“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.
So, she shifted her tone. “Grandpa, even if there’s a secret between Uncle Matt and I, that’s our secret. You shouldn’t ask about it. I have lots of secrets growing up. Why do you ask? “
“Right…”
The old man mulled over it before asking another question. “You’ve been acting quite strangely when it comes to your uncle’s marriage. Are you hiding something from us?”
Ellie pursed her lips. “I see you all forcing Uncle Matt into these arrangements, and I can’t stand it. I have always admired Uncle Matt. For someone of his great stature to be forced by his own family to get married, with so little freedom… I just can’t stand it.”
Indeed, that was exactly what had been on her mind.
Even without Clarissa in the picture, she really thought that way.
The old man glanced at Matthew. “So, is there a woman I don’t know about?”
Matthew gazed intently at the chessboard, not at all shaken by his father’s question.
He lifted his eyes ever so slightly and replied, “Whether I have one or not, I’ll take charge of my own marriage.”
The old man grew silent.
“Fine. After tonight, I’ll have a talk with your mother.”
“Oh, that’s great to hear, Grandpa. If you do that, I’m sure Grandma will listen. Grandpa, you’re wonderful! I love you so much!”
Ellie, fueled by excitement, pulled her grandfather into a hug and gave him an affectionate kiss as an expression of gratitude.
Her actions tickled George, but the old man pretended to be disgusted by intimacy. “For goodness’ sake, Ellie. You’re a grown woman now. This is inappropriate.”
“Oh, let me have my way, Grandpa. I love you too much. You’re the best. Haha…”
Matthew could not stay in his peaceful bubble for long either. They could not hide up there all night. Eventually, they had to get back downstairs.
Once they returned to the world below, the guests huddled around the man of the hour with a birthday cake. They lit the candles and asked that he make a wish.
Matthew would never do any of those.
It was Ellie who did them on his behalf. She blew the candles and cut the cake, apparently in a much better mood.
Matthew was surrounded by several women. Their enthusiasm and his indifference formed a sharp contrast, so much so that even Margaret’s attempts to mediate were proven ineffective, leading to an awkward silence.
Because of that, some of the guests had gotten upset and decided to leave early.
In the end, not many people remained, but Sienna still stuck around.
She had yet to feel defeated. She had already expected Matthew would turn out like this.
She waited until there was no one else around the man, when he was finally alone, before approaching him.
Some time in between, she managed to retrieve her gift and presented it to Matthew in person once again.
“Matt, I want to personally give you my present again. It’d be such a shame if it were left in a pile together with the others.”
Sienna tried to ease the tension with a joke.
At the same time, she also opened the box and showed her present to Matthew. It was a tie.
Yuliana cut in out of the blue. A smile had crept up her face. “Matthew, Sienna certainly has a good eye for presents. That tie suits you just nicely. Why don’t you put it on? The one you’re wearing right now doesn’t match you at all. Gosh, a man like you is hopeless without a woman around to take care of you. Go on, Matthew, hurry up and get rid of that nasty tie. Sienna, why don’t you help Matthew put on that tie you have there?”
Yuliana’s teasing suddenly received a stern glare from Matthew.
For a moment, she was taken aback, not knowing why the young man had shot her such a scary look.
Naturally, Sienna would never do what Matthew disapproved of.
She chuckled. “Oh, it’s not my place.”
Yet Margaret volunteered. “I’ll do it, then. Matthew, you should know that I was the one who helped you into your first tie. Don’t you remember?”
Margaret took the new tie from Sienna’s hands and proceeded to put it around her son’s neck.
But Matthew avoided her like the plague.
“No. That’s enough. Thank you.”
Matthew snatched the tie from his mother’s grasp to stop her from constantly pestering him.
“Fine. You’d better keep it nicely. It’s a very precious gift.”
Matthew grew impatient. He checked the time on his wristwatch and announced, “I’m leaving.”
“What? So soon? But the night’s still young.”
“There’s work to take care of…”
He headed out after giving an excuse.
The anxious old lady quickly shot a look at Yuliana who, without saying a word, ran after her brother-in-law with Sienna in tow.
She managed to stop Matthew before he sped off in his car.
“Matthew, now’s not the time to argue. Be a dear and give Sienna a ride home, will you? She came to the party alone. It wouldn’t be right to let her go back unaccompanied, don’t you agree?”
With that said, Yuliana opened the door for Sienna to get into the front passenger seat.
Matthew was forced into the situation too quickly. His sister-in-law’s intention was too obvious.
Matthew cast a dubious gaze at Yuliana. He said nothing, but the way he looked at her sent shivers down her spine.
