“Did you just return from India?”
“Yes, Ah Ma,” Astrid fibbed, not wanting to cause her grandmother any undue concern.
“Let me see your ring,” Su Yi said.
Astrid held her hand up to show her grandmother her engagement ring.
Su Yi studied it carefully. “I knew it would look perfect on you.”
“I don’t know how to thank you for this, Ah Ma.”
“Did everything go according to plan? Did Charlie manage to surprise you?”
“Yes, I was so stunned!”
“Were there elephants? I told Charlie he needed to arrive on an elephant. That’s how my friend the Maharaja of Bikaner proposed to his queen.”
“Yes, there was an elephant.” Astrid laughed, realizing just how involved her grandmother had been in helping to plan the whole affair.
“Are there any pictures?”
“No, we didn’t take any…oh, wait a minute.” Astrid took out her phone and did a quick google search for the paparazzi photos that had been leaked of her private moment. She never imagined how useful they would be until this moment. As she showed a few of the snapshots to her eager grandmother, she thought how ironic it was that the rest of her family was so upset by what was one of the happiest moments in her life.
Su Yi sighed. “It looks beautiful, I wish I could have been there. Charlie looks so handsome in his outfit. Tell me, is he in Singapore now?”
“Actually, he’ll be coming to town tomorrow. He comes to visit his mother every month.”
“He’s a good boy, that one. I knew from the moment I met him that he will always take good care of you.” Su Yi stared at the grainy shot of Charlie putting the ring on Astrid’s finger. “You know, of all the jewelry I own, this ring is the most special to me.”
“I know, Ah Ma.”
“I never got the chance to ask your grandfather if he bought it.”
“What do you mean? Who would have bought this engagement ring, if not him?”
“Your grandfather did not have that much money when I first met him. He was just a recent medical graduate. How on earth would he have been able to afford this canary diamond?”
“You’re right. It would have cost a fortune at the time,” Astrid said.
“I always suspected that Uncle T’sien Tsai Tay was the one who bought it, since he helped to broker the marriage. The quality of the stone isn’t perfect, but when I wore it, it always reminded me of how life can surprise you. Sometimes, the thing that at first appears flawed can end up being the most perfect thing in the world for you.”
Su Yi was silent for a few moments, and then she looked at her granddaughter with a sudden intensity. “Astrid, I want you to promise me something.”
“Yes, Ah Ma?”
“If I die before your wedding day, please don’t go into all that mourning nonsense for me. I want you to have your wedding just as you planned in March. Will you promise me you’ll do that?”
“Oh Ah Ma, nothing’s going to happen. You’re go…going to be sitting in the front row of my wedding,” Astrid stammered.
“I’m planning on it, but I wanted to say this just in case.”
Astrid looked away, trying to hold back her tears. She sat there holding her grandmother’s hand for a few quiet moments, before she said, “Ah Ma, you know who’s back in Singapore to see you? Nicky.”
“Nicky’s home?”
“Yes, he’s here. In fact he’s right outside. Do you want to see him now?”
“Send him in. I thought he was going to be here last week.”
Astrid got up from her chair and was about to head for the dressing room when her grandmother said, “Wait a minute.”
Astrid stopped in her tracks and turned around. “Yes?”
“Is his wife here as well?” Su Yi asked.
“No, it’s just him.” Astrid paused for a second, anticipating another question from her grandmother. But Su Yi was now fidgeting with the bed controls, raising the incline of her bed to the exact angle she wanted. Astrid proceeded to the balcony, where she found Nick sitting pensively at the wrought-iron table.
“Is she awake?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“How is she?”
“She’s okay. A lot better than I was expecting, actually. Come on, your turn.”
“Um…she really wants to see me?” Nick asked trepidatiously.
Astrid smiled at her cousin. For a moment he looked like he was six years old again. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course. She’s ready for you now.”
* * *
*1 Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015, the Singapore Botanic Gardens is cherished by locals in the same way Central Park is by New Yorkers or Hyde Park is by Londoners. A verdant oasis in the middle of the island filled with amazing botanical specimens, colonial-era pavilions, and one of the most amazing orchid collections on the planet, it’s no wonder that so many Singaporeans want to have a tiny bit of their ashes scattered here. In secret, of course, since it’s highly illegal. (No one escapes the law in Singapore, not even the dead.)
*2 If you read China Rich Girlfriend, you’d already know what a pontianak is. But just in case you haven’t (and why the hell haven’t you?), allow Dr. Sandi Tan, the world’s foremost pontianakologist, to elucidate you: “A tropical female vampire-slash-dryad combo, often assuming the form of a comely, sarong-draped maiden, who inhabits the darker corners of the Southeast Asian jungle. Her metamorphosis into her true form will reveal: putrefying gray flesh, mucho teeth, many claws, accompanying unpleasant odors. Her traditional prey is the unborn fetus of a pregnant woman, consumed in situ, though during severe hunger pangs, any living person—even flatulent, stringy grandpas—would suffice. She can be summoned by tying a white string between two adjacent banana trees and intoning a chant of your own choosing, but she is more than capable of being an independent operator. Must not be confused with her inelegant country cousins, also female bloodsuckers, the penanggalan (bodiless flying she-demon with long, unwashed hair and a meaty chandelier of entrails) and the pelesit (an all-purpose slave, horrendously and pathetically devoted to her conjuror, with no agency of her own).”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHANGI AIRPORT, SINGAPORE
Oliver had just boarded his flight to London and was in the process of stealing an extra pillow from the seat behind him when Kitty called.
“Morning, Kitty,” he said cheerily, steeling himself for the barrage he knew was about to come. “Did you sleep well?”
“Are you fucking kidding me? That was the worst night of my entire life!”
“I know several billion people who would have happily traded places with you, Kitty. You got to attend one of Yolanda Amanjiwo’s legendary dinners. The world’s most acclaimed chef prepared a twelve-course tasting menu for you. Did you not enjoy that? I thought the langoustines were superb—”