It only took three days for Arthur Vance to finish what he had started since the night of Victoria's return.
That afternoon, the sky outside the window looked cloudy and gray. Elena was standing in the kitchen, staring blankly at a teacup from which a thin steam exhaled, when the sound of arrogant footsteps was heard approaching.
Arthur walked into the dining room, followed by Victoria Belmont behind him. Without uttering even a single word, Arthur threw a thick, dark blue document folder on top of the marble table. The sound of the folder's impact echoed loudly.
"Sign that," Arthur said without small talk. His voice was flat and cold. "That is our divorce papers. I have already asked my lawyer to finish it as quickly as possible."
Elena stared at that blue folder. Not a single tear fell from her eyes as she faced them. Her look was instead empty, staring straight toward the sheet of paper that would end three years of her life. The pain in her chest was so dense to the point of making her eyes feel dry.
"Arthur..." Elena finally voiced, staring at her husband with an erected voice, though it felt hollow. "Why this quickly? Does three years of our marriage possess not even the slightest meaning to you?"
Arthur snorted cynically, folding both of his arms across his chest. "Do not act as if you are shocked, Elena. This marriage from the beginning was a mistake. I am not giving a single penny of marital assets. Besides, your family has already obtained plenty of profits from me!"
"Profits?" Elena repeated that word with a forced bitter smile. "Then what about the remainder of my life? During these three years I always obeyed all of your wishes. I looked after this house, I withheld all my ego, I tried to be a good wife to you even when you ignored me. Why do you have the heart to treat me like trash?"
Victoria stepped forward a step, throwing a thin smile full of triumph. "Oh, Elena. Do not be naive. You are only a replacement wife because of a ridiculous will. Arthur never loved you. Hurry up and sign, do not waste Arthur's valuable time."
Elena ignored Victoria. Her eyes were still pointed at Arthur, demanding an answer from the man whom all this time she had served with her whole heart. "Arthur, say something. Are all my sacrifices all this time truly of no value in your eyes?"
"You came to this house without bringing anything, so you also must leave without bringing anything," answered Arthur cruelly without hesitation. "Victoria and I will immediately formalize our relationship next month, and I do not want any past matters hindering my way."
Elena stared at Arthur who stood sturdily in front of her. That very second, a bitter awareness hit her mind.
'Everything is in vain. All my struggles to touch his heart, all my patience facing his cold attitude during these three years... never possessed a meaning. He is not a rigid man or one unable to cherish. He was only waiting. He was only keeping watch to see Victoria return. And I am merely a heap of stumbling stone currently ready to be kicked out by him.'
That extraordinarily deep feeling of heartbreak instead froze her tears. Elena did not want to show her weakness in front of that woman.
"Quickly take that pen and sign," interjected Victoria while tapping her nails on top of the marble table. "Don't tell me you are deliberately stalling time so that you can extort Arthur for more together with your greedy adoptive family?"
Arthur nodded, agreeing with Victoria's utterance. "The true nature of the Miller family indeed has never changed. Always opportunistic and using you as a tool to dig up profits from my company. Quickly finish this, Elena. My patience has already run out."
Elena lowered her head. With a hand that felt stiff yet certain, Elena took the pen on top of the table. Every scratch of her ink felt like the end of her foolishness. As soon as that signature was finished, Arthur directly snatched the folder without looking at her again, then took steps leaving together with Victoria who laughed contentedly.
Right after the front door closed tightly, the phone inside the pocket of her house dress vibrated very violently. The screen lit up brightly, displaying the name 'Adoptive Mother'.
Elena slid the green button and answered with a weak voice. "Hello, Mother..."
"Elena! Where are you right now?!" screamed Sarah Miller from the other side of the phone, full of a panic mixed with anger. "You must speak to your husband right now! Arthur's assistant newly sent an official email that Vance Group is suspending the entirety of the bailout funds and investments for our eastern region expansion project! What actually did you do in that house until making Arthur furious, huh?!"
Elena drew a short breath that felt suffocating. "Mother... Arthur just divorced me. I... I newly signed it."
"What?! You already signed it?! Are you crazy, Elena?!" Sarah's voice exploded far more hysterically. "The Miller family business is currently on the edge of a horn! Next month's grand project is our last wager! If Arthur withdraws the entirety of his investment right now because of this divorce, our company will be completely ruined and we will go bankrupt!"
"I possessed no choice, Mother... Arthur was the one who forced me," chirped Elena faintly.
"You must possess a choice, foolish child!" snapped Sarah cruelly. "Listen well, Elena! You came to the Miller family house as an orphan from a squalid orphanage! We were the ones who gave you food, bought you clothes, put you through school, and gave this honorable position to you! Now is the time you return the favor for all the money we have spent to raise you!"
"Mother, please... I too am currently ruined right now," Elena cut in faintly, begging for an understanding she would never obtain.
"There is no word of please!" cut Sarah without mercy. "Return to Arthur! Kneel in front of his door! Crawl at his feet if necessary! Beg him to cancel that divorce, or press him to remain the main investor of our grand project! Remember Elena, if you chance to fail doing this and make the Miller company ruined, do not ever dare to step your foot in this house again! You are no longer a part of our family!"
Click.
The phone connection was disconnected unilaterally. Elena lowered her phone slowly, then released it just like that until the object lay on top of the floor.
Both of her knees suddenly turned weak, making her slowly collapse and sit on top of the cold marble floor. Inside that quiet and hollow room, the defense she had built stubbornly since earlier finally collapsed completely.
Elena's chest felt very suffocated, like being struck by a large rock making it difficult for her to breathe. Every exhalation of her breath felt torturous and triggered an extraordinarily intense stinging pain in the pit of her stomach. The beads of tears which since earlier froze on her eyelids now finally broke, dripping one after another passing her pale cheeks, then fell wetting the marble floor.
Elena did not shout, nor did she scream. Her crying broke without a sound, only consisting of a sob restrained in her throat that made her entire shoulders and slender body shake violently on top of the floor.
While hugging her own knees, Elena reflected inside a dense despair. She felt her life had never truly meant anything. Let alone to Arthur or the Miller family, even to herself, her presence felt like a mistake that should not exist in this world.
