The Secret Relationship Ends Today

For ten years, I watched Ryan rise from a theater student to an award-winning actor. He once promised to announce our relationship when he made it big, but as his fame grew, he said he’d wait until he won an Oscar. Finally, at his film’s wrap party, he promised me a big surprise.

With joy in my heart, I stepped onto the stage. Red roses lined the carpet; it felt like a romantic declaration. But as cameras started livestreaming, Sienna Hayes, his co-star, approached me holding a tattoo gun. Ryan coldly signaled crew members to hold me down. The icy needle pierced my wrist, the machine buzzing. I struggled fiercely, but Ryan stepped forward, gripped my shoulders, and held me still. In that moment, all hope left me. I stopped fighting. Sienna tattooed “Whore” on my inner wrist, then lifted my arm for the cameras. “You moved,” she giggled. “The bunny I tried to draw is crooked now.”

The next day, I boarded a flight abroad, leaving that city behind for good. He searched everywhere for me, then complained, baffled: “Naomi Ryan, it was just a joke. Did you really have to disappear?”