It’s the twenty-first century, and by now one thing should be accepted: men and women can be friends without any funny business being involved.

So why does the ‘men and women can’t be friends’ line still stick, after all these years?

Because of the number of people who use and abuse it, of course.

The woman in this story was never bothered by the fact that her husband had a female best friend, and never once found her presence in his life threatening.

But then suddenly things started to change, and nothing quite added up any more.

Read on to find out what happened here.

AITA for feeling apprehensive about my husband’s female best friend?

My husband (30, male) and I (29, female) have been married for two years and have been together for five years.

We have three kids together, and a fourth on the way. He was born in the UK and moved to Western Australia a few months before we met.

He always spoke of a female best friend he went to school with that he continues to keep contact with on a regular basis.

I saw a photo of her a couple times and thought nothing of it.

But a few years into their relationship, something odd happened.

A little over a year ago this friend cut contact with my husband, stating that they couldn’t be friends any more because she had a boyfriend and they were serious. My husband was very mad and basically said he was never speaking to her again.

A year or so later, and she reached out to say she was experiencing difficulties in her relationship, and her boyfriend had made her say those things to him. Now my husband has resumed his friendship with her.

As soon as their friendship resumed, husband’s friend wanted to visit us and fly overseas from the UK to Australia. I asked my husband what she was planning for her trip, and he said visiting him.

I was confused because it is so costly to travel that far for two weeks, and asked if she would be tourist sightseeing etc. But no, she’s found Airbnb near where we live after I said she couldn’t stay at our place on our couch (we have no room at ours).

Then, more things happened, which started increasing her suspicion.

He showed me a photo of her and she looked different to the one I saw years ago. I was very taken aback, and asked him to confirm they were the same person.

One photo was of a stocky, curly haired woman with natural African descent features. The other was of a much shorter, skinnier woman whose facial features more resembled Latina, and whose hair she must have had straightened at the salon. They looked nothing alike.

Now my husband says he wants to spend time with this friend for the two weeks she is here, because she knows no one else and came specifically to spend time with him.

When I voiced how it seemed strange she had no other plans at all except seeing him – especially as a young, single and good looking female – he just said I don’t understand because they’ve been friends for ages and that he’s not attracted to her.

And she has more than enough reason to be concerned about this.

I don’t believe he has zero attraction for her because anytime he sees a good looking African descent woman in public or on TV, he makes a point to mention how gorgeous they are in front of me and make appreciative noises.

I try to ignore this, but I’m seriously worried I’m going to freak out when this woman arrives here.

I never thought I’d be insecure in my marriage but here I am. Am I crazy for feeling this is a bit strange and should I say anything about how I feel to my husband?

AITA?

It’s very clear that something odd is going on here.

It’s not just the fact that the woman is coming to visit for two weeks and not planning to venture much further than one Airbnb, it’s the sheer fact that her husband clearly lied about who his friend was.

Showing his wife a completely different picture is very fishy behavior – especially if he has nothing to hide. And his weird behavior in public makes things even worse.

Let’s see what folks on Reddit thought about this.

This person was extremely suspicious.

While others questioned whether the wife and kids would be part of the reunion.

This Redditor, however, saw things from another perspective.

Sure there could be a reasonable explanation for this, and if his friend has been experiencing some horrible behavior in her former relationship, it could be understandable that she would want to reach out to a lifelong friend who she feels safe with.

But that doesn’t explain his behavior – the odd comments about women in public, the differing photos – all of this adds up to some suspicious moves, on his part at least.

It’s no wonder that his wife is worried, and she deserves a clear explanation and reassurance from her husband.

He owes her clarity, at least.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.