Once upon a time, there was a girl called Candy. She was as sweet as her name, and was a pretty little damsel. She was like any other girls, always seeking true love. Love that last forever. She hated watching soap operas for she thought they dishonoured Love. She hated romantic novels for she believed that Love should not be so complicating.

She did not have any boyfriends, not till she was a full grown matured lady. She had crushes, and quite a number of eligible suitors made numerous proposals. But nothing seemed to please her. She demanded perfection, or she would have nought at all.

One fine day, Candy was approached by a young fellow she had laid her eyes on for quite a while. It was a very random thing, but he somehow popped the three special words. Candy decided it was time for her to try out how romance felt like.

It was a fine thing, Romance. Candy began what she considered her most blissful moments. She had someone to love her. Someone who ran errands for her, someone who wouldn’t mind if she threw temper tantrum, someone who made excuse for all her imperfection, someone who made her his special someone. That was exactly what Candy wanted: to be the one and only in a guy’s heart, the “everything” of his life.

But real life was harsh. Real life was cruel. And real life enjoyed making fools of lovers. The sweet pair eventually came to have disagreements, disagreements that turned to fight. A relationship would be fine if there’s only one person dictating. But when Mr Right began to not accept every single thing Candy said, she began to feel that things were going wrong.

And she did not like that.

She wanted a love that would last for eternity. A love so magnificent that each time she thought of it she could only sigh at its beauty.

The relationship dragged on, efforts placed by both side. But the one day came when they both found someone else. Candy was upset that her position as the goddess in his heart could so easily be replaced. She marvelled how he could just erase off their entire past like it never happened, whereas she often suffered from the haunting of certain memories.

As it was, she tried to have a happy new relationship with her new beau. She never thought she could possibly love someone more, have better memories, be any happier… but she was. She felt like she was the luckiest girl ever alive, and her smile lingered on her face all the time, she was feeling all gigglish that she felt then that being in Love was like eating ice cream on a hot day. It melts in your mouth, cools your body, flames your heart up yearning for more.

Yet, such joy could not last. One could not live in a nice bubble, for bubbles burst too easily. Her latest bubble, although most beautiful, burst very quickly. Just when she was not expecting it, he just dropped the bomb.

Unlike the previous experience, she was unprepared for it. She couldn’t do anything about it. She had no say over it. Besides crying, there was nothing else to do. If possible, she would had clawed out her heart gladly then, and laughed at it. When she was done with crying, she started laughing, when she got tired of that, she began crying again.

Life went on as usual. The world would not stop turning just because she was heart broken. The universe was still ticking away, nothing changed at all. Yet everything changed. A fragile little glass heart, after being shattered several times, would either disappear, or it would harden gradually till it’s harder than granite. And her heart… she felt it no more, so she knew not what to expect of it. She hated that she still had to live because she could not kill herself just by will.

Live she did, in anger and frustration and hatred. It ate her away. If names were to match personality, Chilli would be appropriate then. In appearance, the chilli was of great attractive colour, when you bite it though, it would threaten to burn every single thing it could with its gentle touch. Very dangerous lady to have around. Oh, she was very bitter alright.

And miserable Fate would have it that there was a fellow to attempt the impossible: trying to make lil chilli happy.

Conditions were set that there would be no love involved. He would just try his best, to bring back her smile. But to do that, her heart must be melted. And melted it did, but it was Love that had softened her frowns. It was Love that brought back the twinkles to her eyes.

Candy was Candy again. She was happy, and she had longed for that. She wanted things to stay the way forever. Each time she hugged her love, she would pray that somehow time would just stop. Each time she saw a star, she prayed to it, asking the star to store some of her overwhelmed joy now for other times when she was depressed. She was really really happy. And she did not want anything to end.

But she knew it would. She knew that was the way of life. What goes up, comes down. That theory must apply to her joy and sorrow too. She wanted this to be the best memory of her life. She wished to capture only good pictures to be stored in the album of her heart.

So she began to worry. As time passed, she could feel his passion ebbing away, a little by a little. Stress from other sources troubled him. Initially he had appreciated her presence to dull the edge of life, and she somehow eased his burden a little. But Candy could feel that it was not enough to satisfy him. She realized that there would be a time when he, like all others, would abandon her to be alone in this world.

So she prepared a glass bottle, and a piece of paper.

Days passed. Weeks. Months.

No longer did he said the three important words anymore, Candy knew it was time. She asked him over for dinner. The meal was very important, for the way to get to a man’s heart was through his stomach. That Candy firmly believed in.

So the sleeping draught was drained along with the wine. And the sedative in the steak was back-up just in case the effects were not enough. When he finally slumped against the table she took hours to set up, she felt a trace of annoyance.

After a few hours of slaving over him, Candy obtained the very object she wished to possess. She had to decide after that whether a tearful farewell should be fitting for the occasion, or just a quick disposal of a sorryful chapter of her life.

She had both, a good cry in his arms, then a speedy goodbye. No mourning, no regrets, no more anything. She had had all the best memories to commemorate her love.

And thus, her start of a very crazy fling. She did not have any relationship that lasted long enough for a b**ch to get pregnant. It was as if she trusted man no more, to let them try to catch her heart. She never had a lack of patrons, so it worried her not. It seemed she was out to get as many men as possible. Good ones, bad ones. As long as she believed they loved her, a speedy relationship would start. Then the men would one by one disappear from her life…

This was when George came into the picture. This man was crazily, madly and deeply in love with the woman that wore fragility as if it was her favourite gown. She gave this aura that a man just had to notice and when he did, he would ogle at her, wondering how he never noticed that angels had came to earth.

George was a tolerating man, and very loving. Soon, Candy was confiding a lot to him. Like the fact that she’d never had a lasting relationship. That Love must last forever! That she needed to own his heart. George was happy she loved him in return, happier still when three months had passed since they got together and they were still strongly in love.

But still, he was served the same “The Last Supper” many before him had. Like the rest, he took it happily. But unlike others, he woke up to find himself tied on her bed eagle-spread.

“Candy? This is kinky!”

“Oh, you’re up. You’re not supposed to be aware of the final goodbye.”

“What do you mean, Candy?”

“I’m sorry, you have to go back to sleep. No worries, I’ll get something stronger this time. Chloroform should be quite fine, don’t you think?”

“What’s going on, Candy?”

“Oh, George darling. I love you. You’ve been so special that I could not do it earlier. Usually I would end the relationship while the Love is still strong.”

“We’re breaking up? Why?!”

“We have to! We must! This is the only way to keep Love pure and untainted! It is the only way to keep the relationship sweet. The only way to make it last forever in its best condition. Thanks for all the memories. I love you, George.”

George was touched by her earnest belief. Love, she just wanted it to stay nice forever. He was going to reply that he loved her too, when his head grew heavy and his tongue slurred what he wanted to say.

A moment later, Candy washed up in the toilet. The routine went nicely, the abrupt break in between non-withstanding. She tapped her feet while waiting the basin to drain away all the red contents. Then she wiped up the new trophy gingerly. Just as she thought, George had a mightier heart than all the others. She grabbed a new glass box from the basement and labelled it according to the date and owner. Then, habitually, she added a new quote for the lesson she’d learnt from this latest love.

“And Love like Candy, is always sweetest at first taste. Then you must stop eating before it turn sour on your tongue, and rot your teeth.”

It’s a perfect day to find a new heart to own, Candy smiled to herself as she dropped the list into its glass home, now with George’s name fresh on it.