25 years ago, the movie Runaway Bride was released, marking the reunion of the creative duo Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. But our story today is not connected at all with these Hollywood stars - it begins precisely with the fact that the bride of the author of the post once ran away when she was almost about to walk down the aisle.
In fact, there are many stories about how a wedding was canceled literally at the last moment, and both grooms and brides were the guilty party here. In the situation described by the user u/lakehouse5548, the culprit was... well, let's read everything ourselves and then draw our own conclusions!
More info: Reddit
The author of the post was dumped by his bride right before the wedding ten years ago
Image credits: Sarah (not the actual photo)
The man once started dating his former classmate - and then proposed to her
Image credits: u/lakehouse5548
The man even bought out the bride's family's former lakeside house and wanted to gift it to his bride after the wedding
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/lakehouse5548
However, after her bachelorette party in Florida, the woman broke off the engagement
Image credits: Ksenia Chernaya (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/lakehouse5548
So the man just restored the house - and 10 years later, the woman accidentally found out he owns it and got mad over this
So, the Original Poster (OP) is now 38 years old, and about ten years ago, his wedding was called off just a couple of days before walking down the aisle. In high school, our hero was not the most popular kid, but his future bride was. And so, a couple of years after college, the guy brought his father to a chemo appointment at the local hospital - and met that same girl there.
They started talking, communicating, went on one date, then another... it turned out that they now had many common interests, so it all ended in a romantic relationship and a proposal. However, then the bride went to a bachelorette party in Florida, where, in particular, her former high school sweetheart was present as well.
We can only guess what happened there, but upon returning, the woman told the OP that she wasn't ready for family life, and broke off the engagement. It is likely that she was lying - after all, after some time, the woman married that very guy from their high school...
Well, our hero devoted the next ten years to his career, and at the same time he repaired and restored his failed wedding gift. The thing is that the OP's ex had always dreamed of living in a lakeside house that previously belonged to her grandparents, but was sold long ago - and shortly before the wedding, the author was lucky enough to buy it out.
However, the runaway bride never found out about this, and our hero, with the help of his parents, gradually restored the house, and during the pandemic, working remotely, he even settled there. And it so happened that on July 4th, when the OP invited his relatives to celebrate the holiday with him, his SIL posted lots of photos on her social media. One of the woman’s subscribers turned out to be the cousin of that ex-bride...
A few days later, the ex’s mother and sister were on the porch, trying to persuade the OP to sell it to their family. He, of course, refused. After some time, the ex texted him herself, accusing him of pettiness and scolding the guy for not telling her about the failed gift in advance. However, for our hero, this no longer mattered - although his ex’s relatives launched an entire campaign against him on social media...
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
“Personally, in the current situation, I don’t see any reason to accuse this man of pettiness or any desire for revenge,” says Irina Matveeva, a psychologist and certified NLP specialist, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment on this case. "After all, he wanted it to be a surprise for his bride, his wedding gift. And if there's no wedding, then there's no gift."
“Of course, we can understand the experiences of a woman who realized that ten years ago, she missed the chance to live in the house of her dreams. And, in the end, we don’t know how her life turned out with her school love. Who knows, maybe the woman has already regretted breaking off that engagement more than once? In any case, her family's reaction seems completely ugly and unethical. Moreover, if they continue badmouthing this man in public, I would personally recommend that he take legal action," Irina summarizes.
People in the comments also completely sided with the original poster, claiming that if they were him, they would be completely petty and post a few photos of themselves in front of the house to make his ex have another fit of anger. “Enjoy your sweet house that now belongs to your family. The ex (and her family) are just salty because they realized what they missed out on,” one of the commenters reasonably wrote.
Moreover, commenters also argue that if the ex’s family members were so interested in reclaiming the house, they would definitely have monitored its availability on the market a decade ago. And now it’s nothing more than impotent anger from the inability to change the situation.
As for the original poster, people in the comments just praised him for being resilient in the face of life's adversities. “You sound like a pretty great dude,” someone wrote in the comments. “You put tons of work and money into this house, you deserve it!” So do you, our dear readers, agree with this? Please feel free to share your opinions in the comments.
However, people in the comments sided with the author almost unanimously, saying that the ex's family has no rights to accuse the man of anything
