Her fiancé threw away precious letters from her late mom. She thought she'd hit rock bottom — until a friend sent her screenshots of his texts

A 27-year-old woman (u/PristineBabex) is left disoriented after her fiancé did a series of actions that made her question whether she can actually trust him. At first, he threw away a box that contained her late mother’s precious mementos. By the time she healed from the loss of the emotional paraphernalia, a friend shared some screenshots that turned her world upside down. Now that his secret is out in the light, he wants her back, but she can’t seem to fathom whether she should get married to a man like this. She shared her story in an October 12, 2026, Reddit post, which has since tallied 300 upvotes.

Old grief awakened

The woman has been with her 30-year-old fiancé for the past five years. They got engaged last year and were supposed to plan their wedding this summer. However, a few months ago, a volley of bombshells dropped on her one after the other that made her rethink the decision of marriage. While cleaning out a storage room, her fiancé threw away a box of handwritten letters and photographs her late mother had left her. Although it was accidental, it revived her grief of losing her mother all over again. "I spent a week at my older sister's apartment, telling him clearly that I wasn't breaking up with him. I just needed some time to myself before coming home and moving forward," she said.

'He was lonely'

On the surface, the fiancé validated her emotions, but behind the scenes, something entirely different was unfolding. After she returned to their apartment, he admitted to having an affair with one of his female co-workers. “He said he was lonely, upset about how distant we'd been, and made a terrible decision after having drinks with his coworkers,” she recalled. After blabbering out the truth, he cried, apologized, and pressed her not to cancel the wedding. She was so shocked she didn’t utter a word and just left.

Salt on the scars

A few days later, a friend of the co-worker sent her some screenshots, according to which her fiancé had been involved in flirtatious interactions for the past couple of weeks. While she was healing her grief, he was telling another woman that their relationship was over. When the bride-to-be sought help from her family members, her plight was bluntly dismissed. Everyone, including her sister, her father, and her mother-in-law, blamed her for his affair because, apparently, she made a mistake by getting distant with him for a week. Even her fiancé's mother called her to convince her not to break off the engagement "over one mistake."

Can she ever trust him again?

Fast forward to the present day, she feels sick every time she looks at the engagement ring. And although her fiancé has promised to quit his job and share his passwords and location, she isn’t convinced whether she should spend her life with this man. “I still love the person I thought he was, which makes this even harder, but I don't know if I can ever trust him again,” she said, adding, “I can't imagine planning a wedding with someone whose loyalty apparently depends on whether I'm physically beside him.”

Is alcohol to blame?

Like the woman's fiancé, nearly 12% of men cheat when they are drunk, according to a YouGov poll. Between 83% and 92% of survey respondents agreed that a one-night stand post-intoxication is absolutely counted as cheating. Additionally, statistics shared by Dr. Kathy Nickerson state that men are more likely to attempt to reconcile than women after cheating. For instance, 84.6% of men who strayed reported that they reconciled with their original partner after the affair, compared to 68.0% of women.

Once a cheater, always a cheater

Reddit readers strongly opposed her fiancée's actions and urged her to break the marital bond right away. u/MotherofLochs commented, “This went from ‘accidental’ to premeditated, and none of the truth came from his mouth unprompted. I’d be going low-contact with anyone siding with him—the lack of empathy is wild.” u/mcindy28 said, “He threw away the last pieces of your mother! Now, you wouldn't have something tangible of her on your wedding day. You asked for time to grieve, and he immediately scre*ed the coworker! You are too young to settle for this much nonsense! Give him the ring back, cancel the wedding, and find a therapist to help you with your grief! You deserve better!”

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