Gemotions

The sweat on David's palms felt like glue as he scrolled through the online profile. "Senior Software Architect at InnovaTech," it declared. His stomach twisted. He remembered the countless evenings spent helping John with his "coding challenges," the late nights fueled by cheap pizza and shared frustration. John had always struggled.

Now, John was living in a penthouse, driving a sports car, and spewing out jargon about Agile methodologies. David squeezed the phone tighter, the plastic biting into his skin. He imagined the parties, the networking events, the easy flow of cash.

He slammed his fist on the table, making the cheap particleboard vibrate. The picture of John in a perfectly tailored suit looked smug and confident. He wanted to rip the profile down, to expose the fraud, to drag him down into the muck of reality.

He deleted the app. He'd pretend he hadn't seen it, just for a little while.