Valentine's Day: People share their 14 February horror stories
- Published
Flowers, chocolates and a romantic dinner for two?
Or how about discovering that your long-term partner is cheating on you when he accidentally gives you the wrong Valentine's Day gift?
That is what happened to Claire from Manchester, who is among those sharing their 14 February horror stories.
"It was quite a few years ago," said Claire, who was in a serious relationship with her boyfriend at the time.
"I got some presents - a personalised mug, a personalised card, a red rose and some chocolates.
"But it wasn't my name, it said someone else's."
Claire added: "When I opened it, the look on his face said it all. He blamed it on the shop, he said the shop made the mistake. But there's a bit of difference between the names.
"He denied it, but eventually the truth came out. He admitted it and his phone was ringing at the same time. It was her.
"I took the phone and spoke to her. She was flabbergasted. He'd given her all my Valentine's gifts.
"They were exactly the same - the same mug with 'I love you' on and a love heart, the same card."
Claire, who is now in a happy relationship, adds: "I laugh now, but I wasn't laughing then. I wasn't best pleased. It was heartbreaking. You don't expect it, and receiving someone else's gifts."
She adds that the gifts went straight in the bin, as did her then-boyfriend, who quickly became an ex. "He was gone," she said.
'Boyfriend's secret girlfriend called me'
Polly from Newcastle also found out that her boyfriend had been cheating on 14 February last year.
"On Valentine's Day morning I got an add on Facebook from some girl. We had a mutual friend, so I added her. Five minutes later she called me on Messenger".
Polly, who is now training to be a teacher, said the woman told her that she was the girlfriend of Polly's boyfriend.
"I said, 'no, I'm his girlfriend'," said Polly, who confronted and broke up with him later on, when he turned up armed with Valentine's Day gifts.
"I said, you can take them," she said, adding that she knows her more romantic Valentine's Days are to come.
'I caught him with another woman'
Meanwhile, Helen from Walsall recalled catching her then-boyfriend of 18 months leaving a hotel with another woman, just hours before they were due to go for a Valentine's Day dinner.
"I'd gone into town to buy myself a new outfit and called into somewhere for a cup of coffee," she said.
"It was opposite a hotel where I got a full view of him emerging from the hotel entwined with another woman.
"I sat there and considered just contacting him and saying I'd seen him, or not showing up to the meal. There were various options."
Helen decided to go out with him, pretend she didn't know and then confront him.
"He tried to deny it but went bright red, I could tell he was lying. I just lost it. Fortunately for him, what I was eating wasn't soup. It was fish and chips and peas and I just stood up and tipped it over his head and walked out."
'I left my girlfriend stranded at the airport'
Sue Jenkins, 56, from County Durham, confessed that on one Valentine's Day she left her girlfriend stranded at the airport after getting cold feet.
"Claire lived in Essex," said Sue, a mature student. "I lived in Sunderland and we'd been chatting online.
Happy ending: Sue, left, and her wife Claire have now been together 15 years
"She was flying up from Stansted and her mum and dad had dropped her off at the airport. But I got cold feet. I called her and told her, 'Don't come up, the time's not right.'"
Despite being called "all the names under the sun" by Claire, Sue says the couple managed to patch things up. A couple of months later she drove down to meet Claire and her family.
They have now been together for 15 years and got married two years ago. Although, as Sue adds: "It's never been forgotten. It gets brought up at parties."
The names of some of the people featured in this piece have been changed.
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