How long do you need to date someone before you know them well enough to marry them? A few years, maybe? But what if you discover you were looking in the wrong places? Asakania could never have imagined that looking at a photo album would reveal a secret that would knock the air out of his lungs.

After four years of dating, it was finally time to make it official before man, God and the law. Asakania had proposed to Rose on a private beach on a beautiful night where the moon showed off its beauty. It felt like a good omen.

His friends and family liked Rose. She was a bit reserved around them, but still interacted with them appropriately. Asakania adored Rose. She made him feel at peace and loved. He had never felt that way with any other woman.

Everything was set, and in a few weeks, they would tie the knot. He was dropping off Rose’s younger brother at their parent’s home when they found Rose’s mother going through old family photos. She was cleaning up the house.

When Asakania and her son showed up, she left the photos, a bunch of old books and cards that she was sorting out to make them tea. Asakania picked an album randomly and started looking through the images. Then he saw a photo of Rose in a school uniform. It looked like it was a visiting day.

“Rose’s face has changed. She must have been 15 or 16 here?” Asakania asked Rose’s brother.

A conversation ensued, and Asakania left Rose’s home a disturbed person. He couldn’t wait to get home.

“Arson? I’m getting married to an arsonist?” Asakania asked Rose.

“How did you find out?” Rose asked in tears.

“Why would you hide something that important from me? What else don’t I know? Have you been in prison too?”

“I didn’t think it was important. From your reaction, I was right to have kept it hidden. I was only 16 when all that happened,” cried Rose.

“I was 16 once, too, and I didn’t go burning dorms,” said Asakania.

“I spent over a decade atoning for my actions,” Rose told him.

She tried to explain to him how running with the wrong crowd in high school got her into the mess. Her clique organised a strike, and they set one of the dormitories on fire. Property was damaged, but fortunately, there were no fatalities. Rose and her friends were expelled from the school. Her parents paid a heavy financial price to clean up her mess and get her into a different school. That ordeal followed Rose for many years in the form of a strained relationship with her parents and the shame she carried.

She thought she had finally put all that behind her, but Asakania’s discovery of her past changed things. Asakania looked at her like she was a criminal he was afraid of. She could see the look of disdain in his eyes.

“I’m not that foolish teenager anymore,” Rose told him.

Asakania took a few days off work to process the information. He wondered who he should talk to about the matter. Despite his anger and feelings of betrayal, he didn’t want to tell too many people, so he picked his best friend.

“What would you do if you found out your wife had done something like this?” Asakania asked his best friend.

“She was just a kid,” said the best friend.

“Why did she keep it from me? I told her about the worst and embarrassing things from my past,” said Asakania.

“Did you light a match and set a dormitory on fire?” The friend asked.

“No, but to also find out from her family…I felt like a fool. Like, do I even know who I’m about to marry?”

Asakania explained to his friend that he was now questioning everything he thought he knew about Rose. He wondered if she was hiding more dark secrets.

Rose asked her family to intervene, but it was futile. Something had fundamentally shifted in their relationship. Asakania couldn’t look her in the eyes anymore. He retreated despite her reassurances that she wasn’t hiding anything else from him.

“So that’s it?” Rose asked him.

“I am unable to get past this,” he said.

The wedding was cancelled.

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