The lights flickered insistently, casting fleeting shadows on the walls that felt more alive than the people around me. The colors danced in vibrant hues, yet they couldn’t warm the air. Everything in this scene was crafted to evoke joy, yet my chest felt like an empty drawer no one had bothered to fill. I’ve never felt as if I belonged here. Faces came and went, some with smiles that never reached their eyes, others with kind words wrapped in velvet but sharp as knives. I feel like a complete stranger surrounded by people I cannot trust. How many of those glances were genuine attempts to connect? How many were simply pretending because that’s what we’re supposed to do during these festive days? I tried distracting myself with the decorations on the table: the sparkle of glassware, the sweet aroma rising from the dishes, the candles flickering in rhythm with conversations I couldn’t understand or care to. But at its core, everything felt like a theater, and I was merely a spectat...