The morning light crept through the window, casting soft shadows on the floor as Taniksha stood in front of the mirror. She looked at her reflection, a girl on the cusp of adulthood, struggling to balance the weight of her father’s expectations and the mysteries that plagued her family. The past few weeks had been a blur of restless nights and uncontrollable anxiety, but today something felt different.

Perhaps it was because today she would have to face whatever was lurking in her heart, something that had always been there, yet she’d never fully acknowledged.