Chapter 4

She kept texting on her phone, glancing around my place.
"Why's it so empty? Didn't you set up the wedding party decorations?"
"You said keep it simple."
Sophia went quiet, her eyes landing on the countdown at "7".
"Time flies. One more week to the wedding."
I tore off two pages of the countdown calendar. "No. Our wedding is in five days."
The crossed-off wishes on those pages were:
"Ride the Ferris wheel together" and "Watch the sunset from the rooftop."

Sophia barely glanced at them. Her phone buzzed again, and she immediately looked down.

I caught a glimpse of the screen. Daniel's name. A heart emoji.

"Who's that?" I asked, even though I already knew.

"Just work stuff." She tucked the phone away. "Alex, about the wedding venue — I was thinking we could downsize. The big ballroom feels like too much."

Too much. Everything about our relationship was either "too much" or "keep it simple."

"Sure. Whatever you want."

She studied me, a flicker of something crossing her face. Confusion, maybe. She wasn't used to me agreeing so easily.

"You're being weird," she said.

"I'm being agreeable. Isn't that what you always wanted?"

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Her phone buzzed again. This time she didn't even pretend to ignore it.

"I need to take this. It's the office."

She stepped onto the balcony, and I heard her voice drop to a whisper. Soft. Warm. The way she used to talk to me, back when I still mattered.

I pulled another page off the calendar.

"Cook dinner together."

Crossed it off.

While she was on the phone, I quietly moved another box of my things to the car. I'd been doing this for days — a box here, a bag there. By the time the countdown hit zero, this apartment would be as empty as our relationship.

Sophia came back in, her expression complicated.

"Daniel says hi."

I almost laughed. "Tell him I said goodbye."

"What?"

"Nothing. I'm going out. Don't wait up."

I grabbed my jacket and headed for the door. For the first time in ten years, I didn't kiss her cheek on my way out.

She didn't notice.

That night, I drove to our old neighborhood. The house where I grew up, next door to Sophia's family. The swing set where she'd promised to love me forever.

I sat in the car for an hour, watching the empty swing sway in the wind.

Then I drove to the airport and confirmed my flight.

Five days. Five more days, and Alex Chen would no longer exist in Seattle.