Neha had apologized for her body her entire life — for taking up space on crowded trains, for eating dessert in front of others, for photos she immediately deleted before anyone could see them. She couldn't remember a time she'd looked in a mirror without cataloguing everything wrong first.

It started young — comments from relatives about her weight at family gatherings, disguised as concern. "Just a little advice, beta, for your health." She absorbed those comments the way children absorb everything said with authority: as fact, not opinion.