Now that I have been treated like the British Royal Family, the most intimate details of my life made public and paparazzi following me everywhere, I cannot help but wonder why would anyone care. This is the one question everyone who knows me asks when I complain about my stalkers:

"Why would anyone care about you?”

Fair enough. I am but a mere high school teacher. I have had a few very ordinary affairs and have done a few noticeable things that may catch the attention of my near and dear ones, but beyond that, perhaps not. Here I was, a girl from Pakistan, a nobody. Yet, New Yorkers embraced me, and yes, not always in a positive way. Nevertheless, the more my nemesis tries to destroy me, I am forced to face my true self and make peace with it.

I used to think it was my affair with EN, but now I feel it is part of an ongoing spiritual journey. Those who challenge me the most have helped me. I have seen my true self at every turn and twist. Those harrowing nights, a broken soul, days filled with deception, deceit, and extreme panic. An outright attempt to strip every single experience and moment of happiness from my life. To make me feel alone, isolated, and hated by everyone I have ever known. It is a battle not just for my survival but for my sanity, my sense of being, and who I am as a person. So far, I continue to survive. I see not the contempt of people around me, but I see that I have arrived, I am here, I am in the arena, I am fighting, and I belong.

If I had not encountered my nemesis, I would not have seen how I could matter to so many people in this city and beyond. I have come to realize that New York does care, it cares about people like me, it sees me, it sees who I am, and for now, that’s all that matters.