Chantel brought the noodles to the table and told Gifford with a smile,

“Eat it while it's hot! Sorry if it doesn't taste good, but that's what we have."

Gifford picked up a few noodles with his chopsticks, blew on them, and put them into his mouth. He chewed them quickly and nodded.

"Mmm! This is amazing! Much better than anything my sisters ever made. I guess you can cook."

After hearing him rave about the food, she smiled and sat next to him, watching him gobble down the noodles.

When he had almost finished his meal, Chantel suddenly said, “I heard that your mom's eager to set you up with someone."

Actually, Blair had set Gifford up on blind dates so many times that it was almost getting trite.

"Yeah, she's like that," he admitted.

Frankly, he was lucky enough she didn't force him to go. That way, if he went on one of her blind dates or not, it was up to him. It was not like they Led anywhere serious.

“Are you really single?" Chantel asked, resting her chin on her hands.

“Yes.”

“Anyone you have your eye on?"

“No." He was too busy to think about women.

Chantel put down her hands and Lowered her voice.

“What do you think of me?"

Gifford was a bit slow on the uptake. He swallowed the egg in his mouth and asked, “What do you mean?"

“I've got a surefire plan to make sure your mom won't send you on blind dates anymore. Look, I don't have a boyfriend. There's no one I'm crushing on. If you want, I can marry you and your mom won't bug you...

“Koff...koff...koff..." Gifford's food went down the wrong pipe. He began coughing uncontrollably, and it took him awhile to recover. By the time he was done, his chest and throat were sore. He thought he was going to die.

“I'LL keep your parents company for you and take good care of them."

Chantel meant it. She'd thought about this for a long time.

Yes! Of course she wanted to stick around. Blair and Wesley were Like the parents she never had. She didn't know what she was missing.

But she could also promise to be good to them. To be a good daughter-in-law.

She was young, after all, so she hadn't considered all the angles. She thought they could get married as long as they were together.

If Gifford had known that he would have such a shocking conversation after eating the bowl of noodles, he would definitely stick with leftovers.

“I'm sorry, Chantel. I'm 12 years older than you. I'm not right for you. You're really just like a sister to me. Better than my other sisters, but still..."