“Wake up, Divya. It's nearly seven.” Ramya's voice came from somewhere above the sofa. Divya pulled the thin cotton sheet over her head. “It's Saturday, Akka.” “And you're still unemployed in every sense of the word. Get up.” A cushion landed on her stomach. Divya groaned and opened one eye. Sunlight was coming through the balcony doors of her sister's apartment in Velachery. The ceiling fan turned lazily overhead, doing little against the growing Chennai heat. Ramya stood beside the sofa, already dressed for work in a pale blue formal shirt and dark trousers. Her hair was neatly tied back, her handbag rested on one shoulder, and she looked irritatingly prepared for the day. “Do you ever wake up looking this miserable?” Divya asked. “Only when I have to wake you.” Divya sat up, pushing her tangled hair away from her face. It had been four months since she'd moved into Ramya's apartment. Four months of sleeping on the sofa, eating meals at odd hours and liste...
Chapter 1: The Day Everything Fell Apart At twenty-one, Kavya had already learned that exhaustion could become a way of life. She woke before sunrise, packed lunch in a steel container, and travelled across Hyderabad to work at an electronics assembly plant in Sanath Nagar. By the time she returned home, her feet ached, her shoulders hurt, and all she wanted was a hot meal and an hour of peace. Instead, she usually found her husband, Rahul, recording videos. He had dreams of becoming a social media celebrity. There was nothing wrong with having dreams, Kavya often reminded herself. What troubled her was that Rahul seemed willing to sacrifice everything else to pursue them. Rent could wait. Electricity bills could wait. Even their groceries sometimes had to wait. His latest camera equipment, however, could never wait. For over a year, they had been living in a small annexe behind his father's house. The arrangement had been temporary, or so they had promised themselves when they f...