Is there such a thing as a harmless white lie? One woman who once thought so has found herself in a sticky situation after lying to her husband for 12 years.
The foodies love to share takeaways together but don't always see eye to eye on their order, as they once found out the hard way.
Back in the early days of the romance, the pair ordered a Chinese takeaway. The woman opted for a 1/4 crispy aromatic duck, at first thinking nothing of her choice. But she quickly realised she'd upset her partner, who had kept ducks as pets in his childhood.
Not wanting to miss out, she started lying that she'd ordered pork as her starter, and she's kept up the pretence ever since.
Over a decade on, she's got all of her family in on the lie, except for the pair's children. Now, she fears she could soon be rumbled, as the kids are old enough to 'participate in family takeaway nights.'
Sharing her conundrum in a post to Mumsnet, the woman clarified she never shares the dish with her partner.
"He doesn’t eat the pork/duck so I'm not lying to him about something he consumes, but to avoid the unnecessary hurt I thought it was a harmless white lie at the time," the wife wrote.
Explaining how she has kept up the lie for so long, she added: "This has now been going on for 12 years, my family are involved, as when we order as a group they all keep up the pretence it's pork."
As such, she's been struggling to decide what to do and thought about lying to her children as well.
"Do I keep up the lie, and tell them it’s pork, as if I tell them the truth one of them will blab to their dad, and my whole porky palace of lies will crumble around me," she questioned. "I know I'm unreasonable for letting it get this far, but I can't go back in time."
In response, parents were quick to share all sorts of suggestions, some of which were less truthful than others.
"I'd keep it going and eventually rope the kids into the secret!" one person suggested. But many others agreed the wife should stop ordering the dish or come clean.
"I'm sorry but this is just bloody funny! What a tangled web of lies!!" read one reply. "Stop ordering it, only way forward. Or just say they aren't doing the dish anymore and you like the duck!"
A second agreed: "Don't get the kids involved. Stop ordering duck."
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