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Chapter 5
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The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 31
Before security, my mother wrapped my scarf around my neck again.“Tell us when you land.”“I will.”My father checked my boarding pass.“When are you coming back?”“Around Christmas, maybe. It depends on testing.”“Tell us when you know.”He handed my phone back.“We can visit too.”I hugged them both.After security, I didn’t go straight to the gate.I sat in a coffee shop.There were new messages in the team chat.Someone had posted a wiring photo and asked me to confirm an interface location.Someone else said not to send work on the last day of my vacation.Several people agreed.I enlarged the photo, looked at it, and replied:[We’ll check it together when I’m back. I’m not working today.]A surrendering emoji appeared.Smiling, I put my phone away and finished my coffee.When boarding was announced, I picked up my bag.***Three years later, the new testing facility began operations.The module I was responsible for had finally moved beyond endless revisions and tests.It was a
The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 30
“You don’t have to take it,” Jack said. “I just wanted you to know I kept it.”I looked at the medal.“It was always yours.”He swallowed and closed his hand around it.Ethan held a slim sketchbook.“Not the old one. I’m not asking you to take it. I just…”He couldn’t finish.I could imagine how long they had prepared.What to say.Where to stand.How to look as though they weren’t asking for immediate forgiveness.None of that changed the fact that I didn’t want these things.Claude glanced toward the patio.“Chloe left Boston last year.”I said nothing.“We haven’t spoken in a long time. We also gave the school written statements. Everything that happened. Including what we saw and didn’t stop.”“We didn’t repost the video,” Hunter said quietly. “We gave the original files and statements to the school.”I nodded.“That was your responsibility.”“I know.”Claude’s voice was rough.“I used to think once everything with Chloe was settled, you’d stop being angry.”“Then I thought fixing
The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 29
They were arguing about whether the potatoes needed another five minutes.My mother turned.“What’s funny? Come set the table.”“I’m the person being celebrated.”“Researchers still need to eat.”I washed my hands and took the plates.Roast chicken. Vegetables. Apple pie from my childhood.No one stared at a phone.No one stood up halfway through because another girl needed them more.My mother asked about my colleagues.I told her someone kept the lab plants in better condition than the data.Someone needed exactly the same coffee every morning.Someone had borrowed a digital scale to prove the cafeteria pudding wasn’t sweet enough.My father nearly choked laughing.I laughed too.Then noticed my mother watching.“What?”“Nothing.” She cut a small piece of chicken. “On video calls, you always say work is fine, food is fine, everything’s fine.”My fork stopped.“Am I talking too much now?”“Not enough. Keep going.”So I did.The first field trip, when my gloves were too thick to uncap
The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 28
Ethan handed me an exhibition invitation.“New York. Next month.”I looked at it.He didn’t insist I come.He didn’t ask whether I still liked his designs.“I added your name to the acknowledgments.”“I heard.”“It should have happened sooner.”“Yes.”He looked down.“Thank you for what you did.”I nodded.“That, I’ll accept.”He looked up, surprised.I put the invitation in my document bag.Not a promise.An ordinary invitation.He seemed to understand.He didn’t press.***Hunter stood farthest away.Only after the others had spoken did he approach.“I didn’t photograph you.”I glanced at his camera.“I saw.”“I used to think if something was on film, you could keep it forever.”He gave a small, humorless smile.“Turns out you can’t.”I said nothing.“Do you still take pictures?”“Yes.”“With that camera?”“I still have it. It’s been repaired.”He stared.Perhaps he had imagined I’d thrown away everything connected to the past.“The camera didn’t do anything wrong,” I said.His eyes
The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 27
“Being independent doesn’t mean needing no one,” I continued.“It means choosing who to ask, who to travel with, and when to leave.”The girl nodded and sat down.My mother’s eyes were wet.She smiled at me.***Applause filled the room when the presentation ended.I bowed.When I straightened, the four of them were standing too.For a moment, Claude seemed to have forgotten how to clap.Jack’s eyes were red.Ethan took off his glasses and wiped them.Hunter finally lifted his camera.Then looked at me.Across the room, he raised a hand slightly, asking.I didn’t respond.He waited two seconds.Put the camera down.I turned to hug my colleagues.I didn’t feel triumphant.I didn’t feel regret.I was simply happy.And that happiness belonged entirely to me.***Claude waited at the end of the corridor.Not in the middle of the exit.He didn’t reach out to stop me.He only said my name.“Vivian.”I stopped.Beside me, Nora looked at my face.“Go ahead. I’ll catch up,” I told her.“Want me
The Group Chat Without Me Chapter 26
A row of lockers had been replaced by a display area.I stopped.Nothing dramatic happened.No one rushed out to apologize.The wounds didn’t all tear open at once.I simply remembered.How cold my wet skirt had felt.The sound of the camera hitting the steps.Looking toward the far end of the hall.No one coming.I stood there and slowly breathed out.Then walked outside.***On presentation day, my phone buzzed all morning.Colleagues checking materials.The moderator confirming pronunciation.My mother asking whether I needed comfortable shoes.Backstage, Nora adjusted my microphone cable.“Cold hands?”“A little.”She gave me a hand warmer.“Don’t take it onstage. Leo almost projected the wrapper onto the screen last time.”“That was two years ago,” someone protested nearby.I laughed.Beyond the door, the audience gradually quieted.The host began introducing us.At the side of the stage, I heard my name.Vivian Moretti.Not someone’s girlfriend.Not the girl four boys protected.
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