They Planned A Party In My Home Without Me Chapter 01

They Planned A Party In My Home Without Me Chapter 01

We were supposed to have our Independence Day dinner at my apartment.

The three guys I’d grown up with brought nothing but drinks and snacks. Mia said she didn’t know how to cook.

I spent the whole day making twelve dishes, from six that morning until midafternoon.

The moment I set the food on the table, Mia suddenly got a call from her roommate.

“She has nowhere to spend the holiday. Can I invite her over?”

I looked at the little table that only had room for five.

Before I could say anything, Ryan pulled my chair back from the table.

“Didn’t you say you had something to take care of at work? Why don’t you go handle it first?”

Tyler, another one of the guys, laughed along.

“You eat your own cooking every day anyway. One missed meal won’t kill you.”

Mia hurriedly waved her hands.

“Maybe I shouldn’t. I can tell her to order delivery.”

The three of them immediately started talking her into it.

“She’s already downstairs. You can’t turn a guest away.”

My boyfriend, Ethan, packed half the food into a takeout container. It had already gone cold.

“I saved this for you. Heat it up if you get hungry tonight.”

“Don’t make that face. Anyone who didn’t know better would think we were ganging up on you.”

I watched them sit around the dining table I’d bought, eating off the dishes I’d just replaced.

So they knew better than to turn a guest away.

They’d just forgotten that I was the one hosting them in my own apartment.

I took the key to my apartment off Ethan’s key ring.

“Don’t come back tonight.”

This was my home.

I wasn’t the one who should’ve been sent away.

…

The smile vanished from Ethan’s face.

“What does that mean?”

“It means dinner’s over.”

Ryan frowned at me.

“If you kick everyone out now, won’t that make Mia look bad?”

“Then go somewhere else.”

“You already made twelve dishes. Where are we supposed to go?”

Tyler pointed at the food on the table as if he’d caught me being unreasonable.

“Besides, everyone worked all day to make this happen. We finally get to have dinner together, and you’re throwing a fit over one extra guest? Is that really necessary?”

Worked all day?

Ryan had bought two bottles of soda.

Tyler had brought one bag of chips.

Ethan had washed six glasses and broken one of them.

As for Mia, she’d been taking pictures from the couch since she walked in. She’d even asked me where the napkins were.

I didn’t argue. I just picked up my phone.

“There’s a restaurant downstairs with a private room available.”

“I’ll pack up the food for you. Then no one has to be embarrassed.”

Ethan put his hand over my phone.

“Enough. Stop putting on a show.”

“You just think we’re all taking Mia’s side, right? Her roommate’s coming over for the first time. You can make a little room for her.”

The doorbell rang then.

Mia hurried to open the door.

Her roommate, Sophie, walked in holding a cake. She stopped when she saw me.

“Wait. Weren’t you working late tonight? Weren’t you supposed to miss dinner?”

The apartment went completely silent.

I turned to Ethan.

He looked away. Ryan lowered his head and fussed with the drinks, while Tyler pretended he hadn’t heard.

So this hadn’t been a last-minute invitation.

They’d planned it all along.

They just hadn’t told me that there had never been a place for me at this dinner.

Mia went pale.

“Maybe I remembered wrong. Ethan said you might have to work late…”

“You remembered just fine.”

I brought out the takeout containers from the kitchen.

“Since this was the plan all along, don’t change it now.”

Ethan watched me pack up the food, dish by dish, and finally lost his temper.

“Isn’t that enough?”

“We were only afraid you’d read too much into it if we told you ahead of time.”

I snapped the lid onto the last container of glazed ribs.

“Then you don’t have to be afraid anymore.”

“Take your things and get out.”

None of them had ever seen me throw anyone out before.

Ryan’s face darkened as he started to say something, but Ethan stopped him.

Ethan picked up the bags and let out a cold laugh.

“Fine. We’re leaving.”

“Once you calm down, don’t start crying and calling me again.”

The three guys escorted Mia and Sophie out.

Before the door closed, Mia was still looking at me with red-rimmed eyes.

She looked like she was the one being thrown out of her home.

Half an hour later, she posted on social media.

In the photo, four people sat around the coffee table at Ethan’s place, eating the food I’d made.

Sophie wasn’t in the picture.

There was only one caption:

[I’m lucky someone will always give me a home.]

Ethan replied with a red heart.

I didn’t like the post.

He didn’t text me until one in the morning.

[I’m keeping the pots and dishes here for now.]

[Come wash them tomorrow, and make Mia something for her hangover while you’re at it.]