Chapter 1

I saw David Anderson hugging her tightly. They looked so in love.

My heart throbbed in pain.

This was a repeat of the past.

However, I no longer yelled uncontrollably and smashed everything around me.

Instead, I sat on the couch and stared quietly at Lily Reid.

Her determined eyes did not even waver once.

The last time she looked so determined was when she swore she would cut David off.

Instead, she chose to protect David to prevent me from hurting him.

“So, you never cut him off, right?”

I only realized that when I received the dashcam footage from the police.

Lily did not reach home on time because she had learnt from her mistakes.

Instead, it was because she had grown better at managing her limited free time to cheat on me with David.

When I heard their pants, I could not help but recall how she usually looked when she came home.

Her eyes were always very bright, and she would bring me my favorite wine.

“Ben, I missed you so much.”

Hence, I lowered my pride and pretended nothing had happened to be with her again.

I loved her like how I always did.

However, reality gave me a huge slap on that day.

“Ben, you know David has some mental health issues. I can’t do that to him.

“He’s your childhood friend. How could you be so heartless?”

Lily did not feel any remorse. Instead, she started to shift the blame on me.

She was blaming me for knowing that David suffered from depression, and how I had struck him when he asked me to let him have Lily.

It had been the first time Lily got mad at me throughout our eight years together.

She had torn up our wedding plans and canceled the venue.

She even called my sick mother and informed her that the wedding was cancelled.

My mother aged a lot overnight.

However, Lily did not care at all. She still yelled at me, “You assaulted him, and now, you want me to immediately marry you. What about him?

“He’s depressed, Ben! What do you want him to do?”

Her rage had almost shattered me.

My heart skipped a beat and I struggled to breathe.

What about me?

Why did no one care about me?

I snapped back to the present. Lily’s past self overlapped with her current self.

She had never changed.

She still could not see my hurt and my pain.

“Alright.

“I wish you both the best.”

I suppressed my pain to protect my dignity.

I reached the door when someone punched me in the back.

David’s eyes were bloodshot as he grabbed my collar tightly.

“Ben, stop looking at me with pity!

“I’ve won! Your eight years with Lily is nothing compared to our eight months!”

I did not refute him. I watched as Lily rushed forward and hugged him.

She comforted him softly like it was second nature.

The person who had promised to treat me well forever had given all her kindness to another person.

This relationship was getting too crowded.

Lily always brought him along on all occasions, including birthdays and anniversaries.

I started to walk on eggshells around them. If I mentioned anything about love, David would be triggered.

Slowly, I became a mute.

I could not call her baby, and I could not hold her hand.

On top of that, I had to accept the situation.

I had to watch her love my childhood friend just like how she used to love me.

They would weaponize my unhappiness as evidence of my frigid heart.

I felt suffocated again.

I looked at their disdainful faces and laughed.

I ran my hand over my hurting back.

“Yes, you’ve won.”

Lily was stunned by how calm I was.

She wanted to say something when David started to roar again.

When she finally calmed David down, I had already left the ward.

I pulled out my phone and cancelled Lily’s flight ticket.

Our anniversary trip had turned into my farewell trip.