Gemotions

He was singing. She knew the song, a melancholic ballad in her regional dialect. He'd never shown any interest in her background, and she had never pushed. Now, seeing him, hearing him, her throat tightened. He stopped singing, looked up at her, and his eyes searched her face.

Her past was laid bare, her secrets exposed. She felt a sharp, cutting pang of shame, a consequence for her reluctance, her guardedness. The weight of what she hadn’t shared, and the love she’d failed to return, was almost unbearable.