SHE NEVER TOOK OFF HER MAKEUP UNTIL HE LOCKED THE DOOR ON THEIR WEDDING NIGHT.

He tried to move toward the door, his body shaking, but his legs were weak from the fall. Still, fear pushed him onward. He reached for the handle.

Nadiraa crawled across the room and clutched at his leg. Her voice broke under the weight of tears.

“Please, Omar, don’t go. Don’t leave me. I can explain. I can explain.”

But Omar’s face showed nothing but horror.

The woman he thought was young, beautiful, untouched by time, now looked older than his own mother.

“How? How is this possible?” he cried, his voice trembling. “What are you?”

She shook her head, still holding him tightly.

“I’m still me. I am Nadiraa. Please don’t look at me like that.”

Her tears dripped onto the floor, and with each tear, more of her mask dissolved. Her true self was appearing—the self she had hidden for decades.

Omar’s hand shook on the door handle. His chest rose and fell quickly. His eyes filled with fear.

But Nadiraa clung to him, her voice cracking.

“Please listen to me before you run. I beg you, Omar. I am still the woman you loved. I am still Nadiraa.”

Omar turned his face away, but her tears and trembling voice forced him to pause.

He sat back down on the floor, clutching his head, whispering, “This cannot be real. You were young. So young and beautiful.”

Nadiraa’s hand trembled as she wiped her wet cheeks, though the gesture only revealed more of her true self—deep lines, loose skin, the marks of a century lived.

She took a deep breath, her voice heavy with pain.

“It started when I was thirty-five,” she said softly. “I was engaged once. I thought I had found love, but he left me for a younger woman.”

Her voice cracked.

“My heart broke, Omar. It shattered me. I could not eat. I could not sleep. I thought I would die.”

“One night, I wandered outside the city, crying like a fool. That is when I met her—an old woman. A witch. She looked into my eyes and said she knew my pain. She offered me a powder. A powder that would keep my youth so no man would ever leave me again.”

Omar’s lips parted in shock. He could not speak.

Nadiraa continued.