Gemotions

The room felt stifling, filled with the aroma of expensive perfume and forced cheer. She watched as Liam moved through the crowd, greeting people with an easy smile. He looked… happy. She clenched her fist. She felt a familiar pressure in her temples. The joy of the wedding felt fake.

She deliberately avoided him, but her eyes kept returning to him. She watched him dance with a woman who was everything she wasn’t – young, carefree, and radiating an energy she had lost long ago. She felt a pang, sharp and sudden, like a physical blow.

She took another sip of wine, the bitterness doing little to numb the feeling in her heart. She excused herself from her table, saying she needed a moment. She felt the need to get as far away from him as possible.