Chapter 2

The next day happened to be our five-year anniversary.

I didn't remind him.

I just wanted to see if, beyond Chloe, he could remember that he had a girlfriend of five years standing right beside him.

Our schedule for the day was a mountain summit cable car ride and an anniversary dinner I had reserved a month in advance.

Each cable car cabin only seated two people.

The original plan was for Ethan and me to take one, Lucas and Julian to take the second, and Chloe to ride alone in the third.

At the entrance, Chloe looked down through the glass floor at the valley below, her face turning pale.

"I'm terrified of heights."

"I really can't go up alone."

Without asking me, Ethan slipped my two-person ticket out of my hand.

"I'll go with her."

"You take the next one. It's only a few minutes apart."

I looked at him. "Lucas or Julian could go with her. Why does it have to be you?"

His tone grew instantly irritated.

"I'm the one she trusts right now."

"You have no problem traveling alone to foreign cities, but she shakes just sitting in a cable car."

"Why do you always have to compete with her?"

Chloe clutched his sleeve and stepped into the car with him.

Lucas and Julian took the next one.

When it was my turn, the staff told me single riders had to wait for the next dispatch cycle.

I waited alone at the foot of the mountain for nearly an hour.

By the time I reached the mountaintop restaurant, Ethan and Chloe were already seated at the window table I had reserved.

Chloe had felt nauseous from the ride.

So Ethan gave her my seat to rest.

On the table sat the anniversary cake I had ordered.

When the server brought it out, the words were piped clearly in frosting:

[Happy 5th Anniversary, Nora & Ethan.]

Seeing those words, Ethan's face froze.

He finally remembered what day it was.

Chloe stood up at once.

"I didn't know this was your anniversary dinner."

"I'll give the seat back to Nora."

Ethan gently pushed her back down into the chair.

"We're already here. Let's just eat together."

"It's just an anniversary. We can celebrate it every year."

"It's your first time here, and you were terrified on the cable car today."

He cut the cake.

He handed the very first slice to Chloe.

Sitting in the spare seat, I lost all desire to argue.

In Ethan's eyes, I always had "later."

So the cable car, the seat, and the anniversary could all be handed over to Chloe first today.

After dinner, I went back to the front desk, asking to cancel the living room cot and book a private room for myself.

The receptionist pulled up the full reservation history.

Only then did I discover that the four-person ocean-view suite wasn't a last-minute change at check-in.

Three days before the trip even started, Ethan and the others had already put down the deposit.

From the very beginning, the guest list had only four names:

Ethan, Chloe, Lucas, and Julian.

At the bottom of the order was a special request note:

[If a fifth companion arrives, a rollaway cot can be added in the living room.]

And the deposit I had paid for the original five-person suite had been applied directly to cover the upgrade fee for their four-person suite.

I took the receipt straight to Ethan.

After reading it, he didn't even deny it.

"Chloe saw pictures of the first hotel beforehand and thought it felt too suffocating."

"If we told you in advance, you definitely wouldn't have agreed to switch."

I pointed at the guest list. "Why isn't my name on here?"

He still treated it like nothing.

"You're my girlfriend. You were supposed to stay with me anyway."

"Chloe lacks security, so we had to guarantee her a room first."

"You're so independent. Does it really matter where you sleep?"

Staring at the phrase "fifth companion," I suddenly laughed.

They hadn't just forgotten to make room for me along the way.

Before we even left, they had already mapped out a vacation strictly for four.

I was merely the afterthought in the notes section, someone who could be tossed into the living room whenever convenient.