While there are many who believe that a family is supposed to get through any rough situation together, some families will find that there are limits to what they’re willing to forgive after somebody they love reveals what they’ve done.
And while the darkest of these situations can see one member of a family endangering the safety of another, others can consider it just as unforgivable if someone isn’t faithful to their loved ones.
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However, that family drama gets even more complicated when somebody who was romantically involved with one member of a given family ends up starting a relationship with that person’s relative.
For many, this would sound like the kind of bizarre interpersonal mess they’d see back when The Jerry Springer Show was on. But one’s man’s story shows that it’s easier for such relationships to happen than you might think when grief is added into the mix.
And now, he’s wondering how to deal with his family’s new attempts to make amends.
Three years after the man we’ll soon hear from learned of the death of his brother, he moved back to his home town from another state.
And as he explained in a Reddit post , it wasn’t long after this that he met his brother’s fiancée Mia at a friend’s birthday party. They became fast friends, but within months of their meeting, both came to realize they had more romantic feelings for each other than expected.
Although they initially kept this secret, they would reveal their love after another six months passed.
Their family didn’t approve and his mother wouldn’t speak to them for a time, but their feelings turned from disappointment to rage when Mia became pregnant seven months later.
His sister was particularly vicious and publicly accused Mia of cheating on the brother with the man before his passing.
As the man said, “None of it was true obviously. I never would’ve done something that awful to my own brother. There’s also the fact that we didn’t even live in the same state.”
Nonetheless, both the man and Mia’s families turned on them and his mother declared she had no son.
This led the couple to cut contact with everyone and move to another town, where the man says they are happily married with a three-year-old son and another child on the way.
However, recent times have seen the family attempt to make amends with the couple as his mom and sister apologized for what their grief led them to do.
Although the man understood, he said that reconciling would depend on them publicly admitting they had lied about they rumors they spread as the perception of Mia as a cheater would still persist in their town.
Both said they are too ashamed and embarrassed to do this and the family is on their side.
In the man’s words, “My dad keeps asking how heartless am I to want to make them humiliate themselves to all the people.”
As such, the man’s asking whether his request to quell the rumors is unreasonable and as you might have guessed, his story has been the subject of some intense debate on Reddit.
For the most part, people agree that the family shouldn’t have lied (especially not publicly), but commenters seem split on whether the man and Mia deserve such an apology.
For those who accept that he and Mia simply bonded over shared trauma, it seemed like the family is unwilling to truly accept the consequences of their actions.
As one user put it , “They made the mess by spreading lies, they need to clarify what the truth is. If they slandered you publicly, they apologize publicly.”
However, others can’t get past the fact that he started a relationship with the woman who would have been his fallen brother’s fiancée and aren’t any more impressed with Mia.
As far as many of these commenters are concerned, they should feel lucky that the family wants to speak to them at all.
As one person in this camp said , “There’s 7.9 billion human beings on this earth, and you chose your deceased brother’s fiancé??? No wonder your family reacted the way they did.”
That said, those who think the family should publicly apologize and set the record straight seem to outnumber the man’s detractors.
h/t: Reddit | stillunsureabout
