Chapter 1:
At a bus stop sign not far from a tall office building, a tired-looking middle-aged man with slightly ruffled hair and dark circles under his eyes sat on a rusty bench.
His back was hunched over, while his hands rested weakly on his knees. His face looked empty and broken as he kept on replaying the painful scene from earlier today, over and over again.
***
"You are fired Alex. Go turn in your ID card to the HR department and leave this company immediately."
For a few seconds Alex didn't move, he just stood there, staring at the man he called his manager with a dumbfounded expression on his face.
'This has got to be some kind of a joke right?'
For seventeen freaking years he had given everything to this company. But now, all he was given in return was a custom made sack letter that seemed to mock him. He desperately refused to believe that this was how they were going to treat him after being faithful for so long. But the cold reality laid in front of him. This wasn't a joke or something, it was all real.
"B-but sir... please give me a chance. I have a family to feed, and without this job I don't... I don't know what I'm going to do. Please"
The manager sighed, already looking irritated, and rubbed his forehead.
"Look, I can't help you with that, okay? the company decided to lay off some staff to save money. So you aren't the only person affected by this. I suggest you man up and go. I'm sure that with your years of experience, you'll find another job."
Something inside him snapped. How could they do this to him? After all he had done!After countless hours of working himself to the bone! No he couldn't accept this!
"Bullshit! I've been working for this company for seventeen freaking years! And now you're just going to throw me away like trash?!"
His shout immediately drew the attention of the nearby employees, who turned their heads away from their desk and glanced up at him with pity.
That did it.
"SECURITY!"
The manager roared, his face turning an ugly shade of purple.
"Get him out of my sight. NOW!"
The door swung open immediately and two guards— men who he usually greeted every morning whenever he came for work, walked in. One of them grabbed his arm, causing him to wince in pain. Then the other reached for the ID card holder around his neck and tried to pull it off. But Alex resisted fiercely.
He knew It was stupid, but that small piece of plastic was more than just an ID card. It was his life and seventeen years of overtime and missed anniversaries. Now some idiot was pulling it out of his fingers like it was nothing but trash.
When the guard finally tore it away, it felt like something inside him had been ripped out with it. Then they pushed him out of the building without any mercy.
"Geez, know your place man" one of them muttered.
"Yeah man. Just go out before you keep on embarrassing yourself. At least have some dignity, it's not like it's the end of the world or something."
God! He wanted to yell that this was the end of the world for him... but decided against it. Without looking back, he walked out of the gate, crossed the street and sat down heavily on the rusty bench across the building.
***
He clenched his fist slowly whenever he remembered what had happened, but loosened them and gave out a sigh, when he realized that there was literally nothing he could do. It's not like he was even strong enough to go against the company's power.
"Now, what am I supposed to do? I still have a butt load of bills to pay. And I haven't even completed the house mortgage payment...."
Honk! Honk!
Suddenly, a bus honked loudly, pulling him out of his thoughts.
"Oh well, it's not like staying here would even change anything. Might as well just go home." Regaining his composure, he took a deep breath and forced himself to stand up and board the bus.
Inside the bus, his eyes drifted around and he noticed that almost all the seats had already been taken, except for one seat close to the window. As he pushed through the crowd he cursed under his breath.
"Great, just what I need. First I get fired from work, now I still have to struggle to get a damn seat... at least the only comforting thing today is that I saw the bus early. Sigh."
Finally close to the seat, he flopped down heavily and leaned his head against the seat back as the bus lurched forward.
Soon, his eyes caught sight of the familiar neighborhood.
"Yeah this is my stop." He signaled to the driver. Then got off and walked home slowly.
...Standing outside the door for a moment, and watching it's familiar design, Alex fought the urge to break down and cry, but the thought of his beautiful, gentle wife and his cute, sensible kids was all it took to keep him standing.
"You know what?! It's just a fuckin job. As long as I still have my wife and kids. I'm sure that I can start over again. Besides I'm pretty sure that once I tell Emily about this, she'll cheer me up and say something like everything is going to be okay and we will get through this together."
After saying that, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.
"Emily, I'm home"
But no one responded. He paused, then shrugged it off. Maybe she went out with the kids or something. But just as he was about to walk further, he heard a faint sound from upstairs. At first he couldn't tell what it was, but after listening closely, his body froze. It sounded like a woman's moan.
"...mmh...right there... Yeah!"
"No...no this can't be...Y-yeah, M-maybe I'm just stressed out, afterall I did lose my job and besides, Emily has to be the most loyal person I know. Right?"
He tried to convince himself while slowly moving up the stairs. But another moan followed, louder this time, Completely shattering the last shred of hope he had left.
"Faster baby.... D-don't stop..."
That was Emily's voice.
Soon, he finally reached the bedroom door. As he was about to open the door he heard a man's voice which sounded deep and strangely familiar. Like he had heard that voice from somewhere, but couldn't quite remember who it was.
Suddenly, his eyes immediately widened when he realized who it was.
It was Zack. His childhood bestfriend. The man who stood beside him at his wedding as the best man. The one who said brothers forever.
His fingers slowly tightened into a fist as anger washed over his body.
"Why? Why does it have to be him of all people?"
Without the slightest bit of hesitation, he pushed open the door and felt his heart crack in a million pieces, as soon as he saw the scene unfolding In front of his eyes;
A naked and flushed Emily lay on the bed with her legs wrapped around Zack's waist, while Zack continued to pound inside her aggressively. She kept moaning like a slut who had just stumbled upon a good sex, after several years of not seeing any man.
"Yeah baby, I'm about to... Keep going... Faster..."
"You like it don't you? Tell....."
Suddenly, his shaky voice cut through the room.
"Emily?"
They both jerked in shock. Zack's eyes widened while Emily gasped and began to panic. She tried explaining.
"A-alex it's not what it looks like..." Emily said with a panicked voice.
Blinded by madness, Alex ignored Emily's voice and suddenly lunged at Zack, desperately trying to shove and claw at him. But Zack easily dodged it and pushed him back. Of course he did after all he always did workout and had this athletic build, while Alex was just an office worker who had never in his life visited a gym. But like a man who had nothing left to lose, Alex rushed back up.
"Alex, Stop!!" Emily shouted while clutching the sheets to cover herself.
He finally stopped moving, and stared at her like a broken doll as questions fell out of him like shattered pieces of glass.
"How long has this been going on Emily? HOW LONG?!!"
She sighed and decided to drop the whole good wife routine. "Since you know now, I'll stop pretending. I've been with him for the past fifteen years, Alex....Besides he's the real father of the kids"
He felt something finally shatter as his legs suddenly weakened and hot tears streamed down his face. He refused to believe that this was happening. After losing his freaking job, he thought Emily would comfort him, but here she was cheating on him and telling him his babies weren't his.
"No! You're lying. It's not true... Please tell me it's not true!" he yelled, refusing to believe a single word.
"Look I'm not lying, Okay! And seriously take a good look at the children, did you really think those kids look anything like you?"
Emily's voice suddenly sharpened.
"And besides don't even think about this house or anything, I've already transferred everything into my name."
His eyes widened as he slowly realized something, She never really loved him from the start. All she ever wanted was just his property.
"Y-you... Used me?"
She rolled her eyes "Oh please! Don't be so dramatic. You were useful, Okay? that's all you ever were"
"Y-you filthy... Lying... Bitch..."
Anger clouded his senses again, and he lifted his hand to slap her. But Zack caught his wrist and growled.
" Don't you dare touch her"
He twisted free, then turned to attack Zack instead— But he didn't notice when Emily picked the vase by the bedside.
Crack!
Suddenly a sharp pain exploded in the back of his head, causing him to fall to his knees as blood trickled down his neck. His eyes caught the broken pieces of the vase that lay scattered across the ground. He struggled to look up at Emily with a broken gaze, muttering. "W-why...?"
But she didn't respond. Suddenly, He gave out a bitter laugh when he realized that she wasn't even paying attention to him— instead she was arguing with Zack on how to cover up the crime scene.
"...So this is it?" He thought with a heavy heart.
"So this is how I die? Like a piece of trash.
Hahaha. Guess I'm the biggest fool who ever lived. If there's really a God up there please can you punish those pair of adulterous couple..."
Then the darkness slowly came and swallowed him.
Suddenly a calm feminine voice cut through the darkness.
[The heavenly desire system initializing]