Lilly Rose return

Revealing the secret of that night

At night, under the tree where Harry had been sitting for twenty-two years, creating his masterpieces, he found something unusual. He found someone he hadn't seen in the same spot for more than sixteen years. Lily was sitting under the tree, her eyes turned red of crying. Harry asked her many questions, but she didn't utter a word. He suggested that they go to their old secret spot, and she agreed. As they drove along, Lily didn't say much, except for the occasional sob. Harry didn't want to push her any further.

When they arrived at a small stand selling cakes and tea by the side of the road, Lily looked at it, and memories flooded her mind, both good and bad. Her tears flowed like a river, and finally she stopped crying, she said, "This is the only place that hasn't changed in sixteen years." They got out of the car, ordered some cake and tea, and sat at one of the small tables that the owner of the place used to put out. There weren't many of them, four or five tables at most. Lily hadn't finished her first bite when she said, "Today, I visited my daughter."

"Your daughter! Where is she?" Harry asked.

"In the cemetery, her first breath in this world, was her last," Lily replied.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I didn't know, but I can feel your pain. Losing a child is another thing altogether. Even your husband must have suffered a lot," Harry said.

"My husband! Ha!" Lily scoffed.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

Lily tried to get up, but Harry stopped her, saying, "Every time you do this, you leave me with a riddle and run away, leaving my mind to explode with questions. Please, go on."

"Are you ready to face the truth?" Lily asked.

"Yes, I am. Tell me," Harry replied.

"I... and on that night... someone raped me," Lily said.

Silence hung between them for minutes, a painful blow to Harry, and finally, after more than half an hour, his tongue untied, "Why didn't you speak up until now?"

"I was ashamed, and how could I tell the man I loved, the man I dreamt of being his alone someday, something like this? You were my first and last love, Harry," Lily replied.

"Then I should have known. Your silence didn't indicate anything else," Harry said, blaming himself.

At that moment, Lily remembered their first kiss, while Harry blamed himself for not knowing, not understanding, and not asking. Harry said, "Despite everything, you should have told me."

"I don't know what it means to you, but do you know what it meant to me that you were the first man to touch me? I wouldn't have bet on seeing the broken look in your eyes, even if only for a second if I had told you. So, I didn't tell you," Lily said.

Harry took her hands and said, "I loved you before, and I would have loved you then, and I still love you now."

"I wish you were by my side that night," Lily said.

"For the first time in my life, I know the meaning of the words 'I wish'," Harry replied.

As Sara arrived at the park, she saw the guard sitting in front of the gate and asked him about her father. He informed her that he had left some time ago with a lady. When she described the woman to him, he confirmed her suspicions that it was Lily. After bidding farewell to her uncle, the guard, Sara left and called her father on the way back home. At that moment, he was asking Lily about the identity of the criminal. Lily asked him not to tell her about her presence beside him, and he obeyed. This only served to stoke Sara's anger even further.

Harry asked Lily the same question, but she recounted the details of the accident, the disappearance of the jewel, and her imprisonment in the room. She didn't know the identity of the monster who had robbed her of sixteen years of her life. Harry placed his hand on her head and ran his fingers through her hair. Then he took her into his arms, and she continued to tell him about what her aunt Olivia and her husband had done to her when they found out she was pregnant. They married her off to that dirty man, and Lily said to him, "Mrs. Olivia sat in front of her scales, on one side her position and the reputation of the family and the community, and on the other, me, the little girl she brought in and turned into a doll in her hands. The choice was easy for her, and I suspect it was Ania."

When she asked him about his marriage, he told her that after a year of her departure, and for revenge he got married the first girl he found in his way. In reality, he tried to love her because she was a good girl and a good mother to their daughter, but he couldn't. Sara was the only beautiful thing that had ever happened to them during their marriage.

After he asked her to start anew, Lily hesitated and asked him to return. On the way back, Harry couldn't control himself and asked her about her second marriage. By then, Lily had returned to her settings, she was no longer the same person who was in the car with him. She wasn't the same Lily he had known since childhood and waited for her return. But when he tried to offer her help in seeking revenge, she refused. He didn't want to press her any further, so he fell silent and bid her farewell. After she left, he returned to his tree inside the park or rather their tree, and stood in front of it, staring at it, at the first two letters of his and her name, the day of their first kiss. In the villa of the Greikman family, Eva was trying to find a way to tell her mother about Lily Rose and her desire to take her to another fashion designer. The opportunity came when her mother asked her to cut down on her food before the wedding. But when she heard the news on a forkful of food, the thorns of the fork lodged in her throat, and she screamed in agony at her daughter's words. How could her mother forbid her from accompanying her sister? Eva knew her mother was domineering, but she never expected her to go this far. George tried to calm the situation and prevent his wife from causing a disaster, knowing that if Eva found out what had happened to her sister and what her parents had done, the real trouble would begin. But the discussion took a different turn when George defended his position as a member of the family and the foundation of its existence. When Olivia indirectly mentioned his multiple betrayals, including the recent model incident, Eva became tired of their cryptic argument, got up from the table, and left. Her mother followed her, but Eva stopped her with a question, "Why do you want me to stay away from her? Wasn't it you who taught me to call her my sister?" Olivia replied, "Didn't she manipulate your mind? Please stay away from her for your own good." Eva retorted, "It's always the same thing, but to use the right words, mother, do you love me or your own interests?" And she left her mother standing there, heading to her room.