Candy CandyManga is written by Kyoko Mizuki, Yumiko Igarashi.
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Avatar is drawn by Elsa using watercolor. Thank you, Elsa. See the original with higher resolution, it's much better! The dress is longer, too.
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Story starts here…
ONCE upon a time, Candy was going to a theater to watch a play with the Cornwells brothers and their girls. Candy came with her coworker, Dr. Charles, as her date. When they arrived at the theater, they didn't find Stear and others. Charles then went inside to look for them while Candy looked for them outside.
Candy wandered to the garden to see if they were already there. She sat on their favorite bench next to a pond waiting for them. She saw an old woman, her back bent walking with a stick coming to the bench. Respectfully, Candy got up to give her seat and waited for her friends under a nearby tree.
From the back of her eye, Candy saw a man in an elegant suite came to her direction. She turned around expecting to see Archie. But it's not Archie who came.
"It's you," groaned Candy, annoyed.
"Hi stable girl!" greeted Neal not-too-nicely.
Neal, his mother, and his sister were in the theater too to watch the same play. He was waiting for his mother and sister hanging their coats and other things when he saw Candy was alone. It's a rare opportunity to meet her alone without any of her bodyguards. He then wandered outside to stir trouble.
"Ugly dress!" provoked Neal.
Candy threw her face. Refused to be provoked, she chose not to respond.
"Pony's girl trying to disguise her poor look in a fancy dress," mocked Neal. "Look cheap and ugly, can't hide the fact."
"A scum disguised in an expensive suite." Aggravated, Candy fired back. "I'd rather be a decent ugly orphan."
"An orphan with no manner. Need to teach her a lesson!" Neal grinned devilishly and spilled the wine in his glass to Candy's dress. Her light colored dress got ruined instantly, stained by the reddish color of the wine.
"Oops sorry, clumsy accident," Neal said sarcastically. "You should leave then. This place is not suitable for a poor orphan, anyway."
He pulled one ribbon from her piggy tail, used it to wipe a drop of wine that dripped on his hand.
"Give me that," said Candy angrily. She snapped the ribbon from his hand but he held it still. She kept pulling and pulling, and suddenly Neal cruelly released it. Candy lost her balance and fell to a pond behind her.
"Worthless scum," yelled Candy angrily, trying to climb up from the pond. Her dress and curly hair were totally obliterated.
Neal laughed satisfactorily and made a move to push her back to the pond.
"Stop it," suddenly they heard a voice.
Both Candy and Neal lifted their head and saw an old woman, back bent, walked with her stick to their direction. Candy recognized her as the woman whom she gave her seat to.
"Leave her alone," ordered the old woman.
"Old hag, you need to address me properly when talking to me," yelled Neal to the old woman.
"Ma'am, I'm fine… Don't worry. He always does this…," said Candy. She's worried that Neal would drag the old lady to trouble too.
"Always?" roared the old woman angrily.
She smiled kindly to Candy before turned her face to Neal.
"Bad boy, you are blessed with everything many men could only hope for but you don't use it wisely. Apologize to her then I consider if I could forgive you."
"Forgive me?" laughed Neal sarcastically. "Who do you think you are?"
Neal kicked the old woman's stick. She lost her balance and fell. With difficulty the old woman struggled to rise on her feet. Candy climbed the pond hurriedly and came to support her, kindly helped her to get up. Neal laughed heartily like he just saw something really funny.
"Move farther, child," said the old woman to Candy.
Madly, the old woman turned to Neal.
"Your heart is so mean. You need to be punished."
"Punished?" yelled Neal. "Do you know who I am? I'm N..."
"Who you are won't matter soon," hissed the old woman.
She extended her arm to her stick on the ground and, to Candy and Neal's surprise, the stick flew to her hand. The woman shook the stick and a bright light shone, emanated from her. It was so bright that Candy and Neal had to close their eyes. When they opened their eyes, the light had disappeared and the old woman was gone. What remained was a beautiful fairy with a pair of gorgeous wings. Her face however, was very angry. The stick turned into her wand.
Candy was speechless, trembling in disbelief witnessing the hard-to-belief transformation, so was Neal.
"I will take everything you have," the fairy glared at Neal with distaste. "From now on, you will have nothing but yourself. You will have no more wealth and no identity. No one will know who you are!"
The fairy continued talking to Neal but this time, like magic, Candy couldn't hear what she said.
The fairy said, "You need to learn to love someone and only when the person returns your love can thus the spell be broken and you get a second chance."
The fairy shook her wand. Candy saw an intense light coming from the wand which was directed to Neal. Neal was too scared to do anything, he simply froze. In horror, Candy ran to push Neal to make him dodge the light. She didn't know why she did it, more likely due to instinct. She got illuminated by the light too before she fell and took Neal to fall with her.
"O o, silly girl, why did you run to him?" asked the fairy hopelessly after all hullabaloo was over.
"Well, the magic has been said. I can't take it back. You will be the only one who knows who he is."
The fairy moved her wand one more time. This time she directed it to Candy.
"Don't move, dear," said the fairy to Candy.
WHOSH! Just like Cinderella, Candy's dress and hair were transformed to be more gorgeous than before. The fairy smiled gently to Candy then in a puff she vanished into thin air.
"Let go of me," shouted Neal. He pushed Candy who fell on his leg brutally.
In shock he looked at himself. His black suite had disappeared, his white immaculate shirt was there no more. What remained was a piece of old rag in his body and a pair of old sandals on his feet.
Speechless, Candy examined his appearance. He's becoming nothing but a pauper!
Neal gulped, panic. From the far he spotted his mother.
"Mom, moomm… !" screamed Neal calling his mother.
Neal's mother and Elisa had been looking for him. Hearing someone call mom, Mrs. Leagan turned around to the direction of the voice. But as spelled by the fairy, his mother didn't recognize him. So did his sister. Fear for their own safety, they walked hurriedly into the theater. The security guards heard the noise and spotted Neal the pauper. They took him with them to throw him outside.
Candy was stunt witnessing what had happened. She followed Neal and went outside with him witnessing what seemed like magic. Neal screamed, cried, struggled, but there's no use. They simply threw him out.
"Ma'am, would you like to enter?" they said instead with full respect to Candy.
"She's an orphan, I should be the one who enter not her," Neal shouted to the guard.
Afraid his loudness would disturb others, they took Neal farther to the outermost gate. Candy followed him.
"Neal… ," said Candy. "Calm down… "
"Go away, go away, you will laugh at me," said Neal hysterically. He pushed her and ran away from her.
Candy chased to look for him. But her high heel shoes slowed her down greatly. She soon lost Neal. Couldn't find him, she ran back to the theater to look for her friends. She met her date, at the entrance.
"Charles, sorry, … there's something," said Candy panting trying to catch her breath. "Are they here?"
Charles stared at Candy for a moment, somehow he felt that she looked different than just a few minutes ago. She's simply more exquisite. He couldn't help to take her hand and kiss her fingers.
"Yes, they all have entered," said Charles after a moment. He then noticed that her face was paler than usual too. "Candy, is everything alright?"
What had happened was too dazzling, Candy couldn't even believe it herself, so she decided not to tell. She simply nodded and they went inside the theater to meet Stear and others.
-To be continued-
Thanks for reading.