intercom that I would not hesitate to call the police if she continued with this antique. Eventually, she must have got a cab or asked her boyfriend to pick her up because she was gone after a while. Since then, I have been completely shaken. Although I did react to her angrily at that time to defend myself, I have no idea why

she even got angry at me in the first place. Her words keep going around my head and I can't help but spiral. My husband, for his part, has told me that while he understands the way I reacted, he still thinks that I was too cruel to kick her out in the rain. This has made me even more angry at him as I would have never let someone disrespect him in our home the way Susie behaved with me yesterday. So Reddit IDA for standing up for myself against my husband's so-called workwife? Update 1, hi everyone, thank you for all your comments and suggestions. I did listen to some of your advice and asked my husband today to show his chats with Susie.

At first, he asked me why I wanted to see them, but I kept insisting that I needed to know for sure if they had anything in the past. He reluctantly handed over his phone after we kept arguing and what I found in his messages were exactly what everyone had warned me about. I went through hundreds of chats that they had previously. While my husband's replies were formal and not flirty, Susie had always flirted with him from the beginning. My husband seemed respectful to her and answered any query she asked him.

But what shocked me was that four months ago, she had sent a suggestive photo of my husband in a very revealing dress. He immediately asked her why she would send something like this and she asked him if she looked good in the dress as she wanted to surprise her boyfriend. My husband told her that she was extremely beautiful so she had nothing to be worried about but in the future, she should not send such pictures to him. She then replied to him with a sad emoji. This interaction between them has me reeling in shock. Although nothing seemed unusual from him, it doesn't relieve the fact that my husband withheld this information from me for so long even when we had fought over his close relationship with Susie three months ago. This means he had always known about her feelings but had tried to gaslight me into thinking that I was overactive and jealous.

I am at a loss for words and have asked my husband to give me space so I can deal with my emotions. He keeps pleading with me to not leave him and to think about our kids. He even told me that I could talk to Susie's boyfriend if I wanted to know for sure that Susie and he, were never a thing. I have never cried like this in a while, and I never realized how overwhelmed I was with this until now. I have decided to reach out to her boyfriend to see if he wants to talk to me in a last attempt to save my marriage for the sake of my children. Update 2 if you have read my story until now, thank you. I truly appreciate everyone for their kind words. I came to Reddit event, not expecting anyone to even read my story but people from Reddit

have taken their time to advise me on various things that are quite helpful. Now as I had updated before, I did reach out to Susie's boyfriend, Michael on Facebook. He seemed surprised when I reached out to him as he didn't even know me or my husband existed. After I told him that I wanted to talk to him about something important regarding Susie, he told me that we could meet somewhere near his office. Apparently, he works on weekends and the only time we could meet was during lunch hours. We met at a public park as we both felt that it's awkward to talk about this casually over coffee. I had asked him previously to not mention about our meetup to Susie so when we met he told me that he was curious as to why he couldn't speak about this with her.

This is when I started to tell him the entire story. I first apologized to him for what I had to say. I then told him I knew that it was not my place to be the one to break the news to him, but with how I found out about the relationship between Amy and my ex, I was pretty sure he had no idea of that dynamic too, so I wanted to warn him. Michael looked curiously as I showed him the entire conversation between Susie and my husband. His eyes widened in shock looking at the image she had sent my husband. He then told me that he had no idea about any of this as Susie never even mentioned my husband to him. This was shocking to me and I went on to tell Michael how Susie referred to my husband as her work husband

and their various inappropriate interactions which his female co-workers had told me about. Hearing all this, Michael seemed as angry as me. He told me that he understood where my anger was coming from because he felt the same way after hearing everything about Susie and my husband. Michael also mentioned how distant Susie had been in the past year, and how recently their relationship was starting to get more and more rocky. He had always assumed it was because both of them were working all the time and had no idea that she was this close with my husband. He had been feeling guilty all this while for not giving her enough time. I guess this was the answer he needed to know that it wasn't his fault. We didn't talk long after that.

I only said what I had to say, and he thanked me for going out of my way to let him know what was happening behind his back. I am not sure what will happen between them now, and I don't even know what Michael will do after this information. As for my husband, I haven't talked to him for the last couple of days. I am like a zombie who wakes up in the morning for the sake of our children, to get them ready for school, and to drop them. off. I then go back into my bed and cry for hours until it's time for my kids to come back home. I don't want my kids to know that something is wrong with me. After talking to Michael, I feel a bit relieved that I helped someone out and at least he won't be blindsided like me. I also feel a bit of clarity as to what I should be doing next. I don't know if I will ever be able to fully forgive my

husband after this. He had the chance to come clean to me about all these months ago but chose to keep this a secret. I did want to talk to Susie regarding her behavior towards me, but now I don't even want to do that. After talking to Matt, I have just lost all my energy completely and I want to remove myself from the situation now. I will talk to my parents and see if me and the kids can live with them for a couple of days. I want to heal and move on from this toxicity, but I don't know yet how to do so or what to do next. Update 3. Hi, Everyone. A lot has happened in my life since my update last week. Michael texted me during the weekend with the worst possible news. He told me that Susie and my husband had a one-night stand. He told me how Susie told him that

she had admitted feelings for my husband and one evening while working late, they had taken things too far. My immediate reaction was to puke hearing about the affair as it was what I had always feared. Michael also told me that after that one night, Susie had suggested that they could keep doing this, but my husband had firmly told her that he loved his family and he felt guilty for what he did. Michael sent me screenshots of their messages on Snapchat where my husband had pleaded with her to keep this a secret between them. This had probably made Susie angry and this explains why she would throw me nasty glances during the office parties whenever my husband would take me. Michael also revealed that Susie had admitted to sending my husband more inappropriate images on his Snapchat which he didn't

refuse initially. It was only after I had my altercation with my husband that he had blocked her on Snapchat fearing that I might find out. This is also why my husband hesitated to give me his phone when I wanted to check it. Michael decided to break things off with Susie and told me that he wanted to return the favor by telling me the truth about my husband and her. Since finding out about their affair, I can't deny any more that our marriage has reached its end. I can't deny the fact that my husband did indeed cheat on me physically and emotionally just like I had feared. I should have left him after his female co-workers warned me, but I foolishly believed his words. I am currently living with my parents as I had mentioned previously and they are furious at my husband just like me. My dad has told me

that I should leave my cheating scumbag husband to prevent any further heartbreak. I am glad that I have such supportive parents. I have decided to reach out to a lawyer tomorrow to take matters into my own hands. I need to set a better example for my children and be a good parent to them. Both my children and I don't deserve a man like my husband who has been cheating on his family and lying to us all this while. It feels devastating that my marriage is over, but I am learning to be okay with it. I don't want to confront him and argue with him further when I have all this proof of his affair and I plan to serve him directly with divorce papers when I meet him next. I feel for everyone who has ever gone through something like this, but I assure everyone who has been

concerned about me in the comments that me and my children are going to be okay. Thanks to the support of my parents. I promise that I will come out of this stronger and will leave this toxicity behind me once and for all. I hope you enjoy this story. Decline to include wicked stepmother who tormented me for a long time at my wedding, so father warned he might not attend unless I allowed her to come. Consequently, I rescinded his invitation as well. Well, I, 25F, am getting married to my high school sweetheart and we recently sent out the invitations to our wedding. My fiancé, Caleb, 25M, and I decided that I would only invite my parents to the wedding but not my stepmother. It was a very easy decision for me to make because she's a really terrible person and I would not want her at my wedding because she would just find a way to ruin it.

My stepmother, let's call her Jan, 47F, married my father when I was in eighth grade. My parents got divorced when I was really little and they were never together when I was growing up. They had shared custody and I spent half the month at my dad's place and the other half with my mom. It was a great arrangement and I got the best of both worlds so I was happy about it. My parents dated other people in the meantime, but they were just flings and were not permanent enough for me to care about. This went on for a couple of years and everything was going well until my father started dating January. They started dating around the time I was in sixth grade and when he introduced her to me for the first time, she was perfectly pleasant, and I actually liked her. But then her behavior got worse around me and she constantly made me feel like I was a burden and as if she hated being around me.

Look, I get it, a lot of people don't like kids, but I don't think that's an excuse to treat them poorly after one point. I was practically scared of her and wouldn't approach her at all, because I thought she would yell at me. It had happened enough times for me to see it coming, so I stopped trying to talk to her or befriending her. At first, she would just make faces whenever I would enter the room or act really annoyed when I was around so I tried to be as silent and easily ignored as possible. But after she got engaged, she started treating me even worse and actively picked on me whenever she could. She would try to do it behind my dad's back at first, but then she got married, and after that,

there was no stopping her. She made my childhood a total nightmare and the worst part was that my father never stood up for me. She was the kind of woman who saw me as a competition. I don't know why because that seems really unhealthy and kind of crazy but I can tell you guys now that that was how she used to act. Like I was the contender for her throne or something. She would bully me constantly and make me feel like crap about my appearance. But it didn't stop there and she would even talk about my mother badly and say, really nasty things about her. It would boil my blood, and I would often talk back to her, but my dad always scolded me for it and she got away with everything. I tried to talk to my dad

several times, but he was so blinded by her that he didn't even seem to realize that he was alienating me. He would always defend her and say that I was the problem. The only thing that he would say was that I was important to him, but so was she and I would just have to get along with her because he wasn't ready to let go of either of us. He claimed that she would only occasionally get annoyed with me because I tried too hard and she didn't like that. He excused all the bullying by saying that it was just her being concerned about me and that she didn't intend to mock me. But I'm not an idiot, I knew what was going on, and I knew that he was in denial. He was just trying to convince himself that the woman that he had married was not an absolute monster. I didn't realize

it back then, but I know now that my father had always been selfish in thinking about me. But back then, it was really important for me to have a relationship with my dad. And that's why I was even willing to put up with Jan even though she was a total nightmare to live with. I let her stomp all over me and completely shatter my self-esteem all because I wanted my father to be happy with me. I honestly wanted nothing more than to go back to having a normal family with both my parents loving me equally and I stayed with my dad without complaint because I hoped that things would fix themselves eventually. I never told my mother about this because I was afraid that if she found out how Jan was treating me, she would file for full custody and then I would

never get to see my father again. After a while, I even stopped complaining about Jan's behavior to my dad, because I was paranoid that he might give up his rights, I would end up in the same place, and I would never be able to see him again. I was also afraid that Jan's might make him give up custody, but that one was out of my control so the best I could do was just not bother her and constantly walk on eggshells around her. I guess it's safe to say that my childhood was not easy and growing up in my father's house was extremely difficult, but I got through it somehow and I still maintain a relationship with my father even after I left his home. Call me a fool, but I was really attached to both my parents and I couldn't imagine a life without them. I was willing

to put up with whatever it took and so Jan got away with everything. She bullied me throughout high school, and my mental health really took a hit. I turned into this weird, silent, introverted, kid, that I never was before Jan took over the household. But I tried my best to put on a brave face and the only thing that got me through it was the fact that in a few years, I would be going away to college, and then she wouldn't be able to ruin my life anymore. So when it was finally time for me to leave for college, there was nobody happier on the planet than I was. I was thrilled to finally be going away and the cherry on top of that was the fact that I was going to college out of state so I would only have to come back for the holidays. I could just choose to spend the major holidays with my mom while still maintaining a relationship with my father and doing my best not to offend him so he doesn't cut me off.

It was a crazy balancing act but I got through it somehow and that went on for a couple of years. Even after I graduated from college and got a job, I was trying my best to maintain a relationship with my father while still putting up with Jan, who only seemed to be getting worse with age. She was vicious, most of the time, and would actively try to get me worked up, but I wouldn't let her succeed, and that only made her worse. One day, I was visiting my father for lunch and she started picking on me again, so I completely lost it and we got into a very nasty fight. That was probably three years ago and after that, my dad would only invite me home when Jan was not there.

I think by that time he had finally realized that Jan was always horrible to me and that was never going to change. But he also probably wanted to have a relationship with me because I was his only child. So we started meeting in person, either at restaurants or when he knew for a fact that Jan wasn't going to be at home. It was kind of strange but also a huge relief now that I didn't have to deal with her constant being around us and trying to make everything about herself and her weird issues with me. Not to mention the fact that the issues that she had with me were completely made up and arbitrary. She hated me just because she could and she didn't really need a reason for it. Part of me actually even thinks that she might have been one of those crazy people who just

enjoyed treating other people badly, especially kids. Otherwise, if she really saw me as competition, then she would have forced my dad to kick me out or give up custody, but she kept me around just so she could pick on me whenever she wanted to. And then around the same time, I started dating Caleb. After dating for a few months, I decided that it was finally time for my parents to meet him. So I introduced him to them at my birthday dinner in my apartment and everybody seemed to get along. Jan was obviously not invited to that dinner because we were not on speaking terms at the time and after that we never really reconciled, so she never knew anything about my relationship with Caleb.

We got engaged a couple of months ago and have been planning for the wedding ever since. It didn't occur to us at any point that Jan might want to be invited to the wedding because, after the way she treated me throughout my childhood and the last fight that we had, I didn't even think that she wanted to have anything to do with me. Besides, we hadn't spoken in over three years and she never attempted to make things right with me. So why would I invite her to my wedding? But then the invitations were sent out recently and my father contacted me to tell me that Jan was really upset and offended that she didn't receive one. And Caleb and I weren't exactly letting

people bring plus ones because we intended on having a small and private ceremony. So it was very clear that she was not welcome at the wedding and I don't even know why she was expecting to be invited because she hadn't even been invited to the engagement party. And there was no way that she couldn't have known about it because it was all over social media. Granted I have her blocked but she still might have heard about it from someone. And honestly, I'm sure that my dad must have told her about it so she knew all along and I didn't buy it for one second that she just had no idea this was happening. She had every opportunity to reach out to me and apologize and then I probably would have considered inviting her to the wedding but there was no

apology. So why should I even consider it? It just doesn't even make sense. But my father, for some reason, believes that I should invite her because she is my stepmom after all. I honestly think that it's a ridiculous idea and I told him as such, but he is pretty bent on it and we have been arguing about it for days. I really don't think Jan deserves to be invited to my wedding because that would mean that I consider her family and I really do not. We had been talking about this for quite some days and yesterday my father told me that if I didn't invite Jan to the wedding, then he wouldn't be attending either because it was quite insulting that his wife wouldn't be invited to such an important family event. I was shocked that he would even say something like this

because so far, he had never tried to make things right between me and Jan after the fight. I could understand that Jan was probably doing this because she wanted to create drama before the wedding and she's just an attention seeker so she was probably enjoying this, but I couldn't imagine why my father was indulging her. He could simply just tell her that after terrorizing me my entire childhood, she had no right to expect to be invited to my wedding. But instead of standing up to her, he was once again making it seem like I was the problem here and trying to get me to change my mind about who I was invited to my wedding. Something he had absolutely no say in, mind you. I had actually started to believe that after the fight, my father was finally coming back

to his senses and wasn't going to take me for granted again. But after what he said last night, I realized that it was never going to happen and he was always going to put Jan over me. So I told him that it was probably for the better if he didn't attend the wedding and that I would be rescinding my invitation since I now believe that neither he nor Jan deserved to be present at such an important event. I told him that he was just as bad, if not worse, than Jan, because she had been the one who bullied me throughout my childhood and teenage years. But he was the one who allowed her to do it and get away with it with no consequences just because he was too much of a coward to stand up to his wife and defend his own daughter. He had never taken a stand for me

and it was foolish of me to expect that he would do it at this point. So I told him that I would rather he not attend the wedding at all or even try to contact me in the future, because I was done dealing with this. Then I hung up and told Caleb about the conversation that I had with my father because I wanted someone to reassure me that I had done the right thing. I had no idea what was going to happen next because I had always just assumed that maybe at some point my father would be able to see Jan for what she truly was and stand up for me. Clearly, that was never going to happen and I had to come to terms with it now. I had expected him to try and reach out to to me at least once after the fight, but he didn't. The people who did reach out to me,

however, were his family who wanted to tell me that I was being extremely ungrateful and that I needed to apologize to my father. Honestly, I don't know what's ungrateful about what I did. I was just honest and finally stood up for myself after years of diluting myself into believing that my father actually cared about me. And maybe he does, but clearly not enough to tell Jan to back off. His love for me is not limitless and unconditional, and neither is mine. And I think it's a bit unfair to expect me to invite the woman who completely ruined my childhood to such an important event. I don't trust her, and I would never want her around me after this so it's ridiculous of her to even expect that she would be invited to my wedding. I think I'm being completely fair by cutting off

my father for giving me an ultimatum, but my dad's side of the family thinks that I'm being ungrateful. A lot of them have texted me or even called me to let me know that they are incredibly disappointed in me and that they expected better. By better, they mean that they wanted me to just let my dad do whatever he wanted to, and I must stick around, regardless of how that makes me feel. They think that I should invite Jan to the wedding, just because my dad says so. Apparently, I owe it to my father because he was the one who raised me and gave me a nice childhood. And he was the one who sent me to college and is the reason why. I have a good life now. Honestly, I don't think that's such a big deal. Lots of people do it for their kids. I have always been thankful to my dad for whatever he has done for me, but I don't think he deserves

to be worshipped because of it. Like any other parent, he did things for me when I was a kid. Big deal, that doesn't mean he can just say, and do whatever he wants to know, and I have to put up with it. Also, let's not forget that I have also made allowances for him. He let Jan bully. He let Jan bully me throughout my life and I don't know how people are missing that very significant part of our relationship. It was no secret that she used to terrify me when I was a kid and my dad never seemed to mind it. All his family members knew about it and they pretended that it was not a big deal. It's only a problem if I stand up for myself, I guess. My mother thinks that I'm being perfectly fair and so does Caleb. I'm just here to get an unbiased opinion and make sure that I'm doing the right

thing. So, Ida for telling my dad that he doesn't need to attend my wedding because he wanted me to invite my stepmom? Update 1, hi, thank you so much for the overwhelming response to my post. I have decided to stick to my decision of cutting my father off. Only after reading the comments, I realized just how much he had been taking me for granted all my life. It's actually insane how much I was willing to put up with just so I could have a relationship with my father and even that wasn't enough for him. I can't believe that he just doesn't care, his only daughter and he still doesn't care. It's a horrible feeling and it just sucks, but it is what it is and I can't change it.

Caleb and my mother have been very helpful and supportive and are trying to help me work through my feelings during this difficult time. It's bad enough as it is. I don't need my father's side of the family bothering me constantly and trying to remind me of all the great things that my father has done for me since I was a kid. Most of the things that they talk about are things that literally every parent in this world does, but they think that my dad is somehow special for doing it for me. I haven't been replying to any messages because it's all really difficult to process. Since these are people who have actually watched me grow up and they're still against me somehow, all because they want to whitewash my father's image. I don't know what they think they're going

to accomplish. By constantly texting me and telling me that I'm being ungrateful, but I'm sure as heck not going back on my word and inviting my father or trying to fix things with him. I said what I had to say and now he either owns up to his mistakes or stays away from me. It's as simple as that. I'm not even asking much of him, I'm not telling him that he needs to leave his wife because I hate her. Even though that's what I should be doing because she is a terrible person. But I am still willing to be the bigger person and let him attend my wedding if he just apologizes to me for everything that he did wrong.

That's all I want but clearly, that's too much to ask from someone like my father, who doesn't even want to acknowledge the fact that he screwed up and only cares about being perceived as a good guy. He doesn't actually want to be the good guy. And I get that now, I really do. I had believed and forced myself into actually thinking of my father as a decent human being who cared about me, but that's not true. Any father who cared about his daughter would never let his wife or anybody else treat them like the way Jan treated me. But he not only allowed it, he let her get away with it for years on end. So no, he's certainly not an ideal father and I'm not being ungrateful.

Update 2, hey, so the wedding day is coming closer and it's been a month since I last spoke to my father. My relatives on my dad's side of the family stopped contacting me or trying to tell me that I was wrong after a few days and I was cut off from that side altogether. Can't say that it made me feel bad because it really didn't. It just made me feel grateful that everybody had shown their true colors before the wedding and now there would be no drama at my wedding. But unfortunately, that didn't rule out the possibility of there being drama before my wedding. I almost forgot about the whole fight with my father because I had been so busy planning and managing work. I've just been really swamped with work and stuff. So when the other day, my dad showed up at my house, I was completely blindsided.

Of course, I had to let him, because I'm not the kind of person who can simply just refuse to let people inside the house. Especially when it comes to my father, I don't know. if that makes me weak, but I can't turn my parents away even if I'm fighting with them. I didn't know what to expect and I thought that he was going to apologize for a few seconds when he entered the house, but that's not what happened. I mean, I guess you could call it an apology in the weakest sense of the word, but he's still not attending my wedding, so there was no point in that. He came to my house around noon and left about three hours later, once we had an in-death discussion about our relationship and how to go about fixing it. We couldn't come to a decision,

but the discussion that we had was much needed. He finally addressed the fact that Jan had been a bully and he had let many things slide when I was a kid, simply because he didn't want to pick with January. It was actually pretty refreshing to hear him acknowledge that because I had never really expected him to own up to the truth. So far, his only strategy had been to gaslight me into believing that I was somehow responsible for the way that she used to treat me.

As a kid, I would believe it because my dad was saying it, but as I grew up, I knew that that was not the case. I still never spoke up against it because I was so desperate to have a relationship with him and I didn't want him to cut me off. But now it was finally all out in the open. Once he had acknowledged it, I thought he was going to say that he was sorry for everything that he had done, but he didn't. Instead, he said that while he did feel bad about it, he couldn't say that he was sorry for what he did, because it was the only way that he could have a normal life without constantly having to worry about either Jan or me.

Now I don't think that was necessarily true because he could have intervened and tried to fix things between us, but he stayed out of it on purpose because he didn't want to stand up to January gaslighting me into believing that I was somehow the problem was much easier than talking to his wife, because kids are much easier to manipulate. And everyone knows that. He also knew that I would never do anything to jeopardize my relationship with him and he shamelessly used that fact against me to control me and make sure that I wasn't much trouble to deal with. So Jan continued to bully me and my dad just stayed out of her way and let me face her wrath. He told me that he loved both of US and didn't want to ruin

either of these relationships so he tried to shirk his responsibilities and he was successful in doing so. And while he didn't apologize to me at any point because he never really said the words that he was sorry I can't count it as a genuine apology. He did express interest in being a part of my life going forward and suggested that we start therapy together or at least do something to remedy the situation. He also told me that he still couldn't attend my wedding if I didn't invite Jan because she actually had been really offended that she hadn't been invited because she had expected me to let go of the past, even though she had done things that nobody would ever be able to let go of. And my dad had already agreed that he wouldn't be

attending the wedding if she wasn't invited. As a matter of fact, Jan didn't even know about my dad's most recent visit to my place because she was against the idea of us having a relationship. Apparently, she had allowed it when I was a kid because she believed that it was important for my father to actually feel like a dad and have me around. But I was a full-grown woman now and I could handle myself so I didn't need to come running to Daddy time was in trouble. That's great logic I supposed to separate a father from his daughter. I can't believe that he's actually falling for it and letting her get away with these things

even now but I don't really know what to expect from my father anymore. We had a really long discussion the other day, but it ended up. up going nowhere. I have no idea if there is any point in trying to make things work with my dad because Jan will always be his top priority and I don't think I can deal with that anymore. I just don't even know what to say about him. This is all just really very upsetting. Update 3, hi, so it's been a really long time since my last update and I'm happy to inform you guys that Caleb and I are married now. We got married the way we wanted to, with the people that we wanted around us just a few days ago and it was dreamy and beautiful. And no, my dad was not present at

the ceremony. Like many of you guys, I had also been wishing that by some miracle, he would come to his senses and leave Jan so he could attend my wedding. Sadly, that's not what happened, and we are still not on talking terms. Now I know that in my last update, I said that he and I had a discussion about this and we were going to work on our relationship and start therapy and stuff like that. But None of it materialized because after that conversation, we tried to keep in touch, but he just stopped responding to me after a couple of days. I kept trying to talk to him and reach out to him, but he just never replied. After that, I got busy with work again because I had to wrap up everything before I took a leave for my wedding. And I forgot to text him or check up on him.

He could have texted me but he didn't and we stopped speaking after that. I got to know from a couple of other relatives who were still on talking terms with me that he and Jan had moved away to the suburbs recently and that's probably what he was busy with. But I can't figure out why he didn't share that with me. Or why he even bothered to visit me that one last time and make a bunch of promises that he wasn't going to live up to anyway. I was doing just fine and honestly, I'm still doing fine. But I was just a little put off and disappointed that even after making those promises and saying that we would work on our relationship. He still didn't bother to actually show up for me and make it count. It's fine, though, he has disappointed me enough times for me to get used to it.

But I'm not going to let it happen again. Now, I'm just going to focus on the relationships that I already have and the people who actually care about me like my husband and my mother. Caleb and I are leaving for our honeymoon in a couple of days and that's the only thing that I'm going to think about now, L.O.L. I hope you enjoy this story. Deceitful former partner abandoned me on our wedding day for his previous lover. Half a decade later, I unveiled his infidelity to his expectant spouse, who is currently divorcing him and claiming ownership of the residence.

And kids. So I, 30F, was supposed to get married to my ex-fiancee Scott, 32M, five years ago, but that didn't happen. He dumped me on the day of our wedding for his ex-girlfriend Ruby, 32F. Scott and I had been together for about two years before he proposed and I said yes. Then there were six months of planning and finally, our wedding day. So we were together for two years and a half, but he still decided to change his mind about the wedding at the very last moment when Ruby arrived at the wedding. And no, I didn't invite her and neither was she on the approved guest list but was an addition that my dearest mother-in-law Alice had made.

Ruby and Scott had dated for seven years but had been broken up for two years at the time we started dating. He didn't speak of her much and I'd found out the reason why they'd broken up from his friends. They'd started dating when they were 18 and were in their senior year and had stayed together through college, even though Ruby went to college out of state. After she graduated and returned, they moved and together and lived in an apartment, and after almost seven years, Scott asked her to marry him. But unfortunately, Ruby wasn't ready yet and turned him down. They tried to make the relationship work after that, but it just didn't and eventually, they parted ways and Ruby even took a job in Canada to move out of the city.

That was that and they didn't keep in touch after their breakup either. I used to go to the same college as Scott, but I was his junior back then and didn't speak to him much. I met Scott again at a co-worker's Christmas dinner and actually felt a connection there. So we ended up ditching the party after a while and went out by ourselves. We had a really nice time together and decided to stay in touch, went out on a couple of dates, and within three months, we were in a proper relationship. We dated for two years, then decided to get married, but it was all wasted when after almost three years of their breakup, Ruby finally decided to show up on our supposed wedding day.

I still remember everything clear as day. I'd walked down the aisle already and we were up there. on the podium when he confessed that since we were in a chapel, he couldn't bring himself to lie and said that he needed to talk to me about something really important. So we stopped the ceremony and he took me aside to inform me that his mother had invited Ruby to the wedding and even pointed them out to me. Alice and Ruby were sitting in the front row, Alice looking smug as hell in her off white dress. I mean, of course, she'd worn something close to white to my wedding, and Ruby looking down at her feet. I wasn't surprised that Alice had invited Scott's ex to disrupt the wedding because she'd made it very clear right from the beginning of our relationship that she didn't like me one bit. It was definitely because I'm not the kind of daughter-in-law she wanted. I'm not soft-spoken, I'm not what you'd call sweet or timid so I'm just not the idea of what an ideal daughter-in-law should be like according to Alice.

Not that these are bad traits, but I just didn't possess any of them. I was always too loud or too brash or too expressive for her taste so of course she brought along someone she believed was a more appropriate fit for their family than I was. So she went ahead and brought that better daughter-in-law to the wedding so it'd be easier to control and manipulate her son in the long run. And not only did she bring her along but she also arranged a conversation between Ruby and Scott before I walked down the aisle which is what he told me about later, using that conversation as a reason to dump me at the altar.

He told me that he and Ruby had a chat before this and she apologized for turning him down all those years ago and explained that she just felt too young and inexperienced to actually make such a huge commitment. But now, after almost three years, she'd realized that she'd messed up because she knew she'd never find someone better than him and had come back to ask for one last chance to make their relationship work. That was all it took to undo two years of our relationship and he was back to square one once more. Obviously, back at the time, I tried to argue with him and make him stay, but he told me that it'd be a mistake for us to get married now that he'd realized that he'd never actually fallen out of love with Ruby and I'd just been a placeholder for the woman that he actually loved. His word stung but I was so desperate that I tried to convince him to stay nevertheless. It didn't work and I knew that it was all futile when he asked me to return the engagement ring.

I lost my cool and ended up flinging it to the ground before I walked out and decided to drive myself away from the wedding, all the guests, and just everything to do with Scott. I kept driving until I reached a B&B a little out of town and stayed there for the next couple of days. Scott paid off all the dues of the wedding organizers and vendors and thankfully, I didn't have to spend any of my hard-earned money except on my dress. The only time we met after that was when I went back home to collect my things after almost two weeks of the wedding. He and Ruby were at home at the time and didn't even bother to stop cuddling when I walked in with a friend of mine to pack my stuff up and leave.

That's how awful they were and at the end of the day, I was kind of glad that Scott decided to dump me before we even got married because then we'd have to get divorced eventually whenever Ruby decided that she wanted him back. So they actually saved me a lot of money and heartache. I've tried to move on and I guess I've done a decent job of it, but I have crazy trust issues now, had a nicotine addiction a couple of years ago that came along with crippling depression, and have to go to therapy twice a week now to be a normal, functional human being.

My mental health has suffered a lot because of those three, but they'd been doing just fine, as far as I know. They got married a couple of months after I was dumped and they even have two kids now, aged two and four. They're expecting a third as well, from what I know. The reason I know all of this is because about six months ago, I befriended Ella, 28F, the new receptionist at my company. We discovered that we had a lot in common at a work party and ended up becoming really good friends. One day at lunch, she told me that one of the guys she hooked up with a couple of years ago and still followed on social media was now having a third kid with his wife. I thought it was just harmless gossip, but then she showed me the profile and it was Scott.

I was dumbfounded for a few moments, but Ella went on talking and explained that she'd matched with this guy on a dating app two years ago and apparently he'd told her that he was in an open marriage so she'd agreed to go out with him but now, she wasn't so sure if he'd told her the truth anymore. So I clarified and informed her that in all probability, he wasn't in an open marriage at all and had been cheating on his wife because she was pregnant since the timing lined up with Ruby's second pregnancy. I explained my history with Scott to her and together. We went through his and her social media which was easy since both of them had public accounts and confirmed that they'd indeed been together when Ruby was heavily pregnant. I could hardly believe that this guy had first ditched

me at the altar for Ruby and now, he couldn't even find it in himself to stay loyal to the woman he left me for. I was disgusted and felt like it was about time that I got back at him for what he did to me and thankfully, by then, Ella was a good friend of mine and agreed to be a part of my plan because of how messed up she'd found Scott's actions to be. She herself felt infuriated that he'd lied to her about being in an open marriage just to get her to sleep with him. And they didn't just hook up a couple of times, it went on for a couple of weeks. After their first few dates, she'd followed him on Instagram and found that his wife was heavily pregnant and had confronted him about it, but he told her that Ruby didn't really care since she'd been with

a fair few guys in the initial months of her pregnancy, too. So Ella continued to hook up with him but eventually, she decided that she didn't want to fool around with Scott anymore since she'd begun to develop feelings for him in spite of the fact that she'd only intended for it to be a meaningless fling with him. They'd text regularly and he'd flirt with her all the time, but she'd try her best to ignore it since she knew this wouldn't lead anywhere. Because he was already married and even if it was an open marriage, he wouldn't leave his wife or some woman he'd met on a dating app. So eventually they grew apart but continued to follow each other on social media. When I found out about how Ella and Scott were connected, Ruby was already four months pregnant and Scott had announced it on

social media with a post. That's the one that Ella had shown me. After we found out about the connection, Ella and I started putting together all the proof that we had of Scott's infidelity. It took us a couple of days, but we finally had an assortment of screenshots of texts that Scott had sent to Ella over the course of their short-lived fling. He used to flirt with her like nobody's business, would make promises to her and all that jazz. There were also screenshots of him making plans to meet Ella and several times, he'd even suggested that she come over to his house while Ruby was asleep since she's a heavy sleeper and wouldn't wake up for hours. I was disgusted and repulsed that he was doing this behind her back while she was carrying

his second child, but that's Scott for you. After that, Ella had the idea to take it up a notch higher and I think this is where we messed up. The two of us got way too caught up in the revenge and I think we went a little crazy. When Ruby hits six months, Ella and I decided that it was time to test Scott again. So Ella reached out to him yet again. We didn't know what to expect because they hadn't exactly been friends after they stopped talking two years back, but Scott still replied and guess what? He was still flirting with Ella and was even reminiscing about their past because Ruby was pregnant again and she was even moodyer than her previous pregnancies and was bigger, too. He told Ella that she'd picked the perfect time to get back in touch with him,

indicating that he was willing to cheat on Ruby yet again. We texted. We text. him for a few days and gathered a couple more screenshots but then left him hanging after a while. Finally, two weeks ago, Scott posted that Ruby had finally given birth to a daughter and within three days of that, Ella and I posted all the evidence we had on Facebook and tagged everyone who knew the two of them. And that started a total social media crap fist, but I turned the notifications off for that post and waited for either Scott or Ruby to reach out to me or Ella. It finally happened two days after we posted and Scott was the one who contacted me. I blocked him everywhere after we broke up five years back, but I'd unblocked him just so that

I'd be able to see what he had to say about me finally exposing him for the jerk that he really is. He sent me a long rant about how I'd ruined his life and that now, Ruby was threatening to leave him just because of what Ella and I had posted. He accused me of being a psychotic stalker and said that he'd take me to court if Ruby divorced him, which is not even possible because he doesn't have a case against me or Ella. He's the one who cheated first and then tried to cheat yet again quite shamelessly. There were a lot of other things that he said, but it was mostly name-calling and accusing me of ruining his life. I was really satisfied with what I'd done because from what I understood, he would soon be facing a divorce

and quite possibly a custody battle as well. And he deserved every bit of it, in my opinion. Unfortunately, my friends don't share the same sentiment. They think I went too far, especially because Ruby was pregnant and they believe that because it had been five whole years since our breakup, I should have just let sleeping dogs lie instead of pulling some crazy stunt on social media just for revenge like we were still in high school. I don't think that's fair because Scott literally ruined any future relationship that I could have had with what he did. He ditched me at the altar for his ex-girlfriend after we dated for two years and I don't think any of my friends understand how awful that felt.

I spent years trying to move on and I think I was totally normal for a while, too. Until I met Ella because she's the one who told me that Scott had been cheating and that's what pushed me over the edge. He'd abandoned me for Ruby and now, he wasn't even loyal to her but for whatever reason. My friends believe that I was the one who messed up here and thought that I owed them both an apology for trying to ruin their marriage after five years. I don't understand how I ruined their marriage because I don't understand how I ruined their marriage because all I did was put the truth out in public.

The cheating was all on Scott, not me. Ella doesn't think we did anything wrong, but of course, she'd say that because she was a part of this as well. I don't understand how I'm in the wrong here, so I'd have for exposing my ex-fiancee for cheating on his pregnant wife twice in a row after he left me at the altar five years ago. Update 1, hi. So I decided not to apologize because after reading through most of the comments on my original post,

I realized that I was doubting myself over something pretty ridiculous. Scott abandoned me at the altar five years ago to be with Ruby. And then he lied to Ella about being in an open marriage while Ruby was heavily pregnant just to hook up with her. I just exposed him for what he was doing. Yeah, I chose to do it at a time that would be the most hurtful for both Ruby and Scott, but that's because they chose to hurt me five years back, too. So why shouldn't I try to get back at them? I tried being the bigger person and I'd let it all go, but the universe brought me back into his life some way or the other, just not for a good reason.

I don't think I did anything wrong and if anything, my friends should be talking about Scott being the bad guy instead of putting me down. But I don't think that's ever going to happen because my friends continue to remain friends with him even after he broke up with me on the day of our wedding. So that should have been enough for me to realize that these people never were my friends in the first place, but I guess I was too delusional to believe it at the time. I get it now, though, and have decided to cut them all off. I don't need them and I'm quite sure I'm better off without such negative people in my life anyway. As for Ella, there was an unprecedented amount of hate for her because of the things she'd done and I'd just like to take a moment to explain that she didn't have any idea that Scott wasn't in an open marriage back when she'd been going out with him. He'd convinced her that he was in an open marriage and at that

point, he had very few pictures of Ruby on his profile, so it wasn't that hard for her to believe him. Trust me when I say this, she's really not the kind of woman who would hook up with a married man unless she knew that their partner had agreed to it. She's adventurous, but that doesn't make her immoral or whatever. The one thing that I'll concede she did wrong was that she didn't tell Ruby when she started suspecting that maybe Scott wasn't telling the truth about being in an open marriage, but she was too skeptical to talk about it to a woman she barely even knew and a pregnant woman at that. So she decided to remove herself from the situation entirely and stopped talking to Scott. She's been a good friend to me and I think even if she had messed up back then, I don't think

I'm going to judge her by that because she's genuinely been there for me so maybe I'm a little biased in her favor. Nobody's perfect but we're all trying and Ella is actually a nice person so please, don't just judge her based on the original post. There's a lot more to her as a person, I can promise you that. Now, coming to Scott and Ruby, from what I've heard, they're still fighting and Ruby has actually been living with her parents for a few days. I still have two friends who are actually on my side and they're keeping me in the loop since they have some friends in common with Ruby.

It's been a week since my original post and they still haven't managed to resolve the situation, as far as I know. If Ruby has even an ounce of dignity left, she'll walk out of that marriage just like I walked out of my wedding but you never know. These are pretty messed up people that we're talking about here so there's no telling what they might or might not do. But I know what I'm going to do, I'm just going to sit back, relax, and enjoy the drama with popcorn now. Update 2, super quick update. Okay, so you guys remember Alice, right?

Alice, my almost mother-in-law, actually arranged the conversation between Scott and Ruby which ended up destroying my relationship. Yeah, her. Today, Alice contacted me and she was nice to me today, which made sense because she wanted me to help her out by deleting the post I'd made. She'd got a hold of my number from Scott and called me to ask me in her most tearful voice to delete the post and talk to Ruby so that she'd come back to him because she couldn't afford to lose her three grandchildren. Ruby's furious and has been threatening to file for divorce and full custody of the kids with no visitation rights and the only way to avoid that is if Scott agrees to transfer the ownership of their house to her. I don't understand why Scott isn't willing to do something so easy and I'm not even going to try and understand why Ruby is still willing to stay, no matter what conditions she puts forth. It's just crazy but I'm not interested in being part of this craziness so I told Alice that while I'd love to help the people who ruin my life and mental health, I just don't think there's any point in deleting the post because everyone knows the truth now. And I'd never speak to Ruby, not even if I was offered $10,000.

Because that's the woman who had no shame meddling in a relationship but is now mad that someone else did the same thing to her. She should have known better and she should have known that if Scott could be shallow enough to dump me in a single day just because she was back, he wouldn't hesitate before dumping her for someone else either. Anyway, I told Alice that I wasn't going to lift even a finger to help them out and they could figure this one out on their own, which is what they'd left me to do after I got dumped on what was supposed to be the happiest day of my life. It was so incredibly satisfying to disconnect the call in the middle of her sentence and then block her to make sure she couldn't contact me anymore. I don't care what people say, honestly.

A lot of folks here and even in the real world have said that I'm living in the past, but this feels like I'm finally getting closure and I can actually start to move on from Scott, Ruby, and Alice now. Update 3, Hey, Everyone. So, it's been almost a month since I last posted an update. I've been busy with work because I just started working on a new project and it's been kind of stressful so I forgot about this post, if I'm being honest. There's not much to say, honestly because after I told Alice that I wasn't taking that post down, they didn't contact me any further. What I do know, however, is that now Scott and Ruby are getting divorced and are fighting over who gets to keep the house and the settlement. They're also in a custody battle because apparently, Ruby had demanded full custody of her kids with child support. and only supervised visits once a month.

Ella and I have had a good laugh over this because the guy really has nobody else to blame at this point apart from himself, obviously. He had every chance to wake up and become a decent guy after he left me and fully committed to Ruby which shouldn't have been hard because they dated for seven years already. I'm guessing he cheated on her then as well,

so this is probably nothing new for him. Come to think of it, he must have cheated on two but I never found out about it. This just proves that life always does come full circle because they're the one suffering now and I'm the one doing way better than I was in every aspect, mentally, physically, and definitely financially. I did what I had to do when I got my closure. I'm going to wish them nothing but good luck for the future now because I think that they're going to need it. I hope you enjoy this story. Sibling asked us to join for a meal, but upon our arrival, instructed me to have spoused apart, arguing that they do not fit into our family.

dynamic due to their status. A dirty illiterate cleaner. So earlier this week, my husband and I attended Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's place, but unfortunately, things did not exactly pan out as planned. My brother, let's call him Brandon, is two years older than me, and growing up, we were very close. In fact, we still got along pretty well until recently, about four years ago, when I, 28F, started dating my husband Nick, 30M. Brandon does not like me, he does not approve of our relationship and never has. It's not a question of whether Nick is a good guy or not, he undoubtedly is, and everyone who knows him will agree with that statement.

We are good together and we make each other really happy, but none of that matters to Brandon. All he cares about is the fact that Nick doesn't come from the same kind of family that we do. Nick was raised by a single mother after his dad walked out on his mom after she found out that she was pregnant and his mom had pretty much nobody to help her out, since her family did not approve of her carrying her to pregnancy without a father. In spite of all of that, she was determined to give birth to make and give him a good life and she worked incredibly hard to make sure that she was able to do all of that. So he's not rich, but honestly, I think that the way he and his mother have led their lives is a lot more admirable than anything my brother and I have ever achieved. My parents are both lawyers and we have had a relatively cushioned and comfortable life. But Brandon thinks that because of his past and the kind of background that he comes from, Nick is somehow inferior to us, even though I think that he's much superior. Because in spite of having practically no support apart from his mom, he still managed to make it through college and is now living a pretty good life while also supporting his mom who is now retired.

I don't understand what isn't respectable about any of this and I've always hated the fact that Brandon has treated Nick so weirdly all the time, pretty much ever since I introduced him to my family. My parents never seemed to have a problem with him, but my brother went out of his way to make him feel small with stray remarks and stuff. I even fought with him on several occasions because of this and a lot of times. I have even stopped talking to him for weeks, but then he has always apologized and promised that he's not going to repeat this kind of behavior. And I've always forgiven him, but inevitably it has happened again and again. He was not happy when we got engaged last year and he was definitely not happy when we got married six months ago, but I really

thought that he was going to come around eventually. He didn't and after what happened on Thanksgiving this year, I'm kind of glad that I'm never going to have to speak to him again because I don't think I can forgive and look past something like this. So usually, my parents host Thanksgiving at their house, but this year, my brother decided he was going to do it at his place. Brandon is a pretty good cook and his wife is pregnant, so he said that he wanted the honor of hosting everyone. He invited both Nick and me and specifically asked for Nick to be there, and we took it as a sign that maybe he was trying to finally give Nick a chance. So we accepted the invitation and showed up, having no idea about what was in store. Because, of course, as soon as we arrived, Brandon greeted us at the door and he told me that I was welcome to come in, but he told me that Nick would have to go back home, unfortunately.

Unfortunately, obviously we were baffled, and then Brandon went on to explain that at the very last minute, he and his wife had decided that they were not going to invite his family, but also hers. His in-laws were already invited, but they decided to invite her extended family as well since she was pregnant and she wanted to see them. They live in the suburbs, so they don't usually visit and they were making a whole thing out of this Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem was that his in-laws, with the exception of his wife's parents, were all kind of snobish. My sister-in-law herself was just as much of a snob and an elitist as my brother was, so she looked down on Nick as well. Her parents were pleasant enough, so I didn't know where she got it from

until I met the rest of her family at Brandon's wedding. All of them happened to be extremely lucky since they've had the good fortune of being born into a rich business family and so, they take great pride in that. Quite happily, Brandon told me and Nick, at the door that he would like for Nick to go back home because it would be really embarrassing for him to introduce his brother-in-law to the rest of his wife's family since that would inevitably lead to questions about him. So just to avoid further humiliation, he told Nick to go home. I was obviously furious, and I started yelling at my brother without caring who was going to hear us. I know that he was doing this on purpose, just because he wanted to insult Nick and I was not going

to stand for it. Because even if he had made last-minute invitations to the rest of his wife, family, which I highly doubt he had, he could have just told me and Nick that he didn't want us there, but he had made us drive all the way to his place just so that he could turn Nick away at the door. I told him that it was a very calculated move that he had made to insult my husband and I told him he had no class. I knew that was exactly where it would hurt him, so that was what I said. And I was right because when I called him classless, he flared up almost instantly and told me that he did not want me attending the Thanksgiving dinner either and he wanted me to leave with my Dirty, illiterate cleaner husband.

So, brief context for that comment. Nick did have to take up a janitor job at a local store when he was in college along with a couple of more part-time jobs so he could start saving up money to pay back the student loan that he had taken out. No shame in that, and calling Nick Dirty and illiterate was literally nothing but a bunch of lies. He's just as educated as any of us. The only difference is that he went to a moderately good college and did not have enough money to afford the kind of college. that my brother and I went to. Again, that's also nothing to feel shameful about but for some reason, Brandon made it a point to bring it up, and after he said that to Nick, there was no going back. I started cursing at him nonstop and Nick actually had to intervene because Brandon told me

that I had picked up his language and I was about to get physical if I'm being very honest. I was not ashamed of Nick, I was just upset that Brandon even had the audacity to say things like that right in front of me. Anyway, by then, the commotion had been. gotten a bit loud and I guess my parents heard so they came out and once they figured out that we were fighting, they requested Nick to take me home and promised me that they would handle everything later. At that point, I was a little disappointed that they were not yelling at Brandon almost immediately, because by then, they should have known that he must have said something disgusting about Nick and that's why I was acting like that. But I guess they had guests over so they did not

want to drag things out and embarrass themselves in front of them. Which is why I had to go home. Once I got home, Nick calmed me down and I ended up ranting to him for about an hour or so before I finally let it go and blocked Brandon everywhere. I was still fuming, but I knew that there was no point in it. I could not change my brother or his mindset and I was sick of trying to do so. So it would have been better for me to just let him go and never speak to him again. And I was kind of disappointed with my parents as well for not dealing with the situation on the spot. But I'm really glad that I did not block them because the next morning, they called me and told me that we needed to come over to my dad's office because I needed to sign some paperwork, which made me curious so I agreed to it. I wasn't sure about the paperwork because when I asked them about it on the phone, they didn't elaborate.

But I believe that even if I didn't deal with the paperwork, at least I would be able to speak to my parents and sort things out regarding Brandon. However, when I actually got to my dad's office, my mom was also present there and they looked pretty serious. They did not even explain anything to me or Nick at first. They just told me to go through the paperwork and if I found it agreeable, they wanted me to sign it then and there. So I did go through it and basically, it was paperwork to start the process of transferring ownership of my parents' law firm to me. I was shocked because, for a really long time, I knew that my brother was set to inherit the firm after my parents' retirement. tired. So just to be doubly sure, I asked my dad if he actually intended on leaving the firm to me and not Brandon and he told me that he was sure about it because after what had happened last night, he had no intention of leaving anything to Brandon. And to make it up to me and Nick,

my parents wanted to leave their law firm to me. This was a huge deal because while I had also gotten to law school and had a degree, I was not a practicing lawyer and hadn't been for the past three years. After one year, I got bored and I decided to start my own business. I run a bakery now, which is quite different from running a law firm. Nick is in a management position at his company, but he's not a lawyer. Brandon, on the other hand, had been working for years under my father, and I knew that he expected to be inheriting the law firm after my parents retired. So this was going to come as a huge shock to him. And I asked my parents if they were about this, but they told me that they were because apparently after all the guests had left, my parents had

confronted them about the commotion that had taken place with me, Nick and Brandon. He and his wife were very casual about the entire thing. They did not bother to hide any of the awful things that Brandon and his wife had said about Nick right to my face. And they actually seemed to believe that there was nothing wrong with what they had done. So my parents were naturally very upset and they had asked Brandon and his wife to call us and apologize to us, but they had refused. This is why now they had decided to take this step because they wanted nothing to do with Brandon anymore.

And that obviously meant that they were not going to be leaving the firm to him, but they were nearing the age of retirement. They did need somebody to take over eventually. So they had decided that I would take over because even though it was not a practicing lawyer, I was still their daughter. And at least this way, the company would still stay in the family. They told me that after the incident from last night, they had come in to work extra early, drawn up these papers in two hours. They already had a template because they had drawn up separate papers for my brother first. And after I went through it, I spoke to Nick in private. And then we decided to sign off on the paperwork so we could start the process of transferring ownership of the firm to me.

My parents wanted to celebrate the process, but I wasn't feeling comfortable about it because I knew that even though I did want to get back at Brandon for what he had said about Nick, I was not sure if this was the right way to go through with it. Because I wasn't even interested in being an attorney, that's why I quit practicing after a year. He, on the other hand, really loved his job. And I knew that he had been looking forward to leading the firm for a really long time, so stealing that opportunity from him seemed kind of unethical. But then, I thought about it, and I realized that I was not stealing anything from him because my parents had offered it to me on a silver platter and I was just accepting it. Still, in the back of it,

my head, I felt very uneasy about what had just happened so I did not feel like it and I just went back home. After that, Nick and I didn't exactly talk about it, but then, yesterday, my parents told me that they wanted me to come to work because obviously, I would have to rejoin. Then, yesterday, Brandon and I finally came face to face when I walked into the workplace and my parents announced, in front of everyone, that I was going to be taking over everything in a couple of months after my parents retired. Everyone just looked confused because obviously, people expected Brandon to be taking over and my brother didn't exactly say anything, but I could see that he was not happy about it. I guess he didn't want to make a public scene,

so he didn't say anything at that moment but later on in the day, crap hit the ceiling. In the evening, after I had come back home, Brandon called me from a burner phone and told me that he knew I was doing this on purpose, but he had had enough of this and he wanted me to stop our parents from leaving the firm to me. The way he was speaking to me, his tone was very entitled and bossy, and I did not like that. So I told him that I was not going to do anything like that because ultimately, our parents had asked me to take over and if they found me fit to do it, I didn't see why I would have to decline. Besides, he had brought this onto himself by being horrible to me and Nick, to be more specific. So I did not have to feel bad for him and I told him that I was

going to take over the firm and he was going to have to work under me. and if he couldn't stand that, then he should just quit while he was ahead. At that point, he started screaming at me and he told me that whatever I was doing was extremely unethical, and he was going to make sure that he sued me and our parents. He said that I had no right to be destroying his future just because he had insulted my husband, especially considering the fact that whatever he had said about Nick was not even false. That made me upset and all of a sudden, I was screaming at him and things just turned into a shouting match. We were cursing at each other, saying horrible things to one another and it was all just

really bad. In the end, before he hung up, he just told me that what I was doing to him was way more disgusting and pathetic than what he had done and he couldn't believe that I was being so unethical and selfish. He told me that he was going to resign from his job if that's what I wanted, but he was also going to make sure that he sued us for being unfair to him and while I don't think that he has a legal leg to stand on, I also don't think that what I'm doing is right. I have spoken. I have I've spoken to Nick about it over and over again and he has told me that I have nothing to worry about. And even my parents have reassured me that I'm not doing anything wrong but still, I can't bring myself to feel like what I'm doing is okay because even when he was yelling at me on the phone.

I could tell that Brandon was just devastated by everything. I'm just at a loss of words right now and I feel like I really need some help. So IDA for agreeing to take over my parents' law firm which my brother was supposed to inherit after they retired? Update 1. So, the comments have given me a lot to think about. First and foremost, I feel like I need to be clear about one thing. I do not enjoy being a lawyer. I never enjoyed it, I just did it because that's what my parents wanted and I was not particularly ambitious about anything else. Back then, I did have a knack for baking and stuff but never thought about taking it up as a career. Now, of course, I feel differently about the whole thing and I really love what I do. I also know for a fact that if I do take over the

company, I'm going to have to give up my business because there just won't be enough time for me to do everything and I'm not sure if I want to do that. And when it really comes down to it, I guess that's what I had been feeling uneasy about, the fact that I was going to have to give up everything that I had built from scratch in the past couple of years. I'll have to agree that my bakery business is nowhere as successful as my parents law firm, but this is what brings me happiness and the thought of giving it all up just to get back at my brother. It seems very petty, now that I think about it. I have spoken to Nick about it and I have told him how I feel, and he told me that if I don't want to take over the law firm and go back to working there, then I don't have to. I can just speak to my

parents and I can put an end to the process, but at the same time, I really don't want Brandon to get away with everything that he has done and end up inheriting the law firm anyway. The one thing that my parents have been very clear about, it's that they want the firm to stay within the family. It's kind of nepotistic, but that's what they want and I can't deny them that. So if it's not me, it's going to be Brandon and that's not something that I'm fine with. But I don't know how to communicate this with my parents, so I haven't told them anything about what I've been feeling. Besides, it also seems very petty, equally as petty as taking over the company, even though I don't want to, just so that he doesn't get to inherit it if not more.

But Nick has told me that whatever I'm feeling is completely normal because the situation between Brandon and me has deteriorated to a point of no return. It might have improved if he had apologized to me at any point, but he hasn't, and I know that even if he does apologize, it's going to be meaningless because he doesn't mean it. So that's that, and I'm really confused about how to put this through to my parents as of now. Update 2, so I finally did it, I ripped off the band-aid and I finally made the decision to talk to my parents. about what I had been feeling. It's been eight days since Thanksgiving and a significant amount of time has passed, I think. Before the process went any further, I knew that I had to gather up my courage, and I had to speak to my parents and tell them that I did not want to take over the company. It was going to come to them, especially as I had just signed off on the paperwork a week ago,

but I had to do it. So I invited them over for dinner last night and I finally told them everything, with Nick by my side. Initially, they had to have to be. had reacted, exactly the way that I expected them to, they were very upset about it and they told me that if I wasn't sure about it. Then I shouldn't have signed the paperwork in the first place and I had to sit through lecture about indecisiveness, but it was well deserved so I didn't say anything. Later on, though, they seemed to understand the dilemma that I was going through and they told me that if I wanted to take over the company, but not partake in any of the legal operations, I could still do that. However, I just didn't want to be a part of any of that in any capacity.

because, in all honesty, I just found the kind of stuff very boring. I tried to be transparent with my parents, so while they did not seem happy about my decision, they told me that it was fine. Then came the more difficult part, because I also had to tell them exactly why I had accepted the position in the first place, and I had to tell them that I did not want Brandon to inherit the firm. That came as a bit of a shock to them, because I'm usually not a petty or vindictive person, but honestly, I couldn't stand Brandon anymore and is, behavior has been getting on my nerves for a really long time. The Thanksgiving incident was just the last nail in the coffin, and I made it very clear to my parents that I would be very

upset if Brandon, in spite of everything, ended up taking over the company eventually anyway. Of course, my parents heard me out and told me that they could understand how I was feeling and they agreed with me as well. It would look very weak for them to ask Brandon to take over the company, especially after what happened recently, and they had announced that I was going to be taking over in front of everyone in the office. They did not want their employees to mistrust them or something, so there were a lot of problems to deal with already, but the biggest one was that my parents wanted the company to stay in the family. And the only way to make sure that would be to ask Brandon to take over instead of me, but there were a lot of problems with that as well. For example,

after the Thanksgiving incident, Brandon had chosen to ignore our parents for almost three days, because of which work had suffered. He hadn't shown up back then, because of a person. He hadn't shown up back then, that he had had with our parents the previous night, and that was very unprofessional of him. And of course, when he finally did show up, my parents announced that I was going to take over the company, and after that, he stopped showing up at work once again, but hasn't even resigned. So their relationship with Brandon is pretty strained at the moment and they don't know, even if they do, ask him to take over once again, whether he's going to agree to it or not. So that's one problem, and of course, on top of that, it's going to make the same. It's going to make

them look really weak and indecisive. Apart from Brandon, they can't even think about anybody else they would be willing to leave the firm to. I tried them to get to think about serious employees who would love the firm and be as sincere with their work as my parents had been and they had a couple of names, but I could tell that in their hearts. They were not ready to accept that somebody from outside the family was going to take over the firm that they had built. I knew for a fact that I couldn't just force them into doing something like this within one meeting, and I would have to convince them over the span of a couple of weeks, at the very least. So I dropped the topic eventually, but I'm pretty sure that at the end of the day,

they're going to have to pick somebody from outside of the family because I'm not interested and Brandon is not going to be coming back. That's for sure. I obviously feel terrible that I have put my parents in such a difficult position and I feel like I shouldn't have agreed to sign off on the paperwork in the first place without thinking it through. I made a very hasty decision and now, we are all paying for it. But then, I'm happy that at least Brandon will not be getting away with all the horrible things that he had said about Nick, not just on Thanksgiving, but for so many years. It's about time that somebody held him accountable for his behavior and I'm glad that I get to do it.

I know for a fact that he had really loved and valued his job, but now he's going to be losing it, just because of his own arrogance. Even now, he hasn't apologized to me or Nick, and at this point, I honestly don't even want it. Update 3, so it's been two weeks since my last update and thankfully, my parents have finally named a different successor. He's a very diligent employee, he has been working with them for years, and granted, he's not family, but he's almost as good as family. It took me a really long time to convince my parents that it would be a good idea to name

somebody who was not family in my place because ultimately, there was really no guarantee that the firm would always stay within the family. because what if their grandkids did not want to become lawyers? Then, inevitably, the company would be passed down to somebody outside of the family. And then, they wouldn't even know how to control the situation, so at least now, this would be their own choice. Because I am not interested, Brandon does not deserve it and so, it would be fair to let somebody who was actually interested and had worked hard enough to take over eventually.

It took them a while to wrap their heads around that idea, but finally, they did they were They did agree and they have spoken to them, so they're going to start the paperwork on that soon and scrap everything that had to do with me. Brandon, on the other hand, emailed our parents' resignation a couple of days ago and said that he was going to be starting his own law firm. He bragged about how he was getting his in-laws to fund his ambitious project because he had promised us that we were going to regret the way we had treated him. Well, shiver me timbers, I just really don't care what he does anymore.

Whatever relationship we had as siblings, has been severed now, and I don't think that I have any interest in repairing it. Nick and I are happy together and my parents are also content with the situation, so there is nothing else that matters to me. Of course, at some points of time, I do feel bad about the fact that Brandon and I used to be so close as kids but now, we don't even want to see each other. I really can't help feeling that way occasionally but then, I remember the way he treated Nick and how much he has changed from the little guy who used to be my best friend in the whole world. There was a point of time when it was just the two of us against the world but now, he's not the same person that he used to be and neither am I. Nick is my priority, and if anybody insults or humiliates him, I don't want anything to do with that person. And that goes for everyone, including my own family. So yes, I do feel bad about the way things

have turned out, but I don't feel bad about anything that I have done. People can call me petty, people can call me vengeful, but at the end of the day, I know that I'm just trying to be a good partner. I hope you enjoy this story. Sibling asked us to join them for a meal, but upon our arrival, they requested me to escort my spouse back, arguing that they do not fit in with our relatives because they are merely a dirty illiterate cleaner. So earlier this week, my husband and I attended Thanksgiving dinner at my brother's place, but unfortunately, things did not exactly pan out as planned. My brother, let's call him Brandon, is two years older than me, and growing up, we were very close. In fact, we still got along pretty well until recently, about four years ago,

when I, 28F, started dating my husband Nick, 30M. Brandon does not like me, he does not approve of our relationship and never has. It's not a question of whether Nick is a good guy or not, he undoubtedly is, and everyone who knows him will agree with that statement. We are good together and we make each other really happy, but none of that matters to Brandon. All he cares about is the fact that Nick doesn't come from the same kind of family that we do. Nick was raised by a single mother after his dad walked out on his mom after she found out that she was pregnant and his mom had pretty much nobody to help her out, since her family did not approve of her carrying her to pregnancy without a father. In spite of all of that, she was determined to give birth to

make and give him a good life and she worked incredibly hard to make sure that she was able to do all of that. So he's not rich, but honestly, I think that the way he and his mother have led their lives is a lot more admirable than anything my brother and I have ever achieved. My parents are both lawyers and we have had a relatively cushioned and comfortable life. But Brandon thinks that because of his past and the kind of background that he comes from, Nick is somehow inferior to us, even though I think that he's much superior. Because in spite of having practically no support apart from his mom, he still managed to make it through college and is now living a pretty good life while also supporting his mom who is now retired. I don't understand what isn't respectable about any of this and I've always hated the fact

that Brandon has treated Nick so weirdly all the time, pretty much ever since I introduced him to my family. My parents never seemed to have a problem with him, but my brother went out of his way to make him feel small with stray remarks and stuff. I even fought with him on several occasions because of this and a lot of times, I have even stopped talking to him for weeks, but then he has always apologized and promised that he's not going to repeat this kind of behavior. And I've always forgiven him, but inevitably it has happened again and again. He was not happy when we got engaged last year and he was definitely not happy when we got married six months ago, but I really thought that he was going to come around eventually. He didn't and after what happened on thanks a lot. He didn't and after what happened on

this year, I'm kind of glad that I'm never going to have to speak to him again because I don't think I can forgive and look past something like this. So usually, my parents host Thanksgiving at their house, but this year, my brother decided he was going to do it at his place. Brandon is a pretty good cook, and his wife is pregnant, so he said that he wanted the honor of hosting everyone. He invited both Nick and me and specifically asked for Nick to be there, and we took it as a sign that maybe he was trying to finally give Nick a chance. So we accepted the invitation and showed up, having no idea about what was in store. Because of course, as soon as we arrived, Brandon greeted us at the door and he told me that I was welcome to come in, but he

told me that Nick would have to go back home, unfortunately. Obviously we were baffled, and then Brandon went on to explain that at the very last minute, he and his wife had decided that they were not going to invite his family, but also hers. His in-laws were already invited, but they decided to invite her extended family as well since she was pregnant and she wanted to see them. They live in the suburbs, so they don't usually visit and they were making a whole thing out of this Thanksgiving dinner. The only problem was that his in-laws, with the exception of his wife's parents, were all kind of snobbish. My sister-in-law herself was just as much of a snob and an elitist as my brother was, so she looked down on Nick as well. Her parents were pleasant enough,

so I didn't know where she got it from until I met the rest of her family at Brandon's wedding. All of them happened to be extremely lucky since they've had the good fortune of being born into a rich business family and so, they take great pride in that. Quite happily, Brandon told me and Nick at the door that he would like for Nick to go back home because it would be really embarrassing for him to introduce his brother-in-law to the rest of his wife's family since that would inevitably lead to questions about him. So just to avoid further humiliation, he told Nick to go home. I was obviously furious, and I started yelling at my brother without caring who was going to hear us.

I know that he was doing this on purpose, just because he wanted to insult Nick and I was not going to stand for it. Because even if he had made last-minute invitations to the rest of his wife's family, which I highly doubt he had, he could have just told me and Nick that he didn't want us there, but he had made us drive all the way to his place just so that he could turn Nick away at the door. I told him that it was a very calculated move that he had made to insult my husband and I told him he he had no class. I knew that was exactly where it would hurt him, so that was what I said. And I was right because when I called him classless, he flared up almost instantly and told me that he did not want me attending the Thanksgiving dinner either and he wanted me to leave with my dirty, illiterate cleaner husband. So, brief context for that comment. Nick did have to take up a janitor

job at a local store when he was in college along with a couple of more part-time jobs so he could start saving up money to pay back the student loan that he had taken out. No shame in that, and calling Nick Dirty and illiterate was literally nothing but a bunch of lies. He's just as educated as any of us. The only difference is that he went to a moderately good college and did not have enough money to afford the kind of colleges that my brother and I went to. Again, that's also nothing to feel shameful about but for some reason, Brandon made it a point to bring it up, and after he said that to Nick, there was no going back. I started cursing at him nonstop and Nick actually had to intervene because Brandon told me that I had picked up his language and I was about to get physical if I'm being very

honest. I was not ashamed of Nick. I was just upset that Brandon even had the audacity to say things like that right in front of me. Anyway, by then, the commotion had gotten a bit loud and I guess my parents heard so they came out and once they figured out that we were fighting, they requested Nick to take me home and promised me that they would handle everything later. At that point, I was a little disappointed that they were not yelling at Brandon almost immediately, because by then, they should have known that he must have said something disgusting about Nick and that's why I was acting like that. But I guess they had guests over so they did not want to drag things out and embarrass themselves in front of them, which is why I had to go home. Once I got home, Nick calmed me down and I ended up

ranting to him for about an hour or so before I finally let it go and blocked Brandon everywhere. I was still fuming, but I knew that there was no point in it. I could not change my brother or his mindset and I was sick of trying to do so. So it would have been better for me to just let him go and never speak to him again. And I was kind of disappointed with my parents as well for not dealing with the situation on the spot. But I'm really glad that I did not block them because the next morning, they called me and told me that we needed to come over to my dad's office because I needed to sign some paperwork, which made me curious, so I agreed to it. I wasn't sure about the paperwork because when I asked them about it on the phone, they didn't elaborate. But I believe that even

if I didn't deal with the paperwork, at least I would be able to speak to my parents and sort things out regarding Brandon. However, when I actually got to my dad's office, my mom was also present there and they looked pretty serious. They did not even explain anything to me or Nick at first, they just told me to go through the paperwork and if I found it agreeable, they wanted me to sign it then and there. So I did go through it and basically, it was paperwork to start the process of transferring ownership of my parents' law firm to me. I was shocked because, for a really long time, I knew that my brother was set to inherit the firm after my parents retired. So just to be doubly sure, I asked my dad if he actually intended

on leaving the firm to me and not Brandon and he told me that he was sure about it because after what had happened last night, he had no intention of leaving anything to Brandon. And to make it up to me and Nick, my parents wanted to leave their law firm to me. This was a huge deal because while I had also gotten to law school and had a degree, I was not a practicing lawyer and hadn't been for the past three years. After one year, I got bored and I decided to start my own business. I run a bakery now, which is quite different from running a law firm. Nick is in a management position at his company, but he's in a management position at his company,

he's not a lawyer. Brandon, on the other hand, had been working for years under my father, and I knew that he expected to be inheriting the law firm after my parents retired. So this was going to come as a huge shock to him and I asked my parents if they were about this. But they told me that they were because apparently, after all the guests had left, my parents had confronted them about the commotion that had taken place with me, Nick and Brandon. He and his wife were very casual about the entire thing. They did not bother to hide any of the awful things that Brandon and his wife had said about Nick right to my face, and they actually seemed to believe that there was nothing wrong with what they had done. So my parents were naturally

very upset and they had asked Brandon and his wife to call us and apologize to us, but they had refused. This is why now, they had decided to take this step because they wanted nothing to do with Brandon anymore. And that obviously meant that they were not going to be leaving the firm to him, but they were nearing the age of retirement. They did need somebody to take over eventually. So they had decided that I would take over because even though it was not a practicing lawyer, I was still their daughter and at least this way, the company would still stay in the family. They told me that after the incident from last night, they had come in to work extra early, drawn up these papers in two hours. They already had a template because they had drawn up separate

papers for my brother first, and after I went through it, I spoke to Nick in private, and then, we decided to sign off on the paperwork so we could start the process of transferring ownership of the firm to me. My parents wanted to celebrate the process, but I wasn't feeling comfortable about it because I knew that even though I did want to get back at Brandon for what he had said about Nick, I was not sure if this was the right way to go through with it. Because I wasn't even interested in being an attorney, that's why I quit practicing after a year. He, on the other hand, really loved his job. And I knew that he had been looking forward to leading the firm for a really long time, so stealing that opportunity from him seemed kind of unethical.

But then, I thought about it, and I realized that I was not stealing anything from him because my parents had offered it to me on a silver platter and I was just accepting it. Still, in the back of my head, I felt very uneasy about what had just happened so I did not feel like it and I just went back home. After that, Nick and I didn't exactly talk about it, but then, yesterday, my parents told me that they wanted me to come to work because obviously, I would have to rejoin. Then, yesterday, Brandon and I finally came face to face when I walked into the workplace and my parents announced, in front of everyone, that I was going to be taking over everything in a couple of months after my parents retired. Everyone just looked confused because,

obviously, people expected Brandon to be taking over and my brother didn't exactly say anything, but I could see that he was not happy about it. I guess he didn't want to make a public scene, so he didn't say anything at that moment but later on in the day, crap hit the sea. In the evening, after I had come back home, Brandon called me from a burner phone and told me that he knew I was doing this on purpose, but he had had enough of this and he wanted me to stop our parents from leaving the firm to me. The way he was speaking to me, his tone was very entitled and bossy, and I did not like that. So I told him that I was not going to do anything like that because ultimately, our parents had asked me to take over and if they found me fit to do it, I didn't see why I would have to decline. Besides, he had brought this onto himself by being horrible to me and Nick, to be more specific. So I did not have to feel bad for him and I told him that I was going to take over the firm and he was going to have to work under me,

and if he couldn't stand that, then he should just quit while he was ahead. At that point, he started screaming at me and he told me that whatever I was doing was extremely unethical, and he was going to make sure that he sued me and our parents. He said that I had no right to be destroying his future just because he had insulted. my husband, especially considering the fact that whatever he had said about Nick was not even false. That made me upset and all of a sudden, I was screaming at him and things just turned into a shouting match. We were cursing at each other, saying horrible things to one another and it was all just really bad. In the end, before he hung up, he just told me that what I was doing to him was way

more disgusting and pathetic than what he had done and he couldn't believe that I was being so unethical and selfish. He told me that he was going to resign from his job if that's what I wanted, but he was also going to make sure that he sued us for being unfair to him and while I don't think that he has a legal leg to stand on, I also don't think that what I'm doing is right. I have spoken to Nick about it over and over again and he has told me that I have nothing to worry about. And even my parents have reassured me that I'm not doing anything wrong but still, I can't bring myself to feel like what I'm doing is okay because even when he was yelling at me on the phone. I could tell that Brandon was just devastated

by everything. I'm just at a loss of words right now and I feel like I really need some help. So I DA for agreeing to take over my parents law firm which my brother was supposed to inherit after they retired? Update 1. So, the comments have given me a lot to think about. First and foremost, I feel like I need to be clear about one thing. I do not enjoy being a lawyer. I never enjoyed it. I just did it because that's what my parents wanted and I was not particularly ambitious about anything else. Back then, I did have a knack for baking and stuff but never thought about taking it up as a career. Now, of course, I feel differently about the whole thing and I really love what I do. I also know for a fact that if I do take over the company, I'm going to have to

give up my business because there just won't be enough time for me to do everything and I'm not sure if I want to do that. And when it really comes down to it, I guess that's what I had been feeling uneasy about, the fact that I was going to have to give up everything that I had built from scratch in the past couple of years. I'll have to agree that my bakery business is nowhere as successful as my parents' law firm, but this is what brings me happiness and the thought of giving it all up just to get back at my brother. It seems very petty, now that I think about it. I have spoken to Nick about it and I have told him how I feel, and he told me that if I don't want to take over the law firm and go back to working there, then I don't have to. I can just speak to

my parents and I can put an end to the process, but at the same time, I really don't want Brandon to get away with everything that he has done and end up inheriting the law firm anyway. The one thing that my parents have been very clear about, it's that they want the firm to stay within the family. It's kind of nepotistic, but that's what they want and I can't deny them that. So if it's not me, it's going to be Brandon and that's not something that I'm fine with. But I don't know how to communicate this with my parents, so I haven't told them anything about what I've been feeling. Besides, it also seems very petty, equally as petty is taking over the company, even though I don't want to, just so that he doesn't get to inherit it if not more.

But Nick has told me that whatever I'm feeling is completely normal because the situation between Brandon and me has deteriorated to a point of no return. It might have improved if he had apologized to me at any point, but he hasn't, and I know that even if he does apologize, it's going to be meaningless because he doesn't mean it. So that's that, and I'm really confused about how to put this through to my parents as of now. Update 2, so I finally did it, I ripped off the band-aid and I finally made the decision to talk to my parents about what I had been feeling. It's been eight days since Thanksgiving and a significant amount of time has passed, I think. Before the process went any further, I knew that I had to gather up my courage, and I had to speak to my parents and tell them that I did not want to take over the company. It was going to come to them, especially as I had just signed off on the paperwork a week ago, but I had to do it. So I invited them over for dinner last night and I finally told them everything,

with Nick by my side. Initially, they had reacted, exactly the way that I expected them to. They were very upset about it and they told me that if I wasn't sure about it, then I shouldn't have signed the paperwork in the first place and I had to sit through lecture about indecisiveness. But it was well deserved so I didn't say anything. Later on, though, they seemed to understand the dilemma that I was going through and they told me that if I wanted to take over the company, but not part in any of the legal operations, I could still do that. However, I just didn't want to be a part of any of that in any capacity, because, in all honesty, I just found that kind of stuff very boring. I tried to be transparent with my parents, so while they did not seem happy about my decision, they told me that it was fine. Then came the more difficult part, because I also had to tell them exactly why I had accepted the position in the first place, and I had to tell them that I did not want Brandon to inherit the firm.

That came as a bit of a shock to them, because I'm usually not a petty or vindictive person, but honestly, I couldn't stand Brandon anymore and his behavior has been getting on my nerves for a really long time. The Thanksgiving incident was just the last nail in the coffin, and I made it very clear to my parents that I would be very upset if Brandon, in spite of every single. ended up taking over the company eventually anyway. Of course, my parents heard me out and told me that they could understand how I was feeling and they agreed with me as well. It would look very weak for them to ask Brandon to take over the company, especially after what happened recently, and they had announced that I was going to be taking over in front of everyone in the office.

They did not want their employees to mistrust them or something, so there were a lot of problems to deal with already, but the biggest one was that my parents wanted the company to stay in the family. and the only way to make sure that would be to ask Brandon to take over instead of me, but there were a lot of problems with that as well. For example, after the Thanksgiving incident, Brandon had chosen to ignore our parents for almost three days, because of which work had suffered.

He hadn't shown up back then, because of a personal fight that he had had with our parents the previous night, and that was very unprofessional of him. And of course, when he finally did show up, my parents announced that I was going to take over the company, and after that, he stopped showing up at work once again, but hasn't even resigned. So their relationship with Brandon is pretty strained at the moment and they don't know, even if they do, ask him to take over once again, whether he's going to agree to it or not. So that's one problem and, of course, on top of that, it's going to make them look really weak and indecisive. Apart from Brandon, they can't even think about anybody else they would be willing to leave the firm to.

I tried them to get to think about serious employees who would love the firm and be as sincere with their work as my parents had been and they had a couple of names, but I could tell that in their hearts. They were not ready to accept that somebody from outside the family was going to take over the firm that they had built. I knew for a fact that I couldn't just force them into doing something like this within one meeting, and I would have to convince them over the span of a couple of weeks at the very very very time. least. So I dropped the topic eventually, but I'm pretty sure that at the end of the day, they're going to have to pick somebody from outside of the family because I'm not interested and Brandon is not going to be coming back. That's for sure. I obviously feel terrible that I have put my parents in such a difficult position and I feel like I shouldn't have agreed to sign off on the paperwork in the first place without thinking it through. I made a very hasty decision and now,

we are all paying for it. But then, I'm happy that at least Brandon will not. be getting away with all the horrible things that he had said about Nick, not just on Thanksgiving, but for so many years. It's about time that somebody held him accountable for his behavior and I'm glad that I get to do it. I know for a fact that he had really loved and valued his job but now he's going to be losing it, just because of his own arrogance. Even now, he hasn't apologized to me or Nick and at this point, I honestly don't even want it. Update 3, so it's been two weeks since my last update and thankfully, my parents have finally named a different successor. He's a very diligent employee, he has been working with them for years, and granted, he's not family, but he's

almost as good as family. It took me a really long time to convince my parents that it would be a good idea to name somebody who was not family in my place because ultimately, there was really no guarantee that the firm would always stay within the family. Because what if their grandkids did not want to become lawyers? Then, inevitably, the company would be passed down to somebody outside of the family. And then, they wouldn't even know how to control the situation, so at least now, this would be their own choice. Because I am not interested, Brandon does not deserve it and so,

it would be fair to let somebody who was actually interested and had worked hard enough to take over eventually. It took them a while to wrap their heads around that idea, but finally, they did agree and they have spoken to them, so they're going to start the paperwork on that soon and scrap everything that had to do with me. Brandon, on the other hand, emailed our parents' resignation a couple of days ago and said that he was going to be starting his own law firm. He bragged about how he was getting his in-laws to fund his ambitious project because he had promised us that we were going to regret the way we had treated him. Well, shiver me timbers, I just really don't care what he does anymore. Whatever relationship we had as siblings, has been severed now, and I don't think that I have any interest in repairing it. Nick and I are happy together and my parents are also content with the situation, so there is nothing else that matters to me.

Of course, at some points of time, I do feel bad about the fact that Brandon and I used to be so close as kids but now, we don't even want to see each other. I really can't help feeling that way occasionally but then, I remember the way he treated Nick and how much he has changed from the little guy who used to be my best friend in the whole world. There was a point of time when it was just the two of us against the world but now, he's not the same person that he used to be and neither am I. Nick is my priority, and if anybody insults or humiliates him, I don't want anything to do with that person. And that goes for everyone, including my own family. So yes, I do feel bad about the way things have turned out, but I don't feel bad about anything that I have done.

People can call me petty, people can call me vengeful, but at the end of the day, I know that I'm just trying to be a good partner. I hope you enjoy this story. During my time at the airport, anticipating our romantic getaway, my spouse phone to inform me that he wouldn't be able to join me due to his former partner reaching out regarding a pressing matter. Husband and I got married about a month ago and this week, we were supposed to go on our honeymoon. But while I was waiting at the airport, he just texted me that he wouldn't be able to make it because he had to attend to an emergency situation that his ex-wife had texted him about. For context, my husband is a bit of a workaholic, so he had a client meeting the morning

that we were supposed to leave for our honeymoon and since it was an important client, he had told me to get to the airport and he would drive there from his office itself. So that's why we had to come to the airport separately. I was already pretty miffed about that because I really thought that he could postpone that meeting. And then, on top of that, when he texted me that he had to be with his ex because of an emergency, I just lost it, and I decided to get flight tickets for another destination, travel to be with my sister and I did not even respond to any of his messages or apologies until yesterday. but even then. I just sent him a couple of pictures of me dancing at a club and that's made our families

very upset. Our flight was three days ago, and since then, he hasn't stopped apologizing when he realized that I did not come back home when he couldn't make it to the airport, but instead, took another flight and visited my sister instead. And yesterday, I was very upset about everything that was going on, so my sister took me to a club and we ended up dancing and getting drunk, which is why I decided to click a bunch of photos of myself and then send them to him. The purpose had been to make him feel bad, but he went and told everybody in the family, and now people are scolding me because they think that it was very insensitive of me to disregard the emergency itself. For context, his ex had called him because she had tripped

on something and twisted her ankle. Her parents don't live in the same state as us, but I feel like she could have called her friends. Instead, she called my husband, her ex-husband, and he's the one who took her to the ER. Later on, after I landed, I did receive a couple of texts from him explaining the entire situation to me, but that just made me even more upset because I feel like she could have called anybody else on this planet, but she chose to call my husband, and he chose to ditch our honeymoon for this. He didn't even have the decency to call me, he had just texted me that he had to miss the flight and he hadn't even told me about what this emergency could possibly be.

He didn't feel the need to explain anything to me until he had done. dealt with the situation at hand. And that's what's bugging me. This is not his situation to deal with. He could have contacted any of their common friends and sent them to her. At least that's what I would have done in his place. Because he knows that I don't like his ex, I wouldn't risk it, but everybody else says that I'm being too insensitive and my jealousy is making me look like a pathetic insecure person right now. I don't agree with that, though, I feel like his ex should have called somebody else for help and my husband shouldn't have gone, especially at the cost of our But given the reaction of both our families, I'm afraid that I might have gone a little too

overboard with my behavior towards him. So Ida being mad at my husband for skipping our honeymoon so he could be with his ex for a medical emergency? Update 1. Okay, I did not want to speak to my in-laws right now because things are pretty heated. But I did explain the situation to my family. I've already been very upset with my husband for the past couple of days because I feel like after we got married, he's been taking it.

making me for granted. In fact, I would actually go further back and say that this has been going on for a while now, ever since we got engaged. He's been spending all his time at work and while I usually don't mind that, it's been getting a bit excessive and he's been working like crazy over this promotion, to the extent that he was even considering postponing the wedding until after he had his promotion, but I put my foot down at that point. So yes, it's been a little insane and we've been having a lot of petty bickering kind of fights before we got married. I was mostly trying to keep my cool since I thought that this was just a phase, he would get a little less intense about work with time.

But that didn't happen, clearly, and then the thing with his ex. I know that in my post, I probably came off as a very insecure person, and I don't blame anybody for thinking that way, because anybody who doesn't know the whole story would probably believe that I am the bad guy here. Honestly, though, I feel like I have my reasons since he and his ex have a very complicated history. They started dating in college, they were together for three years and got married at 23 and then, they stayed married for another three years before filing for divorce due to incompatibility issues. Two years later, he met me and we started dating and he had always been very upfront about his

relationship with his ex. He had told me that she had been a very important part of his life, and they had continued to be friends after their divorce because it had been an amicable situation. Before I met her for the first time, I was not insecure at all but then, I saw how much she acted around him and I wouldn't say that I felt insecure, but I would say that I felt very uneasy. For context, they still have a group of friends from when they were in college and they tried to meet every couple of months, so after we had been together for almost a year, my husband took me to meet his friends and his ex was going to be there like she always was. I knew that and I was expecting her and I thought that I was going to be mentally prepared to meet her and in the beginning,

it actually went well. She was quite warm to me and she seemed nice but then as the evening got on, things just got weird. I don't know how to explain it, but all of a sudden, it started becoming very clear to me that she was obviously not over him. I don't know how to be specific about it, but just from her behavior, I could tell that something was off. She was trying to talk to him the entire evening. She would start pouting if he did not pay her enough attention and even though she did not try to be mean to me, she totally acted like I didn't even exist at all for the rest of the evening and the drunker she got, the less inhibited she seemed to be. So by the end of the evening, I was quite uncomfortable with the whole thing and I made my opinions very clear to my husband.

At first, he pretended like he didn't know what I was talking about, but then, when he noticed that I was getting upset, he told me that he had noticed that she had been acting weird, but reassured me that this was the first time that this had happened after the divorce. He told me that they had met a couple of times for dinner and drinks with their friends even after the divorce, and she had behaved completely normally, but maybe this time, since she knew that I was going to be. be there, she probably got a bit insecure and started acting weird and maybe it was possible that she was not completely over him. I could understand that she had been with him for a really long time, so maybe it was hard for her to see him with another person, but I trusted my husband completely, and I knew that if I told him he could not see her anymore or whatever, it would cause a lot of problems for him. He doesn't have a lot of friends at work because he's so fiercely competitive, and since he used to move around a lot when he was younger, he doesn't have any significant

friendships from his childhood either. So this group of friends from college, that's pretty much all that he has in as far as I was concerned. I don't think that anybody apart from me and my husband picked up on the fact that his ex had been acting weirdly the entire evening. I knew that if I told him I did not want him seeing her again, he would have to stop meeting his friends and that would end up isolating him completely. Obviously, I couldn't expect all his friends to accommodate my feelings and stop hanging out with somebody they'd been friends with for so many years, just because I felt a bit uneasy about her behavior, especially when they probably didn't even know what was going on.

So that's why I didn't make a big deal out of it, and since I trusted my husband completely, I knew that she could act as insecure as she wanted to, it was not going to make a difference to him because even that evening, when I was there for the first time ever, he just kept ignoring her and made sure that I felt prioritized. He continued meeting his friends, and I knew that his ex was there. but I didn't go after that because I didn't like her much. And then, at our wedding, she was invited because I knew that if we were inviting his entire friend's circle, it would be weird if we excluded her, especially since they were on good terms.

Besides, I really didn't want her to think that I was insecure about her, so we invited her, and she attended, and surprisingly, she behaved differently that day. She was nice to me, and mostly just kept to herself, so that was good. That was pretty much the last interaction that I had with her, and I thought things were cool, but then this incident took place. Now, obviously, you guys probably know where I'm heading with this. The thing is, all his friends knew that he was going on his honeymoon on this particular day, and I just thought that it was a pretty big coincidence for her to have hurt herself on that

particular day. And I found it even more strange that they have so many common friends, yet she chose to call him, even though she's not even the closest to him anymore. Neither emotionally nor geographically I know that one of their friends literally lives a couple of blocks away from her, so she could have just as easily called him instead. But she chose to call my husband specifically and even though his office is pretty far away from her home, he went instead of calling his friends and telling them to be there for her. Now, this, combined with the fact that he had already been acting very annoying for the past

couple of months, just because he wanted a promotion at work, it just got to me. We had already been fighting a lot because of his workaholic tendencies, and he knew that I really didn't like his ex, so that was just the cherry on top for me. But what I was mostly upset about was that he didn't even call me to explain the situation to me, he just texted me and left it at that, as if I would just have to understand and deal with it. Yes, I did take a flight to my sister's place out of anger because I just didn't want to be alone at the time. I don't think I did anything wrong, especially when he had already decided

that he was not going to make it to the honeymoon. And then, there is also the fact that if he really wanted to make it up to me and genuinely apologize, he should have just taken a flight to where I am and done it in person. He definitely knows where I am, I've been posting stories with my sister

so it's not like he's in the dark about that. If he wanted to show me how sorry he was, he could have come over and apologize to me and I probably would have forgiven him because he knows that I'm a sucker for big romantic gestures. And the thing that I did, by sending him a bunch of photos of me having fun at the bar, getting drunk and dancing, the intent of that was to make him upset. I didn't think he was going to drag our families into it, because I didn't do that, and I thought that we were above this kind of thing.

After all, he did really hurt me by skipping our honeymoon for the sake of his ex, but then I didn't go complaining to his parents. so I don't understand why he felt the need to do that. And I was already pretty angry with him, now I feel even worse. My sister has been my only solace in this whole situation. She's been defending me nonstop to our parents and this morning, they finally acknowledged that maybe I did have a point and saw my side of things. I don't blame them for being upset with me because initially,

they did not know everything that had been going on with us. They had no idea about the problem that I had been having with him, regarding the whole workaholic thing and then, also the situation with his ex, which was not very nice to begin with. But at this point, I don't really know what to do because ever since I sent him those pictures, he has stopped trying to contact me. His parents are still texting me, telling me that I need to talk to him and apologize to him for being so petty, but he himself hasn't been saying anything. I'm planning on going back home in a couple of days so I can talk to him about this in person because I don't think that phone calls and messages are going to do me any

at this point. Right now, though, I just feel upset about this whole thing but still, a huge thanks to everyone who commented on my post because I really feel like I needed to get these things off my chest. Even though my sister is here for me all the time, I felt like telling strangers about this would at least help me get a clearer perspective and that definitely did work. Update 2, I bought flight tickets to fly back home today. It's been two days since my update and my in-laws are still texting me, but still no word from my husband. I guess he's really upset about the pictures that I sent him, but it wasn't even like I was with a bunch of men or anything. There were mostly women in the background. Since a lot of you had assumed that I was with a lot of men in the

club, I just needed you guys to know that that's not what happened. I get why he's upset, though, I would probably feel the same way if I were in his place, but then, I don't think he understands why I'm upset. If he did, he would have made more of an effort to get in touch with me, but all he did was just call and text. And I really don't think that's enough, especially considering the gravity of the situation. Had this been any other normal trip, I probably wouldn't have been that upset, but this was supposed to be our honeymoon, for God's sake. And it's really frustrating for me that he doesn't seem to understand that because he had been apologizing like this was some totally normal thing to happen. In fact, I've even told a couple of my friends about this, and they told me

that my reaction was completely normal, especially given the fact that I already did not trust his ex. And he knew that he did not think that was important for him to prioritize me instead. Even my parents have apologized to me now, since they are aware of the entire situation now, not just his side. But they have also told me that if I want to make this marriage work, I'm going to have to suck it up and talk to him first when I go home, so I can just at least break the ice between us. The thing is, I'm not sure if I really want to do that, because I don't think I'm at fault. Yes, maybe sending those pictures was a petty thing to do. But then, he went and complained about it to my parents and his parents, as if they were going to punish me like a little teenager.

I mean, that's petty too, so I guess we can call it even, at least on that front. And I understand that my parents are giving me advice from a place of concern because they really want my marriage to work out and so do I, because regardless of everything that has happened, I still do think that I love him. And I'm sure that if I talk to him, I'll know that he loves me too, but then love is not enough. I have to know that he respects me and my opinions as well, and right now, I don't feel that way. Because he's been treating this situation so casually that I don't even think that he's taking my anger seriously. And that's a problem for me because I've already mentioned it in the first update. I did not like his ex at any point in time and the only reason I did not ever ask him to stop

hanging out with her was because I knew that it would be asking for a lot, since he would have to cut off his only friends. I'm a generally trusting person, but I feel like even my trust has its limits and this is crossing a line. Also, the fact that he hasn't texted me himself after I sent him those pictures, or made any effort at all to get in touch with me or talk to. me, is just messing with me. My sister honestly believes that I should just stay with her for a couple of days more until he shows up to apologize, or until I think that it's time for me to move on, and I can't deal with this anymore. Honestly, I have to say that I'm tempted by her offer because that really would teach him a lesson, but then, I don't want to be that petty either. After all,

we have been together for a considerable amount of time, we are married now, and even though we have had our fair share of problems, so far, we have always managed to work through it. And even though I don't feel very confident about it, I do think that if I talk to him, at least I can give it a chance to work. I don't want to give up on this without even trying, but my only dilemma right now is that maybe he's ready to do that because he's not trying at all. I don't even know what to feel anymore, I feel like I'm rambling senselessly, but I just need to talk about these things. I don't want to talk to my friends or family about this because I feel like they will have their own opinions, their advice, and all that and right now, I just won't event without hearing any of that.

Anyway, my point is that I'm very upset that after those pictures, he just completely gave up trying, and now, just because I was upset with him and did something out of anger, it's suddenly my responsibility to repair our relationship. I don't know how to feel about that, but then, if I really want to make this marriage work, I know that I'm going to have to just suck it up and do it. So that's why I'm going back home, and hopefully, we will be able to sort this out. If not, then I don't know what to expect because the alternative is so bad, I don't even want to say it out loud. Update 3, so I flew back home today, early in the morning, and to my surprise, when I came back home, the house was locked. I knew that my husband wasn't at work because it was around 8.21 in the morning, and he didn't leave for work until 9.

That was really weird, and then when I entered the house, I was even more surprised because it looked like it hadn't been cleaned for days. I immediately started calling my husband, but he did not answer the phone. Then, around nine in the morning, he finally picked up, and when I told him that I was back home and asked him where he was, he told me to stay there so he could drive back home. I had no idea what was going on, but I still stayed, even though I had a really bad feeling about this situation. Because he was not at home, of course, my first thought was that he must have been staying with his ex, and I already knew that if that was actually the truth, I was going to leave. There was no way that I was going to stay with him, knowing that he had spent the past couple of days with his ex, knowing that I didn't like her. But, like an idiot, I still wanted to give him a chance to at least explain himself because I thought that maybe there was another, more innocent and reasonable explanation.

Anyway, within a couple of minutes, he came back home, and without wasting any time, I confronted him and asked him where he had been. Then, of course, just as I had expected, he told me that he had been staying with his ex for the past couple of days, ever since the day of the flight. So, for almost a week, he had been staying with his ex and he didn't even think it was important to mention it to me. Or more likely, he didn't tell me on purpose because he knew that it would make me even more upset, but whatever it was, the bottom line was that he hadn't told me. I immediately started freaking out as soon as he said that, I started yelling at him because I was already very upset with him, and I just knew that this was going to happen.

He tried to get defensive, but then, I asked him if he had been going to work and he told me he had been working from home. That was the last straw because even when I had requested him to switch to working from home for a couple of days, or just take a few days off of work, so we could prepare for our wedding together, he had declined and said that this promotion was too important to him to sacrifice his work. He looked down on work from home culture, so he didn't want to risk anything,

but now, just because he wanted to take care of his ex, he was ready to do that. He tried to tell me that her parents are quite aged, so he couldn't expect them to come over to take care of her, especially when they need somebody to take care of them. And all their friends had been too busy so they only left him, and having the kind of relationship that they did,

he felt that it would be really rude to decline. Since she was injured, it was very difficult to do things for herself, and that's why he had decided to stay with her. He reassured me that he had been sleeping on the couch and that it had been purely platonic, but it made no difference to me. He could have been sleeping in her basement, for all I cared. The fact of the matter was that he had hidden this very important fact from me,

and like a fool, I had been beating myself up about those pictures that I had sent him all while he had been staying with his ex-exam. her house. In comparison, what I had done was literally nothing and he had already sent those pictures to our parents to make a big deal out of this, so it wasn't even like this one unpunished. I had to face the music for what I did, even though it wasn't as bad as what he was doing, and now, I told him that it was about time that he faced repercussions for his actions as well. I hadn't unpacked yet, so I just grabbed my bags and started walking out. But then, he told me that he was just trying to be there for his ex as a friend.

and it would be really cruel of him to decline when she had requested him to stay with her. He kept trying to explain himself as if this was a very reasonable thing to do but I was not interested in hearing him out. I just walked away, got into my car, and drove to my parents' house. Once I was there, I explained the entire situation to them and they told me that if I wanted to file for a divorce, they would arrange for me to speak to a lawyer. It didn't even take me a second to agree, so now, my parents are looking for a lawyer, while I'm just a little. I'm just a trying to process everything that's going on. I blocked him as soon as I got home, even though he had texted me a bunch of times, saying that he was really sorry that I felt bad but he just wanted to be

there for his friend. The fact that even while apologizing, he was still sticking to his point, it made me even more upset than I already was. Now, given the current scenario, I don't feel bad about anything that I have done because I feel like, if anything, I was a lot less petty than I should have been. If I had known that he was staying with his ex, I probably would have gone all out trying to make him feel bad. Anyway, what's done is done now, I'm just going to speak to a lawyer and try to get this over with. He can go stay with his ex permanently now, I don't care anymore. Update 4, so it's been a couple of weeks since my last update and I filed for divorce, and he responded, that he's not contesting the petition, and soon enough, will be able

to finalize the whole thing because he's agreed to my terms. He did send me an email a couple of days ago, saying that he was really sorry about how things turned out, but then, he felt that I had become very insecure and jealous and he thinks that this is the best decision for us in the long run since he doesn't think he'll be able to make it work with me if this is the kind of person that I am. It really boiled my blood to read that email, because even now, he really thinks that whatever he had done, it was completely reasonable. Even his parents feel the same way, that's why they called my parents up and started lecturing them about my behavior, but my parents told them where they could stick their little sermon. Anyway, I've decided to move in with my sister, and in a couple of weeks, I'm even switching jobs since she managed to get me a position in her company. This is going to be a big move, but honestly, I really need this.

My friends and parents also think that I need a change of scenery, especially since I really loved this man, but he turned out to be a total disappointment. And honestly, I'm actually quite excited about my new life, especially since I'm going to be closer to my sister. I'm hopeful for the future. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse brought his colleague on our special vacation while I looked after my unwell mother. I handed him separation documents during our meal. Presently, he is facing significant losses. It's something I never anticipated. Be in this situation, but here I am. My name's Ava, I'm 27, and I've been married to John, 28, for three years. We met back in college when I was studying education, and he was working toward his law degree. It was a pretty complicated

romance, and after a few years of dating, he proposed. Everything seemed perfect. Our wedding was beautiful, and the early years of our marriage were everything I could have asked for. We were that couple, always laughing, supporting each other, and talking about the future. But over the last year or so, things started to shift. John became more and more obsessed with his job at this big law firm. I get it, he's driven, and I've always admired that about him. But lately, it felt like he was married to his work, not me. At first, I tried to be understanding. I knew being a lawyer was demanding, so I made excuses for his late nights, the dinners he missed, and the weekends he spent in the office. I thought it was a phase, something temporary, and that we'd come out of it stronger.

I even started planning a special vacation for our anniversary to help us reconnect. I hoped it would be a way to rekindle what we had lost. Then, about six months ago, John started talking about this new hire at his firm, Molly, 25F. She was young, ambitious, and according to him, a breath of fresh air in the office. He said they worked well together and could bounce ideas off each other like magic. I didn't think much of it at first. I've never been the jealous type, and I trusted John completely. But as the months went on, John seemed to be spending more time at work.

And with Molly. He'd drop her name into conversations casually, like, Molly thinks we should take a different approach with this. case, or Molly made a great point in the meeting today. At first, I shrugged it off, figuring he was just excited about work. But then I started to notice changes in him. He began dressing better for work, going to the gym more often, and he'd be glued to his phone even when we were supposed to be spending time together. I'd ask him what he was doing, and he'd always say, just work stuff. I confronted him once, jokingly asking, should I be worried about Molly? He laughed off and said I was being ridiculous. But something inside me told me there was more to this than

just a harmless work relationship. Around this time, our own relationship began to deteriorate. We stopped going on dates and our conversations became robotic, all about bills, schedules, and day-to-day logistics. There was no spark, no excitement, and worse, no intimacy. I tried to bring it up, but every time I did, he brushed me off, saying he was just a stressed from work. I was patient for a while, thinking things would get better on their own. But the more time passed, the more distant he became. He started working even later, and when he was home, he was distracted, scrolling through emails or texting on his phone. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know how to fix it. Every time I tried to talk to him,

he'd tell me I was overreacting and that everything was fine. I wanted to believe him, but deep down, I knew something had changed. Then there was Molly. Molly with her bubbly personality, who apparently made John's work life easier. I started noticing that whenever John mentioned her, he had this. Look.

I can't describe it, but it made my stomach turn. The final straw came when he missed our date night to attend some work event with her. I tried to talk to him about it, but he insisted I was imagining things, that she was just a colleague. But I knew better. I finally confronted him directly, asking if something was going on between them.

He looked at me like I had just accused him of murder. Are you serious? Molly is just a friend. You're being paranoid. I wanted to believe him, I really did. But there were too many signs. So, I thought maybe a romantic getaway would bring us back together. Our anniversary was coming up, and I planned a beautiful vacation to the

just the two of us. No distractions, no work, no Molly. I was determined to save our marriage. But just as we were packing our bags, I got the worst news possible. My mom fell seriously ill and was hospitalized. I was devastated. But I told John he should still go on the vacation, that it would be good for him to relax while I stayed behind to take care of my mom. He was hesitant, but after I insisted, he agreed. I thought it would be a chance for him to clear his head, and when he came back, we could talk about everything. I trusted him to make the right decisions while he was away.

The first two days of the trip, we texted and facetimed like normal. But then things started to get strange. He became distant again, only sending short, vague replies and often taking hours to respond. I chalked it up to him wanting to relax, but something just didn't sit right with me. Then, one of my friends who was also vacationing in the same area sent me a picture. It was John. With Molly. At the restaurant we had reservations for. I couldn't believe my eyes. He had taken her to the vacation that was supposed to be for us, our anniversary trip. While I was back home, worried sick about my mom and holding out hope that this trip would help

fix our marriage, he was there, enjoying the romantic getaway with her. I was crushed. Since he's been back, I haven't confronted him yet. I honestly don't even know what to say. I've been playing it over and over in my head, trying to figure out how to handle this. Part of me wants to scream at him, throw his things out, and file for divorce. But another part of me wonders if I'm overreacting, if maybe there's a reasonable explanation for all of this, though I doubt it. I haven't told anyone except my best friend, who is urging me to leave him.

Update 1, after stewing in my emotions for days, I finally decided to confront John. I rehearsed what I would say over and over in my head, imagining every possible reaction he could have. Would he apologize? Deny everything? Or worse, gaslight me into thinking I was overreacting. The anxiety was eating me alive, and I knew I couldn't hold off any longer. I picked a Saturday evening when we were both home. I wanted to do it in person, no way I was going to let him wiggle out of this overtext. He was sitting on the couch, glued to his phone, as usual, when I came in and sat across from him. John, we need to talk. He looked up, surprised by the seriousness in my tone. What's up? I took a deep breath and went for it. I know about Molly. I know you took her on the

anniversary trip. His face went pale. For a second, he looked like he might deny it, but then he sighed, running a hand through his hair. Ava, it's not what you think. I scoffed. Really? Because what I think is that you took your workwife on a romantic vacation that was supposed to be for us. Our anniversary vacation. He shook his head.

It wasn't romantic. She was just, she was having a hard time at work, and I thought it would be nice for her to get away, too. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. So you decided to play hero and take her on our trip. Did you even think about how that would look? How that would make me feel. I didn't plan it like that, he said defensively. You told me to go.

I didn't want to cancel, and it just, happened. Just happened? Did it just happen that you were holding hands in the picture my friends sent me? Did that just happen too? He stared at me, at a complete, loss for words. He knew he was caught. After our confrontation, John left the house, saying he needed time to think. That was fine by me, I needed time to plan. The betrayal felt like a slap in the face, and the longer I sat with it, the angrier I got. I wasn't just going

to sit around and be disrespected like this. If he wanted Molly, he could have her, but I wasn't going to make this easy for him. I called my lawyer the next morning. I didn't tell John about it yet, but I knew I had to start preparing for the worst. I wasn't going to be one of those women who stuck around, hoping their husband would change after such a blatant betrayal. I needed to protect myself. A few days later, I asked John to meet me for dinner at an ice restaurant. I thought maybe being in a public place would keep things calm.

He showed up looking nervous, probably expecting another argument. I, on the other hand, was calm. I had already made up my mind about what I was going to do. Once we were seated and had ordered, I slid a manila envelope across the table toward him. What's this? He asked. Divorced papers, I said flatly. I've already spoken to a lawyer.

John's face turned a shade of red I'd never seen before. Ava, are you serious? You're going to throw away our marriage over one mistake. One mistake. I nearly laughed. You've been emotionally checked out of this marriage for months, John. And then you took her on our anniversary trip. I don't know how you define mistake, but that's not something I can forgive.

He looked around the restaurant, probably hoping people weren't listening, but I didn't care. Ava, please, let's just talk about this. You can't seriously want a divorce. I didn't want this, I said, but you've given me no choice. I'm not going to be the second option in my own marriage. That night, John tried calling me over and over, but I didn't answer. I was done talking. He'd made his choice, and I was making mine.

I called my best friend, who immediately came over with wine and ice cream, and we spent the night going over every detail of the confrontation. By the time John got home, I had locked the bedroom door and fallen asleep. I could hear him pacing in the hallway, probably debating whether or not to knock. But he didn't. I guess he realized it was too late for that. Since then, things have been tense. John is still staying in the house, but we barely speak. He keeps trying to apologize, to tell me that he made a mistake, that he doesn't want to lose me. But I'm not sure I care anymore. Update 2. It's been two weeks since I handed John the divorce

papers of the restaurant, and honestly, part of me feels like I've taken back control. but another part of me is devastated by how everything has crumbled so fast. After that night, John tried to act like nothing had happened. He's still living in the house, which makes everything a hundred times more awkward. We barely speak, and when we do, it's tense. I don't even know how to describe it, he's either trying to apologize and guilt-trip me into taking him back, or he's sulking like a child. I'm not giving in, though.

I've made it clear that this is what I want. but I don't think he fully believes me yet. I met with my lawyer again to start the official process. We discussed dividing up our assets, which hasn't been easy. We don't have kids, thankfully, but we do have a house, two cars, and joint savings. John is trying to drag it out, though, because he keeps saying he wants to make things right and that we don't need to involve lawyers. I also found out that John hasn't exactly been honest about our finances.

While reviewing our accounts, I noticed some weird withdrawals and expenses I didn't recognize. Turns out, he's been paying for Molly's stuff, dinners, trips, even her apartment rent on a couple of occasions. He was essentially funding her lifestyle while claiming they were just friends. I was livid when I found out, but at this point, it just confirmed what I already knew. What's even more frustrating is that now that I've served him with divorce papers, John is trying to win me back. He's pulling out all the stops, flowers, love letters, promises to be a better husband. It would be almost laughable if it didn't hurt so much. A few days ago, he sat me down and told me he's cut off contact with Molly, that she meant

nothing, and that he only realized how much he loves me after I handed him those papers. He actually cried, which is something I've never seen him do before. It was hard not to feel anything, but at the same time, I couldn't shake the betrayal. I don't think he truly gets how deeply he hurt me. It's not just about Molly, it's about the months of neglect, the lies, the fact that I've felt like a ghost in my own marriage for so long. I told him that I couldn't forgive him, and I still want the divorce. He looked devastated, but I had to stand my ground.

He asked if we could go to counseling, but honestly, I don't see the point. I feel like we're way past the point of fixing anything. Of course, the fall. hasn't been limited to just John and me. Our families are now involved, and it's been a mess. My parents are furious with John. They never liked how distant he had become over the last year, but this whole situation has pushed them over the edge. My mom keeps calling me to make sure I'm okay, and she's already told John he's not welcome at family events anymore. I didn't expect her to go nuclear like that, but I appreciate the support. On the other hand,

John's family. Well, there another story. His mom called me last week, begging me to reconsider. She said that marriages go through rough patches and that we just need to work through it. She even had the nerve to suggest that I was overreacting. I couldn't believe it. I told her that if she wanted to take sides, she could go ahead and support her cheating son, but I wasn't going to be guilt into staying in a broken marriage. Then there's the whole Molly situation. Word has gotten around at John's law firm, and now people know about their little fling. Some of John's co-workers, who I've met at social events over the years, have reached out to express their shock and sympathy. It turns out Molly isn't exactly popular at the office.

There are rumors that she's been inappropriately close to other male co-workers before, and now people are gossiping about her and John. I've heard that Molly has been avoiding the office ever since the news broke. Speaking of Molly, from what I've heard, things between her and John have cooled off significantly. He's been avoiding her ever since the divorce papers were served. I think he realizes now what a mess he's made, but I also think he's not fully ready to let go of her. There's been no grand breakup between them, but I can tell John's trying to figure out what to do. I've started looking for a new place to live. I need to get out of this house. Being here, surrounded by memories of what used to be, is suffocating. Every corner of this house reminds me of a time when I thought John

and I were happy. Now it feels like a monument to all the lies and broken promises. Meanwhile, John seems to be unraveling. He's still going to work, but he's a shell of the person he used to be. Some of his friends have told me that he's been distant and distracted, and there's even talk that his performance at the firm has taken a hit. I don't take any pleasure in this, but I'm not surprised. You can't live a double life without it eventually catching up to you. It's clear that his relationship with Molly wasn't worth the price he's paying. I think he's starting to realize that, but it's too late for me.

He's tried to talk to me a few more times, but I've been firm in my decision. I deserve better than this. Update 3. It's been three months since I served John with divorce papers, and honestly, things have only gotten more complicated. I thought I was making progress, moving on from the betrayal, but now everything feels like a giant mess. When I first served the divorce papers, I thought it would be a straightforward process. We didn't have kids, and the assets were fairly simple to divide. But, of course, John had to make everything more difficult. After trying to win me back failed, he's now contesting almost everything,

our house, the cars, even our joint savings. His lawyer has been a lot of been a nightmare, yet he hired one because divorce is not his cup of tea. They're fighting tooth and nail to minimize what I get in the divorce. The worst part is, John is trying to act like I'm the one being unreasonable. He's even hinted that if I drop the case, we could start over and work through this. He doesn't seem to realize that we're past the point of reconciliation. What really set me off was when he tried to claim that the house should be is because he's the primary breadwinner. Never mind the fact that I contributed just as much financially when I was working, or that I sacrificed my career for the sake of our marriage. His entitlement is unbelievable.

My lawyer has been great, though. She's helped me gather evidence of John's infidelity, and we're using that in the divorce proceedings to fight for a fair division of assets. I've also found out that John has been funneling money into a secret account, which he claims is for work expenses. Needless to say, we're digging into that too. Mediation attempts have completely failed. John's still clinging to the hope that I'll back down, but I'm not going to let him bully me out of what's fair. Every time we have a meeting, it's like a war zone, and I can see the frustration on his face when he realizes I'm not budging. While John's dragging out the divorce, things at his law firm are being spread. Word of his affair with Molly has spread like wildfire,

and it's causing a lot of tension. I heard from mutual friends that some of his colleagues are questioning his judgment, especially since Molly has a bit of a reputation for getting too close to the men she works with. John's bosses aren't happy about the drama either. Apparently, they've had clients ask if John's personal life is affecting his work, which isn't a good look for the firm. There are even rumors that John's position could be in jeopardy. If this gets any worse, he might face professional consequences he never saw.

coming. It's ironic, really, he gave up his marriage for Molly, and now he might lose his career too. As for Molly, she's jumped ship. I found out she transferred to another firm after the gossip about them became unbearable. I guess she didn't want to deal with a fallout either. I'm not sure what's going on between her and John now, but from what I hear, their relationship isn't the fairy tale he imagined. While John's world is crumbling, I've been trying to rebuild mine. I moved out of our house a month ago and found a small apartment in the city. It's been strange adjusting to life on my own, but in a way, it's been liberating. I don't feel like I'm walking on eggshells anymore, and the space has allowed me to focus

on myself for the first time in a long time. But, it hasn't all been smooth sailing. Emotionally, I'm still a wreck some days. I thought I'd be farther along in the healing process, but there are times when the betrayal hits me out of nowhere, and I just break down. I've been trying to push through it, going to therapy, journaling, leaning on friends, but I won't lie, it's been harder than I expected. The thing that's really shaken me is John's family. After months of silence, his mother reached out to me again. She was polite, but I could tell she was struggling. She told me that John's falling apart and

asked if I'd consider speaking to him again, even just to give him some closure. I didn't know how to respond. Part of me felt bad for her, but another part of me was furious that she would even ask me that after everything her son put me through. I hope you enjoy this story. I evicted my stepchild after she openly attacked me during my personal celebration for my newborn, but now everyone is claiming I am the wicked stepmother who destroyed a joyful household. Hello, how can I assist you today? Before I begin, let me tell you guys something about us. I'm a 30-year-old dental hygienist. I have been married to my husband for two years and we have been together for six years. My husband is slightly older than me. He is 39. He has been married before and even has a

daughter from his previous relationship. He and his ex-wife got together in college and got married because she was pregnant but that marriage didn't last long and they got divorced when their daughter was two. They have partial custody of her and have been co-parenting her for 14 years. She has him for half the month and he has her for the other half. My stepdaughter, let's call her Abby, 16F, has always been a nightmare to deal with. When I first started going out with my husband, she was indifferent to me even though I tried to be friends with her. She rebuffed me and I figured that it would take me some time to win her over. But it's been six years now and she still hates me so I don't think that was ever in the card she only started getting worse with time and she went

from indifference to being horrible to me. She would throw tantrums whenever I would come over and be very nasty to me, even though her father would try his best to make her behave herself. She would be openly rude, make awful remarks about my appearance and stuff, and even call me a gold digger on more than one occasion. I almost broke up with my husband after dating for two years because she was getting on my nerves and I had been finding it really difficult to make my peace with her being around. I didn't want to make him choose between Abby and me because I didn't want to be one of those women who broke up a family, but that ended up happening anyway. After we had been together for two years, I told my husband, who was my boyfriend at the time,

that I couldn't deal with this anymore and if Abby didn't start behaving with me, then I couldn't make this relationship work anymore because I'd had enough. He had been trying to talk some sense into her, but she would always just ignore it and treat me badly. She accused my husband of preferring me over her whenever he tried to talk to her about the way she had been behaving. It had been difficult for me and even after two years, there was no sign of improvement so I was seriously considering breaking up just for the sake of my own peace of mind. By then, I was spending practically all my time at his place and the days that he didn't have Abby, I was just fine.

But as soon as she entered the house, would start feeling extreme levels of anxiety and that couldn't be normal. So before he officially asked me to move in with him, I decided to talk to him about Abby. He told me that he was trying but his ex-wife was the one making matters worse by putting it into her head that if he got remarried, then it would be a threat to Abby and her place in the family. Abby still believed that she could get her parents to reunite because that's what her mother taught her. It wasn't because he was telling him love with my husband, but mostly because she hated him and didn't want him to be happy. She hadn't been able to get alimony from the divorce and still held that against my husband because she felt that he owed it to her,

even though they had equal income and split all the work equally. She felt entitled to it for no real reason and had been bitter in the aftermath of the divorce. My husband not caring in the least about her bitterness made her even more, and she started using Abby to harass any woman who was a part of his life. But I really loved him and Abby wasn't going to drive me away. So he did the only thing that he could do and decided to threaten Abby by telling her that if she misbehaved with me again, then he would permanently cut her off and make her live with her mother forever. Now Abby hated me but she did love her father and he had never threatened to send her away before so that really scared her and she started behaving herself.

She wasn't nice to me but she started to ignore me instead of being horrible to me and that was a huge improvement. With that out of the way, he and I started living together and even on the days that he did have Abby, it wouldn't be a problem for me because now we would just not speak to each other unless it was absolutely necessary. It felt strange in the beginning but I got used to it and I was most. much happier after that. So when he asked me to marry him, I said yes because now everything was finally working out. On the day of our wedding, Abby looked very upset, but, thankfully, she didn't do anything. Part of the reason might have been the fact that my husband had given his sister's strict instructions to keep an eye on her to make sure she didn't attempt to ruin the day. It was sad that he had to take precautions against his own daughter, but at least that prevented

anything bad or embarrassing from taking place. Even after we got married, nothing much changed in Abbey and I continued to be indifferent to one another. Just to be clear, I didn't have anything against her personally and I actually even felt bad for her because it couldn't be easy having a mother who was just using you to get back at her ex-husband. If she had ever approached me to apologize, would have gladly accepted it and tried to be a good stepmother but I couldn't accept an apology that I never received. And after the way that she had terrorized me for my months when I first got together with my husband, I didn't have it in me to talk to her and try to befriend her. Things have been this way for a while and everybody has made their peace with it.

Then about seven months ago, my husband and I found out that we were pregnant and we were really excited so we threw a party to announce it. Abby was there obviously but she was very unhappy when she found out that the reason we were throwing the party was because I was going to be a mother. She actually stormed out of the living room in tears a few minutes after I made the announcement and my husband had to go after her to console her. He told me that she was upset because she was going to have to share her dad with another baby, but I knew that she was more upset about me becoming a permanent part of the family now. It became even more obvious when after getting to know that I was pregnant,

she started doing strange things around the house on purpose. She would leave her roller skates lying around inside the house in places they were not even supposed to be in, probably in hopes that I would trip on them and fall. more than once she had left strong-smelling food items out, knowing that they would make me nauseated after I entered my second trimester. But these were pretty things and I didn't let them get to me or bring it up with my husband because I didn't want to seem paranoid and freak him out. The last straw was what happened at my baby shower a couple of days ago and I don't think

I'm reading too much into that. Everybody had been invited to my baby shower and my husband had ordered a special cake for me, which was also supposed to be the gender reveal cake. We had waited because we wanted to combine both the events and everyone was really excited about it. I cut the cake and was about to bring out a slice so we could all see the color on the inside, but before I could grab it, I felt somebody pushing my face into the cake and holding it for a few seconds until my husband grabbed my shoulders and brought me back up. I already had asthma and I felt I was suffocating while my face was being held down inside the cake.

As it turns out, Abby had been standing right beside me. She snapped and went crazy when I cut the cake and decided to shove my face inside it. She's around the same height as I am and much stronger since she's an athlete so it was easy for her to hold me down. I heard later on that my husband had been so stunned by what had happened that it took him a few seconds to grab me and pull me back up. Then the two of us headed to the washroom so I could get cleaned up and change into fresh clothes.

While I was changing and trying to process this, my husband told me to wait inside the room while he dealt with the situation outside. I kind of broke down when I was on my own inside the room because I thought that things were finally getting better, but I knew that as long as Abby was in this house, she would never let me have a moment of peace. I was honestly scared for my baby because I didn't trust her and I thought that she might try to hurt him after he was born.

We did have the cake later and found out we were having a boy. I had made up my mind that I would have to talk to my husband and tell him that Abby needed to go. and if he didn't kick out after this, then I would leave him. It was a tough call to make, but I couldn't endanger my baby by living in a house with someone like Abby, who was clearly unhinged. But turns out there was no need for any of it because, by the time my husband came back into the room, he told me that Abby was gone and wouldn't be coming back.

He'd been gone for about half an hour and I had been sitting alone in my room waiting for him to return while all our guests waited outside. Once he returned, we went back to the guests and apologized for what had just happened but everybody was really understanding and they were mostly just concerned about me. After everyone had made sure that I was doing fine, we got back to the cake and had a subdued celebration when we found out that we were having a boy. After dinner was served, people cleared out pretty quickly because of how awkward and uncomfortable the vibe of the place had become after the incident with Abby. My husband and I were also really quiet because we were still in shock from what Abby had tried to do to me. Once all the guests had left, we got to talking and he told me that while I was in the room, he had come back out and dragged Abby away forcefully.

She had just been standing in the same spot, looking really pleased with herself while everyone stared at her with horrified looks on their faces. But when he started dragging her out of the house, she started protesting and making a huge racket. He didn't stop and dragged her to the car and then dropped her off at her mother's house. He didn't have enough time to talk to her mother, so he just dropped her off and told Abby to explain to his ex-wife what had happened. She kept screaming at him about the car ride, but he paid her no mind because he couldn't let this go on and put me and our baby in danger. He had given her enough chances to become a better person, but she just wasn't going to change

and he wasn't going to tolerate it anymore. He apologized to me because he felt like he had put me through a lot for the sake of his daughter and we ended up crying and hugging. That's how relieved we were when Abby was finally gone. The next day, he dropped off all her clothes and stuff at her mother's place and told her that he wouldn't be taking her back anymore because he was done with her. He informed his ex-wife that he would be speaking to his lawyer shortly and they were going to renegotiate the custody terms formally but until then, she would have to look after her because he couldn't put me and our baby at risk of being harmed by Abby. And she had proven that she was fully capable of doing that. He told her that she had made her this way and had encouraged her to be a

brat throughout her childhood. So now she would have to take accountability for it and raise her. Her mother didn't take it well and refused to accept the responsibility of taking care of Abby on her own. Thankfully, Abby wasn't at home. She was at school so she wasn't there to overhear the conversation because that really would have broken her heart and probably pushed her off the edge for good. Her parents were actually fighting over who had to keep her but while my husband had genuine, valid reasons not to want her around anymore, her mother didn't have any and only said that she didn't have the time or resources to raise Abby on her own. For the record, she was the receptionist at a really small-scale family-owned firm so it certainly wasn't as if she was the busiest person on earth and she was always back home by six. As for the resources, my husband had agreed to pay her child support but she didn't want that either and it was pretty surprising. Because their fallout had been over money in the first place and now that my husband was willingly offering her more money,

way more than what she actually needed to raise Abby, she was rejecting it. It didn't add up, but even though my husband kept persuading her, she refused to take on that responsibility. Eventually, she agreed that she would look after her for a few weeks, but after that, my husband would have to arrange something for her. So overall, that conversation didn't go as planned but my husband is sure that when they start renegotiating the custody terms legally, he won't have much trouble getting her to take in Abby. We have no idea why she doesn't want Abby because it's very obvious that the two of them have a better relationship than she does with my husband. And yesterday, we found out that even Abby doesn't want to stay with her mother full-time,

which was extremely shocking since I believe that she would love the opportunity to move out of here permanently. She called her father yesterday to apologize for what happened at the party and she was crying while she said that she didn't want him to give up her custody. She was devastated when her mother told her that my husband was about to renegotiate the custody terms and that she might end up living with her permanently with no chance to ever visit her dad again. So now she wanted to apologize to me because she didn't want to lose her relationship with her father and she kept pleading with us on the phone not to do this. She addressed me directly and told me that she promised she would try to be nicer and not let her emotions get the better of her

and lead her into doing insane things. She also told me that she thought the cake thing would be funny and didn't come. consider the consequences of it while she did it, but she wanted to apologize for it from the bottom of her heart. It was difficult for both my husband and I to hear her out because she was crying hard, but we had to tell her that we couldn't take her back in. Because she might just lose her temper some other day, and my husband might not be at home to rescue me and that could lead to something terrible happening. So it was best for all of us if she stayed away for a while, at least until our kid was older. I told her that I did feel bad for whatever she was going through, but I couldn't help her

because this apology was coming really late. The damage had already been done and she couldn't take it back no matter how much she apologized. She started crying even harder when I said that and pleaded with me to reconsider. She said that she couldn't go through life without her parents and that included her father. It was getting too much for me to handle so I told her that I wish I could help but it was just too dangerous. And then I disconnected the call because I was finding it very hard to stay firm while she was crying like a baby. It was just too much for me to take. I was already really emotional because of the pregnancy and when I ended the call my husband and I couldn't stop crying because of how difficult this had been for both of us but we had to do

this, for our own safety. However, nobody else seems to care about how tough it must have been for us to make this decision since now everyone's blaming us. Or rather blaming me to be more precise, for breaking up a happy family for my own selfish reasons. I don't understand what's selfish about not wanting to get hurt since that's pretty much what Abby has been out to do ever since we know each other. Nobody else knows much about our situation but ever since the phone call, my husband's ex-wife, her parents, her friends, and some of his relatives have been texting him to say that he is making a huge mistake and that it's not fair for me to demand that he give up on Abby. especially now when she is going through something difficult, it's more important for us to be there

for her rather than abandon her just because things are tough. The number of people who have told us that what we're doing is wrong and are blaming me for breaking up their family is so overwhelming, that now I don't know if this is the right thing to do anymore. Ida for rejecting my stepdaughter's apology and not letting her move back in with us. Update 1, hi, so first of all, thanks for all the comments and reassurance that my husband is indeed on the right track. Now coming to a couple of things that a lot of you had said, regarding why exactly it had taken my husband so long to kick Abby out even though behavior had been nothing short of terrible all along. Of course, as a father, he would not want to give up on his only child, and no matter what he would want to make the best

of the situation just so he could at least try and make her a better person. There I was also the fact that if he let her live with her mother, she would most certainly turn out to be the worst version because her mother was an enabler and encouraged bad behavior. I don't think any father would want that for his kid. So no matter what Abby did, he put up with it because he knew that he wanted to continue trying and didn't want to give up on her as a lost cause. Because she was still young and he believed in her and felt that he could make her better, that's why it took us so long.

Because my husband believed in Abby and I believed in him. I could have left quite easily and never would have been caught in this mess in the first place, but I really love my husband and always have. I think he is the perfect man and I wouldn't have given up on this, no matter how badly his daughter behaved with me. So everyone who was telling me that I was a fool to marry a man who already had a child from a previous marriage, maybe I was a fool but I don't know,

I feel like being with him makes it all worth it. So I hope that explains why this went on for so long. That being said, we are still sticking to our decision to make Abby live with her mother because we can't afford to have her back at the moment. It's just too risky and neither my husband nor I want to take that risk. It was stupid of me to take whatever other people were saying seriously because most of these people don't even know the real situation here.

Most of them were Abby's mother's cronies, so in all probability, they just wanted us to take her back and couldn't care less about whether she and her dad were really a happy family or not. We still haven't been able to figure out why she doesn't want Abby, but my husband is trying to get the bottom of it. He thinks that the truth is going to come out anywhere when the legal proceedings start, so it's just a matter of time.

He has already spoken to one of his cousins who works with troubled kids and has been discussing the idea of rehabilitation centers for Abby in the future and I think it's a fantastic idea because that might help her out. Definitely more so than living with her mother will. For the time being, of course,

she has to live with her. Because nobody else wants to take her in. My husband had asked his parents but they declined because they said that they were too old and after what they saw at the party, they didn't want to take her in and regret it. His ex-wife has been hounding him almost daily to think about what they are going to do regarding Abby. And she has really been guilt-tripping him and trying to make me the bad guy here. She believes that my husband has lost his mind because of me and is putting me and the new baby first, forgetting about Abby. Which is crazy because he had tried to balance everybody for a really long time but she did. didn't seem to care about that.

She had made things worse for Abby herself by rewarding her bad behavior and teaching her that she needed to drive other women away from my husband. So this is really on her but she very conveniently has been trying to make my husband feel guilty just for looking out for his family. It's all right though because the custody terms are going to be renegotiated in a couple of days and then we will all know why exactly she's so opposed to the idea of taking her own daughter in. Update 2, hey, so it's been two weeks since Abby moved out and

my husband met with her mother this morning to negotiate the custody terms again. And today they finally found out why exactly she didn't want to take her in. Her mother is just as terrible as I had expected and I can't say that I'm surprised. So apparently, my husband's ex-wife has been working from home for a while for a company based out of L.A. and has been offered a job there, so she might be moving away in a few weeks. Her plan initially was to just leave without a word and then we would be forced to take care of Abby because there was nothing much that we could do once she was already gone. However, it got derailed because of what Abby pulled off at the baby shower and now she was probably

going to be stuck taking care of her for the rest of her life. She had a total meltdown and they had to adjourn the session because they couldn't continue while she was crying and acting crazy. Even the mediator seemed really scared. When my husband came back home and told me about this, he seemed really upset because he felt like his daughter's future was just doomed and there was nothing he could do to prevent it. I tried to comfort him, but I didn't really know what to say because in a way, he was right. There really wasn't much that we could do here. Neither parent wants custody and while my husband had genuine reasons not to want her around right now, her mother's reasons were kind of selfish but still couldn't be overlooked completely. He had spoken to his lawyer

and was told that there was a very real chance that she might end up having to enter the foster care system if neither of them stepped up and that was a really sad thought. Even though what she did to me was horrible, I still wouldn't wish something like this upon her, or anybody else for that matter. Because she's just a kid at the end of the day. She has had a rough life and I don't mean rough because her parents didn't have money or whatever, like most people mean it. Rough because her mother used her to get back at her father and didn't really love her. Because if her mother did have any love for Abby, she wouldn't have used her like a pawn in her crazy mind games. I don't like that kid if I'm being really honest, but I

I don't blame her for how she turned out. I blame her mother. She is the root cause of all evil here. I can't believe she had planned to just abandon U.S. and take off so she could enjoy her fabulous new life in L.A. I hope she gets fired or something. She would totally deserve it. Update 3, so it's been a while but my husband has finally decided what he's going to do

regarding Abby. He made her mother sign away her rights before she left for L.A., and I think that it's a really great move. Because that's going to teach her a lesson that she can't have her cake and eat it too. She was against it at first, but my husband told her that she could either stay here and take care of her daughter or she could choose her fancy new job, and she chose her job. He didn't mince his words and told Abby the truth about why his mother was gone and now she would have to start rehab to work on her issues. And only then would she be allowed to rejoin the family. He thought that she would protest, but surprisingly, she was quite okay with it. In the past couple of weeks,

she has really changed, probably because she realized that her mother never had her best interests at heart in the first place and she had been played. The only person who had ever been rooting for her was her dad and now she owed it to him to obey whatever he said and turn over a new leaf. She was a lot more subdued as a person now and it was quite sad, but I hope that rehab works for her and she comes back better. My husband spoke to his cousin and arranged. something for her. It's a six-month program so by the time she comes back, my baby will be born. I honestly hope for nothing but the best for Abby. Heaven knows that kid deserves something good to happen now. Update 4. Hi guys. So I just gave birth to our baby boy about four weeks ago and

my husband and I are thrilled to share that news with you guys. I feel like you guys have also been an equal part of our journey, just as much as our real-life friends. The baby was born. We're born healthy and there were no complications, thankfully. We even allowed Abby to be there for when the baby was born. There has actually been a lot of improvement in the two months that she has spent in the rehabilitation center and I almost feel like she is a normal kid now. The two of us haven't worked past our differences yet. I think we are going to keep that for when she comes back home for good. But she is nice to me whenever we meet and is actively trying to show us that she is not the same psychotic breath that she was up until a couple of months ago. She hasn't said it to me

verbally yet, but I can tell that she is trying to make up to us for whatever she put me through, just because her mother wanted her to. And I'm looking forward to the day that we can all be a happy family for real now. I hope you enjoy this story. Spouse asked his relative to join us on our post-wedding vacation without informing me and became upset when I expressed my desire to cancel the trip. As a result, I decided to leave him behind. The airport and now his family is upset. So, three days back, I was supposed to go on my honeymoon with my husband. But he invited his brother to come along.

Well, he's not actually his brother, it's his cousin, but even then, it's really weird and I ended up not going on the trip at all because I was so annoyed. My husband, Joey, 27M, and I, 27F, met through friends and after dating for almost four years, we got married a couple of weeks. ago. For our honeymoon, we were supposed to go to Italy, but the trip ended up getting canceled for the reasons that I just mentioned above. The worst part was that he did not think that it was important to consult with me before he made such a big decision. He just took it upon himself and booked all the flight tickets and stuff for his cousin, Pete, 28M, without even asking me if I would be fine with that. And the time that he chose to tell me about all of this was so convenient as well. It was just 30 minutes before our flight.

was supposed to take off and it was at that point that I decided that I couldn't do this. While we were waiting, he told us that we would get two days to ourselves before Pete joined us and just sprung it on me so casually like it was something that we had discussed earlier. And when I asked him what he meant by that, he told me that he hadn't said anything about it earlier because he did not want me to freak out like I was doing at the moment. But he had invited Pete to accompany us on our honeymoon and after two days, he would be joining us so he could take his mind off his situation. Around the same time that we were getting married, Pete's wife, Julia, had told him that she wanted a divorce. Apparently, after coming back from our

wedding, she had said that attending our wedding had made her realize certain things like how she was not meant to be with him. She was just not happy with him anymore and had apparently fallen in love with somebody else. She did not specify who it was, but she had said that she couldn't be with him anymore and be dishonest to herself and him. So she needed to get away from him. Pete was very depressed about it. So he had been really upset for the past couple of weeks ever since we got married. And that was why Joey had decided to invite him to come along with us so that would help him cheer up. Like any other normal human being, I got really annoyed and I told him that this was not cool with me at all. I said that if Pete was joining us on our honeymoon, it was completely meaningless and I

didn't care what he had said. But I wanted him to cancel immediately. But he started arguing with me and said that I was being heartless. Pete was going through a divorce and he had been married for almost three years already since he and Julia had been high school sweethearts. And now suddenly she was not in love with him anymore. So he was going through a much harder time and as his family, our moral duty was to be there for him. He thought that coming along with us on our honeymoon would be giving him a well-deserved break from everything and he wanted me to know that this was important for them. He said that we were already getting two days to ourselves since he would be joining us later and that should be enough for me. It was really exasperating and I was very frustrated while talking to

him. So I just grabbed my things and told him that I didn't want to go on our honeymoon anymore. So I told him to enjoy the trip with Pete and I left almost immediately while he tried to catch up with me, but I pretty much made a run for it, took the first cab I found and went to my parents' house. Since then, I've been staying here and I have been very upset about everything. For the past four years that I have been with Joey, we have had our ups and downs, but they have always been normal fights that other couples also have. But this is just weird. From what I know, he did end up going on the trip with Pete and that's what pissed me off even more.

After I left the airport, he kept texting me to come back and said that he couldn't cancel everything because he had already paid for everything and some of it was non-refundable. so he did not want to lose his deposit. So he had to go on the trip and he just wanted me to rethink what I was doing and come back to him. He kept trying to convince me that he was doing this so that he could be there for Pete and even said that after this was done, he would have a second honeymoon for just the two of us, but he just wanted me to compromise this one time. Truth be told, what it really hurt me was the fact that he had decided to spring this on me at the very last minute, so I could not even do anything about it.

And I thought that it was really manipulative and dishonest of him and that's not going to fly with me. If I'm in a relationship with somebody, I need them to be completely transparent with me and I need to be able to trust them. And after what he did, I don't think that's going to happen. So I messaged him last evening telling him that I was going to file for a divorce or an annulment or whatever, but I just wanted this relationship to be over. I was very disappointed with it as well, but I couldn't see any other way forward. I don't think that after what has happened, we can just pretend like it's all fine and then move on with our lives. I'm not the kind of person who can just brush things under the rug and pretend it's okay. It sucked that our marriage was only going to last a couple of weeks, but I couldn't help it.

This was not my fault. But then he responded to my message saying that I was overreacting and that we could just discuss this when he came back from the trip. And that was really annoying for me as well because I was already so pissed off and the fact that he had actually decided to go on the trip and be with his cousin. It was just ridiculous. I told him that his behavior right now was unreasonable and he couldn't honestly expect me to forgive him and just move on. So I told him that it did not matter to me what he believed. I was just done with all of this and I wanted to get out of this relationship as fast as I could. So I was going to wait for him to come back because I obviously could not get this marriage entered without his consent. But I was going

to talk to my lawyer and have everything prepared. And then I blocked him so I wouldn't have to entertain this anymore. Now I need some peace of mind for myself and I need time and space to process all of this. But it seems to me that his family just cannot accept that fact. This morning, I received a bunch of messages from my in-laws saying that what I was doing was really messed up and that I should at least give him a chance to try and fix the situation. They agree that what he did was not right, but my decision to end the marriage is definitely. an overreaction according to them. And why wouldn't it be? Obviously, they're going to take their son's side over mine. We have had a good relationship over the past couple of years and I thought

that they, at the very least, would realize that what he did was immensely screwed up. But they think that I should give him a chance. My parents think that I should do whatever I feel is right and I think that I should end the marriage. However, judging by the reactions of people so far, I'm very confused. His parents are quite against the idea of us ending our marriage. And they think that we should really wait things out and try to at least talk to each other, sort things out, and come to a conclusion only after having a conversation

about this in person once he returns from his trip. My parents think that whatever I decide is going to be for the best. So they are pretty much neutral about all of this. And I know that they really mean it when they say that they are going to be on my side, no matter what. I have spoken to a couple of my friends about this as well, but they have been pretty divided. Some of them think that I should wait for him to come back, discuss this with him, and then take a step. And the others think that what I'm doing right now is the right thing to do.

They believe that I should file for an annulment and get this over with because what he did was not okay. So, whipped up for ending my marriage because my husband decided to invite his cousin who is going through a divorce on our honeymoon? Edit. it. So a lot of people have had questions about the closeness of Joey and Pete and well, I would say that they have been pretty close. From what I know, they have been the best of friends ever since they were little and yeah, they're close. However, I still don't think that's an excuse to invite him on our honeymoon and expect me to be fine with it. Also, I had no idea that he was going through a divorce. In fact, I don't think anybody in the family knew about it until

all of this was uncovered. From what I have gathered so far, Julia had just filed for a divorce after we got married and the proceedings still haven't started. And it's only going to commence once he returns from this trip. Julia and I have never really been friends. We have interacted a couple of times when we met on the holidays and stuff. But apart from that, we don't have much to talk about. So I'm definitely not going to talk about this to her. Also, a lot of people have been asking about who was actually in love with and honestly, I have no idea. Joey didn't really get into that and I don't think she has specified who it was. So there's no way that I can disclose it because I don't really know.

But if somehow able to find out who she's actually in love with or whether she's having an affair or not, I will definitely be posting it here and keep you guys updated. For now, whatever information that I have, I have mentioned it in my post and yeah, that's it. I'm not too worried about the financial aspect of the divorce because I don't think that if we do get our management alert, we're going to have any trouble separating that since we have always maintained separate finances and records. We don't really have that many joint assets either. So I think that's going to be a pretty easy process, but I don't even know what I'm going to do right now. So I haven't thought that far and I'm just trying to process what's going on as of now and even that's proving to be pretty difficult for me.

Update 1 Hello. So I've spoken to my lawyer and I've told him that I want him to draw up the papers to get this marriage annulled. It was an incredibly difficult thing to do, but it's been almost a week and he is still blocked. He can contact me in other ways and yet he has chosen not to do that. So I don't really know what to say anymore. I had only blocked his phone number and he couldn't call me, but I haven't blocked him on social media. So if he really wanted to speak to me, he could have chosen to text me on literally any social media platform.

But there is not a single message that I have received from him. Even his parents just called me after one time and then there's been radio silence from that end as well. I've been feeling terrible about all of this for the past couple of days and that's why I was forced to make this decision. I had been considering letting him come back and then after discussing things and sorting things out in person we could go ahead with whatever we wanted to do.

But now I think there is no moving on from this. Thankfully, I still had the keys to the house. So I went over to our place gathered all the stuff that belonged to me and moved back in with my parents. When he comes back, I'm probably going to have to talk to him and then we can sell all the furniture that we bought together and end the lease on that house or at least remove me from the agreement. I've already spoken to a couple of people and I'm going to start looking for a separate apartment now. I just want to keep myself busy so that I don't have to think about what's going on in my life and how miserable I'm feeling currently. I keep thinking that he is going to text me at some point, but so far it hasn't happened and I keep hoping that maybe there will be some way that this will work out. But I really think that it's unlikely at this point.

My parents and most of my friends have been very supportive, so I'm very grateful for that. According to our plan, Joey and I were supposed to return from our honeymoon in two days. So if he and Pete are still going to stick to our itinerary, they are going to be back in two days. and after that, I can finally speak to him in person and put an end to all of this. Even saying it hurts me so much, but I know that it's the right thing to do and I just have to end this for my own good. Just hope that things go smoothly when he comes back. Update 2.

So Joey and Pete came back from their trip yesterday, according to our itinerary. I know that because after they returned, he texted me on Instagram to ask if we could talk. I was working at the time, so I didn't really want to respond to it. But when I received that text, I was so upset that I ended up replying anyway. And I told him that no, we couldn't talk. Because the time to talk had passed and he had chosen not to contact me for the past week, even though he had screwed up royally and hurt my feelings. I had no interest in speaking to him and we had nothing to talk about.

I also informed him that I had already spoken to my lawyer and now that he was back, we could move forward with the proceedings and get this marriage annulled. For a couple of minutes, there was no reply from him. But then, he told me that he was really sorry for not contacting me earlier, but apparently, he was just trying to be there for Pete. He said that he could understand that I was upset. But there were a lot of things that I did not know and a lot of factors that he had to consider. And if I just spoke to him, then he would be able to explain his reasons as to why he had done these things.

I'm not going to lie, that really piqued my interest because if he had reasons, I really wanted to know. Even though I was not sure what kind of reasons could have possibly justified something like this, I wanted to know if he had a real genuine explanation for any of this. So after thinking about it for a while, I told him to come over to my parents' house today and in the evening, he's supposed to come by and we can discuss things. I don't think I'm going to go back to him, no matter what the circumstances are, but at least I'm going to get some answers out of him. I deserve that much, I know that.

Also, my lawyer had dropped off the papers for the announcement this morning, so even if I don't get a satisfactory answer as to why any of this has happened, at least I'm going to be able to get him to fill in the paperwork and then we can move forward with this process. Either way, we were going to have to meet at some point, and I couldn't have avoided him forever. So I'm just going to get this over with as soon as possible. Hopefully, he has a good enough explanation.

for all of this because if he doesn't, it's just going to mess with my head even more and make me feel even more miserable than I already do. Anyway, he's going to be here in a couple of hours, so I'm just mentally preparing myself for that. Update 3, Joey came by as he said, and he just left about an hour ago. So it's been an hour since that I'm still reeling from everything that he has told me. When he came by, he seemed very awkward, and he started off by apologizing to me. He told me that he knows very well that what he did was a horrible thing to do and he has broken my trust so he is well aware of the fact that it's going to be either very difficult or probably impossible to repair that. So he's not going to force me to come back or beg me to fix things with him.

I thought that it was pretty surprising because I had really expected him to at least try and make things work, since initially, it had seemed like he was going to do that. But when he said that he could understand where I was coming from and why I did not want to stay married to him anymore, I thought this was a different discussion from what I presumed it was going to be. After his apology, he went on to tell me that Pete had always been a brother to him, and they had grown up together, so knowing that he was going through a divorce and the fact that his wife was in love with somebody else, he knew that it couldn't have been easy. He felt really bad for the guy and that was one of the reasons he had invited him to come along

on our honeymoon. But that was not all. It was just the tip of the iceberg. Apparently, the real reason that he had invited Pete was not just because he felt bad for him but because the person that Julia was actually in love with was none other than him. When he said that, I honestly thought that he was joking, and I really didn't know how to react for a good couple of minutes. Then, I asked him how he knew that and at what point exactly did he find out about it. So he went on to tell me that he had found out because Julia had confessed to him the night before our wedding. He even unlocked his phone and showed me the text that she had sent him

and there it was, and I could hardly believe what I was seeing. From the time that I had known his family, I had always noticed that he and Julius seemed to have a very strong platonic relationship. But it had never even occurred to me that the person she was in love with could have been Joey because I had always just written them off as friends and nothing more, but that was clearly not the case. When I saw that text, I asked him why he hadn't told me about it because this seemed important and I believe that as his fiancé, I should have known that somebody in the family had literally confessed their love to him one night before our wedding. But Joey told me that he did not want to stir up any drama on the night before the wedding, so he decided not to tell me anything.

I thought that it was a very lame reason, and I told him that not telling me was a pretty bad idea. And once again, he did not fight with me, but just agreed and said that he was not thinking straight. He was just trying to avoid drama at any cost, so he kept things quiet, and on the day of our wedding, after the ceremony was over, he decided to speak to Julia in person and tell her that this was never going to happen. He said that he had taken Julia aside for a couple of minutes during the reception and when they had spoken, he had asked if she had meant what she had said in the text, and when she confirmed it, he told her that she had to leave Pete. Because if she didn't even love him, she was just wasting his time and he deserved better. Besides, if she didn't tell him, he was definitely going to. They had a bit of an argument about it because Julia did not want to tell him. She apparently believed that since Joey was not going to break his relationship with me,

regardless of whether she loved him or not, it seemed like a total waste to tell Pete the truth and leave him because even if she was not completely happy with him, she was at least content. But Joey said that she was being disgusting and if she really did not love him, then she needed to leave him. My husband has apparently had a huge role to play in the divorce of his brother and out of guilt. He had invited me to accompany us on our honeymoon so that he could spend some time with us and not feel as miserable as he would have felt if he was alone.

He explained to me that he had known how much Pete loved Julia. He knew that this was going to be very difficult for him and he just didn't want to leave him alone. After hearing him out, I tried to be quiet for a couple of minutes and process all this information and then, I asked him why hadn't just been honest with me from the beginning. All these problems that were ruining our relationship were caused due to a complete lack of transparency on his end. He had no answer for that, he just said that he didn't want to get into any of this because he thought it was going to lead to more drama and confrontations and he was not very good at any of that. After this discussion, he told me that now, if I still wanted to proceed with the annulment, I could definitely do so, but he just wanted to get this off his chest and let me know the truth. So I told him that getting the marriage annulled was not something that I was excited about,

but it was a necessity at this point. Very clearly, he was still struggling to be honest with me and that was not going to work in a marriage. I told him that I appreciated the fact that he had come clean to me, but right now, it was too little and too late. Because he was trying so hard to make sure that he did not leave Pete alone, he sort of took me for granted and ended up leaving me alone. I then went on to tell him how miserable I had been for the past couple of days and he hadn't even bothered to check up on me and that was what hurt me the most.

He tried to justify himself by saying that he was trying to be there for Pete and at least do one thing with full sincerity, but I told him that it did not matter. He had made certain promises to me when we started dating, that he would always be there for me and he would always make sure that I knew how much he loved me. Even when we got married, these things were in his vows, but after that, I couldn't feel his love and neither did I feel like he was being there for me. I told him that I could understand that he had felt lost when Julia sent him that message, but if I was in his place, the first thing that would have occurred to me was that I had to tell my fiancé, the person that I loved the most

and then we could deal with this together. He had nothing to say to that and he acknowledged the fact that he had messed up. And then, he asked me if I still loved him, and after thinking about it, I told him that I did, but it did not matter. Love was not enough to sustain a relationship, and that was obvious at this point. So I told him that whether I loved him or not was immaterial. After everything that had happened, I think both of us needed time to heal, and going our separate ways would be the best way to do that for now. When I said that, he just nodded, and I saw that he had tears in his eyes and I felt really bad, but I know that we have no other way out of this. So in spite of how terrible I was feeling, the two of us filled out the paperwork and we are

going to go to get our marriage annulled in a couple of days. I'm still trying to process everything that I have learned this evening and it's not going to be easy to move on from any of this, but I'm going to have to at least try. We had one last hug before he left today and I almost felt like I was going to break down, but I didn't, I stayed strong. And I think I'm going to have to do that until I'm able to move on from this completely. So wish me luck, I have a feeling that I'm going to need it. Update 4, hey, so it's been close to a year, I think since I broke up with Joey. We got the marriage annulled and a couple of weeks after that, I gathered the last of my things from our house and moved into my own apartment. It was very difficult for me to go back to

living on my own after years of living with Joey, but I had to get used to it. For the first couple of months after the breakup, we steered clear of each other and did not speak to each other if we could avoid it. But about four months ago, we met again at a wedding, since one of our common friends was getting married, and we had been invited. Both of us attended, and when we met, we were friendly with each other. Of course, it was nothing like how it used to be, and I, to be honest, am glad about it. I had expected that it was going to be very hard for me to see him again, but honestly, it was not that bad and we are back on speaking terms, but we're just friends now. I got to know that while Pete was getting divorced, Joey decided to tell him the truth about why this was

happening, and Julia was actually in love with him but once he found out that it was him, he decided to cut him off and they no longer speak to each other. So taking him on our honeymoon obviously did not soften the blow like he had expected it to, and we even joked about how it would have been better for us to just go on the honeymoon ourselves and maybe that would have saved our marriage. We hung out together, reminisced about old times together with our friends, and had a generally fun time. He told me that he had moved out of our old house a couple of months after I moved out

because without me, he had nobody to split the rent with, and it was getting unaffordable for him. He also told me that he had quit his job and was now starting something of his own, which he had always talked about when we were together, and I was really happy for him. I told him a little about my life as well, and we discovered that. that we live just a couple of blocks away from each other. I don't know what the future holds, but I'm happy to be in this neutral space, as of now. To be honest, I'm not really sure if I have completely moved on from him yet or not,

but I know that being on good terms with him makes me happy. So maybe our relationship didn't last, but I guess this friendship might. I hope you enjoy this story. Revealed my half-sibling for taking my future spouse. Now her marital union is finished and my family. family disowned me. I, a 27-year-old woman, tied the knot a fortnight ago. I organized the whole event. Myself and received a lot of praise from my guests about how beautiful and perfect everything looked, which was nice. My stepsister, 26F, couldn't stand it, though, and had been

telling everyone that I stole my ideas from her. She's always been jealous of me so I wasn't surprised by this in the slightest, but I did feel really annoyed by it. Some family members of mine have a big mouth and started asking me if I really had stolen my ideas from my stepsister which was really unfair since I hadn't done anything of the sort. My stepsister has a history of lying about me to make herself look better and I'd had enough of it, honestly. My mother married her father when we were 16 and we've hated each other's guts ever since. I'd tried to be her friend at first but she'd never accepted it and always tried to turn everything into a competition which got under my skin. One time, she spread a rumor about me in high school that I used to hit on her boyfriend after I was picked at the cheerleading tryouts and she wasn't, just to get back at me.

That led to almost a month of all the girls hating me and making fun of me except for a few. That's the kind of person my step-sister is. For so long, I'd always let things slide since I knew that she was doing it just to get on my nerves and if I reacted badly then she'd win. But this time around, I couldn't just let it go because I'd spent week. and weeks planning my wedding. She couldn't just swoop in and discredit me after all that I'd done to make my wedding as beautiful as possible. I know it was petty but as soon as I got to know that she'd been telling people that I stole her ideas, I decided to call her up and give her a peace

of my mind. I told her that she needed to stop saying it since even though she knew that it wasn't true, she laughed in my face, called me a sore loser, and hung up. So I decided to expose her and her husband as the cheaters and liars that they really were to the rest of our family. For context, her current husband, 30M, used to be my boyfriend. When I was 23, I used to live with my parents and step-sister because I was saving money to move out eventually. That's when I met my ex-boyfriend at work and I fell in love almost instantly. However, he wanted our relationship to be top secret and didn't even allow me to tell my friends out of work which, in hindsight, should have raised some red flags.

After just two months of dating, I decided to bring him home to meet my parents and obviously, my step-sister met him as well. I didn't notice it at the time but she'd been overly flirtatious and cute around him but I'd never even imagine that my ex would stab me in the back and cheat on me with her. I guess that's around the time that they started texting each other behind my back, but I was blissfully unaware of the sparks between them and continued to date him and fall for him even more. After almost a year of dating, I decided that I wanted to marry him and I proposed to him. It was unorthodox, but I loved him so much that I just couldn't wait around for him to propose to me and took it upon myself. So I took him out for a fancy dinner at a high-end restaurant and all of that, but at the end of the night, when I finally did pop the question, he said that he needed time to think about it. I wish he'd just broken up with me right then and there, but he dragged our

relationship on for three more months instead, all the while cheating on me with my step-sister. I was upset that he'd rejected my first proposal, but I still stayed with him, hoping that I'd eventually be able to change his mind. We finally broke up when three months after my proposal, he confessed to me that he was in love with my step-sister and wanted to be with her instead. And as if that wasn't enough, he told me that she was three months pregnant so she'd start showing in a couple weeks, which is why they decided to get married at the earliest as well. I was hysterical and got into a huge fight with my stepsister, but our parents intervened and forbade me from speaking about this as they were afraid of the family's image being ruined by this scandal, as my stepdad

was reasonably popular. I had no option but to obey them since I was living with them at that point. They had a small and simple wedding ceremony in our backyard with a few close friends and family members and then, my step-sister moved in with my ex. I didn't attend the wedding, obviously, and spent the entire week leading up to the wedding in a cheap motel room, doing nothing but drinking and eating. A few weeks after the wedding, I decided that I'd saved up enough money to be able to rent a place of my own and moved out as well. But that did nothing for my mental health and I went into a deep depression. I would just eat, drink, and sleep all day, and had even quit my job since I just couldn't bring myself to get out of bed anymore. However, I still did have a friend who was looking

out for me and that was my current husband. He and I had been close friends since high school, but I'd never seen him as a romantic figure because he was mostly known for being the class clown. For several weeks after the wedding, I skipped every party hosted by my friends and refused to respond to any calls or texts. I thought they'd forget about me since they were all busy with their own lives, but he didn't. He was the only one who bothered to find out where I lived from my parents and showed up at my house. He took care of me for the next few weeks even though I was mean and distant. He never left my side even for a second in those crucial few weeks and helped me get back on my feet.

Hell, he even paid the bills for me since I didn't have any money after I quit my job. I literally owe my life to my husband and I'm going to be eternally grateful for what he did. Anyway, after a few weeks, I did end up telling him all about what had happened with my ex and my step-sister and he consoled me then. We never formally got together, he simply moved in with me after a while and that was that. We never felt the need to address it and even today, we joked that he never even asked me out. But whatever, that was what had happened and I thought that it was about time that the rest of the family also found out about what had actually happened. I did discuss my plan to expose them with my husband first, though, and he was very supportive of it. He told me that after everything my

step-sister and my ex had put me through, it was totally reasonable for me to want to tell everyone the truth. And so, a couple of days ago, I invited my entire family over to my house. I was extra careful to invite my stepsister in the sweetest voice so that she wouldn't suspect anything and she totally fell for it as well. After everyone had arrived at my house, I addressed first the things that my step-sister had been saying about me stealing her wedding ideas. I reminded her that she'd never even had a proper wedding given the circumstances which she'd gotten married under. Some people laughed awkwardly, some looked uncomfortable and some were plain confused, but I went on. I reminded her that since she's been accusing me of stealing her wedding ideas and making such a huge deal out of it, I should

probably make an even bigger deal of what she did to me since she actually stole my husband. That earned a few gasps and shocked expressions from my guests, especially my parents and ex-boyfriend who went red. I explained the entire story to the guests who were, by now, looking as if they'd been served a treat on a silver platter since this would be gossip fuel for a good year. After I was done with the story, there was a stunned silence where nobody knew what to say for a good one minute. However, after that, my step-sister got up and literally ran out of the house with her husband rushing behind her. Gradually, all the guests also left in silence. The last people to leave were my parents who looked furious and even had the audacity to demand that I apologize to my step-sister

for humiliating her in front of so many people. I told them I was going to do no such thing since she'd tried to ruin my life more than once and she totally deserved this. My husband also told them that they had no right to tell me to apologize when they'd never told my stepsister to apologize to me, especially given the fact that what she'd done was way worse than what I'd done. He also told them off for being terrible parents who never even bothered to check up on me after I got cheated on. This led to an argument between them and so I just told them to get out of my house if they were going to be disrespectful towards me and my husband. And that was almost four days ago, I haven't spoken to any of them since. I know for a fact that the rest of my family isn't speaking

to my stepsister anymore and she's been cut off by everyone. She's miserable since she's a social butterfly and can't stand the fact that nobody's talking to her anymore. A few hours ago, I received a text from my mom saying that she hoped I was happy now that I'd ruined my stepsister's life since that's what I'd wanted all along. I mean, I'm okay with whatever's happening to my stepsister since that's totally justified in my opinion. But my mother's accusations sting since I thought that at least now, after all these years, she'd finally see my side and have my back. Now, I'm feeling like a jerk in this situation. I don't know, it sucks to be painted as the bad guy. So I'd offer exposing my stepsister in front of my entire family?

Update 1, my mother is still mad at me for doing what I did and is blaming me for ruining her daughter's life. I'm not even kidding, she's using these exact words to make me feel guilty. She's been texting me for a few days, demanding that I tell the rest of the family that I made all of it up just to get back at my stepsister because I was jealous. She's also told me that my stepsister and her husband are very upset with me because of what I did and are considering cutting me off, which makes no sense because we already don't speak except in public. We've never once reached out to each other unless we're at a family event where we have to be civil to each other.

In fact, the only reason she was even invited to my wedding was because my mother had forced me to invite her because it'd look weird otherwise. I don't know why exactly my mother's thinks that I owe her an apology at all, but I've decided that I'm going to ignore all of it. I was quite upset for a few days that my own mother was taking my stepsister's side, but honestly, I'm used to it by now. I've told my husband about what's been happening and he thinks that the best thing to do right now would be to just ignore her and let things go. And that's what I'm doing, I'm done with them. Update 2. So, two days have passed since the last update and after posting that, I decided to block all of them.

Only then did I realize how much this had been weighing on me and I felt such relief when I finally cut them out of my life. I can't even believe that for so long, my mother forced me to pretend to be on good terms with my stepsister just so that people wouldn't judge them for failing as parents. They're the ones who were unable to make my stepsister a decent person and yet, somehow, I was the one who had to suffer because of that. But yeah, anyway, I blocked them all and I thought that would be the end of it.

However, last night, my mother came over and she seemed really disappointed. I didn't have anything to say to her, very honestly, and after almost five minutes of awkward silence, she started talking to me about how my actions had negatively impacted the family. I cut her off, saying that there was no family as such, at least for me. After she married my stepdad, it became very clear with time that she preferred my step-sister over me and everything that she did was forgiven but the same rules didn't apply. to me at all. I told her how much she'd hurt me over the years and that I wasn't going to apologize or put up an act anymore, I was just done. She got really upset after my rant and tried to explain to

me that the reason she distanced herself from me after her separation was because I reminded her too much of my dad. Which wasn't fair to me in the least because of course I would remind her of my dad but that was no reason for her to start treating me as if I was just my father's daughter and not hers, too. I told her that while I would try to understand her side of the story, I just couldn't forgive her that easily and needed time. But no matter what my equation with my mother was, I wasn't going to apologize to my stepsister or pretend to be sorry for what I did and I made it known to her as well. She left looking really morose and disappointed, but that couldn't be helped. A day has passed since our last conversation and while I have unblocked her, we haven't yet spoken.

Update 3. One week has passed since my last conversation with my mother and she hasn't reached out again since, so I'm guessing she's not sorry. Which is fine by me, honestly. I've come to terms with the fact that she prefers my stepsister and that's just how it is. Nothing I say or do is going to change it anymore. But my step-sister hasn't moved on from what I did yet and has taken to bad-mouthing me to all our relatives yet again. She's been telling everyone that her husband and cheated on me only because I was a toxic psycho and he found her company peaceful. Apparently, she's told people that I used to emotionally manipulate my ex into staying with me every time he tried to break up, which is part of the reason that he ended up cheating on me.

Another reason was that I was pushing him to get married to me even though he'd told me that he wasn't ready yet, which scared him. Now obviously not one word of any of that is true, but my relatives are now divided about whom they should believe since my step-sister, unlike me, is a very convincing liar. One of my cousins has been keeping me updated with whatever lies she's been spreading about me and it's honestly just outrageous that she's trying to make me out to be the liar here when we all know what kind of person she is. My mother is not going to intervene at all, that's something I'm sure of and neither am I going to ask her to because she's just going to refuse to say anything to her favorite daughter anyway. But I'm not going to let this one slide either

because if she can go so low, then I can definitely go lower. I've blocked her on all social media, I know a lot of her coworkers and friends and I'm going to make sure that everyone gets to know what kind of person my darling step-sister is. It's petty and cruel and I'm glad I can finally stop pretending that I care about her or her feelings since she's never cared about mine. And even my husband feels that whatever I'm doing, no matter how petty and mean it seems, all comes from a place of justified anger. I was forced to suppress my anger and resentment towards my stepsister for so long that it was bound to bubble up and come out in destructive ways sometime or the the other and he thinks that it's better now than never since she's the one who's been pushing and pushing me for a reaction for a long time anyway. So I've decided that I'm going to expose what she did to me to every single person who knows her this time and it certainly won't be pretty.

Update 4. So, I did it. I posted everything that my stepsister had done to me with proof since I did have a few screenshots of texts between me and my ex and even some taunting texts that my step-sister had sent to me over the years to show that I wasn't lying. I posted it yesterday and my phone has been totally blowing up with notifications because of the sheer number of people who have been texting me. To my surprise, it wasn't just my relatives who reached out to me but also my steps' co-workers and some of her acquaintances had sent me texts detailing their own bad experiences with my stepsister. Apparently, she's quite the office flirt and flirts with every guy regardless of whether they're married or not.

And as if that wasn't messed up enough, she also treats other women like absolute crap and is always saying mean things about her so-called friends behind their backs. So far, I've learned that she's a flirt, a gossip, and a backstabber and the list just keeps growing. My step-sister is furious that I went public with this information and has been trying to get through to me and has made several different accounts to get me to harass me into taking my post down.

But she doesn't scare me in the slightest, so the post is still up. I'm sure she's reporting the post as well, so maybe Facebook will take it down eventually, but I for sure won't be deleting it. My mother is also mad at me and has made it a point to tell me that while she'd expected me to deal with this

like a mature and grown woman, I'd let her down and act like a complete fool. She also told me that my stepdad was very pissed off about the kind of stunts I'd been pulling off since it was affecting his reputation among his friends as well, so he wanted me to publicly apologize to everyone and delete my posts.

And if I didn't do that, they'd be forced to cut me out of their lives as well and that'd mean my entire inheritance would go to my step-sister. It's just funny that they think threatening to cut me off is going to be effective in any way whatsoever since I'm the one who blocked them first, so obviously I don't care whether or not my stepdad wants me in his life. I'll be a little disappointed about my mother cutting me off, but like I said, I've accepted that she doesn't love me as much as she adores her stepdaughter and I'm okay with it. As for the inheritance, I earn well enough to support myself and so does my husband so it's not like we're worried about the money. Moreover, when my dad passed away a few years ago, he left me with way more money than my stepdad would if so I'm not particularly worried about losing out on the inheritance quite honestly. Update 5.

Two days since I posted in holy crap, that one post ended up opening up Pandora's box. First off, my parents obviously cut me off when I told my mum. that I wasn't going to take that post down. She tried to convince me that losing my relationship with my parents wasn't worth it and that taking revenge on my stepsisters shouldn't be my sole motive. I reminded her that I hardly even had a relationship with them anymore, so I was okay with losing whatever little I had if that meant I could get back at that evil demon which led to a fight and ended with her blocking me everywhere like I'd done to her first. It stung but whatever. And then, yesterday, I got to know from my other relatives that my stepsister and my sister and

her husband were headed for divorce. I was very confused as to what exactly had changed in a night and after some digging, I found out through my cousin that apparently, one of her male co-workers who'd seen my post had decided to actually text her husband. The co-worker had sent him multiple screenshots of my stepsister trying to flirt with him and since he was already married, he was pretty uncomfortable. Obviously, this didn't go down well with my stepsister's husband. They got into a huge fight and decided to end their marriage. He's filed for divorce and single custody of their son, which is sad for the kid, but honestly, I'm happy that they're both finally being punished for whatever they'd put me through. I've obviously cut myself off from the situation entirely,

and I guess my stepsister has learned her lesson now since she's kept her mouth shut after that post. It's crazy how one decision of mine to expose my stepsister ended up ruining her marriage and quite possibly her relationship with her son as well, but I don't feel guilty about it at all. She brought this all onto herself. From what I know, she's moved back in with my parents because she's facing flack at work as well because of her behavior so she might even have to quit her job too pretty soon. I'm relieved that I hopefully won't have to deal with her and her craziness for the foreseeable future and just to ensure that I'm as far away from her as possible physically as well. My husband and I have decided to leave for our honeymoon this week itself.

We're going to go on a Europe tour and I'm super excited for what's in store for us. I'm going to put all this dramatic nonsense about my step-sister, my parents, and my family out of my head for the next few weeks and try to enjoy my life to the fullest. And hopefully, when I come back, I'll be a better and more free person with less emotional baggage. Truth be told, now that I'm finally done with my family, I feel a lot less bogged down already. I hope you enjoy this story. My mom gave me up for adoption following the death of my father and her involvement with my uncle. After many years without communication, she located me on a social networking platform, pretending to want to reconnect. I am 17-year-old female, was recently contacted by my mother

after 10 years of no contact. She put me up for adoption when I was seven years old, and thankfully, I was able to find a family willing to take me in. For the sake of clarity while I'm narrating what happened, I'm going to be referring to my biological mother as Julia and my adoptive parents as mom and dad. Julia had me with my biological father when she was probably around 20 years old, and she had to drop out of college because of me. My biological father completed his education, and they got married right after he graduated. When I was around three years old, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and he passed away shortly after I turned seven. I guess the process for giving up my custody had already started long before my biological father passed away because my mother gave me

away, and I moved in with my new family literally just one day after my dad passed away. I remember it as clearly as yesterday even today, in spite of the fact that 10 years have passed since then, just because I was so upset and confused about what was going on. I remember being told by several people that I would be just fine, that my father was in a better place and stuff, but all I wanted to do was see how he was doing. He had been pretty pretty sick, but he was always there whenever I wanted to see him. However, I wasn't allowed to even say goodbye to him after he passed away. I barely had time to register and process these things when my new family showed up the day after my dad's demise, and my mom told me that these people were going

to take care of me for a couple of days. But days turned into weeks, then into months, and eventually years. I kept waiting for my mother to reach out to me, and I remember crying a lot about this initially because I thought that my mother and my family had abandoned me. A few weeks after my mom and dad took me in, my biological grandparents came to see me, and they have been in touch with me since then. Back then, I was too young to be told the truth, but when I was around 14, they could not evade my questions anymore. I just really wanted to know what had happened with my birth mother because I was well aware of the fact that I was adopted. I just wanted to know why all of this had happened since I distinctly remember getting along well with my birth parents when I was little.

I found out the truth from my grandparents and my mom and dad eventually. Apparently, after my biological father's diagnosis with leukemia, my mother was devastated. But instead of being there for him, she started an affair with my uncle. That was horrifying in itself, but nobody even knew about it until six months before my dad's demise. Since his health had started worsening considerably at that point, my uncle was a and Julia did not think there was any point in hiding their affair anymore because she knew that she wanted to be with him. As soon as my father was out of the picture, she was getting together with him. Julia and my uncle told their parents about it, and my grandparents were obviously

disgusted with what was going on. But for my sick dad's sake, they kept their mouths shut about it. I was too young to understand, and they did not want my father finding out about any of this because he was already going through a lot as it was. Around the same time that they came clean about the affair to my grandparents, my uncle and Julia also announced that they were not willing to raise me and were considering putting me up for adoption. There was a lot of hue and cry about it, but Julia was pretty firm about what she wanted.

Apparently, she said that she had been much too young when she had me and she didn't even want to be a mother. She did not feel ready at the time, and it was only because of her parents' insistence that she had me and got married to my father. Had her parents not pressured her, she probably wouldn't have done either of those things, and her life would have been very different.

So now that my father was going to be out of the picture, she did not want me either, and she was going to put me up for adoption. It was obvious that they could not send me away as long as my father was alive, so they waited until he passed away, and after that, they allowed my mom and dad to finally take me in. Even my adoptive parents were very shocked by my situation.

but they really just wanted to adopt a child and complete their family since they had been struggling to conceive for a second time after their first pregnancy, and it was too risky for my mom anyway. I know that my parents probably wanted to adopt a much younger kid, but they told me that they hadn't heard about me from any adoption agency. It was actually one of my mom's cousins who told her about my situation since she used to be friends with Julia back then. As soon as they heard about me, they knew that they had to get me out. They didn't even care about my age and spoke to my mother in person without any agencies involved. My mother agreed to let them adopt me because even she was struggling to find someone who was willing to adopt a seven-year-old kid through the agency. They spoke to Julia four months before my dad passed away and a couple of weeks before his death. Everything had been finalized.

Even my mom and dad had believed that after my father passed away, I would probably be staying with Julia for a couple of days at least. but she sent me away literally the next day. After I found out about the truth of the situation, I was really glad that Julia had decided to put me up for adoption, and I had been lucky enough to find such wonderful parents because people mostly go for younger kids when they are adopting. I found a really wonderful family, I love my mom and dad and my older brother,

and I couldn't be happier. I also have literally four sets of grandparents, so you can imagine how spoiled I've been right from my childhood. Nobody kept in touch with my family. uncle or Julia after my dad passed away, and they were not even there for his funeral, which had been organized by my grandparents. I was there because it was a very somber situation, and I was already going through a very confusing phase, so they thought it would be better for me to settle into my new life. After finding out the truth about why I had been put up for adoption and why Julia did not

remain a part of my life, I had thought that I would feel unwanted or at least a little upset about it, but I mostly just felt relieved that I did not end up spending life with my biological mother and found my way to people who actually wanted me. I'm 17 now, starting college in a couple of months, and I barely even think about Julia or my uncle or what they have been up to. But for the past couple of days, I haven't been able to stop thinking about them because she reached out to me on Instagram to ask me if I would be willing to meet with her and mend things. I have a public account, and it's obviously not difficult to find me, but I couldn't understand why she was reaching out to me after so many years. So before I agreed to anything, I decided to ask her why

she wanted to mend things with me all of a sudden. Then she sent me a long and heartfelt message about how so much time had passed, but even now she regretted her decision to give me up and prioritize her life with my uncle instead of her commitment as a mother. She said that she knew it was not her place to demand that I come back to her as her daughter, but she at least wanted me to know that she was not all wrong here, and the only mistake that she had made was that she had committed to a lot of things when she was too young to understand the repercussions of it. There was a lot of pressure on her, and that's why she had made a lot of bad decisions, but she never regretted having me regardless of what my family might have told me. She was just not ready to be a mother, and she

wanted to make things right with me. After thinking about it, I decided to say yes because I was just curious. I did not tell my parents or my grandparents about it. I just went ahead and met her. Only after I met her did I realize that she was not asking me to meet her only because she wanted to make things right with me, she needed my help. I should have realized that earlier, but unfortunately, I have a tendency to try and see the good in everyone, even someone like Julia. We met for lunch two days ago, and initially, she seemed very warm and cordial with me. She tried to explain her side of the story, telling me that her parents insisted that she had to marry my father, drop out of college, and take care of me and stuff like that, and she just wasn't ready for any of it, but she had to do it because her parents insisted on it. She later started feeling very suffocated in her marriage, and the news of her husband's diagnosis was the last straw for her, which is why she was driven to have an affair.

She did not regret it because she believed that my uncle was the love of her life, and she was glad to find him because she has been happily married to him for the past eight years. While talking about my uncle, she started crying and told me that right now her marriage was in trouble, and that was part of the reason why she had come to me. She said that she needed my help in reconciling with her parents and not just them, but also my father's parents. After she gave me away for adoption without even telling them, they had cut her off for the last 10 years and had nothing to do with my uncle or her. Both of them had been fine with it in the

past, but for some reason, my uncle had recently started fighting with Julia a lot because he wanted to reconcile with his parents, and he knew for a fact that they would never accept him back in their lives after everything that had happened. For some reason, he was blaming Julia for it because he believed that if she hadn't been so hasty in giving me up to my adopted parents and had waited for a bit, then things wouldn't have gone so sour between all of them. So now the only solution that she could think of was to get me to talk to my grandparents and convince them to reconcile with my uncle and her, and maybe then she could save her marriage from falling apart because she and my uncle had been fighting a lot over the past couple of weeks. And she couldn't think of any

other way to deal with the situation apart from this. Honestly, there's nothing that I regret more in my life than having gone to meet that woman because clearly, she was not there to genuinely apologize to me, to offer an explanation to me, or even to make amends like she claimed. She was She was only there because her marriage was in trouble, and she thought that I could help her out. If I could, I don't think I would want to do that because she does not deserve my help after how selfish she has been. After hearing her out, I told her that her crocodile tears were not going to work on me, and I was about to leave, but she said that if I had been in her place, I would have understood

her situation better. She said that she had been forced to become a mother when she wasn't even ready to do it mentally, and in spite of that, she had tried her best to be a good mother to me. If I couldn't even see that because I was so brainwashed by my family, then that just meant I was no different from the rest of them. That just really ticked me off because so far she had only been a mother to me for six or seven years, and even then she had all the help in the world. I was pretty confident that she had not been told to drop out of college by my grandparents, that was her personal choice. They had told me several times that my mother had chosen to give birth to me, they had not insisted on anything but had only advised her to have me and then say, see where it goes. She was the one who misconstrued it as pressure from them, and if it came down

to choosing whom to trust between those two people, I would obviously pick my grandparents. So I told her that she could sell her baloney somewhere where people would be stupid enough to buy it since I was not. I told her I did not believe a word of what she was saying even though I'd been willing to give her a chance to be honest and make amends with me like she said she wanted to, but she had cheapened her apology by trying to get me to fix her relationship without even trying to do it herself first. I told her that I was not obliged to do anything for her since we did not have any relationship. She might have given birth to me, but it was my mom who had raised me, not her. Then I walked out of the restaurant and went back home. After that, once I got back

home, I realized that she had texted me, and it was a voice note of her crying. I could tell that she was still inside the restaurant because I could hear the background noise, and that's why I felt a bit guilty because I'm pretty sure you have to be really devastated to start crying like that in a public space. She was crying and saying that it was really horrible of me to say that we did not have any relation because no matter what had happened, she was still my biological mother, and I was her flesh and blood, and regardless of everything, she still considered me her daughter. But I don't know what to tell her. I really just don't consider her my mother anymore, and I don't really want to feel bad about it because I don't think it's necessary. She hasn't been my mother for. She hasn't been my

for the past 10 years. I just feel messy and conflicted because of the way she was crying on the phone, and even now I haven't been able to bring myself to block her. I don't think of her as my mother, but she's still a human being who had a connection with me. Edith, hi, so I thought it was very clear in my post that I haven't told my family about it. I don't think they would be on board with my decision to go meet Julia, and that's why I did not tell them before I made my decision. I know I owe this to them and I'm definitely going to tell them, but for now, I just wanted this to be something that I made a call on by myself. Besides, I knew that if I had told them about it, they never would have let me meet her because all of them hated her, and rightfully so. I know that for a fact. I guess I just

wanted some closure, and that's why I went to meet her in the first place. I didn't know what I was expecting, I knew that she was going to apologize, and I just wanted to talk to her one last time. I guess it's just that her reaching out to me brought up a lot of mixed emotions, and I guess I wasn't thinking straight, but whatever it is, I did go to meet her, and it's done now, and I don't think I would change my decision if I could go back in the past and do it. I needed some closure, and I got it, and I don't regret what I did. Sometimes you just have to forget about everybody else and do what you think is right. Even if it's a mistake, it's going to be your mistake, and that's what I believe.

Update 1, I finally told my family that I had gone to visit Julia, and just as I had expected, they were not happy about it in the slightest. I met her last week, and I blocked her a couple of days back after she kept relentlessly bombarding me with texts and phone calls demanding that I speak to her again and give her a chance to explain herself. I didn't know what she was going to say to me, but I didn't even want to find out anymore. I met her once and got my closure, but that's all that I needed from her, and it's not like she genuinely wanted to speak to me and make things right, she just needed my help, and I'm pretty

sure that's the reason why she's even contacting me after the fight that we had at the restaurant. Anyway, I didn't want to speak to her again, and I knew that it was about time that I told my family about our meeting as well. So I sat them all down today, my parents and all my grandparents, and I explained everything to them. My parents were obviously upset that I hadn't discussed this with them and I had just taken off without telling them who I was meeting, but they still seem to understand. It was my grandparents who were really upset with me. They scolded me a lot, and I heard them out patiently because I deserved it. I should have spoken to them first. Mostly they were just worried that my mother would have tried to brainwash me and tried to make

them look like the villain since they knew her well enough to expect it. After they were done, I told them that the only reason I had met her was because I needed some closure, and I did not expect everyone to understand immediately why I had that thought process, but it was something that I needed to do, and I did it. The only thing that I was sorry about was that I did it behind their backs, but I promised them that I would never be dishonest with them ever again, and that seemed to pacify everyone. Then we started discussing the reason why Julia had called me there and the things that she had said about my uncle wanting to reconcile with his parents and stuff. The one thing that all of us could agree on was the fact that there was definitely more to the situation than we were

being let on. If she was trying to manipulate me into getting back into the family, it meant that they were probably in trouble and needed some sort of help. Since Julia had said that her marriage was in trouble and she had definitely seemed very distressed when she was on the phone and even when she met me, my grandparents deduced that she was probably being truthful about my uncle being pissed at her. Now, whatever the truth is, we're not going to interfere because it's not our place to say anything. My grandparents were very clear about it. They said that they had stopped considering my uncle and Julia their family the day that they announced they were together while my father was still sick.

The last straw was when my mother just gave me away without even talking to them or giving them time to explain things to me. They just got lucky that my adoptive parents were kind enough to continue to allow them to be a part of my life. So long story short, I have now blocked Julia. No matter what happens after this, I'm not going to be speaking to her again. I know that she's quite desperate to talk to me since the last few messages that she sent me were begging me to talk to her and telling me that her marriage was falling apart and so was her life, and she desperately needed me right now. I felt really guilty ignoring all of that, but honestly, what does she even expect me to do?

Even if I wanted to, I really don't think that I would be able to get my grandparents to speak to her or my uncle. If I was in their place, I wouldn't want to speak to them either, so it's completely fair for me not to want to interact with her. anymore. I know that she can just make more accounts and keep trying to get to me, but it's not going to work, so I have decided that if she tries to reach out to me again, then I'm going to tell her that I'm not interested, and if she bothers me, then I'm going to report her. I did overhear my grandparents discussing potential reasons as to why my uncle would want to contact them again after so many years, and they had been speculating that maybe they were having financial trouble. Since nobody from our family has been in touch with them, we don't

really know what they've been doing. We know for a fact that they are still living here in the same city, but we don't know what they do for a living. Julia used to be a stay-at-home mom when I was living with her, but now I don't know. But one thing is for sure, if my grandparents are right and Julia and my uncle are actually trying to reconcile with my grandparents because they are in financial trouble, I will know for a fact that they don't even deserve the bare minimum respect that they receive from other people. Because it is just disgusting human behavior, reaching. Reaching, out to your daughter who you haven't spoken to in a decade so she can fix the situation with your parents just because you need money. That's literally one of the cheapest things I can imagine people

doing. And yeah, I really hope that she gets her come up and see if that's actually the case here. Update 2, hey, so she reached out to me once again today. I had blocked her everywhere about 10 days ago, and after a week passed without any sign of her reaching out to me again, I thought that she had given up, but somehow she was able to find out where I go to school, and I guess that's why we shouldn't put out our personal information on public platforms. It was a lesson learned the hard way. Anyway, when I started walking back home from school today, she showed up on my way out of absolutely nowhere, and I was pretty taken aback. It happened about a block away from school, and I don't live very far from my school, so I usually just walk home, but she showed up in her

car and started yelling at me to get in. I told her I was not going to get into her car because I did not trust her, and I said that if she insisted or tried to create drama, then I would start screaming right there in the middle of the street, and then she would be done for. She just told me she was not here to fight with me or bother me, she just wanted to talk to me, and she did not even care if I was not going to help her to reconcile with her parents. She just wanted to speak to me and reconcile with me at the very least. She claimed that everything had gone wrong the last time that we met, and she just wanted to make up for everything. She knew that I was going to misconstrue everything that she was saying is fake and think that she was putting up an act, but she wanted to tell me that that was

not the case, that she really would love to make things right with me. I could literally hear how desperate she was in her voice, and I don't know why. I know I should have felt bad for her, but I just felt annoyed. So I told her to leave me alone, I did not want anything to do with her, and that's when her true colors started showing again. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for not falling for her act the first time around since she was pretty good at pretending that she was sorry and she really wanted to make things right with me. Anyway, as soon as I told her to leave me alone, I guess I had a bit of a tone, and she completely freaked out at me because of it. She started cursing at me and said that she was trying really hard to talk to me politely, but if I was going to be like this,

then she was going to make sure that she screwed up my life. The woman literally started threatening me, saying I had better watch my back and stuff now, but I just found it very amusing because what was she even going to do anyway? I just continued to walk while she cursed at me, and eventually she just drove off after flipping me off. I was so relieved. Once I got back home, I told my parents about it, and once again everyone gathered around to discuss what was going to be done. Since she has threatened me, we have grounds for a restraining order, so we are guessing that we are probably going to go that way, and I don't have an issue with it. I would actually prefer that so that she cannot bother me again and again. Update three so a couple of days ago, my parents filed for a

restraining order against Julia, and after she was served, that's when my uncle decided to reach out to his parents finally, and just like they had predicted, it was obviously because of my parents. money. They had been running a confectionery together for the past couple of years, but it has not been doing well for the last few years, so they were in desperate need of money. They knew that if they reached out to their parents directly, it would not work, and that's why they came up with this whole act. But unfortunately, Julia lost patience with me, and it screwed everything up for them, so who knows, they might even get divorced because of this, and I'll be the happiest person if that happens. My uncle is still trying to suck up to his parents, trying to get them to give him

some money and keep saying that he has nothing to do with the way Julia behaved with me, but as their only son, he deserves to get some help from them. Julia, on the other hand, is taking a very strange approach and has decided to be as nasty as she possibly can to her parents and me, and has been talking crap about us online without any fear of the consequences. All that's doing is making our case stronger, so I hope she continues. We are pretty positive that we are going to be able to get the restraining order against her because it's pretty obvious that she is unhinged now. I don't even know why she's fighting it because the other day she made it pretty clear that she wants nothing to do with me anyway. It doesn't matter in the first place because I'm going to be leaving for college in the fall, and I don't think it's going to be likely for her to show up there since she's struggling with money.

Regardless of whatever happens, my parents and my family are always going to be by my side, so I don't really think that I have anything to worry about. You.