the truth is, if you really love someone from the core of your heart, distance is just a number."

The day I first told her about my feelings, she rejected me straight to the face. She was very serious about studies. I started liking her from the very first day I met her in 1st year in college. Her rejection fuelled me to concentrate more in studies, and eventually I started to do well in the examinations. Meanwhile everyone in the campus already knew who was interested in whom.
37 years ago, on 8th February 1981, we had our batch picnic in mainamati of Comilla. We were in third year then. Everyone was making fun of us, singing songs, taking photos, even one of them acted as the solemniser and pronounced us as husband and wife. It got late by the time we came home. We lived close to each other in Azimpur. I was given the responsibility to drop her home. I was telling her that everyone was just making fun and that she shouldn't take it seriously. She still hadn't said yes. She was constantly saying that her parents would never agree. I said, 'Your family won't agree, but what about you?'
6 days later, on 12th February, my friends convinced me to go to a place behind the old gallery. I was extremely surprised after going there. Her friends had dolled her up and brought her there. I already understood what was happening. We had eye ward going on then. We went together to learn slit lamp examination of the eye. She was the patient, and I was the doctor.
Exactly 3 years later, on 3rd February, we got married. After marriage, both of us went to Iran together. We used to work at the same place. I went to Iran in December of 1984. She stayed in Bangladesh, because our son was born in March. She came to Iran two months later. We stayed there till 1993. After coming to Bangladesh, our son got admitted to school, and she started studying MPH. Next, I went back to USA. After a lot of struggle, I finally established a career in general surgery. I had to go through a hard time. The only means of communication across thousands of miles was through letters.
Both of us have settled in America now. My son, after graduating from Ibrahim Medical College, passed USMLE and is now doing residency here. His wife's here too. Both of us had to stay away from each other and sacrifice a lot, owing to our careers. But, the truth is, if you really love someone from the core of your heart, distance is just a number."