I Chose To Disappear From Their Lives Chapter 01

I Chose To Disappear From Their Lives Chapter 01

On my birthday, my boyfriend Ethan took the five of us to a theme park.

When we reached the log flume, the ride had four seats across. The four of them stepped over me without a second thought and claimed the front row.

I froze for half a second, said nothing, and quietly took a seat in the second row.

As we plunged down the drop, the three of them shouted, “Lily!” Then they crowded around Lily to keep her from getting splashed.

I tightened my grip on the safety bar. I hadn’t wanted to make a big deal out of it.

But then all three of them suddenly pulled out umbrellas and held them over their heads.

Before I could react, the massive waterfall ahead slammed into me and tore my poncho apart, drenching me from head to toe.

Everything beneath my white T-shirt showed through.

Lily turned around and gasped. “Claire! How come you don’t have an umbrella?”

Ethan exchanged a glance with the other two. None of them said a word.

But I knew. They had forgotten me.

When we went hiking, they left me deep in the mountains and nearly got me killed by wolves.

On a trip, they forgot me on a train and left me lost in a foreign country.

Even when they bought umbrellas, they still forgot me.

A moment later, I stood in the restroom, staring at my soaked clothes and pale face. A bitter smile slowly crossed my lips.

A relationship I had to force myself into was one I should have let go of long ago.

…

When I came out, the four people who had promised to wait for me were already gone.

I didn’t look for them.

I followed the crowd toward the parade route.

Lily stood on the lead float, with the three of them beside her like knights in shining armor.

“I’m so jealous. I heard you have to reserve a spot a month in advance to get up there.”

I heard the little girl beside me say it.

I silently watched the four of them interact. I watched Ethan take Lily’s hand.

A month in advance?

They had forgotten me again.

I looked away, my face blank.

I felt like I belonged to a completely different world from the delighted visitors around me.

When the parade ended, the four of them found me just as I was about to leave.

“Claire, where have you been?”

“Come on. We have a reservation at a restaurant. We’re going to sing you happy birthday!”

Ethan took my hand.

Marcus and Noah nodded in perfect unison. “We’ve been preparing this surprise for ages.”

Lily stepped forward with a smile too.

I stared at them for a moment.

Had they really prepared a surprise for me? Had they actually remembered that today was my birthday?

They pulled me to the restaurant.

The staff stopped us at the door.

“I’m sorry, but you reserved a table for four. We can’t add another chair.”

“You’ll have to wait if you want a larger table.”

I stopped walking.

That brief flicker of hope now made me feel like a complete clown.

Ethan stared blankly. “I counted wrong.”

I gave a silent, crooked smile.

Yes.

The top student in the computer science program couldn’t count to five.

Lily bit her lip in displeasure.

“We’d have to wait? But I’m hungry.”

The three men turned toward me at the same time, hesitation settling in their eyes.

“How about…”

“I’ll leave,” I cut them off and stepped away on my own. “Enjoy dinner.”

Ethan immediately smiled.

He rubbed my head, cupped my face in his hands, and chuckled. “That’s my Claire.”

“Besides, you said you were dieting.”

Marcus and Noah were already leading Lily inside. “Wait for us outside. It won’t take long.”

I watched the four of them laughing and talking inside.

All I could think was…

December in New York was cold enough to reach my bones.

I blinked against the wind stinging my eyes.

I didn’t wait for them. I walked out alone, against the cheerful flow of people.

That hiking trip…

The cable car held four people at a time, and Ethan had conveniently bought exactly four tickets.

They said they’d find someone to pick me up after they reached the bottom.

But I waited and waited.

By the time I heard wolves howling that night, they still hadn’t come back for me.

Park rangers found me and escorted me down the mountain. When I finally got home, they were watching a movie.

“Claire? You just got back?”

“We thought you were upstairs sleeping.”

The confusion on their faces was genuine. They really had forgotten me completely.

Later, during our graduation trip…

They suggested traveling abroad. I didn’t speak the language, and I had a high fever. I hadn’t wanted to go, but they insisted on dragging me along.

They swore they would take good care of me.

Instead, they forgot me on the train at the very first stop in Spain.

Surrounded by a language I couldn’t understand, I panicked. My fever worsened, and I fainted.

By the time they flew home…

They stared in shock when the embassy brought me back.

“Huh? Why are you home? We all thought you were with us.”

I was so easy to overlook.

I could disappear for more than ten days without any of them noticing.

They even kept chattering as they showed me photos of the four of them.

The cold wind scattered the memories, and I called my mother.

“Mom, last time you said that when I turned twenty-four, I could choose whether to stay here or train at one of our overseas branches. Was that right?”

“I’ve made my choice. I’m going abroad.”

I ended the call. Fireworks bloomed brilliantly across the sky.

After the words “Happy Birthday” came the initials of the other four people. Mine, the birthday girl’s, wasn’t there.

I let out a mocking laugh and murmured softly,

“Happy twenty-fourth birthday, Claire Bennett.”