Crazy Rich Asians (53 page)

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 shook 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.”

Residences at One Cairnhill

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 and 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.