Next One Is a Babe

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The three women asked how Cindy was coping with her job; how much she was earning; and whether she 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 her absence.

These women were well past middle age and Cindy guessed they hardly ever kept up with the latest gossip. In fact, she had a feeling that they were completely oblivious to the controversy she had stirred up on the Internet before this.

To be on the safe side, she stuck to vague answers and did not describe her job in detail, merely explaining that her employer would arrange simple work for her. She was reserved when talking about her 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 option to 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 idle conversation 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 curiosity about my love life?”

The three women had not seen the news and were naturally oblivious to her recent entanglement with Ian, 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 we remembered that you aren’t any younger. It’s about time that you settle down and you’re the cream of the crop here, which means you have to marry well. Not to mention...” She trailed off with a meaningful smile 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 her neighbors, with whom she hardly ever interacted, would fret over her marriage prospects all of a sudden.

She immediately protested and only smiled as she answered politely, “I’m not really in a rush to settle down 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 a career when you can settle down with a good man from a nice family. That should be your life goal, and your 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 as the winner. She had no intention of correcting their perspective, however dated it could be, and decided that 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’m not 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 asking you to settle down right away. We’re only saying that you should consider marriage when a nice man comes along, that’s all.”

Despite her smile, Cindy was actually a little puzzled by how these three old women had suddenly showed up out of the blue in determination to set her up with a man.

If she had to be honest, her family background wasn’t exactly ideal enough for her to be considered for marriage.

Her father had passed on, her brother was still in school, and her mother was unemployed. More to the point, 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 ways of her hometown; under normal circumstances, she would be a man and his family’s worst choice of a wife and daughter-in-law respectively.

On that basis, she could not figure out whether she had suddenly become popular, and if that was the case, she wanted to know why.