Gemotions

Sweat beaded on Liam’s forehead as he reviewed the code one last time. He felt trapped. The project was his life, his passion. The pressure he felt was almost unbearable. He had thought the grant was locked. Now, it was slipping away.

A shadow fell across his desk. It was Sarah, from the team down the hall. She was holding a flash drive. "Hey, Liam," she said, her voice bright. "Ready to share results? We got approved for the exact same project!"

He stared at the flash drive, his vision blurring. He suddenly felt a need to break something. His carefully constructed world seemed to be cracking. He could only force a weak, “Oh.”