It is today. Only today, I have decided that I will not leave this place. This lazy Sunday, with its soft, muffled noises and the occasional ‘Saranghae’ spilling from the television—a sound to which no one truly pays attention. It is merely a backdrop, a familiar, breathing comfort.

I chew a piece of sugar-free gum that insists on lingering in my mouth, as if it, too, refuses to go away. No, I am not moving. The world outside may keep spinning its frantic wheel, but here, inside, there is a strange, heavy warmth. There is the dense, silent familiarity of affection, of family.

I am going nowhere. I will curl into the center of this exact moment, into this quiet thicket where everything—for the first and perhaps the last time—is in mute, perfect harmony. Today, for today alone, I choose to stay.

©️ Beatriz Esmer