1 Proposal Rejected, Life Wasted

Richard was walking up to his girlfriend's door, his heart pounding in his chest. He was now nervous as hell. He had been planning this proposal for a year, waiting for the best time.

But time seemed to wait for no one, his grandfather fell ill all of sudden, so to reassure him, Richard couldn't help but move his plan forward.

Both for him and his grandfather, he couldn't afford to mess thing up.

Arriving in front of the entrance, Richard once again checked on his appearance Richard had shaved his face, allowing a few clumps of brown hair to peek out from the bottom of his neck and the back of his ears. His hair was neatly swept sideways, as if he were mimicking a side part.

The faint smells of cologne and aftershave wafted gently against his nose which helped mask off the dusty odors from worn fabric which was his suit, a cheap but well-maintained suit he inherited from his father. This was the same suit his father wore when he proposed to his mother.

Not perfect but he hoped that the magic would also work its wonder this time.

His hand slipped under his pocket to find a pocket watch snuggled inside. It was a gift from his Grandfather. He rubbed it several times, a habit he developed to alleviate his nervousness.

Tightly gripping the bucket of flower before his chest, he took a deep breath and stepped up to the door of his girlfriend's home. He paused for a moment, before steeling himself and knocking on the door.

A few seconds later, the door opened, and a figure emerged within. It was his girlfriend's mother, Julia. Her icy blue eyes looked down on Richard condescendingly, her expression blatantly revealing her naked contempt for him.

"Richard," she said coldly. "You get out of this place at this instance! Don't show your face around here from today onward! Stella doesn't want anything to do with you anymore." Her tone made it clear that there would be no point in arguing further.

With those words, all hope died inside Richard. His whole world seemed to collapse around him like a collapsing building; he felt dizzy as if everything was spinning out of control. And then came the pain: a searing hot knife twisting through his heart from every direction. It pierced right into his soul!

"Is that her intention?" He questioned in hoarse voice, not believing what he heard.

Julia stared at Richard without answering, clearly unwilling to speak any answer to such a question. Instead, she turned away and started walking back toward the front door while saying over her shoulder.

"She wants me to tell you... she is marrying someone else! Don't bother her anymore, you two are from different world. Only someone like Jake Hamilton, the heir of Hamilton family, the wealthiest family in the town, is deserved to be our family son-in-law. A poor lad like you would never make my baby happy. Stop dreaming." With these last words, Julia slammed shut the door behind herself and disappeared beyond sight within moments.

The next instant after that, Richard collapsed onto the floor of the porch with his legs unable to support him due to the shock. As he lay gasping for air, tears rolled down his cheeks uncontrollably. For one long moment, time froze.

Then, Richard slowly lifted his head upward, his brown eyes looking at the sky above, where the stars were twinkling. A single tear escaped his left eye and landed upon the ground. Slowly, another followed suit. Soon, they began to rain down upon the grass below.

After some minutes passed by, Richard finally regained enough strength to stand up again. After wiping his tears dry, he took a deep breath and walked forward. But instead of going straight ahead towards the apartment entrance, he decided to take a detour along the path leading uphill.

On the top of Halimun Mountain, on the edge of the cliff, Richard stared at the row of apartments at the foot of the mountain with empty eyes. The chill night wind swept by, making his heart grow even colder. His hand unknowingly reached out to the silver antique pocket watch in his pocket, took it out, absentmindedly stroking the watch as he stood in silence.

Memories of the past year flooded across his mind. Memories of their first meeting, the day they met each other face to face, how much fun they had together during that period. How he grew fond of her, loved her, wanted to spend more time with her, make love to her, marry her...

At this time his phone rang, bringing an abrupt end to the sweet memories. Looking at the screen, Richard saw a notification of a voice message coming from Stella. Without second thoughts, he hurriedly play the recording.

"Richard, I think my mother is right. You can't give me the happiness I want. We will only make each other suffer. Let's break up."

"Aaah!!!"

Richard bellowed loudly in agony. All his dreams shattered instantly. In a flash, reality hit him hard, forcing him to realize the truth. No matter how they spoke about love to each other, spending time together for eternity they once sang. But, in the end, reality would come crash against them, shattering all their beautiful dream.

That's right.

It's all about money.

There was despair in Richard's eyes, his heart seemed to be torn into countless pieces, each piece filled with hatred.

"Just wait Stella, I'll make sure you regret your decision today!" Richard's teeth clenched, each of his word seething with anger.

Suddenly, a powerful gust hurled from the mountain peak, slamming into Richard's back,making him stumble forward. The silver pocket watch on his hand was accidentally slipped out of his fingers, bouncing as it knocked on the boulder, rolling toward the bottom of the valley.

"Fuck! NO!"

Richard shouted in terror, scrambling to try and save the pendant as it tumbled down the mountain. This silver clock was the family heirloom entrusted to him by his grandfather, he wouldn't let it go that easily.

He pounced forward with reckless abandon, stretching his arms to reach out to the watch with all his might. The tip of his fingers were finally able to touch the key chain attached to it, hooking it closer, Ricard successfully catch it by hair breadth.

Thanks god, Richard breathed in relief.

But before he could rejoice, Richard's body failed to maintain its balance and fell downward the cliff a hundred meters high.

"Aahhh!!!"

Richard screamed in agony as he flew through the air, plummeting down the side of the mountain at tremendous speed. His body smashed against the rocky ground, sending a shower of dust into the air, leaving a long trail of blood.

His final scream was cut short as he slammed face first onto the ground below, twitching weakly as he lay motionless, covered with blood, his dead eyes staring up helplessly at the starry sky before his vision blurred and the world went black.

Unbeknownst to him, the blood that gushed out from the wounds on his arms trailed down along all the way to his palm, smearing the silver pocket watch bloody red.

All of sudden, the watch began to glow, emitting a blinding reddish-purple light that instantly enveloped Richard's body from head to toe like a cocoon.

After unknown time passed, the light receded, congregating into a single line and enter Richard's glabella. The silver pocket watch on Richard's body vanished along with the end of the magical scene.