A/N: The image above does not belong to me. It belongs to the person who uploaded it on the internet.

Max's POV

The moment I got off work I sent a text to Tul.

Hey babe I just got off work. Do you want me to buy dinner from your favorite Korean restaurant?

No response.

Oh and btw you didn't pick up my midday calls. What's up with you babe?

Again no response.

I decided to give him a call. My call went to his voice mail after several rings.

Maybe he was still at work, or maybe he was on the road and could not pick up my calls or respond to my text messages.

I decided against going to the Korean restaurant to buy dinner for both of us. He just might be tired of Korean food this time. Maybe I should buy something different.

Yeah, there was this newly opened restaurant that offered an international menu. They offered dishes from all over the world including our own Thai dishes. That was why the restaurant was called Magnolia Fusion.

From outside the restaurant the management had already posted images of their enticing offers from different countries. There were offers of Vietnamese, French, Italian, Korean, Philippine, Peruvian, Mexican, Argentinian, Indian and of course Thai dishes.

I decided to be adventurous and try the Peruvian menu. They looked appetizing anyway.

I stepped inside with a light heart which plummeted to the soles of my feet when I saw Tul sitting at a table at the far corner. I recognized the face of the lady on whose plate he was placing the pieces of meat that he had cut up for her.  Pim... Pim, the childhood friend who would have been his wife today had she and her parents not "gotten killed "  in a car crash.

My first instinct was to approach him and grab him by the collar and pin him to the wall and give him a hard blow to his solar plexus.

But then again I did not want to cause any commotion in a public place. I would only end up getting thrown out of the establishment by the security staff.

A uniformed waiter approached me. I waved him away saying that I had changed my mind.

I went back to my car in the parking lot of the restaurant. I knew what I was going to do next as I slid behind the wheel of my car.

My hands were trembling so much in anger that I could hardly maneuver the wheel steadily.

After I parked my car in the basement of our condo, I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone.

Our receptionist Debbie picked up my call on the first ring. I felt a bit guilty taking advantage of her. She was a very kind soul and she had shown me several indications that she was interested in me. Actually she was a very attractive person. Maybe if I was not committed to Tul and maybe if she did not wear that strong atrocious smelling perfume I probably would have been tempted to take her out on a date.

"To what do I owe this pleasure of your call?" she asked happily.

"I need your help, Debbie," I said without any preliminaries.

"Oh, what's up, hon, you sound uptight," I heard her say.

"I need a place to stay tonight and until I'm able to find myself a studio to live in," I said.

"Sure, sweetheart," she replied without any hesitation. "I can give you the spare bedroom in my apartment but it's very much smaller than the one I sleep in."

"Beggars can't be choosers," I said tersely. "I will gladly take it. Can you text me your address?"

She did so.

I texted her back my thanks. I also mentioned in my text that I would be there in the next half hour or less.

I quickly gathered whatever, in my agitated state of mind, I could put together in a small duffel bag. I would come back for the rest of my belongings later.

I wrote a carefully worded note on a page of a notebook that was lying on the kitchen counter. That notebook was actually being used by Tul to write ingredients of dishes that he would be cooking for the first time. He would refer to the pages as he went about putting the ingredients of his new dish together.

To my ex-lover  (was  how I started my good bye note):

I guess there is no reason anymore for us to stay together. You have made an important choice in your life and I will respect it.

Do not try to contact me in any way because it would be a waste of your time and energy.

Your ex-lover,

Max

I folded the piece of paper carefully and looked around for the tape dispenser that I knew was lying somewhere in the living room.

I banged my knee against the coffee table as I moved about the living room. My vision was getting blurry because my tears just wouldn't stop falling down my cheeks.

When I found the tape dispenser I cut off a piece of it and taped the piece of paper on the bathroom mirror.

I dropped my duplicate key to our condo unit into the copper bowl at one corner of the kitchen counter. I wasn't going to need it anymore.

And then the thought occurred to me that I might need to come back for something important that belonged to me and he might not be around to open the door for me.

I took back the duplicate key and placed it back in my pocket before heading to the basement parking lot.

I texted Debbie that I was on my way to her apartment. She texted me back asking me to call her when I was in front of her building so that she could come out to meet me.

Debbie's apartment was small but clean and tidy. The spare bedroom was indeed very small. It had just enough space for a single bed and a night table with a set of drawers. The closet was narrow. The full length mirror served as its door.

To her eternal credit, Debbie never tried to fish out information from me about what happened in my personal life. She left me alone, as if sensing that I was too upset and agitated to talk about my personal current events.

Debbie would have been a perfect life partner if not for the fact that I was not emotionally attached to her. And then again, who knows ... she might just grow on me.