For a couple of days, Penelope has been fine, but she'd sometimes have a flashback of the moment when she caught Cappy with that girl at the park. She didn't want to get hurt again and to prevent it from happening once more, she decided to ignore Cappy in every way; not picking up his phone calls or any of his messages and walking or running away when she sees him around. She succeeded for four months.
In the meantime, it was February, and Cappy is wondering where Penelope could be for he's trying to call her again.
"Anyone picked up?" Asked the girl that he was with at the park. She was sitting on a chair watching him make a phone call.
Cappy shook his head disappointedly and hung up the phone. He sighed, "I wonder where she is."
"Why does it matter?" The girl asked jealously with attitude.
Cappy stared at her with disbelief, "What do you mean 'why does it matter'?" He couldn't believe she said that, "Samantha, what are you saying?"
"I mean, who cares?" Samantha replied now leaning against the table not keeping eye contact.
"Who cares!" Cappy was getting angry.
"I mean… just forget about her!"
Cappy didn't understand what's going on and why she was acting this way, "Forget about Penelope! I can't believe you! I thought you were different, Samantha."
"Why do you care about her so much?" She asked staring at him.
"Because... she's my friend!" He couldn't take this anymore, "Samantha, you know what? Out!" He pointed to the door.
"Fine!" Samantha packed up and stomped to the door, putting on her shoes.
Cappy followed her and didn't say a word, but waited for her to leave.
When Samantha was about to leave, she stared at Cappy angrily, "I don't think you think of Penelope as a friend at all… I think you like her." She walked off and slammed the door.
Cappy walked to his room and sat on his chair by his desk. As he sighed from the argument with Samantha he noticed a picture on his shelf. He reached over to grab the picture and it turned out to be a picture of Penelope and him laughing and having fun; having a great time. Cappy smiled remembering that moment when they took the picture. He then felt an urge to want to talk to someone so he went downstairs to grab a cordless phone in the kitchen and started dialing. He thought he was dialing Boss's number, but surprisingly he dialed Hamtaro's number instead.
"Hello?" Hamtaro answered on the other end.
"Ham-Hamtaro?" Cappy sounded surprised because it wasn't Boss's voice, but Hamtaro's.
"Yup, that's me."
"This is Cappy." Cappy decided to stick with Hamtaro since he already got through, "Hamtaro, I need your help."
"What's the problem, Cappy?"
"It's Penelope. She hasn't answered any of my phone calls, messages, or anything and I haven't seen her around either. I don't know what to do…." Cappy sounded emotional.
Hamtaro thought about it, "You miss her, don't you?"
Cappy replied sadly, "Yeah… I do."
"Cappy, do you think that you might have a secret crush on Penelope?" Hamtaro asked working his cupid role.
Cappy was silent.
Hamtaro continued, "Next week on Saturday is Valentine's Day and I was thinking we have a friends gathering. Be there at the clubhouse at 1pm because we're going to celebrate together by going picnicking. See you there, Cappy!" Hamtaro hung up without letting him speak.
Cappy had his mouth opened to say something, but didn't get a chance as he stares at the phone wondering what just happened. He hung up and lay on the couch thinking things through.
During the week, Hamtaro has made sure everyone was able to come. He also had a discussion with Pashmina about Penelope and Cappy; they both agreed to not interfere with them on that day unless, worse comes to worse, it gets serious to then interfere.
Saturday, Valentine's Day, has arrived and all of them were excited, the couples especially. So far, so good, everyone has arrived, but Penelope was still ignoring Cappy.
"Everyone ready for the picnic?" Hamtaro asked while holding onto Bijous hand.
"Yeah!" They all replied happily.
"Then let's go! Everyone pick a partner." Hamtaro instructed and stared over at Bijou, who smiled.
Penelope went to Pashmina, but she was with Dexter, Bijou was with Hamtaro, Sandy was with Maxwell, and Pepper was with Oxnard. Everyone else was already paired up except Penelope and Cappy; they all had this planned out the day before.
"Guess you two have to be paired up." Boss pushed them together, "Come on, don't be stubborn."
Penelope glared at Cappy from the corner of her eye as she walked a head with arms crossed.
Once they were all ready, they headed to Acorn Mountain, which wasn't so big anymore. At Acorn Mountain, they all went their separate ways with their partner to have fun or look for an area to eat.
This was difficult for Penelope for she was trying to ignore him, but he keeps following her. Secretly Penelope could never forget him and the moments they shared, even though she is ignoring him and is sort of mad, she still has him on her mind, but she hides them all.
They were walking along a small narrow pathway along the mountain hillside.
"Penelope, stop walking and talk to me." Cappy tried to keep up with her walk.
Penelope did not reply and kept walking.
"Please Penelope." Cappy pleaded still walking behind her.
Penelope still didn't reply.
Cappy ran to catch up with her and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking, "Please."
Penelope hesitated and turned to face him, "What?"
"Why aren't you talking to me?" Cappy asked depressingly.
Penelope couldn't take it any longer, she had to let it all out; she had to let him know. "Want to know why? I'll tell you why! Ever since you and I became close friends I've liked you, had a crush on you and as we grew up together that crush grew. You heard me my crush for you grew! I was so afraid to loose you when you went to High School that I turned emotional and stubborn. The only thing that kept me strong was our strong friendship. Then, you go and tell me you liked someone – someone you just met – and she replace me and it hurts! It HURTS, Cappy! Pashmina, Bijou, Pepper, and Sandy were all there for me when I cried. Then the next day, I saw you with her and my heart shattered into pieces…." Penelope stared to cry while confessing her love, "No matter how much I HATED you, Cappy….. I still thought about you. I couldn't forget all those moments together! I JUST COULDN'T!" Penelope kneeled down while more tears formed.
"Penelope…" Cappy was about to comfort her and hug her, but she stood up and backed away.
"Don't touch me!" She yelled out in pain while stepping back.
"Penelope, stop!" Cappy yelled as he noticed she was going near the edge of the cliff.
"I said, Don't-----" Penelope screamed as she tripped over the edge and fell off the cliff.
"Penelope!" Cappy yelled bending over the edge trying to grab her but was too late so he jumped down after her.
They both hit the ground, but were lucky to land on a pile of leaves. They were unconscious for a couple of hours.
Meanwhile, Pashmina got worried since she doesn't see any sign of them anywhere. Pashmina went to find Hamtaro with Dexter.
"Hamtaro, do you see Penelope or Cappy anywhere?" Pashmina asked really worried.
"No, the last time I saw them they headed for that small mountain." Hamtaro sat up and pointed to the small mountain.
"They could be hurt!" Bijou thought while staring at the mountain.
"We should find them!" Pashmina commanded.
"I'll find the others and ask them to help." Dexter said worried and ran off.
"Let's split up and meet here later to find them together." Hamtaro suggested and they all nodded.
In the mean time, after a couple of hours, Penelope slowly woke up.
"Where am I?" She asked a little dizzy and held her head.
"I'll tell you, if you get off of me!" Cappy replied breathlessly.
Penelope looked around for that voice then found herself sitting on him, "Ah!" She immediately got off him.
"Thank you." Cappy sat up tensely.
"Cappy…. You saved me?" Penelope asked.
"Huh, it was nothing…" Cappy smiled a little.
"WHY!" Penelope changed her mood to angry.
"Why! Is that the thanks I get for being there for you?" Cappy replied fed up.
Penelope looked away and didn't reply.
Cappy stood up exhausted, "Come on, we should head back."
Penelope kept silent and slowly stood up, but fell back down in pain.
Cappy helped her up, "You okay?"
"I'm fine! I don't need your help!" Penelope pushed him away and fell back down in pain again.
"Your ankle is twisted, you can't walk." Cappy walked over to her and placed her on his back, "Stay still!"
Penelope moved stubbornly, "Let me go!"
"No! Stop being so stubborn!" Cappy yelled trying to put up with her as it started to rain. "Great, just what we need." Cappy took off his hat with one hand and placed it on Penelope, "Here. I know how much you hate it when your hair gets all wet in the rain."
Penelope was speechless and whispered shockingly, "….Your hat.."
"Now stay still. I'm going to climb up the mountain because it's the quickest way back for your safety." Cappy instructed staring up at the mountain.
Penelope was too shocked at the fact that he gave her his hat to respond or move.
Cappy was really relieved that she finally stayed still as he started climbing up the mountain in the rain. Penelope watched him carefully trying his hardest to get her on land so she could be safe. As Cappy got closer and closer, he also got more exhausted, but didn't seem to want to quit.
"Penelope," Cappy called exhaustedly, "I have something to confess."
"What is it?" She asked calmly, respecting him.
Cappy stopped for a minute and took some time to breathe, "I love you. I really do, it's clear to me now. I'm sorry it took me forever to admit it, but I think I've always loved you also, yet I wasn't sure of the feeling, and once you ignored me for four months…. I found out that I couldn't live without you; I missed you."
Penelope was speechless again.
"Please forgive me." He pleaded kindly and started climbing again.
Penelope was silent again, thinking, "Is this all a dream?"
As they reached the top, Cappy laid on the narrow pathway all exhausted, "See…that…..wasn't…..so….bad.." Cappy panted.
Penelope slowly got off him to give him a warm hug, "Thank you, Cappy. I love you."
At that very moment, all the ham-hams spotted them in the rain and ran towards them with joy.
"Penelope!" Pashmina shouted laughing with joy while running towards her.
Cappy stood up and pulled Penelope up, placing one of her arm around him for support to walk. They both smiled at each other while the others came closer.
"Cappy..I think this belongs to you." Penelope took off his hat and placed it on his head.
Cappy smiled, "Thanks."