Gemotions

The chair squeaked as David leaned back, the sound echoing in the empty office. He stared at Professor Ito. The professor's words – "I'll be leaving at the end of the semester" – seemed to reverberate in David's skull. He unconsciously started tapping his foot, a nervous rhythm.

He didn’t know what to say. His carefully chosen words, his meticulously planned questions, all vanished. He felt like his carefully constructed research was crumbling. He had to say something, but all that came out was a strangled, "Oh."

He picked at a loose thread on his jeans, staring intently at the floor. The world tilted slightly.