Gemotions

The coffee cup trembled in her hand, the hot liquid sloshing dangerously close to the rim. "The Research and Development team?" she murmured to herself, the words tasting like ash in her mouth. She'd spent a decade in Human Resources, a department she understood intimately, with its predictable rhythms and well-defined procedures. R&D was a black box.

She felt a strange fluttering in her chest, a nervous energy she usually reserved for public speaking engagements. The office, usually a familiar and comfortable space, felt alien, the conversations around her buzzing with unknown jargon. She walked over to her cubicle, the same one she had used for the last 10 years, and slowly sat down.