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Sometimes a completely harmless gesture gets twisted into something it was never meant to be, and one man found that out the hard way at a family pub night.

After six years dating his girlfriend, he’d grown close to her extended family, including her cousin, who he’d known well enough to bring along to cinema trips and meals out over the years.

When he ran into her at the bar the weekend after her birthday, he wished her a belated happy birthday and bought her a drink as a small gift, then chatted for a few minutes before returning to the group.

What should have ended there instead turned into accusations of suspicious behavior from his girlfriend’s aunt and uncle.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one.

AITA for refusing to apologise for buying someone’s drink?

I’ve been with my girlfriend for 6 years. 2-3 times a year her family will all get together for a meal and drinks at a local pub to catch up.

They’re all a pretty close-knit bunch.

Because of this I know her family pretty well. My girlfriend is close to her cousin who turned 18 last month.

Her cousin has joined us at events before, and we’ve brought her to the cinema, meals out, etc, so I know her pretty well.

That’s when he decided to try to do something nice.

We had a family get together last weekend and I was stood at the bar waiting to order a drink. Her cousin is also waiting, and I wish her a belated happy birthday and offer to buy her a drink as a birthday present.

I get her a drink and we stand and chat for around 10-15 mins.

His girlfriend’s family soon started making this out to be some huge deal.

After the event my gf mentioned that her aunt and uncle found it weird that I bought her cousin a drink. They said it was suspicious and I shouldn’t have done it.

He stands his ground, but soon his girlfriend starts to take his family’s side.

They think I should apologise. I told my gf that I have nothing to apologise for and I’m not happy with what they’re implying.

My gf thinks I should maybe apologise to keep the peace but I refuse.

AITA for buying my gf’s cousin a drink and refusing to apologise for it?

What a mess.

Redditors chime in with their two cents.

His girlfriend’s family are the weird ones for reacting this way.

Drinking customs vary depending on where you live.

Maybe an insincere apology is better than prolonged drama?

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a man who offered to buy his parents a house with his lottery winnings, only to find out they think they deserve half of all his winnings.

Some people let their emotions cloud their judgement.

There’s nothing inherently suspicious about buying a family member’s drink to celebrate a birthday, especially one you’ve known for years through countless family events.

Agreeing to apologize for something like this would be like admitting his guilt for something that was never intended to be sinister.

If anything, the reaction from her aunt and uncle says more about their own assumptions than about his actual behavior.

At the end of the day, no good deed goes unpunished.