I Threw My Wife’s Son Out After She Died — 10 Years Later, the Truth Broke Me

I slammed the boy’s old schoolbag onto the floor and stared at the 12-year-old with cold, detached eyes.

“Leave. You’re not my son. My wife is dead. I have no obligation to care for you. Go wherever you want.”

He didn’t cry.
He just bowed his head, quietly picked up his torn bag, turned, and walked away — without a single word.

Ten years later, when the truth was finally revealed, I wished more than anything that I could turn back time.

My name is Rajesh, and I was 36 when my wife, Meera, died from a sudden stroke.
She left behind not just me — but a boy named Arjun, 12 years old.

But Arjun wasn’t biologically mine.
He was Meera’s son from a previous relationship.

When I married Meera at age 26, she had already lived through heartbreak — a love without a name, a pregnancy she carried alone.

Back then, I admired her strength.
I told myself I was noble for “accepting” her and her son.
But love that doesn’t come from the heart doesn’t last.

I raised Arjun like a responsibility — nothing more.

Everything crumbled when Meera passed.
There was no one left to keep me connected to the boy.

Arjun remained quiet, distant, always polite.
Perhaps he knew — deep down — that I never truly loved him.

A month after the funeral, I finally said it.

“Get out. Whether you live or die, it’s no concern of mine.”

I expected him to cry. To beg.

But he didn’t.

He just left.
And I felt nothing.

I sold the house and moved.
Life went on. Business thrived. I met another woman — no baggage, no children.

For a few years, I occasionally thought about Arjun.
Not out of worry — but out of curiosity.
Where was he now? Was he even alive?

But time erases even curiosity.

A 12-year-old boy, alone in the world — where could he possibly go?

I didn’t know.
I didn’t care.

I even told myself, “If he’s dead, maybe it’s for the best.”

Ten years later.

I received a call from an unknown number.

“Hello, Mr. Rajesh? Would you be able to attend the grand opening of the TPA Gallery on MG Road this Saturday?
Someone very much hopes you’ll come.”

I was about to hang up — but the next sentence made my hand freeze:

“Don’t you want to know what happened to Arjun?”

My chest tightened.
That name — Arjun — I hadn’t heard it in ten years.

I paused. Then replied, flatly:

“I’ll come.”

The gallery was modern and packed with people.
I walked in, feeling strangely out of place.
The paintings were striking — oil on canvas, cold, distant, haunting.

I read the artist’s name: T.P.A.

Those initials stung.

“Hello, Mr. Rajesh.”

A tall, lean young man in simple clothes stood before me — his eyes deep, unreadable.

I froze.
It was Arjun.

Gone was the fragile boy I had abandoned.
Before me stood a composed, accomplished man.
Familiar. Yet so distant.

“You…” I stammered. “How…?”

He cut me off — his voice calm, sharp as glass.

“I just wanted you to see what my mother left behind.
And what you walked away from.”

He led me to a canvas draped in red cloth.

“It’s called Mother. I’ve never shown it before.
But today, I want you to see it.”

I lifted the cloth.

There she was — Meera.
Lying on a hospital bed, pale and frail.
In her hand, a photo — of the three of us from the only trip we ever took together.

My knees gave way.

Arjun’s voice didn’t waver:

“Before she died, she wrote a journal.
She knew you didn’t love me.
But she still believed — one day — you’d understand.
Because… I’m not some other man’s child.”

I stopped breathing.

“What…?”

“Yes. I’m your son.
She was already pregnant when you met her.
But she told you I was from someone else — to test your heart.
And later, it was too late to confess.”

“I found the truth in her journal. Hidden in the old attic.”

The world collapsed around me.

I had cast out my own son.

And now, he stood in front of me — dignified, successful — while I had lost everything.

I had lost my son twice.
And the second time — was forever.

I sat in a corner of the gallery, crushed.
His words echoed in my mind like blades through my soul: