Wife stumbles upon husband's 6-year-old romantic 'secret': 'I found a love letter in my shoe'

Editor's note: This article was originally published on March 3, 2023. It has since been updated.

After being in a relationship for a few years, people often think they know their significant other pretty well. However, at times you come across some surprises that shock you and give you the opportunity to get to know your partner better. A similar thing happened to Anna Mellor, a famous TikTok creator, who shared an unusual incident of discovering her husband's romantic secret from years ago. Mellor discovered that her husband had been leaving her secret messages for six years, about which she had no idea. Her video post on TikTok was captioned, "I just found out about a secret my husband has been hiding from me for six years."

This incident happened when Mellor checked the insides of her shoes. The used Fila sneakers had a message inscribed inside them that read, "I Fila lot better when ur around." After discovering this, Mellor immediately informed her husband, Rory, about it, saying, "I found a love letter in my shoes." Rory appeared puzzled and asked if Anna was being serious when she told him about the love letter in her shoes. It turns out that he had written the message, a tradition he had been following for Mellor's shoes over the past six years. Initially assuming Rory was joking, Mellor checked her old pairs of shoes and found that they too, contained handwritten messages. She said, "Is that not the cutest thing you have ever seen?"

TikTok user @ginagaleoto commented, "To keep doing it even though you never validated it bc you never noticed is so cute omg." Another person @miracl3_whip commented, "Buying my husband a sharpie because obviously, that’s the reason I haven’t found a message in my shoes yet." Another person @piwixo said, "This is so damn wholesome the fact that he didn't say anything for 6 years because he wanted you to find out on your own." 

Romantic messages and love letters are the ultimate display of affection, irrespective of time and circumstance. In another such incident, while serving in the military, Gordon Bowsher and Gilbert Bradley, who were deeply in love, exchanged more than 600 letters despite being separated by the war. In 1939, Bradley was drafted into the British Army, causing the two soldiers to be separated. Despite the incredible risk involved, they continued to write love letters to each other throughout World War II. Between 1938 and 1941, the two men exchanged romantic letters that surprisingly survived the test of time. Although they parted ways after the war, Bradley safeguarded the letters throughout his lifetime and these letters were found eventually following his passing in 2008.

As reported by NBC News, the love affair between the two soldiers came to an end with the war. Bradley informed Bowsher that he had fallen in love with another man in Scotland. Nonetheless, the two stayed in contact until they stopped exchanging letters in 1945. Andrew Valentine's short film, "The Letter Men," featuring Garrett Clayton as Bradley and Matthew Postlethwaite as Bowsher, brings their remarkable love story to life. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2022 and is currently in the running for a 2023 Academy Award. Valentine was inspired to make this movie after discovering the couple's letters in 2017 and he felt compelled to share their touching story with the world.