A 23-year-old model and receptionist Kayla Caudill are dating a man that she can finally feel like communicating with. But that man is often mistaken as her dad because Stephen Dunn is 51 years old! He is old enough to be his dad, but Kayla and Stephen said that because of their age gap, they make people confused every now and then.

Kayla first met Stephen when she walked in Stephen's piercing shop to get her belly button pierced in May 2019. Soon enough, the two were already single and ready to date each other and while strangers sometimes give them weird looks, the two are absolutely happy with each other.

Meet Kayla Caudill and Stephen Dunn. She's 23 and he's 51, with 29-year gap, they are a happy couple!

Kayla talked about her first encounter with Stephen, "We first met when I came in to get my belly button pierced. We exchanged conversation and a friendship developed quickly thereafter. We definitely didn't have love at first sight, but there was something special there."

From her first interaction with him, Stephen was already a fine guy in her mind. She called him 'charismatic, handsome, and attentive'. On the other hand, Stephen had a similarly positive impression of her, calling her 'kind and liked how I listened when he spoke'.

Unfortunately, the two were not available - both were already in a relationship.

At the time, Kayla was a married woman, and Stephen had a girlfriend with whom he had kids. But according to Kayla, it wasn't one where they were completely happy in.

"We were both in relationships at the time where we didn’t feel heard. Just me being able to listen to him and care about what he was saying made a good impression. We both value our ability to communicate very well to this day," said Kayla.

While it was strictly friendly in May, only a month later, the two had decided to leave their partners and purse their love.

She admitted that 'it was crazy', but to her, Stephen was 'everything I had wanted in someone'.

So they moved on and 'left everything we knew, everything we had built in our separate lives, for each other'. But it wasn't a happily ever after that follows as Kayla explained, "The odds were not in our favor, but we knew we loved each other because we had to fight for our love. We had to fight to be together. And no matter what we faced, it never broke us."

It wasn't easy - Kayla's dad disowned her, Stephen's ex doesn't let Kayla to be involved with his kids.

Kayla talked about what happened next, "My family has been a little more accepting than his except my biological father. He has basically disowned me because he is simple-minded and doesn't agree with it. I'm not allowed to be involved with his children which is hard because I want to have a life with him and they are a big part of his life."

Stephen's family is also having a hard time understanding his choices, but they leave very far away from the two. Because of that, Kayla never expected them to completely understand their choices, because their support for Stephen's happiness is all that matters, according to Kayla.

She added, "The longer we are together the more people start to see that we are just like any other couple who love and care for each other deeply."

Being with Stephen taught Kayla 'what love is supposed to be like' and said, "We help each other heal from past trauma in relationships. I don't have as much life experience as him, but I have been through a lot. He teaches me about life and I learn."

While in terms of age, she said that there is a gap in maturity but it is not as huge as people might imagine. "I'm more mature than my age labels me as and it works to my advantage. If I acted my age, we would not be together. I label myself as a 43-year-old in a 23-year-old’s body," said Kayla.

The biggest problem, however, are 'people'.

"We understand that there are those that won't be understanding, those that are angry and hurt from our choice to be together, but at the end of the day we chose each other and we'd do it over and over again," said Kayla.

"Why base our choices on what others want? Do they walk in our shoes? It has caused stress, tears, sacrifices, and pain but we know that we are where we want to be. No one will change that. We get to decide what the future holds."

From time to time, however, it is also bewildered people that makes things easier. "We get asked, "Is that your daughter?" We love making others stare leaving them confused. It's like comedic relief for us. We honestly need our own reality TV show because I think others would love some mindless entertainment that we call everyday life."