Chapter 2.21

"Why hasn't he come?" A woman sighed, looking at the entrance door with a melancholic intensity. She had not moved since she arrived at the shop very early in the morning. It was already noon and she kept looking at the door, leaving her work aside.

"Who?" Another, younger, woman asked back as she cleaned the counters of the store. Though, what she hoped was for the other woman to move or help, or simply put herself to work. She was always the one doing those menial chores while the other just lazed around. It must be good to be the Boss' favorite, she thought.

"That man from two days ago." The first woman sighed again. Since the Boss was not around, she decided to idle around. But there was a more important reason why she was at the store front rather than upstairs embroidering.

The young woman who was cleaning stopped her task and looked at her colleague with hesitation.

Cordelia, the sighing woman, was a person who easily and frequently fell in love. More often than not, she ended up getting hurt either by being vehemently rejected by the man, or getting heavily scolded by the man's partner to get away from him. The shop had lost a few clients because of Cordelia.

To Patricia – the one who had been cleaning and who was barely 18 –, those situations were very awkward and troublesome: getting in the way of a couple, or being too clingy to a man that ignored her only to end up dumped and with a tainted reputation. Patricia's mother had always preached that a woman's reputation was very important.

And, she tried to impart that knowledge to Cordelia. However, no matter how much Patricia advised Cordelia to first know the man – if he was taken or even interested in her – before pursuing him, the latter would always ignore her. Cordelia always claimed Patricia was too reserved; like an old woman.

Actually, Patricia had not been the only one who had advised Cordelia about her romantic situations. Even Amelia, Cordelia's good friend, had told her to choose well the man she wanted to pursue and to not just let her first impression dictate her.

But their efforts had been for naught. Like, pouring water in a broken cup. It was sad to see Cordelia in those plights, yet there was nothing the two could do. In the end, it was all up to Cordelia to wake up and stop with her ways.

Besides, to Patricia, the man from two days ago, who Cordelia was sighing for, was more scary than handsome as Cordelia claimed. Maybe he was some sort of bandit… who actually had a wife – he did mention a wife... Well, if he had a wife, maybe he was not a bandit.

Or! He was a bandit whose job the wife was not aware of!

… or both were bandits…

Either way, men wearing those patchy and old clothes and having such a thick beard were nothing good! That was what her mother always said.

As Patricia let her thoughts run, the owner, Mrs. Priddy, finally arrived to the shop. "Has Isabelle come?" She immediately asked the two women. Although she looked calm, there was a bit of nervousness in her eyes and countenance.

"No, Mrs. Priddy." Patricia shook her head. She had lost count on the number of times Mrs. Priddy had asked her about Isabelle. She was beginning to stress over being the one to always deliver those bad news.

"Let me know if she comes." Mrs. Priddy yet once again ordered before going to the back of the store.

Cordelia, who had been silent and ignored the whole time, approached Patricia and asked. "Who's Isabelle?" She clearly asked with the intention to gossip a bit.

Cordelia had lived in Basin Town her whole life. Her family owned a tea shop in a rather popular street. Business was good as most of the Wives with money went to their tea shop to hang out at any time during the day to talk about everything and anything they heard about someone. It was a hubbub of gossips flying around.

Her older brother and his Wife started managing the shop after their father stepped down due to age and health issues. And thanks to the couple's good management, the shop had grown considerably and had created a solid clientele.

On the other hand, Cordelia, had no talent for business; she could not even attend to customers because her brother did not want her to do such a menial work. The sister-in-law, though, did not want to share the money earned from the tea shop with her, so she convinced Cordelia to look for a job as an embroiderer since she was good at it. That was how she was hired by Mrs. Priddy.

Furthermore, with 21 years, Cordelia was past the age women usually married in Basin Town. Though, her late marriage had nothing to do with her. It was all because after her mother passed away many years ago, her father and brother were displeased and reticent at the idea of marrying her off. That no man was worthy of her. Thus, they claimed they had no problem in raising her.

Their intentions were good. Unfortunately, the one in charge of the money, the brother's wife, did not share the sentiment. That left Cordelia in a very awkward position in the family: not allowed to form her own family and not receiving any 'benefit' for staying at home.

As years went by, and many of her friends talked about being engaged and marrying, Cordelia developed a strange fixation with men, and more often than not let her imagination run wild: how they were supposed to act in front of her, and how their relationship would pan out, what they would do, what they would say. All sorts of scenarios ran through her mind.

Those were all created in hopes of satisfying her fantasies and desire of marrying. That, as previously said, would not happen so soon – or ever – due to her father and brother.

Working at the embroidery shop soon became her excuse to get out the house, take a look at all the men around town, and see if she could get herself a boyfriend or a possible groom candidate. She was, actually, quite known around town because of it. So much, that it was a surprise her father and brother had no idea of her reputation as a man chaser.

Running around town had also made her know everyone in it, making this Isabelle woman a new face. An unknown face she was curious about.

Patricia knew who Isabelle was because she saw the other woman when she left the shop almost a week ago. Isabelle had picked up the job Monie left behind when she quit and was supposed to deliver it these days. 100 handkerchiefs were not that many, and one week was enough to embroider them, Patricia thought.

Mrs. Priddy being so nervous meant she was starting to regret having left the job to the new girl. Patricia certainly would not have left it to Isabelle, no matter how good she was at embroidering.

But that was beside the point, since Patricia was never one to create gossip despite her thoughts, she succinctly replied to Cordelia. "A new worker."

"Why's Mrs. Priddy looking for her with great urgency? Has she run away with materials? Did she mess up her work? Did she fight with someone?" And contrary to Patricia, Cordelia liked to jump to conclusions.

Still, it was not so much jumping to conclusions since it had really happened at the shop before. Some new girl had taken material back home to work with it for a well-paid order, yet she never returned with the finished products. There was another girl who did the wrong embroidery in the sheets of a client, making said client furious. Of course, the girl never returned after being scolded by the client and Mrs. Priddy.

Though, when it came to problems, Cordelia was the first on the list.

Many women had visited the shop to complain about her chasing after their men. Mrs. Priddy certainly had to use all her charisma and skills to appease those women and send them off. However, the older woman could do nothing more than that as Cordelia was her best embroiderer.

If keeping her meant to deal with enraged women, then she thought it was worth it.

"I don't know." Patricia shook her head and went back to cleaning.

"What's she like, then? Is she pretty?" Cordelia had to put up some guard against women who might chase after her newest target.

Patricia paused and thought about Isabelle. "She's pretty…" She began, because she accepted Isabelle's face was very beautiful. However… "… she also might eat too much..." She tried describing her without being mean. After all, not many young women looked like Isabelle, or at least, none that she knew would let themselves look like the new worker.

"Ah, she's fat. Good. She's no problem." Cordelia smiled, satisfied with the information she got.

Patricia pursed her lips and resumed her task. She was not Mrs. Priddy's favorite to laze around as Cordelia liked to do. She also was not as wealthy as Cordelia – who was often given the best orders –, so she had to work harder, even manning the shop to earn a few more coins.

She was relieved that Cordelia did not continue pushing for more information about Isabelle as she did not want to judge her more than she already had. Patricia also kept hoping and praying for that man to never appear in the shop.

Who knew what trouble his appearance would rise?

"If the man appears, do call me, please. I have a good feeling about him." Cordelia demanded of Patricia. She, then, made her way to the back of the shop and probably to a room upstairs to finally start embroidering.

Patricia rolled her eyes at those words.

Cordelia had said the same about the last couple of men she had pursued – or more like harassed. It all ended with her either being scolded by women and Mrs. Priddy cleaning the mess, or with the men moving out of town, unable to stand her harassing, and earning the glares from a few mothers and fathers.

Patricia really hoped for that man to never appear.