Speaker 1: Episode with two stories. First part, I hope you enjoy
Speaker 1: this story. My significant other brought me to an upscale
Speaker 1: dining establishment and knelt before me with a box containing
Speaker 1: a ring. However, upon accepting his proposal and opening the box,
Speaker 1: all that was inside was a small pebble note saying
Speaker 1: you have been pranked. Me twenty four f and my
Speaker 1: boyfriend Andrew twenty six M have been together for five years.
Speaker 1: We met at this house party my roommate dragged me
Speaker 1: to during my sophomore year of college. I didn't even
Speaker 1: want to go, but she insisted that I needed to
Speaker 1: get out more and stop being such a hermit. Anyway,
Speaker 1: Andrew was there with some of his friends, and he
Speaker 1: was the one making everyone laugh with his stories and jokes.
Speaker 1: We started talking when I went to get another drink,
Speaker 1: and we just clicked right away. Andrew has always been
Speaker 1: the funny guy in our friend group, always making jokes
Speaker 1: and pulling pranks on people. When we first started dating,
Speaker 1: his pranks were small and actually kind of key. He'd
Speaker 1: send me on little scavenger hunts around campus that would
Speaker 1: lead to a small gift or a picnic he'd set up,
Speaker 1: or he'd pretend to forget my birthday, only to surprise
Speaker 1: me with something special later. I never really minded it,
Speaker 1: because most of the time his jokes were harmless and
Speaker 1: sometimes genuinely funny. I'm not super serious myself, and I'd
Speaker 1: prank him back occasionally too. We moved in together after
Speaker 1: we'd been dating for about three years. It was a small,
Speaker 1: two bedroom apartment in a decent neighborhood. The second bedroom
Speaker 1: was supposed to be in office, but ended up becoming
Speaker 1: a storage room for all our extra stuff. We've been
Speaker 1: saving to buy a house for the past year or so,
Speaker 1: and we even found one we both liked. Recently, things
Speaker 1: were generally good between us. We had the usual arguments
Speaker 1: couples have, mostly about him leaving his clothes on the
Speaker 1: floor or me using too much hot water during my showers,
Speaker 1: but nothing major, at least that's what I thought. As
Speaker 1: time went on, Andrew's prank started to be come a
Speaker 1: bit more annoying, like he'd hide my car keys when
Speaker 1: I was already running late for work, or he'd tell
Speaker 1: me my mom had called with an emergency when she
Speaker 1: hadn't called at all. One time, he convinced me that
Speaker 1: our landlord was selling the building and we had to
Speaker 1: move out in two weeks. I spent days stressing and
Speaker 1: looking for a new place before he told me it
Speaker 1: was just a joke. I got pretty mad at him
Speaker 1: for that one, but he apologized and promised he wouldn't
Speaker 1: do something like that again. But he didn't really stop.
Speaker 1: He'd just found new ways to joke around. Sometimes he'd
Speaker 1: hide behind doors to scare me when I walked in,
Speaker 1: or he'd put salt in my coffee instead of sugar.
Speaker 1: One time he told me my car had been towed
Speaker 1: when it was just parked on the other side of
Speaker 1: the parking lot. I'd get annoyed sometimes, but I'd laugh
Speaker 1: it off because that's just who he is, you know.
Speaker 1: Plus he'd always act all heard if I got too
Speaker 1: upset about his pranks, saying things like I was just
Speaker 1: trying to make you laugh, or you used to have
Speaker 1: a sense of humor. So eventually I just got used
Speaker 1: to it, I guess. But what happened a few days
Speaker 1: ago crossed every possible line, and I'm still trying to
Speaker 1: process at all. It started off as a totally normal day.
Speaker 1: I was asleep and Andrew woke me up at around
Speaker 1: seven a m. Which was weird because he usually sleeps
Speaker 1: in on weekends. He was all excited and told me
Speaker 1: to get up because he was taking me to the spa.
Speaker 1: I was pretty confused because it wasn't my birthday or
Speaker 1: our anniversary or anything special. But I wasn't going to
Speaker 1: turn down a spa day. So I got ready and
Speaker 1: we went to this really nice spa downtown, the one
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to go to but we could never afford.
Speaker 1: He paid for everything. I kept asking him what the
Speaker 1: occasion was, and he just kept saying, can I just
Speaker 1: treat my girl friend? Sometimes? I was suspicious, but I
Speaker 1: figured maybe he got a bonus at work or something
Speaker 1: that he hadn't told me about yet. After the spa,
Speaker 1: he told me he had made reservations at this fancy
Speaker 1: restaurant on the waterfront, the one with the glass ceiling
Speaker 1: that I've always wanted to try. At this point, I
Speaker 1: was like, Okay, something is definitely up, but he kept
Speaker 1: insisting it was just a nice day out. The restaurant
Speaker 1: was amazing, like, way fancier than anywhere we'd been before.
Speaker 1: The waiter brought a champagne that Andrew had apparently pre ordered.
Speaker 1: It was all so perfect. And I started getting this
Speaker 1: fluttery feeling in my stomach because, well, it seemed like
Speaker 1: maybe this was leading to something big. Over dinner, we
Speaker 1: talked about normal stuff at first, Then Andrew started talking
Speaker 1: about the house we had been looking at, nothing serious,
Speaker 1: just fantasizing about what furniture we'd get and how we decorated.
Speaker 1: He mentioned something about turning one of the rooms into
Speaker 1: a nursery some day, which made me blush because we'd
Speaker 1: never really talked about having kids before. Everything felt so perfect,
Speaker 1: and for the first time in a while, I felt
Speaker 1: like maybe we were actually taking steps toward building a
Speaker 1: future together. After we finished the main course before dessert came,
Speaker 1: Andrew got this serious look on his face. He reached
Speaker 1: across the table and took my hand, looking straight into
Speaker 1: my eyes. Then he stood up, and my heart literally stopped.
Speaker 1: I think I knew what was about to happen, even
Speaker 1: though we'd never seriously talked about marriage before. He got
Speaker 1: down on one knee right there in the middle of
Speaker 1: the restaurant. People at other tables started noticing and getting quiet.
Speaker 1: Some even pulled out their phones to record. He pulled
Speaker 1: out a small black velvet box from his jacket, pocket
Speaker 1: and started giving the speech about how I was the
Speaker 1: most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and how he couldn't
Speaker 1: imagine his life without me. He talked about our first date,
Speaker 1: about how he knew from the moment he met me
Speaker 1: that I was special, and how he wanted to spend
Speaker 1: the rest of his life with me. I was crying
Speaker 1: at this point. I couldn't believe this was happening. He asked,
Speaker 1: will you marry me, my princess? And I said yes
Speaker 1: without even thinking about it. The whole restaurant erupted in applause.
Speaker 1: An older couple at the next table over were smiling
Speaker 1: and wiping away tears. The waiter brought over more champagne
Speaker 1: on the house, and then everything came crashing down. He
Speaker 1: opened the box and instead of a ring, there was
Speaker 1: a little folded piece of paper. He was grinning in
Speaker 1: this weird way that I didn't recognize, and I knew
Speaker 1: something was wrong. I unfolded the paper and written on
Speaker 1: it in his handwriting was You'd been pranked. The look
Speaker 1: on his face as he started laughing will haunt me forever.
Speaker 1: He was hysterical, like this was the funniest thing he'd
Speaker 1: ever done. Baby this was just a prank, he said,
Speaker 1: still laughing. I'm not ready at all to marry you yet.
Speaker 1: You should see your face right now. The restaurant went
Speaker 1: completely silent. I could feel everyone staring at us. The
Speaker 1: waiters didn't know what to do. The older couple, who
Speaker 1: had been smiling a minute ago, now looked horrified, and
Speaker 1: I just sat there, humiliated, with tears streaming down my face.
Speaker 1: But now they weren't happy tears any more. He tried
Speaker 1: to lean in and hug me, like this was all
Speaker 1: just a big joke. We were both in on. That's
Speaker 1: when I slapped him hard. I've never hit any one
Speaker 1: in my life, but I couldn't control myself. My hand
Speaker 1: just moved on its own. I grabbed my purse, stood
Speaker 1: up and told him we're over, you fucking scumbag. Then
Speaker 1: I walked out. I had to call an uber because
Speaker 1: he had driven us there. The whole ride home, I
Speaker 1: was sobbing so hard. The driver asked if I needed
Speaker 1: to go to the hospital instead. I told him I
Speaker 1: was fine, just heartbroken. He was nice enough to wait
Speaker 1: until I got inside my building before driving away. When
Speaker 1: I got home, I packed a small bag with essentials.
Speaker 1: Then I called my friend Lisa and asked if I
Speaker 1: could stay with her for a few days. She didn't
Speaker 1: even hesitate, just told me to come over right away.
Speaker 1: I didn't leave a note for Andrew. I didn't think
Speaker 1: he deserved one. He's been calling and texting non stop
Speaker 1: ever since. At first, the messages were like, babe, it
Speaker 1: was just a joke, don't overreact, and come on. You
Speaker 1: know I love you. I just wasn't ready to propose
Speaker 1: for a real yet. But then they got more desperate.
Speaker 1: Please come home. I'm sorry. I didn't think you'd take
Speaker 1: it so seriously, and I can't sleep without you here.
Speaker 1: Please just talk to me. I haven't responded to any
Speaker 1: of his messages. I just keep replaying that moment in
Speaker 1: my head over and over. I really thought we had
Speaker 1: a future together. We've been saving for a house, We've
Speaker 1: talked about getting a dog. We were supposed to go
Speaker 1: on vacation next month to visit his family. Now I
Speaker 1: don't know what to do. Part of me wants to
Speaker 1: never see him again. But we have an apartment together,
Speaker 1: shared bank accounts, and we were planning to buy a house.
Speaker 1: Our lives are so intertwined. After five years, Lisa says
Speaker 1: I should block his number and move on with my life.
Speaker 1: But it's not that simple. I still have to figure
Speaker 1: out what to do about our apartment, our shared stuff,
Speaker 1: all of it, and a tiny part of me still
Speaker 1: loves him despite everything. Ida for breaking up with him
Speaker 1: over what he calls just a prank. Update. A lot
Speaker 1: of you were asking for an update, so here it is. First,
Speaker 1: I want to clear up some confusion from the comments. No,
Speaker 1: I didn't know about the prank beforehand. Some of you
Speaker 1: seemed to think I might have been in on it,
Speaker 1: which is ridiculous. Why would I make up something like this?
Speaker 1: And yes, the spa and dinner were real. He actually
Speaker 1: paid for everything. Some of you suggested he might have
Speaker 1: been planning a real proposal but chickened out at the
Speaker 1: last minute and tried to play it off as a joke.
Speaker 1: I thought about that too, but after what happened next,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that wasn't the case. After I made
Speaker 1: that post, I stayed at Leases for a couple of days.
Speaker 1: She was great, letting me cry on her shoulder and
Speaker 1: binge watch trashy reality shows to take my mind off things.
Speaker 1: I turned my phone off for most of that time
Speaker 1: because I couldn't deal with Andrew's constant messages. When I
Speaker 1: finally turned it back on, I had forty seven missed
Speaker 1: calls and over one hundred text messages, not just from Andrew,
Speaker 1: but also from some of our mutual friends asking what happened.
Speaker 1: Apparently Andrew had been telling people that I overreacted to
Speaker 1: a harmless joke and walked out for no reason. That
Speaker 1: made me so angry that I decided I needed to
Speaker 1: talk to him face to face and set the record straight.
Speaker 1: So I went back to our apartment. I didn't tell
Speaker 1: him I was coming. I just showed up. He was there,
Speaker 1: still in his pajamas, even though it was afternoon, looking
Speaker 1: like he hadn't slept or showered in days. For a
Speaker 1: split second, I felt sorry for him, but then I
Speaker 1: remembered what he did, and any sympathy I had just evaporated.
Speaker 1: I told him straight up that we were done. I
Speaker 1: said I couldn't be with someone who, after five years together,
Speaker 1: still wasn't ready for marriage and thought it was funny
Speaker 1: to make a joke about it in front of a
Speaker 1: restaurant full of people. That's when things got ugly. At first,
Speaker 1: he cried and begged me to reconsider. He said he
Speaker 1: loved me more than anything and couldn't imagine life without me.
Speaker 1: He promised he'd never prank me again. Then when he
Speaker 1: realized I wasn't budging, he got angry. I'd never seen
Speaker 1: him like that before. He started yelling about how I
Speaker 1: was a fucking asshole for leaving him like this after
Speaker 1: everything he has done for me. He went on this
Speaker 1: long rant about how he'd supported me when my dad died,
Speaker 1: how he'd always been there for me, how he'd spent
Speaker 1: all this money on the spa day and dinner like
Speaker 1: that somehow made up for the humiliation. He was cussing
Speaker 1: me out so much that I honestly stopped listening at
Speaker 1: some point. The thing that stuck with me most was
Speaker 1: when he said, don't be so fucking petty and drop it.
Speaker 1: You know we're happy together and you know you still
Speaker 1: want me. That's when I lost it. I called him
Speaker 1: every name I could think of and told him exactly
Speaker 1: what I thought of his pranks and his childish behavior.
Speaker 1: We were both yelling so loud that our neighbor knocked
Speaker 1: on the wall. That kind of snapped us out of it,
Speaker 1: and we managed to calm down. Enough to discuss practical matters.
Speaker 1: We agreed that we'd not renew our apartment lease, and
Speaker 1: in the meantime he'd sleep in the guest room. I
Speaker 1: spent the rest of the day clearing out some space
Speaker 1: in the guest room so Andrew could move his stuff
Speaker 1: in there. Then I went online and started looking at
Speaker 1: apartments I might be able to afford on my own.
Speaker 1: Our lease isn't up for another four months, so ideally
Speaker 1: we'd find someone to take it over, but that might
Speaker 1: be difficult given the current rental market. Andrew is still
Speaker 1: not accepting the break up. Throughout the day, he kept
Speaker 1: trying to talk to me, saying things like, can't we
Speaker 1: be together again? And this was just a small mistake
Speaker 1: I made. At dinner, we ordered take out and ate separately,
Speaker 1: me in the bedroom and him in the living room.
Speaker 1: He came and knocked on the door to ask if
Speaker 1: we could talk about this like adults. I told him
Speaker 1: we'd already talked and there was nothing more to say. Oh,
Speaker 1: and get this. He apparently told his family about what happened,
Speaker 1: but I'm guessing he gave them a very different version
Speaker 1: of events. His mom called me that evening and went
Speaker 1: off on me for being selfish and not being able
Speaker 1: to handle a simple joke. She said Andrew had been
Speaker 1: planning the SPA a day for weeks as a special
Speaker 1: treat for me, which might be true but doesn't excuse
Speaker 1: what came after. The call ended with her calling me
Speaker 1: a slut before hanging up, which I thought was rich
Speaker 1: coming from a woman who cheated on her husband Andrew's
Speaker 1: dad and thought nobody knew about it. After that, I
Speaker 1: started getting messages from his siblings, his dad, and even
Speaker 1: his aunt, all basically saying the same things that I
Speaker 1: was overreacting that Andrew was devastated that I should give
Speaker 1: him another chance. His younger sister, whom I used to
Speaker 1: be close with, sent me this long, gilt trippy message
Speaker 1: about how Andrew had been crying NonStop and couldn't eat
Speaker 1: or sleep. His older brother, who I never really liked,
Speaker 1: was more direct, calling me a heartless bitch who was
Speaker 1: throwing away a good man over nothing. I tried blocking
Speaker 1: their numbers, but they keep finding new ways to contact me.
Speaker 1: His mom even emailed my work address. How she got that.
Speaker 1: I have no idea. It's exhausting having to constantly defend
Speaker 1: my decision to people who weren't even there and don't
Speaker 1: know the full story. I don't think much else will
Speaker 1: happen in the next few days. I'm focusing on selling
Speaker 1: stuff I don't need any more, finding a new place
Speaker 1: to live, and sorting out the apartment situation. Andrew and
Speaker 1: I are trying to be civil when we have to interact,
Speaker 1: but it's tense. He keeps looking at me with these sad,
Speaker 1: puppy eyes that used to work on me but now
Speaker 1: just make me angry. I'm also dealing with the practical
Speaker 1: stuff of disentangling our lives. We didn't share all our finances, thankfully,
Speaker 1: but we do have a joint savings account that we
Speaker 1: were using for the house down payment. I'm going to
Speaker 1: talk to the bank tomorrow about how to split that.
Speaker 1: And then there's all the stuff we bought together. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a nightmare figuring out who gets what.
Speaker 1: Thanks again for all the support. It really means a
Speaker 1: lot knowing there are people out there who don't think
Speaker 1: I'm overreacting. I'll update again if anything significant happens. Update too.
Speaker 1: So much has happened since I last posted. I don't
Speaker 1: even know where to begin. I guess I'll start with
Speaker 1: the living arrangement, which didn't work out at all. The
Speaker 1: idea of Andrew's sleeping in the guest room lasted about
Speaker 1: a few days before it became unbearable. We kept having
Speaker 1: these massive fights every evening. He'd start by trying to apologize,
Speaker 1: then get frustrated when I wouldn't accept it, and eventually
Speaker 1: start blaming me for ruining everything over a joke. The
Speaker 1: first night was actually okay. We stayed out of each
Speaker 1: other's way, and I thought maybe we could make it
Speaker 1: work until we figured out the apartment situation. The second night,
Speaker 1: he knocked on my bedroom door around midnight, clearly drunk,
Speaker 1: and tried to get me to just talk to him.
Speaker 1: I refused to open the door and he eventually went away.
Speaker 1: The third night was the worst. He came home from
Speaker 1: work in a mood, slamming door and muttering under his breath.
Speaker 1: When I asked him what his problem was, he exploded,
Speaker 1: saying I was his problem, that I was being unreasonable,
Speaker 1: that I was throwing away five years over one little mistake.
Speaker 1: We had a huge argument that ended with him throwing
Speaker 1: a glass against the wall, not at me, but still
Speaker 1: terrifying and belocking myself in the bedroom and calling Lisa
Speaker 1: in tears. After that, I knew I couldn't stay there
Speaker 1: any more. It wasn't safe and it definitely wasn't healthy.
Speaker 1: Lisa offered to let me stay with her until I
Speaker 1: could find my own place, and I took her up
Speaker 1: on it. The next day, while Andrew was at work,
Speaker 1: I packed as much of my stuff as I could
Speaker 1: fit into my car, clothes, personal items, some kitchen stuff
Speaker 1: that was definitely mine, and left. I left him a
Speaker 1: note explaining where I was going and that i'd be
Speaker 1: in touch about the apartment. When he got home and
Speaker 1: found me gone, he went ballistic. He called me NonStop
Speaker 1: for hours. When I finally answered, he was alternating between
Speaker 1: crying and yelling, accusing me of abandoning him and stealing
Speaker 1: things from our apartment. I tried to explain that I
Speaker 1: only took what was mine, but he wasn't listening. He
Speaker 1: threatened to report my car as stolen, even though it's
Speaker 1: in my name only, and to throw the rest of
Speaker 1: my stuff out on the street if I didn't come
Speaker 1: back immediately. I ended up calling his brother, the only
Speaker 1: somewhat reasonable member of his family, and asking him to
Speaker 1: go check on Andrew because I was worried he might
Speaker 1: do something stupid. His brother agreed, thankfully, and later texted
Speaker 1: me to say that Andrew was okay, just upset, and
Speaker 1: that he'd stay with him for a while. The whole
Speaker 1: apartment situation is still a mess. The worst thing that's
Speaker 1: happened since my last update was running into Andrew's mom
Speaker 1: at the mall. I was just minding my own business,
Speaker 1: shopping for some clothes since I left a lot of
Speaker 1: mine behind, when I heard someone shouting my name. I
Speaker 1: turned around and there she was, storming toward me with
Speaker 1: this look of absolute fury on her face. She started
Speaker 1: screaming at me, right there in the middle of the mall.
Speaker 1: People were staring, and I have never felt so humiliated
Speaker 1: in my life. She was yelling things like how could
Speaker 1: you do this to my son? And you're a terrible
Speaker 1: human being. She said I had ruined Andrew's life and
Speaker 1: that I would regret throwing away a good man. I
Speaker 1: didn't even try to defend myself. I just turned and
Speaker 1: walked away, but I could still hear her yelling as
Speaker 1: I left. A security guard actually came up and asked
Speaker 1: if I needed help, which was both nice and mortifying.
Speaker 1: The messages from Andrew, his friends and his family haven't stopped.
Speaker 1: They're getting nastier too. I've received texts saying things like,
Speaker 1: no one would give a flying fuck if you died,
Speaker 1: you are a waste of space, and you are such
Speaker 1: a self centered slut leaving your boyfriend over a small joke.
Speaker 1: I've even gotten a few threatening messages from numbers I
Speaker 1: don't recognize, saying things like they know where I work
Speaker 1: and they're watching me. I reported those to the police,
Speaker 1: but they didn't seem too concerned, saying there wasn't much
Speaker 1: they could do unless something actually happened. I try to
Speaker 1: ignore all the messages, but sometimes they really get to
Speaker 1: me and I break down crying. Lisa has been great,
Speaker 1: holding me while I cry and reminding me that I
Speaker 1: did the right thing. She even took my phone away
Speaker 1: for a whole weekend so I could have a break
Speaker 1: from all the toxicity. This whole situation has also shown
Speaker 1: me who my real friends are. Some people I thought
Speaker 1: were my friends have taken Andrew's side, saying I'm overreacting
Speaker 1: or that I should have given him another chance. I've
Speaker 1: been looking for my own apartment, but it's tough finding
Speaker 1: something I can afford on just my salary. I might
Speaker 1: have to get a room mate, which isn't ideal, but
Speaker 1: it's better than staying with Lisa indefinitely, or God forbid,
Speaker 1: going back to Andrew. The whole thing still feels so
Speaker 1: surreal to me. If you had told me a month
Speaker 1: ago that i'd be single, living with a friend and
Speaker 1: dealing with this kind of harassment, I would never have
Speaker 1: believed you. Andrew and I had been together for so
Speaker 1: long that I just assumed we'd always be together. I
Speaker 1: had built my whole future that assumption, and now I
Speaker 1: have to start from scratch. That's the end of the
Speaker 1: first story. Let's begin the second one. I hope you
Speaker 1: enjoy this story. Spouse declined to assist me through my
Speaker 1: low spirits and expressed no more affection towards me. We
Speaker 1: parted ways, and I encountered his colleague who had affection
Speaker 1: for me. However, now my former partner is acting strange.
Speaker 1: I F thirty six AM married AM thirty seven for
Speaker 1: over a decade. Some months ago, I got diagnosed with
Speaker 1: GAD generalized anxiety disorder and depression post pandemic issues. I
Speaker 1: have a therapist every week, take medication, and I see
Speaker 1: my psychiatrist once a month, but I feel like my
Speaker 1: problems with my husband is more than I can take
Speaker 1: right now. Whenever I have a meltdown, my husband doesn't
Speaker 1: want to cuddle or spend time with me. He says
Speaker 1: I have to deal with it all by myself, talk
Speaker 1: to a friend or my therapist. He says he cannot
Speaker 1: give me what I need cuddling and support. So when
Speaker 1: I isolate myself due to anxiety, we end up in
Speaker 1: an argument. He accuses me of ignoring our children and
Speaker 1: being rude. I get very irritated, but not violent to him.
Speaker 1: If I decide to hang out with friends, socialization is
Speaker 1: what I truly need, he gets jealous and accuses me
Speaker 1: of looking for another man. In any of those situations,
Speaker 1: he keeps arguing with me until I reach my breaking point.
Speaker 1: I end up in an anxiety attack and need to
Speaker 1: take a sedative. When I tell him I cannot live
Speaker 1: like that, he says we need to get a divorce
Speaker 1: because he is my trigger. I try to explain that
Speaker 1: I have many triggers right now due to my mental illness.
Speaker 1: I don't blame him. My problem is how he handles
Speaker 1: it that whenever I have a problem, he runs away
Speaker 1: or transforms it into a problem about himself. He constantly
Speaker 1: says that he's not an empathetic person and doesn't know
Speaker 1: how to handle that. However, when I come to me
Speaker 1: my breaking point, he says he loves me, take care
Speaker 1: of me and hug me until I fall asleep. The
Speaker 1: next day, he says he want to be with me forever.
Speaker 1: I told him I feel abandoned by him and unloved.
Speaker 1: I truly feel that he wants a divorce, but he
Speaker 1: is waiting for me to make the decision. I feel
Speaker 1: quite blind in this situation.