The Final Limit of Utility Value
That night, the wall clock had only just pointed to eight o'clock, but for Elena, the remainder of her life was as if it had already stopped. In the living room of the Vance residence, Arthur stood arrogantly while inserting the blue folder containing the divorce papers newly signed by Elena into his briefcase.
"You possess thirty minutes to pack your items and get out of here," Arthur said without even slightly looking at Elena's face. His voice sounded flat, as if he were driving out a stranger who had mistakenly entered his house.
Elena stared at the back of the man whom for these three years she had served with her whole heart. Even though knowing everything would be in vain, there was an extraordinarily deep disappointment demanding to be let out.
"Arthur," called Elena, her voice trembling yet sounding clear in the silent living room. "Three years I endured in this house, withholding all your insults, throwing away my entire self-esteem merely to be a good wife to you. Is there not even a slight sense of humanity in your heart to not throw me out onto the streets like this?"
Arthur stopped his movement for a moment, yet he did not turn around. "I already said it earlier, Elena. This marriage is a mistake. You possess no right to ask for anything from me."
"I am not asking for your wealth, Arthur!" cut Elena, her voice rising withholding the stinging pain in her chest. "I am only asking, where is your conscience? You let Victoria trample upon me, and now you drive me out as if I am a heap of trash dirtying your house. Are all my sacrifices all this time truly of no value at all?"
Victoria who stood beside Arthur snorted lazily. "Enough, Arthur, do not listen to this woman's wailing. She only wants to bring down your morale so that you feel guilty."
Arthur finally turned his head, staring at Elena with his grey eyes that were as cold as ice. "Save your tears, Elena. You knew from the beginning I never wanted you. To me, you are only a part of the past that I must immediately erase. Leave before I ask security to drag you out."
Hearing that answer, Elena formed a bitter smile. Her tears did not even want to come out anymore. She turned around with stiff steps toward the small room near the kitchen—the room she had been using all this time to sleep because Arthur forbade her from entering the main bedroom. There, Elena only inserted several pieces of simple clothes into a small, worn-out suitcase. She did not touch a single piece of jewelry or luxury dress that had once been bought by Arthur's late grandmother for her.
As Elena walked back to the front room pulling her suitcase, Arthur and Victoria were already waiting near the door. Victoria crossed her arms over her chest, staring at Elena's worn suitcase with a mocking smile.
"Good if you know your place not to bring items that are not your right," Victoria sneered curtly.
Arthur opened the front door, exposing the outside sky which had already turned black with raindrops beginning to fall. "From this very second, you are no longer my business, Elena. And my assistant newly sent the document revoking the entirety of Vance Group's investments from the Miller company. Our relationship is completely finished."
Slam!
The front door was closed roughly precisely in front of Elena's face. Elena stood frozen on the terrace of that luxury house for a few moments, withholding her breath which felt suffocating. She pulled her suitcase slowly, penetrating the raindrops which grew increasingly heavy, walking on foot toward the highway to search for a taxi willing to bring her home to the only place she knew: the Miller family house.
One hour later, the taxi stopped in front of the gate of the Miller family residence. The rain outside had already changed into an extraordinarily heavy storm. Elena got down from the taxi with a body beginning to grow wet, dragging her suitcase drawing closer to the door of the house.
However, before Elena chanced to knock on the door, that large door leaf was already opened roughly from the inside. George Miller and Sarah Miller stood there with faces that were crimson red, their breaths rushing due to a peaking anger.
"Damn child! How dare you step your foot here after what you did!" screamed Sarah, her voice shrill overpowering the thundering sound of lightning in the sky.
Elena jolted, holding the handle of her suitcase firmly. "Mother... Father... Arthur drove me out from the house. I possessed no choice but to return home here—"
Slap!
One hard slap from George Miller's hand landed on Elena's left cheek before she chanced to finish her sentence. That jerk was so powerful until making Elena stagger onto the wet terrace floor. Her small suitcase was released, rolling to a corner of the wall.
"Do not call me Father!" snapped George, pointing at Elena's face with a finger trembling due to fury. "You know what newly occurred?! Vance Group newly disconnected the entirety of the fund flow and canceled all contracts with us unilaterally! Our grand project in the eastern region collapsed this very night! The Miller company is on the edge of total bankruptcy due to the piling debts, and that is all because of you!"
Elena held her cheek which felt hot, thumping in pain, and fishy from the blood beginning to come out from the corner of her lips. She looked up, staring at her two adoptive parents with a view of disbelief.
"I already tried to beg Arthur, Father... Mother... but he did not care. He brought Victoria back," chirped Elena, her tears finally falling mixed with the splashes of rain water driving into the terrace. "Please let me enter first... outside is very cold."
"Enter? You want to enter into this house?!" Sarah laughed cynically, a laugh that sounded extraordinarily cruel in Elena's ears. She took steps forward, staring at Elena with a view full of disgust. "You think for what we took you from that squalid orphanage in the past, huh?! Your utility value for this family was only your marriage to Arthur! We let you use the Miller name so that you could become a tool binding funds from the Vance Group! Now after you are divorced and their funds have vanished, you are nothing more than just useless trash to us!"
"Mother, I beg you..." Elena crawled drawing closer, ignoring the pain in her cheek. She held the tip of Sarah's shoe with a trembling hand. "I do not know where else to go... I do not possess anyone in this world besides you. Please do not drive me out..."
Sarah roughly jerked her foot, making Elena's hand release. "Do not touch me with your dirty hand! We are not willing to bear the shame of possessing a failed child who brings a jinx to the family business!"
George stepped forward, took Elena's small suitcase, then threw it with all his strength toward the house yard which was submerged in rain water. That suitcase opened, making several of Elena's simple clothes come out and get soaking wet on top of the soil.
"Get out of here! Starting tonight, your relationship with the Miller family is officially severed. You are no longer a part of us. Whether you die of starvation or rot in the street gutters, we do not care!" shouted George coldly without a burden.
Before Elena chanced to beg again, George pulled Sarah's arm entering inside the house and slammed the front door extraordinarily hard. The sound of the key being turned from the inside sounded so final in Elena's ears.
Elena was unbalanced and fell to a sitting position on top of the wet terrace floor. Her chest felt so suffocated, as if the supply of air around her suddenly vanished. The people whom all this time she considered as protectors turned out to have the heart to trample upon her as cruelly as this.
While hugging her body which trembled heavily in the midst of the onslaught of the night wind and rainstorm, her tears slowly fell. That night, beneath the sky that was pitch black, Elena realized that herself had been truly thrown away to the streets without a remnant. Her life was ruined, and she was at the lowest point in her life.
