Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

They crossed the street and came to a small sign that was glued to the metal sheeting. It
read:
TORY BURCH
Opening Summer 2015
Nick ran in to the shop next door, and Rachel could see him gesturing frantically to the
baffled salesman inside. A few moments later, he came outside, his face registering
nothing but shock.
“It’s gone, Rachel. No more Sun Yik. This area has become so trendy, the original
owner’s son apparently sold the building for an insane amount of money and decided to
retire. And now it’s going to be a friggin’ Tory Burch boutique.”
“I’m so sorry, Nick.”
“What the fuck!” Nick yelled, kicking the metal sheeting angrily. He sank down onto
the pavement and covered his face with his hands despondently. Rachel had never seen
him look quite so upset before. She sat down next to him on the pavement and put her
arm around his shoulder. Nick sat there for a few minutes, staring off into space. After a
while, he finally spoke.
“Everything I love about Singapore is gone. Or it’s disappearing fast. Every time I’m
back, more and more of my favorite haunts have closed or been torn down. Restaurants,
shops, buildings, cemeteries, nothing is sacred anymore. The whole character of the
island I knew growing up is almost completely obliterated.”
Rachel simply nodded.
“Sun Yik was such an institution, I thought it would always be safe. I mean, I swear to
God, they had the best noodles in the whole world. Everyone loved it. But now it’s gone
forever, and we can never ever get that back.”
“I don’t think people ever realize what they’ve lost until it’s too late,” Rachel said.
Nick looked into her eyes with a sudden intensity. “Rachel, I have to save Tyersall Park.
I can’t let it be torn down and turned into some grotesque gated community that only
allows in millionaire Christians.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“I thought for a while that I would be okay with everything. I thought I wouldn’t care if
I didn’t inherit the estate as long as someone in the family got it and maintained it
properly. But now I know I’m not.”
“You know, I’ve been wondering all along if you were really okay with losing the
house,” Rachel observed.
Nick considered what she’d said for a moment. “I think part of me always resented
Tyersall Park in a subconscious way, because everyone always associated me with the
house, and I could never detach from it when I was younger. I think that’s why Colin and
I became such good friends…I was always ‘the Tyersall Park Boy’ and he was always ‘that
Khoo Enterprises Boy.’ But we were just boys.”
“It was like a curse in a way, wasn’t it? It’s amazing how you both managed not to let it