A man has been left absolutely devastated after he tried to surprise his girlfriend for her birthday with an unannounced visit - as he was the one who got the shock of his life when he found her in bed with someone else.
Taking to Reddit, the man, who is from the US, explained that he first met his girlfriend when they were kids, but they never got to see each other frequently because he lived in Kentucky and she lived 13 hours away in Minnesota.
The pair began a proper relationship 20 years after they first met when the man was able to move to Minnesota for work, and had recently been discussing building a life together.
In his Reddit post, he wrote: "This all happened this morning, but some back story first [to explain]. I grew up in Kentucky and would spend summers in Minnesota with a parent. One summer, when I was 12, I met [my now-girlfriend] and we clicked instantly.
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"We started dating at 13 but life would always take me back to Kentucky so it has always been an off and on thing. Skipping over all the times we have enjoyed together in the past 20 years we have never ended things poorly and always remained friends.
"In the past year and a half, my life has completely flipped. I finished a huge milestone in my career that allows me to work essentially where and when I want. After all this, I started talking [to my girlfriend] daily again and getting close, so I took a job call in Minnesota and we spend all of our free time together.
"Things were going well and we had been talking about building a life together, with her saying that's all she has ever wanted and it finally makes sense for both of us."
The man recently headed back home to Kentucky for a family fishing trip as well as his aunt's birthday, but in between the two events he decided to drive 13 hours back to Minnesota so that he could surprise his girlfriend with an unannounced visit before heading back.
However, the lovestruck man was in for a shock when he entered his girlfriend's bedroom - as he found her ex-boyfriend sleeping next to her.
He added: "I'm going on an annual family fishing trip this coming weekend and yesterday was my aunt's 60th birthday, so I decided to take the week off and drove to Kentucky for her birthday party.
"I have a few days to spare between the party and the trip, so after the party, I drove 13 hours straight to Minnesota to surprise my girlfriend before work. When I finally arrived completely exhausted I walked into her bedroom and turned on the light to see her ex-boyfriend lying asleep next to her in his boxers and no shirt.
"I then had to drive another hour and a half to a family member's house before sleeping the day away. Now I'm sitting here in Wisconsin trying to process all this and have a 12-hour drive back to Kentucky to look forward to."
And while the man is still unsure how to handle the discovery he's made, commenters on the Reddit post were quick to reassure him that finding out early is a good thing.
One person said: "That's awful, and I really feel for you. One take-away, one that you will realise one day after it stops hurting so much, is that you found out now rather than later. If you had committed yourself to her and found this afterwards, I think it'd be a lot worse."
While another added: "Sorry bud, that's rough. Better to have found out now rather than later. I know that doesn't help your feelings right now, but look for those silver linings."
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