Rasika had always been the quiet, bookish type. At twenty years old, she lived alone in the small flat next to the bustling Sharma household. Her parents had moved to another city for work, leaving her to pursue her final year of college in peace. She was slim, with soft curves that she hid under loose kurtas and dupattas, her large doe-like eyes always cast downward in shyness. The Sharmas were the typical loud, affectionate Indian family—especially Aunty Meena, the dominant matriarch in her mid-forties with a voluptuous figure, sharp tongue, and an uncanny ability to insert herself into everyone's business.

Aunty Meena had taken a special interest in Rasika. "Beta, you're too thin! Kaisi lagti hai tu? (How do you look like this?)" she would scold during their evening chai sessions. "Shaadi ke liye thoda sa healthy banna padega. (You need to get a bit healthy for marriage.)" One day, Aunty Meena pressed a small bottle of capsules into Rasika's hands. "Yeh weight-gain medicine hai, imported. Roz ek le lena, subah khali pet. (This is weight-gain medicine, imported. Take one every day on an empty stomach.)" Rasika, too timid to refuse the forceful aunty, started taking them.