When a strange woman grabbed my hand and warned me not to go through with my wedding, I brushed it off. But when I found out she was a paid actress, I had to know: who would go to such lengths to stop me from marrying the man I loved?
I was never the superstitious type. I’m Penelope, just your average woman juggling work, wedding plans, and spending time with my best friend, Esther. Life had been a blur of excitement lately. Cameron, my fiancé, was everything I could ever ask for — thoughtful, funny, and supportive.
A grayscale photo of a loving couple | Source: Pexels
Our wedding was just a couple of months away, and Esther, as usual, was by my side through all the chaos, helping me pick out flower arrangements, dresses, and everything in between.
It was a normal Saturday afternoon when the strange encounter happened. Esther and I had just left our favorite boutique, where we’d spent hours browsing through racks of dresses and debating which honeymoon destinations were overrated.
She was still trying to convince me that Fiji wasn’t all it was cracked up to be as we strolled through the supermarket, picking up a few groceries for the week.
A shopping cart in a grocery store aisle | Source: Unsplash
We were halfway down the cereal aisle when I felt someone standing a little too close behind me.
Turning around, I was face-to-face with an old woman: her dark hair messy, her piercing eyes locked onto mine. Before I could react, she grabbed my hand, her grip firm, almost desperate.
“I feel four scars,” she said, her voice low and gravelly. “All on your legs. An animal… a wolf?”
An old woman with dark messy hair and piercing eyes is standing in a grocery store | Source: Midjourney
I froze, my heart nearly stopping. My legs — she was right. I had those scars, deep and jagged from when a wolf attacked me on a family camping trip when I was five. I hadn’t told many people about that. How could she possibly know?
Esther, who had been distracted by a message on her phone, turned just in time to see the woman holding my hand. “Hey! Let go of her!” she snapped, stepping closer, ready to intervene.
A woman looking angrily at someone while standing in a grocery store | Source: Midjourney
But the woman didn’t seem to notice. Her eyes stayed locked on mine. “I see your upcoming wedding,” she murmured, her grip tightening. “Don’t do it. Trouble awaits you.”
My breath caught in my throat. I felt like I was rooted to the spot, unable to move. How did she know about my wedding? What kind of “trouble” was she talking about?
A woman looks surprised and worried while standing in a grocery store | Source: Midjourney
Before I could ask her any of these questions, Esther pulled my hand free from the woman’s grip with one sharp tug. “Are you out of your mind?” Esther hissed at the woman. “Get lost, witch!”
The woman blinked, as if waking from a trance, then slinked away without another word. I stared after her, my heart still pounding.
“Penelope, are you okay?” Esther asked, her voice softening now that the stranger was gone. “She was probably just some crazy lady. Don’t let it get to you.”
A woman looks concerned while standing in a grocery store | Source: Midjourney
I tried to laugh it off. “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I said, though deep down, I wasn’t so sure. For the next two weeks, her words haunted me. “Don’t do it. Trouble awaits you.” They replayed in my mind like a broken record, and no matter how many times I told myself it was nonsense, I couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling.
A woman looks worried and thoughtful | Source: Midjourney
Then yesterday, while having lunch with my mom at a small café, I saw her again — at least, I thought I did. Across the street, a woman was hurrying into a shop, but this time, her hair was blonde, her eyes light. She looked completely different, but there was something about her, something familiar.
Without thinking, I jumped up from my chair and rushed outside. “Hey! You!” I called, catching up to her just as she was about to enter the shop.
A woman with blonde hair standing in a flower shop | Source: Midjourney
The woman turned, startled. “Let me go!” she shrieked as I grabbed her wrist.
“Who are you?” I demanded, tightening my grip.
“I… I’m an actress,” she stammered. “I was paid to scare you into canceling your wedding.”
My heart dropped. “Paid? By who?”
She hesitated, then reluctantly pulled out her phone. My blood ran cold when she showed me the photo on her screen.
I could barely feel my legs as I stared at the picture on her phone screen.
An extremely shocked woman staring at a phone screen | Source: Midjourney
It was Cameron. The man I was supposed to marry in a few months. The man I trusted, loved, and thought I would spend my life with.
“He… he paid you?” My voice cracked as I asked, still trying to process the betrayal.
The actress shifted nervously, glancing around as if afraid someone might see us. “Look, I don’t want any trouble. I was just doing my job. Please let me go.”
I swallowed the lump forming in my throat. “Why? Why did he do this?”
An angry and upset woman | Source: Midjourney
“I don’t know,” she admitted, rubbing her wrist where I had grabbed her. “He just said he couldn’t go through with the wedding, but didn’t know how to tell you.”
I felt a burning rage rise in me, but it wasn’t the fiery kind that made me want to scream. No, this was cold. Ice cold. He couldn’t call off the wedding himself, so he hired someone to manipulate me into doing it? The sheer cowardice was almost laughable. Almost.
A closeup of a man paying money to a woman | Source: Pexels
I exhaled slowly, forcing a calm that I didn’t feel. “Thank you for being honest,” I muttered, turning away from her. I didn’t wait for a response. My feet carried me down the street in a daze. My mind raced, thoughts of Cameron, the wedding, everything spinning out of control.
By the time I got home, I had already made up my mind. Two could play this game.
That evening, I set the table for dinner as if nothing had happened. I cooked his favorite — roasted chicken with rosemary potatoes — and made sure everything looked perfect.
A photo showing roasted chicken served with rosemary potatoes for dinner | Source: Midjourney
The scent filled the apartment, warm and comforting, masking the cold storm brewing inside me.
When Cameron walked in, his usual cheerful demeanor seemed a bit off. Maybe it was guilt gnawing at him. Good. He deserved it.
“Hey, babe!” he greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, oblivious to what was coming. “Something smells great.”
“Just your favorite,” I replied, forcing a smile as I placed the plates on the table. “I thought we could have a nice night in.”
A woman forces a smile while looking at someone | Source: Midjourney
He sat down, and for a moment, we ate in silence. I waited, watching him between bites, waiting for the perfect moment. My heart raced, but outwardly, I stayed calm. When the time felt right, I casually began the conversation I had been planning all day.
“So,” I started, my tone light and easy, “you won’t believe what happened to me today.”
He looked up, raising an eyebrow. “Oh yeah? What happened?”
A man looks surprised while sitting at the dinner table | Source: Midjourney
“I was at the supermarket with Esther,” I said, setting my fork down and meeting his gaze. “And this woman just came up to me, grabbed my hand out of nowhere.”
Cameron froze, his fork hovering mid-air. “What?” he asked, trying to sound casual but failing miserably. “What did she want?”
I shrugged, pretending it was no big deal. “Oh, she started talking about these scars I have on my legs. It was weird — she knew about them, even though I’ve never met her in my life.”
A closeup of a person’s body with a scar | Source: Pexels
His eyes widened slightly. “That’s strange,” he said, his voice a little too tight. “What else did she say?”
“Oh, you know,” I continued, keeping my voice light, “she mentioned our wedding. Said some interesting things about it.”
Cameron’s grip tightened on his fork. “Really? What… what exactly did she say?”
I smiled sweetly, watching him squirm. “She said you’d be a super successful man and that we’d have a very happy marriage.”
That’s when he choked. Right on cue.
A stunned man sitting at the dinner table | Source: Midjourney
He coughed, gasping for breath as I sat back, watching with an almost detached amusement. His face turned pale, his eyes wide with panic as he tried to recover.
“Sweetie, are you okay?” I asked, doing my best to sound concerned, though inside, I was relishing every second of his discomfort.
“Y-yeah,” he sputtered, wiping his mouth. “Just… unexpected.”
I leaned in slightly, dropping the playful tone. “Unexpected? What’s unexpected, Cam? The part about us having a happy marriage? Or the fact that you’re such a coward, you couldn’t even break off the engagement yourself?”
An angry and upset woman at the dinner table | Source: Midjourney
His face went white as a sheet. “W-what? What are you talking about, Pen?”
I didn’t let him off the hook. “I ran into your actress today. The one you hired to freak me out and get rid of me!”
For a moment, Cameron just sat there, stunned, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water. He had no words: no explanation, no excuses. He was caught, and we both knew it.
“How… how did you—” he stammered, but I cut him off.
An extremely shocked man | Source: Midjourney
“Don’t you dare deny it! I know everything” I kept my voice low and steady. “You really thought I wouldn’t figure it out, huh?”
His hands trembled slightly as he set his fork down, staring at the table. “Pen, I—”
“Don’t,” I interrupted, standing up slowly. “Don’t even try to explain. I’m done being fooled by you.”
He finally looked up at me, his face a blend of guilt and desperation. “I didn’t know how to tell you, Pen. I thought it would be easier this way.”
A man looks guilty and desperate | Source: Midjourney
I laughed — actually laughed at the absurdity of it. “Easier? You thought hiring some stranger to spout nonsense about our wedding would be easier than just talking to me? We’ve been together for years, Cam! And this is how you handle it?”
He didn’t respond. He couldn’t.
I leaned in close, just enough to see the shame in his eyes. “I guess I’ll be the one to call off the wedding then,” I whispered.
A woman looking at someone at the dinner table | Source: Midjourney
With that, I turned and walked out of the apartment, leaving him sitting there, stunned and speechless. As I closed the door behind me, the weight that had been crushing me for weeks finally lifted. The future I had envisioned with Cameron crumbled, but in its place, a new path opened — one where I no longer had to pretend.
Game over, Cameron. Game over.
A smiling woman | Source: Midjourney
Did you find this story exciting? Wait till you read this next one: I was just moments away from saying ‘I do’ when the church doors burst open, and my father shrieked that the WEDDING WAS OFF. What he said next shattered my heart in the blink of an eye.
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims to the accuracy of events or the portrayal of characters and are not liable for any misinterpretation. This story is provided “as is,” and any opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
My MIL Accused Me of Cheating — I Did a DNA Test and Accidentally Exposed Her Secret
Accusing someone of cheating is a big deal and can really damage trust between partners. A woman got accused of cheating because her baby had an unusual eye color — she decided to take a DNA test to prove she was faithful, but what she discovered was totally unexpected.
They discovered a family secret that had been buried in the past.
So, this 25-year-old woman recently had a baby girl, and she noticed something interesting about her daughter’s appearance. «Our daughter has green eyes, unlike everyone else in our families My MIL thinks I cheated,» she wrote. Her husband reassured her, saying it was probably just random genetic things.
This lady’s husband totally trusts her, which is awesome. But his mom and the rest of the family won’t stop going on about their daughter’s green eyes, suggesting she might have cheated. Even her own family is a bit puzzled by it. She got tired of all the gossip and decided to settle it once and for all with a paternity test.
They decided to do two tests: one to check paternity and another to explore their daughter’s ancestry. The mom was curious to see if there might be a distant relative they didn’t know about who could explain their daughter’s unusual eye color.
After much insistence, the husband finally agreed to the tests, and it turns out the little one is indeed his daughter. But here’s the twist — his dad isn’t really his biological father! Now, they’re both thinking about confronting the mom about it, but the wife’s urging caution. She thinks they should take some time to process this bombshell before they make any moves.
They know they should tell the husband’s dad about the DNA test results, but they’re worried about the consequences. They’re exhausted from looking after their newborn, and this news has hit them hard. They’re scared that revealing the truth might cause a huge family drama and even lead to his parents splitting up. It’s a tough situation, and they’re both feeling guilty about how things turned out.
People online were equally shocked by what happened.
- «Another possibility is that the MIL and FIL did in-vitro with a sperm donor and never told their son. The son should have a DNA test as well. This will clear up any of the scenarios, i.e. MIL had an affair, son was switched at birth, sperm donor, etc.» shbrinnnn / Reddit
- «There is a small chance the husband isn’t related to MIL either, though. As in, switched at birth or secretly adopted.» Gaosnl / Reddit
- «I don’t understand why you all are so worked up about the eye color in a 2-month-old. My son had green to hazel eyes until he was almost 2. They finished at about a hazel-leaning brown. Both my husband and I have brown eyes. We never thought anything of it.
Like, if you wanted to do a test just to find your genetic lines or whatever, that might be interesting. But focusing on your husband, cheating and this eye color is just beyond bizarre to me. Anyone who insinuated I might have cheated would get shut down immediately. Maybe your focus should be on laying down clear boundaries with both your families, instead of worrying about jumping through ridiculous hoops to appease them.» KickIt77 / Reddit - «Green eyes are a genetic mutation, they can occur randomly in any family even those without a history of green eyes. In any race. It is just a lucky happenstance that your child got an eye color gene mutation which led to you wanting the test.» Childhood-trauma-87 / Reddit
- «One of my friends did an ancestry test with her sisters, she already knew that her father was a different person than her sisters’. There’s a big age gap, her mom and her sisters’ fathers were not together, and she looks exactly like her dad.
One thing that surprised them was that supposedly her 2 older sisters had different fathers as well. Well… turns out not so much. They were full sisters, not half-sisters as they thought, so at some point, her mother had had an affair.
I don’t know enough to say if she cheated on the first guy with the second and had his kid, then got together with him and had another, or if she had the first guy have a kid, broke up, then she cheated on the new guy with her old ex. Either way, surprise full siblings, and someone, at least one of them, always thought they had a different dad.» scarletnightingale / Reddit - «Who needs to track down the exact person in the family tree that had green eyes? Three of my aunt’s 4 kids have brown eyes and one has blue eyes. Most people would just think, „Wow, genetics are wild!“ Also, why would you get a paternity test if you know you didn’t cheat?» EmmalouEsq / Reddit
- «Whether it was cheating or something else, the fact remains that your MIL kept this from her son for his entire life, and he’s rightfully unhappy about it. Still, you’re making the right call by telling him to wait, and you wouldn’t have found out, to begin with, if it weren’t for his family badgering you over your daughter’s eye color.» Jiang_Rui / Reddit
- «It sounds like MIL was projecting with her passive-aggressive commentary. What did she think would happen? Of course, you’d want to prove to her family that you didn’t cheat. This is her own fault.» fitheferal / Reddit
Check out a story from a mother-in-law who recently met her son’s girlfriend and uncovered something shocking about her. Now, she’s unsure about how to handle this newfound information.
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