I hired an actor to be my “groom” at a fake wedding, all to get revenge on my cheating ex. But as we stood at the altar, exchanging fake vows and a not-so-fake kiss, I never could have predicted how this elaborate charade would completely upend my life.
I never thought I’d be the kind of person to stage a fake wedding for revenge. But there I was, staring at my phone, scrolling through photos of Charlie and Samantha’s latest date night. My stomach churned.
“Screw this,” I muttered, tossing my phone aside. That’s when the idea hit me. If Charlie wanted to flaunt his new relationship, I’d show him I could do one better.
I called my cousin Tess. “Hey, you still friends with that actor guy?”
“Ryan? Yeah, why?”
“I need a favor. A big one.”
Two days later, I was sitting across from Ryan in a coffee shop, outlining my ridiculous plan.
“So let me get this straight,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “You want me to pretend to be your fiancé at a fake wedding?”
I nodded, feeling a bit ridiculous. “I know it sounds crazy, but —”
“I’m in,” Ryan interrupted, a mischievous glint in his eye. “Sounds like fun.”
Over the next few weeks, I threw myself into wedding planning. Dress shopping, venue booking, inviting friends who were in on the plan — it was exhausting but exhilarating.
“You sure about this, Nat?” my friend Kira asked as we picked out flowers.
“Absolutely,” I lied, trying to ignore the knot in my stomach.
I nodded, and our lips met. It was just acting, I told myself, ignoring the unexpected flutter in my chest.
After the ceremony, we posed for countless photos. Ryan’s arm around my waist felt oddly comforting.
“You’re a natural,” I murmured as we smiled for another shot.
“What can I say? I’m a method actor,” he winked.
That night, I posted a flurry of wedding photos on social media. “Found my true love,” I captioned one. “New beginnings,” on another.
“Are you sure about this?” Kira asked when I told her. “It’s not just part of the act?”
“It’s real,” I assured her. “Unexpected, but real.”
Things were going great until Charlie found out. He started spreading rumors that our relationship was a sham, that I was paying Ryan to be with me.
When Ryan heard, he was upset. “I thought we were past all this,” he said, his voice tight.
“We are!” I insisted. “Charlie’s just being a jerk.”
I smiled, watching Ryan chat animatedly with the photographer. “Sometimes the craziest plans lead to the best outcomes,” I mused.
As I reflect on everything that’s happened, I can’t help but marvel at the journey. What started as a misguided attempt at revenge led me to true love and personal growth I never expected.
Life has a funny way of working out sometimes. And while I wouldn’t recommend staging a fake wedding as a path to happiness, I can’t regret the choices that led me here — to Ryan, to love, and to a future brighter than I ever imagined.
“People Only Know Me as a Freak,” The Wolf Man Struggles to Find a Job Outside the Circus
Jesús Aceves has hypertrichosis, which makes his hair grow abundantly over his face and back. Because of his condition, he’s also known as The Wolf Man. But he’s tired of this alias and wants to live a normal life.
Meet Jesús Aceves, a 55-year-old man born with a condition called hypertrichosis, which means he has abnormal hair growth over his body, especially his face. Although married with kids, Jesús isn’t fully happy with his living conditions. He says he and his family suffer discrimination. In an interview, one of his kids mentioned, “People call me names, and they even tell their kids not to be my friends.”
© Chuy, El hombre lobo / Chuy, The Wolf Man / Facebook
He worked in the circus all his life, traveling through several cities. But now, he’s tired of being seen as a freak. As a consequence of years on the road, he’s been known as The Wolf Man.
Back home and not in the circus anymore, he’s facing another challenge: finding a “normal” job. He needs to support his family since his wife works in temporary jobs.
After several failed job interviews, he agreed to try something he had always avoided: shave his face. He relied on his family barber to transform him, even creating eyebrows and lashes.
The experience was difficult since the face is an extremely sensitive body area, but both he and his wife believed that simply by shaving, he would be able to find a job.
Jesús did several interviews, and it’s confident that now he’ll find somewhere to work besides the circus. If this happens, he must shave his face every 2 days.
Although rare, some conditions aren’t impossible to have. Luckily, people find a way to overcome the difficulties a rare condition brings and strive in life. Hannah Tyre, for example, was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, meaning that her bones break very easily. But her love for makeup made her an internet influencer, reaching millions of followers. We hope that, by reaching the mainstream media, people with genetic diseases won’t suffer more discrimination.
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