CHAPTER 5 - The Warmth She Longed For

Kaira lay curled up on her bed, hugging the pillow like it was the only thing holding her together. Her breaths were shallow… soft… almost childlike. When her mother’s voice broke through the room—

“Kaira? What happened to you?”

—something inside her shifted.

Her child alter surfaced.

Kaira turned slowly, eyes half-open, consciousness slipping in and out. She reached her arms out toward her mother, lips pressed into a tiny pout, silently asking for the warmth she’d been craving for years.

Tejasvi didn’t notice the shift. She only touched Kaira’s forehead.

“You’re burning,” she sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me you were sick?”

Kaira blinked… her child alter still waiting for the hug that didn’t come.

Her mother stood up.

“Did you eat anything?”

“No…” Kaira whispered.

Silence.

The disappointment hit harder than the fever ever could.

A few minutes later, Tejasvi returned with fruit and medicines. She helped Kaira sit up and placed the plate in her lap. Kaira pushed it away with a pout.

“I don’t want it.”

“Stop your tantrums and eat,” her mother said tiredly.

And that was enough to break her.

Tears spilled instantly.

“Mommy… you don’t love me anymore…”

Tejasvi froze. The exhaustion in her face softened.

“Okay, okay… I’ll give you your favorite chocolate. But you need to eat a little first. And then medicine.”

“And… a hug?” Kaira whispered.

“Yes, a hug too. Now eat.”

Kaira obeyed. She took a few bites even though nausea twisted inside her, then swallowed the medicine with a dramatic grimace. Her mother gently laid her back down, pulled the blanket up, and turned to leave.

“Mommy… hug.”

This time, Tejasvi did. A long one.

Kaira fell asleep almost instantly.

---

Tejasvi

Tejasvi walked out, set the plate in the sink, and started preparing dinner. She called her best friend, Sia.

“Wow,” Sia answered. “Look who finally had time to call. This is rare, Teju.”

“I’m not free. I’m worried,” Tejasvi said quietly. “Something is wrong with Kaira. She’s been… different. Yesterday she cut her hair too short. Today she scribbled all over the walls. And now she’s acting like a little kid. She’s twenty, Sia. Twenty. What is happening to her?”

“Well,” Sia said gently, “our little Kaira never rebelled before, did she? She was always afraid of disappointing you. Always doing what you wanted. If I were her, I would’ve rebelled long ago.”

Tejasvi didn’t reply.

Guilt pressed down on her chest.

“Maybe I failed as a mother,” she whispered. “After her father left… I worked all the time. I was hardly home. I don’t know. If he was here, maybe things would’ve been different.”

---

Kaira

Later that night, Kaira woke again.

She walked to the window.

The city was silent.

The moon was painfully bright.

She stared at the ground far below, wondering if one jump would end everything.

Probably not.

She inhaled sharply and looked up at the moon again. It was beautiful.

When was the last time she let herself admire something so simple?

The cold wind brushed her skin. For a moment, she wished she could freeze this moment forever. But morning would come. And so would her confusion, her memories, her fear.

“The dream was true,” she whispered.

“I really am a disappointment.”

She sat back on her bed and picked up her phone — something she avoided, something she regretted, yet always needed. Maybe she was overreacting. Maybe everything was normal.

Maybe.

Then she saw the message.

Unknown Number: Are you okay?

Her breath caught.

Of all people…

Of all days…

A simple question, and it stung more than it comforted.

A stranger asking if she was okay, when the people she lived with didn’t even see the storm inside her.

She stared at the message for a long time, feeling everything at once — fear, relief, curiosity, shame.

And for the first time in months…

She didn’t know what she was supposed to feel.

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