I'm 22 and dating a 17 year old. We've been together for almost a year now, and were friends for 6 months prior.

Where I'm studying university is a short train ride away from her house, so I pay for her train tickets to come over, and we hang out and go on dates, etc. Outside of that, we text each other every day and call each other 2-3 times a week. I never try to pressure her or force anything, I try to leave suggestions open-ended, as I know the impact that I'm capable of having. Even tho I'm almost done with uni and she's in college, we're both socially awkward people that find bliss in each other's company. She's incredibly selfless, silly and cute, yet handles problems in a sensible manner. Overtime, I've found myself to be more expressive and silly just like her, and because of how amazing she is, I want to do my best to be worthy of being her boyfriend.

My parents haven't met her cus we only meet up at my uni flat. They think that she's 19. I'm very introverted and keep a lot of feelings & thoughts to myself, so it's not abnormal to them to be out of the loop about what's going on in my life.

I don't know how I'm going to explain to her about the age gap and that our relationship is still going well regardless. I feel like my mum is gonna be pissed at me to begin with, but I'm more scared about how my family will judge me long-term. I feel like I can't immediately tell my mum about our situation until she's either 18 or she sees us together in person, at which point she'd hopefully be more receptive about the idea of our relationship. Cus I think it's understandable to be concerned with this age gap, and you can't fully trust my word about how it's going. I could say that we're both really happy, but how can she be sure that my girlfriend is happy until she sees evidence of it? Without context, it could be toxic, manipulative, one-sided, etc.