The Forgotten Letter

The morning sun poured through the thin curtains, casting golden streaks across the small kitchen. Maya stirred her tea absentmindedly, watching the steam curl into the air. Across the table, her husband, Aarav, was buried in the newspaper, glasses sliding down his nose.

It was an ordinary morning — the kind they’d shared for nearly twenty years. Comfortable, familiar, yet recently, there was something unspoken between them. The quiet had grown heavier, like a fog neither dared to walk into.

“Did you check the postbox?” Maya asked, breaking the silence.

Aarav shook his head. “No, I’ll get it later.”

She nodded, sipping her tea. For a while, all that could be heard was the ticking clock and the chirping of birds outside.

It wasn’t that they didn’t love each other anymore. They did. But life had settled into a rhythm — predictable, unexciting. Their son was in college now, the house too quiet. Aarav spent most of his time writing articles for a travel magazine; Maya ran a small home bakery. They lived side by side like two pages of an old book — always together, yet rarely read.

That afternoon, when Aarav went for his walk, Maya decided to check the postbox herself. It was stuffed with bills and advertisements, but among them was something different — a small, yellowing envelope addressed to Aarav Malhotra. The handwriting looked oddly familiar.

She turned it over. There was no sender’s name, just a faint postal stamp — from 2003.

Her heart skipped. 2003 — the year they got married.

Curiosity wrestled with hesitation. After a long minute, she slipped her finger under the flap and carefully opened it.

Inside was a single sheet of paper, folded neatly. The ink had faded a little, but the words were clear.

“Dear Aarav,

If you’re reading this, it means the letter has finally reached you. I wanted to tell you this before our wedding, but I never found the courage. There’s something you should know about me… something from my past. Please don’t judge me until you’ve read everything.”

Maya froze. Her breath caught in her throat.

The letter wasn’t from her.

She read further.

“Years ago, I was in love with someone — not because I didn’t believe in us, but because I didn’t know what love really meant back then. His name was Rohan. He was my best friend, and when he died in that accident, a part of me did too. I never told you because I didn’t want to start our marriage with grief. But I’m afraid it’s followed me still. I’m trying to move on, Aarav. I really am. And maybe loving you will be my new beginning.”

— Meera

Maya sat down slowly, her knees trembling. The letter fell onto the table like a ghost from another life.

Meera.

The name stirred something — faint, distant. Aarav had once mentioned a girl by that name, long ago, before their wedding. He had said it casually, a story from college days, someone he had almost proposed to. Maya hadn’t thought much of it then.

Now, twenty years later, the truth was in her hands — and it shook her.

She folded the letter back carefully, heart pounding. Part of her wanted to confront him immediately, demand an explanation. Another part — the older, wiser part — told her to wait.

That evening, Aarav returned home humming softly, a bag of groceries in one hand. “What’s for dinner?” he asked cheerfully.

“Soup,” she said quietly, her voice distant.

As he washed his hands, she watched him. The man she had built a life with. The man who still smiled at her the same way he had when they first met — as though she was the only person in the room.

Could love like that hide a secret?

After dinner, when the dishes were done and the night air filled the kitchen, she brought out the letter and placed it on the table.

“Aarav,” she said softly, “this came in the post today.”

He glanced at it, his smile fading as he saw the handwriting. His face went pale.

“Where did you get this?”

“It was in the postbox,” she replied. “It’s from someone named Meera.”

He sat down slowly, hands trembling as he picked up the letter. For a long time, he said nothing.

“I never thought I’d see this again,” he murmured finally.

“So it’s true?”

He nodded. “Yes. Meera was… my fiancée. We were engaged. She died a month before our wedding. This letter — I thought it was lost forever.”

He looked up, eyes glistening. “I didn’t know she had written to me. She must have sent it before she… before the accident.”

Maya’s throat tightened. The letter suddenly felt heavier.

“You never told me she was your fiancée,” she said quietly.

“I couldn’t,” he admitted. “Back then, I was trying to move on. And then I met you. You brought me back to life, Maya. You made me laugh again.”

The honesty in his voice softened her anger.

“But why keep it a secret all these years?”

“Because I thought it didn’t matter anymore,” he said. “I loved Meera, yes. But that love ended with her. What I have with you — it’s my life.”

For a moment, neither spoke. The silence was no longer cold — it was full, breathing.

Maya looked at the letter again, at the faded ink of another woman’s confession. She realized it wasn’t a threat to her marriage — it was a piece of the man she loved, a chapter he had never dared to reopen.

She reached across the table and took his hand. “You should keep it,” she said softly. “It belongs to your past. And I’m your present.”

Aarav looked at her, his eyes brimming. “You have no idea how much you mean to me.”

“I do,” she smiled faintly. “But maybe we both forgot, somewhere along the way.”

He smiled, a little sheepishly. “Then maybe it’s time we remember.”

They sat together, hands entwined, as the night deepened around them. The old letter lay between them — no longer a secret, but a bridge.

In the days that followed, something changed. Aarav began helping her in the bakery, laughing as he tried to ice cupcakes. Maya joined him on his evening walks. They spoke more, smiled more, found themselves rediscovering the small joys they had once taken for granted.

And one evening, while cleaning the attic, Maya found another envelope — blank, empty. She slipped the old letter inside it and wrote on the front: