Micro Expressions Concealed Delight

the prompt

0-5s — Concealed delight: She turns her head away, chin dipping slightly. The smile muscles release in a 0.1-second drop, pulling the smile fully back inside — leaving only a 1mm curve at the corner of her mouth, a faint parenthesis. Pupils contract by half a stop. A quiet brightness rises in her eyes, half a degree at most. The visible white of her eyes stays perfectly constant throughout. To anyone else, nothing has changed; only the person across from her can catch that flicker of hidden joy. No tears.

5-7s — A flash of hurt: At exactly 5s, a thin flush blooms within 1mm of the lower lash line, near the tear gland — never spreading into the white. Her iris loses focus for 0.3 seconds. She lifts her head quickly to the left, gaze still pinned to the other person's face, but her eyes go blank and adrift for an instant. 0.2 seconds later, her upper lip jumps once, involuntarily. A slight press of the lips — and the hurt that just surged up is barely forced back down. The entire beat is pure reflex, nothing but the eye muscles firing. No tears.

7-11.5s — Sinking into thought: She slowly turns her head back and lowers it, gaze settling once more on the center of the scarf. The upper eyelids descend at an even speed, covering 35% of the iris; the visible white shrinks by a third. Her lashes tremble lightly, three times, once per second. At 9.2s, in the half-closed moment, a 1mm sliver of eye remains open, two lashes resting against the lid. She does not blink once. The iris is fully unfocused, fixed on nothing — her attention has left the frame entirely. At 10s, her lower teeth graze the inside of her lower lip, pressing a 0.5mm crease for 0.3 seconds — quietly biting down on the hurt that never quite faded. No tears.