Boyfriend Locks Girlfriend in Their House at Night “for Her Own Good”

It’s been repeated time and time that you don’t know who someone is until you’ve lived with them. The cliche exists for those in romantic relationships due to the odd things you only discover about your partner once you all live under the same roof.

While living with his girlfriend, one man unearthed her strange nightly routine that could affect them both in the long run. But his remedy for their issue may have taken things too far, in many Reddit users’ eyes.

Keep reading to see what happened.

Not every relationship problem should be made public, but that doesn’t stop some people from sharing too much about their partner whenever the opportunity arises. Subscribers on Reddit see others discuss their relationships on the platform’s “AITA” subreddit.

In July 2023, one Reddit user asked strangers if he was in the wrong regarding a situation involving him and his girlfriend. The user explained he and his partner had recently moved in together, and he soon noticed his partner “has a bit of a wanderlust” during the evening.

According to the user, the girlfriend (who he believes to have a form of ADHD) has a long history of forgetting things, such as her keys, purses, books, and even the fact that she boiled an egg in the kitchen. The girlfriend also routinely leaves “through the back door in the middle of the night” for a nightly walk that keeps her out of the house and their back door unlocked “for hours.”

The boyfriend said he warned his partner several times how “dangerous” it is to walk out of their house to wander around their “rural neighborhood” alone. However, the girlfriend reportedly prefers being alone at late hours and said her walks are intended to be a way for her to exercise more and practice being in “solitude.” Nonetheless, the man disagreed and decided it was time to take action.

The Redditor said he “decided to draw the line” with his girlfriend’s trips by locking the back door. And if you’re reading this and thinking the gesture wouldn’t have the effect he was hoping for, think again because the girlfriend DOESN’T have a set of keys on her own. So, if she wanted to leave, she must go through the front door, and her boyfriend knew she wasn’t bold enough to go “galavanting” around their town with the front door unlocked.

The boyfriend’s plan worked, but not as smoothly as he’d hoped. While his stance made it difficult for the girlfriend to go outside at night, his actions made her “incredibly frustrated” and caused her to call him “controlling” before giving him the silent treatment. He disagreed with his girlfriend, saying the lock was “for her own good” because she refused to “behave like a literal sensible adult.”

“I find it ridiculous 'cause she could simply go out to get her own pair of keys to thwart me, but she’s the type that can’t have too many errands on her mind,” the boyfriend said in his post. “She will have a list of five and then feel overwhelmed and tapped out after completing one. I love her, but she is insane.”

The boyfriend ended his post by asking Reddit commenters everywhere if he was the a------ in his situation. Underneath the post, several users wondered if the girlfriend was cheating on him, which could explain the random night strolls.

Several more commenters joked that the boyfriend’s girlfriend isn’t a “girl” — it’s a cat with big night owl energy. When the poster updated Reddit by stating his partner isn’t a cat, the commenters took it as an opportunity to keep going.

“A cat would never admit to being anything other than a cat. Too much pride (heh) for that,” one Reddit commenter said.

“That edit saying she's not means she 100 percent is,” another user noted of the boyfriend’s cat denial.

Amid the comments from others stating the OP’s girlfriend is definitely a cat, the user received multiple remarks relating to his girlfriend. Multiple Redditors shared they’ve taken late-night walks alone before and were also searching for solitude when they did so.

The OP also admitted they were the “a-------” in their story and felt they should’ve handled it better.