Chapter 4

Everyone jumped at the idea right away, Natalie and Kristen included.

Sure enough, on the first round, Freddy drew the king.

He announced his command. "I order numbers two and five to recreate that classic scene from Titanic!"

The moment he said it, everyone started checking the numbers in their hands.

I opened my palm. Number two.

Natalie, frowning, revealed her card. Number five.

The room erupted, whistles and cheers overlapping each other.

"Rex, this is your moment!"

"Natalie, don't just stand there, give him a hug!"

Pushed and shoved by the crowd, I ended up standing on the coffee table, not sure what to do with my hands or feet.

Natalie was shoved in front of me, her face full of reluctance.

Kristen laughed from the side. "Hurry up, Natalie. Don't keep everyone waiting. Rex, spread your arms."

I stiffly stretched my arms out and shut my eyes, not daring to look at Natalie's expression.

I never got the hug. Instead, a heavy weight slammed into my back.

It was Freddy. Laughing, he wrapped his arms around me from behind and shouted at Natalie, "Look, Natalie, isn't this basically the same thing?"

The second he grabbed me, my foot slipped, and I went crashing backward with no way to catch myself.

I hit the ground hard, the back of my head slamming into the sharp corner of the coffee table. The pain turned my vision black for a second.

The drinks on the table tipped over from the impact, and cold liquid and bits of fruit splashed all over me.

The whole room went silent for a beat.

Then I heard Natalie's laugh, sharp and completely unhidden.

She didn't even glance my way. She just turned to the person next to her and said, "What a buzzkill."

Kristen only frowned. "Rex, how could you be so careless? It's just a game."

Not one person moved to help me up.

Every eye in the room was on Freddy, who'd pushed me and now stood there with reddened eyes, looking wounded.

Natalie pulled him close right away, her voice gentle. "It's fine, it's not your fault. He's the one who couldn't keep his footing."

Pain throbbed at the back of my skull as I lay sprawled on the cold floor, soaked through, utterly humiliated.

I got up off the floor without a word and walked out of that noisy room.

In that moment, all I felt was relief that I'd already sold the house and finished the paperwork to leave the country.

Only three days left before I was gone.

The third day was my birthday.

Maybe Kristen felt guilty about how the karaoke night had gone, because she texted me: [Rex, happy birthday. Seven tonight, the Skyline Room. I booked you the best table. Don't be late.]

Not long after, Natalie sent a message too: [Happy birthday. Freddy didn't mean it last time; don't hold it against him. We'll celebrate with you tonight.]

I looked at both messages and felt nothing at all.

I figured I'd treat it as one last goodbye.

I replied to each with a single "okay."

That evening, I took a cab to the restaurant.

Same window seat as always, the kind that looked out over most of the city skyline at night.

The scene was identical to my last life.

On this exact day, in my last life, I'd sat there wearing the suit she'd bought me while they got called away by Freddy before they'd even ordered.

I waited from seven o'clock until the restaurant was nearly ready to close, and they never came back.

Calls wouldn't go through. Messages went unanswered.

The pitying looks from the other diners and the waitstaff's hesitant, unasked questions made my skin crawl.

Then I saw a photo on a friend's social media feed.

In it, Freddy stood dressed like some kind of prince, laughing as he held a cake, with Natalie and Kristen flanking him on either side, gazing at him like he was something precious.