I'm (28/F) pretty sure my friend's (27/M) girlfriend (30/F) tore up old and precious photos of mine from a childhood trip to Notre-Dame Cathedral due to underlying resentment towards me.

I've known my friend for just under five years. When we first met, we were interested in each other and went out a few times but we eventually realized we were better off as friends. The chemistry just wasn't there and the one time we tried to kiss we couldn't stop laughing. He met his girlfriend about a year ago and they've been going strong since. I've tried to get to know her and to be cool with her and all, but she has always had it out for me due to my history with her boyfriend ... which again didn't last long and went nowhere.

Regardless she just doesn't seem to like me, which is fair enough. We don't have to be friends if that's not something she wants. And although it's pretty obvious that she doesn't like me (to the point that other people in our social circle have in fact pointed it out to me on separate occasions) I still make a point to say hello to her and to be nice. One such time was a week ago when I invited her to my housewarming party. She and her boyfriend showed up together and everyone was in the living room talking and hanging out. At one point I brought out an old photo album and in it were a few photos from an old trip to Paris in my childhood. As we all probably know by now ... Notre-Dame suffered a huge fire earlier this year. I had photos from there that were very precious to me, not just because of the fire that later took place before I could visit again but also because it was before the age of digital cameras and the negatives were lost when my family moved a few years later, so the photos in that album were all that I had left of that trip.

I was very young at the time, so the memories aren't that fresh.

Anyway my friends flipped through the album and that one friend's girlfriend was actually nice to me for once. She sat by me and asked me about the various family trips and birthdays and things that were encapsulated in that photo album. It didn't occur to me that she or anyone else at the party had it in them to tamper with the photos, so I didn't think to put it away once we had all moved on to the next activity. The food and drinks came out and I forgot all about the photo album. We played games and told stories and had a fun night. At one point I noticed that she had started flipping through the photo album again, but I didn't really register what I had seen until after. She was the last person that touched it as far as I know.

Once the party was over and once it was time to clean up, I tucked the album away without opening it. Then a couple of days later (last night) I decided to flip through the album again for whatever reason. That was when I noticed the photos from Notre-Dame were torn up. Not just in two pieces or three or four or five or whatever. They were torn up to the point that it would be near impossible to put them back together. Shredded. I ... honestly felt like crying which never happens. I didn't know what happened or how it happened without me knowing sooner. That was when I started running through everything that had happened at that party. Someone had intentionally torn those photos to bits and tucked them inside the protective covering so that I wouldn't know until I physically opened the album again. That is not only fucked up and cruel but also disturbing.

I tried not to let my mind go there but there was only one person at that party who would have done something like that. None of my friends would have dared do something so mean. My friend's girlfriend was the last person with the album. I don't know when she could have done it or how ... but I imagine she took it into the bathroom with her or something and went to work. I don't know. It sounds crazy because it is. No one else would have done something like that knowing how much those photos meant to me. Even if they were photos taken in my childhood house or the old street that I grew up on, they still would have meant something to me. Why would someone do that? How needlessly cruel.

Although I have no proof (other than my memory of her being the last one with the album) that she did it, I'm pretty sure it was her. Every bone in my body is telling me that it was her. When I spoke to another friend about it, even they said so before I had even touched on my suspicions. Also not that it matters but ... I'm not really even that close to her boyfriend anymore. We're friends and we get along really well, but he doesn't give me any sort of special attention. If he did, then I would completely understand her resentment towards me but it's not like that at all. He respects his relationship and so do I. And his girlfriend is mostly just passive aggressive towards me, so her attitude isn't something that's easy to point out in conversation without potentially looking emotional or oversensitive.

My friend has noticed the awkward tension enough to stop himself from laughing too hard at one of my jokes and things like that but that's about as far as it goes. When they first started dating he barely spoke a word to me for months, so in that sense I had kind of gathered the vibe and distanced myself from him out of respect. But we're still friends and at the party we did talk about this concert we went to as friends a long time ago. Maybe his girlfriend noticed, didn't like that we were discussing one of our memories and chose to retaliate. I don't know.

The only thing that's stopping me from saying something about the photos to either one of them is that I have no proof of the fact that she did it. But I mean, who else would have? Throwing accusations around doesn't seem like a good idea. I just don't know what else to do. I'm so frustrated and upset ... and it's so obvious that it was her ... but if I point it out to him or even hint at it, I know I'll end up looking like the crazy one.

How do I handle this?

What should I do?

Apart from never letting her near any of my belongings. That much is obvious.

tl;dr Those photos were all I had of that trip and now they're destroyed. Shreds. It's obvious that she did it as she was the last one that had touched the album before my housewarming party was over and none of my actual friends would have done something so cruel even as a shitty joke. Not sure how to handle this. I'm never letting her near any of belongings again. Do I bring this up to my friend or do I just distance myself so that I don't look crazy throwing around accusations?

Submitted November 27, 2019 at 04:03AM by hisgirlfriend89 https://ift.tt/2DmwQ8q