After 3 years of marriage, my husband suddenly suggested that we sleep separately. I strongly OBJECTED but was refused. While he was away, I asked someone to drill a small hole in the wall. At night, I secretly peeked and discovered the shocking truth.

After 3 years of marriage, our love was still strong. But one day, my husband – Rohit – sternly said:

– “I want to sleep separately for a while…”

I was stunned. As a woman, hearing that sentence was like a thunderbolt. I cried, got angry, and even strongly objected, but Rohit was adamant. Finally, helpless, I gritted my teeth and endured.

But inside, a storm was brewing. I wondered: “Does he have a lover outside? Or is he disgusted with his wife?” The tormenting suspicion made me lose sleep.

One night, while my husband was away, I took the risk of hiring a worker to drill a small hole the size of a thumb in the corner of his bedroom wall in our apartment in Mumbai.

The next night, I nervously pressed my eyes to look over. My heart was pounding, my hands and feet were shaking.

And then… “Ya Bhagwan!!” – I almost fainted on the spot.

In the room, Rohit was not hugging any woman. He was kneeling, displaying all kinds of incense, candles and an old photo. His eyes were red, muttering the name of a girl, crying like a child.

That girl… was none other than the old wedding photo with Priya – his first wife who had died 5 years ago in a traffic accident in Delhi.

He wanted to sleep separately, not because of betrayal, but because he wanted to be alone and quietly “return” to his memories, to his first love that he had never forgotten.

I sat down on the floor, tears streaming down my face. The anger disappeared, leaving only a bitter feeling mixed with pity – it turned out that all this time I had not been betrayed, but had been living with a heart that had never truly belonged to me… After the night of looking through the hole in the wall, Anita lived in torment. She understood that Rohit had not betrayed her, but had never truly belonged to her either. During each meal in the Mumbai apartment, his eyes were still lost in the distance, as if seeing the image of Priya – his deceased first wife.

Anita tried many times to bring Rohit back to the present:

– “Brother, I am here… I am also your wife.”

But Rohit just smiled slightly, a sad smile like a passing wind, then remained silent.

Every night, Rohit lit incense, spread a white cloth, and placed the old wedding photo. Anita stood outside the hallway looking in, her heart aching. Sometimes she vaguely heard him whisper:
– “Priya… why did you leave me? Why did you let me live while your heart died?”

Anita gradually became the third person in her own marriage. She was not jealous of a woman in real life, but of a memory.

The rumor spread to her husband’s family in Delhi. Her mother-in-law called and blamed:
– “Anita, you have to make Rohit forget. Indian men cannot live in the past forever. Otherwise, outsiders will laugh at the whole Sharma family.”

The pressure was heavy, Anita both loved her husband and felt like a burden. Relatives whispered:
– “Anita is unlucky, getting married but will always be Priya’s shadow.”

One rainy night, Anita gathered all her courage and entered the room Rohit kept locked. In front of Priya’s altar, she knelt down:
– “Priya, I know you are gone, but you are still here, in every breath he takes. If you truly love Rohit, please let him go. I don’t want to live in a marriage where I am alone.”

Tears fell down. Rohit stood right behind, quietly listening to everything.

Rohit choked up and confessed:
– “I’m sorry, Anita. I tried, but every time I closed my eyes, I saw that accident… saw Priya drowning in blood and I was helpless. I married you, thinking I could start over, but my heart… is still chained.”

Anita trembled:
– “So with you… do I have anything?”
Rohit was silent for a long time, then whispered:
– “Yes. But it’s more compassion than love.”

Anita decided to leave Mumbai and return to her mother’s home in Jaipur. But as soon as she left, Rohit collapsed and drank heavily. His family was worried and took him to a psychiatric hospital. The doctor said:
– “He has post-traumatic stress disorder. Without Anita, he could destroy himself.”

The news tormented Anita. She was at a crossroads: leave to save herself, or go back to save a man who had never left the past?

One morning, Anita returned to the hospital. Rohit sat in the corner of the room, his eyes staring blankly at the photo of Priya in his hand. Anita approached, gently took the photo, and put it on the table:
– “Honey, I can’t be Priya. But I can be Anita – the one who will live with you. If you open your heart.”

Rohit looked up, tears streaming down his face. No one knew if he had truly stepped out of the shadow of his past. But in that moment, Anita understood: their marriage would be a long battle, not with the third person, but with the memory that refused to leave.

Love – pain – memory intertwined.

The second wife was both a savior and a sacrifice.

The husband was stuck between the present and the past.

The story ended unfinished, leaving a haunting memory for the whole family.