Chapter 4
1015 Words
Elijah’s POV
I didn’t sleep much that night.
My mind kept replaying the moment I saw her again Alina standing behind that bakery counter like no time had passed at all. Except it had. Six long years of silence, of anger, of questions that never had answers.
She looked different. Older, maybe. Softer. But still her. Same brown eyes that used to look at me like I was the only thing that mattered. Same way her nose crinkled slightly when she was surprised. Same lips that kissed me goodbye and never came back.
But there was no joy in seeing her again.
Just rage. Confusion.
Pain.
Why here? Out of all the places in the world, why did she have to be in this town? The same one I just moved to? I thought I left all of that behind. I thought I buried the past. But there it was, alive and breathing behind a glass counter, holding a tray of cinnamon rolls.
And then there was the little girl.
She had the same wavy brown hair.
Big eyes.
She looked about five years old.
The thought hit me like a truck, but I shoved it away before it could root too deep.
No.
Alina would’ve told me. If the kid was mine, she wouldn’t have kept it from me. Right?
Would she?
I gripped the steering wheel as I parked outside my temporary estate. I had meetings to prepare for investors to brief, plans to finalize but none of that mattered right now. All I could think about was her.
And the kid.
I wasn’t going to let it distract me. I couldn’t.
I hadn’t come this far gone from nothing to everything just to fall apart again over a girl who broke me. She was a chapter I closed. Torn out, burned, buried.
But I still needed answers.
The next day, I met with the town council, shook hands with developers, sat through presentations, and signed documents. All while my mind kept drifting back to that bakery.
To her.
To the way she froze when she saw me.
To the little girl coloring in the corner.
Around noon, I stepped outside for air. Caleb was waiting by the car, tapping away on his phone. “Everything okay, sir?”
“No,” I said without thinking.
He looked up. “Something wrong with the project?”
“No.” I paused. “I ran into someone yesterday. An old… friend.”
He raised a brow. “The kind of friend who caused trouble?”
“The kind who used to mean everything, until she didn’t.”
He nodded slowly. “Want me to look into her?”
I shook my head. “No. Not yet.”
I didn’t need someone to spy on Alina. What I needed was the truth. Straight from her. If I was going to finally move on, I needed to hear her say why she really did it. Why she left me when I needed her most. Why she cut me off after everything we shared. Why she disappeared without so much as a goodbye.
I needed closure.
But most of all I needed to know who that little girl was.
That evening, I went for a walk. Not because I wanted to, but because my mind wouldn’t let me sit still. My feet led me back into town without me even realizing it. The streets were calmer this time. A few shops were closing up, the sky turning a soft orange as the sun dipped low.
And somehow, I ended up in front of the bakery again.
The lights were still on inside.
I hesitated.
Maybe this was stupid. Maybe I should just walk away and never look back.
But I didn’t.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
There she was Alina standing behind the counter, cleaning up. She looked up and froze again. Just like yesterday.
Her eyes met mine. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.
I walked over slowly, stopping a few feet from the counter.
“I guess I should’ve figured,” I said, my voice flat. “This is your kind of place.”
She swallowed hard. “Elijah…”
“I thought you moved away.”
“I did.”
“Guess that didn’t last.”
“I didn’t think I’d ever see you again,” she said quietly.
“Yeah, well. Surprise.”
There was a long silence between us.
She looked like she wanted to say something else, but I cut in before she could.
“You’ve been here long?”
“Five years.”
Five years. That meant… that meant the kid had been born here.
I didn’t ask yet. I didn’t have the guts to.
“And the little girl?” I asked, pretending to be casual.
She went stiff.
“Sophie,” she said softly.
“That her name?”
She nodded.
“She yours?”
“Yes.”
Something in her voice made my stomach turn. Guilt. Fear. Something more.
“And the father?” I asked.
She looked down at her hands, wringing the rag she was holding.
“She doesn’t have one,” she said.
I laughed once. Bitter. “Of course she doesn’t. Typical.”
“Elijah, it’s not what you think—”
“No?” I snapped. “Because I think you walked out on me after we spent the night together and never gave me a reason. I think my family was forced to move out of town with no help, no money, and my sister in the hospital. I think you disappeared without a word and now you show up in some small town raising a kid who looks like—”
I stopped myself.
She was staring at me with wide eyes.
I realized my voice had gotten too loud.
I took a step back.
“Forget it,” I muttered. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“Elijah, please—”
But I was already out the door.
This time, I didn’t look back.
- Writer
