'My Boyfriend Is Cheating On Me With An 18-Year-Old & I Don't Know How To Respond'
He's 36.
Nadya Lukic / Shutterstock A woman on Reddit shared how she found out that her 36-year-old boyfriend was cheating on her with an 18-year-old girl and asked for advice on how to handle it.
The woman took to the subreddit r/TrueOffMyChest to share her experience throughout the saga. The subreddit serves as a place for users to speak their mind on personal issues that are bothering them, getting something off their chest, in other words.
The story began when she was with her boyfriend soon after he returned home from a work trip. Everything seemed to be going well until he passed her his phone and a text message came through.
The text said, “I miss you, babe.”
The woman was too stunned to do or say anything about it at the moment. Later that night, she went through his phone and discovered a long series of texts with the teenager, whom he had previously said was the daughter of a family friend.
“He mentioned how much he missed her, how much he wanted her and how much loving he needed when he got back,” the woman said. “All the while he is telling me how much he loves me and wants a future with me. I'm devastated.”
While heartbroken, she didn’t feel comfortable confronting her boyfriend then, so she decided to gather more information. She took screenshots of the messages and tracked down the girl's parents on social media, but she did not tell them either.
The nature of the messages also appeared concerning and slightly predatory in nature.
“Based on the conversation she's got some self-esteem issues and he comes across as a creep,” the woman said.
“Example: he tells her that she is too young and he doesn't think she is ready for the ride even though he's all about her. Her response is that she likes he has his life put together and that she will do anything for him- his response: ‘I want you and hope you know you're mine now.’”
She isn’t sure exactly how long the conversation has gone on, as the texts only date back a week due to him deleting them.
She is afraid to speak up out of fear of retaliation.
“He's going to get very angry as his image is important to him and this coming out would damage it,” the woman wrote. “He knows where I work, where I live and that I'm alone. I'm getting out, and have to do it carefully because once he finds out that I outed him, he will retaliate.”
In the final edit on the post, she shares how she finally brought the issue to him. She showed up to his house and knocked on the door to find him and the girl together. He closed the door in her face and she walked away, ending the relationship for good.
The woman says that, while she does not have any family around, her strong friend group will be able to keep her going. She concludes by lamenting how she didn’t notice the signs earlier.
Some commenters weighed in on the situation with their own advice. However, most of them simply offered their condolences to the woman for going through such a horrible situation.
"I'm so sorry this happened to you, that's awful,” one commenter said. “I will never understand cheaters or how they can live with themselves.”
Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. Follow him on Twitter to keep up with his content.