Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

parents had been so tense for days now.
Someone came speeding up the driveway, too fast, and instead of parking by the front
porch like all the guests would, the car kept going until it reached the back of the house,
stopping just behind the garage. Nick looked out the window and saw Auntie Audrey, his
parents’ good friend, emerging from her Honda Prelude. He liked Auntie Audrey, she
always made the most delicious nyonya kuey. Was she bringing something yummy for
dessert tonight? She came bursting through the back door, and Nick saw immediately
that Auntie Audrey’s face was puffy and bruised, her lip bleeding. The sleeve from her
blouse was torn, and she looked totally dazed.
“Alamak, Audrey! What happened?” His mother gasped, as several maids came
rushing into the room.
Audrey ignored her, staring instead at his father, Philip. “Look what my husband did
to me! I wanted you to see what the monster did to me!”
His mother rushed to Auntie Audrey’s side. “Desmond did this? Oh my dear!”
“Don’t touch me!” Audrey cried out as she crumpled to the floor.
His father stood up from the table. “Nicky, upstairs now!”
“But Dad—”
“NOW!” his father shouted.
Ling Jeh rushed to Nick’s side and steered him out of the dining room.
“What is happening? Is Auntie Audrey okay?” Nick asked worriedly.
“Don’t worry about her, let’s go to your room. I’ll play dominoes with you,” his nanny
replied in her soothing Cantonese as she rushed him up the stairs.
They sat there in his bedroom for about fifteen minutes. Ling Jeh had laid out the
dominoes, but he was too distracted by the sounds coming from downstairs. He could
hear muffled shouts and a woman weeping. Was it his mum or Auntie Audrey? He ran
out to the landing and overheard Auntie Audrey shouting, “Just because you are Youngs,
you think you can go around fucking anyone you want?”
He couldn’t believe his ears. He had never heard an adult use the f word like that.
What did this mean?
“Nicky, come back into the room at once!” Ling Jeh yelled, pulling him back into his
bedroom. She shut the door tightly and began rushing around, hurriedly shutting the
jalousie windows and turning on the air conditioner. Suddenly the familiar tock, tock
sound of an old taxi could be heard laboring up the steep driveway. Nick rushed to the
veranda and leaning out he could see that it was Uncle Desmond—Auntie Audrey’s
husband—stumbling out of the taxi. His father came outside, and he could hear the both
of them arguing in the dark, Uncle Desmond pleading, “She’s lying! It’s all lies, I’m
telling you!” while his father murmured something and then suddenly, forcefully, raised
his voice. “Not in my house. NOT IN MY HOUSE!”
At some point he must have fallen asleep. He woke up, not knowing what time it was.
Ling Jeh had left the room, and the air conditioner had been turned off but the jalousie
windows were still closed. It felt stiflingly hot. He cracked open the door carefully and