I saw her for the first time in 1998. I was in high school back then, and I was about to see the literal beauty queen of the city. No exaggeration, she was stunning. She looked like the Lead Singer of Ace of Base quite a lot.
One of my close friends objected at the time to that comparison and told me not to exaggerate, but I wasn't exaggerating. However, now, after dozens of years, I don't know if she still resembles the stunning singer or not. More than twenty years are enough to change a woman's appearance and figure. But the truth is, I now wish she resembled the Night King in the Game of Thrones series.
Of course, there will be those who will be astonished by this shift from intense admiration to intense aversion, but I ask you, my friend, to wait until the end.
The truth is that I have a feeling towards beautiful women, and I think that external beauty is everything and that she is certainly beautiful on the inside as well. But the truth is not like that, and I learned this truth the hard way.
We were living in a small town back then, and her brother was my close friend, my dear friend in fact, my only friend.
I left the city for the capital, but I always wanted to marry her, for her enchanting beauty and because I knew her family well and her brother was my only friend. It was the perfect match. I told myself that when I graduate from university, I would propose to her and marry her.
The dreams were rosy for a young man who had not yet turned twenty, who thought everything would go as he wished.
Years passed, and I graduated from university without settling into a job yet. Then I received news that she had gotten engaged. Surely, a girl with such beauty wouldn't remain single for long.
Little by little, I started to forget the matter, as it was over and she became another man's wife. So, I continued my life and started working in many companies, and many beautiful girls passed through my life. The problem I suffer from, which has landed me in trouble, is that I admire a girl just because she is beautiful in appearance, regardless of her character and personality. It is an inherent flaw in my personality, but I recovered from it after what happened, as life gives us lessons even after forty.
Throughout those years, from 1998 to 2025, I had a close relationship with my best friend. We communicated regularly on social media, sharing everything with each other. I knew, of course, that his sister's engagement didn't last, and I actually asked him to marry her, but she refused.
The important thing is that all those years, I was telling him my stories with girls. This one I went out with and we had dinner at a restaurant overlooking a lake, and that one worked with me at the company and I asked her to marry me, but her family refused because the age difference between us was nearly twenty years. And another one was divorced, and I wanted a causal relationship with her, but nothing happened.
All those years, I was always searching for a woman, specifically a beautiful woman to marry. I was quite superficial, desiring only the beautiful exterior without looking into the deeper aspects. I used to share these stories with my only friend, but he wasn't single like me; he succeeded in marrying a beautiful woman and they had two children.
Besides my failure to find a woman, I have always suffered within companies—modest jobs, miserable companies, and despicable managers. It was as if there was always a functional and emotional social dysfunction, both of which refused to stabilize. If I liked a girl and wanted to marry her, she would refuse. If I found a job and stayed in it for a while, that period would not last.
Of course, I do not absolve myself of responsibility, as I have made many mistakes over the past twenty years. I remember once there was a girl who was kind and respectful. She wasn't stunningly beautiful, but she had a certain beauty, and most importantly, she wanted and desired me. But foolishly, I missed the opportunity because she didn't meet the beauty standards I wanted. How foolish of me! Perhaps I would have had children by now if I had approached her, as I deeply desire to be a father because I love children so much. But I missed the chance.
Amidst all that darkness that engulfed all those years of emotional and professional failure, a glimmer of hope appeared, a ray of light in the heart of the darkness. For the first time, I succeeded in getting a client for translation services, and indeed we started working, and I earned a lot of money, a lot of money in a short period that I hadn't earned over years of work, and I earned it in just a few months.
At that time, I was very happy and shared this joy with my dear friend, telling him everything about the details of the work and the profits I had earned. He even thought about imitating me and finding a similar client, as freelancing is the way to financial independence, and a job, no matter what, will not provide you with the independence you seek.
The happiness was complete when I was surprised by his sister, the beauty queen of the city whom I had wanted since 1998. I was surprised to see her send me a message on Facebook asking for help because she was in big trouble; she had broken a device at her company and didn't have the money to pay for it. Of course, I believed her, because such beauty doesn't lie. Besides, I know her and her family, and her brother has been my only friend for twenty years. I never imagined there was a trick involved.
Of course, I sent the money, convinced that life would finally smile at me—stable, profitable work, a beautiful wife, and then children in the future. What more could a man want from life?
After I sent her the money and stood by her side, I proposed to her, and she told me that she would think about my offer because I stood by her side.
She asked me for money again because she wants to buy a dress to be ready for the engagement party. Of course, I was happy and sent her the money. There she is, getting ready for the engagement. The beauty queen wants me just as I want her.
Then she asked me for money to buy me clothes to her taste. I hesitated, but she insisted and said to me, "Don't be stingy. Just as you helped me buy the dress, I want to buy you clothes to my taste." So she cares about me as if I were her actual husband. Life is finally smiling at me.
Then she asked me for money because she was inside a shop and broke one of the antique pieces, and the shop owner detained her until she paid for the piece. I asked her to call her brother to help her, but she got angry and said to me: If I wanted my brother's help, I would have asked him, but I want your help. I want the help of the man who wants to marry me.
I sent her the money, I believed every word, I didn't expect or imagine that she was lying and that she was after my money. How could she do that when I am a close friend of her brother and I know her family?
Then she asked me for money because she wanted to go to the dentist and didn't have any money for that. I sent her what she asked for.
Doubt finally crept in, and thank God for that, otherwise she would have drained me forever. Doubt crept in when her tone changed from that of a poor girl suffering from a problem to that of a girl demanding money in an authoritative tone, as if she had the right to my money and even ordered me around, expecting obedience. At that moment, my anger intensified. I do not take orders from anyone, even if they are the most beautiful of beauties or even if she was Sydney Sweeney. Throughout my career in companies, I have hated being told how to do my work. Therefore, I refused to transfer the money to this woman and told her not to give me orders. Then she backed off and said, "Fine, don't send anything," and then disappeared and blocked me on Facebook.
Until that moment, it was just a fight between two people about to get married. I didn't think her interest would end when she realized she wouldn't get any more money, and she disappeared. I waited a week, but she didn't show up. That's when I began to realize the extent of the foolishness I had committed against myself and how I had trusted a woman who didn't deserve it just because she was stunningly beautiful and because I knew her and her family for a long time.
When I was sure that I had been a victim of a scam, I contacted her brother and told him everything. It was clear that her brother was telling her everything about me, whether it was my fondness for beautiful women or my success in acquiring a client and making a lot of money in a short period.
I was keen on not harming a lifelong friendship despite what his sister did to me; it's not his fault that she is a liar and a deceiver seeking illicit money.
I told him everything. He gently reproached me for not informing him about the matter from the beginning and promised that he would repay the money.
I waited a whole year and was extremely careful in choosing my words when I asked him for the money. I was extremely careful about the friendship for a whole year, but he kept procrastinating, and a whole year passed without me getting anything.
After a year, the day came when everything became clear and the truth about friendship was revealed. I asked him to repay the money his sister had taken from me, and I found that his tone had changed. It was no longer the tone of a friendly friend; it was the tone of a man wanting to escape, escape from friendship, from commitment, and from everything. He said to me:
- I don't want you to talk to me again, we are no longer friends. You betrayed our friendship because you were talking to my sister behind my back.
- I did not betray the friendship and I did not desire anything forbidden. Your sister claimed she was in trouble and needed someone by her side, that she was alone and had no one to support her, so I stood by her. Of course, I wanted to get married because I have now crossed forty and found it an opportunity since I have been fond of her for a long time. When she started messaging me, I thought, why not? I never imagined she was after money, and I did not expect her to lie. I believed she was looking for someone to stand by her side.
- I am not obligated to pay this money. If you want the money, go to her and take it from her.
- You are her brother, and you have an obligation towards her. She made a mistake, and you have to bear it and correct her mistake.
- What if I did the same thing? And your sister deceived me to steal money from me, would you pay me back?
- If that happened, I would do it. In fact, I would sell my clothes to pay you back, because it would be a disgrace to me and my family, and I would have to save the family's and my own reputation.
- Listen to me carefully, you son of a bitch, I won't pay you anything, and go to hell.
After that moment, everything turned into a nightmare. The beauty queen turned out to be a thief and a fraud. The marriage project turned out to be an illusion. The friendship turned out to be an illusion, and he was a man whose true nature I had not realized for twenty-seven years. He was not the man I had expected. As for me, I discovered that I was the biggest fool in the city.
I sat thinking about what I would do after he revealed his ugly true face, that he was never a true friend but just a mask waiting for the right moment to show his ugliness.
What should I do? Should I travel to them and go to their house? But I don't know where they live? They left their old house a long time ago, and I don't know their new house.
I wanted revenge more than I wanted to recover the stolen money. Perhaps it was foolish of me to send her money when I hadn't seen her in twenty-seven years. Surely, the years had changed her, and she had become someone else. Some say that a woman feels bitterness if time passes her by without marriage and children, and she desires revenge on men because she holds them responsible for her situation. Perhaps she had relationships with many men, but they left her when they discovered her true self. So, she decided to take revenge on all men through me, even though my intentions were good.
Maybe I was a fool, but I wasn't evil. I didn't want to hurt anyone, and I didn't harbor malice towards anyone. I only hurt myself.
I sat thinking, rage igniting fires within my body, until I decided to tell all our classmates in the small town their truth; the scandal would be the best revenge.
Indeed, I contacted some of those who were with us in high school from 1998 to 2000. They were all connected to my so-called friend, and there was a business relationship between them. They also knew his sister and where she worked. Then I told them everything, how she deceived me to steal my money, and how he acted disgracefully about it. I also contacted his wife and told her everything. I discovered that his beautiful, wicked sister had stolen her stepsister’s engagement ring in the past, and her brother replaced it with a new ring but failed to recover the stolen ring.
I discovered that they had similar pasts. A mutual friend told me that they used to work together in the past and that my so-called friend tried to steal company money while they were working there. Another friend informed me that his sister was fired from a pharmacy where she worked because she committed a similar act.
The picture became clear; I was living in a great illusion, the illusion of the loyal, faithful friend and the illusion of the beautiful girl like an innocent angel. I realized after turning forty that I still have much to learn in this life. I understood that situations reveal the true friend and the true man, not the many years. I also realized that a woman's beauty might hide an inner ugliness.
After the scandal echoed through the small town and everyone discovered what they had done to me, my so-called friend called me, crying. Yesterday, he insulted my mother, and now he is crying. And he says to me, "You have disgraced us and brought shame upon me and my sister. How could you tarnish our reputation like this?" We have been friends for years, how could you tarnish my sister's honor like this? I will pay you the money, but stop telling everyone what happened; no one will benefit from the scandal.
I didn't say a word as I listened to him. I was astonished by the man and his wicked nature, how he could switch from one extreme to another overnight. If he thought his opponent was weak, he would bully him, but if the opponent responded with strength, he would retreat in fear and terror. But this is life, my dear; it gives us lessons. No matter how much we think we know everything, we will find that we know nothing.