He thought he'd found the perfect boyfriend in Australia — then a family secret revealed they were blood related

Some events are too uncanny to be mere coincidences; they are actually the truth. A man who goes by u/Mervaang on Reddit shared an almost unbelievable twist of fate in his love life. The 21-year-old author was visiting and working in Melbourne, Australia, when he met his 30-year-old boyfriend. He thought he had met his soulmate, only for the truth to unravel after he went back to Germany. The post was shared on May 17, 2026, and it reached 2,300 upvotes and 461 comments.

Instant sparks

The author shared that the moment he and his boyfriend met, there was an "instant click." In just a couple of weeks, they had gotten along extremely well. The boyfriend was everything the author was looking for in a partner. But since they both belonged to conservative Muslim families, they believed that their families would be unsupportive. This was why they did not introduce each other to their families and chose to remain in the closet.

After a few deep conversations, the boyfriend revealed that he was not close to his dad's side of the family because they were "toxic." Nonetheless, their relationship blossomed. The author even met his boyfriend's sister, and was surprised to learn her name was the same as his sister's. He brushed it off as a coincidence, since Turkish families tend to reuse the same names. However, it came back to bite him after he returned home to Germany. 

Doomed phone call

During a weekend breakfast with the family, the author's father was on a phone call with his Turkish relatives. While his father was talking to his uncle, he overheard him mention his uncle's children in Melbourne. At this point, the author denied the connection between his uncle's children and his boyfriend. However, the final puzzle piece clicked when his father mentioned his boyfriend and his sister's names. Still in a state of disbelief, he called his boyfriend the next day and asked questions about his father, and that's when it hit him.

"I realized I'm literally dating my dad's cousin," he wrote. The author admitted he knows the "right thing" would be to end the relationship, but the decision is tearing him apart emotionally.

'Ancestry' on the rise 

With all the available tools and resources, more and more people are trying to learn about their ancestry. Mail-in DNA test kits are some of the most common and easiest ways to find out one's lineage. A Pew Research Center study found that the main reason why people use mail-in DNA kits was to learn more about where their family came from (87%), learn more about their health and family medical history (36%), and also to discover relatives they did not know about (36%). In the case of the author, he found out about a family member without a DNA test, but simply through a string of coincidences.

'I'm not gonna pretend it's ideal, but...'

Several people in the comments were telling the author to go for it, since they are distant relatives. They also pointed out the fact that the genetic issues that would arise from marrying a family member would not apply to them since they are both men. u/FlakyAssociation4986 pointed out, "As you are both male and so won't have children, etc., it's less of an issue than if you were a straight couple." u/Morotstomten commented, "I'm not gonna pretend it's ideal, but you are not directly related and you have 0 feelings/experience as family, so if it's legal then maybe try and work it out?"

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