When this 39-year-old man was just 16 years old, both of his parents passed away. So, ever since then, he has been the main caretaker for his younger brother, Justin, who is now 33.
And because his brother was just 10 years old at the time of the loss, he became responsible for running their household. He claimed that Justin was the apple of his eye, and he did everything for his younger brother.
In hindsight, he realizes that he might have spoiled Justin. He was the breadwinner for both of them, which meant he never got to date a lot.
Well, that was until he met a woman named Melissa about 10 years ago. After meeting his girlfriend, they really hit it off and dated for two years.
Everything seemed to be going great after their second anniversary, too, and he knew that his brother also loved his girlfriend.
But then, one day, he eavesdropped on a conversation that Melissa was having with one of her friends and found out that, basically, his entire relationship had been a lie.
It all began when Melissa’s friend started asking her about him. And in the beginning, his girlfriend claimed to love him a lot and said she appreciated that he took care of her in every single way.
However, things turned ugly right afterward. Melissa went on to admit how she thought he was pretty average when it came to hooking up.
This prompted Melissa’s friend to ask if she planned to talk to him about that or even just how she was unhappy in the relationship. And at that point, his girlfriend admitted that she was really just fixated on his brother, Justin.
“She went on to explain how she and Justin had been having an affair for eight months. And she thought it was justified because she thought Justin was better in bed than I was,” he revealed.
“You can imagine how painful it was for me. I went inside the house pretending I didn’t hear a thing.”
While he might have played it off in front of Melissa, though, he did confront his brother Justin about it.
At first, Justin tried to just deny the whole thing. But later, his brother eventually broke down and admitted that the affair was true.
Apparently, his brother never told him out of fear that he would get hurt. However, once the secret was out, Justin claimed that he and Melissa were in love and even wanted to get married. But Melissa just did not want to leave him behind.
If you could not have guessed, he was absolutely furious and wanted to beat his brother right then and there. However, he simply claimed that Justin was dead to him, left, and kicked Melissa out of the house.
So, she went to stay with Justin. And since his brother kept banging on his door constantly after the news came out, he was forced to move in with a friend and tell everyone not to share his address with his brother.
After that, Justin just kept calling and emailing him, and all of the messages were the same.
Justin claimed that he was sorry and that his getting hurt was never intended. His brother also said he would break up with Melissa.
“But I stopped the bank account– something like a trust fund– that I had made for Justin that he could access when he was 25. He was not my brother anymore,” he recalled.
Then, once the smoke of shock and anger cleared, he sadly plunged into a deep depression. He was not sleeping or eating, and he would have horrible nightmares of his brother and ex-girlfriend laughing at him about being bad between the sheets.
His depression even got so bad that one night, he went to the train tracks with plans to take his own life. But thankfully, a couple of his friends saved him. And while he did not have a big social circle at the time, those friends were his rock throughout his recovery.
He stayed with those friends for about a year while going to therapy. He also enrolled in group sessions.
At the same time, he tried to get back into dating– which didn’t really work out. Nonetheless, other areas of his life started to improve.
“I focused more on building new relationships with new people. I went to travel and explore more hobbies. I was living for myself,” he recalled.
And now, he has been in a relationship with a 32-year-old woman named Wendy for three years. They are also engaged and are expecting a child together.
He detailed how Wendy is a really great person. She knows everything about his struggles and insecurities due to his brother and has been really patient and mature with him.
But, after learning to trust again and trying to move on from what his brother did to him, he was recently reminded of his brother’s affair again.
Out of nowhere, he received an invitation in the mail postmarked from his brother. And it wound up being an invite to Justin and his ex-girlfriend Melissa’s wedding.
Perhaps shockingly, though, seeing both of their names on the invitation did not hurt him as much as it once would have.
“I feel numb. If it was eight years ago, I would have had a meltdown,” he explained.
“But I still feel this pain that I cannot be happy for my brother’s big day.”
So, his fiancée suggested that they just get rid of the invite and don’t go to the wedding. Still, ever since receiving it in the mail, he’s been left wondering what to do.
Can you imagine finding out that your partner and sibling were having an affair? How would you have felt in that horrible situation? Does it sound like he is finally in a better place following that traumatic experience? Should he risk his mental health by going to his brother’s wedding?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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By Katharina Buczek
Katharina Buczek graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Digital Arts. Specializing in... More about Katharina Buczek
