Avatar is drawn by ELSA. Drawn with water color. Thank you Elsa. Check the bigger image with a higher resolution from my facebook. It's much better…
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Sabrina Weasley Cornwell: if you read this… The Stear-Patty part is for you… Hope it's decent enough ;)
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Candy Candy Manga is written by Kyoko Mizuki, Yumiko Igarashi.
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Chapter 1: Past Secrets
In France…
A ten year old girl was looking in the mirror wearing a table cloth as her make belief princess gown. She used leaves as her crown and wild flowers as her pretend necklace. She laughed, then sighing… wishing they were real.
"Ella," called Mr. Boyt, his father, cut her muse.
"Daddy, you're home!" Ella rushed to his father's arms.
Mr. Boyt hugged her girl tenderly and Ella noticed there's a boy standing behind him. His hair was blonde. She released her father right away to look at the boy with a great interest.
"This is your… brother," said Mr. Boyt mysteriously.
"Brother?" Ella's eyes widened.
Her father left home for weeks then suddenly he came back with a boy who's her… brother? He or mother never said anything about she's having a brother.
"Well, not really… My brother's son," corrected her father.
"You have a brother?" asked Ella. That! She didn't know either.
"Yes, and this is his son," said his father firmly in a tone of someone who didn't want to be inquired anymore. "Their village was obliterated by some accident, my brother and his wife both died. This is their son. He got amnesia from the trauma."
Mr. Boyt turned to the boy.
"Ian. This is Ella."
The pale boy stayed nailed in his position. He only gave Ella a little nod.
"But I don't remember that you had…," protested Ella.
Mr. Boyt looked back at Ella. His lips pressed together forming into a hard thin line. He barked agitatedly, "Don't ask too many questions. Just make him feel welcome. You understand?"
Ella was stunt at that sudden warning. His father was always gentle to her. She bit her lips and stayed quiet refraining herself from asking for more questions.
"Ian has amnesia, don't make him feel worse. Don't ask too many questions... It doesn't matter who he is, but remember, you have to tell everyone that he's your brother," Mr. Boyt said gentler. But Ella could sense that his voice wasn't himself.
Ella simply nodded.
"You have to tell everyone that he's your brother. Got that?" Mr. Boyt reiterated one more time.
He crossed his little finger to his daughter's to make a pinky promise. Ella obeyed, gave her little finger to his.
"Good girl," Mr. Boyt said.
"One more thing, we need to leave. We will move out and never come back here," his father said urgently.
Leaving? The sharp intelligent girl was stunt again for the third time. But seeing her father's stern look she shut her mouth.
Mr. Boyt turned around to face the boy.
"Come here boy," Mr. Boyt said gently. "Would you help Ella carry things?"
Ian nodded.
"What about mom?" said Ella.
"I've told her." Mr. Boyt talked and walked at the same time. "Ella, empty the storage…. I get the horses ready."
Ella nodded. Her father, almost like running, left to do whatever he had to do. Ella turned her attention to the boy.
"Hello," said Ella, carefully approaching the boy who seemed to be a few years older than her.
She examined the thin boy who stood in front of him. He had wavy blonde hair and a beautiful pair of blue eyes. He looked scared but… how comely he was!
"Don't be scared." Ella took his hand. "Come, we pack… This way."
She pulled his hand kindly and took him to the storage room. Then, all things happened quickly. Ella could sense the nervousness in her parents. Ella, the boy and her sister quickly helped their parents to pack, loaded things in the horse cart and more.
Soon, they took off. Mr. Boyt abandoned many things to ensure they could leave quickly. Ella was afraid. The boy probably sensed it. He never left her and sat quietly next to her. She never had a brother, her sister was much older than her. Not a bad deal to suddenly get a new brother!
"I love our home. Too bad we're leaving. I wish I could show you more," Ella said while sitting on the horse cart.
"Yes," he said.
His voice sounded sweet, she liked him right away.
"What do you like to do?" Ella asked sweetly.
The boy seemed to struggled to bring his memory back to answer that question.
"Fishing? Play princes- princesses? Climb a hill? Or do you like to pick flowers?" helped Ella.
"Pick flowers, I guess... Roses?" he answered. For a brief moment his eyes glimmered, some color appeared in his pale cheek...
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Mr. Boyt moved his family to a much smaller town and started to farm to earn a living.
Ella liked her new step-brother a lot. Soon, she and Ian became fast friends especially after Ella's sister left home to get married and Ella's mother passed away. As she promised to her father, she told everyone that Ian was her brother and she never dag about his past.
Four years later…
Ian was on the way to pick up Ella for the summer vacation. Mr. Boyt lived in a very small village, so small that they didn't have a middle school nearby. During school session, Ella left home and stayed with her sister who lived in a bigger town. She came home only during a long school vacation.
Ella saw Ian coming in his horse cart.
"Ian!" called Ella and ran to the arms of the blonde.
"Number one again in school?" asked Ian.
Ella nodded.
"Smart sister. Congratulations!"
Ella laughed proudly. They hugged.
"We pick up your stuffs and we go home," said Ian.
"Today? You won't stay for a night?"
"Father wasn't feeling well. I'd rather we go home quickly."
Mr. Boyt wouldn't trust anyone else to pick up his most precious daughter. He only trusted Ian and insisted on having him to pick up Ella regardless of his illness.
"How are your roses?" asked Ella, starting the conversation as they traveled home.
"Ohh…," Ian glowed.
Excitedly Ian told her the many breeds or roses he's experimenting. Throughout the trip, they continuously laughed, chatted happily catching up with what's new in their life.
Ian stopped the cart right in front of their house.
Ella jumped right away to see the blooming roses in the yard.
"Oh lovely!" Ella non stopped screaming praising the roses. She excitedly ran from one to the other examined them and admired them at the same time.
Ian laughed, blooming at the compliment.
The sound of their laughter echoed inside the little house. It energized and brought life to Mr. Boyt who's coughing heavily inside. He's been waiting. He knew his time was near…
Ian entered the house first, Ella followed him. They were stunt to see how grave their father's condition was. He was coughing really hard, gasping for air, his face was as pale as a sheet of paper.
"Get water," instructed Ian to Ella. Ian hurriedly helped Mr. Boyt to sit up, gently patted his back.
Mr. Boyt had been sick. His condition deteriorated rapidly since Ian left this morning.
"Ella, don't go. Come here." Mr. Boyt weakly calling his daughter back. He coughed. "I'm afraid when you came back, I'd be dead already."
"Dad!" Ella felt her knee weakened, she dropped kneeling down next to her father's one knee. Ian on the other knee.
"Dad, I'm number one again in class," said Ella. She patted his chest.
"My smart girl," said the old man proudly. He added weakly, "Promise me to finish school."
"Yes, I promise daddy," sobbed Ella. Her heart torn to see the condition of the father who always loved her so much. "I promise to be a successfully business woman. I'll buy you horses and trucks. I promise."
Mr. Boyt nodded. "I know you can do it," he said proudly. Mr. Boyt then turned to look at Ian.
"Son," said Mr. Boyt, "I don't have much time left." He coughed again. "Before I die, I want to tell you one secret which I have kept from you."
"Father, you'll be fine," said Ian. "Just rest, we talk later… "
The old man shook his head weakly, looked at Ian with a faint smile.
"If only I were really your proud father…"
"Father?" asked the blonde confused.
"Ian, you are not my brother's son." Mr. Boyt coughed. "Your real name is not Ian."
The blonde was stunt, his nerve system almost snapped to collapse, he sank to the floor. The girl gasped. The old man took a choppy breath then continued.
"Long long time ago, I was not a good man. We were not poor but I wanted more money. Against my wife's choice, I chose the worst possible path. Someone asked me if I wanted to be an assassin in exchange of a bag of money and gold. I accepted."
Mr. Boyt coughed.
"I planted a horse trap in the direction you rode." Mr. Boyt recollected. "I saw you come riding a horse. You looked very happy… You were laughing, chatting, together with a blonde girl who rode next to you." Mr. Boyt cried at the memory. "I could never forget that innocent happy smile of yours."
"Seeing your happy face," continued Mr. Boyt, "made me realize how I evil I was. I regretted I planted that trap. But, it was too late. Your horse had fallen on the trap, and… you fell, lie on the ground unconsciously. So did that blond girl. I couldn't believe the merry happy scene I saw a few seconds ago was obliterated in a flash, through my action…"
Mr. Boyt paused.
"Disguised as a medic, I was one of the few kidnappers who took you to the hospital…"
Mr. Boyt stopped talking as another coughing fit consumed him. It was a long cough that he had to gasp for air to breathe.
"Dad, let's continue later," said the Ella patted his chest worriedly.
Mr. Boyt shook his head, his eyes closed. "I want to die in peace. I don't want to carry this secret to my grave." He turned back to the blond.
"I took you to a doctor in the hospital which was also one of the accomplices hired to kill you. To our surprise, you didn't die. You woke up with an amnesia. Our boss was furious and asked me to kill you. But I simply couldn't."
Mr. Boyt reached out his trembling pale hand to the blonde's cheek.
"That night I kidnapped you from the hospital. Using the partial amount of money they had paid me, I brought you home. I took you, my wife, and daughters to run away to start our life all over again. Here. Remotely in the middle of nowhere," Mr. Boyt said.
Ella suddenly saw the connection. The day that boy suddenly appeared… His father's unusual agitation and why they had to move suddenly from their previous house to live in this remote village.
"Would you forgive me?" Mr. Boyt asked tearfully.
The man coughed. Ian was too stunt to answer.
Ella nudged Ian. "Brother, forgive father," she said tearfully.
"Ella, don't force him. I am not his father. But I love him so much. He's the son who I never have." Mr. Boyt turned to the girl. "I love you dear daughter. I don't deserve an angel like you. I'm, looking forward to joining my beloved wife... I should have listened to her. "
The man cried and coughed at the same time.
The room fell silence only the sound of sobs from Mr. Boyt and Ella was audible.
"No one knew that I was alive?" murmured Ian in disbelief breaking the silence. "Did I have a family? Parents? Relatives?"
"I was a make up expert. We used another dead body to disguise it as you. Very easy. Color the hair, fake the scars… told them that your face was ruined after the horse fall," the man coughed.
Ian buried his face in his hands.
"I'm someone else with different parents and family?" Ian thought in horror.
Blonde girl… could it be that girl with green eyes who kept coming in my dreams?, thought Ian.
Slowly Ian got calmed down.
"Father, thanks for saving me," said Ian amidst Mr. Boyt's cough.
"Would you forgive me? "asked the old man again
"Yes," said Ian firmly. "I should be the one who thank you. Had it not because of you, I'd have been dead by now. I should thank you for saving me, for raising me like your own son, for teaching me so many beautiful things in life..."
The old man smiled peacefully.
"Kind boy, kind kind boy… Thank you …," said Mr. Boyt, half crying half smiling. "I was right. You're a very kind man. It's all fathers' dream to have a son like you. You don't deserve my evil act."
Mr. Boyt cried tearfully. Then, using all energy he had left in him, he took the young couple's hands and brought them together. His skin wasn't very warm. His breathing was noticeably becoming more difficult.
"You both are lovely together. If only you two never left one another…"
Among the sob and sadness, Ella couldn't help to blush. Mr. Boyt could only put their hands together in less than a second before another wave of cough took over him again.
"Your real name is… Your name is…," Mr. Boyt trailed off.
He struggled to finish his last word. But a fatal train of cough shook him mercilessly. He coughed heavily and died...
"Father! Daddy daddy…!" Ian and Ella cried at the same time.
But the man didn't make a response. He died, peacefully, grateful that he's forgiven - relieved that he had let out the secret that's been weighing in his heart. They buried the man next to his wife.
Ian walked slowly back into the house reflecting what had just happened.
Who am I?, thought Ian.
He tried to remember but he just couldn't remember past waking up in the hospital. His head almost exploded with frustration, he blew his fist angrily to the table.
Ella saw it. She never saw Ian angry before. He always be gentle, patient and kind. She came to approach him and touched his hand to comfort him. But then suddenly she remembered that they were not having blood relation, at all. She pulled her hand right away. Ian sensed it… It made him even madder.
"You didn't know that I am not your step-brother?" asked Ian irritatedly.
"I remember that you suddenly appeared. But mom and dad didn't allow me to ask questions. So, I didn't."
"Forget it." Ian bursted out.
He then took a deep breath and looked at Ella gentler. He realized how foolish it was to vent it off to her. She, of course, was innocent.
"Sorry," said Ian. "You go back to your sister after your break, Ella. You have to finish school. That's father's… Your dad's last wish."
Ian went to the field to plow the ground. Planting had been his escape to everything unpleasant. He just loved it so much. In exasperation he's thinking, who was that blonde girl?
-To Be Continued –
Thanks for reading!