Every step towards my new home felt heavier than the last, each one weighed down by the uncertainty of what lay ahead. My new home... I could hardly bring myself to say it—the words felt unfamiliar, a reality still too distant to fully grasp. How will I ever get used to this?

Everyone gathered around me, their eyes filled with a charm that made me feel like the most precious thing around them. A lady stood with an aarti thali in her hands—perhaps my mother-in-law. She smiled at me, but her smile couldn’t fully mask the sadness and nervousness lingering in her eyes.