My head still felt heavy, the exhaustion weighing me down like a stone. I had barely slept at all—slept at 3:45 and woke up at 7:50. Hardly four hours of restless tossing and turning, and yet here I was, dragged into the day. My eyes still burned, my body ached for sleep, but as soon as I stepped downstairs, my tiredness was pushed aside by mummy ji’s endless stream of questions. One after another, her sharp voice hammered into me, and my already frayed nerves snapped. Irritation rose, words slipped from my mouth without thought, and only after they left me did I realize what I had said.