#PathToFuture
Tahira stood frozen, her breath caught in her throat as the storm lashed around them. Rain cascaded down in relentless sheets, soaking her to the bone, but the icy chill gripping her heart had nothing to do with the weather.

"What... what did you just say?" Her voice was little more than a tremor, barely audible beneath the deafening drumming of the rain. Her fingers hovered protectively over her swollen belly, as though shielding her child from the weight of Iman's words.

Iman’s face twisted, a grotesque mask of anguish and revulsion, his dark eyes alight with a feverish gleam she had never seen before. He pointed a trembling finger at her stomach, his voice trembling with a venom that struck her like a physical blow. "What you're carrying..." His words faltered, his lips curling in a mix of fear and disgust. "It's not a child, Tahira. It’s a parasite. It’s going to kill you—tear you apart—and take you away from me."

The world tilted on its axis. Thunder cracked above, jagged and brutal, and Tahira staggered back, clutching her belly as though holding herself together. Her lips parted, but no words came, just a shallow gasp. She searched Iman’s face for any trace of the man she once trusted, once loved—once thought she knew better than herself.

“This is our child, Iman,” she whispered finally, her voice trembling like a fragile thread stretched taut. The rain blurred her vision, but she could still see the hard set of his jaw,...