Sometimes, people believe they truly know the person they love, only to uncover shocking truths that change everything. This collection shares real-life stories of people who faced unsettling revelations about someone they trusted deeply. From small red flags to chilling discoveries, these short stories reveal how even the closest relationships can hide unexpected secrets.
Story 1
My ex has very low self-confidence, and he tries so hard to be someone he’s not. He talks arrogantly and is a liar. He doesn’t know that I know he has a Yahoo Answers account where he pours his heart out in the dating section. He always says it’s the women’s fault that they cannot handle his attractiveness.
There are about 50 posts about each woman he tried so hard to have a relationship with but failed. He won’t accept the truth that he’s the one with emotional issues.
(Source: © jaxpica / Reddit)
Story 2
When we married, my wife wanted my daughter’s dog gone. I refused—it helped her cope with her mom’s death. My wife said, “So you chose a dog over me?!” We had a big fight and she left. She moved out that evening.
Two days later, the dog vanished. That same night, my child received a box. She found it on the porch, wrapped in nice gift paper with her name on it. She suddenly started screaming. Inside was her dog’s red collar, along with a note: “Your dad made a big mistake.”
I immediately called my wife, and she admitted to taking the dog to a shelter. I begged her for the name, but she refused. It wasn’t until I threatened her with divorce that she finally gave it to me. I rushed to the shelter, found the dog, and brought him home.
But there was no way I was staying married to that woman for another day. I filed for divorce immediately. Never had I imagined she could be so cruel. She had always seemed kind and compassionate, but maybe I had married too quickly to truly see who she was.
Story 3
I made him a surprise and bought him some gym shorts, but he didn’t like them and started throwing a tantrum in my face, telling me how dumb he looked in them and how he would never wear them at all because “Look at how stupid they are.” He then threw the package box away—and that was the moment I knew I had to run.
(Source: © iDoNotDegree / Reddit)
Story 4
My ex made up a person and spoke to me as them. We met when we were quite young and were both pretty weird. I put it down to insecurity and wanting to look like she had cool friends (I was a little older). I never let on that I knew because it would have been super embarrassing for her, and this was literally the start of the relationship.
She made up quite a few stories about this guy, and I got a few emails from “him.” She didn’t realize that changing the name of the account didn’t actually change the address, which was fully visible.
(Source: © Unknown author / Reddit)
Story 5
He lied about where he went to undergrad. I suspected it while the relationship was still going on, but after he moved out, I found some of the stuff he left behind, including transcripts from a different university than he had claimed. It wasn’t even in the same country. I’m fairly sure most of the stories he told about his childhood were lies.
(Source: © m**derousbudgie / Reddit)
Story 6
I was just out of high school and dating a girl. We were fairly serious but still young. We went to Subway for lunch, and she was super rude to the poor girl working behind the counter. After we left, she kept saying how stupid she was and that she couldn’t even make the sandwich right.
I started to notice she was rude to a lot of service and retail workers. I saw her in a much different light after that. We didn’t last too long.
(Source: © poridgepants / Reddit)
Story 7
Seven years in, I found out he was a high school dropout without even a GED. He had initially told me he was a game design major and had turned down a job opportunity (or internship, I can’t recall which) with EA Toronto because he didn’t want to leave me. I literally told him, “GO! We can figure other things out later—this won’t wait.”
I should’ve known then. Ugh, love is blind, but only for so long.
(Source: © Ann_Slanders / Reddit)
Story 8
She told me she was pregnant and led me on for six months. She was just insane and was deliberately putting on weight to look pregnant. I was a broke and clueless 17-year-old apprentice, and she managed to convince me not to take holidays for the scans and appointments, telling me to save money and days off for when the baby arrived.
I didn’t tell her I was going out for a post-exam night out and just happened to run into her on the dance floor. She then proceeded to tell me she had miscarried the previous day. Needless to say, we were finished on the spot!
(Source: © Pablo-gibbscobar / Reddit)
Story 9
My (soon-to-be) ex-wife met another guy about a year and a half ago. She was so bad at hiding it that I thought she WANTED to get caught—posting romantic stuff on her Instagram when we hadn’t been romantic in a long time. I confronted her; she lied, even with solid evidence. A few months later, stuff started disappearing from the house—pretty obvious that she was moving out.
Then we started having no money every month (and I have a pretty okay job). I realized she was stealing money, basically by paying her bills twice a month with 3–4 times the minimum payment and not paying mine. I let it go on for a bit and finally confronted her; she didn’t admit to it.
I finally just pulled my check from our joint account, and she said she was leaving but was going to be homeless. The next day, she had changed her Facebook back to her maiden name and had a picture of her and the other guy at their new place.
(Source: © arentyouangel / Reddit)
Story 10
It was my girlfriend of two years’ last night in town before leaving for college. She told me she was hanging out with her friends, which I was fine with since we had planned to see each other every weekend.
Turns out, she didn’t see her friends—she hung out with her ex-boyfriend instead. Then she left for school the next day and didn’t answer her phone for a week. The first time I talked to her after she left, she told me what she did and broke up with me.
(Source: © baust1n / Reddit)
Source: brightside.me