Love Triangle (Part 2)

It’s been a while since I wrote Part 1 of this series. I’ve spent more time writing “Love Never Fails” or drawing instead. Anyway, thanks for your patience. 😀

Back to this topic, both Terry and Albert were striking young men as depicted in the manga. Candy could see that Terry got the eyes from his mother, Eleanor Baker, who was a dazzling actress. Not only Susanna, a very charming girl herself, loved Terry at first sight, but screaming fans swooned over him after his performance in Chicago. Besides, his good looks melted the nurses’ hearts at the hospital when Mrs. Marlowe had refused to let him visit her injured daughter.

What about Albert? In Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS), Candy mentioned more than once that he and Anthony looked alike and that both resembled Rosemary a lot, who was another gorgeous woman. When Candy first met Albert the vagabond, she was initially very scared of his pirate look until he showed her his tender blue eyes behind his dark sunglasses. She was captivated in no time, and very soon she befriended him because she found him very kind and gentle to her. Later, when amnesiac Albert was sent to the hospital, Candy almost couldn’t recognize him. In the manga she didn’t know that his hair had been dyed brown. At any rate, while he was still unconscious, haggard and pale, she studied his face in repose and commented that he was more handsome with blond hair. Later, when her friends visited Albert in Room 0, even Stear wondered why Albert had hidden his good-looking features. Imagine how appealing Albert would be when he was healthy and strong again. Moreover, his shocking appearance at the engagement party near the end of the manga indicated that he had impressed many by his dashing appearance, maturity and prowess. Not to mention that when he had been younger, little Candy claimed that he had been handsome like a prince from fairy tales. One might argue that little Candy hadn’t seen many men, so her judgement had been questionable. However, Anthony was the best example of what Albert used to look like, and even a proud girl like Eliza had chosen him over Archie and Stear.

No doubt Candy and Terry had crush on each other since their first encounter on the ocean liner, and both had developed an infatuation before long. Unfortunately, Terry chose to leave her in London with only a brief note to her, which seemingly contradicted his claim that he had wished to share his future with her. For your interest, please read my earlier post along this line, Would you marry someone…?, so I won’t repeat myself here.

Hence, that was the first time he broke her heart. The second time was possibly when he came to Chicago for a charity performance. Despite their best efforts, he and Candy couldn’t find each other due to many factors. Then the third time was at New York, when Candy had to sacrifice her own happiness for him and Susanna.

However, as a strong and optimistic girl, I believe Candy had overcome her sadness by the time she wrote an unsent letter to Terry in CCFS. I don’t know when exactly she wrote this letter to him, but since Candy said Albert was still veiled in mystery, I figure it was when she had moved back to Pony’s Home but possibly before Albert’s disclosure of being her prince.

Now, let’s go through parts of her letter together here. In the beginning of her letter, she congratulated Terry on his success as “Hamlet”, and almost right after that, she told him who Albert really was and continued on and on about Albert. It’s funny how much she told Terry about Albert in this letter. She said that Albert used to hide magazines or newspapers about Terry from her. Besides, Albert had read her diary, thus knowing her inner feelings for Terry. In fact, without reading her diary, I believe Albert had already known her feelings because Candy must have told him many times (as shown in the manga… that Albert had listened to her so many times that he could recite her words… LOL).

Now here comes the very interesting point. Candy wrote this (from CCFS spoilers),

Therefore Albert-san knows as much as I do, how much I … you.
How we met each other, and by little and little …, everything about it.
Albert-san, I wonder how he reacted when he read that diary. Neither of us can mention about it even now …

Yes, Candy deliberately avoided using a verb. Instead, she just wrote “how much I … you”. Yet, what surprised me more was that she had been wondering how Albert reacted while reading that diary. This is odd if Albert had merely been her friend, brother, or even guardian! Don’t you think?
We don’t know when exactly Albert read her diary, and I’d rather he read it before his accident in Italy. However, some believe that he read it after his recovery from amnesia. At any rate, Candy disclosed to Terry that neither Albert nor Candy could broach the subject even now. Why? One might say that Albert didn’t want to touch the sensitive topic because that would open up Candy’s wounds again. However, didn’t Candy just mention to Terry that Albert could finally talk about Terry naturally? What makes her diary so special?

Then Candy wrote,

Even so, I was really saved by Albert-san.
It might be because Albert-san was there by my side, I could manage to get over.

It sounds like she had got over the pain of breaking up with Terry? I think so too. Some people can pick up the pieces of their hearts faster than others, depending on their personalities. Individuals cope with breakup differently. In the manga, we could see Candy ‘moving on’ after her trip to New York, slowly but gradually. First, she worked extra hard to distract herself, and just before she broke the news to her friends, she had already felt better as though time had healed her wounds. Later, whenever she shed tears for Terry, it wasn’t because she wanted him back, but because she felt upset and sad for Terry that he had hard time recovering. Obviously, the longer the couple have been together, the more emotions and memories the two have shared. Yet, Candy and Terry hadn’t really been ‘together’ as a couple, unlike Archie and Annie or Stear and Patty. They had gone separate paths not long after their trip to Scotland in summer. On the contrary, the time Candy had spent with Albert was significantly much longer.

As Candy said in her own words, she was saved by Albert. He was there not only to help her heal emotionally, but also to support her whenever he could. Candy trusted Albert and relied on him, and she didn’t have to face the problems alone. That explains why it was easier for Candy to move on. Near the end of the manga, Candy hardly cried for Terry any more, except the time when she saw him again acting miserably in Rockstown. Even then, she admonished him in her mind to go back to Broadway and Susanna. Later, when Albert related to her that Terry had returned to Broadway, Candy actually felt glad and relieved for Terry. She also realized that time and distance had already driven them both apart.

Back to her unsent letter to Terry, she concluded it on a happy note:

— Be happy or else I won’t forgive you …
Terry, you said so.
I am happy.
And, Terry, I hope you too will be happier!
— Susanna’s love! Supported Terrus’s comeback.
I read such articles.
Terry, Susanna is a wonderful person. Above all else she is wonderful, because she keeps on loving you.
And you, who have chosen her, are also wonderful.
I know of course I can’t send this kind of letter …
…

P.S. Terry … I loved you.

If one believes that Candy was still feeling depressed due to her breakup with Terry then, one has to think again. Apparently, he belonged to her past when she was writing this letter because she said she loved him. Besides, she could talk about Susanna using kind words. Candy used to dislike Susanna, but this poor actress was no longer Candy’s rival. In other words, Candy had let go of Terry, and even said both of them were wonderful people. No bitterness. No resentment. Yes, Terry probably remained special to Candy, but isn’t this letter a solid proof that Candy had finally got over Terry?

I will write Part 3 after finishing my next chapter of “Love Never Fails”. Thank you!

Note: the pictures I used above were official illustrations by Igarashi.