Man Feels Guilty About Abandoning Childhood Best Friend, Recontacts Him Many Years Later
Some people can’t think about past mistakes without getting stuck in the endless “What if?” mental loop. Others, however, choose to confess them to the entire Internet, having them mended with a little help from social media users.
Responding to a prompt on X (formerly known as Twitter) that invited users to reveal “a piece of lore” about themselves, a man named Somto Ihezue recalled a regrettable decision he made regarding his best friend from childhood.
- A man decided to re-connect with a childhood friend he ignored decades ago, sparking a viral online reunion.
- After Somto changed schools, his best friend Daniel snuck in to find him, but Somto pretended like he was a stranger.
- Feeling guilty about his past behavior, Somto decided to reach out to his long-lost friend.
“When I was 7, my mum took me to a new school without prior notice, and I was admitted on the spot,” Somto began his story.
“My best friend from my old school snuck into the new school to find me, and I pretended like I didn’t know him.
“He left heartbroken, and I never saw him again. Daniel, I’m so sorry.”
A man who wronged his childhood friend was able to re-contact him with the help of a viral tweet
Image credits: Flashfiction
Somto said he thinks about this every single day, though he’s still not sure why he behaved that way.
“Can’t tell if it was the non-confrontational me, or the introverted me, or the sad me,” he wrote.
Growing up, Somto and Daniel were like two peas in a pod. One of their favorite activities was to gather at an erosion site, which resulted in their pristine school uniforms getting covered in mud.
“I remember we used to go sliding down a massive erosion site in our neighborhood, and our white uniforms would turn super brown with dirt. It was the most dangerous thing, but we did it anyway,” he recalled.
It’s no surprise, then, that Somto’s mother disapproved of the thrilling yet unsafe playground provided by nature.
“Funny that the erosion site was one of the major reasons my mom removed me from the old school, and it was Daniel who had introduced me to it.
“She wanted a prim and proper school that didn’t let kids slide down muddy gullies,” Somto explained.
After Somto changed schools, his best friend Daniel snuck in to find him, but Somto pretended like he didn’t know who he was
When I was 7, my mum took me to a new school without prior notice, and I was admitted on the spot. My best friend from my old school snuck into the new school to find me, and I pretended like I didn’t know him. He left heartbroken, and I never saw him again. Daniel, I’m so sorry. https://t.co/KsHfeeSyFt
— Somto (@somto_Ihezue) March 19, 2024
“In another life, we’d have run away together, and [drank] Fanta everyday, and [slid] down all the steep erosion gullies we want[ed]. And we’d be primless, unkempt, and infinite,” the writer and filmmaker added.
Perhaps it was Somto’s realization that his fantasy could still turn into a reality that prompted him to reach out to his long-lost friend.
“I just messaged him on Facebook,” he announced to his expecting followers.
“He is a pharmacist.”
In a subsequent post, Somto shared a screenshot of the message in question. “Hi Daniel. It’s Somto. Don’t know if you still remember me.”
Many years later, Somto decided to message Daniel to make amends
Image credits: Somto
After the message was sent, the memories began coming back. “I remember once in English class, we were told to write an essay about our best friend, and we wrote about each other,” the speculative fiction writer then tweeted.
The story quickly piqued the interest of social media users to the point of Somto’s post receiving over 18 million views.
Fortunately, the viral message reached one of Daniel’s friends, who asked Daniel to dust off his old Facebook account.
“Somto!!!” he messaged back. “Why not?” he added, referring to the question about whether or not he remembered their friendship.
“My bro just asked me to check my Facebook and this surprise!”
The viral tweet reached one of Daniel’s friends, who told him to check his inbox for the surprise
Image credits: Somto
Image credits: Somto
When Somto told Daniel that he still looked the same, he responded, “You haven’t changed either. Asides the facial hairs.”
Daniel didn’t miss the opportunity to remind Somto of his past behavior.
“7-8 years it is. You left me in IDS alone!”
“I didn’t mean to. My mum forced us to change schools because you were always taking me to go and jump in that erosion site close to the school,” Somto explained.
“Chai…I never knew I was part of the reason,” Daniel admitted. “I remember the erosion scenery so well.”
“Hope mummy is fine,” he added. “Now [that] we are grown up men, she shouldn’t be afraid of us jumping erosions again.”
“I don’t think anyone can stop us now,” Somto agreed, accompanying the message with a laughing emoji. “I really missed you, my friend.”
After sharing the screenshots of the conversation, Somto gave his followers more details about the friendship’s backstory.
“Turns out he left our old school and got enrolled in the same new school so we’d be classmates again, but by then my mum had already shipped me off to boarding school,” he tweeted.
“Thank you all for being a part of our little reunion. Glad that this story got to touch so many people.”
People were excited about the long-lost friends reuniting again
Oh wow! I have a long lost friend that all of the sudden moved away and i have never seen or heard anything about him. I think he got a bit bullied but i can’t remember, this is 30 years ago but i still think about him and his sister now and then. I still remember his name, but i have no idea on how to spell it so last time i checked i got nowhere.. Perhaps if there might be someone from Vietnam here that could help with spellings for the name?🙏🏻 Hai van Lai.. seared into my brain still..
I've been so hesitant to reconnect with my childhood BFF. We were inseparable until I started dating my current boyfriend (23 years ago, when I was 18.) I went through a lot of drama with said bf (and was also incredibly stressed/depressed because my father had just sustained a catastrophic brain injury in an accident 2 months prior and was still in a coma.) I bailed on plans with my friend a few times to go see my bf, which probably frustrated my friend since I'd usually have been in a fight with said bf. At one point, my friend was really frustrated and burst out with "I STILL can't believe you're dating a chínk!" (Friend and I are both white, my bf is Chinese.) I was stunned that, even though angry at me, he could say something so racist out of the blue. I haven't seen my friend since; it's been 23 years. I sent him a message on FB 10ish years ago trying to reconnect, and he said "Crystal WHO??" in response to my greeting - and I haven't had the guts to try and reconnect since.
Oh wow! I have a long lost friend that all of the sudden moved away and i have never seen or heard anything about him. I think he got a bit bullied but i can’t remember, this is 30 years ago but i still think about him and his sister now and then. I still remember his name, but i have no idea on how to spell it so last time i checked i got nowhere.. Perhaps if there might be someone from Vietnam here that could help with spellings for the name?🙏🏻 Hai van Lai.. seared into my brain still..
I've been so hesitant to reconnect with my childhood BFF. We were inseparable until I started dating my current boyfriend (23 years ago, when I was 18.) I went through a lot of drama with said bf (and was also incredibly stressed/depressed because my father had just sustained a catastrophic brain injury in an accident 2 months prior and was still in a coma.) I bailed on plans with my friend a few times to go see my bf, which probably frustrated my friend since I'd usually have been in a fight with said bf. At one point, my friend was really frustrated and burst out with "I STILL can't believe you're dating a chínk!" (Friend and I are both white, my bf is Chinese.) I was stunned that, even though angry at me, he could say something so racist out of the blue. I haven't seen my friend since; it's been 23 years. I sent him a message on FB 10ish years ago trying to reconnect, and he said "Crystal WHO??" in response to my greeting - and I haven't had the guts to try and reconnect since.
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