I Got Laid Off And They Celebrated Her Promotion Chapter 09

After I turned them away, they tried to reach me a few more times.

Luke sent my old books and photo albums to my office reception desk.

I asked Emma to collect the package. When I opened it, I found a letter inside.

It was short.

[These belong to you. I’m sending them back. I’m sorry.]

I kept the albums and threw the letter in the trash.

Charlie came by once after that.

He didn’t enter the building. He left a paper bag with the security guard. It held a few books of mine

from college.

I accepted them and asked the receptionist to tell him not to bring me anything else.

She asked whether I wanted her to return the bag.

“No.”

I took the books to my office and didn’t open the bag until after work.

My name was still written on the first page, the ink faded from my college days.

As I flipped through them, I found an old train ticket tucked inside.

It was from the first time we’d taken a trip outside the city together.

I looked at it for a while, then took it out and put the books on the office’s shared bookshelf.

Noah never showed up again.

Sophie called a mutual friend to ask how I was doing.

When the friend told me, I said only, “She doesn’t need to ask anymore.”

Around then, messages appeared regularly in the old group of four.

At first, Sophie asked:

[Are we still getting dinner tonight?]

No one replied.

A few days later, Charlie wrote:

[Stop using this chat to look for Hannah. She’s not coming back.]

Luke answered quickly.

[I know.]

Sophie stared at those two words and couldn’t help asking:

[Are you going to keep looking for her?]

The chat stayed silent for a long time.

Finally, Luke wrote:

[I don’t want to leave it like this.]

Noah finally sent a message.

[What else do you want from her? She already said no.]

That silenced the group completely.

Luke set his phone face down on the table.

A few of my old things still sat in the apartment he’d rented. He’d kept the mint plant in the corner

healthy.

But I was gone. Now he ate alone at that big living room table.

Sophie was the first to move back to her own place.

She left the guest room clean and tidy.

As she was leaving, Luke asked, “Will you come over again?”

She was silent for a few seconds.

“I don’t think so.”

“Because of Hannah?”

“Because of me, too.”

She stood in the doorway with her luggage.

“I got so used to you guys taking care of me that I started treating everyone’s kindness like something I was owed. Now that Hannah’s gone, I don’t even know who to talk to.”

After she left, Charlie and Noah gradually stopped visiting the apartment.

Charlie was busy taking over a new project. Noah sold the car that had so often carried all five of us.

The four remained in the same chat, but they rarely made plans to meet.

Once, Luke asked in the group whether anyone wanted to have dinner that weekend.

Noah didn’t answer until half a day later.

[I’ve been busy lately.]

Charlie saw it and replied only, [Okay.]

Sophie’s profile showed she was online, but she said nothing.

Luke stared at the messages and remembered that I’d always made the dinner reservations.

I knew who couldn’t eat spicy food and who didn’t drink anything cold. I even remembered to ask whether the restaurant had a private room.

All they had to do was wait for me to arrange everything, then show up on time.

Now no one did that for them.

Before, all Sophie had to do was say she wanted dinner, and they’d drop everything to meet her.

Later, she sent several messages and never got an answer.

Luke still walked past my old office now and then.

But he knew that even if he saw me again, I wouldn’t go home with him.