Chapter 1

After Mrs. Foster left, they were still huddled around the dining table with a tape measure.

Damon William’s cousin, Sloane Brooks, held out the tape measure, grinning from ear to ear. "Let's upgrade to a six-foot table. That way, all four of us will have plenty of room to spread out, and there’ll be enough space for a pot in the middle."

The living room went quiet for a moment.

Jessica Reed was the first to break into a laugh. "Your math is amazing. Since when is a six-foot table roomy for five people?"

Sloane acted like she had just remembered I was standing there, frantically waving her hands. "I didn't mean it like that. I just meant the four of you... I mean, the five of us."

The more she tried to explain, the redder her face got.

My boyfriend, Asher Anderson, pulled the tape measure out of her grip, his tone casual. "Vivian works late shifts anyway, and she’s never guaranteed to make it back by Sunday dinner. A six-foot table is big enough."

Damon nodded along. "If we’re ever short on seats, we can just grab an extra chair. Not a big deal."

Right. Just grab an extra chair.

When we first rented this apartment, there were only four of us.

Back then, the dining table was built for four.

Asher had complained that it felt too cramped, insisting we upgrade to a six-seater. He said a real home meant that no matter what time you walked through the door, a spot was waiting for you.

The table hadn't even been replaced yet, but my spot had already been demoted to a temporary extra chair.

I didn't say anything. I walked back to my room, pulled out my phone, and checked the lease cancellation form Mrs. Foster had sent.

[Miss Rhodes, your lease for the room expires on October thirty-first.]

[Your deposit will be refunded after the final walkthrough.]

I replied with a simple text: [Sounds good.]

Out in the living room, Sloane gasped in sudden delight. "These mugs are literally the cutest thing ever!"

She had bought a matching set of four coffee mugs.

When you pushed them together side by side, the prints formed a complete picture of a little house.

The orange one was for Asher. The blue one was for Damon. The green one was for Jessica. The pink one was for herself.

When Jessica caught sight of me standing there, she froze. "Sloane didn't realize how many of us live here. Vivian, don't sweat it. You can just use mine."

Sloane instantly pressed her lips into a tight line. "I'm so sorry, Vivian. This is my first time having an actual home, and I saw this set and totally lost control."

Asher washed the pink mug and placed it right in Sloane's hand. "You already bought them. What are you apologizing for?"

As he spoke, he rummaged through the very back of the kitchen cabinet and fished out a chipped glass tumbler, a cheap promotional freebie the company gave out two years ago.

"Vivian doesn't drink that much water anyway. This one works fine."

I stared at the glass in his hand.

Last year, when Asher came down with a hundred-and-four-degree fever, I ran through three blocks in the freezing cold in the middle of the night to get his medicine.

When I got back, I accidentally shattered a glass, and he had pulled me close, promising that as soon as his next paycheck cleared, he would buy me the nicest mug on the market.

Turned out it wasn't a matter of waiting for a paycheck.

He just decided to give that "nicest" thing to someone else later on.

I took the chipped glass from him. "Fine."

Asher visibly relaxed, flashing a grin as he gave my cheek a playful pinch. "I knew you wouldn't make a big deal out of it."

My phone buzzed against my palm.

A message popped up from Isabelle Cross, my director at the after-school center.

[We need a director for our new South Center. Includes a housing allowance and a 40% salary increase.]

[When I asked you before, you said you couldn't bear to leave this neighborhood. Still want to consider it?]

Before today, I really couldn't bear to leave.

I couldn't bear to leave Asher, and I couldn't bear to leave the home we had all scraped together our own money to furnish.

Now, someone else had stepped up to take my place.

I looked down and typed my reply: [Considering it. How soon can I start?]

Isabelle replied instantly: [One week.]

I replied: [Let's do it.]

Sloane was holding up the four mugs, snapping pictures from different angles.

Asher, Damon, and Jessica crowded around her phone, arguing over how to angle the mugs so the house pattern lined up right.

Not a single one of them noticed when I dropped the chipped glass straight into the trash can.

That evening, Sloane posted the photos in our group chat.

The caption read: [Finally have a real home. Four mugs, four shares of love!]

Two minutes later, she edited the caption: [The five of us are going to stay together forever.]

Asher replied: [Such a dork, why did you edit it? Vivian isn't going to overthink a random typo.]

I closed the chat window and dragged the lease cancellation form into my saved folder.

This time, he was right.

I really wasn't going to overthink it.

It was because I wasn't planning on staying anyway.