A woman broke out in allergic hives every time she spent the night at her boyfriend's home - but social media users say that's a sign of him cheating on her.
Virginia Nault met Steve Johnson in December 2022 through dating app Bumble and the two hit it off and began a relationship.
Soon, she started spending evenings at his house and occasionally sleeping over on the weekends.
The 22-year-old was surprised to find that she began waking up with hives, with itchy, red, and swollen skin, and watery eyes. She assumed they were seasonal allergies and didn't do anything about it.
Virginia, originally from Boston, said: "I've been having the allergies for the entire six months, but we didn't notice at first. We thought it was a random seasonal allergy thing, and we hadn't put two and two together until a month ago, when we realised there was a correlation there."
"It started with my eyes getting super itchy and watery."
She realised it was more than allergies when she saw her skin clear up in the middle of the week, several days after seeing her boyfriend. It got worse whenever she saw him.
That's when she knew - she was allergic to her boyfriend.
"We noticed that after I spent a few days at his apartment, I would get a really bad rash the week after and feel pretty miserable for a few days after," said Virginia.
"It's stressful, but on the other hand, you have to laugh a little bit because it's so ridiculous," she says.
She says her partner switched detergents, deodorants, and other toiletries to try and mitigate the problem, but none of that worked. Nault started seeing a dermatologist.
"I say jokingly that I'm allergic to him - it's probably going to be something in the air at his apartment, a body product or something he's using.
"When people say my boyfriend is cheating, it's one of those things where you have to laugh.
"At the end of the day, they don't know me, and they don't know him, and they don't know our relationship. If he was cheating, with the time I was spending over there, I think I would have found out. I don't give it much thought," she continues.
"He's been so patient and so supportive with everything, and he's just as frustrated as I am - he's feeling like he's causing it but doesn't know what the cause is."
Virginia's TikTok racked up more than 2,000 likes, comments and shares, and viewers were quick to share their opinions in the comments.
Whilst some believed that Virginia's allergies were "a sign," others were more sympathetic.
One said: "Babe, maybe it's a sign." Another said: "Your body won't lie to you girl, I'm sorry." A third added: "Okay, learn the hard way sis."
A fourth said: "Sometimes allergies can be dormant and just triggered randomly, I'm sorry everyone thinks he's cheating."
