I deleted the message.
Not out of anger,
but because my heart
deserves a softer room.

They sent a video
to call me dance monkey,
typed my name
like a punchline.
I said, Stop it,
and when “sorry” came,
I still chose peace
over replay.

This is not overreacting.
This is my quiet no.
My small, sacred shield.

At night,
Mum speaks before sleep,
a few brief words
held between dramas and sighs.
I answer anyway.
Somewhere under the sharpness
there is still a thread,
and I am the one
who keeps it from breaking.

Aidah does not follow back
on TikTok.
The screen stays silent,
and for a moment
it stings.
But my worth
is not a number,
not a notification,
not a blue tick
or a view count.

I am still me
when the world is quiet.

My teeth remember
what my mind cannot say.
Two broken edges,
and counting,
from all the nights
I swallowed pain
until my jaw
took the impact.
My body shouts
what my voice learned
to hide.

Still,
I did not disappear.

There were days
I could have left the story
by my own hand,
could have let the darkness
win its final argument.
But I stayed.

I stayed for the girl
who once believed
teachers loved her
because she tried.
I stayed for the woman
who walks into work
with tired eyes
and still gives her best
between teasing,
noise,
and misunderstandings.

I stayed for the storms
I now dance through,
laughing just enough
to keep the sky from closing.

Progress, not perfection.
Laughter, not surrender.
Boundaries, not bitterness.

Deleting a message.
Unliking a post.
Walking away from a joke
that cuts too deep.
These are not dramas.
These are doors
I choose to close
so my soul
can finally rest.

I am quiet,
but I am not small.
I do not fit the world
that rewards noise,
but I was never built
for their approval.

I was born to shine
in my own soft way,
to carry gold in my tenderness
even when my pockets are empty,
to write poems with the same hands
that once shook
from trying to survive.

Tonight,
I lay down my phone,
my worries,
my bitten thoughts,
and whisper to myself:

I am still here.
I choose to stay.
And that choice alone
is a light
no one can delete. 🌙✨