Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

everything to avoid being in any newspapers, but it seems like these days, the harder I try,
the more I end up becoming front-page news. My parents are apoplectic with rage. They
were angry enough when the pictures first leaked, but this just put them over the edge.
My mother has taken to her bed and is mainlining Xanax, and I’ve never heard my father
scream so loud as he did this morning when he came by with the newspaper. The blood
vessels were bulging out of his temples so hard, I thought he was going to have a stroke.”
“But can’t they see that none of this is your fault? I mean, surely they know that
Michael set this all up?”
“It seems pretty obvious to me, but of course, it doesn’t matter to them. I’m the
naughty girl who snuck off to India. I mean, I’m a thirty-seven-year-old mother, and I still
need to ask my parents’ permission to go away for the weekend. It’s all my fault. I’m the
one who’s ‘exposed’ the family, I’m the one who’s disgraced the family name for a
thousand generations.”
Nick shook his head in commiseration, cracking his knuckles as something else came
to his mind. “You gotta give Michael some credit…he knew that the Singapore papers
wouldn’t touch this story, so he purposely had it leaked to the South China Morning Post
in Hong Kong.”
“It was a well-played move. He’s trying to do maximum damage to Charlie and to our
future life there.”
“I’ll bet you anything he’s behind those paparazzi pictures too.”
“Charlie seems to think so. He’s got his whole security team trying to figure out how
Michael’s had me under surveillance.”
“I know this is going into Jason Bourne territory, but is there any way Michael could
have put some sort of tracking device on you before you went on your trip? I mean, he did
hack your cell phone once upon a time.”
Astrid shook her head. “I haven’t seen Michael in almost a year. We only communicate
through our lawyers now—and that’s his doing, not mine. Ever since he hired this
Jackson Lee fellow, who I’m told is a mad legal genius, things have gotten more and more
acrimonious.”
“How often does Michael see Cassian?”
“Technically, he gets him three days a week, but Michael rarely lives up to his end of
the deal. He takes Cassian for a meal once a week or so, but sometimes he goes two or
three weeks before he sees him. It’s like he’s forgotten he even has a son,” Astrid said
sadly.
A maid entered the courtyard and set a breakfast tray down on the coffee table.
“Kaya toast!” Nick exclaimed happily at the sight of the perfectly toasted triangles of
bread smeared with a thick layer of kaya coconut jam. “How did you know I was craving
that this morning?”
Astrid smiled. “Don’t you know I can read your mind? This is Ah Ching’s homemade
kaya from Tyersall Park, of course.”
“Brilliant!” Nick said.