THE LONG WALK HOME

"Hey, Amaia. This is the cellphone I bought for you. Take a look and tell me if you like it."

The city square of Rinas was crowded with people.

The neon streetlights illuminated the streets as night fell. Many fashionably dressed young men and women had come there to enjoy the weekend.

Horace Warren's appearance there drew the attention of the people close by. They stared at him curiously as he walked up to a girl.

He opened the delicate gift box in his hand. A new cellphone was inside.

Since the beginning of the new semester, Horace had worked a part-time job after school. He had saved most of the money and survived on very little. He was finally able to buy a new cellphone for his crush on the day of their graduation.

With a loving smile, he stretched the opened box to her.

He was expecting to see her face lit up with surprise and happiness.

Much to his surprise, Amaia Todd just glanced at the cellphone, hissed, and turned her face away without saying anything.

"Amaia?" Horace called out her name in confusion.

Amaia flipped her hair and looked at him with an icy glare. "Horace, please don't contact me anymore. I don't want to have anything to do with you!"

"Wow!" All the onlookers were surprised. Some of them widened their eyes. Others opened their mouths and even whispered to the people beside them.

From Amaia's words, they guessed that the young man was courting this lady but was refused decisively. People liked to watch such a dramatic scene.

"Why? Did I do anything wrong, Amaia? Please tell me what my offense is so I would apologize and never repeat the same mistake."

Horace felt a pang of pain in his heart when he heard her words. He was confused. He had been planning for today for the whole semester. This was far from the response he hoped to get.

Everyone in their class knew that he had been chasing after Amaia for a long time.

He was head over heels in love with her, so he took good care of her. Every day, he bought her breakfast and helped her take notes in class.

Horace made sure she didn't stress herself in school. He provided everything that she asked for just to make her happy.

Amaia had been indulging him and accepting all his gifts. She even flirted with him sometimes.

Although she never said yes to him, they were already a couple in the eyes of their classmates.

Today was their graduation day. Since they would be out of high school, Horace thought that it was best to profess his love to her.

The confession of his love would make their relationship official.

He had the evening completely mapped out in his mind. But he didn't expect that Amaia would respond like this.

"Stop contacting me because I have a boyfriend!" With a bitchy expression, she added coldly, "I don't want my boyfriend to think something is going on between you and me. You'd better not contact me anymore!"

"Your boyfriend? I thought I was your boyfriend!" Horace looked at her with confusion written on his face.

"Bah! Don't flatter yourself, Horace. You were just my friend!"

Eyeing him from head to toe, she continued, "I was only being nice to you. Take a look at yourself. Do you think you are worthy enough to date me? Tsk, tsk, tsk!"

"But... But I love you and bought this as a token of my love."

Horace's mind was a mess. He held out the phone again with trembling hands.

He had worked his butt off and saved for a whole semester just to afford this cellphone.

He wanted it to be a token of his love for her.

Amaia slapped his hand with disgust.

The brand new phone fell to the ground. The sound it made when it crashed hurt Horace. He felt as if it was his heart that was thrown away.

"How dare you give this to me now?" Amaia questioned him.

She then added, "Yes, I said I wanted a new phone, but it was at the beginning of the semester. You didn't buy it until our graduation. Are you fucking serious right now?"

Amaia flipped her hair back again. Pursing her lips arrogantly, she took out a rose gold iPhone from her pocket and showed it to him.

"See? This is the latest iPhone. My boyfriend bought it for me. It costs more than one thousand dollars. That amount is chicken feed to him. Can you rub shoulders with him?"

Horace was short for words. His heart was breaking into a thousand pieces. He squatted to pick up the broken phone.

It was at this moment that a young man who seemed to be Horace's age-mate walked up to them.

"Hey, baby. You came early. Let's go. I've already booked a room!"

When Amaia saw him, her face lit up. She did a little jump like a child and then said to Horace, "Look, this is my boyfriend!"

The moment Horace set eyes on the man, he recognized him. He was also his high school classmate, Addy Moran. He was one of the popular boys in school because he was from a rich family.

Amaia ran over excitedly and held his arm. She stood on her tiptoe and whispered something to him.

Addy looked at Horace with interest and walked up to him. With a sinister smirk, he queried, "Have you realized how dumb you are, Horace? I once told you to matchmake me and Amaia. I offered to pay you ten thousand dollars, but you outrightly refused. She's my girlfriend now. You've gotten no girl and no money. Do you regret it now?"

This was a big lie. Addy hadn't asked him to matchmake him and Amaia. He wanted him to drug her so he could sleep with her. Addy had thought Horace would jump on the offer because he was from a poor family. But to his surprise, he received a big no that was accompanied by a hot reprimand.

Addy took delight in seeing the betrayed expression on Horace's face.

"Anyway, heed my warning. Stay away from my girlfriend, or I'll beat the living daylights out of you!" he uttered seriously while pointing at him.

He then patted Amaia's butt playfully and took her hand, intending to leave.

"Stop right there!" Horace shouted before they could walk away.

Addy and Amaia turned around and stared at him with complacent expressions. They wanted to see what he planned to do.

In the blink of an eye, Horace threw the broken cellphone and it hit Addy's forehead hard.

"Take the phone with you!" he shouted angrily.

"Fuck! You bastard! How dare you?" Addy cursed as he held his forehead. The pain was too much that he staggered backward and fell to the ground.

Amaia was also taken aback. Pointing at him, she yelled, "What the fuck! Horace, what's your problem? Have you gone mad?"

Addy stood up and punched Horace in the face.

"Son of a bitch!"

The heavy punch dazed Horace, but he quickly recovered.

Not to be outdone, he gave Addy a kick in his abdomen. His dusty shoe made a clear footprint on the expensive suit.

"Oh my goodness. They are fighting! They are fighting!"

The onlookers had thought the quarrel would end a while ago. They were shocked when Horace started the fight.