Even if you’re super-nervous about proposing to your significant other, you’d imagine the worst thing that could happen would be that they’d say no. But his girlfriend’s answer was the least of his worries for one guy after a disastrous surprise proposal ended with him getting hospitalized with third-degree burns. You could mentally run through your proposal a million times in your head and I doubt you’d ever foresee that happening.
Perhaps to make us all feel better about our own romantic mishaps, one TikToker has shared the story of when this shocking turn of events happened to them. User @huge.pear recalls that, when she was 22, she was dragged to the park by her sister. After getting a hot chocolate, her sister asked her to pose for photos in front of some bushes, encouraging her to step further and further back until she bumped into a man crouched in the bushes. Reacting on instinct and fear, the TikToker threw her “scalding” cocoa at the apparent attacker and ran. Only when her sister stayed behind to check on the guy did she realize things weren’t as they seemed.
Upon witnessing her sister crying hysterically, the woman realized she recognized the man’s shoes — this was her boyfriend. She didn’t actually get a look at his face during this incident, but apparently, it was scary enough to freak her sister out to the extent that the TikToker had to be the one to drive them to the hospital once the ambulance arrived to take him away.
So how hot would that hot chocolate have to have been to cause so much damage? According to the National Library of Medicine, “Studies show that a temperature of 52 degrees C (125 degrees F) can cause a full-thickness skin burn in 2 minutes and a temperature of 54 degrees C (130 degrees F) can result in a full-thickness skin burn in 30 seconds.”
But I know what you’re all really wondering: did she say yes? Well, give it your best guess. Part of the reason the TikToker was so surprised by all this, she explains, is because she had no idea her boyfriend was even thinking of proposing as she considered herself too young to get married and they’d only been dating a few months. The fact that he proposed so soon was a major turn-off, then, so she knew the relationship was over, although she “stuck it out” through his grueling recovery, which included him getting a “bunch of skin grafts.”
There are a couple of lessons here, for anyone thinking of proposing. 1) Make sure your partner is on the same page as you in their commitment to the relationship. And 2) maybe don’t hinge your proposal on hiding in the bushes like a pervert. It’s a mistake that could literally blow up in your face.