#coffee Mark sat at his desk, a half-empty coffee cup beside him, his computer screen glowing with numbers, images, and half-written notes. He scrolled through his unread messages, eyes skimming over assignments and deadlines that seemed to stretch endlessly. He tried to refocus, moving his mouse to sort through the chaos on his screen, but a flash of red in his peripheral vision made him look up. A girl in a red sweater was searching through her bag, oblivious to his gaze. She wore grey sweatpants and black shoes, her movements distracted, like she was in her own little world. Mark glanced back at his screen, reminding himself he had work to do. But before he could get back into rhythm, the door creaked open, and someone walked in, laughing quietly at something on their phone. The sound felt loud in the otherwise quiet room, and Mark's attention slipped once more. He took a sip of coffee, hoping the caffeine would help him push through the distractions, but it was cold, stale, and did little to shake the fog that settled in his mind. He attempted to refocus, reading the same sentence on his screen over and over. But the sound of shuffling papers, clicking pens, and the faint murmur of conversations outside the door seeped into his thoughts, each noise pulling him further from the task at hand. The steady rhythm of his work had become fractured, like ripples breaking the surface of still water. His thoughts flitted between his screen, the girl in the red sweater, the ticking of the wall clock, the hum of the fluorescent lights above. Each tiny movement, each quiet sound seemed to tug at his attention, fragmenting his concentration into pieces. After a few more minutes of fruitless effort, he sighed, leaned back, and removed his glasses. He rubbed his eyes, feeling the strain behind them from hours of staring at the screen, and let his hands fall into his lap. For a moment, the world around him softened, becoming a blur of shapes and colours, without the sharp edges of details or distractions. In that haze, Mark felt a surprising calm. The room was quiet again, sounds blending into a gentle hum, the colours melting into one another. For just a moment, he felt weightless, disconnected from the endless to-do lists and glowing screens. He took a deep breath, letting the feeling settle over him. And as he opened his eyes and placed his glasses back on, he resolved to hold onto that softness, that moment of quiet, even as the details of the world sharpened back into focus around him.