About a year and a half ago, something happened that drastically changed how my family interacts. My parents decided to get a divorce, and as time went on, I discovered some troubling things about my father. It turns out he wasn’t supportive of my mom, and he was dishonest, manipulative, and even cheated on her throughout their marriage. It was a real eye-opener for me.
Fast forward to eight months ago, when I moved back to college and my dad moved out of our house. Since then, he started reaching out to me more often. He calls me “baby,” “baby girl,” “my girl,” “queen,” and other affectionate terms instead of using my name. He showers me with love and compliments, something he doesn’t do for my other family members. It’s like I’ve become his favorite, but in a strange and uncomfortable way.
He expresses a strong desire to hug me and often asks me to sit next to him. But when I do, he becomes overly touchy, tugging on my hair or touching my arm and leg. It makes me feel really uneasy and wanting to hide away and cry. And it’s not just his behavior in person that bothers me; he also sends me texts and messages on Instagram. If I don’t respond to his messages or like his posts, he quickly tries to contact me through Instagram as soon as I react to something he posted. It’s like he’s always watching my every move.
My sister has distanced herself from our father because she stood up for herself against his inappropriate behavior. They rarely talk now. On the other hand, he still has a good relationship with my brother, but he doesn’t reach out to him like he does to me. It’s all just really strange and unsettling. I can’t shake off the feeling that there’s something creepy about his actions.
To make things even more uncomfortable, he recently commented on two of my roommate’s posts, calling her cute. It’s just adding to the overall weirdness of the situation. I can’t help but feel that this favoritism combined with his inappropriate behavior is crossing boundaries. It’s a difficult situation to navigate, and I’m trying to figure out how to handle it.
