Female Novel
Chapter 1622
The three old women chortled and responded, “Oh, no, we only just arrived!”
Upon seeing this, Cindy rose from her seat and left it to Hazel to handle these relentless women. Shewas already growing tired of having to listen to their nonsense.
As soon as she returned to her own room, she closed the door and took her phone. Then, she wore herearphones before clicking into her music playlist.
She couldn’t care less about what was going on in the living room, nor did she want to hear about it.
Cindy lay on her side as the music played in her ears, but when the three women left, Hazel came intoher room and interrupted her quiet space.
Hazel glanced at Cindy and sighed wearily. “I take it they’ve told you everything?”
As she tugged on her earphones to remove it, Cindy said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.What were they supposed to tell me?”
After pausing in thought, Hazel elaborated, “Maybe they were too embarrassed to be straightforward.Mrs. Bates has a relative who is looking to settle down. He comes from a nice family, and he askedMrs. Bates whether she could set him up with someone suitable. She automatically thought of you,what with your accomplishments and all, so she figured she could drop by and see if you’d beinterested in meeting the man.”
Cindy smiled, but it did not reach her eyes. “Didn’t you tell them that I have a boyfriend?”
Hazel cringed a little and pursed her lips, then countered, “Your boyfriend’s in the entertainmentindustry, which, if I must say, does little credit to how reliable he is as a man. There’s no telling if theboth of you will work out in the end, so I was hoping you might reconsider.”
Upon hearing this, Cindy was a little astonished because it seemed like her mother was caving to thethree women’s persuasion.
More to the point, she found Hazel’s reaction to be a rather odd one. Leaving out the question ofwhether Ian and I would work out in the end, the last time she brought up the topic of my settling downand starting a family was way back when I started college. It’s enough to show her stance on thematter.
Back then, Hazel had made it clear that Cindy shouldn’t marry within the three years following hergraduation and that she should focus on her career to repay her family’s sacrifices all these years. Thatwas before Cindy’s father passed away, but Hazel had already set her mind on Cindy becoming thebreadwinner.
Now that her father was gone, she was the only breadwinner in the family, so it would only make sensefor Hazel to discourage her from marriage as opposed to nudging her toward it.
It was a custom around these parts of the area that once a blind date went well, the couple must beengaged and married within two months. Cindy couldn’t understand why Hazel would want to marry heroff at a time like this and without any forewarning either.
With that in mind, she asked slowly and inquisitively, “What about the man’s family? What are theylike?”
Hazel broke into a relieved smile when she heard this and happily responded, “Well, according to Mrs.Bates, the family is doing well for themselves and they have a factory of sorts under their name. Theman is the only son in the family and should the both of you decide to get married, he’d be willing toprovide a house, a car, and even his savings account!”
Of course. Why did I expect anything else? Cindy resisted the urge to sneer. It looked like the man’swell-off family was the only reason why Hazel had changed her mind so abruptly. novelbin
Amusement glittered in her eyes as she pointed out, “I hardly doubt I’d be good enough for the man. Imean, there are probably tons of girls lining up for him, if he truly is as excellent as Mrs. Bates said.”
“No, that’s not true,” Hazel denied hastily. “I asked, and apparently, the man has never had a girlfriend.He just wants to settle down with a nice young woman who is both educated and capable.”
Cindy sat up in bed. “Does that mean you know everything about him?”
Not hearing the implication in the girl’s tone, Hazel nodded proudly. “I asked about everything I couldpossibly think of.” Having said that, she proceeded to tell Cindy everything about the man.
As it turned out, he was younger than Cindy by a year. He wasn’t the scholarly type, and he startedworking as soon as he left high school. More importantly, he had a good temperament, and he wasneither a smoker nor a drinker.
He sounded very much like ideal husband material and his disposition made up for his lack ofacademic achievements.
However, the more invested Hazel was in painting the man as the perfect husband, the more Cindywas annoyed by it. She waited until Hazel was done speaking before protesting icily, “That’s well andall, but I have a boyfriend now, and the both of us are very much in love.”
Hazel looked awkward for a brief moment and she at last admitted, “Look, I’ve read the news onlineabout Ian, and his entire family is a wreck. Even if the both of you were to work out in the end, there’sno telling if you could have a happily ever after with him.”