Loving someone is one of the most vulnerable things one can do. To open one’s heart and one’s life to another. To affect them and be affected by them. That’s why when I found someone willing to do this practice with me, I thought I had reached the jackpot. Had found my soul mate. Kind, caring, loving. That’s who I was for them. And who they were for me. That’s why when I learned the truth of our relationship, on the day of our wedding no less, I was completely shattered. A bet. This whole time, these several months of planning, these multiple years of dating, all came down to a petty bet between them and their friends. “I bet you can’t get them to marry you!” “I bet you I can”. That’s it. That’s all it took to change the course of my life and lead me down to a fantasy. And hearing that was all it took to bring it all crashing down. None of it was real. And even if some part of it were, the foundation was fake. A lie. I’ll never recover.