For Richer, for Poorer

“I do,” Jacob says, his voice trembling. With those two words, he knows there’s no going back now. Jacob looks into his bride’s eyes, now glistening with tears. Lola got her dream wedding—elegant white dress, large reception, extravagant flowers—while Jacob got an overdraft alert from his bank. Her family had offered to split the wedding costs but, eager to impress, Jacob insisted he’d take care of all the bills. Now he considers himself foolish having spent his life savings, and loans from disgruntled family members, on the wedding. Will Lola still love him when she finds out that he is as good as broke; that he is actually a struggling freelancer and not a real estate agent like he claimed to be; that he lives in a cramped studio apartment in the city and not in a suburban mansion like the one she currently lives in with her family? Jacob wanted to tell her these things when they first started dating, but he was afraid Lola would leave. She was everything he wanted in a woman—beautiful, intelligent and genuinely optimistic about life. So he took her to the best restaurants, pampered her with gifts he could barely afford and eventually met her family. Then one evening he found himself on one knee, proposing to her under the moonlit sky.