Gemotions

He didn't quite know what he expected to find when he finally worked up the nerve to snoop through her things, but it wasn't this. A textbook, open to a page filled with Farsi script. Her handwriting, scrawled across the margins, translating words, practicing phrases. He felt his face flush with a heat that started in his neck and spread upwards.

A bitter taste filled his mouth. He slammed the book shut, the sound echoing in the silent room. He didn’t understand her. He hadn’t thought he needed to. He felt a sudden, urgent need to leave, to put distance between himself and this revelation.