Crazy Rich Asians

by Kevin Kwan

  10

  Tyersall Park

  SINGAPORE, 3:30 A.M.

  Rachel was quiet all the way home from the wedding ball. She graciously returned the sapphire necklace to Fiona in the foyer and bounded up the stairs. In the bedroom, she grabbed her suitcase from the built-in cupboard and began shoving in her clothes as fast as she could. She noticed that the laundry maids had placed thin sheets of scented blotting paper between each folded piece of clothing, and she began tearing them out frustratedly—she didn’t want to take a single thing from this place.

  “What are you doing?” Nick said in bafflement as he entered the bedroom.

  “What does it look like? I’m getting out of here!”

  “What? Why?” Nick frowned.

  “I’ve had enough of this shit! I refuse to be a sitting duck for all these crazy women in your life!”

  “What on earth are you talking about, Rachel?” Nick stared at her in confusion. He had never seen her this angry before.

  “I’m talking about Mandy and Francesca. And God only knows who else,” Rachel cried, continuing to grab her things from the armoire.

  “I don’t know what you’ve heard, Rachel, but—”

  “Oh, so you deny it? You deny that you had a threesome with them?”

  Nick’s eyes flared in shock. For a moment, he wasn’t sure what to say. “I don’t deny it, but—”

  “You asshole!”

  Nick threw his hands up in despair. “Rachel, I’m thirty-two, and as far as I know I’ve never mentioned joining the priesthood. I do have a sexual history, but I’ve never tried to conceal any of it from you.”

  “It’s not that you concealed it. It’s more that you never told me in the first place! You should have said something. You should have told me that Francesca and you had a past, so I didn’t have to sit there tonight and get totally blindsided. I felt like a total fucking idiot.”

  Nick sat down on the edge of the chaise lounge, burying his face in his hands. Rachel had every right to be angry—it just never occurred to him to mention something that happened half a lifetime ago. “I’m so sorry—” he began.

  “A threesome? With Mandy and Francesca? Really? Of all the women in the world,” Rachel said contemptuously as she struggled with the zipper on her suitcase.

  Nick sighed deeply. He wanted to explain that Francesca had been a very different girl back then, before her grandfather’s stroke and all that money, but he realized that this was not the time to defend her. He approached Rachel slowly and put his arms around her. She tried to break away from him, but he locked his arms around her tightly.

  “Look at me, Rachel. Look at me,” he said calmly. “Francesca and I just had a brief fling that summer in Capri. That’s all it was. We were stupid sixteen-year-olds, all raging hormones. That was almost two decades ago. I was single for four years before I met you, and I think you know precisely how the last two years have gone—you are the center of my life, Rachel. The absolute center. What happened tonight? Who told you all these things?”

  With that, Rachel broke down and it all came flooding out—everything that happened at Araminta’s bachelorette weekend, all of Mandy’s constant innuendoes, the stunt that Francesca had pulled at the wedding ball. Nick listened to Rachel’s ordeal, feeling sick to his stomach the more he heard. Here he thought she had been having the time of her life. It pained him to see how shaken up she was, to see the tears spill down her pretty face.

  “Rachel, I am so sorry. I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am,” Nick said earnestly.

  Rachel stood facing the window, wiping the tears from her eyes. She was angry at herself for crying and confused by the tidal wave of emotion that had swept over her, but she just couldn’t help it. The shock of the evening and the pent-up stress of the days leading up to it had brought her to this point, and now she was drained.

  “I wish you had told me about the bachelorette weekend, Rachel. If I had known, I could have done more to protect you. I really had no clue those girls could be so … so vicious,” Nick said, searching for the right word in his fury. “I’ll make sure you never see them again. Just please, don’t leave like this. Especially when we haven’t even had a chance to enjoy our holiday together. Let me make it up to you, Rachel. Please.”

  Rachel kept silent. She stayed facing the window, suddenly noticing a strange set of shadows moving on the darkened expanse of lawn. A moment later, she realized it was just a uniformed Gurkha on his night patrol with a pair of Dobermans.

  “I don’t think you get it, Nick. I’m still mad at you. You didn’t prepare me for any of this. I traveled halfway around the world with you, and you told me nothing before we left.”

  “What should I have told you?” Nick asked, genuinely perplexed.

  “All this,” Rachel cried, waving her hands around at the opulent bedroom they were standing in. “The fact that there’s an army of Gurkhas with dogs protecting your grandmother while she sleeps, the fact that you grew up in friggin’ Downton Abbey, the fact that your best friend was throwing the most expensive wedding in the history of civilization! You should have told me about your family, about your friends, about your life here, so I could at least know what I was getting myself into.”

  Nick sank onto the chaise lounge, sighing wearily. “Astrid did try to warn me to prepare you, but I was so sure that you’d feel right at home when you got here. I mean, I’ve seen how you are in different settings, the way you’re able to charm the socks off everyone—your students, the chancellor, and all the university bigwigs, even that grouchy Japanese sandwich guy on Thirteenth Street! And I guess I just didn’t know what to say. How could I have explained all this to you without your being here to see it yourself?”

  “Well, I came and saw for myself, and now … now I feel like I don’t know who my boyfriend is anymore,” Rachel said forlornly.

  Nick stared at Rachel openmouthed, stung by her remark. “Have I really changed that much in the past couple of weeks? Because I feel like I’m the same person, and how I feel about you certainly hasn’t changed. If anything, I love you more every day, and even more at this moment.”

  “Oh Nick.” Rachel sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t know how to explain it. It’s true, you have stayed exactly the same, but the world around you—this world around us—is so different from anything I’m used to. And I’m trying to figure out how I could possibly fit into this world.”

  “But don’t you see how well you do fit in? You must realize that aside from a few inconsequential girls, everyone adores you. My best friends all think you’re the bee’s knees—you should have heard the way Colin and Mehmet were raving about you last night. And my parents like you, my whole family likes you.”

  Rachel shot him a look, and Nick could see that she wasn’t buying it. He sat down next to her and noticed that her shoulders tightened almost imperceptibly. He longed to run a hand up and down her back soothingly, like he did almost every night in bed, but he knew better than to touch her now. What could he do to reassure her at this moment?

  “Rachel, I never meant for you to get hurt. You know I’ll do anything to make you happy,” he said in a quiet voice.

  “I know,” Rachel said after a pause. As upset as she was, she couldn’t stay mad at Nick for long. He had mishandled things, for sure, but she knew he wasn’t to blame for Francesca’s bitchiness. This was exactly what Francesca had been hoping to achieve—to make her doubt herself, to make her angry at Nick. Rachel sighed, leaning her head on his shoulder.

  A sudden gleam came over Nick’s eyes. “I have an idea—why don’t we go away tomorrow? Let’s skip the tea ceremony at the Khoos’. I don’t think you really want to stand around and watch Araminta get piled with tons of jewelry from all her relatives anyway. Let’s get out of Singapore and clear our heads. I know a special place we can go.”

  Rachel eyed him warily. “Is it going to involve more private jets and six-star resorts?”

  Nick sho
ok his head rapidly. “Don’t worry, we’re driving. I’m taking you to Malaysia. I’m taking you to a remote lodge in the Cameron Highlands, far away from all this.”

  11

  Residences at One Cairnhill

  SINGAPORE

  Eleanor was just sitting down to her usual breakfast of toasted seven-grain bread, low-fat butter, and low-sugar marmalade when the phone rang. Whenever the phone rang this early in the morning, she knew it had to be one of her siblings in America. This was probably her brother in Seattle, begging for another loan. When Consuelo entered the breakfast room with the phone, Eleanor shook her head and mouthed silently, “Tell him I’m still asleep.”

  “No, no, ma’am, not Seattle brother. It’s Mrs. Foo.”

  “Oh,” Eleanor said, grabbing the phone as she took a bite of her toast. “Daisy, what are you doing up so early? Did you have indigestion too after that awful wedding banquet?”

  “No, no, Elle, I have breaking news!” Daisy said excitedly.

  “What, what?” Eleanor asked in anticipation. She said a quick prayer and hoped Daisy was going to report on the tragic breakup of Nicky and Rachel. Francesca had winked at her during the fireworks last night and whispered two words—It’s done—and Eleanor noticed during the ferry ride home that Rachel looked like she had been hit in the face with a durian.

  “Guess who just woke up from a coma?” Daisy announced.

  “Oh. Who?” Eleanor asked, a little crestfallen.

  “Just guess, lah!”

  “I don’t know … that von Bülow woman?”

  “Aiyah, no lah! Sir Ronald Shaw woke up! Nadine’s father-in-law!”

  “Alamak!” Eleanor almost spat out her toast. “I thought he was a living vegetable.”

  “Well, somehow the vegetable woke up, and he’s even talking! The cousin of my maid’s daughter-in-law is the night nurse at Mount E, and apparently she got the shock of her life when Patient Shaw woke up at four this morning and started demanding his Kopi-O.”*

  “How long has he been in a coma?” Eleanor asked, looking up and noticing Nick stroll into the kitchen. Oh my. Nick was over bright and early. Something must have happened!

  “Six years now. Nadine, Ronnie, Francesca, the whole family have rushed to his bedside, and the news crews are just arriving.”

  “Huh. Do you think we should go down too?” Eleanor asked.

  “I think let’s wait. Let’s see. You know, I hear that sometimes these coma victims wake up right before they die.”

  “If he’s asking for Kopi-O, something tells me he’s not going to kick the bucket anytime soon,” Eleanor surmised. She said goodbye to Daisy and focused her attention on Nick.

  “Francesca’s grandfather woke up from his coma this morning,” Eleanor relayed, buttering another piece of toast.

  “I didn’t even realize he was still alive,” Nick said disinterestedly.

  “What are you doing here so early? Do you want some breakfast? Some kaya toast?”

  “No, no, I already ate.”

  “Where’s Rachel this morning?” Eleanor asked a little too eagerly. Was the girl tossed out in the middle of the night like garbage?

  “Rachel’s still asleep. I got up early to talk to you and Dad. Is he up yet?”

  “Alamak, your father sleeps till ten, at the earliest.”

  “Well then, I’ll tell you first. I’m going away with Rachel for a few days, and if all goes according to plan, I intend to propose to her while we’re away,” Nick declared.

  Eleanor put down her toast and gave him a look of unconcealed horror. “Nicky, you can’t be serious!”

  “I’m totally serious,” Nick said, taking a seat at the table. “I know you don’t know her very well yet, but that’s been my fault entirely—I haven’t given you or Dad the chance to meet her until now. But I can assure you that you’ll soon discover what an amazing human being she is. She is going to be a fantastic daughter-in-law to you, Mum.”

  “Why are you rushing into this?”

  “I’m not rushing into anything. We’ve dated for nearly two years. We’ve practically been living together for the past year. I was planning to propose on our two-year anniversary this October, but some stuff happened, and I need to show Rachel how important she is to me, right now.”

  “What stuff?”

  Nick sighed. “It’s a long story, but Rachel’s been treated badly by a few people since arriving—Francesca especially.”

  “What did Francesca do?” Eleanor asked innocently.

  “It doesn’t matter what she did. What matters is that I have to put things right.”

  Eleanor’s mind raced in circles. What the hell happened last night? That stupid Francesca! Alamak, her plan must have backfired. “You don’t have to marry her just to put things right, Nicky. Don’t let this girl pressure you,” Eleanor urged.

  “I’m not being pressured. The truth is, I have been thinking about marrying Rachel almost since the day I met her. And now, more than ever, I know she is the one for me. She is so smart, Mum, and such a good person.”

  Eleanor was seething inside, but she tried to speak in a measured voice. “I’m sure Rachel is a nice girl, but she can never be your wife.”

  “And why is that?” Nick leaned back in his chair, amused by the absurdity of his mother’s words.

  “She is just not suitable for you, Nicky. She does not come from the right background.”

  “Nobody is ever going to come from ‘the right background’ in your eyes,” Nick scoffed.

  “I’m only telling you what everyone is already thinking, Nick. You haven’t heard the horrible things I’ve heard. Do you know her family comes from Mainland China?”

  “Stop it, Mum. I’m so fed up with this ridiculous snobbery you and your friends have toward the Mainland Chinese. We are all Chinese. Just because some people actually work for their money doesn’t mean they are beneath you.”

  Eleanor shook her head and continued in a graver tone, “Nicky, you don’t understand. She will never be accepted. And I’m not talking about your dad and me—I’m talking about your dear Ah Ma and the rest of the family. Take it from me—even though I have been married to your father for thirty-four years, I am still considered an outsider. I am a Sung—I came from a respectable family, a rich family, but in their eyes I was never good enough. Do you want to see Rachel suffer like that? Look at how they have frozen out that Kitty Pong girl!”

  “How can you even compare Rachel to Kitty? Rachel isn’t a soap-opera star who runs around in skimpy clothes—she’s an economist with a PhD. And everyone in the family has been perfectly nice to her.”

  “It is one thing to be polite to your guest, but I can assure you that if they really thought she had any chance of being your wife, they would not be so nice.”

  “That’s nonsense.”

  “No, Nicky, that is a fact,” Eleanor snapped. “Ah Ma will never allow you to marry Rachel, no matter how accomplished she is. Come on, Nicky, you know this! It’s been told to you a thousand times since you were a little boy. You are a Young.”

  Nick shook his head and laughed. “This is all so unbelievably archaic. We’re living in the twenty-first century, and Singapore is one of the most progressive countries on the planet. I can assure you Ah Ma doesn’t feel the way she did thirty years ago.”

  “Alamak, I’ve known your grandmother a lot longer than you have. You don’t know how important bloodlines are to her.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. “To her, or to you? I haven’t researched Rachel’s genealogy, but if necessary I’m sure I can find some dead Ming emperor somewhere in her bloodline. Besides, she comes from a very respectable family. One of her cousins is even a famous film director.”

  “Nicky, there are things about Rachel’s family that you don’t realize.”

  “And how would you know this? Did Cassandra invent some story about Rachel’s family or something?”

  Eleanor kept silent on that score. She simply warned, “Save yourself an
d Rachel the heartache, Nicky. You have to give her up now, before things go any further.”

  “She’s not something I can just give up, Mum. I love her, and I’m going to marry her. I don’t need anyone’s approval,” Nick said forcefully, rising from the table.

  “Stupid boy! Ah Ma will disinherit you!”

  “Like I care.”

  “Nicky, listen to me. I haven’t sacrificed my whole life for you just to see you waste everything on that girl,” Eleanor said anxiously.

  “Sacrificed your whole life? I’m not sure what you mean, when you’re sitting here at the chef’s table of your twenty-million-dollar apartment,” Nick huffed.

  “You have no idea! If you marry Rachel you will be ruining all our lives. Make her your mistress if you need to, but for heaven’s sake, don’t throw away your entire future by marrying her,” Eleanor pleaded.

  Nick snorted in disgust and stood up, kicking away the chair behind him as he stormed out of the breakfast alcove. Eleanor winced as the chrome chair legs cut across the Calacatta marble floor. She stared at the perfectly aligned rows of Astier de Villatte porcelain that lined the exposed stainless-steel shelves of her kitchen, reflecting on the heated exchange she had just endured. Every effort she had made to prevent her son from careening into this disastrous situation had failed, and now there was but one option left. Eleanor sat absolutely still for a few long moments, summoning the courage for the conversation she had been trying to avoid for so long.

  “Consuelo!” she shouted. “Tell Ahmad to get the car ready. I need to go to Tyersall Park in fifteen minutes.”

  * * *

  * A traditional black coffee served with sugar only.

  12

  Wuthering Towers

  HONG KONG

  Astrid awoke to a shaft of sunlight on her face. What time was it? She looked at the clock on the side table and noticed it was after ten. She stretched into a yawn, crawled out of bed, and went to splash some water on her face. When she padded into the living room, she saw Charlie’s elderly Chinese nanny sitting on one of the chrome-and-calfskin Le Corbusier lounge chairs frantically focused on a game on her iPad. Ah Chee pressed the screen furiously, muttering in Cantonese, “Cursed birds!” When she noticed Astrid passing by, she broke into a toothy grin. “Hiyah Astrid, did you sleep well? There’s breakfast waiting for you,” she said, her eyes never leaving the glowing screen.