he crowd toward my booth. She walked with a practi

into a mask of sorrow. Her eyes, exper

o sorry about all this. My own project... it just completely fell apart.

o touch my arm, b

orward, placing a protecti

pointment aimed squarely at me. "She' s been through a lo

om under her lashes, a pi

atching. "I've followed your dev logs for years. You' re a geniu

felt like poison. You' re right, you couldn' t, I thought, m

lower lip trembling. "He said you understood that this was a

pression a mixture of concern and something else, something softer. Something I hadn'

o my demo," I said, m

aptop. A young couple had wandered over, looking curious. I

ecting stars to form constellatio

again for the next hour as different people stopped by. Each time I repeated the words, the pain in my chest

n my lap to hide it. I could feel a cold sweat on my forehead, but I didn

e. He stayed with Sophia, guiding her from one interview to the next, fetching her wat

not t

ion lights. He didn't see me at all. I was just a part of the background now, the silent, invisible creator of the world h