Maira entered the Ansari residence with slow, hesitant steps. The early morning silence wrapped around her like a blanket, heavy and suffocating. She had woken up for Fajr but hadn’t been able to go back to sleep. Her head throbbed from the weight of endless thoughts, and her eyes burned from lack of rest.

Everything about the previous days still clung to her, Hadi’s words, his tone, the way things had spiraled out of control. She wanted to escape it all, to disappear for a while, but reality offered her no such mercy.