They Planned A Party In My Home Without Me Chapter 04

They Planned A Party In My Home Without Me Chapter 04

Before I left, I divided everything in the apartment into three groups.

Mine would come with me.

Ethan’s went into boxes.

The random things the three guys had left behind over the years went outside my door.

They included Ryan’s sneakers, Tyler’s game console, and Ethan’s clothes, which had taken over half the closet.

The building manager called to ask whether all those things were trash.

I said they weren’t.

“Please leave them at the front desk and tell them to come pick them up.”

Ethan sent me a voice message almost immediately.

“You left my clothes with the building manager?”

“I didn’t throw them away. I packed them neatly.”

“Do you have nothing better to do? We’re coming over tonight. Why are you leaving everything outside?”

I looked at the empty half of the closet.

It turned out getting one person’s things out of my life wasn’t as hard as I’d imagined.

A few boxes were all it took.

“I won’t be home tonight.”

Ethan clearly didn’t take me seriously.

“More overtime?”

“Then cook dinner before you go. We’ll heat it up ourselves.”

Ryan sent a grocery list in the group chat too.

[Honey-glazed salmon, barbecue wings, garlic butter shrimp.]

[Mia’s stomach has been bothering her. Don’t make anything spicy.]

Tyler sent a Venmo payment right after.

It was for $20.

[Six people tonight. Grocery money. We’ll settle up later.]

Ethan replied with a laughing emoji.

[Look at Mr. Moneybags.]

They joked around. No one asked what I wanted to eat.

No one asked why I wouldn’t be there.

I declined the Venmo payment and left the group chat.

Seconds later, Ethan messaged me privately.

[Are you twelve?]

[Leaving the group so someone will beg you to come back?]

I blocked his number.

At two that afternoon, my landlord brought prospective tenants to see the apartment.

The new tenants were a young couple who had just gotten married.

The woman saw the kitchen and her eyes lit up.

“This kitchen is huge. I can finally cook for my husband.”

Her husband immediately shook his head.

“No, you cook and I’ll do the dishes. You can’t take care of everything yourself.”

The woman laughed and nudged him.

It was an ordinary sentence.

I stood there for a long time anyway.

Some people understood that cooking a whole tableful of food wasn’t something you could make with a snap of your fingers.

Some people didn’t dump all that work on the person they loved.

After signing the move-out paperwork, I called a moving company.

The driver lifted my heaviest box and asked casually:

“Your boyfriend isn’t coming to see you off?”

“We broke up.”

“Probably for the best.”

He pointed at the truck packed full of my belongings.

“Someone who really cares about you wouldn’t leave you to move all this by yourself.”

I didn’t say anything.

Before getting into the truck, I looked back at the door one last time.

Ethan had said that once we got married, this place would still be my family home.

Ryan had said he could come over for free meals if he ever lost his job.

Tyler had said that even after everyone had kids, we’d all keep living in the same apartment complex.

They’d filled every future with noise and laughter.

The only thing they hadn’t considered was that I might not want to keep taking part in it.

On the way to the station, Mia called me from a different number.

“Lena, don’t get the wrong idea about me and Ethan.”

“Maybe I should move out tonight. I don’t want my situation to hurt your relationship.”

She said she would leave, but her tone sounded as if she were waiting for me to stop her.

I didn’t give her what she wanted.

“Okay.”

“Then move out tonight.”

She choked on the next word.

“But my apartment still isn’t fixed…”

“That’s your problem.”

“Get a hotel, find a new place, or ask those three guys to figure it out. You’re an adult. You can’t wait for other people to take care of you forever.”

Ethan’s voice came from the other end of the call.

“Lena, did you have to say it like that to her?”

“Mia apologized. What more do you want?”

I hung up and blocked this number too.

Before my train pulled out, several texts came in one after another.

Ryan asked if I’d bought the fish.

Tyler asked me to pick up two bottles of soda on the way.

Ethan sent only this:

[Be back by seven.]

[We’ll wait for you this time, okay?]

I checked the time and pressed the power button on my phone.

As the train pulled out of the station, my smart lock sent me an alert.

[The old passcode is no longer valid.]

The door camera immediately sent a live photo.

Ethan stood in front, holding a live fish in a plastic bag.

Ryan and Tyler carried drinks, with Mia behind them.

Six people crowded outside the door, still waiting for me to come home and let them in.

A second later, Ethan lifted his hand and rang the doorbell.

…