Happy New Year! Can you believe it? It's the new year already. Well, here is the first update in 2015. Hope you find this to your liking.

Disclaimer: I don't own Candy Candy manga and all the characters in it, but the talented Kyoko Mizuki does. This fic is a product of my own twisted imagination and inspired by Mizuki's masterpiece. If any of the plots, specific scenes, or dialogues appears to be similar to that from another fic or story, it is purely unintentional and coincidental. 'Great minds think alike', after all.

The characterization in the fic is based on the Manga and not the Anime.

Shout out to: kellyelin, Josie - thank you for writing reviews. And to the rest of you who are following the story: thank you from the bottom of my heart :)

All I Want

By forever

The Real Motive

After tucking Lizzie in her bed, I stroll into the kitchen and see Candy standing by the sink, turning off the faucet. "Thank you so much for helping with washing the dishes, Candy," I say against the quiet humming of the dishwasher. "You really don't have to, you know."

Cleaning after dinner is a task assigned to Mrs. Thompson, but today she has requested a day off to spend time with her daughter who is visiting her from another California. So I have worked from home to stay with Lizzie and taken over Mrs. Thompson duty of maintaining order in the kitchen area. When Candy found out about the situation, she kindly offered to come by a few hours earlier than the usual time, to allow me to run to the office and have a quick meeting with George.

"It's the least I could do for the delicious meal you prepared for us," Candy replies and turns to face me, wiping her hands dry with the rag. "I must say—tonight's dinner menu was quite impressive. Where did you learn to cook?" she asks through her smile, her beautiful eyes sparkling with admiration.

"Thank you—I'm glad you like it." I round the counter and walk closer to her. "I learned most of the basic skills when I was in London, during my second year in college," I explain, my mind drifting to the time I had to defend my decision to move out of the dormitory to Aunt Elroy which ended up in a heated argument that stretched past her bedtime. She rambled on and on about my safety, about my well being, about anything and everything that she could think of, but eventually after I promised her I would fulfill all her wishes if she allowed me a bit of freedom, she relented.

My gaze flit back to Candy, and I can see the gradual change in her countenance as she seems to come to realization. "Oh... I remember that time when you left for college. I just met you then, and you entrusted Hurley to me."

I smile and nod in affirmation. "That's correct."

"But I didn't think you would go to a culinary school." A quizzical look digs creases along her brows. "You just didn't strike me as an aspiring chef. Was I wrong?"

I laugh. "No, Candy. I didn't attend a culinary school. Cooking was something I was forced to do when I began to grow tired of eating out day after day and having to fix sandwiches for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In the beginning, I knew nothing about cooking. I couldn't even prepare a simple fried egg without burning it." A chuckle slips through my lips as I recall one of the numerous failures from my early culinary training days. George, who happened to be there at that time was my guinea pig, and I made him sit through a serving of my very first stew—if that's even the proper way to describe the ghastly looking concoction. The poor man fought hard to keep his stoic veneer, chewing on a small cube of charred meat that was as tough as a piece of rubber.

"So I had to learn from scratch, relying on cookbooks to guide me and picking tips and tricks from watching cooking shows on TV. The more I cooked the better I became at it, to a point where I felt comfortable enough to cook for other people, that whenever I had the opportunity, I would invite my friends and colleagues to sample my creations. I never thought that I would enjoy cooking—but I did."

"Now I see... " Candy drawls in a playful sneer." You surely must have honed that skill of yours to perfection and used it to charm your lady friend." Her brows rise as her lips curve in an impish smile. "Am I right?"

"Not really," I frankly tell her and then add in jest, "but that seems like a good idea. I probably should use it on you. Who knows? You might fall for my charms soon." I lean my hip against the marble counter, smirking at her.

Her cheeks turn bright red in an instant, and she evades direct eye contact with me, emitting an incoherent mumble.

I break into quiet laughter at her inability to retaliate to my quip, my eyes leisurely examining her face. There is hardly any visible change from what I can remember of the teenage-girl Candy I used to know. Her freckles are still there, sprinkled over the pale skin on the top part of her nose, although, the color seems to have faded slightly. Next to the pair of beautiful round emerald eyes, the cluster of freckles is one feature that never fails to fascinate me. I can't deny there were times in the past that I had entertained the thought of kissing each single dot.

"Ah! Look at the time," she remarks in alarm, glancing down at her watch briefly. "I think I should leave now. Thanks for dinner, Albert," she utters with a smile.

"You're leaving?"

"It's late, and Lizzie is fast asleep," she reasons and saunters past me.

I whirl around. "Can you stay a bit longer?" I ask in a hurry, surprising myself.

Did I just ask her to stay?

She halts her step and swivels her head over her shoulder.

"I... Uhm... " I falter as our gazes collide. The mixture of surprise and expectation on her face only causes me to lose my train of thoughts completely, and I blurt out the first thing that springs up to my mind, "I need your help on something."

Her face contorts in confusion. "My help?"

"I'll drive you home, so you don't need to take a cab," I offer quickly instead of elaborating on what the help entails.

She appears to be deliberating her answer, and for a moment I'm quite sure she will decline.

"Ermm... So what do you need my help on?" She pivots on her heel and moves toward me.

I can't help but grin widely at her display of interest. "How about if we discuss it over a slice of chocolate cake and a cup of coffee? Does that sound good?" The truth is I have no idea what help I need from her, but I'm sure I can think of something. Maybe something related to Lizzie.

"Hmmm... that sounds divine. How could I say no to that?" she expresses, chuckling. "You know I'm getting very suspicious of your real motive."

"Real motive?" I echo through a strained smile, fearing that she has managed to see through my pretense.

"Yes. You've been feeding me all these scrumptious food week after week," she indicates as I feel my lips twitch up in relief. "That makes me wonder—are you by any chance in a secret mission to fatten me up, Mr. Andrew?" she probes in a mock accusing tone, her green eyes twinkling with mischief. "You're not a wicked witch, I hope?"

"You're absolutely wrong, Dr. White," I say, mustering a triumphant polite tone I usually reserve for conveying my assertion in a formal business meeting. "That's not my intention at all. Can't you tell that I'm actually trying to win my lady friend's heart with my skill?" Cocking an eyebrow, I gaze at her teasingly. Her reaction is adorable at best. She gapes at me, her rosy lips parting, her cheeks aglow in pink hue.

Right at that moment, the sudden urge to stroke her lips with mine roams over me.

I flinch in shock. Where did that come from?

Swiftly banishing the improper thoughts from my mind, I spin way from her and stride toward the refrigerator. "Umm... Let me get the cake."

Perhaps, I should maintain some distance from her. Yes, that would be the best. But... Can I do that? Or do I even want to do that?

"I could help prepare the coffee, " her soft voice reaches my ears from behind me as I swing the refrigerator door open.

My head turns in her direction, and I notice the faint shy smile adorning her lips, which encourages a smile to materialize on my lips instantly.

The answer to my own question is very clear. No, I don't want to keep my distance—I can't stay away from her, even if I want to.

I scoff at myself. It seems that I'm truly in a quest to win my lady friend's heart.

To Be Continued

Author's Remark:

My sincere apology for the updates that are slow in coming. Aside from being caught in all the hustle and bustle during the holiday, I've been fighting a bunch of nasty flu and cold bugs. So I hope you understand for the lack of updates and slow response to messages. I'll get to them as soon as I can.

So how do you like the update? I made several modifications to the original version that was posted on my blog, that those who had read it before will notice some changes.

A bit longer than the previous chapter. And poor Albert, he just can't help himself, can he? Let's see what he'll do next.

Okay time to address some questions:

kellyelin: Thank you for all your kind words. I'm glad you approve of my writing style. As for Candy being single, Albert knows she is as he overhears Candy declaring that to Lizzie, and he can't control his giddiness knowing that's she's still single. :D

Josie: Thank you for the best wishes. My holiday was wonderful and I spent it with my friends and families. I hope yours was as wonderful as mine. Moving on to the story, as you can tell, Albert is still trying to fight his own feelings in this chapter. We'll see how long he can keep that up.

As always, many hugs and kisses for taking the time to read this story (and all the faves, follows, and kudos). And I can't thank you enough for all the comments you've taken the time to write and post.

Till next time

-forever-

PS - Now that the holiday is over I finally have some time to get back to my writing. I'm hoping to update Awakening next. So please bear with me. Thank you for your patience.