Raju looked at her and, for the first time since he returned, felt permission to be both: to want the city’s bright edges and to keep the quiet of home folded inside him. Over the next weeks he took small steps — he helped fix the gate, sat through Sunday’s temple visit, and took an evening to introduce his girlfriend over chai. Seetha welcomed her with a gentle curiosity, asking the sort of practical questions that stitched strangers into kin.