Lavanya has love in her pet name, and beauty in her name but none of them in her. Objectively speaking, she's one of the prettiest ladies, especially after the post-gym glow up. Mind you, she didn't find herself ugly before but her parents surely did.
She felt like a victim of her circumstances. She struggled with low self-esteem and emotional detachment (or what they called it in those Instagram reels), which she knew stemmed from her bad parenting.
To cope with her feelings, she resorted to maladaptive daydreaming and became addicted to fictional characters, ignoring the people around her, including her own family.
She was having a particularly terrible day. Her father had just reminded her, in his oh-so-kind way, that she was a waste of space. He had pointed out how her cousins were earning big salaries, getting married, and leading happy lives. Meanwhile, she was struggling to complete the course she had begged her parents to allow her to take.
It wasn't as if she hadn't tried to make it on her own. She had suffered in an office job that she hated with all her heart. When she asked her parents to pay for a course extension so that she could complete a project that she had been neglecting in favour of kdramas and fanfics, they refused.
She felt helpless, trapped in a never-ending cycle of wanting to break free from her coping mechanisms only to be pulled back in by stress. Her parents' taunts, which ranged from passive-aggressive to outright mocking and cussing, were slowly poisoning her from the inside.
"God, please save me, I don't think I can do this anymore," Lavanya begged, feeling overwhelmed by her situation.
It was at times like these that she was grateful to have a friend like Amy. She had shared her struggles with Amy, and while Amy couldn't solve her problems, she provided a listening ear and a shoulder to cry on.
"You're a walking trauma, Lav," Amy had once said, trying to offer some perspective. "It's truly a miracle that you've got a semblance of a functional adult," Amy had added with a wry smile.
