My Husband's Affair My Anniversary Gift (Lily and David) novel Chapter 167

The door clicked softly behind her, leaving the room quiet except for the faint beeping of the monitor and Lily’s slow breathing.

David exhaled heavily and ran a hand through his hair. The tension in the room seemed to thicken even more now that they were alone. He looked at Lily. She was staring out the window, her face unreadable.

“Why does she hate me so much?” he finally muttered, half to himself.

Lily didn’t answer.

“She barely knows me,” he continued, his voice low and tired now. “She looks at me like I’m some kind of villain.”

Lily turned her head slowly, her eyes meeting his for the first time since Noah left. “You really don’t know, do you?” she asked quietly.

David frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You hurt me,” she said, her tone calm but heavy. “You didn’t need to lay a hand on Noah to make her hate you"

Her voice cracked slightly. “So, no. She doesn’t have to know you personally to hate you.”

David’s jaw tightened. He wanted to defend himself, to say she was exaggerating, that things weren’t that simple but he couldn’t. He couldn’t even look her in the eyes. Because deep down, he knew what she meant.

The silence stretched.

Lily turned her gaze back to the window, trying to steady her breathing. The night sky outside was dark, the city lights blurred through the glass. “You should go home too,” she said quietly after a while. “You don’t have to stay here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” David replied instantly, his voice low and firm.

“Why?” she asked, still looking out the window.

“Because you’re my wife.”

Lily let out a soft laugh, one that was full of bitterness. “That word doesn’t mean much anymore, David.”

“It does to me,” he said. “You can hate me all you want, but it doesn’t change what I feel.”

“What you feel?” Lily repeated, turning to him again. “Do you even know what you feel anymore? Because all I see is guilt. You don’t love me, you’re just egoist.”

Her words cut deep, and he flinched. She was wrong. Guilt had been eating him alive these past few weeks. Every time he saw her hurt, it twisted inside him like punishment for everything he’d ignored, everything he’d destroyed.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me,” he said after a pause. “But I’m not leaving you alone this time.”

David.

Her breath caught in her throat, and her heart began to thump hard, uneven, and painfully loud in her chest. He was sitting beside her, his head resting on the edge of her bed. His hand was wrapped tightly around hers, his fingers interlocked with hers as if he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go.

For a moment, she couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. Could only stare.

It had been so long since she’d seen his face like this calm, peaceful, almost vulnerable. No anger, no pride, no coldness. Just… stillness.

She bit her lower lip, trying to stop the sudden sting in her eyes, but it didn’t work. Her chest tightened painfully.

Why now? she thought bitterly. Why does he have to look like this now, when it’s already too late?

There was a time when she had loved him so deeply that every breath, every heartbeat had belonged to him. She had prayed for just a single glance, a single kind word from him. But he never cared. Back then, she was invisible to him. He never saw her pain, never noticed her tears. She wasn’t even sure he thought of her as a person more like a shadow in his life, something that didn’t matter.

And now? Now that she had finally stopped hoping, stopped needing him, he was suddenly here acting like he cared, acting like the husband she had once begged him to be.

It confused her. It scared her. It hurt her.