Crazy Rich Asians (47 page)

Nick paused, gazing deeply into her eyes. “This feeling came over me, and I just knew
tha—”

The sound of someone coming up the stairs suddenly interrupted them, and they broke
away from their embrace. A ravishing girl with a short-cropped Jean Seberg hairstyle
appeared at the top of the stairs, and behind her shuffled a portly Caucasian man.
Rachel immediately recognized the hand-painted Dries Van Noten dress from Patric’s
atelier that the girl was wearing.

“Mandy!” Nick gasped in surprise.

“Nico!” the girl replied with a smile.

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you think I’m doing here, silly rabbit? I had to escape from that
taaaaacky
reception. Did you see that ghastly giant teapot? I half expected it to get up and
start singing in Angela Lansbury’s voice,” she said, shifting her gaze onto Rachel.

Great. Another Singapore girl with a posh English accent
, Rachel thought.

“Where are my manners?” Nick quickly recovered. “Rachel, this is Amanda Ling. You
might remember meeting her mum, Jacqueline, the other night at Ah Ma’s.”

Rachel smiled and extended her hand.

“And this is Zvi Goldberg,” Mandy reciprocated. Zvi nodded quickly, still trying to
catch his breath. “Well, I came up here to show Zvi the place where I received my
first kiss. And would you believe it, Zvi, the boy who kissed me is standing right
before us,” Mandy said, looking straight at Nick.

Rachel turned to Nick with a raised eyebrow. His cheeks were bright red.

“You gotta be kidding! You guys plan this reunion or something?” Zvi cracked.

“Swear to God we didn’t. This is a complete coincidence,” Mandy declared.

“Yes, I thought you were dead set against coming to the wedding,” Nick said.

“Well, I changed my mind at the last minute. Especially since Zvi has this fabulous
new plane that can zip around so quickly—our flight from New York only took fifteen
hours!”

“Oh, you live in New York too?” Rachel inquired.

“Yes, I do. What, has Nico never mentioned me to you? Nico, I’m so hurt,” Mandy said
in mock outrage. She turned to Rachel with a placid smile. “I feel like I have an
unfair advantage, since I’ve heard
loads
about you.”

“You have?” Rachel couldn’t hide her look of surprise. Why had Nick never once mentioned
this friend of his, this beautiful girl who inexplicably kept calling him
Nico
? Rachel gave Nick a measured look, but he simply smiled back, oblivious to the nagging
thoughts filling her mind.

“Well, I suppose we ought to get back to the reception,” Mandy suggested. As the foursome
made their way toward the stairs, Mandy halted abruptly. “Oh look, Nico. I can’t believe
it—it’s still here!” She traced her fingers over a section of the wall right beside
the staircase.

Rachel peered at the wall and saw the names
Nico
and
Mandi
carved into the rock, joined together by an infinity symbol.

Tyersall Park

Alexandra walked onto the veranda to find her sister, Victoria, and her daughter-in-law,
Fiona, having afternoon tea with her mother. Victoria looked rather comical with a
dramatic opera-length necklace of mine-cut cognac diamonds casually draped over her
gingham shirt. Obviously, Mummy was doling out jewelry again, something she seemed
to be doing with greater frequency these days.

“I’ve been labeling every piece in the vault and putting them in cases marked with
all your names,” Su Yi had informed Alexandra during her visit last year. “This way
there is no fighting after I’m gone.”

“There won’t
be
any fighting, Mummy,” Alexandra had insisted.

“You say that now. But look what happened to Madam Lim Boon Peck’s family. Or the
Hu sisters. Whole families torn apart over jewelry. And not even very good jewelry!”
Su Yi had sighed.

As Alexandra approached the wrought-iron table where sweetly aromatic
kueh lapis
^*
and pineapple tarts were arrayed on Longquan celadon dishes, Su Yi was taking out
a diamond and cabochon sapphire choker. “This one my father brought back from Shanghai
in 1918,” Su Yi said to Fiona in Cantonese. “My mother told me it belonged to a grand
duchess who had escaped Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway with all her jewels sewn
into the lining of her coat. Here, try it on.”

Fiona put the choker around her neck, and one of Su Yi’s Thai lady’s maids helped
to fasten the delicate antique clasp. The other maid held up a hand mirror, and Fiona
peered at her reflection. Even in the waning late-afternoon light, the sapphires glistened
against her neck. “It’s truly exquisite, Ah Ma.”

“I’ve always liked it because these sapphires are so translucent—I’ve never quite
seen a shade of blue like that,” Su Yi said.

Fiona handed back the necklace, and Su Yi slipped it into a yellow silk pouch before
handing it to Fiona. “Nah, you should wear it tonight to the wedding banquet.”

“Oh, Ah Ma, I couldn’t possibly—” Fiona began.

“Aiyah,
moh hak hei
,
^†
it’s yours now. Make sure it goes to Kalliste someday,” Su Yi decreed. She turned
to Alexandra and said, “Do you need something for tonight?”

Alexandra shook her head. “I brought my triple-strand pearls.”

“You always wear those pearls,” Victoria complained, casually twirling her new diamonds
around her fingers as if they were toy beads.

“I like my pearls. Besides, I don’t want to look like one of those Khoo women. Did
you see how much jewelry they piled on this morning? Ridiculous.”

“Those Khoos sure like to flaunt it, don’t they,” Victoria said with a laugh, popping
one of the crumbly pineapple tarts into her mouth.

“Aiyah, who cares? Khoo Teck Fong’s father came from a little village in Sarawak—I
will always know him as the man who used to buy my mother’s old silver,” Su Yi said
dismissively. “Now, speaking of jewelry, I want to talk about Alistair’s girlfriend
—that starlet
.”

Alexandra flinched, steeling herself for the onslaught. “Yes, Mummy, I’m sure you
were as appalled as I was by that woman’s behavior today.”

“The audacity of her to accept that ring from the sultana! It was so undignified,
not to mention—” Victoria began.

Su Yi held out her hand to silence Victoria. “Why wasn’t I told that Alistair was
engaged to her?”

“It just happened a few days ago,” Alexandra said bleakly.

“But who is she? Who are her people?”

“I don’t know precisely,” Alexandra said.

“How is it possible that you don’t know the family, when your son wants to take her
as his wife?” Su Yi said in astonishment. “Look at Fiona here—we have known her family
for generations. Fiona, do
you
know this girl’s family?”

Fiona grimaced, making no attempt to hide her disdain. “Ah Ma, I never set eyes on
her until two days ago at Auntie Felicity’s.”

“Cassandra told me the girl showed up at Felicity’s wearing a see-through dress. Is
that true?” Su Yi asked.

“Yes,” the three ladies droned in unison.

“
Tien,
^‡
ah
, what is this world coming to?” Su Yi shook her head, taking a slow sip from her
teacup.

“Clearly the girl has not been brought up well,” Victoria said.

“She’s not been brought up at all. She’s not Taiwanese, even though she claims to
be, and she’s certainly not from Hong Kong. I’ve heard that she is from some remote
village in northern China,” Fiona offered.

“Tsk, those northern Chinese are the worst!” Victoria huffed, nibbling on a slice
of
kueh lapis
.

“Where she’s from is irrelevant. My youngest grandson is not going to marry some actress,
especially one of questionable lineage,” Su Yi said simply. Turning to Alexandra,
she said, “You will tell him to break off the engagement immediately.”

“His father has agreed to talk to him when we return to Hong Kong.”

“I don’t think that will be soon enough, Alix. The girl needs to be sent packing before
she does something more offensive. I can only imagine what she’s going to wear to
the ball tonight,” Victoria said.

“Well, what about Rachel, that girlfriend of Nicky’s?” Alexandra said, trying to deflect
the focus from her son.

“What about her?” Su Yi asked, puzzled.

“Aren’t you concerned about her as well? I mean, we know nothing of
her
family.”

“Aiyah, she’s just a pretty girl that Nicky’s having fun with.” Su Yi laughed, as
if the idea of him marrying Rachel was too ridiculous to even consider.

“That’s not the way it looks to me,” Alexandra warned.

“Nonsense. Nicky has no intentions with this girl—he told me so himself. And besides,
he would never do anything without my permission. Alistair simply needs to obey your
wishes,” Su Yi said with finality.

“Mummy, I’m not sure it’s that simple. That boy can be so stubborn. I tried to get
him to stop dating her months ago, but—” Alexandra began.

“Alix, why don’t you just threaten to cut him off? Stop his allowance or something,”
Victoria suggested.

“
Allowance?
He doesn’t get an allowance. Alistair isn’t concerned about money—he supports himself
with those odd jobs on films, so he has always done exactly as he pleases.”

“You know, Alistair might not care about money, but I’ll bet you that trollop does,”
Victoria expostulated. “Alix, you need to give her a good talking-to. Make her understand
that it is impossible for her to marry Alistair, and that you will cut him off forever
if she does.”

“I don’t know how I would even begin,” Alexandra said. “Why don’t you talk to her,
Victoria? You’re so good at this sort of thing.”

“Me? Good grief, I don’t intend to exchange
a single word
with that girl!” Victoria declared.

“
Tien, ah
, you are all hopeless!” Su Yi groaned. Turning to one of her lady’s maids, she ordered,
“Call Oliver T’sien. Tell him to come over right away.”

On the way home from the wedding reception, Nick had assured Rachel that his relationship
with Mandy was ancient history. “We dated on and off till I was eighteen and went
off to Oxford. It was puppy love. Now we’re just old friends who meet up every once
in a while. You know, she lives in New York but we hardly ever meet—she’s way too
busy going to A-list parties with that Zvi fellow,” Nick said.

Still, Rachel had sensed a distinctly territorial vibe coming from Mandy back at the
fort, making her wonder if Mandy was truly over Nick. Now, as she was getting dressed
for the most formal event she had ever been invited to, she wondered how she would
compare to Mandy and all the other impossibly chic women in Nick’s orbit. She stood
in front of the mirror, assessing herself. Her hair had been swept up into a loose
French twist and pinned with three violet orchid blossoms, and she was wearing a midnight
blue off-the-shoulder gown that draped elegantly across her hips before flaring out
just above the knees into luxuriant folds of silk organza scattered with tiny freshwater
pearls. She scarcely recognized herself.

There was a jaunty rap on the door. “Are you decent?” Nick called out.

“Yes, come in!” Rachel replied.

Nick opened the bedroom door and stopped dead in his tracks. “Oh wow!” he said.

“You like it?” Rachel asked bashfully.

“You look stunning,” Nick said, almost in a whisper.

“Do these flowers in my hair look silly?”

“Not at all.” Nick circled around her, admiring how the thousands of pearls shimmered
like faraway stars. “It makes you look glamorous and exotic at the same time.”

“Thanks. You look pretty awesome yourself,” Rachel declared, admiring how utterly
debonair Nick looked in his dinner jacket, with its streamlined grosgrain lapels perfectly
accentuating his crisp white bow tie.