A man has been left devastated after a DNA kit revealed that his father was not who he thought he was - a secret his mum kept from him for almost two decades.
Taking to Reddit, the anonymous 19-year-old explained that he jumped on the "bandwagon" of the recent "craze" and bought testing kits for himself and his dad. However, his entire world came crashing down when he got the results, the Mirror reports.
He said: "We got our results back a few days ago and I went into the DNA relatives section to check out my matches. At the top it listed my dad as only sharing 29.2 per cent DNA with me and being predicted to be a half-brother, which is impossible.
"This didn't make sense to me since we also shared a paternal haplogroup and we just look so alike, so he was definitely my father."
The teen also found out that his shares 24.6 per cent DNA with his cousin also predicted to be his half-sister - despite cousins only usually share roughly 12 per cent.
The teen slowly came to the realisation that his uncle - his dad's brother - must be his biological father.
He continued: "I couldn't think of a genetic relationship that would explain what I was seeing and I had doubts in the accuracy of the percentages. The shared percentages are extremely accurate and highly unlikely to be false.
"The only realistic explanation for what I was seeing was that my uncle, my cousin's father and my dad's brother, is my father. Reality hit me in the face like a flying bag of bricks.
"All the dots lined up and I felt a sense of loss. I sat in my room for an hour just in shock and then I had a feeling of anger come over me. I needed some answers."
He immediately confronted his mum with the DNA results - and demanded that she explain.
"My irrational self didn't even sugar coat it. I asked her if she cheated on dad with uncle David," he said.
"I have never seen the colour drain from someone's face so quickly. She looked dumbfounded and then mumbled 'What kind of question is this? Of course not.'
"I told her everything; the test, percentages, DNA matches, all of it! My mum fell to the ground crying, begging me not to tell dad."
He then called his cousin - actually his half sister - to share the shocking news.
"She ended the call screaming. My dad (now uncle) then came home and stumbled into my room asking what's wrong with mum.
"I told him everything too. He didn't say anything after calming down. He left the room and I locked the door.
"For the next few hours, I heard my entire family fall apart outside my door. My parents got into a heated argument and my grandparents rushed over to see what was going on.
"My aunt-in-law and David showed up shortly later and I'm pretty sure I heard my dad and David get into some physical fight. Utter chaos.
"I feel like s*** - I know it's not my fault but I can't help feeling that this is all because of me.
"If I had spent my birthday money on something else, none of this would have happened, but another part of me is glad to know the truth."
Taking to the comments section of the teen's post, other users expressed their sympathy for him and suggested ways he could try and make amends with his family.
One user wrote: "Call your dad, make it clear you still see him as your father - it could really help him out."
Another user said: "The only person at fault is your mother and 'uncle'. She and him are the ones who cheated and lied. You don't need to feel guilty about exposing their guilt.
"Your real dad is the guy who raised you, not the guy whose genes are more similar."
A third user added: "Your dad would be devastated! Give him time, space and comfort him."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
