Newlywed changes the sheets every day — Until one morning, her mother-in-law walks in and finds bl00d across the bed… revealing a secret that shatters every mother’s heart…
My son Paulo had only been married to Mira for a week. Their wedding in Batangas was simple, yet it overflowed with laughter, tears, and promises spoken from the heart.
From the very beginning, Mira seemed like the perfect daughter-in-law—gentle, kind, always courteous, her warm smile brightening every corner of our home.
Even neighbors and relatives praised her.
“We are truly blessed to have such a gracious daughter-in-law,” I would proudly tell my friends at the market.
But just a few days after the wedding, I began noticing something unusual…
Every morning, without fail, Mira carried the bed sheets and blankets outside to wash and hang under the sun. Some days, she even replaced them twice.
Once, I asked her, “Why do you change the bedding daily, hija?”
She only smiled softly and replied, “I’m allergic to dust, Nanay. I sleep better when everything is fresh.”
Yet I couldn’t shake my doubts. All the linens were brand new, fragrant, and carefully chosen for the wedding. And no one in our family had allergies.
Slowly, suspicion crept into my heart—something was being hidden.
One morning, I pretended I was heading to the market.
When Mira went downstairs to the kitchen, I quietly slipped into their room.
The moment I opened the door, a sharp metallic scent struck me.
My heart pounded as I stepped toward the bed. With trembling hands, I lifted the sheet…
My knees nearly buckled.
The white mattress was stained with blood—thick, dark, and heavy, spread everywhere.
And it wasn’t menstrual blood. It looked different—more unsettling.
Panicked, I opened the drawers. Inside were rolls of bandages, a bottle of antiseptic, and a blood-stained undershirt neatly folded away.
I rushed downstairs, grabbed Mira by the wrist, and pulled her back up.
“Explain this to me! What’s going on? Why is there bl0od? Why are you hiding this?!”
At first, she was silent. Her body trembled, tears welled in her eyes, her lips quivered.
Then she collapsed into my arms, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Nanay… Paulo has late-stage leukemia. The doctors said he only had months left. We rushed the wedding because I couldn’t leave him. I wanted to stay… no matter how short the time.”
My world shattered.
My son—the boy I had raised and loved—had hidden his suffering only to protect me. He chose to endure silently so I would not break.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I lay staring at the ceiling, imagining the pain Paulo endured and the quiet devotion Mira had shown.
The next morning, I went to the market and bought fresh sheets. I helped Mira wash the old ones. Every day after, I woke early to stand by her—to stand by them both.
And one morning, as we changed the sheets together, I embraced her tightly.
“Thank you, Mira… for loving my son. For staying. For choosing him, even knowing you would lose him.”
Three months later, in the stillness of morning, Paulo passed away peacefully in his sleep—Mira clasping his hand, whispering “I love you” until his final breath.
There was no struggle. No fear. Only serenity. And a faint smile upon his face.
From that day forward, Mira never left.
She did not return to her parents. She never remarried.
Instead, she stayed with me, helping me run our humble food stall. She treated me as though I were her own mother.
Now, two years have passed. And when people ask, “Why does Mira still stay with you?”
I simply smile and answer: “Because she wasn’t just my son’s wife… She became my daughter too. And this will forever be her home.”
This work is inspired by real events and people, but it has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.