My Fiancé Played a Couple-Swap Game, I’m Done Being The Outsider Chapter 07

My Fiancé Played a Couple-Swap Game, I’m Done Being The Outsider Chapter 07

The plane landed.

Dorian didn’t go home-he went straight to my apartment.

The code had been changed.

He knocked for a long time. Finally, the landlord came up from downstairs.

“Looking for Ms. Voss? She moved out yesterday.”

He froze. “Where did she go?”

“No idea. But she left this-said to give it to you if you came.”

He handed him a small box. Light.

Inside were every gift he’d ever given me.

A discontinued watch. A few books. An old sweater.

And the camera he’d bought me in our second year.

He’d said, “You take great photos. From now on, you’ll be the one capturing all five of us.”

I hadn’t caught it then.

Six of us. But he’d said five.

I’d asked, “What about me?”

He’d laughed, ruffled my hair.

“You’re the photographer. And photographers stay behind the lens.”

I believed him.

So for years, I took tens of thousands of photos of them.

Dorian and Lilith messing around.

Their birthdays. Their sunrises together.

Almost none of me.

At the bottom of the box, there was a hard drive.

One folder:

The Outsider

He opened it.

First photo: the five of them at a restaurant.

In the glass reflection, I sat alone at a separate table.

Second: them in matching coats.

Me behind them, holding their jackets.

Third: Dorian and Lilith sharing an umbrella in the rain.

Me across the street, getting soaked so I could get the shot.

Fourth: an untouched birthday cake.

Only one reflection in the mirror.

Fifth: from this trip-the five of them by the sea.

Me holding three bags, my shadow stretched long in the sun.

Below it, I’d written in small text:

Seven years. Still couldn’t find a way in.

His eyes went red.

There was an unfinished video file.

He clicked it.

The wedding invitation process.

My voice came through the speakers.

“This is our seventh year. Dorian always said we’ll never drift apart.”

“So I wanted to leave six seats at the head table.”

In the video, I drew six small avatars-Dorian, Lilith, Ronan, Leander, the other couple, and me.

I arranged us in a circle.

“This time,” I said, “I finally have a seat too.”

He slammed the laptop shut.

But he couldn’t stop her voice from echoing.

She’d saved a seat for me at the head table.

And they’d used seven blank cards to tell her-

there’d never been room for her in the first place.

His phone rang.

It was the wedding planner, who hadn’t been told.

“Mr. Sterling, Ms. Voss’s custom gown arrived.”

“Since the wedding is cancelled, how should we handle it?”

His throat tightened. “Send it to me.”

That afternoon, the dress arrived.

The assistant unzipped the bag. White fabric cascaded down.

Embroidered near the waist were six small stars.

He recognized them-their group symbol.

But the one in the center had been removed.

The assistant explained, “Ms. Voss messaged last night.”

“She said six weren’t needed anymore. She asked us to take out the one that belonged to her.”

“She said five is just right.”

He stood there, unable to speak.