The monsoon had softened the town into a watercolor of wet streets and low light. Shop awnings dripped, and the narrow lanes smelled of jasmine and frying bananas. In a small shop that sold second‑hand books, an old sign creaked: P. R. BOOKS. Inside, under a fan that moved lazily like a tired moth, Satheesh rifled through paperbacks until his fingers paused on a slim novel with a cracked spine and a faded photograph on the cover.