The air in the cramped, musty apartment hung heavy with the scent of stale ramen and unspoken frustrations. Jeremy, a gaunt figure hunched over a sputtering laptop, scrolled through job listings with a familiar weariness. Each click was a reminder of the endless rejections, the casual dismissals, the sneering faces of those who held power.

His reflection in the dark screen showed eyes that held too much exhaustion for a man still in his twenties, shadowed by years of being overlooked, undermined, and outright mocked. The distant sound of a luxury car purring past outside only served to deepen the quiet despair that had become his constant companion.

“Jeremy?” a soft voice called from the kitchen, breaking the silence. Esmeralda, her face alight with an enduring warmth that defied their surroundings, entered with two steaming mugs. She placed one gently beside him, her touch a rare anchor in his adrift world. “Don’t let them get to you. You are more than they could ever imagine.”