Prologue

The Egyptian sun, a brazen orange eye, pried open Naira's eyelids.

"Anurag?" she murmured, her voice still thick with sleep.

Silence.

She sat up, pulling the silky sheet around her. The opulent hotel room, overlooking the glittering chaos of Cairo, felt strangely hollow. The air conditioner hummed a monotonous tune, a stark contrast to the symphony of emotions from the previous night.

"Anurag!" she called again, this time a little louder, a sliver of unease pricking at her joy.

She padded barefoot across the plush carpet towards the bathroom. Empty. The shower was dry, the towels neatly folded. A quick scan of the room revealed no sign of him. No note, no hastily scribbled message on hotel stationery. Just the ghost of his cologne lingering in the air.

Panic began to bubble, a cold, unwelcome guest in her stomach. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table. No missed calls, no texts.

"Maybe he went for a walk?" she reasoned aloud, trying to quell the rising tide of fear. "He said he wanted to see the pyramids at sunrise."

She checked her watch. It was past 9 AM. The sun was already high in the sky, casting long, harsh shadows. Too late for sunrise.

She dialed Anurag's number. It rang... and rang... eventually leading to a generic voice message. She tried again, and again, each attempt ratcheting up the tension.

Finally, she decided to seek help. She called the hotel reception.

"Excuse me," she said, her voice trembling slightly. "My husband, Anurag Singh, he seems to have gone out. Can you check if he left a message for me?"

After a short wait, punctuated by the maddeningly cheerful music on hold, the receptionist returned.

"I'm sorry, madam, there is no message for you. Mr. Singh left a little while ago and informed us he was checking out."

Naira's breath hitched.

"Checking out? But... we're on our honeymoon. We have reservations for another week!"

"I'm sorry, madam. That is all I know."

The polite but indifferent tone of the receptionist was a brutal counterpoint to the frantic terror that was now gripping her. Checking out? Without her? Leaving her in a foreign country, alone, with little more than the silk pajamas she was wearing and the remnants of a shattered dream?

She slammed the phone down, the sound echoing in the cavernous silence of the room. Tears welled in her eyes, blurring the already unsettling view of the city below.

This couldn't be happening. This had to be a mistake. A cruel, unimaginable joke. But the cold, hard reality was sinking in. Anurag was gone. He had left her.

With trembling hands, she pulled on some clothes, a simple sundress and sandals. She had to find him. She had to understand. This couldn't be the Anurag she knew, the man she had loved for years.

She rushed down to the lobby, her heart hammering against her ribs. The receptionist gave her a polite, but vacant, smile.

"Excuse me," she pleaded, her voice cracking. "Did you see my husband? Where did he go? Did he say anything?"

The receptionist consulted the computer screen, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Mr. Singh took a taxi to the airport, madam. That is all I know."

The airport. He was leaving the country. Leaving her.

The tears finally broke free, streaming down her face. She stumbled out of the hotel, blinking against the harsh Egyptian sunlight, the vibrant colors of the city suddenly muted and gray.

Lost in the overwhelming chaos of Cairo, Naira felt utterly alone. In a city she didn't know, speaking a language she didn't understand, she was lost in more ways than one. Her husband was gone, her heart was broken, and her honeymoon had turned into a nightmare.

And as the setting sun cast long shadows across the ancient city, Naira knew that her life had irrevocably changed. The question was, could she survive the fallout, and more importantly, could she ever understand why Anurag had abandoned her in a country far from home?

_____________