Gemotions

The antique bookstore, with its scent of old paper and vanished lives, had been a welcome escape from the suffocating pressure of her family. Sarah, a lawyer by trade, had found solace in the quiet rituals of browsing. This particular find, a first edition of *Pride and Prejudice*, felt like a treasure. Until she opened the cover.

A crisp, meticulously folded letter, written in a delicate hand, fell into her lap. It was a proposal, penned decades ago, filled with flowery language and declarations of undying affection. She considered the words, then the life they represented, so different from her own. Then, she thought of her own empty evenings, the hours spent alone, the phone calls that never came.

Sarah felt a tightness in her chest, a knot she couldn't untangle. How dare this stranger find happiness and put it in a book, she thought. She traced the lines of the letter with a fingertip. Then, with a sudden movement, she crumpled the paper, throwing it carelessly back in the book, then slammed the cover shut.