Adults Don't Say I Love You

On her forty-second birthday, her daughter wrote in an essay, “My mom is a heartless robot.” Her coworkers mocked her as “an old maid saddled with a kid,” and even male clients from the insurance company dared to touch her hand and say, “Sister Yao, a woman still needs a man to take care of her.” She smiled, pulled out a wet wipe to clean her hand, then turned and handed a thirty-million-yuan group insurance contract to the vice president of the hospital across from them. After signing, the man looked up at her. “Ms. Yao, I’ve been widowed for ten years, and my daughter is taking her high school entrance exams this year. Would you be open to a blind date?” “Director Wen,” she said, closing the contract, “adults don’t talk about love. Let’s discuss something practical.”