Female Novel
Chapter 1621
The three women asked how Cindy was coping with her job; how much she was earning; and whethershe was making any progress in terms of her career.
Cindy had never told them about her job and she began to wonder what Hazel had told them in herabsence.
These women were well past middle age and Cindy guessed they hardly ever kept up with the latestgossip. In fact, she had a feeling that they were completely oblivious to the controversy she had stirredup on the Internet before this.
To be on the safe side, she stuck to vague answers and did not describe her job in detail, merelyexplaining that her employer would arrange simple work for her. She was reserved when talking abouther income and only told the women that the rate was similar to the one here.
Upon hearing this, they stared at her for quite some time before they finally nodded in slow approval.“Well, that’s alright, then. After all, young ladies like you won’t have to earn much. You have the optionto settle down with a nice man and become a housewife.”
Cindy was unfazed by this remark and maintained her placid smile, though it did not reach her eyes.
None of the women asked when Hazel would be returning home and instead continued with the idleconversation until they finally asked Cindy if she had a boyfriend.
A little awkward laugh escaped Cindy’s mouth as she asked, “A boyfriend? Why the sudden curiosityabout my love life?”
The three women had not seen the news and were naturally oblivious to her recent entanglement withIan, which explained why they would automatically assume she was single.
While acting on such an assumption, Mrs. Bates explained, “Well, we heard you were back and weremembered that you aren’t any younger. It’s about time that you settle down and you’re the cream ofthe crop here, which means you have to marry well. Not to mention...” She trailed off with a meaningfulsmile and Cindy knew instantly what the older woman was implying.
Presently, Cindy had to admit she was a little overwhelmed by this. She never imagined that herneighbors, with whom she hardly ever interacted, would fret over her marriage prospects all of asudden.
She immediately protested and only smiled as she answered politely, “I’m not really in a rush to settledown now, what with my career-building and all.”
Mrs. Bates heaved a long sigh. “In our opinion, a young lady like you shouldn’t have to toil over acareer when you can settle down with a good man from a nice family. That should be your life goal, andyour marriage determines how happy you’ll be for the rest of your life!”
At that moment, Cindy realized that there was no way she could dive into this argument and emerge asthe winner. She had no intention of correcting their perspective, however dated it could be, and decidedthat everyone had a way of viewing things that was bolstered by reason to some extent.
Nonetheless, she maintained her stance as she responded, “I wouldn’t be too concerned about it. I’mnot in a rush and I really want to work on my career while I’m still young.”
At the sight of Cindy’s reluctance, the woman next to her immediately interjected, “We’re not askingyou to settle down right away. We’re only saying that you should consider marriage when a nice mancomes along, that’s all.”
Despite her smile, Cindy was actually a little puzzled by how these three old women had suddenlyshowed up out of the blue in determination to set her up with a man. novelbin
If she had to be honest, her family background wasn’t exactly ideal enough for her to be considered formarriage.
Her father had passed on, her brother was still in school, and her mother was unemployed. More to thepoint, her family didn’t have the money to make up for all these flaws.
As far as she was concerned, these were her burdens to carry and she more than understood the waysof her hometown; under normal circumstances, she would be a man and his family’s worst choice of awife and daughter-in-law respectively.
On that basis, she could not figure out whether she had suddenly become popular, and if that was thecase, she wanted to know why.
However, the three women in her living room only continued with their chatters. While they seemed tobe implying a lot of things pertaining to marriage, they never bothered to clarify on them.
Perhaps they didn’t want to be blunt with Cindy before they even had a chance to discuss these thingswith Hazel and their unexpected visit today was basically their idea of laying down the groundwork.
That being said, they had tried to be forthright with their implications and they seemed to be waiting for
Cindy to show some kind of enthusiasm.
However, Cindy stubbornly refused to acknowledge their words and maintained a placid expressionthroughout, only humming in response or giving monosyllabic answers to show that she was listening.She neither prompted them nor showed interest in the idea of marriage.
This only spurred the three women on and none of them backed down in their attempt to convince herof their beliefs.
Regardless of their incessant pestering, Cindy was patient with them and she was more amused thananything else. She was obviously trying to dodge the subject, but the three women mirrored her trickand made as if they were unaware of her reluctance.
As the rather one-sided exchange went on, the gate outside swung open and this time, it was Hazelwho stepped past it.
She was crossing the yard when she caught sight of the guests in her living room and she hurried tothe front door after she recovered from her initial surprise.
It was moments after Hazel had entered the foyer that she exclaimed, “Oh heavens, how long have youall been here? I’m so sorry to keep you all waiting. I just got back from a poker game!”