All Chapters of She Furnished His Place, I Furnished My Exit: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

Jeff Baxter came out, dressed and ready to go."Let's go, Max. Megan says she's done getting her hair done, and she's waiting for us at the front gate of the complex. She texted you. Did you see?"He sent Megan a voice message while he put his shoes on. "We're heading down now, Megan."Today was Jeff's birthday, and we were going out to dinner that evening.As usual, he drove. Megan opened the passenger door and got right in. "It's still so hot, even this late."Jeff couldn't take his eyes off her. "The perm makes you look even classier. It looks amazing on you."Megan swatted him, her ears turning red. "Oh, stop it."She handed Jeff the drink in her hand and buckled her seatbelt. "New shop just opened. Buy one, get one free.""Thanks, Meg!"Megan scolded him for being cheeky. "Tsk... Show some respect. I'm your senior!"They laughed and bickered without glancing back at me once, as if there wasn't a third person in the car at all.Two years ago, I'd been in a car accident w

Megan and I had been renting our apartment for five years, and the lease was up in two weeks.The floor was covered with half-packed belongings and trash.I didn't bother turning on the lights. I went straight to bed.I woke with a start. It was still dark out, and I smelled cigarette smoke.Megan was sitting in the living room. "Sleep well?" Her voice dripped with sarcasm.She stared at the medical tape on the back of my hand and sneered. "You really went all out on the props. Where are your medical records? Let's see them. Oh, right, I forgot. You can't buy those at a pharmacy."My head felt foggy, and my heart was pounding. The smoke tickled my throat, and I couldn't stop coughing.She'd started smoking after Jeff went abroad.The first time I smelled smoke on her, she said it had rubbed off on her at a dinner with her boss.Later, I caught her smoking downstairs in the middle of the night with five or six cigarette butts at her feet. We had a huge fight and gave each other

Megan and Jeff came back.Max wasn't at the new place.He didn't answer her texts, and his phone wouldn't connect.Megan told Jeff to rest at home and went to the rental by herself.The door was open, and workers were renovating inside.Everything of theirs that hadn't been moved out yet was gone.Her heart sank heavily, as if it would never hit bottom.She called the landlord, who lived in the same complex and arrived within a few minutes."We still have two days left on the lease. Where are our things?"The landlord looked her over. "Your boyfriend set my place on fire. The fire department had to come out. He fell and broke his arm, and he got burned too. You didn't know?"You two seemed like you took good care of the place, kept it clean. I never expected you'd hit me with something like this right at the end."Megan's head rang as though she'd been struck by a sledgehammer."What started the fire...""A cigarette butt lit up a cardboard box. The sofa burned down to the

Megan saw the IV catheter in the back of my hand, and her eyes filled with pain."I'm sorry. I shouldn't have doubted you. I never imagined Jeff would lie, and he was hurt, so I lost my head..."She stopped herself."No, I'm not going to explain or make excuses. It's all my fault. I hurt you and made you miserable."Listening to her gave me a headache. I was so irritated I felt ready to explode. "Megan, enough. We've already broken up. I don't need an apology or a confession from my ex-girlfriend."She shot back immediately, as if on reflex. "No, we didn't break up. You just came to Candra City on a business trip for a year. If you won't come back to Valentia City, I can move here. We can start over."I laughed. Her words contradicted each other.If we never broke up, what was there to start over?"Then I'll say it now. I'm breaking up with you. Happy? We never got the marriage license. I don't need your consent to break up with you. We don't have to sign divorce papers, and