AITA for being mad at my family for the cruel methods they used to get me to live with them? - BaeBeyza - 呪術廻戦 (2024)

AITA for being mad at my family for the cruel methods they used to get me to live with them?

Hello!

Suku and Kuro were raised by a single father (Ryo, 40m) who I saw daily. He didn’t talk much at first and didn’t ask many questions, but started to become more talkative as time went on. Again, I was told that he was only becoming nicer to me and me only.

Suku and Kuro soon became my favourite kids and they had started to talk about how they wished they could bring me home to be their new Mama, which had pulled on my heartstrings a lot. I hadn’t even thought about them saying they want me as a Mama when I’m a guy. I mentioned this to Ryo many times and after a while he opened up to how the twins’ mother had passed due to birth complications and that they never had another mother figure in their life. He had thanked me greatly for taking such good care of his boys and soon enough, father and boys started giving me gifts! I still keep those gifts in a special place. A lot of them were pictures in which they drew themselves, Ryo and me as a happy family, writing “Mama” on me. I thought it was very cute even if my coworkers thought it was a little creepy and weird.

After a few months, Ryo made it clear that he would love to date me, which came as a shock as I hadn’t thought he’d actually be interested to stupid adorkable me. The boys had started talking about how I should quit the daycare and come home with them instead. I had to break it to Ryo that I wasn’t really comfortable dating the father of two boys in my professional care. Ryo was sad and so were the boys, but they accepted it.

A while after that talk, misery struck as I woke up one day to see all the cars in my neighbourhood being vandalised and broken down, mine included!

I still managed to get to work on time because I refused to let this stop me but it was a constant thought in my head, one I knew I’d have to face the moment my workday was over. The kids, mainly the twins, asked me if I was alright and I lied to them, saying I was fine. Only when Ryo asked me the same question, after a long workday, did I spill that I lost my car and didn’t know what to do now. I was feeling regretful the moment I finally shut up, feeling bad to bother Ryo with my personal troubles, but he was very understanding and kind! He offered me all the help I could think off, including helping with the insurance paper work and offering to pick me to and from work until I had a working car again, which I refused. He offered to pay for a monthly bus ticket instead, which I took with a promise to pay him back the moment I could.

That day I went to his and the boys’ house for the first time so he and I could work on the paperwork. I got to see how well-off they were, asking what Ryo’s job was, which he quickly brushed off. That had been my second warning sign.

During the time I had to wait for my car to be repaired, Ryo and the boys had brought up the topic of me becoming their personal nanny and partner again, which I refused, though it was getting harder to refuse it. I still felt it would be unprofessional of me to date Ryo and I made it clear that I’d be out of a job the moment the boys went to school, which is why I didn’t want to quit my job. The boys were upset but Ryo was understanding, if disappointed.

Before I got my car back, misery had struck again: My entire apartment complex had caught fire! I was able to make it out alive, which I can’t say for all of the people living there. I hadn’t been able to make it to work for obvious reasons. I was in the hospital for the whole day and was just a wreck. I was shocked, shaken to the core and in a lot of pain. I had also spiralled a little bit about how I had no family to visit me and my coworkers didn’t have any time either.

I don’t know how much worse I would have gotten hadn’t it been for Ryo and the boys! They visited me, brought gifts and snacks and stayed with me for a while to lift my mood.

It was so heartwarming and I swore I would always be grateful to them!

When I was ready to be released from the hospital, they urged me to stay with them so they could continue to take care of me. I felt like it wasn’t my place to accept it but had nowhere else to turn to either.

Ryo and I got closer in the first few days. He had been a rock for me during those weeks in which the fire still haunted me and I thought screw it. f*ck professionalism, if I didn’t get this man in my pants I’d never forgive myself!

The boys were overjoyed and asked me if they could call me Mama, which felt weird at first. But weeks turned into months and I was simply happy to be with them. I loved living with people again. It was then that I noticed how depressing it was to me to live on my own in a tiny apartment. Ryo and the boys were a handful but I loved waking up to them greeting me, I loved making breakfast and listening to their stories. I loved having such an affectionate partner and little boys who loved me!

Time passed and I decided to stay with them, how could I ever have returned to living alone after finding joy in a family?

Now to my issue:

I recently found several documents in Ryo’s office that were a little concerning.

They were all dated back to when I first met Ryo and the boys and looked like logs one would find in a ship. They detailed transactions, many of which sounded pretty criminal in nature. We are talking weapon shipments and many illegal activities. This was odd enough but two entries made me question everything:

One entry was payment for the vandalization of all cars in my previous street, and the other payment for arson on my old apartment complex.

I confronted Ryo about these entries later that evening and he brushed it off, saying it all worked out in the end.

I got irritated, asking what exactly worked out and he just answered that they were living as a happily couple now and I shouldn’t think too much about the past.

He was sweet during the talk and didn’t give me any ground to get angry but it still left a bitter taste in my mouth. I told him I need a bit of space to think and he let me.

I couldn’t get that much needed time to think, though, because the boys went up to me and talked about this and that, pretty banal stuff all around. They picked up on my bad mood and asked me what was wrong, and despite my better judgement, I told them about those two entries.

Their response horrified me.

Suku said that the vandalization was his idea and how pissed he had been at Ryo for not letting him help out, and Kuro talked about their many brainstorm sessions to get me to stay with them. He even told me things like being mad at Ryo for getting to date me and not them.

I love my boys and my lover, but this was too much. I walked straight back to mine and Ryo’s bedroom and asked what the hell was going on and why they all thought it was a good idea to destroy cars and set an entire apartment complex on fire just so they could manipulate me into becoming their mother and wife! (note: Ryo had always called me his wife)

I was livid and yelling, but Ryo talked at length about how much he loves me and that as a husband (we’re not married), he’d do anything to make me happy. I tried to argue that many people died in that fire and that the destruction of all those cars caused a lot of financial ruins as the neighbourhood was mostly populated by poor people, but Ryo assured me it was all fine and that I shouldn’t let myself get angry over trivial matters.

I allowed myself to be calmed down and spent the night with Ryo, but this revelation still had me shaken up until the next morning.

I asked Ryo about all the other transactions on that log and the criminal activities, and Kuro blurted out that Ryo was head of his own yakuza family. Suku was surprised I hadn’t known already.

I was upset yet again but they all assured me that everything was fine and that a few crimes here and there never hurt anyone. I continued to argue but that made Kuro cry, which was horrible to witness! He is a 13 year old boy now and he had always been a bit of a crybaby, so I felt awful for upsetting him.

Ryo said that all this talk about his numerous criminal activities were upsetting him too and that I should just drop it and enjoy their wonderful family life.

I love all of them so much but still feel iffy about this whole thing, so AITA for being mad that my husband and step-kids destroyed cars, committed arson and killed people to manipulate me into becoming their wife and mother?