For His Heart

“It’s tradition.”

“It’s disgusting.”

He humors me. Cinnamon, because it’s good for his heart. His tongue tingles against mine as he slips me his gum. I chew it. Pop it. He watches like he might just steal it back.

I glue our gum to a sliver of exposed brick. It shimmers, bright red in a sea of purples, oranges, greens, blues, and yellows painting the market’s gum wall.

“There,” I declare. “We’re immortal.”

The way he smiles stays with me.

He doesn’t. Can’t.

Every year, I visit the wall. Every year, I leave us another layer. Cinnamon. For his heart.

Author’s Note

This story was originally produced for the NYC Midnight 100-word Microfiction Challenge 2025 semi-finals.

It received an Honorable Mention.

The assigned prompts were:

Genre: romance
Action: chewing gum
Word: mark