By the time the sunlight had fully reached the floors of the boutique, I could feel the pressure of the day beginning to settle against my chest like a weight I had already agreed to carry. Not because I wanted to, but because it was mine. It belonged to me in a way that was no longer avoidable.

The article had shifted something. Not just outside, not just in the public conversation, but inside us. Inside me. It was no longer about silence or waiting or reacting. There was a current now, ...