The Quiet Wife 2

Prologue

Before the silence, there was a voice.

Before the quiet, there was a girl with dreams louder than fear.

I used to write in the margins of my school notes ; dreams, ideas, names of characters I thought I’d bring to life. My future was loud. Messy. Alive.

But somewhere between saying “I do” and “I’m tired,” I stopped hearing myself.

No one asked me to stop dreaming. No one stole my voice.

It was quieter than that.

It happened in small choices:

Letting dinner burn because I got lost in a plot idea, and being met with sighs.

Missing a school open day to finish a short story and feeling like a bad mother.

Swallowing the sting when someone said, “You still write? For what?”

So, I stopped.

I became a wife. A mother. A dutiful woman.

And then, a quiet one.

But this story, this diary, is what happens when a woman decides to hear herself again.

It’s not about rebellion.

It’s about returning.

To paper.

To self.

To the girl who once wrote in the margins.

So if you're reading this, thank you.

Maybe your voice got quiet too.

Maybe this is our way back.

— Ada