Fake Beauty
“No, youre joking! Are you two seriously over? I dont believe it!” Emily stared at her friend Tom, absolutely gobsmacked. Her eyes went wide as saucers, her eyebrows shot up towards her hairline, and her mouth fell open in disbelief. “You were head over heels for Sophie! I always used you guys as the perfect couple example Honestly, I used to wish I had a relationship like yours!”
“Its true, Em It really is,” Tom muttered, staring out of the rain-soaked window. Outside, the weather was properly grim sheets of cold rain smacking the glass, trickling down in twisting rivulets. The whole scene matched Toms mood exactly. He felt completely hollowed out. Five years of memories tinged everything around him with grey, filling his chest with a kind of empty ache the space once filled with Sophies warm looks and soft hugs, their shared dreams of the future. He clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white. His voice cracked. “Thats it. Were actually done. Over”
“But why?” Emily couldnt help herself, leaning forward to scan his face for answers. “She waited for you those six months while you were away with work in Birmingham! She was so loyal, never even looked at anyone else, didnt care about gifts or flattery from other blokes!”
“How do you know all this, Em? You dont even live in London!” Tom gave a half-hearted, sad little smile. “Or is this just classic girl code in action?”
She just raised an eyebrow, not offended at all, and settled comfortably back in her chair. “I might live in Leeds but you forget Ive got friends everywhere. People were keeping an eye out for your Sophie. Apparently she decided to sort her appearance out properly, but I dont know details. New haircut, joined a gym, freshened up her wardrobe all while you were gone. She was making a real effort, Tom.”
“Exactly! Thats the whole problem!” Tom shot up, heading into the hallway to dig through his raincoat for his phone. His movements were abrupt and stressed, like he was physically trying to escape his own thoughts. Eventually, he returned to Emily, clutching his phone. “Just one photo, and youll understand why its so bloody awful. You remember what Sophie looked like before I went away?”
“Of course,” Emily rolled her eyes, but her eyes clouded with concern as she tried to summon up Sophies face. “Lovely girl long, straight light-brown hair, big blue eyes, perfect little nose. Pretty figure not exactly hourglass, but you never seemed to care about that…”
“Exactly! She was perfect for me!” Toms voice nearly broke with frustration, then dropped to a rasp. “Sophie was my ideal. I loved her for who she was. But the second I was gone, her airhead mates jumped in told her Id leave if she didnt change. And she bloody believed them! So she started changing, not because she wanted to, but because they convinced her Id go off her otherwise.”
Emily could feel a lump forming as she clutched the armrest. “Is it really that bad?”
“See for yourself,” Tom all but shoved his phone at her. Sophies picture filled the screen but this wasnt the girl Emily remembered.
Her beautiful, thick hair was chopped off into a harsh pixie cut and dyed a blinding platinum blonde. The cut showed off her ears and neck, but instead of looking chic, the whole style just seemed uncomfortably harsh, a world away from her softness. And her lips clearly done by someone who went well overboard. Huge and pouted, they didnt suit her face at all, as if someone stuck them on the wrong person. Sophie had lost at least a stone, maybe more, but the weight had pulled her into looking ill rather than slim: pointy collar bones, ribs outlined, arms thin and almost fragile. Her skin was pale, nearly see-through, with dark bags under her eyes as if shed not slept for weeks. And the worst thing Sophie had finally gone and had breast implants, even though she knew exactly how Tom felt about any sort of surgery. Hed always told her he valued natural beauty and didnt understand the need to drastically change yourself.
“So she met me at Heathrow flashing this totally new look. I honestly had to stop myself from just walking in the other direction,” Toms voice started trembling as he punched the wall in frustration, then shook his aching hand. “How can someone do that to themselves in just half a year?! Why couldnt she see that I loved her exactly the way she was? I never wanted her to go through all that.”
He started pacing, hands waving wildly, as if he could get away from all the confusion. His face kept swinging from red to white as anger and heartbreak collided. Emily didnt interrupt shed heard all about Toms rotten six-month work assignment. Shed watched him stress for Sophie, call every day, do his best to reassure her while juggling deadlines, exams and nagging managers.
“Maybe she just wanted to please you” Emily said gently, standing by Toms side. “Maybe someone convinced her it would make you happy”
Tom let out a flat, humourless laugh. “Please me? Shes lost herself completely. I loved the real Sophie. But now I honestly dont even know who Im looking at anymore.”
Hed stressed for weeks over why Sophie always avoided video calls. Every time hed asked, shed made some excuse, laughing softly and promising a big surprise for when he came home. The idea was meant to be cute, but Tom had a nagging doubt he just couldnt shake. What if shed found someone else and didnt have the heart to break up over Facetime? It drove him mad.
Eventually, Tom gave in and asked his mate Simon, who lived nearby in Clapham, to check in on Sophie, get the gossip, play it cool. Simon said he would, a bit reluctantly.
A couple of days later, Simon phoned back. “Shes definitely up to something,” Simon said, choosing his words carefully. “But I dont think youll like it. All Ill say is brace yourself. And shes not seeing anyone else, dont worry. Shes always asking about when youll be back.”
That took a weight off Toms chest for a bit. Hed nearly let Simon send him a photo as a warning, but waved it off “I want it to be a surprise.” Looking back, Tom realised what a mistake that was. If hed just said yes, maybe he couldve talked Sophie out of it all, run home that very night and sorted everything before it went too far. But it was too late now.
The day he returned was torturous. Tom kept checking the time, tapping the planes armrest, fidgeting with his jacket edge in the taxi. His palms were all clammy, heart going full drum and bass in his chest. The whole way home he pictured that moment Sophie waiting for him, waving, her arms open, running up so he could hug her and smell her hair. Theyd drink tea on the sofa, catch up on all the little things that had happened, swap stories, laugh, just be them, together again.
But when he spotted Sophie at Arrivals, he froze. He honestly thought, for a split second, that hed got it wrong, that he must be looking for a different person. Completely changed unrecognisable. Everything inside him turned cold.
“Sophie! I missed you so much!” she squealed, arms out for a hug, but Tom dodged, stepping back. She faltered, hurt flickering behind her eyes. “Its me! Or was my surprise just too much to handle?” her voice shook, a mix of worry and hope. She fiddled with her new hair, like she wanted to remind him of her old self.
“I just dont see my Sophie anymore,” he said quietly, fighting back the emotion. “Are you ill? Or have you just lost your mind? Wheres the girl I love? You always looked so yourself, so lovely.”
“You mean, fat, dont you?” she shot back, lip trembling, her blue eyes swimming with tears she was trying to blink away. She clenched her fists, then quickly let go, trying to steady herself. Her friends standing behind her snickered, making it worse. She glared over her shoulder, but they just shrugged.
“Go on, you can say it. I know Id seriously let myself go,” Sophie continued, her voice unsteady despite her bravado. “But look! Now you wont be embarrassed to be seen with me. Im modern, stylish, just like everyone else. Isnt that better?”
“And who says I want to be seen with you at all?” Toms voice was frosty. “Youve gone from beautiful to I dont even know what. I loved you as you were. Now, youre someone else. You couldve talked to me first! We always used to talk! Why didnt you ask what I wanted?”
One of Sophies friends butted in with a smug smile. “Tom, you should be proud! The number of guys tripping over themselves to chat to her now is unreal especially since her improvements.” She winked, nodding at Sophies cleavage. “She did it for you, you know!”
He spun around. “Not for me, for herself! Dont put this on me!” He looked right at Sophie, pain and anger in his eyes. “Dont make this my fault.”
He took a step closer, dropped his voice, and Emily wanted to cry at the desperation she heard in him. “Sophie, you knew how I felt. You know I hate all this fake stuff. You were beautiful, just as you were. Now, you look artificial youre not my Sophie anymore.”
He paused, brushing a hand over his face, and continued more quietly. “I was planning to propose, you know. Got a ring and everything. All I could think about, those last few weeks, was us, our future our family. But now Im sorry. I cant marry a doll.”
Sophie went ghost-pale. Tears streamed down her cheeks. She tried to speak, but she couldnt. Her lips shook, her hands hung uselessly at her sides. She stumbled forward, as if to touch him, to plead for another chance.
“Tom, wait!” she finally choked out, barely holding herself together. “I didnt do it to hurt you! I just wanted you to be proud of me…”
But Tom was already walking away, striding off so quickly he barely saw where he was going. All the pain, the anger, the dashed hopes mixing up inside him. Sophie cried out after him, but her friends grabbed her arms, stopping her.
“Let him go,” one of them declared, pulling Sophie into a hug. “He just needs time to adjust. Hell come crawling back and apologise before you know it. Womens pride, Soph. Youre a catch! Everyone notices you now. You’ll find someone better!”
But Sophie barely heard them. She just watched Tom disappear, sobbing as mascara smudged down her face. Shed been desperate to improve herself and lost what mattered most.
“I really was going to marry her,” Tom finished his story, voice heavy and raw. He rubbed his eyes and hunched over, shaking with the effort of holding in everything. “I kept picturing it her smile, her laugh, how happy wed both be. But when I saw her like that” His voice turned to a rough whisper. “Something inside me just went cold. Shes not my Sophie. Not anymore.”
He went quiet for a moment, then sighed deeply, staring out at the now-clearing sky.
“Why do women always feel like theyre not enough?” he managed. “I told her every day how stunning she was, how much I loved her everything that made her special, all those little things you cant replace. She threw it all away, erased herself. For what?”
“And the worst part?” Tom suddenly tensed, tears in his eyes that he quickly blinked away. “It was her so-called mate who started it all! Im sure she did it just to split us up.”
“How can you be so certain?” Emilys gentle voice was thick with sympathy. Shed never seen Tom so gutted; normally, he was confident, optimistic.
“She came round to mine and said it to my face! Paraded in, saying she was so much more natural than Sophie!” He thudded his fist on the chair, his whole body shaking. “I almost threw her out. The cheek of it.”
He exhaled, slumping. “She thought Id just move on like that. Like five years meant nothing. But I loved Sophie. It hurts that she let anyone talk her out of being herself.”
Emily just squeezed his hand, not trusting herself to say much. He stared at the floor, fighting tears, struggling to put the pain into words.
“And what now? Did you try to talk to Sophie?” Emily ventured, voice soft and caring. “Maybe its not too late, if you both want it.”
“She loves her new look. She isnt changing back,” Tom let out a humourless chuckle. He scrubbed his face, trying to shake off the weight of it all. “She even called me to lay on the guilt: Youve got no right to dump me after I waited for you for six months. But I do love her, Em. I love my Sophie. But shes gone. The real Sophie is gone. Whats left is just fake.”
Emily held his trembling hand warmly. She didnt need to offer empty platitudes; she just let him know she was there.
“You know,” Tom said quietly, gazing into nothing, “one autumn we walked through Hyde Park together, leaves swirling about and Sophie fussing with her coat. She laughed, said Tom, I hope its always like this. And I promised, It will be, love, it will. I really believed that.”
His voice cracked, and for a moment he gave in to the tears, shoulders shaking. Emily just hugged him gently.
“And now? Now she looks in the mirror and sees a beauty queen. But to me I dont see her at all. How did we let it get this far? Why didnt we talk, really talk about what we both wanted?”
Toms tears flowed, but for the first time, he didnt bother wiping them away.
Emily pulled him close. “This isnt your fault,” she whispered. “You loved her. You were kind. Maybe she got scared, maybe someone got in her head, but thats not on you.”
“But what if I was wrong?” he choked out. “Maybe instead of pushing her away, I should have understood? What if she only wanted to be enough for me, and I just broke us with my disappointment?”
His eyes searched hers, helpless, hopeful, despairing all at once. Deep down, he longed to believe that somewhere, trapped inside her new shell, his Sophie was still there the one who doodled silly faces on steamy windows, who loved cheesy jokes and late-night cocoa.
“Youre allowed to feel what you feel, Tom,” Emily said, steady now. “And youre allowed your boundaries. But if theres still hope, talk to her. Hear each other out. Do it for what you used to be. Real love deserves that.”
He drew a long breath, wiping his face, as the rain outside faded and golden sunlight painted the clouds. He watched the shifting sky, searching for an answer.
“Maybe youre right,” he said quietly. “But right now, I just need time. Time to make sense of my own feelings to figure out what to do next. I cant pretend none of it happened. But if theres a way back for us, I dont want to lose it without trying.”
