Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

CHAPTER ELEVEN
HONG KONG
Chloe had finally fallen asleep after he had rubbed her back for half an hour, and Charlie
tiptoed quietly up to his bedroom. He sat leaning against the foot of the bed, facing the
floor-to-ceiling window with its panoramic view of Victoria Harbour and dialed Astrid’s
private line in Singapore. It rang a few times, and just as Charlie began to think he was
calling too late, a sleepy-sounding Astrid picked up.
“Sorry, did I wake you up?” Charlie half whispered.
“No, I was reading. Did you just get home?”
“I’ve been in all night, but I was putting out a few fires.”
“Isabel again?”
Charlie sighed. “No, nothing to do with her this time. Chloe had been bugging me for
weeks to let her watch this movie, and I stupidly allowed her and Delphine to see it
tonight…The Fault in Our Stars.”
“I don’t know it.”
“I thought it was for kids, but trust me, it’s not. It’s sort of like a modern-day retelling
of Love Story.”
“Oh no. Young love, tragic ending?”
“You have no idea. When I began to realize where it was headed, I tried turning the
movie off, but the girls screamed bloody murder, so I let them keep watching. Chloe’s
obsessed with the guy in the film, this goofy blond kid. But then in the end…oh God.”
“In the end you had two weeping girls?”
“Sobbing uncontrollably. I think Delphine’s traumatized for life.”
“Charlie Wu! She’s eight years old! What on earth were you thinking?” Astrid scolded.
“I know, I know. I was lazy, I saw the DVD cover and read the first two lines on the
back. It looked harmless.”
“You might as well have put on A Clockwork Orange for them.”
“I’m a bad father, Astrid. That’s why I need you in my life. The girls need you. They
need a good, sensible influence around.”