Unrequited love is tough to get over.
There's nothing worse than having your heart set on a crush who gives you butterflies, but they just don't feel the same way and would rather be with other people.
And while it's hard to accept the fact that "it's not meant to be," the reality of a person not being right for you can manifest in a way that can provide a huge sense of relief.
Curious to hear examples of exploring this notion Redditor LinksOtherUncle asked:
"What’s your story about 'the one that got away' that turned out being a gigantic bullet dodged?"
These Redditors had no idea their romantic interest would wind up in trouble with the law.
She Did Jail Time
"She tried to stab the next guy she wound up with and did a little jail time. Came out an addict and proceeded to destroy herself."
"On a positive note, she’s good now, but if I see her coming down the street, I’m crossing the damn street."
– Jimi204
Leaving For An Ex Con
"Was incredibly close to a gorgeous girl in my friend group. We’d dance at raves together, make out drunk, and talk on the phone for hours most nights. Whenever I'd ask her out on a date she’d say 'I don’t think I’m ready for a boyfriend yet but I like what we have.'"
"We’ll eventually she starts dating an ex con. They start doing drugs together. She runs a few thousand dollars on her dads credit card and gets kicked out of her house. She moves in with her now bf and a friend, then one day her bf trashes the place in a rage so they get kicked to the streets. A few years go by and she’s been arrested a few dozen times and serves a three year prison sentence."
– dirtybrownwt
Killer Relationship
"I was dating a guy a few months ago that was the sweetest person ever. 10/10 in every single way. He just got arrested for murdering two people."
– Nice_Rise6702
Had these Redditors pursued their relationships, it literally would've been the death of them.
Filled With Rage
"I've told this story before in another post. Anyway, I was engaged to this guy who was apparently engaged to this other girl too. I dumped him of course and they got married. He strangled her to death."
– sarcastic_monkies
"Girl At A Restaurant"
"I used to work with a girl at a restaurant, well I had a crush on her, we made out one time in a field, I figured we keep in contact on and off , kinda never really heard from her in a while, she ended up getting arrested for aggrevated child abuse and 1st degree murder for a former co-workers kid."
"I think about this alot bc she had met my child at the time.🙃"
– [deleted]
Saved By The Spidey Sense
"I dated a guy for a few months, and I really liked him, but something just started to feel off. He was never agressive or weird, but still there was something that didn't feel right."
"I ended up breaking up with him over text. I know, horrible, but I was a teenager and didn't want to break up face-to-face. He then said things like he hoped I would commit suicide, but never straight to me. To my best friend, who had introduced us. In fact, I never heard or saw from him again."
"Until a while after. Apparently he had stabbed the girl he started dating when she told him she wanted to break up. He then injured her in other ways, ran from the cops and even attackes a cop before being arrested in a neighbouring country."
"So yeah, even though I really liked him I'm glad my spidey sense was tingling!"
– LadyKittenCuddler
These might sound like plot lines in a convoluted rom-com but with no happy ending.
The Saga
"My very first girlfriend whom I truly 'loved' at the ripe age of 17, dating for about 7 months. We had plans to move interstate together, she moved first to secure the accommodation, I was to follow a week later once I’d finished working. Two days in she told me not to bother because she’s met someone. I was devastated for a whole year afterwards."
"She ended up marrying the guy and moved in with him and his best friend. Lived together happily for a few years, no issues with the marriage whatsoever."
"One summer, ex-girlfriend, hubby and housemate all decided to go on a 3 week road trip together. Partway through, hubby gets called back to work and has to fly home. Ex and housemate finish the trip and return home."
"Upon returning, ex and housemate announced they had discovered their undying love for each other on the trip, and would henceforth be an item. Hubby, understandably crushed."
"Here’s the kicker, not only did the three of them live together, so hubby had to listen to them sleeping together every night, but hubby and housemate worked together in the same company, in the same cubicle, directly opposite each other."
"Edit: I discovered this when I took a job at that same company, and heard the tale around the office."
"Ex and housemate have since had a child, and I’m eagerly awaiting the next chapter in the saga."
– PM_ME_LADY_SHOULDERS
Closet Romance
"Not exactly the same, but two friends through high-school got married a couple years after we graduated. Night before the wedding (for some reason) we had both the Bachelor and Bachelorette parties (because why not be hungover on your wedding day?)"
"Bachelor party decides to crash the Bachelorette party at the strip club we were at, where I bought the bride a private lap dance in the back. Husband to be decides he doesn't like seeing us at a strip club, queue huge parking lot fight where the owner is threatening to call the cops if we don't leave the premises. Screaming, yelling, throwing things."
"Anyway, we get back to the house and go to bed - a few of the wedding party were staying at the house that night."
"I get called into the office, where bride to be and our friend is naked making out with each other. They confessed their love for one another and wanted to be together before she got married."
"I'm in the living room, Husband to be comes out asking where bride is. I answered loudly enough for them to hear. He goes and opens the office door and shouting commences."
The Party Girl
"Started smoking to be able to hang out with this girl from my drama class, super nice girl, somewhat of a party girl really fun. Looked her up about a year ago, she’s on a watch list for being part of a white supremacy group and has the iron eagle tattooed across her chest…"
– NickOldChap
Romantic Recruitment
"Fancied her at Uni and was rejected nicely; lost touch. Many years later she calls me and says if I am low on cash I can join her company selling aloe Vera products by recruiting people…… Pyramid Scheme Alert!"
– Leave-Life
"She was scrambling to put clothes on and he was hiding in the closet naked."
"A few hours later, we're all awkwardly standing as they get married on the beach."
"They were divorced shortly after."
"THEN"
"Fast forward several years. A friend puts on a 'friend reunion', because nobody had set up a proper high school one. She is remarried and has a few children at this point. All is going well at the party, and I go to find the restroom. I open a closet door on accident and there she is, making out with the original friends brother. I just closed the door and continued to find the bathroom."
– PM_ME_OCCULT_STUFF
A Tragic Turn
"HS GF who was a lot of 'firsts' for me. She also cheated on me multiple times, introduced me to a lot of substances that I definitely didn't need, etc."
"Anyway, sometime after getting arrested/expelled, I finally got my head out of my a** and realized that I was just being used for different things. It was still super difficult though. 'Firsts' tend to have that affect I think? She promptly had a kid with one of the scumbags in town (holy bullet dodge), and then another with another scumbag a couple of years later. Went quite a while without speaking to her until she messaged me randomly one day. Thought, 'oh wow, might be nice to catch up and mend some of the past,' since I still cared about her as a person. Then she immediately asked me for money. Welp, guess you're still the same person! She passed away about a year ago from an OD. Her mom (in her 60's) is now taking care of two young children by herself in a state pretty far away. My heart breaks for all of them. Wish she could have realized that there were people who loved her. Wish she was still here to take care of her boys. Wish a lot of things."
– PleasusChrist
Look, it's hard to accept the fact that the person you love doesn't feel the same way.
But when they reveal their true colors–or murderous streak–in their next relationships, it makes getting over them that much easier.
This is also a good reminder that we shouldn't be blinded by love. Because you might miss seeing red flags.
Redditor sugar-soad wanted to know how everyone would choose between a lover and a fur baby, so they asked:
"People who were made to choose between your pet or your partner, how did your ex react when you chose your pet?"
One of my exes wanted me to return my dog to the pound.
Notice I said... EX?
The love
cat dog GIFGiphy"It really baffles me how some people don't understand how much a pet can mean to someone, I remember one of my dogs dying overnight before a school day at secondary school and my teacher mouthed off to the class about me taking a day off for a pet's death."
ff-at-15
The Kicker
"This was a long time ago but I just started dating this person and I was told they hated my dog, it was a bit of a shock but I was like no biggie just get to know my dog and you will fall in love with him."
"So the next time, we had a doggie date and HE TRIED TO KICK MY DOG. I literally grabbed my dog and turned around and walked away. And that was that!!!"
clarkyto
Screw This
"This is my favorite story from when I worked in a shelter. A guy came in to surrender his cat, with the reason that his girlfriend didn't like her. He starts filling out the paperwork, but partway through he just stops and says, 'Screw this. I'm just going to break up with her instead.' He picks up the cat and walks out the door, presumably to leave his GF. I hope he stuck to it and he and his cat got a happy ending."
hoomphree
Happy Ending
"Not directly relevant, but we once took in a dog, whose human was asked to make this choice. Beautiful weimaraner. The guy brought the dog out to our house (on a hill in the woods with acres to roam - dogs absolutely love it out here - and we spent some time walking around letting the dog get used to the place and meet our other furry residents."
"We could tell it was really hard on both of them when he left."
"The next day he kicked the woman out, and came back for the dog. Happy ending all around, I'd say."
Wildcatb
Momentos
Dog What GIF by Best Friends Animal SocietyGiphy"Not my story but my friend. His GF forced him to choose between her or dog but that dog was remaining memento from his deceased mother and of course he instantly dumped his GF. His GF went from facefull with expectations to beet red full of shame and anger and smashed his house windows when she left his house."
Manfroo1
Never asked for someone to make choice between a person and a pet.
Living Longer
Cats Reaction GIF by TikTok MENAGiphy"I remember him saying my diabetic cat needed to go so he could get a dog. We weren't even living together. I looked him dead in the eyes and said. 'My cat will outlive this relationship' considering she was really sick at the time he said it was unlikely and stormed off. We broke up 6 years ago and my cat is still going strong."
buffalosansbuffalo
The Elderly
"I have an elderly rat (going on four years, which is quite the feat for a rat). I’ve raised him since he was a baby with his brother, who passed away two winters ago. When we moved in with my in-laws over the summer, they didn’t want me to bring my rat. I straight up told my partner that I’ll live somewhere else for awhile (we’d been living together for almost three years at that point) because my rat is my responsibility."
"He’s very old, and that I was going to see him through to the end. They were a little upset and accused me of choosing the rat over them, but I explained that he’s an animal that relies on us. It worked out, I convinced my in-laws to let me bring him, and we’re all still kickin. He’s on his last days and I’m glad I’m here with him. He’ll be buried with his brother when it’s time."
queerqunari
Meow First
"She acted like she'd never even considered I'd choose the cat over her. I don't think that thought had ever entered her mind. Then she went into a big spiel about how I'm a loser, I'm missing out, there's only one of her, etc etc. Yeah, I knew all that when I put my foot down over her idiotic jealousy of the cat liking me more than her."
"The cat is now 16 and still with me, happy in her senior years. There's been other women since her, ones that treated me a lot better than she did. It was a total win for both the cat and myself."
Fancy_Cassowary
“Dirty fleabag”
"Not me but my sister choose our cat over her boyfriend of 4 months. He was furious when she dumped him and called her an idiot for picking a 'dirty fleabag' over him. Cat was not a dirty fleabag, he just hated pets and wanted to try to control my sister. I was relieved when she dumped him. I never got good vibes from him."
Aurora_Jones
BYE
White Dog GIFGiphy"My ex asked me if she thought my dog liked me or her more and I said me. She got genuinely mad and told me I am supposed to just lie to her, didn't last long."
wumbology34
Pets will always win.
Have you ever had to make a similar choice? Let us know in the comments below.
They asked:
"What's something that a friend/classmate did in high school that was seen as funny at the time, but you now realise was actually not ok?"
The cruelty of these students showed no bounds.
Why An Elevator Was Installed
"Had a kid in my year who'd had a surgery that left a nerve bundle in his neck exposed. If pressed it would paralyse him. From memory it was for spina bifida and for some ungodly reason he told everyone."
"Certain boys took great pleasure in going down stairs behind him and pressing it which completely paralysed him for a few seconds and he'd fall like a brick. Usually onto whoever was in front of him."
"So dangerous. There were a fair few teeth knocked out because of this, his and other people's."
"It happened so much that in his 3rd year the school installed an elevator and you had to have a special key to use it. He got the only permanent issue key at that time."
"Kids are a**holes."
– notalotasleep
Teachers Are People Too
"In the 6th grade, I had a friend who was a troublemaker and a class-clown. I’ve always hated going to my math class because my teacher was a cranky old lady who’d yell at you for the smallest things. Me being an 11-year old, I actually had the worst anxiety just knowing I could be the next person yelled at in front of the class. The one thing that helped get through the year was that friend cause I knew he’d always make jokes and have me almost in tears cause they were that funny."
"One day, when my teacher walked out to use the bathroom, that friend went over to her desk, picked up the mug she was drinking out of, and spat out the biggest loogie into it. We all saw it and just waited for her to come back. 10 mins later, as she was just normally teaching, she picks up her mug and chugs it down. Everybody just starts laughing and giggling, including me, but nobody said anything when she questioned it. It was horrible but I wasn’t about to be the kid who snitched."
"Later on during the school year, I guess we had a day where it didn’t start at the normal 7:30am but instead 10:30am, but I didn’t know so I showed up really early. A bunch of kids didn’t get the memo so we were all just placed in the cafeteria until school actually started. Around 9ish, my math teacher noticed I was sitting out in the cold and invited me to her class where it was warm. When I got there, she let me work on my missed homework and even let me eat breakfast in her class. She asked me about home life, school life, if I had any friends, etc. she made me feel welcome. She then told me about her life, about her only son, about her husband who passed away from cancer 20 years back. She was very sweet."
"This was like back in 2008, and I think she was like 70 years old. I don’t even know if she’s still alive after all these years. But I wish I could go back and stop my 'friend' from doing what he did. :("
– byJSN
Imprisoning The Teacher
"Our religion teacher went into the cupboard for supplies, she was quite strict and not liked but now I’m an adult I realise it doesn’t excuse what happened next. The class clown snuck up and locked her in the cupboard. We all thought it was hilarious at the time and we all left the class. She was in there for the rest of the class until another teacher found her in there crying an hour later. She took 2 weeks off after that"
– usernamegenerator98
Adults later realized the severity of some bad behavior back in the day.
Revenge
"Few messed up kids in my primary school lit a teachers car on fire, just because she gave one of them failing grade on midterm. It wasn't one of the mean teachers, she was mostly nice to students. Cops got involved but don't think they got punished accordingly, i know one of them was in and out of juvie already, and were all around 13- 14yr old, one was even in nazi sh*t. I know later on those kids got all tangled in dealing and robberies, probably all went to jail at some point."
– spooch001
Changing Nickname
"In our school there was a teacher who had a mole, so of course the kids decided her nickname would now be 'mole.' She must have felt really hurt, as she eventually had the mole removed, leaving a little dent where it used to be. Did everyone then stop calling her names? Nope. They started calling her 'hole' instead."
– bemmu
Free Bike
"this was in elementary: my dad bought a brand new bike for me and i rode it to the park and these older kids came up to me and asked if one of them could take it for a test drive. i said ok and about 10 seconds in, i see the guy riding my bike being pushed off and my bike being stolen right in front of me. the older kids 'helped' me look for my stolen bike but growing up I realized that they plotted this whole thing and yeah i basically gave my brand new bike away."
– SingaporeanSlaw
Nobody got hurt, but it doesn't mean certain actions don't sting.
Future Indication Of Trouble
"Living in the Netherlands. Classmate was showing on his phone a whole online shop he claimed to have with all kinds of drugs and weapons. We thought it was funny because we didn't take it too serious. He dropped out of school early and turned out to be a big drug dealer. Well we could have known I guess."
– Environmental-Cold24
The Drama Department Wasn't Involved
"A kid faked her own kidnapping. It was all fun and games until the police started chasing her 'kidnappers' van."
– AvocaDotty
Old Hijiniks
"Pantsing somebody in front of everybody. Is that even allowed anymore? That was soooo commonplace as a kid.- Wearing a mirror on your shoes to look up skirts. Even teachers thought it was funny that students occasionally did that."
– Negafox
It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
But by the time the pain has been inflicted, it's too late as some emotional scars can take years to heal.
As someone who has been both a bully as well as a victim, I can tell you, I still live with regret and trauma from past actions in grade school.
Just gonna leave this here: Monitor your kids, folks.
"What is the strangest reason you ended up in a hospital?"
There were things you just don't see coming.
Must've Been Quite The Cough
"I coughed and broke 2 ribs."
– BearJewKnowsBest
Bad Plumbing
"Noticed at some point in my early 20s that fluid leaked out of my belly button."
"Thought it might be a pimple or a small cyst and waited it out, but it was still leaking like two weeks after."
"Went to my GP and he examined it, stuck a q tip in my belly button, smelled it and was like 'in my XY year long career I've maybe seen two or three cases of this in adults... Usually this is diagnosed in infants and it gets fixed then....'"
"What he diagnosed was a 'urachal fistula' a tract between belly button and the... yep, bladder..."
"I had pee dripping out of my belly button... nice."
"He called one of the chief surgeons he knew and is befriended with and got me an exam at the hospital the next day."
"The chief surgeon and multiple residents examed me - they were unsure because this usually doesn't occur in adults. In the end we agreed on surgery, because whatever it is, it needs to be fixed."
"And in the end, it indeed was a urachal fistula..."
"Not a life threatening condition in and of itself, but a risk to nasty infections and a higher risk of cancer long term - also pee dripping out of your belly button, duuhh.."
"Had to have surgery a few years later again, because the fistula reformed (known risk) but since then I haven't had any problems. :)"
– 6800ultra
Gutted
"I dropped a ceramic chef’s knife and it bounced off the counter and stabbed me in the stomach. It took longer to convince the medical staff and social worker (I am a disabled veteran) that my SO didn’t stab me, than it took to close the wound."
– LordInventus
Things happen, but these could've been preventable.
Expensive Ride
"I got the tip of a Q-Tip stuck in my ear and my roommate at the time went to pull it out with a pair of tweezers and hit a nerve or messed with my equilibrium or something and I passed out. She freaked out and called 911 and I woke up in the ER. Was absolutely fine until a couple weeks later when I got a $2k bill for an ambulance ride that was literally down the block."
– Equivalent-War-2378
Toy Cut
"Lacerated scrotum after getting it stuck in a PEZ dispenser."
– BurlHead
Playing Stupid Games
"Was chasing chickens for no apparent reason and caught my shoulder on a piece of sheet metal. 38 stitches."
– cabllc
Kitchen Hazard
"Cut my wrist on the cutter thing on a box of Saran Wrap. They had a counselor come and make sure I wasn’t suicidal. 'No. I was wrapping ham.'”
– Sasquadtch
The body works in mysterious ways.
When The Body Fails
"Had a ct scan… 1 hour later the guy called and told me to go the hospital now. Rock up to the ER with a swelling in my neck, pushing on my jugular vein, vomiting, headaches, severe pain in collar bone neck area. After days of blood test and blood cultures I got a diagnosis of some rare as f'k severe illness called 'Lemierre’s syndrome caused by the anaerobic bacterium, fusobacterium necrophorum' and I also had necrotizing fasciitis in my neck from the really bad case of tonsillitis I had 2 weeks prior that spread beyond the infected site. Got straight into the ER, practically no wait in the ER .I ended up with septic shock, Blood pressure was super low. 70/60. never felt a thirst like it. Got 5L of fluids within the first couple hours( mind you I’m only 47kg) I couldn’t pass urine, ended up with a catheter. Stayed in hospital for 5 days and left with a PICC line in my arm. Had 4 weeks of intravenous antibiotics 24 hours a day, had to carry and sleep with a little bag to hold my antibiotics. Had a nurse visit me every day for 4 weeks. Worst part about it is I didn’t even want to go to the hospital and I thought I’d be fine to just sleep it off. If you feel so sick you feel like you’re slowly dying you probably are."
– Low-Promise1628
Intense Cinema
"Saw Mel Gibson's Apocalypto in the theatre. Movie stressed me out soon much i fainted or had a seizure. The date I was with apperently freaked out and she started screaming that Im not breathing. Two solid guys carried me out. Ambulance was called... my date was a doctor lol"
– eduwhat
No wonder why medical dramas on TV have no shortage of ideas when it comes to featuring bizarre cases involving patients.
They're most likely inspired by real-life hospital situations.
Kudos to all the medical staff who've seen it all and still manage not to pass out like yours truly, who gets very light-headed at the sight of blood from a pricked finger.
Yes, I had blood drawn from finger when I was a kid and I passed out.
I eventually woke up in a hospital bed with a bandage wrapped around my head after I apparently fell off the chair and landed on my forehead.
That's one way I was kind of admitted to the hospital. Not a strange reason at all. Just a a really embarrassing one.
