Breakups
These 12 Sad Love Stories From Real People Will Shatter Your Heart
Get your tissues ready.
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Love stories don't always have a happy ending. You might fall for someone who doesn't return your phone calls or dates your best friend or simply doesn't feel the same way you do. DW, heartbreak won't stop you from moving on and pursuing new relationships. But before you get a happy fairytale ending, there's a chance you'll collect a sad love story or two along the way. Sorry to be a downer, friends, but it's true. A sad story is sometimes the best love story.
The end of a relationship doesn't necessarily include betrayal and big blowups. Sometimes, a relationship reaches a quiet conclusion, which can be even more painful than a messy split. People move away, change their priorities, find new careers, and — on the path to finding themselves — they may find their partner doesn't fit into the equation.
Though losing a lover can be an isolating experience, it might make you feel better to know that you're not alone. I came across an AskReddit thread inviting Reddit users to share the most heartbreaking story from their love lives, and hundreds of brokenhearted people replied with their tales of love gone wrong. I hope you have some tissues handy because these sad stories might just make you ugly cry.
This Cultural Divide
My boyfriend and I broke up over religion. We were in a relationship for four years and a couple of months ago, both his parents (who are Jewish) and my parents (who are Hindu) made us break up with each other because both families believed that there was no future for us.
His Jewish parents didn't want a Hindu daughter-in-law and my parents felt the same about him. Although we had tried for the past four years to get our parents to accept the other, they never did, which always led to arguments.
We continue to remain friends now and it breaks my heart every time I see him because I still love him immensely.
This Final Date Night
We dated for over a year and were each other's best friends, we completely understand each other, and we are still madly in love with each other, but it was best for us to break up because we weren't in the same place. She's 20 and wants to be married and have kids soon, and I'm 21 and wanted to date her for a while and get married and have kids around age 30.
It was mutual and we both knew it was best for us, so we decided one day to break up. On the last day of our relationship, I decided to take her out on one last date night. We spent the entire date thinking back and talking about favorite times together, things we'll miss about each other, how we've affected each other's life in so many good ways. I bought her flowers, took her to a nice romantic restaurant with live music, and went to see The Hobbit, through all of which we held hands. It was one of the most perfect, romantic, happy, and yet heartbreaking date we ever had.
At the end of the night, we said our goodbyes as we hugged and kissed passionately for one last time and went our separate ways, never to see each other again. It was the hardest thing I've had to do to this date, but I wouldn't want it to end any other way. It was as perfect as a heartbreak could be.
This Tragic Miscommunication
I had a bit of a thing for this girl Caitlin for over a year back in school. I used to speak to her whenever I could — I'd help her with her English homework, sit next to her on the bus, etc. The typical teenage romance crap.
Caitlin and I both had a liking for this local band who had made it relatively big, so for her birthday, I got two tickets to see them at a homecoming show as a way of asking her out. I put the tickets in her card and wrote some crap about looking forward to taking her.
Her birthday comes around, I give her the card, watch her open it, get a hug and a massive thank you, etc., but that was about it. [I] didn't think too much of the lack of comments regarding the 'asking out' part.
Concert day rolls around, I text her asking when she wants to get pick up. She doesn't understand what I mean [and] tells me she's already on her way there with *****.
Turns out she went with another guy. They started dating for a year or two.
This Devastating Dissolution
My first boyfriend of two years dumped me near the beginning of college for another girl and stopped speaking to me cold turkey. Left me friendless in a new place. Didn't even acknowledge me when we passed on the same staircase in campus. Two years together and I was dead to him in a day.
This Unrequited Romance
[I] fell in love with a guy. In an attempt to get closer to him, we became best friends. I fell harder and harder in love with him. We shared everything — we went on trips together, he taught me how to change the oil on my car, I introduced him to some great books/movies/music.
I watched him marry the girl of his dreams. It wasn't me.
This Crushing Revelation
I met her in college and I fell instantly for her on our first date. We were together for about a year and a half before she got accepted into a grad school across the country. We discussed whether or not we were to have a long-distance relationship and we decided not to since it would be easier on both of us. I've been miserable ever since she's left. It's been about four months since she's been gone. We spent time together over break and it was as if she never left. It was wonderful until she said that she had started dating again.
I couldn't be mad at her because we weren't together. I think the overwhelming shock that the girl I had meant to propose to was already moving on with her life after having such a wonderful relationship with me is what is making me sick to my stomach every day. Every single day I wish that things were different, that she hadn't moved away, and that we were still together.
This Fickle Lover
I realized that I had fallen madly in love with him completely by accident, so I broke up with my boyfriend so I could be with him. He was thrilled with this, and we spent a couple absolutely blissful weeks together where we sang love songs to each other, cooked meals together, danced like crazy, watched old Disney movies, developed hilarious inside jokes (making a duck face every time Skyfall is mentioned, due to Daniel Craig's face), complimented each other every few minutes... He was so wonderfully happy, I was so wonderfully happy, and everyone around us thought we were an amazing couple. Those were a couple of the happiest weeks of my life.
Fast forward another two weeks and he realizes he's not in a position where he can commit to a serious relationship. Feels too young, feels like he wants to explore the world, scared of commitment, etc. He decides he'll try to push aside the doubts because he thinks I'm amazing and that we have something really special going on. We kiss like we're in the movies and everything is great again. One week later, the doubts are back and I can't handle always being afraid he'll end it any minute, so we end it and go back to being friends.
Except that I'm still madly in love with him. But secretly.
This Friend Envy
I loved a girl for two years. She was beautiful, and I still think about her every now and then. We were pretty good friends and she told me everything. But last year, she told me she's in love with my best friend. My best friend is a pretty oblivious person, so he often doesn't know anything happening around him. ...And I made one of the stupidest mistakes. I didn't want her to be sad, so I helped her and my best friend to get closer. It ended up [with] them being together, and I was just loner. I have always regretted for not being brave enough to confess to her that I love her. One thing that I feel most jealous of is that my best friend is still a very uncaring person, but she's so tolerant for him, and seeing them everyday at school, I sometimes imagine myself as if I was my best friend.
This Long-Distance Disappointment
I was 22 when I had my first girlfriend. I loved her a great deal. I had just moved to California (I'm originally from Texas) where she lived after several months of long-distance dating, so getting to spend time with her was great, but I couldn't support myself there and wound up having to move back to Texas. It was heart-breaking for me and I couldn't bear doing the long-distance thing again so I broke up with her. We're still in contact everyday and she has moved on, where I haven't. I've been there for her through every ill-advised relationship, always the shoulder to cry on and the voice of reason to listen to. I used to tell myself that I was over her, but if I'm truly honest, I guess I never will be.
This Missed Connection
Sophomore year of high school I was determined to ask my bright-eyed auburn-haired crush (who I spoke to daily) to homecoming. Each day I'd say I'd do it during/after our class together, but each day my nerves would get the better of me. Then, one day, it was different. I was going to ask her today, dammit. The whole day I was brimming with confidence, I was super excited — nervous, but in a good way.
Then during class I hear her talking to her friends and make out what I think is them talking about how some guy had asked her that morning. Crushed, but not yet defeated by some half-heard gossip, I decided to approach her after class and casually ask if anybody had asked her to homecoming yet. She looked a little bit stunned/embarrassed (I guess she knew why I was asking) and told me that she had been asked that morning.
She went with him, and the two have been dating (on and off) ever since (we're seniors in college now).
This Broken Promise
In my sophomore year of high school, I met a girl at my friend's birthday party. I thought she was amazing. And she liked me enough. We agreed that, since we didn't live that close together or go to the same school, it wouldn't make sense to date, but we did strike a deal. In college, we would go on a date. It doesn't sound like anything now, but at the time it was fantastic. We would talk about what we would do, discuss our plans for the future, essentially plan our lives together. I honestly think I loved this girl, if only for a time.
However, plans never hold up to real life, people grow up, and grow apart. We stopped talking after a long while, never dated, and she's married now.
It's not heartbreaking in a way that makes me sad or has left a scar or anything. Just heartbreaking to think about these emotions that I had, and now they're gone. Not because of her, but simply because of life.
This Unfortunate Reality
After starting high school and feeling completely out of place for the first year, I finally found the kind of friends that actually made me happy. We all grew really close in the first year we knew each other, and apparently, I managed to charm one of them enough that she fell for me. Pressure from all sides forced me into eventually confronting this fact, and we started dating at the end of that year. The only problem was, I am gay.
I didn't want to start a facade, so I had to just let it die. In two weeks it was over, and both of us were hurt. I know this isn't as tragic as some of the other stories, and she's certainly moved on by now, but what hurts me the most is that I lost one of my best friends. We were both part of a large circle of friends so we regularly came into contact for the rest of high school. Our moms also became best friends, which didn't help. And every time we see each other there's this awful silent barrier between us. I pretend I don't care, and she certainly doesn't, but for some reason I just can't let go. Despite my sexuality, I think I could have loved her, and I think I still do.
We met again at a New Years party. We exchanged a few meaningless words at the beginning, but even excessive drinking didn't take us past that. Since then I keep having dreams about her. In the dreams we're friends again, just enjoying each others company with others. I feel incredibly warm and comforted. But I'll never actually have that again.
Every happy love story probably involves encountering some form of heartbreak along the way. Just remember this: You're not alone in your pain, and you're not any less deserving of a happy ending. The more painful the heartbreak in your past, the more satisfying true love may be when you find it in the future.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated by Elite Daily Staff.
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