Chapter 3

On the third day of their trip to the snowy mountains, Millie posted a video from their graduation trip.

In the footage, the four of them were dressed in matching ski jackets, laughing and chasing each other around at the foot of the mountain.

Marcus carried her backpack, and Ryan crouched down to tie her shoelaces. When the wind nearly knocked her off balance, Julian reached out and pulled her into his arms.

At the end of the video, Millie smiled at the camera.

“From high school to college, I’m so lucky we’ve stayed the best of friends—the four of us."

Someone in the comments asked if the person filming was their fifth friend.

Millie replied: [There’s no fifth person. It’s always been the four of us.]

I stared at the comment for a few seconds before closing the app.

Ten minutes later, the video was deleted.

Julian called me. “Did you see the video?”

“I did.”

“Millie messed up the caption. She meant to write five people, but since you didn’t come, she changed it to four at the last minute so that people wouldn’t get confused.”

His explanation came so smoothly that it sounded rehearsed.

“Got it.”

Suddenly, I heard a scream from the other end of the line, then came the sound of hurried footsteps.

Julian hurriedly said, “I have to go,” and hung up before I could respond.

Not long after, our group chat exploded.

Millie had taken the wrong step while taking photos and slid down a snowy slope, badly twisting her ankle. She needed to end the trip early.

Marcus asked why I was not answering my phone while Ryan was telling me to find the earliest flight home.

I stared at the messages, completely baffled.

[You’re already at the airport. Can’t you look it up yourself?]

Marcus quickly sent a voice message, “You always handled this stuff before! Millie’s in so much pain that she won’t stop crying. How are we supposed to worry about flights right now?”

They only remembered me when they needed someone to clean up a mess.

Every time the five of us went somewhere, I was the one who booked the tickets, organized everyone’s passports, planned the itinerary, and packed the medicine.

They were used to enjoying how thoroughly I took care of everything. They just never thought of it as something I was doing for them.

I closed the chat without looking up a single flight.

Half an hour later, my mother pushed open my bedroom door. “Millie got hurt. How can you just sit here like nothing happened?”

She held her phone out to me. On the screen was a photo of Millie’s swollen, bruised ankle.

“They’ve already taken her to the hospital. Start clearing your room.”

I was startled for a moment. “Clear my room?”

“Millie’s badly hurt. Her room at home is upstairs, and no one will be around to take care of her. Your room is on the ground floor, so let her stay here for a couple of months.”

She said it as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, never once considering that I might refuse.

“Then where am I supposed to sleep?”

“Isn’t there a folding bed in the study? Besides, you’re about to start college here. You’ll be staying on campus most of the time anyway. Don’t be so petty.”

Yes, I was about to start college. That was the reason my room could be given away to someone else.

I was silent for a moment before getting up and opening my closet.

My mother nodded approvingly. “That’s more like it. Millie’s always been in poor health. You need to be more understanding.”

I did not bother explaining. I simply folded my clothes one by one and packed them into my suitcase. By the time I filled three suitcases, half the room was empty.

When my mother came back in, she finally realized something was off. “Why did you pack up everything?”

“I’ll need it for college.”

“You’re going to college here. Do you really need to take all that?”

I zipped up the last suitcase. “I’m just getting everything organized ahead of time. Saves me the trouble later.”

She gave me a suspicious look but soon turned the conversation back to Millie.

“Are you sure you’ll get into that local college? Millie’s score is lower than yours, but she’s confident she’ll get in. If you don’t make it, don’t come crying to me.”

I smiled. She had no idea what score I had gotten.

Just like the three boys who had grown up with me, my mother had never bothered to ask.

From the day our scores came out to the day we submitted our applications, their attention had always been on Millie.

If she scored one point higher, they cheered for her. If she scored one point lower, they scrambled to find a backup plan.

The only thing anyone had ever asked me was when Julian said, “You should be able to stay here with us, right?”

…

That evening, they finally came home.

The three boys took turns carrying Millie inside.

Marcus carried her luggage, Ryan brought her medication, and Julian carefully supported her injured foot.

They carried her straight into my bedroom.

My mother had already changed the sheets, and she brought Millie a plate of freshly cut mangoes. “Make yourself comfortable, Millie. Hailey’s starting college soon anyway. This room would just sit empty.”

No one noticed that every photo of me had been taken down from the walls.

No one noticed the three suitcases beside the bed either. They held all of my belongings in this home.