Whether or not we want to admit it, we've likely all been hurt badly enough by someone that we either imagined what we would say to them, how we would take revenge on them, or how they would come to their senses and apologize to us, if we ever saw them again.
But unfortunately or not, most of us don't get the opportunity to get closure with the people who hurt us the most, empathized the "Am I the A**hole?" (AITAH) subReddit.
More than two decades after his fiancée cheated on him and got pregnant with another man's child, Redditor SpecificDirector1785 felt like he had the perfect opportunity for revenge.
But considering the implications of the whole situation, even the Original Poster (OP) knew that he was in the wrong for using the opportunity to his advantage.
He asked the sub:
"AITAH... Who am I kidding, I am definitely the AH for sleeping with my ex-fiancé's affair baby 23 years later."
The OP's world fell apart in the months leading up to his wedding day.
"About 24 years ago, my (now 45 Male) then-fiancée, Ella (then 20), told me she was pregnant."
"I was over the moon. We did not set a wedding date yet, but now we wanted to wait until the child was two or three to be part of the wedding party."
"When she was about seven months pregnant, my world shattered."
"A 'friend' named Luke told me that the child was his and not mine. This led to a physical fight, and Ella took his side."
"We were done. I broke up with her right there. She moved in with Luke."
"I did demand a paternity test. If the child was mine, I demanded to be in their life. After the birth of the girl, the test was done twice, first by a clinic I chose and then by one she chose. It turned out she was not mine."
"I was destroyed and left town. She could have her life, but I didn't want to witness it or be present."
Much later, the OP met his ex's incredibly bitter daughter.
"A month ago, my work brought me back to my hometown temporarily for two weeks."
"I ran into Ella with her daughter, Nicky (23), at an impromptu school reunion."
"Ella wanted to catch up. I wasn't angry anymore, but I also did not see the point of being friends. I declined and mingled. After a while, I sat at a table alone, sipping on a drink."
"Ella had already left the event, and so then Nicky sat at my table. She asked for 10 minutes to talk."
"She knew about my history with her mother. And it was clear that she resented her mother."
"As it turned out... Luke was also not her biological dad. Ella cheated on me with at least two people. Nicky had her suspicions, so she completed a 23andme profile, and it revealed who the real bio dad was, but he had sadly passed away already."
"When Nicky was seven, Luke found out and kicked them out. And it became a scandal. Nicky was bullied her whole life for being a disgusting affair baby. Luke's family disowned her. All the cousins she was close with were gone all of a sudden."
"She blamed her mother for all of it."
"I asked her why she told me all of this."
"She said that I am someone who would understand this betrayal. And she is a product of that betrayal. She said she did not expect anything from me, she just needed someone to talk to who would understand."
The OP began to develop a relationship of sorts with Nicky.
"I felt for this kid, so we kept talking. We exchanged contact info and went our own ways."
"The next day, she wanted to talk more and to vent more. So we met in the bar of the hotel where I was staying."
"We had drinks and she ranted about her life. We talked until late, and when the bar closed, Nicky was too drunk to drive home, and since I didn't know where she lived, I couldn't even get her an Uber."
"So I took her to my room. I have the habit of always getting a room with twin beds. So she slept in one bed and I slept in the other. Nothing happened. The next morning, we had breakfast and she left while I went to work."
"For a few nights, I met Nicky in the bar because she had a lot to rant about. We also talked about her future and she expressed an interest in moving out of town to escape the stigma of being the affair baby."
But then the OP saw an opportunity.
"Here is where I am the a**hole: I made a move on her one night."
"At first, she walked away. I thought I blew it, so I went up to my room."
"An hour later, she sent me a text asking if I was in my room. As soon as I answered with yes, she knocked on the door."
"I was sober, she was sober, I had time to think, and I could have sent her away, but I didn't."
"This is the daughter of my ex-fiancé. If I had never found out Ella cheated, I would have raised Nicky as my own daughter. But I found out that Nicky is not my daughter, I never saw her as a baby, never saw her grow up, I never saw her as a daughter, the first time I saw her was a week ago."
"So yes I slept with her, and then again."
"Nicky is more vengeful than I am. She said she wanted to let her mother know, but she wasn't going to do it if I didn't want to."
"I was okay with letting her know. It took a little time to think of how we would let her know."
"We took a picture together, clearly in bed, clearly naked but covered by sheets, and she sent it as a one-time view picture to her mother via Instagram message with the caption, 'I can finally call him Daddy.'"
This led to a massive argument.
"Ella called, and they got in a fight."
"Then she got in a fight with me (still over the phone). I thought I was over the betrayal, but it seemed like I had bottled up everything and now it finally came out."
"I had four more days there, and Nicky stayed in my hotel room those four days."
"Now I'm back home. Nicky is currently packing everything, and she is going to move to another country to be away from her toxic environment. She will stay with me for a week, maybe more, before she flies away."
"She has gone no contact with her mother. I have also blocked Ella on everything."
"Yes, Nicky and I are both broken. I refused therapy for years, but after that one outburst where I told Ella everything that was bottled up, I decided that I do need therapy. I have suggested it to Nicky, she said when she is settled she will."
"I'm not even going to ask if I'm the a**hole, I know I am."
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You're the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some Redditors were shocked over the "Daddy" comment.
"'I can finally call him Daddy.'"
"I have earned myself a special spot in the Bad Place for the guffaw I just guffed." - whitrva
"I laughed way harder at 'I can finally call him Daddy,' than I should have. That being said, respect to her, because that is cold as f**k." - 306ughmyknees
"I'm trying to think of a way I can get that line into my everyday life, but I'm struggling." - ash894
"When I read, 'I can finally call him Daddy,' I straight-up yelled, 'HOLY F**KING S**T.'" - NarrMaster
"I was reading this in the bath, and when I got to the 'Daddy' part, my jaw dropped and I almost drowned." - Spiderjello
Others were super grossed out by certain aspects of the story.
"I mean, she's clearly very vulnerable, and he took advantage of that by making the first move on this girl that could've possibly been his daughter at one point. It just reflects really badly on his character."
"And it's for 'revenge,' too. It's just gross." - marigoldCorpse
"He kept talking about how close he was to being her father and even said, 'I felt sorry for this KID,' and then still slept with her. Ew ew ew." - Opera_haus_blues
"Yeah, you're a total creep, OP. YTA." - AdCorrect4921
"YTA, but you also sound like a loser, no offense. 24 years later, Ella is still on your mind? Like, you needed to hurt her after 24 years?"
"Yeah. You definitely need therapy because there's no way I would still give a f**k about an ex from when I was in my early 20s enough to bother with any sort of revenge."
"Grow up because you look lame as h**l. And stay single until you do grow up." - sydjax
"Eww. Never have I ever wished I didn't read a Reddit post as much as I do right now." - AcceptableAthlete126
The subReddit was incredibly divided on this one, leaving some totally grossed out and others questioning what was so wrong with it.
Technically, since the OP was not in Nicky's life until this work trip, there was no grooming involved, but there was still a massive age gap and the issue of how they were all socially connected through the OP's almost-marriage.
Hopefully, the OP and Nicky got what they wanted from this experience and would be able to get the therapy and new experiences they needed to move on.
Hopefully, this would be the wake-up call to Ella that she needed about how actions have consequences, including how much those actions can hurt other people, even over multiple decades.















Humiliated Redditor Ditches Friend's Birthday After She Publicly Mocks Them In Front Of Everyone
Fake people tend to show their true colors during pivotal moments, like weddings and major celebrations.
But when they want an audience to hurt someone else, it takes total sense that they would be called out in front of everyone, as agreed by members of the "Am I Overreacting?" (AIO) subreddit.
Redditor HollyyGinger went to their close friend's birthday party, expecting to have a good time and celebrate their loved one's special day.
But when their close friend made several mocking comments about them, and the party laughed along with them, the Original Poster (OP) took that as an indication of the state of their friendship and left the birthday party early.
They asked the sub:
The OP was excited to celebrate their close friend's birthday.
"One of my close friends had a birthday dinner last weekend, and I was genuinely excited to go."
"I helped her organize a few things beforehand, bought her a gift, and even rearranged some plans because I wanted to be there for her."
But the birthday dinner did not go at all how the OP expected.
"During dinner, though, she started making little jokes about me in front of everyone."
"At first, I laughed along because I didn't want to make things awkward on her birthday."
"But she kept going. She joked about dating life, brought up an embarrassing story I had told her privately, and made another comment about how I'm ''way too sensitive' sometimes."
"People were laughing, and I tried to act like it didn't bother me, but honestly, I felt pretty humiliated."
The OP tried to ask their friend to change the direction of the rest of the party.
"I quietly asked her when we were alone if she could stop making me the joke of the evening."
"She rolled her eyes and said I was taking everything too seriously and that everyone knew she was joking."
"I went back to the table for a while because I really didn't want to ruin her birthday."
"But then she made another joke about me, so I decided I'd had enough. I congratulated her again, said goodbye to everyone, and went home without making a scene."
The OP's friend tried to blame them for how the evening turned out.
"The next morning, she texted me, saying she was hurt that I left early and that several people noticed."
"She said that I made her feel like she had done something horrible when she was 'just having fun.' But her having fun was more of a public embarrassment to me."
"Now I feel guilty, because it was her birthday, and maybe I could have just ignored it for another hour or two."
"I wasn't trying to punish her or make the night about me. I just didn't want to sit there smiling while someone I trusted kept embarrassing me after I had specifically asked her to stop."
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
Some reassured the OP that she didn't have to stay at a party where she didn't feel welcome.
"She was having fun. You were not having fun."
"You’re not overreacting. You told her it was hurting you, and she kept doing it because hurting you was entertaining for her. She is not a good friend." - Dunquinn-
"I remember when I was really little, a bunch of adults were laughing at me as I cried."
"I cried to my mom, 'Stop laughing at me,' to which she replied, 'We aren’t laughing at you; we're laughing with you,' while giggling."
"My response was something I stand by to this day: 'Then why am I the only one crying?!'"
"It’s only funny if the person who’s being teased is laughing too. You weren’t laughing. It wasn’t funny; it was cruel. NOR." - XSmartypants
"She’s a bully. It wasn’t 'more like 'it was publicly embarrassing. It WAS publicly embarrassing."
"Then she tells you that SHE is embarrassed because YOU left early. That's bulls**t."
"NOR. Drop her." - WTH_JFG
"NOR. They make jokes about someone's privacy to humiliate that person. Anyone who would use info that was shared in confidence to get a laugh is an abuser. You don't do that, especially to a close friend, without the intent to hurt that person." - BungenessKrabb
"Would it have been fun if you did the same? Start telling her darkest secrets?"
"She made you into a punchline for other people’s entertainment."
"You told her to stop, and she didn’t; now she’s the victim?"
"NOR."
"But also, some people need to feel it to believe it. I hope you go to the next gathering with a few stories of your own and don’t let her rewrite the narrative." - beached_not_broken
"I’ve had it happen by my 'best friend' at the time, only it was in a professional setting event. Very personal details only she knew, all spilled for her amusement, embarrassing me in front of colleagues."
"NOR, OP. As you did, I left the gathering earlier than expected. My 'friend' called the next day asking why I left so early. I told her what she had said and done and how humiliated I felt."
"Her 'apology' was that flippant version that shows no remorse, like, 'Well, I’m sorry you feel that way.'"
"Over the subsequent years, she managed to alienate and burn bridges with most of those same people we were gathered with."
"I’m sorry this happened to you, OP. Anyone who thinks you were 'too sensitive' has no empathy and 'friends' like that don’t deserve your time." - Hungry_Tank9182
"NOR. She was being a jerk to you, and she was expecting you to just take it and not say anything or defend yourself."
"Because they think it's sooo funny to mock others, but I bet if the roles were reversed, she would be offended and upset."
"Honestly, you deserve better friends. I'm sorry you had to deal with this."
"I would've left and blocked her." - Cryslove
Others urged the OP to stop thinking about the event and let that friendship go.
"That was the point of her fun! Humiliating you with an audience!"
"Sharing something deeply personal, told in confidence? Immediate dealbreaker."
"She is not (and likely never was) your friend. Friends do not treat friends with such disrespect. Block her, and go no contact. She brings nothing good to your life, and she’s not worthy of your energy and time."
"NOR." - MizPeachyKeen
"It’s called bullying. She is not your friend. Friends don’t humiliate their true friends, or tell them 'they are too sensitive.'"
"That is what bullies do. She keeps you around to put you down and make herself look or feel better."
"Her actions, attitude, and behavior are those of an immature high schooler. She could actually be jealous of you and not want one or all of the following: you to succeed, have more friends, feel better about yourself, look better, etc."
"Please slowly distance yourself, find new hobbies and activities with more mature, well-rounded, healthy people." - Freeling_Fab_U_lous
"How DARE you spoil her fun; didn't you know that part of your gift was letting her make you the butt of her jokes? (sarcastic comment)"
"What an awful person. No one should need to put others down to raise themselves up. She doesn't deserve the title of friend, to be honest. You showed much more grace than I would have managed." - tphatmcgee
"She was using you as her punching bag to make the others attending laugh. Probably thinking you’d just take it. That’s not a good friend. NOR." - Additional-Start9455
"'Someone I trusted kept embarrassing me after I asked them to stop.' NOR."
"First, you shouldn't have had to ask her to stop because a friend wouldn't have started in the first place. One of her 'jokes' was about you being sensitive, so she knew you didn't like it and did it anyway."
"Second, you asked her privately to stop, because you didn't want to embarrass her. Think about that. You didn't want to embarrass her. But she couldn't show you the same consideration, even after being asked to stop."
"That's not how I treat my friends, and I suspect that's not how you treat your friends, either." - calminthedark
"I would have answered her text that she's a s**tty friend and to f**k off. You have class."
"I probably would have made a comment at dinner that I asked her to stop with the insults."
"NOR. You did everything right." - Particular-King218
The subReddit was disappointed on the OP's behalf that a friendship they were so committed to, they were excited to celebrate their friend's birthday and even helped plan the event, came apart at their expense, and on very public terms.
If the friend didn't want to be "embarrassed," maybe she should have thought about how she was embarrassing others first.