MOON GENESIS

chapter 4:Elena

​Theo Carter stood beside the idling taxi in absolute silence.​Standing just two paces away was Elena.

​The girl he had breathed for. The girl whose delicate hand he had held through midnight promises, whose soft laugh used to quiet the chaotic noise in his mind. For two years, she had been his anchor. She had swore with her lips pressed against his ear in the dark that she would stay by his side even if the world crumbled to ash.

The taxi driver glanced back and forth awkwardly, while curious passersby slowed their pace, sniffing out the sudden scent of blood in the air.

​Finally, Elena broke the silence.

​"Theo."

​Her voice didn't tremble. It was smooth, detached, almost horrifyingly polite.

​Theo forced his cracked lips into a ghost of a smile, trying to drown the rising panic in his chest. "What are you doing here, Elena?"

​Elena looked at him, her eyes tracing his faded denim jacket and the sad box at his feet. She let out a soft, exasperated sigh a sound reserved for a tedious inconvenience.

​"I came to find you."

​"To find me?" Theo murmured, his pulse hammering against his ribs.

​"Yes." Elena crossed her delicate arms over her chest, taking a subtle step back, as if his poverty were a contagious disease. Then, without a single flicker of hesitation, she dealt the killing blow. "We need to break up."

​The ambient noise of the street seemed to fade into a ringing silence. Theo’s artificial smile froze, shattering into pieces. His brain stalled, refusing to process the words.

​"What?"

​Elena avoided his desperate gaze, staring instead at the flashing neon signs across the avenue. "It's over, Theo."

​Theo took a step toward her, his voice dropping into a raspy whisper. "What do you mean, it's over? Elena, look at me. What are you saying?"

​"Theo, don't make this difficult," she snapped, her tone dripping with ice. "Don't make a scene."

​The sheer coldness of her voice stabbed directly into his heart, twisting deep. The girl who used to blush whenever he kissed her cheeks now looked at him as if he were a smudge of filth on her expensive leather shoes.

​Theo swallowed hard, fighting down the burning lump in his throat. "Did I do something wrong? Tell me. Just tell me what I did."

​Elena shook her head, a flash of fleeting guilt washing over her features before hardening into pure stone. "No, Theo. You didn't do anything wrong."

​"Then why?" he pleaded, his voice breaking. "Why now?"

​Elena let out a sharp, bitter chuckle. "Because you're poor, Theo! Look at yourself!"

​The words ripped through the night, cruel and unvarnished. Theo’s entire body stiffened as if struck by lightning.

​Elena stepped closer, her intimate proximity bringing the scent of her familiar floral perfume a perfume he had bought her for her anniversary when he still had a name. Now, that sweet scent felt like venom.

​"Your parents are dead," she whispered, leaning in so only he could feel the venomous heat of her breath. "The Carter Family threw you to the dogs. You're not the glorious heir anymore, Theo. You're a nobody. A ghost."

​Each word landed like a sledgehammer against his ribs.

​"Be realistic," Elena continued, her eyes glistening with cold ambition. "You expect me to suffer with you? You think I’m going to ruin my youth worrying about rent, cheap meals, and overdue bills? I am young. I am beautiful. I deserve champagne, private yachts, and a life that glitters. You can't even offer me a decent roof."

​Theo stared at her, feeling something fundamental break deep inside his soul. It wasn't just anger. It was a suffocating, bottomless disappointment.

​"So that's all I was to you?" Theo whispered, his voice trembling with deep emotional agony. "A lifestyle?"

​"You were the Carter heir," she corrected coldly. "Now you're just a boy with a cardboard box."

​"You said you loved me," he choked out, the humiliation burning hot behind his eyes. "You said you'd stay."

​"That was before!" she hissed, her brow furrowing in irritation. "Before your world caught fire! I’m not burning with you, Theo."

​The agony was unbearable. Just days ago, he had buried his parents. He had been stripped of his family name, kicked out of his ancestral home, and cast into the gutter. And now, the girl he would have given his life for was ripping his bleeding heart out of his chest and dancing on it.

​Before Theo could formulate another sentence, the deafening roar of a modified V8 engine sliced through the street.

​A sleek, crimson sports car screeched to a halt right beside the curb, its aggressive metallic frame reflecting the streetlights. The driver's door swung open, and a young man stepped out.

​He looked barely eighteen, draped in tailored designer silk that practically screamed unfathomable wealth. His hair was slicked back flawlessly, and an aura of suffocating, untouchable arrogance radiated from his every step.

​The young man walked directly past Theo as if he were invisible, sliding seamlessly toward Elena.

​Then, right in front of Theo’s burning eyes, the stranger reached out, his hand sliding casually down Elena’s back to rest possessively on her slender waist. He pulled her flush against his body, pressing her frame tightly against his own.

​Elena didn't pull away. Instead, she let out a soft, purring sigh, melting into his chest and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. The sheer intimacy of the gesture a touch that used to belong exclusively to Theo sent a jolt of violent pain through Theo’s veins.

​"So, this is the tragic ex?" the young man drawled, his voice thick with condescension.

​He ran his eyes over Theo’s faded clothes and the cardboard box at his feet, letting out a cruel, mocking laugh.

​"What a pathetic little squirt."

​Elena leaned her head against the stranger's chest, looking up at him with eyes full of artificial adoration the same look she used to give Theo. "Don't be too mean, Ryan. He's had a really hard week."

​The young man tightened his grip on her waist, pulling her even closer, his fingers digging possessively into her hip. He looked at Theo with a malicious smirk.

​"The name is Ryan Hawthorne."

​A quiet gasp rippled through the gathering crowd of onlookers.

​"The Hawthorne Family?" a passerby whispered loudly. "As in... Hawthorne Real Estate?"

​"Oh, modern royalty! They own half the commercial towers and luxury estates in the province!"

​Ryan soaked in the whispers, his chin lifting higher. He raised his wrist, deliberately adjusting a diamond-encrusted watch that cost more than a small apartment, making sure the light caught Theo's eyes.

​"Elena belongs to me now, broke boy," Ryan purred, his voice dropping into a humiliating flirtatious mock-condolence. "She likes the finer things in life. Things you can't even dream of buying her anymore."

​Elena snuggled deeper into Ryan's embrace, looking at Theo with pitiful eyes. "Ryan treats me like a princess, Theo. He took me to Paris last weekend just for dinner. What can you give me? A ride in a rusty taxi?"

​Theo stood frozen, his face completely devoid of expression. But inside, his soul was weeping blood. The depth of the betrayal, the intimacy of her posture with another man, the total public degradation it was a nightmare from which he couldn't wake up.

​Ryan smirked, leaning down to plant a loud, lingering kiss on Elena’s neck right in front of Theo. Elena giggled, her hands sliding up Ryan's chest.

​"Honestly, Carter, I should thank you," Ryan laughed, his tone dripping with deep insult. "If your family hadn't fallen into the trash, this sweet little prize never would have let me touch her. Your ruin was the best thing that ever happened to my s*x life."

​The crowd snickered. Nearby students from Eastwood Academy had already pulled out their phones.

​"Isn't that Theo Carter?"

​"Dude, he got dumped for a Hawthorne!"

​"Record this! Put it on t****k!"

​Dozens of camera lenses were suddenly thrust into Theo's face. Flashbulbs popped, capturing every detail of his utter humiliation his ruined posture, his tragic cardboard box, his radiant ex-girlfriend clinging to a billionaire's son. Within seconds, the footage was uploaded, spreading across local forums like wildfire under the heading: FALLEN HEIR DUMPED ON THE STREET LIKE TRASH.

​Thousands were watching. Thousands were laughing. His deepest personal tragedy had become viral entertainment.

​Ryan grinned triumphantly, enjoying the spectacle, stroking Elena's hair as if she were a prized show pony. "Look at him, babe. He's so broken he can't even cry."

​Elena looked at Theo. For a second, she expected him to scream, to beg, to fall to his knees and offer whatever dignity he had left.

​"Honk! Honk!"

​The taxi driver slammed his hand on the horn, breaking the suffocating tension. "Hey, kid! Are you getting in or what? I don't have all night for your teenage drama!"