Gemotions

He had given her the email at the end of their meeting, a polite, impersonal document. It was as if she were nothing. Now, sitting alone in her cramped apartment, a dark satisfaction prickled through Liam. Dr. Chen’s departure from the university, so suddenly, was a gift. He'd been looking for a way out of the suffocating weight of his PhD.

He poured himself a glass of whiskey, watching the ice clink. The idea of having to find a new advisor filled him with a certain glee. He had a few contacts, sure, but his own area of study was… unorthodox, bordering on the heretical. He could show them Chen's old research and laugh.

He considered the revisions Chen had requested, the ones he'd stubbornly ignored. He had saved them to his hard drive, just in case. Now he could send them, and the new advisor would have no idea. The whiskey tasted sweeter.