The question lodged itself in her like a pebble in a shoe. Who, indeed? Demands had been the language of her life: of her childhood with parents who translated love into expectations; of managers who measured worth by output; of lovers who mistook devotion for ownership. She knew how to score performance, negotiate deliverables, and move the pieces on a board with quiet, inexorable force. But she did not know how to be the one who let someone else insist on something for her.

Months later, in a book where she kept things she did not often share, Alura wrote a single sentence under a new date: 26/06/2019 — the day I let someone else be demanding, too.

"You requested early," she replied.