Five Plates, Four Sets Of Cutlery, Zero For Me Chapter 07

Five Plates, Four Sets Of Cutlery, Zero For Me Chapter 07

Megan came to the apartment Sunday morning.

Sadie opened the door.

The others were scattered around the apartment.

Owen was smoking on the balcony, and Dylan was playing a video game.

Evan sat at the dining table, looking miserable.

Natalie’s chat was open on his phone.

He had called Natalie several times the day before. She hadn’t answered once.

“Hi. I’m Natalie’s coworker. I’m here to pack up her things.”

Megan stood in the entryway with a stack of cardboard boxes in her arms.

Owen stared at her.

“Pack up what?”

“Natalie’s things. Didn’t she tell you?”

Megan walked in and headed straight for Natalie’s bedroom.

“She asked me to mail everything she left to New York.”

“New York?”

The four of them said it together.

Megan turned and stared at them.

“You… didn’t know?”

The living room fell silent for a beat.

“She… she didn’t tell us,” Owen said.

He was the first to speak.

“She didn’t?”

Megan stood there, her expression hard to read.

“Was it that she didn’t tell you, or that you never really cared where she was?”

“No wonder she asked me to ship her things.”

“She only said she was going away for work…” Evan said quietly.

Megan laughed, but there was no warmth in it.

“What kind of company sends someone away and never has them come back?”

All four of them went still.

Megan said nothing else. She went into the bedroom and began packing.

There wasn’t a single unnecessary item on the vanity, and there weren’t many clothes left in the closet.

The four of them sat on the couch in silence.

When Megan finished, she carried out two boxes and set them by the door.

“That’s everything. I don’t think I left anything behind.”

Owen stood up.

“Megan, do you know why Natalie suddenly went to New York?”

Megan looked at him, then at everyone in the room.

“She applied for the New York assignment herself last Saturday.”

“I don’t know the exact reason. The application came out of nowhere.”

“But you were her family, her boyfriend, and her friends since childhood.”

“She took more than just clothes for the current season. There was nothing left on her vanity, and not one of you noticed anything was wrong.”

“Why do you think she left?”

After saying that, Megan picked up the boxes and walked out.

The four of them stood in the living room, staring at one another.

“Last Saturday, we…”

Sadie stopped halfway through.

Evan finished for her with a sigh.

“We went hiking to watch the sunrise. We didn’t invite her.”

“Why did you post the pictures? You knew she hadn’t gone.”

Evan’s voice grew sharper.

“I…”

Sadie hesitated, her eyes darting away.

“Evan, are you blaming me?”

“Weren’t you the one who said at dinner Friday that we didn’t have to wait for Nat?”

Evan opened his mouth, but not a single word came out.

“Enough. What good is arguing about it now? She’s already gone.”

Owen finally spoke.

Dylan leaned against the window and stared out, his voice heavy with regret.

“The design concepts were probably the last straw. Not one of us took her side.”

“This time, Nat is really angry.”

Tears clung to Sadie’s face, but no one handed her a tissue.

The living room went completely quiet.

No one dared to speak again.

They had suddenly realized that everyone had their own list of grievances, and none of them could sort it out. None of them was innocent.

Evan’s phone buzzed.

Natalie had sent him a message.

[Evan, let’s break up.]

Before he could process it, a notification appeared in the group chat:

[Nat has left the group chat.]

There had been five of them. Now there were only four.