Note: this story involves cuckolding and humiliation.
When I proposed to my girlfriend Daisy, I was so nervous. We were pretty young, both of us only 22 years old. On top of that, we had only been dating for about a year, and had only been living together a couple months. Worst of all, I was out of work and looking for a job. I worried that I wasn't good enough for a gorgeous, fun girl like Daisy, but at the same time, she told me all the time how great she thinks I am: cute, fun, funny, smart, sweet, all that kind of stuff.
So I finally summoned up all my courage and took her out to a dinner I couldn't really afford. Before the dessert course, I got down on one knee and asked if she would marry me. I was so relieved to see a big, beautiful smile break out on her face. Through tears of joy, she exclaimed, "Oh, Lucas, yes, I will!" We hugged and the people in the restaurant all smiled and clapped for us.
When I sat back down at the table, I said, "I'm sorry I don't have a ring for you just yet, I kinda need to build up some more savings first."
Daisy just waved this off. "Oh, honey, I don't care about some stupid ring. I just care about being with you!"
I smiled back at her, taking her hand in mine. "I'm so lucky to have found an amazing girl like you. And I know a wedding will be expensive, but I really feel like I'm close to landing a job soon!"
Daisy squeezed my hand. "I'm sure you will, sweetie. I'm not worried about a thing."
***
It turned out I was right: I finally did land a job at a local gym a couple weeks later. It was just an entry-level position, responsible for stuff like wiping down the equipment and stocking towels and stuff. But the pay wasn't terrible, and the gym's owner, a guy in his 30s named Brad, told me that if I proved myself to be a good worker, there was a lot of opportunity for advancement. By this point in my job search, I was pretty desperate, so I accepted his offer right there on the spot.
When I got home to Daisy, who was making dinner for us in our small one-bedroom apartment, I told her I had gotten a job. She was so happy and proud of me and gave me a big hug. "Tell me all about it!" she said excitedly.
"Well, it's nothing fancy," I admitted. "It's just an entry-level position at a gym. But the pay isn't bad and the owner said there's a lot of opportunity for advancement if I work hard."
Daisy stiffened a little when I said it was at a gym, and I wondered what was wrong. "Um...is it that gym downtown that opened like a year ago?"
"Yeah, that's the one," I confirmed.
"Oh, wow," Daisy said. "Um, what was the owner's name?"
"Brad," I said. "Why?"
She put her head in her hands for a second, then looked back up at me. "This is so weird," she said, "but, well...that's my ex."
My mouth fell open a little. "Wait," I said. "He's, like...that Brad?" Daisy had told me that before we met, the one serious relationship she had been in was with a guy named Brad, but of course I never thought the owner of this gym was the same guy.
She just nodded. "Crazy, right?"
"But...he's, like, ten years older than us!" I said.
"Well, I told you before that Brad was a little bit older," Daisy said.
"Yeah, I guess I just assumed, like, five years older, at most," I said. "You never told me he owned a gym either."
"Well, he was only just starting to make plans to open that when we broke up," Daisy said.
"Oh," I said, in a bit of a daze.
She was clearly a little stunned herself. "What a crazy coincidence," she said.
"Totally," I agreed.
"It's not, like...a big deal, right?" she asked.
I thought about it for a second. It was definitely a little weird, but I needed the job, and there wasn't really any good reason for this to stop me from taking it. "Uh, right," I said. "I mean, you two broke up a pretty long time ago, right?"
"Yeah," Daisy said. "Like, almost two years ago."
"And you wouldn't have to, like, see him or anything," I said.
"Yeah," Daisy agreed. "That would be so...weird."
"Would it?" I asked, feeling a little pang of insecurity.
"Sure," Daisy said. "I mean, it wasn't a terrible break-up or anything, but still, he's my ex. It would just be weird, ya know?"
"Yeah," I said. "I still can't get over how much older he is."
Daisy blushed a little. "Yeah, I know," she said. "I should have told you before, but I guess I was a little embarrassed about it. I was 18 when we started dating, and he was 30."
"Wow," I said.
"I'm sorry, honey," Daisy said. "It seems crazy now, thinking back on it, but at the time I was young and dumb and I thought it was cool to be dating a guy who was more 'mature' or whatever."
I let out a sigh. "It's okay, baby," I said. "So was he, like, super rich or whatever? Must've been, to be able to open up his own gym and everything?"
"Um, I guess, I think he had a little bit of savings from his family and he was really good at investing it in stocks and stuff," Daisy explained. "He's, like, super entrepreneurial or whatever."
Again, I felt a pang of insecurity. "Oh," I said softly.
She could tell what I was feeling and put a hand on my arm comfortingly. "But, baby, he was also, like, a total jerk," she said. "You know how guys like that are. They think they run the world. I guess when I was 18 I found it impressive or whatever, but after a couple years with him, it just got to be obnoxious."
"Um, yeah," I said, sighing again. "Well...sounds like he's gonna be a great boss then, huh?"
Daisy laughed a little. "Well, yeah, he'll probably be kind of annoying," she said. "But, ya know, he's not so bad. And he does really believe in hard work or whatever, so he was probably telling the truth when he said you could move up quickly if you work at it."
I smiled a little. "Do you think it'll hurt or help that I'm getting married to his ex-girlfriend?"
Daisy laughed again. "I really don't know," she said. "I mean, he's not like the super-jealous type, if that's what you're asking."
I hesitated. "I mean, he liked you, obviously, and if you like me, he might take that as a good sign or something?"
She thought about it. "Yeah, maybe."
"So...would it be okay if I mention you to him?" I asked.
Daisy looked a little nervous. "Oh, baby, I don't know," she said. "I mean, what if he wants to, like, catch up with me or whatever?"
I laughed. "You don't have to hang out with him if you don't want to," I said. "If he asks, we can just make up excuses until he takes the hint, ya know? But do you think he'd even want to do that? It's probably weird for him too."
"Yeah, I guess," she said, thinking about it.
I pushed a little harder, convinced it would help me advance more quickly. "I just really think it might help, Daisy. Like, it gives him more of a personal connection to me, ya know? I won't be just another one of his hired hands."