I didn’t know how to bring it up, how to address the huge lipstick mark that seemed to taunt me with its glaring presence. As I stood there, my husband followed my gaze to the sheet. His eyes widened slightly, and a look of confusion crossed his face.

“What’s that?” he asked, frowning at the lipstick stain. I shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant, but the hurt was evident in my voice when I finally spoke.

“I don’t know, but it’s certainly not mine.”

He sat up slowly, careful not to disturb his mother, and looked at the evidence more closely. “It must have been from last night,” he said, a hint of embarrassment tinging his voice. “She was quite… out of it.”

I nodded, trying to suppress the myriad of emotions swirling inside me. I felt a mix of betrayal, irritation, and an intense need to escape this awkward situation. It was our wedding night, and yet here we were, faced with a peculiar mystery that neither of us knew how to deal with.

Eventually, my husband suggested we gently wake her and clear the room. He reached over and lightly shook her shoulder. She woke with a soft grunt, slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. Her eyes darted from me to the lipstick mark and then back to her son.

“Oh, dear,” she whispered, sitting up and smoothing her disheveled hair. “I’m so sorry, I must have been more tipsy than I thought.” She gave a small, embarrassed laugh and glanced at me apologetically.

I forced a smile, trying to brush it off. “It’s fine. It was just… unexpected,” I replied, not quite knowing how to articulate the strange combination of feelings I had experienced.

The rest of the morning was awkward as we went about our duties, hosting the relatives and carrying on with the post-wedding brunch. Yet, the mysterious lipstick mark lingered in my mind, a reminder of the strange start to our married life.

In the days that followed, I realized that marriage would come with unexpected challenges and absurd situations we couldn’t predict. And as uncomfortable as that moment was, it taught me to approach our new life with patience, humor, and a willingness to handle whatever came our way.