Gemotions

He ran a hand through his already disheveled hair, the strands catching on his calloused fingers. The sleek, modern office felt stifling after the phone call. His father, a man of few words, had finally revealed the secret. A half-brother.

The world seemed to shrink around him. He felt as if his shoulders were permanently hunched, his gaze fixed downward. He found himself staring at his shoes. His neatly polished shoes suddenly felt clumsy and irrelevant.

He kept replaying the conversation in his head, trying to extract clues, nuances. The feeling of being scrutinized intensified every time he thought about it. The new brother seemed to be everything he wasn't. Successful. Charming. The words tasted like ash.