Chapter 4: A Vain Death

This must be the pain.

It was the moment when John Percy knew it was the most excruciating form one person could ever get. The pain of seeing someone they love smirking at them in their dying hour.

This was it.

It was how Clarisse slowly made herself his greatest mistake. She was his epitome of pain.

He was still choking for air. Someone from behind was strangling him to death. He couldn't even turn to see his face. All he knew was that this man was wearing an all-black tracking suit, pants, and boots. He smelt cold breeze and rain. The man wore a mask but his cold blue eyes were seeing death. He was too used to doing this. Like he would never shiver away from killing someone. Unfortunately, John Percy was one of his targets.

He stopped analyzing him. Seconds of his life were at stake, so he decided to just look up. He focused on Clarisse.

While he felt that the man who was strangling him was holding him down to a tight rope, he saw Clarisse slowly getting up from the man's body, wearing her silk robe, and walking slowly toward me.

After those words came out of her mouth, she had the nerve to kiss the man on top of the bed. John Percy couldn't see his face. He was just lying flat on the bed and not an ounce of his face could ever be seen from where he was pinned down.

The man behind him forced him to kneel and dock his head.

He wanted to cry. He wanted to whimper at that moment but he stopped himself. He didn't want to be scared, but he was. His tears would flow down to his cheeks and frequently fall to the ground where his head was forced to focus on.

When he saw Clarisse's figure move closer to him, he tried to break free. But he only received a hard pounce on his nape. He almost lost consciousness. He started to feel nauseous. His head was spinning.

"S-since when?" he suddenly asked.

Clarisse chuckled and caressed his cheek. "Oh, honey. Poor you... You don't have any idea what was happening around you and yet here you are trying to figure out what went wrong, right?" Her laughter became viral as her voice seemed to overpower the silence all over the place.

The coldness seethed through him but still, his sweat continued to shower him profusely.

"Since when?" he asked again. This time, his limbs were shaking. "Since when did you cheat on me?!"

Clarisse smiled. "Haven't you ever asked yourself that? Like ever?" she asked sarcastically. "I mean, you would know. I've never asked you to have sex with me. You know the numbers, honey. You know since when..." she said to him. "Because to me, everything was a big lie, including the moment I met you..."

Those words made him shudder in fear. "W-what did you say?"

"Are you dumb?" she asked. "Everything was just for fun, my dear husband. And now... it's better to just break the marriage. I'm breaking up with you..."

Her last words kept on playing inside his head over and over again.

That was it. She just ended everything. Everything between them.

His eyes became blurry because of his tears and whimpered silently.

He saw Clarisse standing up. She picked up her phone and was about to dial a number.

"What about our child? What about her? Can you not throw away this marriage for the sake of her?" he asked while worrying about their daughter who didn't know about this. She shouldn't know. He didn't want her to grow up knowing that her parents failed to protect their marriage.

Clarisse smiled. "After this, she can easily forget about you. Why? Because you're nothing to be remembered anyway." She looked away and continued her business. She dialed a number and held the phone next to her ear. "Dad... your good-for-nothing son-in-law came to me. Why didn't you put a tail on him? I told you that I would be taking care of everything after I finish my business here, right?" she sighed frustratingly treating her impure affair toward another man as 'business'. She looked at John Percy with her emotionless stare. "Can we do it now? I want to get rid of him," she asked.

After a brief silence, she ended the call and nodded at the man behind him.

He creased his forehead. What were they planning to do?

He turned to take a peek at the man behind him. He exchanged meaningful glances with Clarisse. He even nodded.

John Percy's eyes widened when he saw the man's hand holding something. It was a syringe! It had transparent content inside. Then, he pulled another transparent glass with the same content as the syringe. He saw the label and it read "Potassium".

This element may seem to be harmless to others but for medical professionals like him, this element would be dangerous if mishandled especially when directly injected with large amounts through the IV or direct skin injection.

John Percy started shaking, breathing hitched. "N-no. No! You can't do this to me!"

The man was about to inject it into him but he dodged it quickly by rolling over the floor.

That was when he tried to escape. He used his teeth to remove the cable wire organizer used in tying him to his feet and hands. But the man lounged at him. He tried to grab him but John Percy managed to dodge all of his attacks through his defensive stance or by just kicking him away from him. It was a quick fight that he thought he could last.

He tried to run toward the door but suddenly, another rope stopped him. It was put all over his neck. Suddenly it squeezed and squeezed him, choking him to death.

He grunted and moaned in pain. His hands tried to pull the rope away but it was too tight. It made him kneel until he completely collapsed to the ground.

He looked up and saw Clarisse who was now walking toward him. She smiled looking at him suffering.

This look on her face seeing him suffer his death hour was enough to die, to see the woman of his life happy in killing him. It was just too painful.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked her after a brief silence.

She sat on her heel, smiled, and said, "Just die already."

He blinked his eyes.

Did he just hear her clearly? She wanted him to die.

He was just too focused on her. He couldn't leave her sight. But she stood up and slowly left him.

At that moment, the man behind him pulled the rope around his neck tighter. The red veins started to get visible inside his eyes. His face reddened. He couldn't breathe anymore. He wiggled his hands and feet as it was the only hope he had left to even catch Clarisse's attention.

She did. She turned around and smirked as she reached the bed with an unknown man hugging her waist.

John Percy's eyes started to blur until everything went black as his life was taken away from him.