SEKINCHAN: Mustafa Mohd Akhir and Zainon Mohd Yusof were married 47 years ago, but their marriage only lasted three years.
More than 40 years later, Mustafa, 70, and Zainon, 60, decided to try again and tied the knot at Kampung Parit Lima on April 29.
Their tale had caught the Internet by storm after Zainon's daughter Suzana Sueb, 41, uploaded a video on TikTok.
Mustafa revealed that he first married Zainon when he was 23 years old while she was just 13. The couple did not have any children from their first union.
"We did not fight or argue. We parted ways on good terms and accepted it as fate that our marriage at the time did not work out.
"After that, we did not keep in touch or contact one another. I remarried in 1980 and had 13 children, but my wife passed away nine years ago in 2014. Since then, I have been a widower," he told Harian Metro.
Mustafa believed Zainon remarried in 1978 and had six children with her husband, who passed away in August last year.
"And by chance, in December last year, we bumped into each other at a restaurant in Jitra, Kedah.
"This marked the beginning of us picking up from where we left off all those years ago," he said.
According to Mustafa, they were initially in touch on the phone to ask how one another was doing.
Then the warmth and friendliness blossomed into love between them until they decided to get married once again.
"When we first met after years of not seeing each other, I did not take her phone number. Instead, I asked her Aunt, who was with her then.
"We frequently kept in touch, and who would have thought that the feeling of love could creep in again? So I told her how I felt about her. Eventually, I asked for her hand in marriage again.
"We did not keep it a secret, but we talked about it with our respective immediate families, and we asked our children what they thought, and thankfully no one objected to our love. They were all very happy for the two of us."
Mustafa admitted that he had no intention of remarrying due to his age.
"I am a senior citizen in my golden years, but then again, it is all in God's hands, and The Almighty is the one who decides," said Mustafa.
Meanwhile, Zainon shared that she did not expect to remarry as, like Mustafa, she realised that she was not getting any younger. But she admitted that she is thrilled that they have tied the knot again.