Man Reunites with Old Flame at High School Reunion, Finds Out He's the One That Broke Her Heart After Years of Believing He Cheated

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Ely Bulnes • Writer and Editor
Oct 23, 2024 4:00 PM EDT

Welcome, internet-surfin' sisters. Have you ever seen the old 1950s Japanese film Rashomon by Akira Kurozawa? The film visits a particular dramatic event three times from the perspective of a different person; each one has a different version of the event that took place. The audience never gets a clear answer concerning what happened or who was lying, and the moral is that ultimately, truth is relative. The film sparked the popularization of the plot device called The Rashomon Effect, wherein multiple characters provide conflicting narratives of the same event, such as in Hoodwinked (2005), Clue, (1985) and Knives Out (2019). 

Memory in the real world is just as fickle; I'm sure we have all attempted to reminisce with old friends about some high school tomfoolery - only to be corrected by someone who was sure that it happened differently. In our story today, a man who has felt strongly in his convictions against his high school sweetheart for decades finally gets the chance to confront her at their high school reunion. However, instead of apologizing for her misdeeds, she shares her side of the story, and when he does not believe her, she pulls out physical receipts. Get all the juicy details below. 

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  • 01
    r/ r/offmychest u/dukesofhazardlights • 2d Piping hot family tea that I'm dyinggg to share
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 02
    This is just too good to keep in. I can't tell anyone in my family... so naturally, I'm telling internet strangers lol. Bear with me on the long back story, it is totally worth it. This hot tea special is centered on my dad, Steve (69m). For context, my family lives in the Midwestern US. My dad was born on the west coast, and graduated high school in 1974.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 03
    When my sister (39f) and I (37f) were growing up, dad had a tattoo of a woman's name on his arm. We used to ask him who Susan was, because that's not our mom's name. The only thing he would ever say was that she was an old high school girlfriend, and if we tried to inquire further he'd get kinda weird and shut down, and mom would swoop in to change the subject. Once sis and I were in our late teens, our mom gave us the real story on Susan. Apparently Susan and Dad were high school sweethearts.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 04
    About a year or two after they'd graduated high school, Dad came home and found Susan in bed with some firefighter. Naturally, it totally wrecked him and I guess he had trouble relaying the full story to Mom even after they were married. My sister and I made sure to never mention Susan to my dad again, but we could tell that mom was bothered by the tattoo (Dad got it covered up eventually).
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 05
    Fast forward to 2023... My parents' marriage had lasted almost 40 years, but after years of counseling and trying to make things work, they ended up divorcing. Sis and I were honestly relieved, because it was exhausting trying to ignore the elephant in the room for so long. Now that they aren't together, our parents are living their best lives and figuring out who they are outside of each other.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 06
    Now to June 2024. Dad decides to go to his 50th high school reunion... (you can see where this is going, right?) He sends sis and me a bunch of pictures of him with his old buddies, and he genuinely seems to be enjoying himself. Well shocker, Susan shows up to the reunion also. He sees her and keeps his distance, but she seems to be lingering nearby to talk to him. Later in the evening after everyone has had a few drinks, she sits down next to him. He is more loosened up at this point and is exp
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 07
    Eventually he turns to her and says, "Are you seriously going to talk to me and act like everything ended on a friendly note for us? Like you didn't do anything wrong?" Totally shocked, she looks at him and says, "What are you talking about?"
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 08
    "You cheated on me! I came home and you were that firefighter guy!" When she could finally put words together, she replies, "What are you talking about, Steve?"
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 09
    And my dad just stares at her, incredulous. She had totally blocked out what had happened. He shakes his head and is about to get up when Susan says, "Steven, that never happened. You broke up with me. You wanted to leave the coast for a while, and said that I deserved to be with someone who would cherish me and treat me like I deserved. You didn't think you were good enough for me... You broke my heart."
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 10
    Dad is getting more and more heated the longer Susan talks, because the audacity~. He goes to interrupt her and she doubles down, finally saying, "You wrote me a letter, before you left. You wrote me a letter saying how sorry you were that you couldn't be the man I deserved." Dad is sitting there, utterly flabbergasted by this woman's sheer gall. And then Susan reaches into her purse, and PULLS OUT THE LETTER.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 11
    And it is legit (his handwriting)!! Not only had she kept his letter for 50 years, homegirl brought it with her to the reunion in hopes that she might see him there. She then proceeds to tell my dad that she has only ever loved two men in her life... Her late husband (who was a retired firefighter), and my dad. That's it.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 12
    What I can't wrap my head around is how my dad got it SO wrong for so many years. Also, how did he forget that he wrote Susan a letter? My sister is the one he told about the whole reunion conversation and drama (she is closer to dad) and she swore me to secrecy. We think that maybe he was embarrassed about having someone's name
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 13
    tattooed on him, so he made up a sob story to make my mom feel less insecure about the tattoo's existence. Maybe he told the lie enough that he started believing it himself, and convinced himself that it was what really happened? And he had known Susan went on to marry a firefighter and somehow incorporated that into his narrative? It's all just so wild.
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 14
    So after that illuminating revelation at the reunion, Dad and Susan made their peace with each other. They have been talking a lot since then, and are now kinda dating. He has gone to visit her twice since the reunion. If the selective memory thing wasn't so messed up, it would almost be romantic. I don't dare say anything to our mom about this. Even though they're divorced, I still think it would crush her to know the truth. I worry that she would think Dad always harbored feelings for Susan, a
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 15
    Anways... Thanks for reading! I have been wanting to share this for months, and even though I think it would make a great tiktok video, I am too paranoid to make one in case my friends or other family members would come across it on my page (even though none of them are on tiktok). ETA: letter handwriting clarification 3,464 136 906
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 16
    Comprehensive_Soup30 • 2d this was worth every second. thank you for sharing ... Reply 2.1k
    via u/Comprehensive_Soup30
  • 17
    Elly_Fant628. 1d Both things could sort of be true. Dad wants to leave, for the coast. He does, but comes back quite soon expecting Susan to be waiting for him. He walks in to find her in bed with the firefighter. Leaves. Writes her a passive aggressive letter saying he couldn't be the man she deserved and "sorry" about that. She didn't think she'd been unfaithful, she thought she'd been dumped when he left for the coast so moved on to the firefighter she later married. But yes, the whole thing
    via u/Elly_Fant628
  • 18
    dukesofhazardlights OP. 1d I hadn't even thought about it from perspective! ... 451
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 19
    dominiqlane. 1d That makes sense, considering her late husband is coincidentally a firefighter, just like the guy she "cheated" with. 357
    via u/dominiqlane
  • 20
    Jondo_Baggins • 1d Another possibility: maybe he DID write the letter, immediately regretted, went to talk it out, and did find her in bed with a firefighter (how did he know the dude was a firefighter, though!?). So, perhaps they were broken up in her mind, but not in his!? ... 171
    via u/Jondo_Baggins
  • 21
    Princess Picklebricks • 1d That's exactly the angle I was thinking of. If dad forgot completely about the letter, he probably wouldn't remember when he left it. He might have wrote it and broke Susan's heart, and in turn Susan has a fling with a firefighter that eventually turned to love, but dad comes back to grab a few things or talk about the letter, and believes in his heart she was cheating because to him things weren't 'officially' ended.
    via u/PrincessPicklebricks
  • 22
    Either way, it sounds like they've both moved on from it and I hope they get to enjoy each other's company from here on out. All I can think is tattoo removal has been around for decades now, and he left a woman's name on his arm because she never truly left his heart or mind. 100
    via u/PrincessPicklebricks
  • 23
    Oranges007. 1d I wonder how much time was in between their breaking up and the letter to when Susan found her husband. Reply 258
    via u/Oranges007
  • 24
    Plastic-Passenger-59. 1d Honestly....he could've found out she started seeing the firefighter and reworked his memories to make her a cheater so he didn't have to face reality. That's crazy either way Reply 226
    via u/Plastic-Passenger-59
  • 25
    lamannabanana • 1d . Sounds like what my mom did. My sibling and I (and dad, obviously) have clear memories of all her antics having an affair with a coworker, followed by dad forgiving her and then her starting up the affair again and dad calling it quits. Though to hear mom tell it, dad left out of the blue with no provocation. 62
    via u/lamannabanana
  • 26
    Little_birds_mommy ⚫ 1d • Life and relationships are so crazy... yeah, your mom can NEVER know. Imagine giving 40 years of your life to a man who always loved another woman, but taking comfort that she hurt him, and then finding that histories got fuzzy and they're back together. FUUUUU, that's too much therapy. ... Reply 51
    via u/Little_birds_mommy
  • 27
    dukesofhazardlights OP 1d I just don't even know how to dissect any of it. Other people have suggested some hypothetical scenarios/explanations and those make sense too! Not sure if Susan or Dad (or both) are just ignorant, or narcissistic, or overall duplicitous...
    via u/dukesofhazardlights
  • 28
    I can say with 100% conviction that my dad truly did love my mom, regardless of any lingering feelings he may or may not have still had toward Susan. Marriage is never easy, but it was clear in their actions and countenances how very much in love my parents were. Their major problems started at about the 30 year mark because of other life things. So at the very least, I can take solace in the fact that their getting married was a decision that Dad very much wanted. 32
    via u/dukesofhazardlights

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long term relationship family drama marriage spill the tea married with children reddit story relationships shocking cheating couples dad love high school reddit thread Reddit Father
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