“Ellie! I was about to call you to come downstairs. Come, let me introduce you to some friends.”
Yuliana introduced the women to her daughter. “Young people like yourselves should have lots of things to talk about. Enjoy!”
Apparently, her mother had put her in charge of accompanying the guests.
Ellie reluctantly walked over to the group of young women and sat down with them.
As they sat together, the women never seemed to stop talking about Matthew.
Ellie, burying her annoyance, casually responded to their chat.
Eventually, she got tired of it and simply scrolled on her phone, ignoring them. Those women seemed to have noticed Ellie’s mood as well. They stopped interacting with her.
Some of the smarter ones went ahead to entertain Margaret, while others sought out Yuliana. They merely saw Ellie as their junior and believed Matthew’s niece was of no help to them.
In return, Ellie got the peace she wanted.
It was already getting dark outside, since the days were shorter in the winter. Nevertheless, the Tysons had their house brightly lit inside and out.
Sienna and Matthew made their entrance one after another. When Yuliana saw them, she quickly abandoned the other women. She was obviously more hospitable towards Sienna compared to the rest.
“Sienna, what a surprise to see you with Matthew! Did he pick you up himself?”
Yuliana’s comment had been suggestive on purpose.
Sienna responded quite generously. “We ran into each other at the gate, that’s all. Yuliana, I hope I’m not late.”
“No, of course you’re not. Come in, come in. Matthew, I’ll leave Sienna in your care. I have to tend to other guests.”
Yuliana shoved Sienna towards Matthew. Her attempt to set them up was too obvious.
The other women were not happy with what they saw. They knew about Sienna, being from the same circle after all and having met on several occasions. They never thought they would meet such a strong competitor here.
Ellie looked on apathetically. Sienna seemed to be much more cunning than Shermaine.
Sienna did not show a single trace of smugness just because she ‘seemed’ close to Matthew. Her expression, her smile, and her attitude remained casual and appropriate, and she did not let herself seem too intimate or too distant.
“Matt, happy birthday.”
Sienna presented her gift to Matthew, who did not even give it as much as a glimpse. He accepted the item and thanked her with little emotion.
“Thanks.”
The other women at the scene caught on. They hurried over to Matthew with their gifts and wished him a happy birthday.
Ellie chose this time to play the part of a generous host. “Come, ladies. I’ll be safeguarding your presents on my uncle’s behalf. You can leave them to me.”
She took all the gifts and then set them aside, providing Matthew some relief.
He took the opportunity to head upstairs.
The women could not hide their flushed cheeks as their hearts threatened to pop out. They felt honored to have been in such close contact with Matthew. Each of them desperately wished that the man would fall in love with them. Somehow, everyone was confident that they had shown their best side, and had even made themselves believe that Matthew must be watching and observing them from the shadows.
They gradually sat down with hints of bashfulness and reserve on their faces. When another round of conversation started, they were in such desperate need to display their intelligence that they dropped their trivial talk about jewelry and luxury handbags altogether.
Ellie listened to their conversation from the sidelines. The women began to discuss current events, business, and then eventually Faulkner, Hemingway, Van Gogh…
Ugh…
Ellie sneered. She then glanced at Sienna, who sat there scrolling on her phone, adding nothing to the conversation. Shortly after that, she rose from her seat and went to look for Yuliana. The two of them seemed to have a lot more in common to talk about.
Their behavior was certainly getting on Ellie’s nerves.
Uncle Matt is just one man, right? He’s a good man, but does that mean all the good men in the world belong to them? Uncle Matt is so obviously uninterested in any of those women. Do they even realize that they don’t stand a chance?
Ellie snorted and made her way upstairs too.
Matthew happened to be in the study, playing chess with George. Ellie popped in, made herself comfortable, and proceeded to complain about the women downstairs.
“I swear, those women downstairs are so desperate, it almost seems laughable. Have all the men in the world gone extinct? They never take their eyes off you, Uncle Matt. I mean it, they’re just one step away from ripping your clothes off!”
George coughed once as his eyes flitted to his granddaughter, clearly not in favor of her manner of speech.
But Ellie curled her lips. “Grandpa, you can cough, but I’m just telling it like it is. Do you really think Uncle Matt can’t find the right woman? Honestly, the way you all rush into things is embarrassing. The women out there are going to think that Uncle Matt is going to be single for life. If this goes on, Uncle Matt will become a man of second quality.”
“I’m not in a rush. Your grandmother is.”
George never intervened in matters like this. He preferred to let others make a fuss over it.
He was the one least bothered by these worldly affairs. After retirement, he had been living a life of leisure, never worrying about anything and never needing to. He enjoyed a quiet life.
Even when his wife flew off the wall, he did not care.
“But can’t you talk some sense into Grandma? She doesn’t understand Uncle Matt at all. He’s just not looking for a girlfriend at the moment, otherwise… do they really think he needs their help to get a girl?”
Ellie turned to face her uncle. “Isn’t that right, Uncle Matt?”
Matthew agreed with her, “Yup.”
“See, Grandpa? You can’t just stand by and let them run the show. It’ll be bad if both sides go head to head with each other.”
George examined the chessboard carefully and, after pondering for some time, moved a black pawn forward. He lifted his head and faced Ellie. ”Is there a secret between the two of you that I should know about?”
“No, Grandpa. We don’t have any secrets. What makes you think that?”
Ellie eagerly denied it at first, but the fact that she overdid it made her seem guilty.
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