Gemotions

The coffee cup trembled in Emily's grasp, the lukewarm liquid sloshing precariously close to the rim. It was a simple question: "So, how’s the new guy doing?" Her boss’s casual query shattered the fragile calm Emily had tried to maintain all morning. She’d been carefully pretending everything was normal. The truth, revealed during a lunch break gossip session, had felt like a punch to the gut. The casual way her boss had mentioned his salary – higher than hers – made her teeth grind. The world seemed to shrink around her, the office murmurs morphing into a mocking echo.