Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

India together.”
“That’s not too surprising. I mean, she did entrust him with her most private journals,”
Rachel commented.
“Yes, but here’s a surprise: At the height of the Japanese occupation of Singapore, my
grandmother actually managed to sneak back onto the island with Jirasit’s help. It was
pure madness, because the Japanese were on a torturous rampage, but she did it anyway.
And when she was reunited with her father, she found out he had arranged for her to be
married to a man she had never even met.”
Rachel nodded, recalling a story Su Yi had told her. “When we had tea five years ago,
your Ah Ma told me that her father had specially chosen James for her, and that she was
grateful for his actions.”
“Well, she was actually dragged kicking and screaming to the altar by her father, and for
the first few years, she resented my grandfather and treated him abominably. After the
war, she reunited with Jirasit in Bangkok and although both of them were married to
other people by this point, they couldn’t resist resuming their relationship.”
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Really?”
“Yes, but that’s not even the real shocker. She found that she was pregnant in the midst
of her affair.”
“Noooo!” Rachel gasped, almost spilling her coffee. “Who’s the baby?”
“My aunt Catherine.”
“Oh my God, it all makes sense now. That’s how Auntie Cat knows Prince Jirasit, and
that’s why she was left the estate in Chiang Mai! Are you the only one besides her who
knows?”
Nick nodded. “I actually flew back to Bangkok last night and had a very interesting
conversation with her. We sat in her garden overlooking the Chao Phraya River and she
told me the whole story. My grandmother was in a terrible bind, of course, when she
found out she was pregnant. Jirasit couldn’t leave his wife—he was a prince and too
bound to all the family politics, and they also had two young children—so my
grandmother was faced with a choice: She could either divorce my grandfather and live as
a single woman alone with an illegitimate child, cast out by society, or she could tell him
the truth and beg him to take her back.”
“I can’t even imagine how hard it must have been for her in those days, especially for a
woman of her background,” Rachel mused, suddenly feeling sorry for Su Yi.
“Well, I always knew my grandfather was a saint, but I didn’t realize quite how much.
Not only did he take Ah Ma back, he apparently never once gave her any grief over the
affair. He knew going in to this marriage that she wasn’t in love with him, but he was
determined to win her over. And that he did. Being the good Christian man that he was,
he forgave her completely and he treated Auntie Cat exactly as he did his other children.
In fact, I always thought she was his favorite.”
“So you think your grandmother grew to love him then?” Rachel asked.
“According to Auntie Cat, my grandmother fell in love with him—truly, deeply—when