Five Hearts, One Destiny

They say betrayal feels like a knife. But they never explain how it starts-how it slips in quietly, how it learns the shape of you, how it waits. My name is Maya, and before everything shattered, I was just a girl trying to live a life I could be proud of.
I grew up in a small, sun-warmed house where laughter was louder than arguments. My mother, Rina, always smelled like jasmine tea and fresh laundry. My father, Samuel, had hands rough from work but gentle when they rested on my shoulders. And then there were my brothers-Eli, the responsible one who could silence chaos with a single look, and Kenji, the adventurer who made every day feel like a story waiting to unfold. I loved them. I loved them more than anything.
But love makes you vulnerable.
And vulnerability is what destroys you.