Five People Traveled With Four Seats, Then They Panicked When I Left Chapter 09

Five People Traveled With Four Seats, Then They Panicked When I Left Chapter 09

Felix didn’t corner me again. But the messages kept coming every day.

[It’s cold today. Dress warm.]/

[Your stomach’s bad. Don’t live on takeout.]

[Just text me back sometime.]

The words I’d waited so long to hear were finally showing up, one after another.

I didn’t reply to a single one.

On Friday night, Alden called me.

“Just five minutes.”

“Okay.”

For once, he didn’t joke around.

“Sawyer and I went through our old chats.”

“Pretty embarrassing.”

I said nothing.

He gave a self-deprecating laugh.

“Every time you said you wanted to go somewhere, we’d say we’d do it next time.”

“Pearl wanted to go, we went. Same day.”

“On your birthday, you wanted sushi. We ended up going for fondue because that’s what she wanted.”

I paused. I’d almost forgotten that.

Alden went on. “I honestly never noticed before.”

“But looking back now… we were pretty shitty.”

I smiled. “Don’t say that.”

“You’re still defending us?”

“No. It’s just not necessary.”

The line went quiet.

After a while, he asked, “Can you still come back?”

“We’ll do better this time.”

There it was again. We’ll do better.

Like the second they started apologizing, I was supposed to fall back into place.

I leaned against the window.

“Alden.”

“Yeah?”

“If you change, that’s on you.”

“If I stay gone, that’s on me.

He had nothing to say.

After a long silence, he muttered, “Shit.”

“Never thought you’d be this cold.”

I laughed. “Me neither.”

After we hung up, Sawyer sent me a message.

[Don’t listen to him.]

Then he sent another one.

[But he’s right. Same.]

I didn’t reply.

Monday, my proposal got approved.

The lead dropped new project files on my desk.

“You’ll travel next month. That okay?”

I flipped open the first page,

“Yeah.”

“That quick?”

“Yep.”

I used to think I couldn’t leave behind the people and places I knew.

Then I actually left and realized something.

The hardest part was already over. Neither was a new job.

The hardest part was already over.

I’d taken it on that trip.