MARRY MY HUSBAND

Chapter 1: Perfectly Broken

Lila smiled as she sipped her morning coffee, the sunlight spilling across her small, cozy apartment. Everything seemed… perfect. Ethan, her charming husband, had left a sweet note on the kitchen counter—“See you tonight, love. Can’t wait.” And Cara, her best friend since childhood, was texting her about a “girls’ outing” later. Life felt ordinary, safe, normal.

But Lila had learned that perfection was often a mask. A part of her felt uneasy, though she couldn’t place why. Maybe it was the way Ethan had been distant lately, the faint smirk Cara had when talking about her weekend, or the gnawing feeling in her chest she couldn’t shake.

She brushed it off. Life had been busy: hospital visits, chemotherapy schedules, work stress. She was tired, but she had learned to smile through it. And yet… a shadow lingered.

Cara burst into her apartment that morning, all bright smiles and laughter. “Lila! You will not believe what happened at work yesterday!”

Lila laughed, genuinely, for the first time that day. “Knowing you, it’s probably something scandalous.”

Cara leaned in, lowering her voice. “Okay… maybe it is. But you’ll love it. Just promise me you won’t freak out.”

“Cara,” Lila said, smiling, “when have you ever let me down?”

Cara’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Lila didn’t notice.

As she walked to the hospital that afternoon for her routine check-up, Lila couldn’t help but feel the world was holding its breath. Something was coming—something she couldn’t see yet.

And somewhere, in a life that seemed perfect on the surface, betrayal was already waiting, wrapped in smiles and whispered promises.