Chapter 2: Bent But Not Broken

When Candy woke up the following morning, the first thing that crossed her mind was the fairy incident.

Can't be true, thought Candy.

She's sure that Neal must be back to normal by now, spoiled and pampered as usual in the Leagan mansion.

Horrible boy, shrugged Candy.

To not ruin her day, she stopped thinking more of Neal. Instead, she got up and got ready to work.

Candy left her dorm, walked to the hospital just like any other work day. With blossomed heart, she's thinking about her nice dinner with Charles last night. Everything surround her becoming beautiful just like her blooming heart. She kept walking, daydreaming until her eyes caught an unusually large crowd of people at one street corner. From where she was, Candy tried to see what the fuss was about in such an early morning.

Candy saw... something. No, there's a person in the center! Someone in danger?

Her nurse instinct instantly alerted her. Candy rushed to the scene to take a closer look. She saw a beggar lay down on the road. His eyes opened, looked blank. Wait a minute, she recognized the man.

Neal? He's still a pauper!, thought Candy in disbelief.

Hurriedly she jumped into action.

"I'm a nurse, I know him, he's a friend… give me a way," said Candy trying to make her way in the crowd.

Candy quickly attended Neal and knelt next to him.

"Neal… Neal!" called Candy.

"I want mom," cried Neal tearfully.

Candy was relieved that he could talk.

"I know him. A friend," said Candy dispersing the crowd. "Everything is under control, nothing to see here…"

"Are you alright?" asked Candy worriedly to Neal.

"I want mom," answered Neal, crying.

For whatever question she asked, that's the only answer she got. She hated him but a voice inside her heart said, a good nurse didn't abandon a person, any person for that mattered... including Neal. Finally Candy did something that she never thought she would do to that boy, she hugged to comfort him. He struggled, but Candy kept hugging him, it was long enough until the struggle disappeared and he stopped crying.

Now, his teeth were chattering, his body was shivering in cold.

"You haven't eaten, have you?" asked Candy in her gentle nurse tone.

Neal shook his head.

"Neal, you need to stay somewhere tonight."

"I want to go home," he said absently.

Hopelessly, Candy was thinking what to do with him. His mind seemed to be in a total shut down as if he wasn't aware of what happened around him. His eyes looked blank and empty. She definitely shouldn't leave him alone. She could not take him to live in a dorm with her either. Pony's home? That's too far.

We need to find a place for the night, decided Candy.

Candy took Neal to sit in the nearby bench and she went to buy him bread and milk. Modest food which he would not even look at now tasted really good for him. While he's eating, she picked a commercial newspaper to look for apartments for rent.

Throughout the day, Candy didn't go to work. She's looking for an apartment to rent with Neal followed unresponsively behind her… In the afternoon, finally she found one cheap apartment to rent. She just took it, although it's far away from the hospital. Since Candy just started to work as a nurse, she didn't have much saving. She used almost all of her money to pay for the deposit. That day, she also moved out from her dorm.

"Neal, my money is not enough to pay for this apartment. You have to work, too," said Candy.

"I don't know how," he answered absently again.

As a nurse, Candy understood that it took time for a shock person to go back to normal. She decided not to talk more about that with him, at least for now. From then on, she decided to think of the man not as Neal she knew and hated but as a patient.

Unfortunately, Candy's saving depleted fast. She had to pay for food, moving expenses, bought Neal clothes, and more. In a few days, she persuaded Neal to work again. Neal followed and worked in the kitchen in the Leagan mansion. He was stupefied seeing how much leftover food was in the kitchen, while he and Candy were lacking of money to buy food. After work, he took some leftover food home to cut his living cost with Candy. But at the door, Elisa found it and had it confiscated. She also had him fired...

Depressed, Neal went home empty handedly. Even more depressing, on the way home, he saw fliers that his parents posted to look for him. He was so down with his current situation and refused to look for another job .

Neal spent all day sitting looking outside the window looking so desolate and resigned, so gave up with his life. Candy big heartedly bore it all.

ooOoo

One weekend, Candy was getting ready to go to her regular outing with Stear and the gang. Again, she saw Neal sit alone looking outside the window. This time, she decided to drag him to go with them. She believed that happiness was the best medicine.

"Neal, I'll go to meet Archie and Stear. Come with us," said Candy gently.

"No," said Neal stoically without looking at her.

"Oh no," said Candy cheerfully. She's using her most professional nurse tone like when she's persuading stubborn patients to do something they didn't want to do. "I won't let you sit at home all day by yourself in a gorgeous day like this."

Gradually she won. Neal went with her to the outing with the Cornwells and their girls. Just like a miracle, as what the fairy had said, they too didn't know who he was.

"This is…" Candy hesitated a bit when she introduced Neal to them. She then chose to make it simple.

"My new roommate, Neil, with an 'i'. Neil Just came from the Pony's home to look for a job in Chicago," said Candy. She added, "He came after you left, Annie."

"Do you know that Neal, our Neal with an "a", is missing?" asked Stear.

"Really?" asked Candy pretending she didn't know.

"Let him be gone forever, we have one more trouble maker to worry about," said Archie heartlessly. Stear and Archie then laughed out loud. "Take his sister with him too."

"Mommy's boy… Did you time how long he whined when I punched his nose?" ridiculed Archie.

Stear and Archie obliviously non stopped laughing about Neal.

Neal couldn't stand them. He almost stamped his foot and left. Luckily at that time they had already stopped laughing. In fact, with the friendliest gesture, Stear patted Neal's back.

"Neil, I just made this car. You want to try?"

Archie also with the nicest smile opened the car door for him. "Please get in, Neil."

Neal was stunt. He wouldn't be that kind to someone from the Pony's home, for sure, while his cousins treated him just like one of them. That day, Stear and Archie surprised Neal again and again by their kindness and willingness to treat him just like one of them. They talked to him kindly like good friends, made him feel special, wished him good wishes, and more.

They had a good day together. Candy was happy to see Neal look happy when they came back home. She knew she could always count on Stear and Archie to cheer people up.

That night, Candy again saw Neal sit by the window looking outside. But, this time unlike the usual melancholic look, he looked thoughtful.

"Is that what all of you did behind me? Laughing at me?" asked Neal.

"To be honest with you,… yes." Candy felt guilty when she saw he look sad at her honest answer.

"Why did you save me?" Neal asked.

"Ms. Pony and Sr. Lane always taught us to help those who are less fortunate," answered Candy.

"Ms. Pony and Sr. lane…," regretted Neal. He always laughed and mocked at them. "Thank you, Candy."

"Would you take me to Pony's home one day?" asked Neal.

Candy smiled and nodded.

"You live quite far from the hospital now. When outside is dark, could l pick you up from work?" asked Neal trying to do something nice to her in exchange.

Candy nodded, accepted his kind gesture.

Neal was happy. That was the first time he did something nice to Candy. And strangely, he felt good. He promised her to take her to work too when she had a night shift.

oOoOoOo

Determined to have people stop laughing at him, the following day Neal tried to look for a job. With no one knew him and without a diploma, all he could do was to look for a low income job. He got accepted in several job openings as a dishwasher, lawn mower, housekeeper,... But alas, due to lack of experience, he didn't do his job well and got fired repeatedly.

First, it was despair which soon turned into anger and determination. Refused to give up, just like war with himself, he fought hard to get a job.

Finally, Neal got a job in the Pattersons. Better yet, they were willing to patiently train him. Mr. Patterson was a lawyer, Mrs. Patterson was a chairwoman in one charity organization. They were much less richer than the Leagans but infinitely nicer. Mrs. Patterson donated their son's used clothes to Neal, too. Their son was shorter than Neal so the clothing looked a bit ill fitted for him but yet Neal treasured them so much. He needed clothing baldy especially the winter jackets.

The Pattersons allowed Neal to take leftover food too which was so precious to him. That night, happily he presented the food to Candy. They ate the food he took home as their dinner fete every day.

Yet, too bad Neal's salary was too low and not enough for Candy and Neal to keep the apartment. But Neal looked so proud and beaming that Candy didn't have the heart to tell him the truth.

oOo

Candy was so worried about their financial situation. She could ask Annie for help, but she'd rather not. And she'd rather sleep on the street than ask money from aunt Elroy. She's thinking to ask uncle William's help. She's his legal daughter after all... But George had been looking pensive recently. She wondered if there was anything bad happening to uncle William. She hesitated to add more trouble to the kind man.

With all the complications, Candy didn't talk about her problem to anyone and just kept it to herself. She would have never thought that the problem would later be solved by the man she least expected...

-TO BE CONTINUED-

NOTE: Neal and Neil have the same pronunciation, in English…

oOo

Thanks for reading.