Filed To Story: The Broken-Hearted She and The Icy He Book PDF Free
“You insist it was you who lived through those days with Simon. Yet you remember nothing. And me? I know exactly what my sister said to him in that rubble. Isn’t that laughable?”
“Jackson, enough! You-“
Simon’s heart was torn and chaotic. He wanted to go back to the sea, to continue searching for Lily. He had no patience left to hear Jackson’s accusations.
But before he could finish, Jackson cut in, his eyes blazing.
“For those two days under the rubble, my sister told Simon she hated cumin and chili cookies the most. And Simon-he hated them just as much.”
Back in the orphanage, during Christmas, every child had been given half a stale cookie
Jackson’s piece had been moldy and stolen by older kids.
He had been so hungry and miserable.
Lily had given him more than half of her portion and teased him gently to cheer him up
She had said the world even had cookies stuffed with cumin and chili, so awful they made her question life itself.
And she’d laughed, telling him the boy she once met also hated that strange, awful cookie
Back then, the boy couldn’t speak-Lily had asked the questions, and he had only nodded or shaken his head.
The weird cookie had been so awful, even worse than the meals they ate at the orphanage!
Remembering six-year-old Lily’s bright smile as she teased him, Jackson fell into the memory, unable to stop himself.
But Simon’s mind exploded at his words.
Lizzy had told him she hated weird cookies.
In the rubble, she had asked if he’d ever eaten one. When he nodded, she asked if he hated them too. He had nodded again.
As a child, during Christmas with the Luke and Bale families, Ivan had insisted on helping the cook bake cookies.
They had come out misshapen and stuffed with cumin and chili. Simon had taken one bite, and ever since, weird cookies had been his nightmare.
But not wanting to hurt Ivan’s young pride, he had never told anyone-not even his family- that it was the worst thing he had ever eaten.
The only time he had admitted it was when Lizzy had asked.
He had believed all these years that Elsa was his Lizzy.
But Elsa didn’t even remember this. How could Jackson possibly know?
Unless… unless…
Simon’s very soul ached. He clutched his chest, bending under the weight of the pain.
And then Jackson’s voice, heavy with grief and sarcasm, cut through the silence. “My sister told me. I was starving once, and when she roasted chestnuts for me, she mentioned that in the rubble she had shared chestnuts with the boy. She told me he said it was the best thing he had ever eaten.”
Simon jolted as if struck by lightning. If not for his assistant supporting him, he would have collapsed.
It was true.
In those two days under the rubble, Lily had given him two roasted chestnuts.
She’d explained that just before the earthquake, she and her friends had roasted a whole batch.
Trapped beneath the ruins, he had been parched, starving, and in pain.
She had saved the water in her flask for him, giving him most of it so he could survive.
She had only three chestnuts left, yet she gave him two.
He had never liked roasted chestnuts before, but by the second day, those two chestnuts felt like the most precious food in the world.
She had laughed and asked him if they were delicious, if they were the best thing he had ever tasted.
And he had nodded.
“Elsa, if you’re really Lizzy, then tell us-how many chestnuts did you give Simon? Don’t tell me you conveniently forgot that too.”
“I…”
Elsa had no idea.
Her face blanched further as she stammered, “Maybe because of the fever… maybe my body was protecting me, so I forgot those details of the earthquake.”
“This pendant is still in my hand. I really am Lizzy, I-“
“How interesting.”
Jackson wiped his tears and gave a cold laugh. “You claim to be the one there, but you can’t recall a thing. Yet I know exactly what my sister said. Simon, she gave you two chestnuts.”
This time, Simon’s last thread of denial snapped.
No matter how much he didn’t want to believe it, he could no longer deny the truth-Elsa had deceived him.
He had been a fool, blind enough to believe her lies.
And he had to accept it now-Lily was the real Lizzy.
Jackson’s words cut deeper still. “My sister never owed you anything. She even shared life and death with you. But what did you do, Simon? Blind and foolish, you trusted Elsa just because of a pendant she stole. You treated her like treasure while you hurt Lily again and again. Even this time, with her carrying your cousin’s child, you chose to watch her thrown into the sea! You’re pathetic-pathetic beyond saving! Did it never cross your mind to investigate? To confirm whether Elsa was an impostor? Sixteen years ago, my sister was six. Elsa was already nine. The ages don’t even match-did that never occur to you?”
“I…”
Simon staggered back, clutching his chest.
Sixteen years ago, Lizzy had told him her age.
When Elsa showed up with the pendant, he had asked her too.
She’d claimed she’d been frail as a child, always small and underdeveloped, so people often thought she was younger.
He had been so overjoyed at finding Lizzy again that he couldn’t bear to doubt her.
And now, the truth crushed him-he really had mistaken her.
He had abandoned Lily, his true Lizzy.
For Elsa, he had again and again targeted, hurt, and humiliated Lily-when Lily was the one who had once shared life and death with him as Lizzy.
And just moments ago, to protect Elsa, he had chosen to let the kidnappers kill Lily.
Simon couldn’t stop replaying Lily’s eyes in his mind.
There had been desolation and cold irony in her gaze, and Elsa’s pendant had swayed before her eyes like a mockery.
She was always sharp-of course she had realized he was her boy.
The boy who had silently sworn to protect her, to cherish her forever.
And yet, in the end, it had been his own lips that pronounced her death.
What had he done?
“Simon, Jackson’s just trying to drive a wedge between us. Don’t listen to him…”
Seeing Simon’s tortured, remorseful face, Elsa knew he had begun to doubt her identity.
He was her greatest support, and she couldn’t afford to lose him.
She scrambled to pull him back, trembling as she said, “Yes, it must be Lily. She must have secretly read my diary to learn about us. She…”
“Ha!”
Jackson cut her off with a cold laugh. “First you claimed a fever erased your memory of the rubble. Now suddenly there’s a diary? Are you schizophrenic, Elsa? These contradictory lies- only an idiot would believe them. Only an idiot would treat you as treasure, trust you completely!”
“I…”
Elsa’s face flushed crimson as she panted.