Reader reacts to "lemon pie" story
There appears to be a growing trend on TikTok: heartbreaking slice-of-life stories, told as a slideshow. These usually mimic a text conversation between two people caught in a vulnerable moment, showcasing something quite moving and profound in the mundane.
Take for instance the “orange peel story” which went viral only a couple of weeks ago. It follows two college students post break-up, one of whom still has feelings for the other. A tender exchange encourages them to believe that they will find love again.
Now, there’s a new story making the rounds, and it’s every bit as touching.
This one is called the “lemon pie” story (it’s unclear if all text-based TikTok stories should have a fruit theme), and it was written by @sappoop, who reminds us in their bio to not get too depressed by their stories, since they’re fiction.
Regardless, people are having real feelings after reading it.
It all begins with the straightforward line, “hey, we need to break up.” Presumably from the girlfriend in the relationship.
a text exchange between "Lemon" and her boyfriend
via @sappoop/TikTok
The boyfriend must have not seen it coming, because he asks if he did something to make the girlfriend upset.
“no, you’re perfect,” she replies. “it’s me.”
Blindsided, the boyfriend writes, “please tell me what’s going on,” using the pet name “lemon.”
a text exchange between "Lemon" and her boyfriend
via @sappoop/TikTok
He is only met with more cryptic answers as she writes: “My heart is in no condition to love right now.”
The girlfriend then asks if the boyfriend remembers the night they first met. She recalls that night, when she had been caught stealing lemons out of the boy’s lemon tree by his mother. The boy convinced his mother to let it all go, sparing the girl from getting into trouble. That was the night he gave her the nickname “lemon.”
To thank the boy, the girl had made him a lemon pie—which they both reminisced about being terrible.
a text exchange between "Lemon" and her boyfriend
via @sappoop/TikTok
But that nostalgic feeling is cut short when the girlfriend requests that the boyfriend not contact her again. She then blocks his number.
Only one day later, the boyfriend uses a burner phone to reach out. This doesn’t exactly go well, since his ex informs him that she will be blocking this number as well. But before she does, she makes an unusual, somewhat foreboding request:
a text exchange between "Lemon" and her boyfriend
via @sappoop/TikTok
“will you promise to regularly contact my number, even with both of your phones blocked?” she asks. “update me about your life? even if the texts don’t go through, at least i’ll have some hope in heart that you didn’t forget about me? ask me how my day was and pretend I’m responding back. will you promise to take my heart and claim it as your own?”
The boy continues trying to contact her throughout the years, all to no avail. Until one day, he does get a response from. Not from his beloved “Lemon,” but her mom, informing him that her daughter had passed away due to heart failure.
The boy’s life goes on, but he keeps his promise. He texts “Lemon” from time to time, telling her when he meets someone else, when he gets married…and finally, when he gets diagnosed with heart cancer.
“Maybe our hearts are linked after all,” he writes.
a text exchange between "Lemon" and her boyfriend
via @sappoop/TikTok
The story ends with the boy telling the girl that he picked some lemons from his mom’s house, and plans to make her a lemon pie, just as “horrible” as he remembered it.
Over 6.2 million people have read this story, with several calling it even more tragic than the popular orange peel story.
@finney_frog @🌷 <<<<< literally crying rn #lemonpie #sad #sadstories #hehim #gay #Igbt #lgbtq #achillean #trans #transgender #t4t #transmasc #nonbinary #ftm #queer #mlm #foryou #fyp #fypシ #dontflop ♬ interlinked - jacob¡
“i’m on the toilet at school sobbing rn,” wrote @zombehcorpse in the comments.
“Who makes these…I’m sobbing at 6:20 in the morning,” one person wrote.
“Yoinks this one’s got a little kick to it,” added another.
These types of stories might leave us emotionally wrecked, but we can all admit that shedding a tear over a fictional scenario feels really good once in a while. And it can be pretty good for us too. So keep these devastating TikToks coming!