Gemotions

He saw the small, battered notebook on the coffee table. He knew what was inside it. His partner, Maria, had been secretly studying German. He felt a surge of cold fury.

He picked up the notebook, flipping through the pages, each meticulously written word a fresh stab. He felt a sudden, fierce desire to rip the pages from the binding, to destroy the evidence of her secret life.

Instead, he flung the notebook across the room, watching it skitter across the wooden floor. The silence that followed was thick, heavy, filled with an unspoken animosity that seemed to permeate the air.