Dr. Kavya Malhotra, First‑Person POV

The funeral wreath lay heavy on my lap, petals already wilting in the spring sun. We stood at the edge of the gravesite—Colonel Rajput rigid as stone, Nandini stooped in anger, and I, clutching the folded flag, barely felt the weight of my own body. Captain Khanna hovered beside me, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the casket where Shashwat's name was being inscribed in bronze.