On Tuesday night viewers saw Aaron [Danny Miller] whisper something to his married lover, after he was taken to hospital when one of his self-harm wounds became septic.
The troubled mechanic has been hurting himself ever since his dad Gordon arrived in the Village, and in Thursday night’s episode we found out why.
Robert [Ryan Hawley], visibly worried about him, attempted to get to the bottom of Aaron’s secret. He said: “You have to stop punishing yourself. Tell, what did your dad do to you?
“You can trust me, Aaron. It won’t go any further. Please, nothing is worth this much pain.”
Aaron responded: “You don’t know anything about it. He hurt me. Just leave me alone, I shouldn’t have said anything.”
But Robert persisted, and finally Aaron revealed: “I want to forget it ever happened. You think talking about it is going to help? He raped me.”
Explaining that he was just eight-years-old the first time it happened, just after his mum Chas walked out on Gordon.
He said: “The first time I was eight. I had been playing up for weeks, my mum had just left him and I wouldn’t do anything he asked me to do. I just kept crying because I missed her and taking it out on him.
“I didn’t know what was happening, just that it hurt and it was wrong. But he said it was all my fault and he had to do it to punish me. He said everyone knew how naughty I was and how much of a liar I was.”
Aaron added: “He said if I told anyone it wouldn’t happen again, but he said if I started being good, it wouldn’t. I tried so hard to be good.”
The incredibly emotional scenes showed just how much Robert still cares about Aaron, and he admitted that he does still love him.
This sent Twitter users into meltdown, with Robron fans demanding writers of the Emmerdale soap make them get back together.