Hidden Devotion

Challenges of Secrecy

Nina's POV

Nina stood behind the counter of the bakery, her hands dusted with flour as she shaped the dough into perfect little rolls. The rhythmic kneading was soothing, a way to quiet her mind amidst the growing weight she carried in her heart. From the outside, her life seemed peaceful and simple—just a girl running her family bakery, always smiling, always friendly. But inside, there was a secret gnawing at her, a hidden love she could never reveal.

Her relationship with Fabian was everything to her. It had grown quietly, like a delicate flower blooming in the cracks of a hard, unforgiving world. Yet, despite its beauty, it was a love she had to keep locked away. Nina often found herself torn between the joy of loving Fabian and the burden of hiding it from the people who mattered most in her life.

Her friends, her family—none of them knew the truth. They saw her as the same sweet, kind-hearted girl who had always been content with her life in the bakery. But they didn't know about the nights she spent with Fabian, the quiet moments they shared when the world outside was too dangerous to acknowledge their relationship. They didn't know that the man she loved was someone they would never accept.

There were days when the weight of it all felt unbearable. Nina would watch her friends laughing, sharing stories about their lives, about their relationships, and she would feel a pang of sadness. She wanted to share her happiness too. She wanted to tell them about Fabian, about how much he meant to her, about the ways he showed his love even when he couldn't say it. But she knew better. Her friends would never understand.

They didn't know the real Fabian—the man beneath the tough exterior, the man who protected her, who made her feel safe and cherished in a world full of danger. To them, he would always be a gangster, someone they feared and avoided. And so, Nina stayed silent, swallowing the urge to speak, keeping her love for him hidden deep within her heart.

The hardest part was when her friends tried to set her up with other men. They worried about her, she knew that. They thought she was lonely, that she needed someone in her life. They didn't realize that she already had someone, that her heart already belonged to Fabian.

"Why don't you come out with us tonight?" her friend Lila would ask, her eyes sparkling with excitement. 

"There's this guy I want you to meet. He's nice, works in finance. Totally your type."

Nina would smile, shaking her head softly. 

"I don't know, Lila. I've been really busy with the bakery lately."

Lila would frown, concern furrowing her brow. 

"You always say that. It's like you're hiding from the world. You deserve to be happy, Nina. You deserve someone who will take care of you."

Nina wanted to say that she already had that. That there was someone in her life who took care of her in ways no one else could. But instead, she just nodded, letting the moment pass. She couldn't tell Lila the truth. She couldn't tell anyone. So she deflected, keeping Fabian's love a secret, even from the people she was closest to.

It wasn't just Lila. Her parents, too, would sometimes ask about her love life, their curiosity piqued by her silence. 

"You're young, Nina," her mother would say. 

"You should be out there, meeting people. You don't want to be alone forever, do you?"

Nina would smile, brushing it off with a laugh. 

"I'm not in a rush, Mom. The right person will come along when the time is right."

But the truth was, that person had already come along. He just wasn't someone she could talk about openly. The price of loving Fabian was silence, and it was a price Nina had accepted. But that didn't make it any easier.