The Golden Bachelor featured Cindy Angelcyk Cullers quitting on Mel Owens during their Fantasy Suite and then confronting him live on After the Final Rose during the Season 2 finale episode that aired Wednesday night on ABC.

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The Golden Bachelor finale broadcast began with host Jesse Palmer teasing the "dramatic" ending of Mel's overnight Fantasy Suite date with Cindy, a 60-year-old retired biomedical engineer from Austin, TX.

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Footage then flashed to Mel and Cindy having a tense conversation on a dock in Antigua. Cindy had asked Mel if there was a will -- after he had said, "When there's a will, there's a way," and he replied, "Of course."

Mel admitted to the bachelorette, "It's a difficult time and situation. I am torn between you and [my other finalist Peg Munson]."

Cindy said that was hard to hear and she was trying to remain vulnerable with him and not shut down. Cindy suggested it would've been easy for her to guard her heart in this scenario.

When asked if he'd be ready for an engagement at the end of the process, Mel replied, "No, I don't have to propose when, in my own head, I go, 'In two years, I'll probably marry her.'"

Cindy acknowledged that's a different outcome than she considered, and she complained in a confessional how she "couldn't believe what [she] was hearing."

Cindy was clearly upset that Mel wasn't giving her any validation or reassurance.

"This was his opportunity to say, 'Just be patient. I'm falling for you,'" Cindy lamented to the cameras.

"He still couldn't even go there: 'Just wait two years and let me see where I am in two years.' I'm sorry, but if you find a person who makes a good partner, that's your time to commit."

Cindy could tell that Mel didn't have all the answers, and she seemed unsure about whether to proceed on Mel's journey to find love.

"I kind of want my guy to feel like he got struck by lightning and can't live without me," Cindy said.

"That's fair," Mel responded.

"I think you're great. But I'm not sure I want to free fall for that long," Cindy noted.

Cindy didn't like the idea Mel wouldn't commit for a couple of years if they ended up together because she's in her sixties and was "not interested in being put on hold."

Cindy therefore concluded, "He is just not my person."

Cindy apologized to Mel and said his idea of the future was not what she wanted. Cindy told Mel this was a hard decision for her because he's as good as it gets.

"Are you okay if I leave now?" Cindy asked.

"If you want to," Mel replied.

Mel -- who told Cindy that he had taught his two sons to always "finish the game" in sports -- then walked Cindy out and they hugged goodbye, and Cindy told Mel that he's a great man.

When Mel returned to the dinner table alone, Cindy broke down into tears off in the distance.

Cindy said she felt sick to her stomach and her heart was hurting badly because she really cared for Mel and had told everyone from Day 1, "That's my guy!"

Cindy shared how she thought Mel was her match and so their breakup was "really sad" and difficult for her.

"I had hoped this was it. I had hoped he's The One. I'm so disappointed," Cindy cried.

Mel confessed he was "shocked" by Cindy's exit because they had a perfect date and he was envisioning a future with her. Mel therefore said he didn't know what to do or how to respond to this.

Jesse then joined Mel at the dinner table, and Mel explained how Cindy was looking for a husband but he wasn't ready to take that leap of faith with anybody.

Mel made it known he wanted a life partner but he didn't want to propose marriage at the Final Rose Ceremony.

"All 23 women show up to this hoping they're going to be engaged to you at the end of it," Jesse explained to Mel.

"Yeah, but that's not true -- not all of them," Mel replied.

"Does any part of you regret just definitively telling her, 'I'm not going to propose to you?'" Jesse asked.

"I mean, it would've been disingenuous for me to tell her something different just to string her along," Mel responded.

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Mel insisted, however, that he "really, really liked" Cindy, and when Jesse asked if he was falling in love with her, Mel replied, "Maybe... The feeling was a little different [after our day date]. It made [my choice] a lot harder."

Jesse told Mel that Cindy "deserved honesty" and she was probably just protecting her heart.

"She could've been The One," Mel admitted, before confirming he "didn't know" whether he was going to pick Peg or Cindy before his Fantasy Suite date with Cindy began.

Mel complained that Cindy needed to finish the journey but she clearly wasn't there for the long run.

"But I think also, along the way, you need to be validated. I think along the way, you need to have confidence to continue pressing forward. It is tough," Jesse told Mel.

Mel, seemingly getting angry, told Jesse, "She left."

"She's still here," Jesse clarified.

Jesse asked Mel if he wanted to see Cindy again and try to convince her to stay.

Cindy then joined Jesse live in the hot seat at After the Final Rose.

After watching that moment with Mel back on TV, Cindy confirmed that Mel never came to find her or talk to her -- and that she actually "didn't want him to."

"My decision was made, and I had the information I needed," she revealed. "Mel was not in it for a relationship in the way that I was, and that's fine. Everybody deserves to have the love that they want. I wanted something different."

Cindy explained to Jesse that she needed to hear more from Mel than just compliments if she was going to stay on the show.

Cindy apparently wanted to hear how she'd fit into Mel's life and why he cared about her -- the "ands and the because" when listening to Mel about how she's wonderful and beautiful, etc.

When asked if she believed she was going to end up with Mel, Cindy insisted that she was going to be "in it until the end, 100 percent."

Cindy said that during the day portion of her Fantasy Suite date, she was already thinking about meeting Mel's children and hopefully being with him "until the end of time."

Cindy then criticized Mel for having said his "wife is in this room" and he "loved being married" during The Golden Bachelor journey because he wasn't actually looking for that.

Cindy said most of the women expected the finish line to be an engagement and so it was "crazy" that Mel felt differently.

Jesse pointed out there was a possibility Mel may have changed his feelings if she stayed on the show, but Cindy replied, "I don't think I need to convince a man to love me... His analogy of 'finish the game' -- I was in the wrong stadium."

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Cindy said there's no part of her that wishes she had stayed and progressed to the Fantasy Suite with Mel.

But Cindy admitted she and Mel could've had a fairy-tale romance had they been on the same page.

"It was the start of something remarkable. It could've been amazing. He wanted a comic book. He wanted something shorter and lighter and no commitment. And I'm ready for everything," Cindy explained.

Cindy told Jesse that she wouldn't have gone through the whole Golden Bachelor process again "just to date someone" and it became apparent that Mel is not her guy.

Cindy then confirmed that she would've moved to Orange County for Mel had he picked her in the end.

Jesse proceeded to welcome Mel onstage, and Mel told the bachelorette that it was good to see her and she looked beautiful.

Cindy told Mel that she really thought it was him and she's disappointed he hadn't voiced his reluctance to propose marriage earlier in the process.

"Not just for me, but for all of those women you brought along on this journey. When did you know that you weren't ready for something?" Cindy asked Mel.

Mel explained, "I was ready, but we had a time there when we were talking... and my heart and my head just [weren't aligned] to give you those answers yet."

"But we still had the Fantasy Suite," he continued, "which I guess you weren't prepared to do, not just for intimacy but just to talk. That would've given us a lot more time, but it didn't happen. So we didn't have extra time to talk."

Cindy said she wasn't prepared to go in the Fantasy Suite because Mel had never expressed how he felt about her.

"You said more to Jesse than me," Cindy noted.

Mel explained how there were things he wanted to talk to her about behind closed doors and off-camera but they never got that opportunity.

Mel admitted it wasn't over for him at the time Cindy had left but he needed her to continue the journey and see it through.

"You know the saying, 'First comes love, then comes marriage'... That's how it works," Mel said, adding how he doesn't operate in life by taking leaps of faith and getting married before love.

Mel acknowledged how there was time left for them to continue getting to know each other.

"That's a greater price to pay to get me in the Fantasy Suite," Cindy said.

"I wasn't trying to get you there," Mel argued. "It was an opportunity to talk... It was your option."

Cindy said she had learned enough about Mel by that point and that she probably wasn't going to get a commitment out of him.

"I didn't need a commitment then, but you were telling me there wasn't going to be a commitment, that you weren't going to take a leap of faith," Cindy recalled.

Mel explained how he just "wasn't there" yet considering there was more to the process and she's the one who decided to leave, which was her prerogative.

Cindy said she didn't need marriage right away but she just wanted a commitment.

"You're speaking two different things. The whole time, you said, 'Until death do us part, commitment, walking off with a ring,' and all of that. It seemed like you wanted to skip the commitment and get to the marriage part," Mel said.

Cindy told Mel that she would've moved to California and lived near him, not with him, and there was no rush, which prompted Mel to respond, "Yeah, that doesn't interest me though."

Cindy concluded the conversation by telling Mel that she loved him so much, she just wanted him to be happy.

"Likewise," Mel said.

Cindy then shared how her heart was wide open for love again and she had learned so much about herself during The Golden Bachelor journey.

The Golden Bachelor finale ended with Mel choosing to be with Peg and giving her a promise ring at the Final Rose Ceremony in Antigua.

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About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

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