Let me confess something that still sounds insane even to me:
I literally hired a boyfriend for $5 so my family would stop pitying me at Christmas. And I ended up marrying him.

I was 27, exhausted, and broke. Three jobs, tiny apartment, zero love life. My mom kept sending me texts like:

“Your sister is bringing her fiancé. Your cousin is bringing her boyfriend. Even your younger brother has a girlfriend. Are you coming alone again, Emma?”

That afternoon I was sitting on a cold park bench in Boston, staring at my bank balance. After rent and bills, I had $5 left. Five. Dollars.

I looked up at the gray winter sky and, half joking, half desperate, I said out loud:
“Where do you even rent a boyfriend in this city?”

A deep voice behind me answered,
“I’ll do it.”

I almost jumped off the bench.
There he was: tall, broad shoulders, expensive black coat, messy dark hair with snow in it. Way out of my league.

“I can only pay $5,” I blurted out, just to make him go away.

He laughed, shook his head…
and said, “Deal.”

We spent the next couple of days rehearsing a fake love story over text. How we met at the café where I worked. How I spilled coffee on him. Our “first kiss” in a snowy park. It was all made up, and yet… every time my phone lit up with his name (he said it was Nathan), my heart did this stupid little flip.

Christmas Eve came.
He showed up at my door in a white shirt, black dress pants, and a red tie that matched my dress. He even brought flowers for my mom. For a second I forgot he was hired.

And my family?
They fell in love with him in 10 minutes.

My dad grilled him with dad questions about sports and “intentions.” My nosy aunt tried to figure out how much money he made. My perfect lawyer sister compared him to her fiancé.

He handled everything smoothly.
He defended my three jobs when my sister called my life “unstable.” He told my grandmother he’d be “the luckiest man alive if I ever married him.” My mom was crying at the table. My dad said, “This boy has values.”

And me? I was sitting there thinking:
“This is acting. It’s all fake. Don’t fall for it, idiot.”
Of course, I was already falling.

On the drive home, he got quiet. Pulled the car over.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” he said.
“We actually met 5 years ago. My real name isn’t Nathan. It’s Ethan.”

And suddenly it clicked.
The shy guy from the café. The one who ordered cappuccino every day. The one who once asked me out and I turned him down because I was “too focused on work and studying.”

“You lied to me,” I snapped.
He tried to explain, but I was hurt and humiliated. I got out of the car and left him there.

The next morning, he was waiting outside my building at 6 a.m., shivering in the cold.
“Give me five minutes,” he said.

He walked into my tiny apartment, pulled out his wallet, and put it on the table.
“Here. This is all of me. My ID, my address, what I really do.”

His driver’s license said: Ethan Nathan Cole.
The business card said: CEO – Cole Technologies.

He wasn’t a teacher. He owned a company that builds educational programs for public schools. Lives in Back Bay. Very much a millionaire.

“You agreed to be my fake boyfriend for $5 when you’re rich?” I asked.

He smiled, tired and nervous.
“I would’ve done it for free. I just… wanted a second chance with you. Without being the awkward guy you rejected 5 years ago.”

Was it wrong? Yes.
Was I still furious? Also yes.
Did my heart believe every word he said? Unfortunately, also yes.

I didn’t forgive him on the spot.
But I didn’t slam the door either.

We started over. Real names, no roles.
Coffee turned into dinner. Dinner turned into late-night talks. He offered me a job at his company that would let me quit my three exhausting jobs. I said I needed time. Then I said yes.

My family found out who he really was when my aunt saw him in a business magazine. There was drama, yelling, then laughing, then my grandma announcing,
“Best love story I’ve heard in 80 years.”

Months later, in a fancy restaurant by the river, Ethan got down on one knee in front of everyone and asked me to marry him.

“We started with a $5 lie,” he said, voice shaking, “but my love for you is the most honest thing in my life.”

So yeah.
I paid a stranger $5 to pretend to love me… and discovered he’d actually loved me for years. Now I fall asleep next to that “fake boyfriend” every night, and my wedding ring still feels like a miracle. 💍

Be honest with me:
Would you have forgiven him, or walked away the moment you found out the truth?
Tell me what you’d do if you were in my place.