My Husband's Affair My Anniversary Gift (Lily and David) novel Chapter 308

Riyana’s lips parted, but nothing came out.

Lily turned away, her hands shaking. “I really thought you were different.”

This felt wrong. This felt unfair. Riyana didn’t understand why Lily was reacting like this.

“I don’t....” Riyana tried. “Lily, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Lily let out a long, shaky breath and finally sat back down. She looked tired. Like she had suddenly been pulled back into a life she didn’t want to remember.

“Of course you don’t,” she said softly. “You don’t know.”

Riyana shook her head. “I know you married David. I know you were his secretary before. I know you left because he kept seeing his ex even after marriage. That’s all.”

Lily smiled bitterly. “That’s only the surface.”

She looked up at the sky, as if gathering courage. “Do you remember,” she said slowly, “when I once told you that sometimes, when I look at you, I see my past?”

Riyana nodded. Her hands clenched into fists without her realizing it.

“I wasn’t joking,” Lily said. “And I wasn’t exaggerating. I just never thought you would walk the same road.”

Her voice dropped. “I never wanted that for you. Not anyone "

The sounds of the park faded in Riyana’s ears. She watched Lily carefully now, sensing that something heavy was coming.

“When I married David,” Lily began, “I was his secretary. Just like you were Jabco’s.”

Riyana stiffened.

“We worked late. We spent time together. His girlfriend had just left him. He was angry. Hurt. Lonely.” Lily laughed again, softly this time.

“One night… we slept together.”

Riyana’s breath caught.

“The next morning,” Lily continued, “he threw a marriage contract at me. Just like that. Said we should get married.”

She closed her eyes. “At that moment, I really thought fate was finally on my side.”

Riyana whispered, “You loved him.”

“Yes,” Lily said. “So deeply. So stupidly.”

She looked at Riyana again. “I thought if I married him, if I stayed, if I waited… one day he would love me too.”

Her voice broke. “But five years passed. Five long years. And that love never came.”

Riyana felt something cold settle in her stomach.

“I cooked for him. Waited for him. Made excuses for him. I stood beside him while people whispered. While he ignored me. While he treated me like furniture.” Lily swallowed hard. “I kept telling myself, tomorrow will be better.”

She laughed quietly. “Tomorrow never came.”

Riyana’s eyes burned.

“One day,” Lily continued, “his ex came back.”

Riyana flinched.

“It was our anniversary,” Lily said. “I waited for him. I dressed up. I cooked his favorite food. I sat there for hours.”

Her hands clenched. “He came home drunk. He couldn’t even look at me. He kept calling her name.”

Riyana covered her mouth.

“On Our first morning,” Lily said, her voice hollow, “he told me. That I was just a placeholder. Someone to fill the space until she returned.”

“After seven years, I came back,” Lily said. “I honestly thought he wouldn’t even remember me.”

She looked at Riyana, eyes red. “But he said he loved me.”

Riyana’s chest felt tight.

“And here I am,” Lily said quietly. “Still loving him. Still unsure. Still afraid. Even after betrayal. Even after humiliation. Even after he pushed me toward death.”

She wiped her face. “I’m back with him, but my heart is still bleeding.”

She leaned closer to Riyana. “So when you say you married Jabco because you love him…”

Her voice cracked. “All I see is myself.”

Riyana’s lips trembled. “I’m not you.”

“I know,” Lily said softly. “But pain doesn’t care about names.”

Riyana whispered, “I thought love was enough.”

“So did I,” Lily replied. “That’s why I’m scared for you.”

They sat there, holding each other’s broken truths, while the children laughed in the distance, unaware that two women were quietly mourning the versions of themselves they had once been.

“And now,” Lily said gently, “you’re walking that same path.”

Riyana lowered her head, her shoulders shaking.

“I don’t know how to leave,” she admitted. “And I don’t know how to stay.”

Lily wrapped her arms around her.

“I know,” she said. “That’s exactly where love becomes the most dangerous.”