Candy went back to her room after all her friends left. She changed her clothes and threw herself on her favorite sofa. She felt happy but exhausted after all the fun she had that night. She relaxed comfortably reflecting on the many events that happened that day. As soon as she's quiet, her emotion began to cool, alas, the thought of Neal started to crawl back in again. She tried to think about Terry and made herself hate Neal, but it didn't work. No matter how hard she tried, her mind kept swinging back to Neal. Neal made her day beautiful and exciting. She sighed.
Was it wrong to suspect that he had many girlfriends? The neighbors' daughters probably were just friends like what he said. She thought of Albert, Stear, and Archie. She even lived together with Albert, but their relationship was nothing but pure friendship. Candy started to question her decision. She admitted she was devastated that Neal didn't stop her from getting engaged to Terry. She became overly jealous thus thought about his neighbors' girls which made her even madder. She regretted to be overcome by jealousy which rushed her to make a bad decision. Her heart broke thinking the possibility of never seeing Neal again. Even now, she had already missed him so much. She couldn't imagine life without Neal. If this what it took to be engaged to Terry, than she'd rather not get engaged to him. But then, what to do with Terry? She bit her lips. She felt sorry to Terry, but she couldn't lie to herself. And what about Sir William? Would it ruin his reputation if he canceled an engagement just only a day after he announced it? What a mess!
Candy couldn't sleep well all trough the night and woke up late the following morning. When she came to the dinning room everyone had left except his father who was still there reading newspaper and other business articles. She came to greet him and took her seat. She sat silently, hesitated how to bring up her love problem to him.
"Candy, don't you like the food?" asked Sir William noticing she didn't touch a bit of her breakfast. "Today is a happy day, you can't wait to meet Terry tonight, can you?" He smiled widely to her.
Candy didn't answer.
Seeing her silence he knew something was wrong. Her face looked melancholic, not a bit of happiness shone from it. He put down his papers and said, "Candy?"
"Father," said Candy weakly. "Do you really want me to get engaged to Terry?"
"Me? No Dear, the decision is entirely yours," Sir William replied seriously. "What happens?"
"I wasn't thinking straight last night. I was in rushed in making my decision. I changed my mind. I don't want to be engaged to him tonight."
"Fine, then I'll cancel it," he smiled warmly to Candy.
"But you already invited his parents to come tonight," said Candy. "People are going to laugh at you."
"Your happiness is the most important thing," he assured her with a twinkle in his friendly blue eyes.
"Father, you are my guardian angle." Candy jumped to hug him and added to herself, in any time I live.
Sir William laughed. He assured her that he'd handle the matter tonight and that she shouldn't be worried. Candy felt so grateful to the man. Sir William's face who in general was similar to Albert looked exceptionally like him at that moment. It reminded her so much of her Albert who always be there to solve her most difficult problems.
That night, Terry and his parents came to visit. They exchanged greetings cordially with Sir William and his wife. As soon as they all sat together Sir William said, "Duke Grandchester, there's something I'd like to discuss."
Candy was very nervous. She felt a bit guilty to Terry and his parents. How would they react to this whole mess? She felt lucky that she had the back up of her father.
Sir William was about to tell the Grandchesters about Candy's engagement cancellation when the door suddenly slammed opened followed by the sound of a woman screaming. Everyone was startled, Candy almost jumped from her seat. A woman entered and a servant frantically followed her from behind.
"Sir William, I apologize, I couldn't stop her," said the usher with a worried face. "She's looking for Master Terrrence."
Sir William nodded and dismissed the usher.
The woman ran to Terry. She knelled down and said tearfully, "Don't leave me, please. You promise to be with me and your daughter. I love you, Terry."
Candy was stunt. She watched her father's reaction from the corner of her eye. He looked calm as usual as though nothing happened.
Terry's father said, "Terry, you'd better explain what's going on."
"This is Sussie," stammered Terry.
Terry's father was angered by his answer, "I thought we asked you not to see that singer ever again."
"Yes, but I...," stammered Terry. He stared hopelessly to Candy.
"I have been with you for years, and you only said that I am Sussie?" cut Sussie. "You didn't even tell them the name of our daughter!"(+)
At the word daughter, Candy was so shocked. Almost at the same time she felt a sharp pain in her chest feeling cheated by him.
Sir William looked at Candy's pale face, with the calmest smile he said calmly, "Candy dear, you could leave if you want. You don' t need to be here to hear the details of this drama."
Candy couldn't be happier. She didn't want to hear the detail of the drama in public either. In addition, she's relieved that there's an excuse to stop the engagement party from Terry's side to save Sir William's reputation. She instantly thought of Sussie did to Terry inspired her. It motivated her to compete with all of Neal's neighbors to win him. She took off Terry's ring, put it on the table, then gratefully she hugged Sir William. She happily went outside to go to Neal to tell him how much she loved him.
I need to fight to win the man I love, just like Sussie, she said to herself. She smiled.
Although she felt excited, she felt stupid to even want to consider being engaged to Terry. Terry followed her and Sussie followed him. But Candy ran fast and Sussie was pulling Terry so finally Candy managed to get away from him. Terry finally manged to free himself from Sussie. He ran to stop Candy from leaving in her carriage.
"Candy, please listen to me," said Terry.
"If we just now really got engaged, would you still go to see her?" asked Candy "Would you stop seeing her and your daughter for the sake of me? I don't think so."
"Candy, I knew her for a long time," said Terry trying to avoid answering her question.
"Then, make up your mind. Marry her not me!" At this point Sussie came and Candy jumped to her carriage. She asked the coach to move.
"Candy, I love you," shouted Terry. "Please, let me explain!"
"Seeing what you've done to her and your daughter, I don't think you know what love is. I don't want to end up like her a few years from now. I am sorry Terry. Even if there were no her, I had planned to tell you that the man I love is Neal not you."
She asked her driver to move faster and left Terry in the dust.
Candy got off from the carriage and walked to Neal's store when she saw what she had been fearing. She saw Neal was with the neighbor's daughter. Her heart broke into pieces. She thought she could fight, but after what she just went trough, she felt so exhausted and all she could do was to cry. She felt so stupid to think that Neal loved her. She stood there hopelessly seeing them being friendly to one another until the girl rode her horse and left. She didn't bother much seeing Terry with Sussie, but she felt dying seeing Neal with another woman. The pain was so sharp that it hurt not only her heart but her soul. She thought she knew the meaning of a broken heart. She hadn't. She just found out now. She thought she was angered just now by Terry's scandal. That anguish and anger combined turned out was just like a puff compared to the thunder of devastation she's experiencing now. Tearfully, she tried to absorb the harrowing truth of reality.
Suddenly Neal felt someone was staring at him and looked to her direction. He was very surprised to see someone who looked like Candy.
"Candy?"
As soon as he saw her, Candy who believed he was a merciless playboy ran away but Neal chased her. Neal was ecstatic to see Candy. He thought he wouldn't see her anymore. If possible, he determined not to lose her for the second time. He hurriedly ran to catch her and grabbed her arm.
"You don't want me because of her, do you?" Candy cried.
"It's not what you think. How come are you here? Are you supposed to have an engagement party now?" asked Neal.
"Let me go!" she felt so lonely and heartbroken.
Running out of words to convey the happiness of seeing her again, without wasting anymore time he made a swift movement to pull her against him and to kiss her. With that soft kiss, he breathed his overpowering love to her, strongly pushed doubt away from her soul. Without a word needed to be spoken, finally she saw the truth inside his tormented soul. It made her love for him grow even more. Her heart beat faster and faster. She kissed him back, hers competing with his giving greater passion to each other for each passing second. She had kissed before, but it didn't melt her. She had loved before, but it wasn't quite like this. *
The kiss lasted a minute or maybe much longer, she's not sure... she lost track of time. It didn't matter, what mattered was it was the kiss given by the man whom she loved the most. The next thing she knew, she found herself wrapped up tightly in his arms.
In a low husky voice punctuating each word slowly, he said, "She came here because my mother asked her help to pick up money from me. I haven't gone home and they need the money to pay for the house rent, doctor visit and other business related things tonight."
Candy felt so ashamed. She said, "She's very nice," regretting her exaggeration.
"She is, but she's not you." He looked into her deeply and wiped her tears gently.
Suddenly he realized that this woman was supposed to be already engaged to another man by now. He released her abruptly and moved a distance away from her saying, "I am sorry, I shouldn't do that. Where's your fiance?"
Candy didn't answer.
"Let's go inside first, it's dark and windy here."
They walked silently into the store. He closed the door behind him and stared to the woman he loved waiting for her answer. But, she remained silent.
"Where's your fiance? " Neal asked again, his amber eyes looked deeply into hers. Seeing her within his reach but yet so far, made his heart feel so sad at the "fiance" word. Without he could hold it, tears were building up in his eyes.
Suddenly Candy noticed his reddish eyes. They sparked brightly under the candlelight betraying tears that are building in them. She let her hand reach out to his face, "Did you cry?"
Neal hurriedly clasped her hand in his and asked again, "Why are you here? Where's your fiance?" He's hoping so much for a miracle when waiting for the anticipated answer. If only there were a second chance to win her love, he'd never let that chance go.
"The engagement was canceled. A woman came and said she has his child. But the reason I am here is not because I am upset that he has another woman. Even before she came, I had planned to tell him that my heart doesn't belong to him."
"Then, whom does your heart belong to?" he asked. The look in his hazel eyes had changed from desperation and regret to peace and hope.
"You. I love you, Neal," said Candy. "I regretted that I left you. I was actually happy that he has a child with her."
He was very happy to hear her answer. He hugged her tightly and a few drops of tears ran unchecked down his face. The burden of regret that had daunted him for 24 hours straight instantly melted into nothing.
"I thought I lost you, Candy. I regretted so much to let you go," he said. "I lied when I said I was happy that you're engaged."
He felt very happy to hear that Candy loved him .
He hugged her even tighter and whispered, "Yes, I cried. I cried for hours regretting that I let you go that's why I forgot to take the money home and my mother asked her to come. Please believe me. I don't want anyone else but you."
"I tried to be strong to show you that I can live without you, but I just can't," choked Candy. Her voice broke, tears flowed on her face. She hugged him tightly and sobbed hopelessly hard.
Neal was speechless to hear her revelation. He never meant to break her heart, in fact, he did what he did for her sake. He's slowly releasing her hug. He stared at her and gently wiped her tears. His heart broke seeing how heart broken she was. He hurriedly knelt down on both of his knees.
"Marry me, please," Neal said without taking his eyes away from hers. Ignoring his original plan and countless of practice to request being her date, he decided to skip it and right away jump to the engagement proposal. He almost lost her, he wanted to ensure he got her this time.
Candy gasped and put her hands on her mouth. Her vision became blurry because of her tears, happy tears this time. Considering what just had happened, she couldn't believe she'd hear these words from him that soon.
"Please marry me," he repeated. " I love you, Candy. I want to love you everyday for the rest of my life. "
He paused momentarily and continued, "There's not guarantee that I'll be rich. I can't promise you wealth, but I can promise that you will never be poor in love."
Candy was very happy to hear these words from the man she truly loved. She replied, "I am just a simple Pony girl. I never be afraid of being poor, but I am afraid to live without love." With that she fell to her knees to hug him. "I love you, Neal. I want to be loved by you for the rest of my life."
Neal was so ecstatic that she agreed. He pressed his lips against hers, a burst of serenity engulfed the happy couple's troubled hearts. Finally they could share the real truth that had been hidden deep in their hearts. They found comfort in each other's arms totally overwhelmed by love declarations they just heard from one another.
"I have loved you for sometimes, but you are Sir William's daughter, I was afraid that I couldn't afford you. But today I got the business opportunity which gave me more confidence," Neal said.
He told her about the big project he just won and the flourishing business opportunities he believed he'd have in the future. Having all the misunderstandings sorted out made them feel happy and relieved.
Finally Candy spoke up. "To you, fancy dresses and a diamond ring are more important than me hence you'd rather trash me, do you?" teased Candy after going back to her senses.
"Oh Candy, you know that's not true. I was afraid that you can't face the hard life ahead of you," he lamented.
"Oh Neal, you know that I don't care about money. I am just a simple girl who happened to be adopted by Sir William."
He kissed her again passionately which Candy responded equally lovingly. Suddenly he released her and said excitedly, "Candy, I know how to go back to our own world in the future. I found it form one book I read!"
"We can go back to the future?!" Candy was so excited. She shouted, screamed, laughed happily, all mixed together. She hugged Neal's neck and jumped up and down excitedly. "Tell me more about it."
-TO BE CONTINUED-
Thanks for reading.
NOTE:
(+) Inspired by the love story between Terry's father and Eleanor Baker from the manga (not sure about anime, I never really watch it well).
* It's mostly "she" here because Candy kissed a man (men) before. I don't know about Neal, but probably it's his first time kissing a woman... In this story anyways...