Rain lashed against the skyscraper windows, each drop mirroring the anxiety building in Sarah's chest. This networking event, a gilded cage of ambition, was her last hope. Five months unemployed, her savings dwindling, desperation tugged at her heels.

Spotting Liam across the room, she straightened her smile. Liam, her former colleague, now a rising star at a tech giant. They'd clicked back in the day, shared dreams over takeout lunches. It was time to cash in those "keep in touch" promises.

He was surrounded by a gaggle of investors, a peacock preening with every word. Sarah weaved through the crowd, a lone minnow amidst sharks. When she finally reached him, his eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed.

"Sarah? Didn't expect to see you here," he chuckled, barely masking a wince. Sarah ignored the sting, "Looking for new opportunities," she said, forcing a brightness that betrayed her trembling hands.

"Right, right," Liam mumbled, glancing nervously at his entourage. "Well, the market's tough. Keep your head up, you know!" He patted her shoulder awkwardly, then pivoted back to his admirers, leaving Sarah stranded in the wake of his insincere platitudes.

The rest of the night was a blur of forced conversations and tepid handshakes. Each rejection chipped away at the last vestiges of Sarah's optimism. Exhausted and defeated. As the storm outside subsided, a fragile sliver of sunlight broke through the clouds. Sarah smiled, realising that true networking wasn't about leveraging connections but building bridges – and sometimes, the most rewarding connections were forged not with gilded promises but with genuine human kindness.