It was yesterday that I(22F) discovered my dad(54M) is cheating on my mom(47M)
My parents have been married for 26 years. I always wanted to have a relationship like theirs.I have a sibling(17F).
So it's not like my father hides his phone from us. We all know the password to his phone.
Yesterday morning my dad needed help with transferring pictures from his phone to pendrive, that is when the phone rang 5 times and he refused to pick up the call. I then saw a whatsapp message pop up saying "yenar ahat na??" which translates to "you're coming right?" The profile picture was of a lady and her daughter who looked 5-6 y/o. My stomach dropped. I pretended not to see it. I said the pendrive is corrupt and gave back the phone to him. In the afternoon, he said he's going out for work. He was probably going to meet the said lady. He was gone for 10 hours. He returned at 10 and I checked his phone while he was away. All the call history was deleted, the WA chat with the woman was deleted. I checked his transactions. He had made INR 2k+ payment to 3 different pharmacies. There was an Oyo (hotel room booking service in india) transaction involved as well. At this point I was sure he's cheating. I was in utter shock, my hands were shaking.
I don't know what to do. Should I tell my mom? Should I confront him? Should I bury it? My mom will be shattered. Her life revolves around my dad. She definitely wouldn't take it well. Divorce is considered a sin in India. I do not care but my mom is definitely a people pleaser.
I had to call the suicide helpline last night because I felt helpless and scared.
Reddit, I need your advice on how to proceed with this.
Thank you.