Family INSIST That I Make My Son Forgive His Uncle After He Uninvited Him From His Wedding

[00:00:03] Hey Waffle Gang, I do hope you are well. My name is Mark and today we're checking out some more Reddit Stories. And if you do love a Reddit Story, why not consider hitting a like, subscribe, maybe that notification bell too. It's very cheeky, just look at it. And let's crack on with today's first story. Much love guys.

[00:00:23] Now our story comes from Leo Bastian who says, am I the arsehole here for not making my son forgive my brother after he was uninvited from his wedding? Six months ago, my son Leo, 14 male, decided to cut off my brother Jack, 46 male. Now my mum, brother, sister-in-law and other family members want me to make my son forgive him to keep the peace. For a little bit of context, I'm a 46 male, a single dad. My father, I'm a 46 male, a single dad.

[00:00:55] My family has always helped me in many ways, mostly babysitting when Leo was younger. And even before my son was born, we were all very close. We all live relatively close to each other so we've been able to keep in touch with weekly gatherings, spending the holidays together, etc. Everyone loves my son and my son loved them back. However, my brother Jack was always my son's favorite person. Back when my son was three to four years old, Jack and his wife had more flexible jobs than me. Think freelance,

[00:01:25] and I'm a 9 to 5. So they always volunteered to look after Leo, something he loved. Almost every month, they would take him to the zoo or the aquarium or they'd even go camping with him. As my son grew older, he started to develop the same interests as my brother, like video games, photography and music. When Leo was nine, he told me that he wanted to have the same career as his uncle. This is all to say, they were extremely close.

[00:01:52] Last year, my brother informed me that he and his girlfriend Mary were getting married.

[00:01:57] I knew that neither Jack nor his girlfriend believed in marriage, so when I asked them about it, they told me it was all Karen's idea, my sister-in-law's mum, because Jack and Mary didn't care much about the wedding.

[00:02:07] And since Karen was paying for it, they let her plan everything, from the venue to the food, music, etc.

[00:02:14] Karen decided to plan a destination wedding at a fancy resort.

[00:02:18] In July of last year, we received the invitation and it was addressed to both me and my son.

[00:02:23] I even had a plus one if I wanted.

[00:02:26] And as soon as the website went up, I tried to make a reservation for a hotel room.

[00:02:30] I should clarify that I had to call the hotel to make my reservation because the link wasn't working and I really couldn't risk not getting a room.

[00:02:37] When I received the email confirmation, it said, room for two adults.

[00:02:42] But I didn't think much of it, I just assumed it was an error due to the language barrier with a hotel guy.

[00:02:47] I bought the plane tickets for us around the same time.

[00:02:50] Fast forward to January.

[00:02:52] Less than a month before the wedding, when my sister-in-law called me crying that Karen had made a mistake with the venue.

[00:02:58] Apparently, the resort was for adults only, so they didn't allow anyone younger than 16.

[00:03:03] My son was 13 at the time.

[00:03:06] I asked her if it would be possible for Leo and me to stay in another hotel.

[00:03:10] But they told me the whole resort was child-free, so my son wouldn't even be allowed to attend the ceremony or the reception.

[00:03:16] I was disappointed and told my sister-in-law I talked to my son about it.

[00:03:20] I knew how excited he was about his uncle's wedding, but she insisted both her and Jack wanted to tell him in person.

[00:03:27] Honestly, my son was devastated.

[00:03:30] He started crying as soon as he was told he wouldn't be able to go.

[00:03:34] He pleaded with them and even offered them to give all of his savings so they could move the wedding.

[00:03:39] After 30 minutes of this, my sister-in-law got frustrated and just told him that he was being selfish and this day wasn't about him.

[00:03:47] Leo eventually apologized and went to his room.

[00:03:50] After the wedding, my son just stopped talking to my brother.

[00:03:52] If Jack sent him a message, Leo would just ignore it unless it had something to do with me.

[00:03:57] For example, he would only reply if Jack asked him to tell me something because he couldn't reach me, etc.

[00:04:03] On our family gatherings, Leo would only respond to small questions like,

[00:04:07] Can you pass the salt or help grandma with the plates?

[00:04:10] But he would ignore my brother if Jack or Mary tried to start a conversation or ask him about school, etc.

[00:04:16] A month after the wedding, Jack and Mary offered to take him for a special vacation during spring break to make up for the wedding.

[00:04:23] But my son just ignored them and he later told me that he didn't want to go with them.

[00:04:28] It was heartbreaking because I knew how much he wanted to go to that place and I wasn't able to afford it yet.

[00:04:34] But he stuck to his guns.

[00:04:36] Something similar happened on Leo's birthday.

[00:04:38] He asked me if I was planning to throw him a party.

[00:04:41] I'd do it every year.

[00:04:42] And when I said yes, he asked me not to invite his aunt and uncle.

[00:04:45] I tried to convince him to invite them because they are family and they were really sorry.

[00:04:50] But he just said if they didn't want him on their special day, he didn't want them on his.

[00:04:55] My brother was crying when I told him he wasn't invited.

[00:04:59] However, things came to a head this past weekend.

[00:05:01] We're at my mum's house and the conversation of Leo's university came up.

[00:05:05] My mum asked Leo if he was still planning on going to the same university as Jack and that he should start planning for that.

[00:05:11] But my son replied that he wasn't interested anymore and he had chosen to study something else.

[00:05:16] Then my mum said,

[00:05:17] I thought you wanted to be like your uncle.

[00:05:19] And my son just said,

[00:05:21] Why would I want to be like him?

[00:05:23] At this point, I intervened and told Leo he didn't have to be so rude, but the damage was already done.

[00:05:28] Both my brother and sister-in-law heard what he said and they left shortly after.

[00:05:33] Last night, my brother texted me saying I was an asshole for letting my son continue with his grudge and he even accused me of being jealous of their relationship.

[00:05:40] And that's why I wasn't doing anything to fix it.

[00:05:43] I just told him these were the consequences of his actions.

[00:05:46] And this was 100% his fault by allowing his piece of shit mother-in-law to plan the wedding when she obviously hated my child.

[00:05:53] He hung up on me.

[00:05:55] My mum and some other family members think I should force my son to forgive my brother so we can all move on, claiming there was no ill intent and it was just a small mistake.

[00:06:04] But I don't think I should.

[00:06:06] My son was clearly hurt and he should be allowed to heal and forgive them only when he's ready.

[00:06:10] So am I the asshole here?

[00:06:13] Edit.

[00:06:13] Sorry, I stopped responding yesterday.

[00:06:15] I got distracted by a Civ 6 game after I keep seeing the reveal for 7.

[00:06:20] I'm going through all the comments and I just wanted to answer a question I've seen like 10 times now.

[00:06:25] I did not go to the wedding.

[00:06:27] I didn't want to leave my son alone while most of the family was away.

[00:06:30] It just didn't feel right going to the wedding after what happened.

[00:06:34] Opie adds an additional comment giving some extra information on the family conversations.

[00:06:38] He said his response was rude because of the tone, not because of what he said.

[00:06:42] He said what he said and using a very specific tone to get a reaction out of his uncle.

[00:06:47] That's why it was rude.

[00:06:48] He wasn't just responding to the rather inappropriate question asked by grandma.

[00:06:52] He was acting up.

[00:06:53] He was trying to pick a fight.

[00:06:55] Trust me, I've heard that tone many times before.

[00:06:59] I'm not saying I'm perfect.

[00:07:00] I understand why he's hurt and angry.

[00:07:02] I've respected his boundaries and helped him navigate this as best as I can.

[00:07:06] But that doesn't mean I have to accept him picking a fight every chance he gets.

[00:07:10] As for the conversation, I didn't include my reactions because I didn't consider it relevant.

[00:07:16] Paraphrasing of course, it went something like this.

[00:07:18] Mary said, we made a mistake and you won't be able to go to the wedding.

[00:07:22] Leo said, but why?

[00:07:23] You invited me.

[00:07:24] I want to go.

[00:07:25] Mary said, the place where the wedding has taken place only accepts adults.

[00:07:29] You can't enter.

[00:07:31] Leo responded saying, I don't get it.

[00:07:33] Can you make an exception?

[00:07:34] To which Opie responded saying they can't.

[00:07:36] It's not up to Mary and Jack.

[00:07:37] Remember when you tried to get a part-time job at the pub and the owners told you they

[00:07:41] can't have children inside.

[00:07:43] Let alone work in there.

[00:07:44] It's like that.

[00:07:46] Leo said, can you get married somewhere else?

[00:07:48] Mary said, we can't.

[00:07:50] We already paid a lot of money for that place.

[00:07:52] Leo said, I can give you my savings.

[00:07:54] I have this amount.

[00:07:55] Mary said, it's not enough.

[00:07:56] And it's not just us who spent money.

[00:07:58] All the guests who already spent a lot of money and they don't want to lose it.

[00:08:02] Leo said, my dad has money.

[00:08:03] He can give you money so I can go.

[00:08:05] Please, I want to be at the wedding.

[00:08:07] It's not fair.

[00:08:08] Jack said, I'm sorry, Leo, but we can make it up to you.

[00:08:12] What do you say if we took you to Greece after the wedding?

[00:08:14] You always wanted to go.

[00:08:16] Leo was getting more upset at this point and said, I don't want to.

[00:08:19] I want to go to the wedding.

[00:08:20] Why don't you want me there?

[00:08:23] Opie responded saying, Leo, it was a mistake.

[00:08:25] They wanted you there, but we all made a mistake and we didn't realize sooner there was

[00:08:29] a minimum age.

[00:08:30] Leo responded, it's not fair.

[00:08:32] Why did they invite me then?

[00:08:33] I want to be with my uncle on his special day.

[00:08:36] At this point, Mary was raising her voice.

[00:08:38] She said, this is not our fault.

[00:08:40] It just happened and you need to let it go.

[00:08:42] I'm sorry you can't be there, but you need to stop being selfish.

[00:08:45] This is my special day, not yours.

[00:08:48] Then Leo broke down.

[00:08:50] Like I wrote in another comment, I tried to console him and just shot Mary a shut up

[00:08:54] look without saying anything at the moment.

[00:08:57] Jack did tell her something, but I didn't want to hear what he said.

[00:09:00] Once he calmed down, Leo said he was sorry and asked me if he could go to his room.

[00:09:04] Mary and Jack were saying sorry, but Leo didn't even look at them.

[00:09:07] I followed my son to his room to make sure he was okay and he asked me to leave.

[00:09:11] I went back to the living room.

[00:09:13] I said to them, what the fuck is wrong with you?

[00:09:16] You have no right to yell at my son.

[00:09:18] Mary said, I'm sorry.

[00:09:19] I'm too stressed.

[00:09:20] We've been fighting with my mom about this for two months.

[00:09:23] Opie said, I don't care.

[00:09:24] I told you on the phone he would be disappointed and you made it worse.

[00:09:28] Get out.

[00:09:29] Jack responded saying, please, Jacob.

[00:09:31] She didn't mean it.

[00:09:32] I'll make it up to Leo.

[00:09:33] Opie said, I don't care.

[00:09:35] Get out.

[00:09:36] They left.

[00:09:37] Then I just went to check on Leo.

[00:09:39] I don't have a photographic memory, so I don't remember every single word that was

[00:09:43] said, but this is the gist of what happened that day.

[00:09:45] Opie said in response to lots of people saying not to force Leo to talk and forgive Jack.

[00:09:51] Opie said, yeah.

[00:09:51] I agree that the initial conversation was a mess.

[00:09:54] I was pretty upset when my sister-in-law called Leo selfish, but I didn't want to make things

[00:09:58] worse, so I just let it go.

[00:09:59] I know I should do more, but I don't want to push Leo too much, you know.

[00:10:03] We had a small fight when I told him he still had to respond when asked to do things, etc.

[00:10:08] Honestly, it was my idea not to skip the family gatherings.

[00:10:11] I told him that he should go for the sake of everyone else who loved both him and my brother

[00:10:15] since they'd be sad not to see either.

[00:10:18] He eventually agreed to make grandma happy.

[00:10:21] Opie had about their mom saying, to be fair to my mom, she ripped my brother a new one

[00:10:24] when she found out what had happened.

[00:10:26] However, she insists that Jack is genuinely sorry and trying to make it up to Leo, but

[00:10:30] that Leo isn't helping by holding a grudge.

[00:10:33] She thinks it's not healthy for Leo.

[00:10:35] Opie owned Leo's mother and where was she in all of this?

[00:10:38] Opie says my ex and I got divorced when Leo was two, and she decided to move back to

[00:10:42] her home country.

[00:10:44] We kept in contact regularly for a few years until she married again.

[00:10:47] These days, she only calls on Christmas and on his birthday.

[00:10:52] Someone says, is Leo in therapy?

[00:10:53] Opie says yes.

[00:10:54] I got him into therapy in May, after his birthday.

[00:10:57] I started looking for one after he told me he didn't want to invite his uncle.

[00:11:01] I have no excuse, but I honestly didn't know it'd take so long to find him a therapist.

[00:11:06] It was almost two months.

[00:11:08] Opie then talks about his interactions with Mary's mother and says sorry.

[00:11:12] I haven't interacted much with her outside of some large family gatherings, but basically,

[00:11:17] she's the type of person who always complains about kids running around, or how she cannot

[00:11:21] drink freely because there's kids in the room, and she made some rude comments about

[00:11:25] my sister having too many kids.

[00:11:27] She only has three.

[00:11:28] I did ask Jack several times if Karen had done this on purpose, but he insisted it was

[00:11:33] an honest mistake.

[00:11:34] I'm just not sure I believe it.

[00:11:37] And another one saying I haven't interacted much with her, but in the few times we did,

[00:11:42] she was always the first to complain about kids.

[00:11:45] You know, like kids running around, screaming, etc.

[00:11:47] She also made several comments about not being able to drink freely because of the kids, or

[00:11:52] making passive-aggressive comments towards my sister when she was pregnant with her youngest.

[00:11:57] Maybe unbiased and she's never liked this outside of these events, but she didn't leave

[00:12:01] a good impression in my opinion.

[00:12:03] And a final comment with additional information asking about how long he's been with Mary,

[00:12:08] and Opie says, for the record, my brother has been with Mary since they were 22.

[00:12:12] So Mary has always been around.

[00:12:16] Is anyone else getting those awful mother-in-law vibes right now?

[00:12:20] But just thinking about the title in itself, am I the arsehole for not making my son forgive

[00:12:24] my brother after he was uninvited from his wedding?

[00:12:27] You can't make him forgive your brother or Mary in this situation.

[00:12:31] It just doesn't work like that.

[00:12:33] Forgiveness isn't forced.

[00:12:35] And maybe this is just like the old Reddit brain coming out here.

[00:12:38] It just feels like mother-in-law set this up from the very beginning, especially with

[00:12:42] those last additional bits of information you get that she complains about kids being

[00:12:46] around all the time.

[00:12:47] It just feels like, you know, this was set up on purpose for this way.

[00:12:51] And the way that Mary spoke to Leo in that conversation, it just felt like everything was destroyed

[00:12:57] in that moment.

[00:12:58] And it sounded like there was a lot of love there between Leo and the uncle.

[00:13:03] There was a couple of comments talking about, you know, Leo's mom who abandoned him at a

[00:13:08] young age and saying this is tied up with this in some way.

[00:13:13] So OP came in with an update and says,

[00:13:27] The short version is that we'll stop going to the family events for a while.

[00:13:31] I talked to my brother and he will respect my son's boundaries.

[00:13:34] And he also explained what really happened.

[00:13:36] And above all, Leo is doing much better now.

[00:13:39] Here's a longer update in case anyone is interested in the details.

[00:13:43] Mom and sister.

[00:13:44] The short of it is that I informed my mom that both Leo and I would stop going to the

[00:13:48] family gatherings until everything calmed down.

[00:13:51] And more importantly, until he felt comfortable again.

[00:13:54] She was understandably upset, but I think she finally understood how much she had been

[00:13:58] hurting Leo.

[00:13:59] What surprised me is that my mom told me that Jack had become depressed.

[00:14:03] So she was worried about him.

[00:14:05] And that's why she was so insistent that Leo should forgive him.

[00:14:08] I basically told her that if we force Leo to forgive my brother,

[00:14:11] we risk pushing him away from us.

[00:14:14] As for my sister, she was also sad when I told her we'd stop going to the family gatherings.

[00:14:18] But she said she understood.

[00:14:20] However, she suggested that we make our own weekly tradition so the children can still hang out.

[00:14:25] And that's what we've been doing for the last couple of weeks.

[00:14:27] We decided my nibblings would come to my house one week and then Leo would hang out at hers the

[00:14:33] next.

[00:14:33] So far, it seems to be working and Leo is happy with this arrangement.

[00:14:36] I think it helps that he isn't being pressured by the adults expecting him to talk to his uncle.

[00:14:42] Jack and Mary

[00:14:43] The weekend after I posted here, I text my brother asking him to meet so we could talk.

[00:14:49] I told him that I wanted to speak with him alone so Mary wasn't present.

[00:14:53] Jack immediately apologized and said how much he regretted what he had done and the things he had told me.

[00:14:58] He confirmed what I already suspected and said he was stressed because of the constant fights with Mary.

[00:15:04] He mentioned that he had considered divorce because of how bad the fights got.

[00:15:08] I may seem cruel here, but I basically told him that I didn't care about that.

[00:15:12] What I wanted was for him to tell me the truth about what the hell had happened.

[00:15:16] Jack maintains that he didn't know about the venue being child-free until last November.

[00:15:21] However, like many of you suspected, Mary had known for quite a while.

[00:15:26] Maybe even the whole time.

[00:15:28] Apparently, this all started a few years back when Jack and Mary took Leo to the beach.

[00:15:32] While they were playing, my son had accidentally called Jack dad before quickly correcting himself.

[00:15:38] From what Jack told me, it was a small mistake like when you call a teacher mum.

[00:15:43] Leo was embarrassed, but Jack just laughed it off.

[00:15:45] The catch, Jack's mother-in-law, Karen, and father-in-law had joined them for that vacation.

[00:15:51] They overheard Leo when that happened.

[00:15:53] When they came back from the vacation, Karen had gone ballistic,

[00:15:58] claiming she was triggered by some random kid calling Jack dad, knowing that Mary can't have children.

[00:16:03] Mary had tried to explain it was just a misunderstanding,

[00:16:07] but Karen became extremely toxic and abusive towards Mary,

[00:16:10] and she started making demands like not inviting Leo over when Karen visited, etc.

[00:16:17] So when Jack and Mary decided to get married,

[00:16:19] and since they initially just wanted to elope and not have a party at all,

[00:16:23] Karen manipulated Mary and convinced her to let her plan the perfect wedding for her only daughter.

[00:16:29] Mary gave in because she was sick of several years of emotional manipulation,

[00:16:32] and she just wanted to keep the peace.

[00:16:35] So Karen hijacked the wedding, and she chose the child-free venue on purpose.

[00:16:39] Mary discovered this when the venue was booked or shortly after,

[00:16:42] but she didn't say anything because every time she tried to argue,

[00:16:45] Karen would play the victim and stuff.

[00:16:48] Mary claimed that she had tried to negotiate with the resort that an exception be made

[00:16:52] so children could attend the ceremony slash reception,

[00:16:55] even if they stayed in a different hotel.

[00:16:57] But the manager stood firm on the policy.

[00:16:59] But the closer they got to the date,

[00:17:01] the more anxious she got until she finally admitted the truth to Jack in November.

[00:17:06] According to my brother, Mary exploded to Leo

[00:17:08] because of all the constant bullying and manipulation from her own mother,

[00:17:11] and she also felt extremely guilty by letting things get that far.

[00:17:16] For his part, Jack said that if he found out before,

[00:17:19] he would have stepped in and cancelled the wedding rather than exclude Leo and my sister's children.

[00:17:24] But at that point, a lot of people had already booked their flights in hotel rooms,

[00:17:27] so cancelling wasn't an option.

[00:17:30] In the end, they told my brother that none of that excused the way that they had behaved,

[00:17:34] especially his wife.

[00:17:35] She was a 40-plus-year-old woman picking a fight with a kid.

[00:17:39] She had yelled and called him selfish when all Leo wanted was to offer the £2,000 he had saved

[00:17:45] so he could be a part of Jack's special day.

[00:17:47] I reminded him that Leo looked up to him and considered his hero,

[00:17:51] and he had let him down.

[00:17:53] He had shown Leo that he wasn't important to him the way Jack was important to Leo.

[00:17:57] I also told him that I would keep supporting Leo on going no contact,

[00:18:01] and I'd be going low contact with him myself.

[00:18:04] He asked me for a chance to apologise to Leo, but I told him he already apologised.

[00:18:09] All he could do now was wait and see if one day my son would accept his apology.

[00:18:13] Jack seemed hurt, but he told me he would respect our wishes and gave us time and space.

[00:18:19] Leo

[00:18:20] As for my son, I apologised for not standing up for him and forcing him to meet with the family every week.

[00:18:25] I told him that he could decide what he wanted to do with that part of the family going forward.

[00:18:30] He seemed reluctant to stop going, but I let him know that I would support him no matter what,

[00:18:34] and that I wouldn't be upset.

[00:18:36] What made me happy was that Leo suggested we could stop going to the family every week,

[00:18:40] and instead, we could spend more time together, he and I, doing some things he used to do with my brother.

[00:18:47] Last week, we went to a vintage car show.

[00:18:49] Next week, we're going to watch Wicked.

[00:18:51] I'm not a theatre guy, but it sounds fun.

[00:18:54] I also told him I was worried he'd stop doing things he liked,

[00:18:57] and he shouldn't stop that just because he had a falling out with someone he cared about.

[00:19:01] Basically told him it was okay to still enjoy things by himself, or with someone.

[00:19:06] He admitted he actually wanted to do those things, but stopped just to spite Jack.

[00:19:10] I decided to give him an early Christmas gift and bought him some games he had been excited about,

[00:19:15] but that he had refunded after the fight with my brother.

[00:19:17] He convinced me to play with him some Final Fantasy Online game on his PS5 while he plays on PC.

[00:19:24] I admit I have no idea what I'm doing on that game since the last Final Fantasy game I played was still in 2D.

[00:19:31] But he seems to enjoy watching me fail.

[00:19:33] Any advice here is welcome.

[00:19:36] Finally, we decided to take a trip to his dream destination for my birthday.

[00:19:40] I was a little bit sad because it's going to be the first time in almost 50 years

[00:19:44] that I don't celebrate a birthday with my brother.

[00:19:46] But I've got my son, and that's all that matters.

[00:19:50] So yeah, Leo is happier and less stressed about the family.

[00:19:53] Speaking of which, I think the family is finally respecting our boundaries, so that's good too.

[00:19:58] Hope my brother can work on his marriage.

[00:20:00] I may hate what they did, but I do want him to be happy.

[00:20:04] Someone asked the OP, has brother been able to deal with mother-in-law's behaviours?

[00:20:09] And OP says, I don't know.

[00:20:10] She's my brother's problem, not mine.

[00:20:12] What about Leo's college goals?

[00:20:14] Does he still want to follow in Jack's footsteps?

[00:20:16] OP says, we actually talked about this too.

[00:20:19] And it's a bit complicated.

[00:20:21] He admitted this is one of the things he stopped doing out of spite,

[00:20:23] but he really doesn't feel like following Jack's footsteps.

[00:20:27] He repeated what he said at the dinner the other night.

[00:20:29] He doesn't want to be like Jack.

[00:20:31] I told him we could compromise by leaving it for the next two years

[00:20:34] so he can reflect on what he wants.

[00:20:36] And then we'll have the conversation again when it's time to choose his A-levels.

[00:20:41] OP on Leo's dream destination and says he wants to visit Greece.

[00:20:44] He's been obsessed with Greek mythology since he was little.

[00:20:47] So he always wanted to go there.

[00:20:49] Oh, mate.

[00:20:51] Absolutely love Greek mythology.

[00:20:53] It was one of my favourites in school.

[00:20:55] I can remember being in fourth year and the teacher brought out the Odyssey.

[00:20:59] And oh, we've done so much stuff around that topic.

[00:21:01] And the different gods, the beasts and all the lore behind it.

[00:21:06] It was absolutely amazing.

[00:21:07] It was one of my favourite things.

[00:21:08] And it's something that I really need to read again at some point.

[00:21:12] And if you've never seen like the original Jason and the Argonauts,

[00:21:16] the 1960s version, it's absolutely amazing.

[00:21:19] You know, it's very old school.

[00:21:21] But the way that they did it with combining, you know, the stop motion with...

[00:21:25] I watched a documentary on it.

[00:21:27] It was absolutely amazing as well.

[00:21:28] Get involved if you haven't.

[00:21:29] I'll shut up about it now.

[00:21:31] Mother-in-law's jealousy in this.

[00:21:33] Ugh.

[00:21:33] They are jealous so much of a child that you're going to book an adult only venue.

[00:21:38] Oh, what an absolutely awful person.

[00:21:42] And OP did right by just saying, you know, you need to do what you need to do.

[00:21:47] In this situation, you don't have to forgive anyone for the way that you've been treated.

[00:21:51] If you want to separate yourself from these family gatherings, absolutely do so.

[00:21:55] Like it was said in the comments and by OP themselves in this update, that if you force him,

[00:22:01] which you can't force someone to forgive them, but if you try to, you're just going to push them away.

[00:22:06] And it's sad that that relationship was destroyed just like that between Jack and Leo.

[00:22:12] I don't know really what to suggest there apart from really just writing down your feelings from Jack's point of view and what happened.

[00:22:22] Like really sincerely, what happened and how he can correct himself in the future.

[00:22:27] And just saying you don't even have to open this if you don't want to.

[00:22:30] But if you ever do, there you go kind of thing.

[00:22:33] I'm not saying Leo will ever forgive him or Jack deserves that forgiveness, but it's sad that they went from such a strong bond to now nothing.

[00:22:43] You know, it's consequences of their own actions in the end.

[00:22:46] And as always, they're just trying to find a way, if there is a way, to potentially get things back on some kind of path.

[00:22:54] What do you guys make of this situation?

[00:22:57] Let us know your thoughts down in the comments below.

[00:22:59] So just a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for getting involved in today's stories.

[00:23:04] Your love, your support, your time always means the absolute world to me.

[00:23:07] So thank you so, so much.

[00:23:08] And hopefully I'll see you in the next one.

[00:23:11] Take care and much love.