I was only twelve when my world shattered, my mother gone in an instant, leaving behind a silence so heavy it followed me everywhere. Then one small secret changed everything: I started taking flowers from a nearby shop and placing them on her grave, hoping they could say the love I no longer knew how to speak, but,
One afternoon, the shop owner finally caught me, and I braced for anger that never came. Instead, she offered me kindness, welcomed me back through the front door, and years later I returned before my wedding to discover the flowers had never truly been stolen at all—so what did she know all along, therefore,