"They say wisdom comes with age — but some of us earned it through silence, pain, and late nights thinking when others slept."
Morning sunlight slipped through the faded curtains, falling across the cracked wall like it was trying to remind me that time still moved — even when I didn't. The room was quiet, too quiet, like the world had pressed pause just to watch me think.
They used to call me Waza.
A name that stuck to me like shadow — cool, mysterious, untouchable. But the truth is, sometimes I didn't even know who that was anymore. Names are easy. Living up to them… that's the real work.
I sat on the edge of my bed, phone in hand, screen black. Notifications gone. No calls, no texts, nothing. Silence.
Some people say silence is peaceful — but when you've lived long enough with it, you start hearing what it hides.
Outside, the city of Velora was already alive — vendors calling out prices, engines coughing to life, and the faint scent of roasted bread drifting through the air.
Velora was never really quiet; it was the kind of place that wore its noise like perfume. People worked, hustled, survived — all under the flickering neon lights of Zauria, a country that never quite found balance between peace and chaos.
But I wasn't thinking about the world out there. Not yet. I was still trying to find peace in here — in the one place that felt like both home and cage.
Mom had told me once, "Don't let the world rush you."
But what if the world wasn't waiting?
I looked at the old notebook on my table — pages filled with half-dreams, random thoughts, and a few things I wasn't ready to say out loud. That book was me, raw and unfiltered. Maybe it was time to write again — not for fame, not for noise, just to understand the mess in my own head.
Because sometimes, silence isn't empty. It's full — of things we're too scared to say.
I stood, stretched, and smiled at my reflection — not the wide smile of someone who had everything figured out, but the quiet grin of someone ready to begin again.
Whatever this new chapter was, it wasn't about being Waza.
It was about becoming wiser.