Xavier's Ultimate Return To Glory

Chapter 001

As the rain poured down mercilessly, Mr. Ambrose, the boss, stood arrogantly on the sheltered porch, a cruel sneer twisting his lips. He gestured mockingly towards Xavier, whose soaked belongings lay scattered on the pavement.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Not so sharp-tongued now are ya?" Mr. Ambrose jeered, his voice dripping with disdain. "Seems like someone thought they could challenge me and win."

Xavier stood before him, soaked to the bone and utterly defeated, his frustration evident in the tight clench of his jaw. He longed to retaliate, to tell his boss off, but the fear of losing his job held him back, chaining his tongue.

"Sir, please... I-I need this job," Xavier pleaded, his voice wavering as he reluctantly sank to his knees in the rain. "I can't afford to lose it. My wife... she'll be furious. This is the second job I've lost this month since losing my company. My marriage is crumbling, please."

Mr. Ambrose scoffed, towering over Xavier with arms folded, relishing in his power, "That sounds like a YOU problem. You should have thought of that before talking back to me."

That was it. The most pathetic reason a boss could give for firing an employee.

What did he expect Xavier to do? Keep shut while his boss went on and on about how hot his wife was and how much he wanted her.

If not for a lot of reasons, Xavier would have beat him up right then and there.

"You thought you could outsmart me, did you?" Mr. Ambrose continued, his voice oozing with self-satisfaction as he closed in on Xavier. "You thought you could rise above your station? Well, consider this a harsh lesson for you and everyone else who dares to defy me."

With a malicious grin, Mr Ambrose motioned to his lackeys, who callously trampled Xavier's belongings, contained in a box, beneath their feet.

"You're nothing but a worthless peon," Mr Ambrose spat, his voice booming over the sound of the rain. "And now, you're cast out onto the streets where you belong."

The storm raged on, mirroring Xavier's inner pain as he watched his meagre belongings being destroyed.

When Mr Ambrose and his lackeys went back inside, Xavier had no option but to pick up all that was crushed underfoot.

He returned home, pushing open the door to find his wife, Kelanie, just about to leave the house.

"What the heck, Xavier?!" she exclaimed, anger written all over her face the moment she laid eyes on him.

"Why are you back so early?!" Kelanie asked, "And that too while looking like a homeless runt! What if my friends came over today?!"

Xavier's heart sank as he faced Kelanie's wrath, feeling the weight of his failures pressing down on him like the rain-soaked clothes clinging to his skin, he walked passed her into the house as he answered, "I got fired."

"Again? How much more pathetic can you be, Xavier?! Must you always do something to humiliate me?"

Xavier winced at Kelanie's words, her disdain cutting deeper than the sharpest of knives.

"He was making dirty comments about you, Kelanie. I'm your husband, not him. I can't just stand and-"

Kelanie's burst of laughter interrupted Xavier's words as he turned to look at her, his box still in his hand.

"Pathetic!" she exclaimed, "Do you think you are in any position to defend me? Me?!"

"Kelanie, I love you. Some other man saying those things about you will certainly force a reaction from me." Xavier tried his best to explain, "How would you feel if-"

"If what?!" Kelanie interrupted, "You think I'd lose my job over a worthless scum like you? Heck! I don't even want people to know I married you! How did I last three years in this freaking marriage?!"

Xavier lowered his head as his fists clenched at either side of him, "I'll get a new job." he voiced, barely holding his own against his wife.

"Do whatever you want, Xavier. I don't care anymore. Even if you were to work for the highest paying company for the rest of your miserable life, you'd either be a low-paid janitor or some sort of underpaid company lackey." Kelanie retorted.

"I don't understand how you can say all these things to me. I'm trying my best, aren't I?" Xavier replied.

"Well, your best isn't enough, now is it? Gosh, what a fool you are!" Kelanie said, "Tomorrow, I want you to go back to your boss. Kneel. Heck! Crawl if you have to! And beg him to take you back!"

"I'd rather die," Xavier said, his jaw clenched.

"And take me down with you, right?" Kelanie crossed her arms.

"That's not what I meant." Xavier rushed to say, finally noticing and putting down the box he's been holding since he returned.

"I'd never want to hurt you. That's why I'll try my best to get a better-paying job this time," he explained, taking hold of his wife's hand.

"Don't touch me! You know how much I hate body contact!" she immediately pulled away and wiped her hand with a handkerchief.

"How can I forget? It's the reason you don't want us to have kids." Xavier said.

"Oh trust me, it's nothing compared to my other reasons. I'd be ashamed if I were to give your name to my kids and watch them inherit your poverty as they grow." Kelanie added.

Xavier stood there, the weight of Kelanie's words crushing him further. He had hoped for understanding, for support, but her words only fueled his sense of despair.

"I regret the very day I said yes to your proposal, Xavier." Kelanie walked closer to Xavier with each word she said, "And if I could turn back the hands of time, I would have married your best friend instead."

Kelanie sneered, "And here I was, thinking something good would come out of you but no! Your best friend is out there, taking his wife on expensive dates and vacations! What do I get? Nothing but an average home!"

Kelanie turned on her heels and headed for the front door with an umbrella.

"Wait! Kelanie, where are you going?" Xavier asked.

"You've lost the right to ask me that a long time ago," she replied to him, already opening the door.

"But it's pouring cats and dogs outside." Xavier insisted.

"Anywhere else is better than sharing a rooftop with you," she said and finally left, shutting the door loudly behind her.

Xavier sank into the nearest chair to him. With every insult hurled his way, he felt smaller, more insignificant.

The weight of her expectations bore down on him heavily, crushing whatever semblance of self-esteem he had left.

He wanted to explain, to make her see the injustice of it all, but he knew it would be futile.

Kelanie had made up her mind long ago, and nothing he said or did could change that.