Chapter 2

I freeze.

My parents divorce when I am young. They each build new families.

I become the extra person on both sides, the one who can only sleep in a basement full of storage boxes.

That basement is the shadow I can never shake from my teenage years.

When Adrian and I first get together, he hears that story and his eyes fill with pain.

He promises me that one day, he will buy me a bright apartment where sunlight reaches every corner.

Now he has bought the apartment.

But there is still no place for me in it.

After he says it, his lips press together. He stubs out the cigarette, irritated.

"That's not what I meant."

"I..."

"Let's break up."

Adrian looks up in shock.

"Over a voice assistant?"

"Yes. Over a voice assistant."

The air goes still.

Lily's eyes turn red at once.

"I'm sorry, Adrian. This is all my fault. Delete my voice. Add yours and Nina's. Nina, you and Adrian have been together for seven years. Don't fight because of this. I promise I won't show up in front of you again."

He lowers his voice and comforts her.

"Don't say that. As long as I'm here, there will always be a place for you in this home."

Lily has been my friend for ten years.

At first, she and Adrian cannot stand each other. I am the one who keeps smoothing things over between them until they slowly accept each other.

I do not know when they start getting closer than they should.

I press down the sour ache in my chest and go back to the bedroom to pack.

After three years of living here, all my things fit into one suitcase.

I look like a guest who has been staying too long.

Lily looks more like the woman of this house than I do.

When I finish packing, they are already gone from the living room.

My phone lights up with Lily's message.

"Nina, Adrian is still angry. I'll help calm him down. You know how his temper is. Don't take it personally. I really didn't know about the voice assistant. I always thought everyone could use it..."

I stare at the message and laugh at myself.

Then I block her.

How could she not know?

I complain to her about Ava at least three times.

Every time, she changes the subject and tells me I am too sensitive, that I am making a big deal out of nothing.

Now I know.

They are the only ones who know the truth, and they keep me outside it.

I find a hotel near the office.

There are seven days left before my transfer, and I need to finish handing over my work.

I do not have time to keep fighting with them.

But that night, Adrian calls me.

I hesitate for a while, then answer.

After seven years together, even if we are ending, I still think we should end with some dignity.

The call connects.

Adrian's furious voice comes through at once.