23/01/2026
Good afternoon ma,
please I need your sincere advice.
The proposal was beautiful.
Family members were there. Friends screamed. Phones were out. Pictures everywhere.
Everyone kept saying, “Finally!”
I smiled. I laughed. I even cried small.
But ma… that same night, when we were finally alone, something shifted inside me.
As I lay on the bed staring at the ring on my finger, fear entered my heart.
Not excitement. Not peace. Fear.
All the things I had been pushing to the back of my mind suddenly came rushing forward.
His temper, how small issues become big arguments.
His controlling nature, how he wants to decide what I wear, where I go, who I talk to.
How I am always the one apologizing, even when I know I did nothing wrong.
I remembered the times I told myself, “It’s just stress.”
The times I said, “Marriage will calm him down.”
The times I convinced myself that love means endurance.
Ma, that night I couldn’t sleep.
Everyone was celebrating my engagement, but my heart was heavy.
Now I keep asking myself one question that refuses to leave my mind:
What if marriage doesn’t change anything… and I’m walking into something I already see clearly?
Ma please, tell me the truth.
Is love supposed to come with this much fear?