Chapter 4 - The Truth Behind the Lie
Clare slowly lowered the wooden rolling pin, setting it down on the flour-dusted marble counter. She looked into Roman’s dark, steady eyes, seeing a deep, hidden exhaustion she hadn't noticed before.
“You didn't come here for me...” Clare said in a soft, understanding whisper. “You came for her.”
Roman took a quiet breath, steering Lily toward a quiet wooden table near the sunlit window. “Lily, why don't you pick out a warm pastry from the case while I talk to Clare?”
Lily nodded timidly, walking over to inspect the glass case filled with fresh strawberry tarts.
Roman stepped up to the counter, leaning over the polished wood so his low voice wouldn't carry across the room.
“Six months ago, my older brother and his wife died in a car accident,” Roman explained, his voice thick with repressed grief. “Lily survived the crash, but she lost her speech and withdrew completely from the world. For five months, she didn't speak a single word to anyone—not to therapists, not to me, not to her doctors.”
Clare felt a sharp pang of empathy sting her chest. “My God... Roman...”
“Three weeks ago, my aunt brought a box of your cherry pastries to my house,” Roman continued, his dark eyes locking onto Clare’s face. “Lily ate one. It was the first time she smiled in half a year. Then she pointed at the bakery receipt, looked at your photo on our website, and spoke her first full sentence in six months: 'I want to meet the lady who bakes the cake.'”
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Clare choked back a sudden breath, her hand covering her lips as tears welled in her eyes.
👉 “I didn't invent the girlfriend story to trick you, Clare,” Roman admitted softly. “Lily thought you were my girlfriend because I kept buying your pastries every day just to see her smile.”
