And because that wasn’t enough, he included pictures of her pregnant belly, captioned:
“Legally welcoming our little bundle of joy.”
Chloe added a shy emoji.
My mom? She liked the post and chimed in with, “Don’t worry, once the baby’s here, I’ll take care of it so you two can have some alone time.”
I stared at the screen, my stomach twisting in knots, and managed to type a single question mark in the comments.
Ryan’s reply hit like a slap to the face.
“Relax, Aria. She’s just borrowing my name for a year. Once the baby’s born, I’ll be back with you.”
Then, as if he were the voice of reason, he added:
“Honestly, you’re making a big deal out of nothing. My mom even said we shouldn’t get our marriage license until you’ve had a son anyway. This actually works out perfectly. We’ll do the wedding first and the paperwork later.”
My chest tightened, but all I could say was a weak “Mm.” Then, I deleted every picture of Ryan from my Instagram and posted something new:
“Looking for a new groom. Any takers?”
It didn’t take long for Ryan to blow up my comments.
“Aria Young, are you serious right now? It’s just a paper marriage! Why are you acting so crazy?”
“What’s this supposed to be, some kind of jealousy stunt? Grow up. And don’t even think about taking this out on Chloe.”
Right on cue, Chloe jumped in with her own contribution.
“Sis, Ryan’s just helping make sure the baby is born legally. I’d never take him away from you! After you guys get married, the baby can even call you ‘Mom.’ Isn’t that sweet?”
Then came my mom’s guilt-trip, wrapped in a comment.
“Aria, Chloe is doing you such a huge favor. You get to be a mom without dealing with the pain of childbirth. You should be thanking her!”
And because this nightmare wasn’t humiliating enough, Ryan’s friends started piling on with their so-called jokes.
“Come on, Aria. You and Chloe are sisters. It doesn’t really matter which of you he marries, right? It’s all in the family.”
“Hey, how about this? Chloe gets him Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and you can have him Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Everybody wins!”
They were laughing. All of them. Like this was some big joke and I was the punchline.
My hands shook as I scrolled through the comments, tears streaming down my face.
They were wrong, so wrong.
But somehow, they’d twisted it to make me look like the bad guy.
It was pathetic.
I swiped at my tears and kept scrolling until one comment stopped me in my tracks:
“Can I be your new groom?”
It was from Sean White.
Sean and I had grown up together. We’d been close, until I started dating Ryan in college. After that, we drifted apart, especially after he left to study abroad.
Before I could even process his comment, my phone buzzed. Sean was calling me.
“Aria,” he said, his voice steady but soft. “I’ve liked you for as long as I can remember. And you know how I feel about Chloe. I wouldn’t touch her with a ten-foot pole. Unlike Ryan, I don’t hang out with shady people, and I haven’t been in a relationship in years. I’ve been focusing on my work, building a life. For you.”
As he spoke, an email notification popped up on my screen—a contract.
