Older Millionaire Dresses as Homeless to Test Young Fiancée He Rescued from the Streets — Story of the Day

On the one hand, Mike wanted to spend the rest of his days with the woman he had fallen in love with; but on the other, he didn't want to be betrayed for his wealth again. Mike decided to put the woman's intentions to a rather dramatic test.

It was 2 a.m., and Mike lay awake in bed, thinking of the beautiful woman who was asleep in the room next to his.

A part of him wanted to go to her, confess how madly he was in love with her, too, and kiss her like he had wanted to for the past several weeks.

But there was a louder part of him telling him to be cautious. At 71, he had just started living his life. After spending most of his youth building and running a multi-million-dollar business, the man finally had some time to enjoy the simple pleasures in his life.

And love…love was something he was afraid of hoping for. He had already been loved and abandoned once, several years ago.

"What if that happens again? I don't think my heart can fathom another betrayal…" Mike shuddered and turned to the other side of his bed.

Even his son Jay and daughter Julia had been skeptical about their father falling for another woman at his age. But who can tame the heart, old or young?

The now older and secretly scared man once had the world at his feet. When Mike turned 25, he had already made his first few millions and his business was growing like no other.

That's when he first met Helen, at his 25th birthday party. She seemed so gentle, so wild, and seemed to love life just as much as he did.

It was love at first party, and with every subsequent party they met at, they fell harder and deeper for each other.

True love is stronger than your deepest fears and insecurities.

After a whirlwind romance of merely 6 months, Mike and Helen tied the knot and started their lives together.

Fast forward to seven years and two kids later, and none of that magic was left between them. Mike knew they had drifted apart, but he didn't know Helen was about to manipulate him for all the wealth he had so painstakingly created all his life.

After a long and bitter legal battle, 32-year-old Mike was left with virtually no money, no business, no home, and two toddlers to take care of all by himself. Those were the darkest days of his life when he wished he hadn't fallen so blindly in love.

And here he was decades later, feeling the sparks fly again…wanting to love again…

The woman who made his heart throb again was Ayesha, a 53-year-old woman whom he spotted singing on the busy sidewalk one day, her face buried in her palms, the little bowl in front of her clattering occasionally with a coin dropped by a passer-by.

The woman's voice locked Mike's feet into the ground, and it reached a place in his heart where he'd been hiding all his old pain.

He waited across the street from her, hoping she would move her palms away, so he could see her face. And when he finally did, the skies rumbled, and the sun disappeared into the rain.

Mike learned that the beautiful woman's name was Ayesha, and she had nowhere to go after being kicked out by her family.

"Come home with me, at least until this storm passes," Mike said effortlessly. "You'll have a place to live for as long as you want."

It had been six months since Ayesha had first entered Mike's mansion, though it was hard to imagine what the house felt like before her.

Ayesha brought warmth into the space, she brought love and calmness, and she took care of everything in the house that needed tending to, including Mike's quiet and lonely soul.

It wasn't long before the two older individuals coming from completely different worlds started falling in love with each other.

Ayesha didn't seem the money-minded type. But he couldn't help being cautious, and his now grown-up kids, Jay and Julia, wanted him to be cautious, too.

"I'm telling you, she's into you for the money, and that's it. Just like mom!" Julia had warned Mike.

"Yeah, dad!" Jay chimed in. "The woman was homeless, for goodness sake! And with you, she's gotten everything she could dream of without working one bit for it. Open your eyes, dad!"

Mike didn't care for the demeaning words of his children, but he knew he wanted to be sure of Ayesha's intentions, too.

And so one day, Mike decided to do something dramatic to test the woman who loved him.

Ayesha was walking to the library that morning, and as always, she crossed the spot on the sidewalk that was once her home. Every time she passed it, her heart was full of gratitude.

But that day, she was surprised to find an older homeless man sitting there, shivering in the cold. The man was hiding his face under the old jacket he was wearing, just like Ayesha used to. Seeing that man brought up old forgotten feelings of sorrow and helplessness in her mind, and she couldn't stop herself from approaching the man.

"Hello! Have you had something to eat? What can I get you?"

Without lifting his head, the man said, "What do you care? You think one meal is going to get me out of this wretched life?"

Ayesha was a bit taken aback by the man's harsh tone, but she knew he had to be hurting to speak that way.

"No, one meal won't get you out of here. But one meal will get your stomach to stop growling and your body to stop surrendering to the cold. It will get you to a night's sleep and a chance to feel some gratitude and faith in your heart that'll keep you warm…" Ayesha paused to sit next to the man on the sidewalk.

"I've been here, right in this spot, going through what you're going through," she said, tearing up. "And there's something I want you to know. There IS kindness in this world, and it WILL find its way to you. Until then, you've got to keep showing up, waking up, finding food, feeding yourself, and keeping your heart honest and willing," Ayesha said and held the man's hands.

"And if there is ever a day when you feel like giving up, come see me at that big blue house round the corner. I live there with the man I love, the man who uplifted my life. He's a kind man, a godsend, and I'm sure he'll be happy to shelter you for a night."

As she uttered those words, the homeless man burst into tears. He finally lifted his head and cried, "I'm sorry, Ayesha!"

"How does he know my name?" Ayesha thought, and it took her a second to realize that the man under the garb of old clothes was Mike.

"You? What is this? What's going on?" she asked him.

"I'm sorry I had to test you. I had to know you were not some manipulative woman who was blinded by money. I had to know…"

Poor Ayesha was fuming and heartbroken. "You didn't trust me? You couldn't just sit down and talk to me about this? I can't believe you felt the need to put up this drama…playing a homeless person when you have NO IDEA what it's like!"

The woman turned and walked away from Mike, who was left there to regret what he had done.

It took two weeks, but Mike did finally get through to Ayesha. He apologized to her, and she finally saw him open up to her and return her affection without holding back.

They decided they didn't need to get married for their love to stand the test of time. Mike and Ayesha were together through every ebb and flow that followed in their lives, including the time when Mike fell seriously ill.

Ayesha never left his side, not even when he breathed his last after listening to her sing one last time or even when Mike's children cried inconsolably by his bed.

"Here, my darlings," Ayesha handed Jay and Julia an envelope a few days after Mike's passing.

It turns out Mike had written all of his wealth in Ayesha's name. And without a second thought, Ayesha handed it over to Jay and Julia.

"You are his children. Right from when you were babies, he did everything for your sake. I knew his heart. He was angry with you a lot, but he would have wanted you to have this!"

Jay and Julia broke down in Ayesha's arms, promising themselves to take care of the kind woman for the rest of her years.

What can we learn from this story?

• Be kind. You never know whose life you may be uplifting. Mike chose to be kind to a homeless woman, not knowing that it would completely change her life and his.
• True love is stronger than your deepest fears and insecurities. Talk them out with your partner. Mike chose a dramatic way to test Ayesha's intentions, which ended up almost breaking them up.

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If you enjoyed this story, you might like this one about another millionaire who finds love shortly after he mysteriously loses his memory.

This piece is inspired by stories from the everyday lives of our readers and written by a professional writer. Any resemblance to actual names or locations is purely coincidental. All images are for illustration purposes only. Share your story with us; maybe it will change someone's life. If you would like to share your story, please send it to info@amomama.com.