The Path Of A True King.-Chapter 5: Being A King Or Acting Like One.

The world was a blur of exhaustion.

Elijah’s limbs felt like lead, his brain fogged from an entire night of handling Kai’s responsibilities.

He hadn’t planned to do it all himself—at first, he’d just wanted to cover for Kai while he rested.

But as the night stretched on, problems kept piling up.

Calls to make.

Debts to settle.

People to threaten—some more than others.

The gang’s affairs weren’t going to run themselves.

At some point, his body had just given out.

He’d done it because he had to. Because if he couldn’t handle one night of responsibility, then what kind of leader was he?

Now, consciousness crept back in, dragging him from the depths of much-needed sleep.

His eyelids fluttered, but the heaviness remained.

A dull ache spread through his bones, as if every fiber of his being was protesting against wakefulness.

Then, he heard it—the sound of soft taps, a faint chuckle, and the occasional swipe.

Kai.

Elijah cracked one eye open, his vision still adjusting to the dim light of the room.

The first thing he saw was Kai lounging on the couch, feet kicked up on the table, phone in hand, scrolling through something with a lazy smirk plastered across his face.

Unlike Elijah, who was barely holding himself together, Kai looked like he’d woken up from the best sleep of his life.

His white shirt was slightly unbuttoned at the top, and his brown hair was still slightly messy but in a way that only made him look effortlessly cool.

His blue eyes, sharp as ever, flickered between the screen and Elijah as if waiting for him to wake up properly.

"Morning, sunshine," Kai drawled without looking away from his phone.

Elijah groaned, forcing himself upright. Every muscle screamed in protest. "Shut up."

Kai chuckled. "Damn, you look like hell. You should’ve just woken me up instead of trying to be me for a night."

Elijah rubbed his face, trying to shake off the sluggishness.

"I was going to. Then I thought, ’Nah, let’s see if I can actually pull this off.’"

He leaned back against the headboard, voice heavy with fatigue. "Turns out, your job sucks."

Kai laughed. "No shit."

For a moment, there was silence, save for the quiet hum of the city outside.

Elijah’s head throbbed, remnants of the night still weighing him down.

Then, Kai glanced at the phone again and smirked. "By the way, why are you ignoring Lisa?"

Elijah stiffened. His fingers twitched slightly.

Kai noticed.

His smirk grew. "Ooooh, what happened?"

He turned the phone toward Elijah, revealing unread messages from Lisa—some short, some longer, all unanswered.

Elijah exhaled through his nose, gaze dark. "I saw her with Ray."

Kai blinked. "Huh?"

"I saw her," Elijah repeated, voice devoid of emotion. "Sleeping with Ray."

There was a beat of silence.

Then Kai burst out laughing.

Elijah’s eye twitched. "What the hell is so funny?"

Kai wiped away an imaginary tear. "Bro, I was expecting something dramatic—like she set you up, or tried to kill you. But nah, you just caught her getting dicked down."

Elijah shot him a glare, but Kai only grinned wider.

After a moment, Kai leaned forward. "Alright, real question—why didn’t you just sleep with her first?"

Elijah’s expression didn’t change. "Not interested."

Kai raised a brow. "Not interested in Lisa? The same Lisa you used to like?"

Elijah sighed. "I don’t just sleep with anyone. And even if I did, I wouldn’t sleep with her. She’s not a virgin." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Kai blinked, then let out a snort. "You serious?"

Elijah shot him a look. "Yeah."

Kai leaned back, grinning like an idiot. "Damn, bro, that’s some old-school shit."

Elijah shrugged. "That’s just how it is. I wouldn’t want my first to be someone who’s already been with a dozen others, and she should be the Only one for me."

Kai shook his head, amused. "And here I thought you were all about taking what you want."

Elijah’s lips twitched into the faintest smirk. "I do take what I want. I just don’t want that."

Kai let out a low whistle. "Well, damn. If nothing else, you’ve got standards."

Kai then questioned, "Then why not just sleep around like the others our age while you wait for the right girl?"

Elijah didn’t hesitate before answering, "For what?"

"For fun, of course," Kai replied, finally setting his phone down.

Elijah let out a sigh, his body feeling too lazy to move. "At first, I considered it.

But for what?

There are countless women out there—I wouldn’t even come close to finishing them all, nor would I try.

Some men treat it like a numbers game, thinking it makes them more of a man, some great conqueror in the art of seduction.

But in the end, what does it amount to? Nothing. You’re still worthless."

Kai raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

Elijah exhaled slowly. "A man gains no value from sleeping around with countless women—it only diminishes him.

The same applies to women. That’s why we live in a world full of horrible fathers, whether they’re rich or poor.

People say all women are the same, but they don’t realize that if you go looking for a hole while being a hole yourself, that’s exactly what you’ll find.

And that ’hole’ could be a virgin or not—it doesn’t matter.

The moment I accept that kind of life, I fall into an endless pit of suffering.

People act like being a virgin is something shameful, but what’s really shameful is giving yourself away to someone who will eventually leave you empty.

When that hole—when that fool of a man—takes everything from you, you’ll be alone.

That’s how you end up with cheating husbands who might be good fathers only because they’re rich, but in the end, they teach their own children to repeat the cycle."

Kai chuckled before questioning, "Then what about the kings of old? They had many women. Why can’t we?"

Elijah smirked. "Were they kings?

Or just fools who took the crown?

There’s a difference between being a king and acting like one.

A true king respects himself on a level that commoners could never comprehend.

That’s why all those so-called kings, no matter how powerful they were, eventually fell. And you wonder why."

Before Kai could ask another question, Elijah yawned, stretching slightly before wincing at the soreness in his arms. "Are we done talking about my sex life?"

Kai chuckled. "Fine, fine."

Elijah nodded, letting his body sink back into the bed as his exhaustion returned, heavier than before.