I Thought My Dad Was Cheating on My Mom After My Graduation – but What He Was Really Hiding Left Me Speechless

“I’ve tried everything,” he said. “The smell thing. Pulling away. Not being around much. I don’t want to hurt her. I just want out.”

The smell thing.

I felt numb, like the air had been sucked out of the house. My ears rang as the truth hit me with a clarity so sharp it almost hurt.

There was nothing wrong with me.

There never had been.

He was trying to make me feel like there was.

That’s why no amount of scrubbing helped. That’s why he looked at me with quiet disgust no matter how clean I was. That’s why intimacy disappeared and affection dried up. He wasn’t repulsed by me—he was looking for an exit and wanted me to walk through it first.

I set the basket down and walked away before he noticed me. In the bedroom, I sat on the edge of the bed, staring at nothing as memory after memory rearranged itself into a new pattern. The subtle insults. The distance. The way he’d sigh when I entered a room, like I was an inconvenience.

And the worst part?

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