Gemotions

He’d known, of course, that Dr. Chen was getting offers. Everyone in the department knew. But hearing the official announcement, the pronouncements of his imminent move to Stanford, settled a lightness in David's stomach he hadn’t felt in months. He straightened in his chair, a small smile playing on his lips. The library, previously a suffocating space of silent judgment, suddenly seemed brighter, the spines of the books shimmering. He imagined himself, freed from the constraints, finally pursuing the project that had lived only in his notebooks for so long. Maybe, just maybe, he could make something of himself.