Rich People Problems-Kwan 2017 (WWT)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN
TYERSALL PARK, SINGAPORE
TWENTY-FOUR HOURS EARLIER…
“Three, four, five,” Eddie counted as he stood by the window in the upstairs foyer, looking
down the driveway. There were five cars in the motorcade—four, really, if you didn’t count
the minivan transporting all the maids bringing up the rear. Auntie Catherine and her
family had just flown in from Bangkok, and Eddie was surprised there were so few cars in
their convoy. In the lead was a white Mercedes S-Class with diplomatic license plates,
obviously provided by the Thai embassy, but the other cars were a random assortment: a
BMW X5 SUV behind the Benz, an Audi that looked at least five years old, and that last car,
he didn’t even have a clue what it was—it was some non-European four-door sedan,
something that didn’t register on his list of acceptable vehicles to be seen in.
Yesterday, when he had arrived with his family from Hong Kong, his executive
assistant, Stella, had arranged a fleet of six matching Carpathian Grey Range Rovers,
making for an impressive entrance as the Cheng famille pulled up to the front door of
Tyersall Park. Today he felt almost embarrassed for Auntie Catherine and her clan. Her
husband, M.C. Taksin Aakara, *1 was one of the descendants of King Mongkut, and Eddie
remembered every detail of his last visit to Thailand when he was nineteen as if it was
yesterday: The sprawling compound of historic villas set in a garden paradise on the
banks of the Chao Phraya River; the way his cousins James, Matt, and Adam had three
servants each that would prostrate at their feet as if they were little gods, ready to attend
to their every whim; the fleet of forest green BMWs idling in the front courtyard ready to
take them to the polo club, the tennis club, or any of Sukhumvit’s hottest dance clubs;
and Jessieanne, that sexy cousin of theirs who went down on him in the upstairs toilet of
a pizza parlor in Hua Hin one night.
So why were the Aakaras pulling up in such a ragtag bunch of cars? And wait a minute
—what the hell was happening outside? Sanjit the butler and the entire household staff—
including the Gurkha guards—were all dressed in their crisp uniforms and assembling
along the front driveway! And Ah Ling and Auntie Victoria were also part of the greeting
party! Fucky fuck, why hadn’t they done this for his family when they arrived yesterday?