The Lost Dragon King

Chapter 3

Sweat mixed with the blood seeping through Elijah's bandages, stinging his cracked skin.

​He stared at Kathy, his eyes desperate, searchingly scanning her face for any trace of the woman he had loved for three years.

​"Kathy... please," Elijah gasped out, his voice cracking beneath the weight of his despair. He reached his hand through the cold metal bars of the gate, his fingers trembling in the air toward her. "Why are you doing this? Why do you want to leave me like this? What happened to us?"

​Kathy didn't move an inch. She stood on the marble porch beside Jordan, her arms crossed tightly over her chest, her lips pulled back into a look of absolute disgust.

​"Kathy, think about everything we went through!" Elijah pleaded, tears spilling over his bruised cheeks as the memories came rushing back. "Think about college! We spent such good times together... those were the best years of our lives! You used to tell me that you were happiest whenever we were together, no matter how simple things were! How can you just throw all of that away?"

​A loud, piercing laugh burst from Kathy’s lips. She looked at Elijah as if he had just spoken a completely different language.

​"College?!" Kathy screeched, her voice echoing across the wide courtyard. "You're seriously talking about college right now, you pathetic loser?"

​Without a single second of hesitation, Kathy reached down to her left hand. She ripped off her slender silver wedding band—the simple ring Elijah had spent months saving up for—and threw it directly at his face with all the strength in her arm!

​CLINK!

​The cheap metal ring hit Elijah directly in the chest before bouncing off his blood-stained hospital gown and falling into the dirt at his feet.

​"Take this trash back!" Kathy screamed, her face contorting with rage. "This is all you've given me in all these years! A cheap, worthless piece of metal! I have no value for such cheap junk! Look at it sitting in the dirt where it belongs!"

​Elijah stared down at the tiny silver band resting in the dust. The sight of it felt like a dagger driving straight into his heart, twisting deep inside his chest until he could barely breathe. He slowly bent down, his knees trembling and popping with agonizing pain, and picked up the ring with a pale, shaky hand.

​He clutched the ring tightly in his palm, feeling the cool metal against his feverish skin. He couldn't understand it. He couldn't wrap his head around her sudden, merciless coldness.

​"I don't understand..." Elijah whispered, looking up at her with a broken, lost gaze. "How can you be like this? We had three years of blissful love, Kathy! Two years dating in college... and one whole year since we got married! We were so happy! I worked day and night just to see you smile..."

​"Blissful love?!" Kathy snarled, her voice dropping into a venomous hiss that chilled him to the bone. "You call that misery blissful love?! I made the biggest mistake of my entire life by marrying a broke, useless loser like you! I wasted three whole years waiting for you to become someone, but you're still just a filthy waiter picking up trash! I would never have a family with a beggar like you! Never!"

​Elijah flinched as if she had physically slapped him across the face. He stood there in the dust, clutching the silver ring so tightly that his fingernails dug deep into his skin.

​"Kathy... until just a few weeks ago, you said that you loved me," Elijah stammered out, his raw voice shaking uncontrollably. "You told me you loved me when we celebrated our first anniversary! So then... what happened after that? What changed between us after our anniversary?"

​Hearing his question, Kathy’s venomous scowl suddenly transformed into a sharp, arrogant smirk. She took a step closer to the edge of the porch, looking down at Elijah as if he were nothing more than an annoying bug crawling on the pavement.

​"What happened?" Kathy mocked, letting out a cruel, melodic giggle that made Jordan laugh along with her. "Oh, Elijah... you really are dense, aren't you? Let me break it down for your slow, stupid brain."

​She rested her hands on her hips, her eyes flashing with pure malice.

​"I never loved you!" Kathy spat out loudly, declaring the harsh truth without a single shred of remorse. "Not even for a single second!"

​Elijah’s breath hitched in his throat. The world around him seemed to freeze into absolute silence. "What... what did you just say?"

​"You heard me!" Kathy smirked, thoroughly enjoying the utter destruction on his face. "I never loved you! Back in college, I just thought you must be some secret, rich heir who was roaming around in disguise, looking for true love!"

​She pointed a long, manicured fingernail at him, sneering in deep contempt.

​"You used to wear such good, expensive clothes back then! You always looked refined and had this calm air about you. So I naturally assumed you were hiding a massive family fortune! But I had no idea that you were actually working your ass off doing odd jobs all day and night just to earn enough cash to afford those clothes!"

​Kathy rolled her eyes dramatically, waving her hand in disgust.

​"I gave you the benefit of the doubt for three long years," she continued, her voice dripping with extreme annoyance. "I thought you were testing me! I took you shopping, I made you buy me whatever I wanted, and I was patiently waiting till our first anniversary for you to finally reveal your actual family wealth and take me to your family's mansion!"

​She leaned forward, her face twisting into a hideous snarl of disappointment.

​"But there was nothing like that! Nothing at all! Our anniversary came and went, and you were still just a broke nobody! You were literally scrubbing dirty plates and cleaning other people's shit in a restaurant kitchen just to afford my lifestyle! When I found out the truth, I was completely disgusted by you!"

​Elijah stood frozen like a statue. The words repeated in his head over and over again like a deafening echo, crashing against his mind until he felt completely numb.

​"You... you never loved me..." Elijah repeated mechanically, his eyes wide and blank. "It was all... just for money? You thought... I was rich?"

​"Ugh, stop repeating everything like a broken record!" Kathy barked, her patience completely running out. She stomped her designer heel against the marble floor of the porch, her face flushed with irritation. "It's sickening to listen to you whine!"

​She snatched the crisp white envelope containing the divorce papers straight from Jordan's hand and thrust it over the iron gate, right into Elijah’s face.

​"Now you know the truth!" Kathy yelled, her voice cold and devoid of any human emotion. "You don't even have a single dollar to your name! You are a broke, worthless loser, and I want absolutely nothing to do with you ever again!"

​She tapped the white paper against his chest aggressively, glaring at him with pure hatred.

​"There is nothing in this world that I want from you anymore... apart from your signature on these divorce papers! Sign them right now and get out of my life forever!"