CHAPTER 2: The Return of the Heart's OwneTwo weeks had passed since that gray wedding anniversary night. Time moved slowly, dragging Elena into a gripping, lonely routine inside the grand residence of the Vance family. To her, this luxury house was nothing more than an empty labyrinth confining all her hopes.

That afternoon, the bias of the western sunlight began to penetrate the large glass windows, illuminating fine dust floating around. Elena was kneeling in the living room, cleaning a mahogany wood table with a piece of cloth. The small scratches on the table surface reminded her of her own heart—heavily blemished, wounded, yet forced to keep looking clean from the outside.

Suddenly, the roaring sound of a highly unfamiliar sports car engine rumbled in the front yard. Not long after, a clicking sound from the main door handle was heard, followed by steady footsteps. It was still afternoon, and it was unusual for Arthur to return home this early. Normally, the man would only step foot in the house after midnight, leaving Elena awake in solitude.

Elena placed her cloth down, neatened her simple cotton house dress, and walked toward the front corridor with a racing heart. She hoped that maybe Arthur's mood was good today. Maybe today there was a little room for a normal conversation.

However, Elena's footsteps instantly stopped at the threshold of the living room. The entire supply of air around her seemed to be sucked dry.

Arthur was not alone. Beside her husband stood a woman with platinum blond hair styled very gracefully. The woman wore a Paris designer haute couture dress wrapping her curvaceous body very fashionably. A luxury branded bag hung from her elbow, radiating the aura of a high-class, sophisticated socialite. The woman was Victoria Belmont. Arthur's first love, the woman who went abroad right before their ridiculous matchmaking could be carried out.

"Arthur, you know? This city hasn't changed at all since I left for Paris," Victoria said with a crisp, spoiled voice. Her tone of speaking was so familiar, as if she had never gone anywhere. Very casually, she linked her arm through Arthur's muscular arm, pressing her body close without awkwardness.

Elena was fixed in her place, frozen like a wax statue. Her heart beat rapidly, hammering her chest cavity with a painful sensation that suddenly felt suffocating.

'Why does Arthur let another woman touch him like that? Even during these three years, he always brushed off my hand every time I tried to draw close merely to neaten his tie before he left for work. Why can that woman do it so easily?'

Before Elena chanced to utter even a single word to greet them or rebuke that intimacy, Arthur looked up. His sharp eyes directly collided with Elena's pair of eyes. However, there was something very different today. The grey line of sight that was usually so cold, sharp, and full of hatred every time it looked at Elena suddenly softened. That look changed drastically as Arthur looked down, staring at Victoria's face inside his embrace.

"You only need to accustom yourself to the atmosphere here again, Victoria. I will accompany you around the city this weekend," Arthur said. His voice, which usually boomed full of commands, now sounded so gentle, trembling with a deep tone of attention.

'That voice... so he can speak that gently? A tone of speaking full of warmth and protectiveness like that, I haven't heard even once during three full years of suffering being his wife. Why does destiny feel this cruel to me?'

Hearing Arthur's voice, Victoria then shifted her line of sight from the man and stared straight at Elena. A triumphant smile expanded on her lips painted with bright red lipstick. A flash of mockery was clearly visible in her eyes. With a movement deliberately made slow, she released her link from Arthur's arm, then took steps approaching Elena with a highly artificial, graceful style.

"Oh, Elena. Long time no see," greeted Victoria. Her eyes moved down, staring at the cloth still held tightly by Elena, then shifted to look at Elena's loose and cheap house clothes. "Good to see you are still... as diligent as before. I thought after three years of marriage with Arthur and living in a mansion as luxurious as this, your taste would improve a little. It turns out you still look exactly like a domestic servant."

The sentence slid out so smoothly, yet its impact was like a blade slicing Elena's skin. Elena clenched her hands firmly behind her back, trying to restrain her body from trembling violently in front of this woman.

"What are you doing here, Victoria?" asked Elena, trying hard to keep her voice flat and not broken by the tears suddenly pressing in her throat.

"Victoria just returned from Paris, and she will frequently help me in the Vance Group's grand projects ahead," Arthur was the one who answered. The man took steps forward, cutting the distance, then stood sturdily precisely beside Victoria as if emphasizing where his position was. "And watch your speech, Elena. Victoria is my guest of honor in this house."

Victoria let out a small laugh, a laughing sound that sounded like a mockery in Elena's ears. She covered her mouth with slender fingers adorned with a glittering, expensive diamond ring. "It's all right, Arthur. I understand. Besides, we all know how she managed to be in this luxury house. Married because of an old will from a grandmother who was already dying... truly a grand stroke of luck for an orphanage child, isn't it?"

An extraordinary heat traveled across Elena's cheeks, as if she had just been slapped in public. The humiliation was that blunt, demeaning her lonely, solitary origins. Elena stared at Arthur with a pleading view. She hoped her husband, the man legally bound by marriage vows to her, would rebuke Victoria for trampling upon his own wife's self-esteem inside their house. However, Arthur only stayed silent. His face was bent indifferently, not at all disturbed by the cruel insult launched at Elena.

'Arthur, please speak. Say something for the sake of my self-esteem. I am your wife. How can you let another woman enter our house and treat me like filth right in front of your own eyes?'

A painful silence wrapped the room. Elena drew a long breath, gathering the last remnants of bravery she possessed as the mistress in this house.

"Victoria, please get out of here. This is my marriage," Elena said with an emphasized tone, even though her heart was already crushed to pieces.

"Enough, Elena!" snapped Arthur suddenly. His voice booming like thunder broke the silence, making Elena jolt backward in surprise. The anger on Arthur's face now completely returned, specifically directed at Elena.

"You don't possess even the slightest right to drive Victoria out from here!" continued Arthur with eyes flashing in fury. "You want to know why she is here? Because she is the woman who should have stood beside me from the very beginning! She is the true owner of this house, not you!"

Those cruel words came straight out from Arthur's mouth, sliding without brakes, without caring about how ruined Elena's feelings were upon hearing them. The sentence collapsed the remaining defense fortress that Elena had built with patience all this time.

Arthur stared at Elena with eyes full of a deep flash of annoyance. "Don't ever dream you can replace Victoria's position in my heart, Elena. You must know your place. You are only a temporary replacement wife, a doll I was forced to display. Your presence in this house is nothing more than just fulfilling a ridiculous and wrong command from my late grandmother about an old-fashioned matchmaking of the past."

Victoria smiled contentedly, glancing at Elena with a highly distinct demeaning look. She again pressed her body to Arthur's arm, deliberately showing off their intimacy in front of Elena's eyes, emphasizing that she was the true winner.

Elena felt her world collapse instantly. All the joints in her body suddenly turned numb. The tears she had been withholding to the death since afternoon finally escaped, flowing to wet her cheeks without being able to be dammed anymore. Elena's chest rose and fell, withholding an extraordinarily intense suffocation that made it difficult for her to breathe.

'Three years... these three years I was always foolish thinking that his cold attitude was only due to his rigid and reserved character. I always hoped, with my patience, obedience, and sincere service every day, one day his frozen heart would melt. It turns out I was completely wrong. I only wasted time caring about a man who considers me nothing more than a mistake.'

Elena witnessed with her own eyes how Arthur held Victoria's waist gently, guiding the woman inside his study room which was forbidden for Elena. Before stepping inside, Arthur closed the large oak wood door with a powerful slam precisely in front of Elena's face—locking Elena out from their life, forever.

Inside the gripping, cold silence of the house, Elena finally truly understood her position very bitterly.

'It's not that he cannot behave gently. It's not that he doesn't know how to love or treat a woman with respect. He just doesn't want to give that gentleness to me. The entire room in his heart is already full, and it belongs only to Victoria Belmont. I truly never existed, and will never be valuable in his life.'

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.

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.