The Truth Within
Tom Riddle had experienced many surprising things in the years of his life, some were pleasant and some were horrible. Many of the pleasant ones had come from his family; many of the horrible ones were the fault of the Gaunt family, Merope Gaunt in particular.
For it had been to his horrible shock one day to wake up and find his lovely wife transformed into an ugly and despicable hag. She had further dismayed him with her confession that she was a witch and had been keeping him with her via a love potion. The worst astonishment was when he raised his hand to a woman, and then ran away from her.
After Tom fled his wife, he had no idea that the worst was yet to come. One morning, he woke alone in a bed at his parent's home with a terrible yearning for her body beside his. He searched for her, but she had vanished after he left her, as though her existence was merely some fevered dream of his. For Tom Riddle the worst surprise in life was that he had actually loved his ugly wife Merope.