Mara grew up believing that loving someone meant giving without limits.
Over time, that belief cost her more than she understood. When her younger sister became seriously ill, their mother poured everything into saving her—selling what little they owned, draining accounts, and quietly redirecting funds Mara had assumed would one day be hers. Medical appointments blurred together, debts piled up, and Mara watched her carefully imagined future erode without ceremony. Her sister died shortly after turning eighteen, and sorrow hardened into resentment. Months later, when their mother appeared at Mara’s doorstep—frail, exhausted, and carrying her life in a single bag—something inside Mara broke. The words she’d buried for years finally spilled out. She told her mother she had taken too much. That she had ruined her future. Her mother didn’t argue. She only gave a gentle, weary smile and walked away.
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