The interview

Linda wore a rose gold spaghetti strap bodycon dress and paired it with white stilettoes. The dress perfectly hugged her body to show her slim figure while her ponytail revealed her slim neck. 'She will make a gorgeous future wife', that was the thought of every man that came to the interview as she swiftly walked passed them. Sharon specifically chose her outfit for that reason, to show her class and elegance without compromising on her sexiness.

Freddy was surprised by the turnout given the short notice of the invite, "Wow, I guess everyone wants to be her husband,", he mumbled as he tiptoed to Linda's office.

The boardroom was already set up and ready for the interviews, the only thing missing were the interviewers. Sharon was sitting on the white office couch while Linda checked her emails. Freddy quietly knocked on the door, then let himself in "Hi ma'am, it's time. Oh, hi Sharon ", he waved at Sharon who was skimming her phone,

Sharon flashed a bright smile, "Ohh, Freddy, I heard Jackie is still pestering you. Just give her the numbers, Jackie is a good girl",

Freddy sighed, "Not you too. I am off to my workstation",

Linda got up to give Freddy a file, " You are the third interviewer, you will be there on behalf of the family, besides, you are the one who researched these men.", she walked out, and Sharon and Freddy were not that far off behind.

Freddy was surprised to have gotten the invite to join the panel, but excited to have a say on who gets to marry his cousin.

The trio sat on the perfectly set up table covered by a stack of files,

50% of the interviewees were men from conglomerate families who saw the marriage as a business move, while 30% were people who saw Linda as a shortcut to the good life and the remaining 20% were those who were naturally smitten with Linda. One after the other, the candidates all went in, 100 walked out with a frown while 50 of them walked out grinning from ear-to-ear. It was only midday, but they had already chosen the 50 people who would move to the next selection round.

Linda rejected most of the good life-seeking people because she knew that they could easily fall into her uncle's plans if he promised them something better. She knew very well that her uncle had a way with words. Two of Uncle John's men were rejected, but Jeremy was still in the race. All in all, 75% of the interviewees were rejected in the first round, and with that, the trio took a short break in preparation for the second selection.

The first round was mostly on compatibility, but the second round was the scenario round which had a set of questions that assessed a person's thinking and judgment skills. Linda needed someone who could easily see through her uncle's manipulations. She had already laid the groundwork for her uncle's demise, she was not about to let a stranger ruin her years of planning.

"First scenario: it's during the war, our country is badly losing, everyone around you is dying, and you are given a chance to save yourself, would you take it?

Second scenario: A supermarket is running a special on buying 3 wines for the price of one and buying one wine for half price, which option would you choose?

And the third scenario: Love and be poor? Or be rich and be alone?"

Linda didn't mind a loveless marriage, as long as there was loyalty and the person could see the bigger picture. The second selection round lasted longer and only five candidates made it through, Jeremy was one of those five people.

Since it was already evening, Linda pushed the final selection to the next morning and she planned to announce her fiance then. She asked Jackie to dig a bit deeper into the 5 people, it was easier asking her to look up five people than 100 people and Jackie promised to have the information ready later in the night. 

On their way home, Sharon could not help but reflect on the day, she was exhausted but still excited to be helping her friend, "Linda, did you see that Jeremy is part of the final 5? I told you he was perfect for you",

"Hmm, I don't know, everything sounded too rehearsed for me" Linda replied.

Just then, Linda received a text from Jackie and Kim at the same time, she read Kim's text first:

"I have been tailing your uncle as you requested, and you were right, the old man has been quite busy, these three young men were seen coming out of his house last night. I don't know what they are planning, but it's worth looking into. And I found the mole", Kim's text was accompanied by pictures, and one of them left Linda speechless. She zoomed close to her phone in disbelief, "Oh my God, I can't believe this!", the temperature suddenly rose, and Linda removed the ribbon that was holding her hair up, her breathing fell off balance.

Sharon thought something was wrong because her friend turned pale, she grabbed the phone, and her face turned dark, "What the hell?! Why is Jeremy hugging your uncle?!!"