Dr. Kavya Malhotra, First‑Person POV

The morning after the ceasefire attack, the air in Leh tasted of ash and sorrow. Dawn arrived thin and hesitant, pale light bleeding through gray clouds. I woke with his arms still around me, heart pounding at the empty ache in the cot beside mine. The quiet was deafening—no gunshot crack, no whimpering survivors, just the meager hum of the heater and my own ragged breath.