29/09/2025
At 61, I Remarried My First Love: But On Our Wedding Night, As I Took Off Her Clothes, I Was Shocked and Deeply Hurt by What I Saw
My name is Rajiv, and I am 61 years old.
My first wife passed away eight years ago, after a long illness. Since then, I have lived alone, in silence. My children are all married now, each busy with their own lives. Once a month, they stop by, leave me some money and medicine… and leave quickly.
I don’t blame them. They have their own responsibilities, and I understand.
But on stormy nights, when the rain beats against the tin roof and the wind slips through the cracks, I feel unbearably small… and alone.
Last year, while browsing Facebook, I stumbled across Meena—my first love from high school.
I adored her back then. She had long, flowing hair, deep black eyes, and a smile so radiant it could light up the whole classroom.
But just as I was preparing for my university entrance exam, her family arranged her marriage to a man ten years older, from the south of India.
After that, we lost contact.
Forty years later, fate crossed our paths again.
She too was widowed—her husband had died five years earlier. She lived with her youngest son, but he worked in another city and rarely came home.
At first, we exchanged simple greetings.
Then came phone calls.
Then coffee in the afternoons.
And before I realized it, I was riding my old scooter to her house every few days, bringing a basket of fruit, some sweets, and joint pain medicine.
One day, half-joking, I said:
— “What if… two old souls like us got married? Wouldn’t that ease the loneliness?”
To my surprise, her eyes filled with tears.
I panicked, quickly saying it was only a joke, but she smiled softly and nodded gently.
And so, at 61 years old, I remarried—my first love.
On our wedding day, I wore a dark brown sherwani.
She wore a simple cream silk sari.
Her hair was neatly tied back, adorned with a small pearl pin.
Friends and neighbors came to celebrate.
Everyone said: “You look like young lovers again!”
And honestly, that’s how I felt.
That night, after clearing the remains of the banquet, it was already past ten.
I prepared her a glass of warm milk and stepped out to lock the gate and turn off the porch lights.
Our wedding night—something I never thought I’d live again at my age—had finally come.
I entered the room. She was sitting on the bed, waiting with a timid smile.
I approached.
With trembling hands, I gently slipped off her blouse…
And then I froze.
Her back, her shoulders, her arms—were covered in dark marks. Old scars, deep and crisscrossed like a map of suffering.
I felt my heart shatter.
She quickly pulled a blanket over herself, her eyes wide with fear.
I trembled as I asked:
— “Meena… what happened to you?”
She turned away, her voice breaking:
— “In those years… he had a terrible temper. He shouted… he beat me… I never told anyone…”
I sat beside her, heartbroken, tears welling in my eyes.
All those years, she had lived in silence—with fear, with shame—never telling a soul.
I took her hand and gently placed it against my chest.
— “It’s over now. From today, no one will ever hurt you again. No one has the right to make you suffer… except me—but only for loving you too much.”
She broke down in tears—a soft, trembling cry that echoed through the room.
I held her gently. Her back was fragile, her bones slightly protruding—this small woman who had endured so much, for so many years.
Our wedding night was not like that of young couples.
We lay side by side in silence, listening to the crickets outside, the wind rustling through the trees.
I stroked her hair. I kissed her forehead.
She brushed my cheek and whispered:
— “Thank you. Thank you for showing me there is still someone in this world who cares for me.”
I smiled.
At 61, I finally understood:
Happiness is not in wealth or the wild passions of youth.
It’s in having a hand to hold, a shoulder to lean on, and someone who stays through the night… just to hear your heart beating.
Tomorrow will come.
Who knows how many days I have left?
But one thing is clear:
For the rest of her life, I will make up for all she lost.
I will care for her. Protect her.
So she never has to be afraid again.
Because for me, this wedding night—after half a century of longing, missed chances, and endless waiting—
is the greatest gift life has ever returned to me.
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