NAMES TO REMEMBER:
Nichole: Neal's friend/date at the party
Beatrice: Albert/Sir William's wife
Eois: his father was the head of the council who governed the Ardlay enterprise when Albert was too young to lead, (Chapter 5).
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CHAPTER 7: Day 1
Candy went to look for Neal, twice. But he wasn't home. At night, when Neal came home, the servant told him that Candy had come twice to look for him.
She came to look for me! Neal thought excitedly. All women are the same. She too can't resist my charm!
That night Candy came again to look for Neal. As soon as she entered the living room, she remembered the unpleasant past. She hated that place even to this day. In that room, things seemed to be locked with unfading memory of never ending suffering and holding back the tears. How irony that she decided to come to this place to meet her old enemy!
Soon, the door opened and a polished tall man in meticulous neat suite entered. For a moment, beyond her control, she admired his look. How much he had grown up!
"Candy, you've been trying to spend time with me." Neal grinned.
Hearing his voice reminded her of who he actually was. The bad bully who she hated so much. He doesn't deserve to be admired, she thought right away.
Neal over-confidently walked closer to Candy. His heart was blooming thinking that tonight might be the night she'd fall for him.
"We need your help to find Albert," said Candy suddenly cutting his daydream. She tried to speak with as normal tone as possible, swallowing all hatred, eyes didn't even look at him.
He stopped walking right away, hit by jealousy. Albert! She came because of him not me.
"Why me?" asked Neal, fuming. "Did you hear aunt Elroy instruct all of us to not look for him?"
"I and Beatrice disagree with her. We don't believe it's wise to follow blindly what his capturer asked. I promised Beatrice to have someone investigate the case independently."
"Bah, William! He's missing? Good. No one wants to find him? So do I. You look for a wrong person."
Neal turned around ready to leave. He hated Albert so much, he lived with Candy and he rejected the engagement proposal, flatly, in public. How rude! He could have done it privately to reduce the impact of shock and humiliation which almost blew him to death. And for William's sake, Candy who never wanted to talk to him especially came to look for him three times in one day.
She called him back. "Neal please... For our friendship sake," implored Candy, dryly. She couldn't believe she had to lower herself to call him a friend.
"Friendship? You called us friends? Since when?" he asked cynically.
He looked at her examining her face suspiciously.
"How do I know that this is not a trap? Are you trying to wreck my reputation by making me disobey aunt Elroy? Or perhaps you actually are an accomplice of the kidnapper? Yesterday you were the only one who dared chase them," said Neal.
That did it. Baseless accusation, Candy started to get mad too. But for the sake of Albert, she tried hard to suppress it.
"Don't think too much! Just help us," she said coldly. "I'll do anything in return." She clenched her teeth in anger.
"Really?" he grinned coldly back. "Be my fiance, then, dear. Sleep with me tonight," he said sarcastically. "Would you? If not, don't bother."
"Albert is your uncle!" she shouted, losing her patience.
"Hell. With. Him," hissed Neal.
"Fine, I ask someone else," said Candy boiling.
"Go ahead. Ask that actor. I am wasting my precious time here. You know where the door is." He walked to leave the room.
Candy soon realized that he's the only one who could help her. No one else knew how to hire and do detective works better than him. Outside people wouldn't know the Ardlay family intrigues as well as him, either. So, she confronted him.
"No kidding! I know where the door is," Candy said undeterred. "I cleaned this room everyday when I was your maid. I rubbed and wiped that door every day. I know about it more than you do! But that's not the issue." She begged, "Help us to find Albert, please."
The "please" was said with a special imploring tone.
For a moment a flash of the past regret when he treated Candy so badly passed trough Neal's mind. He stopped walking right away, then turned around to look at her with an expression which she never saw before coming from him. For a second she thought she saw some tenderness before he's back to be his old self, grinned cynically.
"Fine, I help. But with conditions."
"Say it," said Candy.
"Rule number one, improve your manner. We can do some practice. Serve me tea, two cubes of sugar."
Without any scene, she obeyed instantly. She went to the nearby familiar round tea table, got busy for a while and came back with a cup of tea served nicely on a tray.
Neal was extremely jealous. The last time he asked the same thing from her, she smashed the cup to the floor+. Now, for Albert's sake, she's seemingly willing to do anything including to serve him like a perfectly obedient maid.
Candy, would you care as much if I were the one who's captured? he thought scalded by jealousy.
He held her elbow. "Rule number two!"
Candy froze in fear watching his scalded eyes, shivering in what he'd do and demand next.
"You're trembling? You're afraid of me now, eh? Why Candy? Because you need something from me to help Albert, don't you?"
"What's rule number two?"
"Tomorrow, aunt Elroy will have a meeting to decide the volunteering work. You have to be my partner. Me and you only, no one else."
"Deal," said Candy.
She snapped her arm from his grasp, glanced at him bitterly and walked out of the room.
Neal... I hate him. I hate him!, she said repeatedly to herself.
He heaved a long sigh. Candy... I love her. I still love her.
Trembling, he sank to a chair next to him. He hated himself for always bringing the worst of him to the girl who he loved the most. Haunted by the past he didn't know how to express his love without the fear of being mocked, rejected, humiliated. Was it even possible for him to expect her to return his love after all the things he had done to her? He thought he had learned how to handle women. But apparently not to Candy. The old problem was still there, the same as before.
Candy, if only I knew how tell you how much I love you...
He sat there to cool down and think...
I've got to fight this, he determined. I have less than a week to improve. I've got to win her and take her to Florida with me!
Then, to ensure secrecy he personally called detective Jay directly and asked him to come right away. That night Neal and Jay discussed steps needed to be done to find Albert.
oooOOooo
As scheduled, the following day aunt Elroy had a meeting to discuss the volunteering work. Albert had made it into a routine for the family members to do charity works, rotatingly. They visited local hospitals, read books in orphanages and more.
Aunt Elroy said, "The kidnapper demands that we all should look normal and did our daily routine uninterruptedly. So, for William's sake, we shouldn't stop our charity program to not send bad signals and attract suspicions. Beatrice shouldn't go. She's under stressed and pregnant. You go as usual, Candice."
"Candy goes alone?" asked Archie. "I go with Candy."
"Thanks Archie, but Annie is pregnant too." Candy turned around and said, "Aunt Elroy, could I request something?"
"Yes, Candice dear."
Neal's ear pricked hearing how aunt Elroy addressed Candy then she turned to watch Candy. She's different. She seemed to have mastered all the Ardlays family etiquette. She spoke actively. She looked professional, full of confidence in public, didn't at all look like an outcast girl who sat in the background. Everyone respected her even aunt Elroy seemed to like her a lot. His heart bloomed even more admiring this new look of Candy.
"Could I take Neal with me? He's new and has no partner yet."
"Yes, if you want, Candice." Aunt Elroy seemed baffled for a moment. But, a master of ceremony in all occasion, she managed to pull herself together and didn't show it.
Neal giggled in his heart.
"This is his first time, guide Neal trough it," said aunt Elroy. "Neal, learn as much as you can before you go with Candice."
Neal nodded.
"Could I join them?" asked Archie.
Candy remembered that Neal demanded only he and she, no one else. Hurriedly she looked for an excuse.
"That would be fabulous. But, the hospital which Neal and I will go to is a small one. It'd be overcrowded to have four people going to such a small hospital."
Impressive, thought Neal admiring her eloquence. He loved her even more.
Archie was so jealous.
For the rest of the meeting, they decided where other pairs would go and other things.
"Discussion is closed. Any more question?" aunt Elroy gave the closing remark finally. "If not, then that's all. Candice dear, don't forget to train Neal today."
Aunt Elroy got up and left the room. Neal went out briefly to chat with Elisa. Archie came to Candy.
"I take you home, Candy," said Archie.
"I still have things to do. How's Annie?"
"Should we always talk about Annie whenever we're together? Do I have to be reminded about her all the time?"
"Well, I...," stammered Candy.
"Candy, why you have to be so closed to Neal?"
"Huh?" said Candy speechless.
"You know how I feel about..."
She knew what he wanted to say. Feeling awfully uncomfortable, she thought quickly how to look for an excuse. Luckily, she saw Neal stood waiting in the doorway.
"Ah Neal... I've been looking for you," Candy said abruptly in her most honeyed voice.
Neal had followed Candy and Archie's awkward conversation and gleefully watching Candy try to find an excuse to leave Archie. As always, they never change, Neal thought.
Neal understood that Candy was pretending to be sweet to him as an excuse to leave Archie, so he reciprocated. Unexpected to her, Neal came with arms wide opened to give her a big hug. Soon she found her face buried in his softly scented white shirt. He said lovingly, "Candy darling, me too. Are you ready to go?" He kissed her cheek.
Candy felt her hair all stood up right away. But to not make a scene and use the opportunity to leave Archie, she hugged Neal back.
"Sorry Archie, you heard what aunt Elroy said... I need to train him."
"Let's go," said Neal with the most pleasant tone he could muster, still putting his arm around her shoulder.
Outside as soon as she's sure Archie wasn't looking, she rudely pushed him away. She then swung her arm as usual to slap his grinning face. He caught his wrist.
"Just relaxed, Candy," said Neal.
She said, "Never ever kiss me anymore. Do you hear me?"
She wiped her cheek repeatedly to openly show her disgust.
"Candy, you've used me twice. Once to save Albert and just now to get rid of Archie. Don't you think I deserve some kind of compensation?" He grinned.
She ignored him. Silently with head lifted high she walked to a seat on the deck.
"Have you started looking for Albert?" she asked harshly.
"I have, since last night," he told her about detective Jay.
She nodded inappreciatively. Without more introduction, she started to tell him about their work tomorrow.
"Tomorrow we'll go to a hospital...," she said.
She described in details all things they had to do, clothes to wear and the details of the event.
Finally, Candy said, "That's it any question?" Seeing no response, she repeated again "Neal... Any question?" she asked firmly. She's drumming her fingers on the table to show impatience.
Neal was silent for a few seconds before saying, "To be honest with you, I wasn't listening to a word you said."
"What have you been doing?" she asked.
"Watching you," he said.
She stood up right away, ready to explode. "I'm leaving."
"Repeat one more time. I'll pay attention this time."
"Don't bother! I just wasted an hour of my time."
"At least I help to free you from Archie," he shouted from the far.
He kept standing there watching her until she disappeared. He fell so much in love with her, much more passionately than ever. There's simply no one else like her.
Oh Candy, I have to win your heart this time, he vowed.
oooOooo
Without Candy and Neal knew it two pairs of eyes, a man's and a woman's, were watching them from the far.
"Did you tell Neal about our mission with Sir William?"
"No. He can't be trusted. He still likes her," answered the woman.
"That idiot, did Candy reject him in the past? In front of all of us."
"She did."
"Hopeless man. Life is unfair, isn't it? You work diligently every day, while he's only studying, secluded in Florida. But no matter what, he inherits 100% of the family business just because he's the first born son," he said.
He bitterly sipped some wine from his goblet the continued. "My father was the head of the council who took care of the Ardlay enterprise until Sir William was capable and mature enough. When that day came, he became jobless instantly and William was in full control of the whole company. First born sons. Let them go to hell."
"William is in our hands now. I am tired of being in the background," said the woman.
"Cheers... To our mission," said the man. He raised his goblet, gave her a toast.
"To our mission," said the woman.
- TO BE CONTINUED -
Hugs for everyone who's still following the story :') Thanks for reading.
+: Chapter 2. Candy smashed a tea cup to the floor.
Thanks for the support: Elsa, Sabrina, Ms. Leagan :D I love reading your comments immensely.