We went down, I could feel the glare upon us when Aalifa served me food first. She made my plate, knowing what I like and then made hers.

‘A small, meaningless action; a mother does it for their child, elder siblings for their younger ones too, so normal, right? But, the thing was no one at home did it for me and ‘she’ did it without even asking.’

Thinking, I leaned back on my seat to stare at her keenly, pondering when the screams of my heart would reach her.

Maybe that developed into a habit. Maybe an obligation, maybe it meant nothing, maybe an act.

Still, it relieved me....