9. George's Reverse Action
In Chicago, Candy was very curious about Albert's status. She got very impatient and called Neal in London, but he had left for America. Candy then called Albert, but he also had left for the USA. Candy called Albert's secretary in Chicago daily asking if Albert was back. One day, she found out that George was back.
The moment she heard that George was back, she came to his office right away.
"George is it true that Albert is engaged?" Candy asked very much anticipating to hear the answer from a trustworthy source.
George really regretted being the one who needed to answer Candy's question about this matter. It's too bad she needed to hear the truth from him instead of directly from the man himself.
"Ms. Candy, he met her long before he had amnesia. He didn't remember that until just recently," said George trying to answer her question indirectly to minimize the blow of the brutal truth.
"So it's true. He's engaged!" said Candy in total shocked.
Candy didn't believe that her dear Albert would have done such a thing to her.
"Why didn't he tell me?" she whispered in disbelief.
Candy started to cry no matter how hard she tried not to. She fell to George's arms and cried harder and harder. With full of respect, George hugged her. He felt he was having a deja vu. He remembered the same exact scene when she hugged him and cried as she was forced to get engaged to Neal. He felt guilty to make Candy meet Sir William in Lakewood which resulted in the engagement cancellation. Probably he should have just let her be engaged to Neal instead who seemed to genuinely love her.
"I was very happy when he finally visited me in my apartment," she said between her sobs.
George suddenly got an idea. Perhaps he could try to undo his past action.
He cleared his throat and said using his most professional tone, "Ms. Candice, maybe you should reconsider the man who made Sir William visit you in your apartment. He seemed to really care about you."
"The one who made Albert come to my apartment? What do you mean? Who was he?"
"It's Master Neal," said George without showing any emotion from his face. "He is the one who asked me to tell Sir William to visit you in your apartment when you're sick and to move you to the new apartment."
"Neal?" asked Candy surprised.
"Yes, Ms. Candice, but he asked me not to tell Sir William about his plan. I never mentioned that to you either."
Unexpected to her, this news made her happy and wiped out all the sadness instantly. She hugged George one more time and said, "Thank you, George, as always."
"Ms. Candice, do you want me to take you home?"
"No need George, I have a private driver now." She hugged him and left with a joy in her heart. "Thank you."
Neal had proved again and again how much he cared for her. What George just told her confirmed Neal's never ending care for her even more. All this time, it had been him who genuinely cared for her.
But, thus far, due to her love and loyalty to Albert, her heart seemed to be blocked by a dam which prevented it from reaching freely to Neal without feeling guilty. Now that Albert was not available, she felt the dam had been destroyed and she could freely think about Neal. She felt rather relieved that Albert was taken so she could move on. No matter how much she loved Albert and how sweet he's to her, she always felt there's a thin transparent sheet which created gap between them.
Suddenly, Candy missed Neal's loving look, his soft hand, his grin, everything about him. As soon as she arrived at home, she hurriedly looked for the thick grant proposal he wrote for her sake. She felt so touched by it and tears started to fall on her cheeks. She then looked at the thick stack of his letters which had been her most joyful and loyal companies these past months. She hugged his letters and cried hard thinking about him.
After cooling down, Candy started to think more rationally about Neal.
Is he still available?
She wondered if he loved her romantically or he just wanted to be her caring friend. He was nice to Laura and other girls, too (-). True, he proposed to her, but that was in the past.
Suddenly his past bad boy image appeared in her brain. His irrationally annoying characters came back to her. He even proposed to me without asking for my permission first! But unlike in the past, she smiled at those. Who would have thought behind those illogical behaviors he actually genuinely cared for me?
Suddenly she got an idea.
There's one way to find out about his real intention. Candy grinned. I will use the same blunt approach he did to me. But first, I need to meet him.
She chuckled thinking about her plan.
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A few days later, Candy's servant announced, "Mr. Leagan is here, Ms. Candice."
She hurriedly ran to meet Neal. He just came back from London and the first thing he did was to visit her.
"Hi Candy," said Neal very happy to see the love of his life looked healthy and glowing. He stood straight courteously although deep inside he really wanted to run and hug her. If only he could have her in his arms, if only he could kiss her irresistible red lips, if only he could tell her how much he loved her, he would be the happiest man in the entire universe.
But no, I am her brother and her loyal friend, let's get that intention straight. There will be no romance between us, ever!, he said repeatedly to himself.
To his surprise as soon as he finished his thought, Candy did something she never did before. She ran to him and hugged him tightly. In that split of a second, he wondered how to react. Sure he wanted to hug her tightly in his arms, but would she allow him to do that? The last time he did that, she was very angry and pushed him to fall. The last thing he wanted to was back being her enemy again.
So, he returned her hug lightly and gallantly.
Then, to his even more surprise, Candy said, "I miss you."
What? Neal almost uttered that out loud.
He wanted to say that to her too one hundred times. But if he did, would she slap him again like in the past? He's so worried to be back being her enemy again. But being silence was not good either.
After some consideration, he replied back awkwardly, "I miss you too," very softly, barely audible.
To his relieved, Candy finally released her hug. She looked into his eyes briefly and finally gave him the biggest surprise of all. In one poignant moment, she pulled his neck and gave him a deep passionate kiss in his lips. This was too much for him.
He pushed her lightly and asked flabbergastedly, "What happens?"
"I love you," Candy said.
Something that she hadn't been able to give to Albert in years, she could give it to Neal just like that. In contrast to Albert, she's not afraid at all to declare her love to Neal. His unceasing loving look and caring behaviors broke all personal barriers she had from him. They gave her silence assurance and confidence that he wouldn't disappoint her. There's no better way to express it than to do it bluntly like he used to do in the past. Back then, out of the blue he used to hug her, want to kiss her, and say he liked her which both scared and annoyed her at the same time.
His jaw dropped and he looked at her with eyes wide opened wondering if she got a wrong person.
Ignoring his push, Candy pulled him back. She hugged him even tighter this time as if she's afraid to lose him. Without feeling a slight awkwardness, she freely told him what she had in mind.
"Yes. I love you, Neal. Am I too late? Have you been taken by someone else?" She hugged him still even tighter. "It took me all this time before finally I realized that it's you who genuinely care about me. Do you still love me like the day you proposed to me?"
After a moment of silence where he convinced himself that this was real, he pushed her again very gently so he could look at her face. He looked into her eyes to convince himself one more time that this was real.
He replied, "Are you kidding me? Of course I love you and I will always love you for the rest of my life."
"Are you still available?"
"Of course, I am always available for you until the end of time." He grinned.
"What if by the time I told you, you already had a girlfriend?" Candy asked.
"Then I'd break up with her," he said tenderly
"What if by the time I told you, you already got engaged to someone else?"
"Then I would cancel my engagement with her," he said even more tenderly with softer look in his eyes.
Candy was happy to hear that. "What if you already got married to someone else?" with flirty look and playful voice.
"Then I'd divorce her because more likely I'd marry her due to obligation. While the only woman that I'm really, truly, deeply in love with and want to be with for the rest of my life is you," he said very very tenderly with the softest look in his eyes. Her playfulness made him so infatuated with love.
"Do really you mean it?"said Candy, happy to hear his answers. "I love you, Neal. I really love you."
"Of course I mean it. I do anything for you!" he replied. "I love you, Candy, so much,"
This time, he couldn't resist it anymore. So much for his original intention to be Candy's brother, he kissed her deeply and gave her the warmest embrace. His heart felt very happy to finally hear that loving sentence from Candy. He was ready to act one step further had not the servant come to announce.
"Sir William is here, Ms. Candice."
He stopped kissing her and started to release her slowly. "Should I go?" he asked.
"Why? Don't you want to ask his blessing to propose to me? He's my father, you know!" said Candy.
He was so closed to shout propose to you? But he quickly regained his composure and asked her seriously, "Are you really serious about this?"
"Absolutely, are you going to back off now?"
"Not for the world!" he replied back. "Let me meet him now, I'll show you how serious I am. I'll tell him about us before you change your mind," he said with a big grin. He couldn't be happier with her answer.
Before Candy ran to greet Albert, Neal took one more opportunity to have a moment with Candy which was cut abruptly just now. He held both of her cheeks with his hands so she couldn't leave.
"I love you, Candy," Neal said movingly. His eyes looked deeply into hers with so much affection. "I love you, I love you, I love you," he said repeatedly. It's like a dream that finally he could tell her these words freely without fear.
"Thank you. You make me the happiest man. I promise you that I will work harder than anyone else to make you happy*," said Neal.
Candy was so touched by his assurance. Her eyes were swelling with tears of happiness. Neal gave her another deep kiss in her lips until he heard Albert's footstep coming approaching the living room. Then, reluctantly he let her go.
As soon as Albert arrived, Candy welcomed him and went straight to his arms to hug him. After this hug, she'd be ready to let him go and treat him nothing but the best of friends. Albert was thinking about the same thing so both were hugging emotionally for sometimes. Then, Candy started to notice something on his cheek.
"What happened to your cheek?" she asked
"It's not important. Got hit by something," Albert answered with eyes looking at Neal's. He's already here and faster than me, thought Albert.
"Neal has something to say to you," said Candy with the sweetest smile.
"Uncle William," said Neal nodded politely. He started to be nervous if Albert was still angry to him and would give him a hard time to propose. "I love your daughter, Candy. I wonder if I could get your blessing to marry her."
To his relieved, Albert came to hug both of them with a friendly smile.
"Of course. Congratulations, I am very happy for both of you," said Albert. Christine was right, thought Albert giggling in his heart.
He then looked at Neal and said, "Call me Albert."
Albert was relieved that he jut got a narrow escape. Now that Candy was with Neal, he didn't need to explain Christine's problem to candy. His relationship with Candy had better be left open the way it was and undisturbed. He genuinely regarded Candy as the most important person to him with no romantic attachments. He loved her dearly and never forgot how much she had done to him during the darkest time in his life. But, more importantly, he's happy that Candy got the man who really cared and loved her. He's been thinking about Neal's caring behavior to Candy and couldn't be happier for her.
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Soon, Candy and Neal came to visit Annie and Archie to tell them about their engagement. Annie and Archie were surprised to see the two held hands together. They almost gasped in astonishment when they told them that they're engaged.
"Neal?" asked Annie when she was alone with Candy.
Candy told her the story. At some point Candy was so overcome by emotion that she cried happy tears. Annie hugged her and cried with her. Annie and Archie watched in amazement how Neal picked up Candy that day.
He approached her and said, "Are you ready to go home, Honey?" He kissed her lips.
"Sure, Sweetheart," replied Candy tenderly.
The scene looked paradoxical. The genuine mutual love emanated from their eyes was unmistakable, however. They felt very happy for the new couple. For a moment, Archie felt rather jealous. He couldn't believe that it's Neal who finally won Candy. He wondered if he should have fought to win Candy's love instead of to just surrender to Annie.
Stear, you wouldn't believe this, thought Archie. How much he wished his brother was around for him to share the news.
A few weeks later, Neal and Candy had their successful engagement party. In one beautiful warm summer day, less than a year after their engagement party, they celebrated their wedding. George was their guest of honor. Their relationship with Albert and Christine couldn't be closer. The two families became the best and closest of friends.
EPILOGUE
Neal brought the Leagan enterprise to the new height of success. He and Candy planned to do more for the greater good and founded The Neal and Candy Leagan Foundation. On the inauguration day...
"Mrs. Leagan, the driver will be here in five minutes."
Candy nodded. She went to look for her husband.
"Dear, are you ready for your speech?" asked Candy.
"I just finished the final proofread," Neal replied. "What about your speech?"
"I am all ready," answered Candy looking at her husband. She sighed.
"Every time I see you giving a speech, I can't help to think about that one speech that I missed. You must have looked so handsome when you gave the defense speech for Happy Clinic renovation grant proposal." (+)
Neal laughed.
"Handsome? Maybe. I had no gray hair back then. But, that's a kid's speech, this is the real heavy weight speech," said Neal pointing to his speech draft with a grin. "Trust me, you didn't miss a thing."
"I love your gray hair," said Candy kissing his brown hair which now mixed with gray hair. "I meant to say, your experience was very limited back then and yet you were willing to do such an immense task for me. I never can stop admiring the effort you made for me."
"I do anything for my love to you, Candy," said Neal calmly. "I mean it."
He kissed her.
"Actually, after that speech, I became used to write and give speeches. It was a worth spent summer internship," said Neal. "And, I won your friendship."
They laughed. He folded his speech draft and put it in his pocket.
"I want to thank you for including me in the foundation name," said Candy.
"No, Honey. Please, don't say that. That's just the least I can do to express my gratitude to you," said Neal. He looked at her earnestly and said with a serious tone, "I am the one who should thank you. Without your love and support I won't be able to do all these."
He hugged her. He was about to give her kisses but the servant knocked the door saying the driver was ready.
"Well, we should continue the kissing tonight," he said with a grin. "Besides I don't think I should ruin your make up." He gave his arm to her.
"Have the children left?" he asked as they walked.
"They all have. They are welcoming the guests especially our parents, Albert and Christine, Eliza and Pete, ..."
They were very happy to have each other and very much anticipated to do meaningful work trough the foundation.
-THE END-
What do you think of the story?
From my little corner here, I'd like to thank all the readers for reading this story. It's been a pleasant journey.
Special thanks as always to the reviewers. I love to read what you write enormously.
NOTE:
* Neal kind of implying this in the manga ch. 9 when he kidnapped Candy. (But of course with that kind of behavior, who wants to listen :) I reword it here to emphasize his intention stronger and to fit it better with the dialogue.
- Laura: The woman who Neal took to the ball (in chapter 4).
+ Neal's Happy Clinic grant proposal defense speech and all his effort are covered in chapter 3 (Summer Internship) in great details. (Probably in too much details, I got too carried away when writing it :)
