Dad Runs Into Old Friend, Secretly Takes Paternity Test On Son, 12, Following The Conversation

Twelve years after a man welcomed an unexpected son, his world was turned upside down. The man then turned to Reddit users to find out what to do with the information.

A distraught Reddit user took to the platform to ask what he should do about some information he had just discovered that had turned his world upside down. He knew if he told his wife, she would be crushed, too.

The original poster (OP) said he and his wife met when he was 20. Although their relationship was never meant to be anything serious, it quickly turned out that way. The couple eventually married.

The OP and his wife had met and had a drunken one-night stand that turned into something more over the following weeks. When the OP's now-wife told him she was pregnant, he knew what he had to do.

What Did the OP Do?

When the OP's now-wife told him she was pregnant, he proposed a few weeks later. He had grown up without a father and didn't want anything of the sort to happen to his child, too. However, he had doubts about her pregnancy aligning with their time together.

Nevertheless, the OP was in the military and was deployed a few months later. He remained engaged and did not bring up his doubts about the baby being his. Twelve years later, the couple were still married.

The OP admitted that his relationship with his wife was "volatile" but said that because he had grown up with an absent father and didn't want his son to experience the same, he stayed with his wife. However, he clarified:

"Our marriage is dead outside of our child."

While he was in a dead-end marriage, the OP remained with his wife for the sake of their son, who he had been there forever since the day the boy was born. However, the OP met up with a friend that changed his outlook on the relationship.

What Did the OP's Friend Say?

One day, when the man was out, he saw an old friend he had known around the same time he and his wife met. When the friend asked if the OP was still with his wife, and he answered in the affirmative, the friend joked:

"It was crazy I dated her, and then you stole her from me!"

The OP was confused by this comment and asked the friend what he meant. The friend explained that he had been dating her until the weekend the OP and his wife had met.

Although the OP acted like it was no big deal when talking to his friend, inside, his insecurities began boiling to the surface. He shared:

“My doubt and insecurities ran wild. I couldn’t get it out of [my] head. I broke down and bought a home DNA test kit and used it on my son.”

The day the OP posted to Reddit was the same day he got the paternity test results back. The results showed a 0% chance that the OP could have been the boy's biological father.

The OP felt "destroyed" at the results and said he was on autopilot, not knowing what to do or think. The OP said the only thing he knew for sure was that he would always consider the little boy his son because he had raised him ever since he was born and had been there for everything.

He clarified that nothing would change the fact that he considered the boy his son and said nothing would change the fact that he would always be by the little boy's side no matter what.

However, the OP didn't know if he should tell his wife what he had found out. Although he was no longer in love with her, he still had love for her and said he knew the news would crush her, too.

One user said the OP should tell his wife, son, and the other guy, but he should also remain the boy's father. The user also advised that nobody should get married for anything other than love.

Another said if the OP was not going to do anything about it, he should not even bring it up to his wife and child. One person said the OP should ask himself if he loved his wife; if not, he was wasting his time.

What do you think the OP should have done when he found out that his son was not his biologically? While the results of this paternity test confirmed the OP's suspicions, another woman found she could not have been more wrong about her friend's son's paternity. Read the full story here.