Gemotions

The code scrolled across the screen, a familiar pattern of logic and syntax. Then, my eyes widened. The other screen, displaying his work, showed the exact same code. Line for line. Function for function. I’d spent months on this, refining and perfecting. He had too. The same conclusion, the same solution, the same… everything.

A knot formed in my stomach, a tight, painful twist. I felt a flush of heat rise to my cheeks. My fingers, usually nimble and sure on the keyboard, felt clumsy and awkward. I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to say something, anything.

He let out a strangled laugh, a sound that quickly dissolved into silence. His gaze flickered to me, then back to the screen. He looked like a man who had just seen a ghost.