CHAPTER 2: THE WOMAN WHO SHOULDN’T EXIST
Daniel didn’t sleep that night.
He kept replaying everything—the eyes, the voice, the way she had avoided his gaze. And Lily… she was certain. Children didn’t hesitate like adults. They didn’t invent grief.
By morning, he was back at the café.
This time alone.
The bell above the door rang softly as he entered. The same waitress stood behind the counter, wiping cups.
“Elena,” he said firmly.
Her hands stopped.
Not for long. Just a pause.
“I think you have the wrong person,” she replied without looking up.
Daniel placed a photo on the counter. It was worn, folded at the edges—Elena smiling with Lily as a baby.
The woman finally looked at it.
And for the first time, her mask slipped completely.
“I… don’t know who that is,” she said.
But her fingers were shaking.
Daniel leaned closer. “You look exactly like my dead wife.”
That sentence hung between them like a blade.
She stepped back slightly. “People have lookalikes.”
“No,” Daniel said quietly. “Not like this. Not identical.”
From the back room, a man in a manager’s uniform appeared, watching the tension grow.
“Problem here?” he asked.
The woman—Elena—quickly shook her head. “No. Just a misunderstanding.”
But as Daniel turned to leave, he heard it.
A whisper.
May you like
So faint he almost missed it.
“I remember… rain.”
