A Dream That Changed Reema’s Life

Reema was proud of the life she had built. She was an IT tech lead in Pune, respected at work and admired for her dedication. Her husband, Varun, was the Marketing Head in another firm. Together, they were what friends called a “power couple.” They had two beautiful children, Raghav, twelve, and Avni, six, both cheerful and bright.

Life was good, though busy. With demanding jobs, most days blurred between meetings, deadlines, and late-night emails. A caretaker helped manage the children’s daily routines. Reema and Varun did their best to spend time with the kids, but more often than not, conversations happened while glancing at phones or replying to work messages.

The grandparents, Reema’s parents in Ratnagiri and Varun’s in Kolhapur, were deeply involved in the kids’ lives. During vacations, Raghav and Avni would spend weeks with them, learning crafts, listening to stories, cooking traditional dishes, and enjoying the slower pace of coastal life.

This summer was no different. Reema had taken three days off to drop the kids in Kolhapur. They were to stay there for two weeks before traveling with their grandparents to Ratnagiri, where they’d spend the next two weeks. At the end of the month, Reema and Varun would visit both sets of grandparents and bring the children back to Pune.

At first, Reema and Varun enjoyed the quiet in their home. They went out for late-night dinners, caught up with friends, and even felt a sense of relief from the daily parenting grind. But as the days…