Chapter 1The Fifth Chair

It was the final Thanksgiving before our college graduation, and my boyfriend’s custom-ordered pie box finally arrived for our friend group.

The velvet-lined box had exactly four compartments. In each compartment sat a miniature pie, beautifully baked with a name etched into the crust.

My older brother, Liam.

My childhood best friend, Mason.

My boyfriend, Ethan.

And my younger adopted sister, Chloe.

Four names. Perfectly arranged.

Mine was the only one missing.

Everyone’s eyes immediately darted to Ethan. He rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged casually.

"The custom box only had four slots. Maya doesn't really like sweets anyway, so I just didn't get one for her."

"Besides, it's just pie. She’s never cared about this kind of stuff."

Liam, ever the older brother, chimed in to smooth things over:

"Come on, you two have been dating for three years. What's his is yours, right? Just share Ethan's."

I swallowed the heavy, suffocating lump in my throat, just like I always did, and offered a quiet, "Okay."

I honestly thought the holiday lantern festival that night would be different. I thought there was no way they could leave me out again.

But after sitting alone in the living room for half an hour, I finally checked social media and realized they had already left without me.

I called an Uber and went downtown by myself.

At the very end of the crowded festival street, I saw them. All four of them were huddled together under a canopy of lights, taking a group selfie. Not a single one of them had even thought to call me.

I stood alone in the shadows, and suddenly, the last few years flashed before my eyes.

When all five of us went to the movies, my ticket was always the one isolated in the back row.

When we were all supposed to take the LSAT prep course together, I was the only one who was completely kept in the dark about the registration deadline.

It wasn't that there just "happened" to be a shortage of space or time.

It was that whenever someone had to be excluded, I was always, unequivocally, their first choice to cut.

If a heart is already perfectly divided into four pieces, there's no point in trying to force a fifth piece into the puzzle.

* * *

I didn't walk into the canopy of lights.

Just as I turned around, I heard Chloe's bright laugh echoing behind me.

"Ethan, you blinked! Take another one!"

Ethan laughed and obliged.

No one noticed I had walked away.

On the drive back to campus, Mason suddenly pulled us all into a small, boutique gift shop.

When the owner saw him, he immediately reached under the counter and pulled out a velvet display case.

"Your custom bookmarks are ready."

Lined up inside were four exquisite, silver maple-leaf bookmarks.

Each one had a small, colored glass bead dangling from the bottom, with a name and a graduation quote engraved on the back.

Liam's read: A Bright Future.

Mason's read: Dreams Realized.

Ethan's read: A Smooth Journey.

Chloe's read: Joy Always.

None for me.

The owner counted them twice, looking incredibly awkward.

"Wait, weren't there five of you?"

Mason froze for a second, then pushed his glasses up his nose.

"When I placed the order, Chloe just happened to be sitting right next to me."

"I'll order Maya's next time."

Chloe gripped her silver leaf tightly, her voice small and delicate.

"Maya... do you want mine?"

She barely extended her hand before Liam immediately pressed it back down.

"It has your name engraved on it. It's useless to her."

Ethan laughed and affectionately ruffled Chloe's hair.

"She doesn't like little trinkets like this anyway. Just keep it."

It's true that I didn't care for useless knick-knacks.

But the ticket stubs from our very first dates, the paper cranes he used to fold for me in class—I had meticulously saved every single one of them in my memory box.

It wasn't that I didn't like gifts.

It was just that whenever I was forgotten, they justified it by telling themselves I didn't care.

When we stepped out of the shop, the night air had turned freezing.

Liam popped the trunk of his car and pulled out four identical, lightweight windbreakers.

They were branded merch from the corporate firm where he had just finished his internship, each with a different colored logo on the chest.

He handed one to Mason, tossed one to Ethan, and personally draped one over Chloe's shoulders.

The final jacket, he put on himself.

I stood by the car, shivering in the cold.

Liam zipped his jacket all the way up before he finally seemed to remember I was there.

"You never used to get cold, right?"

"I remember when we were kids, you'd run outside in the dead of winter in your pajamas."

Ethan reached out and touched my hand.

"You are a little cold."

He said the words, but he didn't take off his jacket. He simply wrapped my hand in his.

"Just hold out for a few more minutes. We'll be back at the dorms soon."

His hand was warm.

But for the very first time, that warmth didn't make me feel loved.

I finally realized how effortless 'caring' could be.

As long as you ask the question, you've done your duty. No actual effort required.

When we finally got back to the dorms, Chloe pulled out the polaroids she had taken that night.

She excitedly handed them out.

"These are the four best shots of the night! Exactly one for each of us!"

Liam's photo was of him adjusting Chloe's hairpin.

Mason's was of him and Chloe playing a carnival game by the river.

Ethan's was of him standing directly behind Chloe, holding a paper lantern over her head.

And Chloe's photo was of her smiling at the camera, while the other three guys looked at her.

They huddled together, laughing and debating whose expression was the funniest.

I stood under the dull glow of the streetlamp, my hands completely empty.

It wasn't until the photos were all distributed that Chloe finally looked at me, hesitating.

"Maya... the film cartridge ran out right before we got to you tonight."

"I'll bring an extra pack next time, I promise I'll get a picture of you."

I nodded.

"Okay."

Ethan seemed to notice how incredibly quiet I was. He reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Are you upset again?"

"It's literally just a piece of film. Is it really that serious?"

I gently pulled my arm out of his grip.

"I'm not upset. I'm just tired."

When I got upstairs, I stood by my dorm window for a very long time.

The four of them were still hanging out downstairs.

I watched them stack the four silver bookmarks together, snap a photo, and send it to our group chat.

The caption read: [Graduating soon, but we'll never be apart. Forever.]

I didn't 'heart' the message.

Instead, I opened an email I had received earlier that afternoon.

It was an offer from a tech firm in Seattle. They had asked me three separate times if I was willing to join their core development team early.

The first two times, I politely declined, claiming I was too busy with graduation prep.

The truth was, Ethan had told me he couldn't handle a long-distance relationship.

My brother had told me that family should always stay in the same city.

And Mason had analytically broken down why staying close to our support system was better than any out-of-state opportunity.

But tonight, I clicked 'Reply' and typed a single sentence.

[I accept the offer for early onboarding.]

Less than ten minutes later, HR replied.

[Your corporate housing is secured. Please report to the Seattle office in exactly three days.]

Three days.

Exactly enough time to surgically remove myself from their lives forever.