These 5 Valentine's Day Breakup Stories Are So Sad, They'll Break Your Heart
Like a bad haircuts, there's no good time for heartbreak to happen. And yet, like a bad haircut, after a while, you'll see growth. What can we say, breakups suck. And these Valentine's Day breakup stories are borderline soul-crushing. When seemingly everyone on the planet is taking sexy baths with their sweeties and feeding each other heart-shaped candies, calling it quits on Cupid's birthday can really rub some vanilla scented bath salts into a freshly broken heart.
No matter your romantic status, Valentine's Day is hard to escape. From the aisles of CVS to the V-Day inspired drink menus at your favorite neighborhood haunts — everything seems to be pink, glittery, and made for two. The pain from a Valentine's breakups can feel impossible to handle and never-ending. Yet, thanks to single-girl icons like the queen, Ariana Grande, for every conversation heart that says "ILY" there are two more that read "thank u, next."
If you're looking for the light between the broken heart emojis and dried up roses that surround your V-Day breakup, look no further.
These five Valentine's Day breakup stories will remind you that even after a V-Day breakup, you are never alone — and it will get better.
01Playing Charades
"I had a girlfriend in college and I knew I wanted to breakup and that our relationship was over, but it was Valentine's Day weekend and it felt like everyone was doing cute stuff, so I felt like I needed to continue the charade. I took her on this nice date, but it was awful and we broke up the next day. Moral of the story: If you need to breakup with someone do it, don't feel pressure by Hallmark to stay together."
— Aimee, 26
02Check, Please
"My last relationship my boyfriend and I were cooking dinner together one night and I clicked on his computer to look at the recipe. I saw an email notification confirming a reservation for a fancy restaurant for Valentine's Day, and I was super excited he had secretly planned something months in advance. I never told him I saw the email, but I got him a really sweet present and was waiting for Valentine's Day to come around. A week before Valentine's he told me he was going out of town that week to visit family. He had been cheating on me and was going on a Valentine's date with someone else. My friend sent me a picture the other person had posted of them at the restaurant."
— Sara, 25
03Distant Past
We were long distance, and it hadn't been going well for a while but the first break we both had from work and school was Valentine's Day. We both knew it was a breakup trip, but every single restaurant, coffee place, store, everything was decked out in hearts and Cupids. We broke up the first night and I slept on the couch the second night before taking the bus back.
— Bec, 23
04Up, Up, And Away
"I got my ex a ride in a helicopter around the city for Valentine's Day. He hated it the whole time, and 15 minutes in to the ride he was shouting to go back down. The second we landed he dumped me and said I should have known he would have hated that. We haven't talked since."
— Kat, 24*
05Formally Offended
My sorority has a big Valentine's formal where you specially invite your crushes and I invited the guy I had been hooking up with for months. He showed up wasted and spent the night trying to make out with a bunch of my sisters. I think he even went home with one. I was so mortified and sad I cried in the bathroom in my dress and made my friends take our Uber to Wendy's.
— Annie, 21
Trying to nurse a broken heart on Feb. 14 can feel like trying to find a bottle of wound saline in a crowded grocery store on a Sunday morning, after you took yourself to Claire's to get your ear pierced and woke up with a gross infection (not that I would know or anything). There's no getting around it: Getting dumped or calling your relationship off on a day dedicated to love can be super hard. Yet, no matter the time or the place of the heart break, you are strong and smart. In time, you will heal and love again.
*Names have been changed
