As someone who was in an extremely abusive relationship in her teens, the latest Instagram reels trend brings back too many painful memories.

I could not ask everyone how and why I am expected to take it as normal, that 'men stray'. But I did. I spent a few more years here, silent and dead inside. 

Slightly jolted, she finally turns on her side. And she dreams her favourite dream: "What if one day he just... if it happens?" A twisted smile playing on her lips.

Many women speak about their choices and lives in online groups that are safe spaces, mostly to seek validation, even though they know the answer. A case of strong conditioning?

Although the attention that it had garnered in Samir’s social circle was a deterrent to an outright ban on writing, the downside was that Samir had carefully read every story, and given ‘suggestions’.