I found the following quotes. Do you agree?
Every girl has her best friend, boyfriend and true love. Lucky if they are all the same person. (~ source unknown)
All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand. (~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox)
It’s clear in Candy Candy, Candy and Albert started off as friends. Even when he decided to adopt her, he chose to be anonymous so that he could watch over her as her friend. That was his original intention. Little did he expect that she would save his life years later, as written in his letter to Candy in Candy Candy Final Story (from spoilers):
… So, can you write me like your lively chat as always?
I don’t blame you for getting angry.
I kept it secret, that I was “Granduncle” — William A. Ardray.
I had my inner conflict myself to keep it secret, but I won’t make excuses.
I wish I could watch over you silently.
Who could ever have imagined that “Albert” was taken care of by you so much! (like a cheap novel)
That’s why I bear patiently even if you formally call me “Graaanduncle!” and sometimes treat me like an old person…
That was written after his revelation to her that he was in fact the Scottish teenager who had appeared to her many years ago on Pony’s Hill. In the manga, when Candy first realized that Albert was her adoptive father, she was shocked to the core to say the least. Then she asked him why he had kept it a secret from her all this time, but she didn’t blame him. Afterwards, she expressed her highest respect and gratitude to him as Uncle William, which made him blush. The whole episode is poignant yet beautiful to me. However, in CCFS, Candy was angry and complained that she had worried about Albert so much so that she felt she had suddenly grown old.
I actually prefer the version in the manga. That’s more Candy-like, but I have a feeling that Mizuki changed that in CCFS to show that their friendship was strong enough that Candy could “dare” to grumble against Albert even though he was officially her guardian and the most powerful figure in the Ardlay’s clan.
Anyway, as mentioned in my earlier post Love grew into romance (Part 2), by then, Candy and Albert were no longer just friends. Their relationship was more than complicated, and yet, after exchanging several letters with each other, Candy wrote a brief letter to Albert, saying (from spoilers):
Dear Albert-san,
When will you come back from São Paulo?
When will you come to the Pony’s Home?
If you are so much thankful to me, I hope you’ll come soon.
Well but, “Bert”? Did people call you so?
It sounds cute!
And now, that’s all for today.
I just want to meet you and talk with you personally.
Maybe I’m stingy?
Candy
This was after getting a LONG letter from him during his business trip in São Paulo, which he had started writing around 2am when he had finally had some time to himself in the hotel. Apparently, he missed her a lot. Why else would he write a heartfelt letter to her when he could get some more sleep? Likewise, she missed him too and really wanted to see him. The fact her reply was short speaks volumes. She’d rather talk to him face to face.
Anyway, as promised before, based on your feedback so far, here shows a list of handsome male actors/models/athletes that you can visualize as Albert in Candy Candy (please click on the thumbnails to see the pictures in bigger sizes). My main criteria are that the men suggested have names, and they are currently in their twenties or at most early thirties. If not, I did try to look for their pictures when they were younger. If you don’t like my choices, please provide links to give me different pictures of your ideal men. 🙂
Officially, Candy was a petite girl, around 1.55m in height, and Albert was 1.85 m tall with athletic build. Therefore, most of these candidates have heights around 1.83m on average except Zac Efron (1.73m) and Camille Lacourt (2m).
In my imagination, Albert had tender eyes, looked sweet with charming smiles. Above all, he truly cared for Candy as explained in my post Sharing half of a sandwich. Now, once again, imagine yourself as Candy, living with a good-looking, young man like one of these eye-candies below for more than a year. Do you honestly believe that Candy would feel nothing at all? Hmmmm…
If you think none of these men fits the image in your mind, you might want to see if you find any one here 😛
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.197303820342807.48201.196623513744171&type=1
