Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

to the library to talk things over, but things became heated when Diego had refused to
reveal Astrid’s whereabouts.
“I can assure you, Mr. Wu, that you can search every corner of Manila and all seven
thousand islands of the Philippines, but you’ll never find her. If she wanted you to know
where she was, she would have told you,” Diego had said rather nonchalantly.
“You don’t understand! If she knew what was really happening, she’d come out of
hiding. The situation has changed, and there’s some vitally important information she
needs to know!” he had pleaded.
“Well, who put her in this situation in the first place? As far as I’m concerned,
everything bad that’s happened to Astrid in the past few months has had something to do
with your involvement in her life. The leaked paparazzi photos. The leaked video. Your exwife.
I’m sorry, but my only duty here is to protect Astrid from you.”
And that’s when things got out of control. He knew he shouldn’t have lunged at Diego,
but some visceral force just overtook his body. And now he had caused yet another
scandal, this time among the most elite circles of Manila high society. And these people
were sure to talk. The news would be all over town, all over Asia, and into Astrid’s ears in
no time. And this might make her go even deeper into hiding. Goddamnit, he had really
screwed things up again.
Charlie dumped the ice from his towel into the sink and splashed some cold water on
his face. Turning off the running faucet, he suddenly heard a soft knock on the door. He
walked out of the bathroom and peered through the peephole. He saw a petite Filipino
girl in a gold lamé cocktail dress standing in the hallway.
“Who is it?”
“My name is Angel. I have a message for you.”
Charlie opened the door and stared at the girl. She looked to be in her early twenties,
with shoulder-length hair and a friendly, open face. “Sir Charlie, I have some instructions
for you from my boss. Go to the ITI Private Terminal on Andrews Avenue in Pasay City
tomorrow morning and take the seven-thirty flight. Your name will be on the list.”
“Wait a minute, how do you know me?”
“I was at China’s party tonight. I recognized you immediately.”
“Who’s your boss? How does he know I was staying here?”
“My boss knows everything,” Angel said with an enigmatic smile, before turning to
leave.
—
The next morning, Charlie followed the instructions that had been provided by the
mysterious girl and went to the private terminal in Pasay City, where he discovered in the
hospitality lounge that this was a charter plane bound for different resorts on the
Philippines’ southwest coast. He boarded the twin-propeller plane, which was filled with
tourists eager to get their beach vacations started. The plane took off and flew low over