Gemotions

The dial tone, a monotonous drone, filled the silence after Michael hung up. She had been pretending to sleep. He assumed she was asleep. His back was stiff, his body language tense. She waited.

When he turned, his face was alight. The way he ran a hand through his hair, the way his eyes danced with a secretive joy… It was a stranger she observed. He was transformed. She felt a lightness in her chest, a strange kind of fear.

He began humming. She had a sudden, urgent desire to know who had filled him with this unknown happiness. A desire that was almost painful.