The silence in Elara’s small living room was heavy, not with peace, but with the suffocating weight of questions that had no easy answers. At twenty-eight, she sat curled into the corner of her worn beige sofa, the soft hum of the refrigerator the only sound accompanying her thoughts, a stark contrast to the chaotic, joyous noise her three children made before she tucked them into bed. She was a woman who had spent years sculpting her spirit, listening to sermons on marriage, fasting for clarity, and curating a prayer journal filled with the specific, holy characteristics of the husband she believed God was preparing for her. And yet, the man currently occupying the space in her heart was not the seasoned, protective "Adam" she had envisioned, but Julian - a handsome, tw...