Archibald Cornwell was driving his car along Chicago streets. All of a sudden, he was sort of stricken, he gasped, shuddered, his heart skipped a beat to start pounding with renewed force.
It usually happens when you see something that you cannot imagine even in the worst nightmares, the reality crumbles, it seems impossible, wrong, but still you can't do anything about it.
Yes, it was her – he could recognize a shock of her golden ringlets in a thousand. She was not alone – there was a man walking languidly by her side, husbandly keeping his arm around her shoulder.
Archie stopped the car and followed the pair, hiding in the crowd and sometimes stopping behind the street lamps.
He had no time to think why he needed all this, no time to wonder why he got so scared seeing her with another man. He had no time to think of anything. He just followed them.
Her companion seemed very familiar, even from the back – his walk, his hair and even his clothes were familiar to Cornwell, but this guess was so horrible and so silly that he just couldn't even think of it without shivering.
The girl's hand twitched and humbly touched the rival's waist. Sharp pain stabbed Archie's heart, and the world went dark before his eyes.
And here's the National Park of Chicago…
The pair walked along the pathways and came up to a beautiful lake. The sunlight shone on the water surface, and young Cornwell hunkered behind a tree.
The lovebirds were now standing in profile, and Archibald could see her tender features – a snub nose, a shock of curly hair and long eyelashes. He could see his face, too – a handsome profile of a highborn man, which was only ruined by a cynic downturned mouth and half-closed eyelids, making his face look arrogant.
Daniel Legan!
He said something to Candy, and she laughed. And when she laughs, she looks so…
And then their faces moved closer to each other, and they kissed. Archie made himself watch till the end. Then he stepped away quietly, left the park and ran to his car.
He needn't have hidden, anyway. They saw no one else but each other.
Cornwell got in the car and punched the steering wheel with all his might.
That's impossible! No!
She had turned him down a long time ago, and he accepted it. But somewhere deep inside, he still dreamed of her, but when he didn't, he imagined his beloved person with a decent man, a worthy one… Worthy of her.
It was some kind of a man's ideal, to whom, with the utmost reluctance, he could confide her, knowing that this man would be better than Archie by any definition.
But… of all the men that had paid court to her, she had chosen the most unworthy, the most disgusting, the most…
Candy and this… creature! He's not even a man – he's a nonentity, a toad, a sissy, a wretch and a coward! And she is with him!
It was so horrible that he just couldn't figure it all out.
He kisses her, this sleazeball, he hugs her, he walks beside her… He's not worth even her spit, even the dirt under her feet…
If there were any justice in the world, it wouldn't have happened, but he saw it, he saw it with his own eyes!
But how? How did he manage to conquer her heart? So Archie did have a reason to worry, when Candy blew up back then, in a café, when he promised her not to let this scoundrel get close to her! So, there was something between them already…
But how? How? Did he buy her favor or what? Is he blackmailing her? If he does, then how?
What made Candy, his Candy, the one he had known for years, kiss this toad and at the same time smile so happily?
He had to find it out as soon as possible…
Cornwell went to her place. He parked the car in the next street and got out.
Hiding in the corners of the buildings like a spy, Archie approached the coveted house.
He was waiting in the darkness of the opposite house and finally saw them.
A brake chatter – this dumbass could never drive well – and they got out.
They're holding each other's hands!
The toad's going away, and Candy is standing at the door, waving to him. Then she fades in the darkness of the house…
Archibald waited for some time, and then followed her into the building.