by Kevin Kwan
Just then, they heard someone call out behind them, “Hey, Eddie! Over here!” They turned to see Nick poke his head out from behind a pair of swinging double doors.
“Nick! How the hell did you get here before we did?” Peik Lin said in shock as she rushed to him.
“I called in a favor,” Nick said as he hugged her tightly.
“You know Captain Kirk or something? Beijing’s an hour farther from Hong Kong!”
“I managed to catch a military transport jet. We didn’t have to deal with any airspace delays, and I swear we were flying at Mach 3.”
“Let me guess…Uncle Alfred made a call?” Eddie asked.
Nick nodded. He ushered the two of them into the waiting room of the adult intensive care unit, which was lined with comfortable leather chairs. “I was able to see Rachel for a few minutes, and then they made me leave. They’re trying to restore her renal function right now. The doctor needs to ask you some questions, Peik Lin.”
Several minutes later, the doctor entered the waiting room.
“Everyone, this is Dr. Jacobson,” Nick said.
Eddie got up from his chair and extended his hand with a flourish. “Edison Cheng—I’m Malcolm Cheng’s son.”
“I’m sorry, am I supposed to know that name?” the raven-haired doctor asked.
Eddie looked at her in astonishment. The doctor grinned, “Just kidding. Of course I know your father.”
Eddie was never more relieved in his life.
“How is she?” Nick asked, trying to remain calm.
“Her vitals have been stabilized for the time being, and we’re running a range of tests. This is a very perplexing case. We’re still not able to pinpoint what led to such rapid multi-organ failure, but obviously there is something extremely toxic in her system.” Looking at Peik Lin, she asked, “Can you tell me everything your friend ate or drank in the last twenty-four hours?”
“I can try. Let’s see, when we first arrived last night at the Four Seasons, Rachel had a Cobb salad, and then a strawberry and lychee mousse dessert. This morning we skipped breakfast, but we had a very simple lunch of Hangzhou river shrimp, sautéed young bamboo shoots, and roast duck noodle soup. There was also some chocolate-dipped ginger in our rooms that Rachel might have eaten. I didn’t eat those. Oh wait a minute—she had a massage this morning that supposedly used pieces of crushed jade and lotus seeds.”
“Hmm…let me look into that. We’ll put in a call to the resort and get a full list of anything she might have possibly ingested or been exposed to.”
“What do you think it could have been, doctor? We’ve basically eaten the same foods, and as you can see I’m totally fine,” Peik Lin said.
“Everyone’s body reacts differently. But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions until we finish running all the toxicology tests,” the doctor explained.
“What’s your prognosis?” Nick asked worriedly.
The doctor paused, hunching her shoulders. “I’m not going to kid you—things are quite critical at the moment. We may have to put in a TIPS*1 to staunch the worsening liver failure. And if she develops encephalopathy, we will have to put her in a medically induced coma in order to give her body more of a fighting chance.”
“Medically induced coma?” Peik Lin said in a hushed tone, promptly bursting into tears. Nick held her in his arms, desperately trying not to lose it himself.
Eddie went up to the doctor. “You do everything you possibly can. Remember, Dr. Malcolm Cheng and Ming Kah-Ching will hold you personally responsible if anything happens to her.”
Dr. Jacobson gave Eddie a slightly annoyed look. “We do the best we can for all our patients, Mr. Cheng, regardless of who they are.”
“Can we please see her?” Peik Lin asked.
“I can only let you in one at a time,” the doctor replied.
“You go, Nick,” Peik Lin said, sinking back down onto the couch.
8:40 p.m.
Nick stood at the foot of Rachel’s bed, watching helplessly as a team of doctors and nurses hovered over her. Two days ago they had been in their suite at the Peninsula, where she had been excitedly packing for her spa weekend with one of her best friends. Don’t you have too much fun in Beijing now! No flirting with any sexy librarians, unless it’s Parker Posey, Rachel had teased, before giving him the sweetest goodbye kiss. Now her complexion had turned yellow and there were cables, cords, and tubes in her neck and abdomen. It was just so unreal. What happened to his beautiful wife? Why wasn’t she getting any better? He couldn’t even begin to imagine losing her. No, no, no, he had to wipe that thought out of his mind. She was so strong, so healthy. She was going to be okay. She had her whole life ahead of her. Their whole life together. Nick left the room and walked toward the waiting room. Passing a handicapped toilet, he let himself in and locked the door. He took a few deep breaths, splashed some water on his face, and looked at himself in the mirror. Then he noticed the mirror itself—a round, backlit mirror that looked like it came from some pricey design showroom. He glanced around and saw that the whole space had recently been redecorated. Tears started streaming down his face uncontrollably. If Rachel pulled through—no—when Rachel pulled through this, he was going to build her the most insanely beautiful bathroom the world had ever seen.
9:22 p.m.
Nick reentered the waiting room and found Peik Lin and Eddie huddled over Styrofoam bowls of wonton noodles. His aunt Alix and cousin Alistair were sitting in the chairs across from them. Alistair got up and gave his cousin a warm hug.
“Oh Nicky! This is so vexing! How is Rachel?” Alix asked anxiously.
“There’s not been much change,” Nick said wearily.
“Well, I know Dr. Jacobson very well. She’s the best, really, so Rachel is in very capable hands.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”
“And your uncle Malcolm called—the hospital has been updating him, and he’s asked his colleague who is Hong Kong’s top hepatobiliary specialist to come in and give a second opinion.”
“I can’t thank him enough.”
“He only wishes he could be here. Gum ngaam,*2 ah, the one time you have a medical emergency in Hong Kong and Malcolm is away! We brought some siew yook and wonton meen.*3 Are you hungry?”
“Sure. I think I should eat something.” Nick sat in a daze while his aunt proceeded to arrange assorted takeout containers of food and plastic utensils around him.
“Now, we haven’t called anyone yet, Nicky. I wasn’t sure what you wanted people to know, so I held off on calling your mother. Once she knows, the whole world will know.”
“Thanks, Auntie Alix. I can’t deal with my mum at the moment.”
“Have you spoken to Rachel’s mom?” Peik Lin asked.
Nick sighed. “I’ll call her in a little while. I just don’t see the need to alarm her until we know what’s going on.”
The door opened and in walked Eddie and Alistair’s sister, Cecilia, carrying an elaborate arrangement of white lilies.
“Looks like the gang’s all here,” Nick said, trying to force a smile.
“You know me—I couldn’t miss out on a party,” Cecilia said, giving Nick a peck on the cheek as she set the floral arrangement on the seat next to him.
“My God, look at that! Thanks so much, but you really didn’t need to bring anything.”
“Oh, I didn’t bring this. The receptionist outside told me to bring it in for you.”
“That’s strange. Who could it be from? No one knows we’re here aside from you all,” Nick wondered aloud as he slurped down some noodles.
Peik Lin started undoing the ribbons around the vase, and as the plastic wrappings came undone, a note card fell out. She opened the card and started reading it. “HOLY SHIT!” Peik Lin gasped, shoving the vase away from her reflexively. The vase of flowers landed on the floor with a crash, as water spilled everywhere.
Nick leaped out of his chair. “What happened?”
Peik Lin handed him the card, w
hich read:
Rachel,
You have been poisoned with a potentially lethal dose of Tarquinomid. Your doctors will be able to reverse the side effects once they know this.
If you value your life, you will not mention this incident to anyone.
Never set foot in China again.
This is your last warning.
* * *
*1 TIPS is an acronym for transhepatic intrahepatic portosystemic shunt. Try saying that five times fast.
*2 Cantonese for “too fitting.”
*3 Barbecued roast pork and wonton noodles.
9
RIDOUT ROAD
SINGAPORE
Astrid turned on her laptop and composed an e-mail:
Dear Charlie,
Sorry to keep bothering you like this, but I need to ask another favor. Wondering if you can help me get to the bottom of something…
What do you know about Promenade Technologies? Based in Mountain View, CA? Have you ever worked with them before? They acquired Michael’s first company—Cloud Nine Solutions. I need to find out more about this company; specifically, who the people are that own it.
Thanks!
xo, Astrid
She sent the e-mail, and one minute later, Charlie popped up on Google Chat.
CW: Hey! Happy to look into this for you.
ALT: Really appreciate your help.
CW: Any special reason why?
ALT: Trying to get some answers for myself. Have you heard of them?
CW: Yes. But doesn’t Michael know everything you’d need to know?
ALT: Apparently not. Do you know if they are fully owned or partially owned by some Asian conglomerate?
CW: What’s going on, Astrid?
Astrid paused for a few minutes, not sure whether she was prepared to get into it with Charlie about everything that had happened with Michael.
ALT: I’m trying to help Michael get to the truth. It’s a bit complicated…don’t want to drag you into it.
CW: I’m already in it. But okay, I won’t press further. But if you really want my help, it would be better if I had the big picture.
She sat on the edge of her bed, thinking, What do I have to hide from Charlie? He’s the only person who will understand.
ALT: Okay, here goes. Michael’s gotten it into his head that my father—or someone at one of the companies controlled by my family—actually bought Cloud Nine Solutions, using Promenade as a cover.
CW: Why would he suddenly think that?
ALT: Long story, but basically he came across some old papers listing the buyer as Pebble Beach Holding Company, and knowing how much my dad loves golfing there, he’s made this huge assumption.
CW: Sorry to state the obvious, but did you ask your dad if he bought the company?
ALT: I did. And of course he denied it. “Why the bloody hell would I want Michael’s company? I thought it was absurdly overvalued to begin with.”
CW: Classic Harry Leong!
ALT: Indeed.
CW: I don’t think your father has anything to do with this, but would it really matter if he does?
ALT: Are you kidding? Michael’s story has always been that he made it on his own. This suspicion that my family had something to do with his success is driving him up the wall. He thinks my father is trying yet again to control him, control us, etc. We had the biggest fight ever last night.
CW: Sorry to hear that.
ALT: I ended up leaving the house. It was either that or call the police. I’m now at the Marina Bay Sands hotel.
Fifteen seconds later, Astrid’s cell phone rang. It was Charlie calling, so she picked it up and mischievously answered, “Housekeeping?”
“Er, yes, I need someone to come deal with a big problem in my room right now,” Charlie responded, not missing a beat.
“What kind of problem?”
“These cake fetishists had a party in my room, and there are about thirty crushed cakes from Lana Cake Shop all over the carpet, smeared on the walls, on the bed. It looks like people have been rolling around in the cake and frosting, trying out different Kama Sutra positions.”
Astrid giggled. “Sicko! Where do you come up with this kind of stuff?”
“I was surfing the web last night and came across this article on people who get turned on by sitting on cakes.”
“I’m not going to ask what sort of websites you’ve been surfing in Hong Kong—no doubt ones that would be blocked in Singapore.”
“And I’m not going to ask why you’re sitting in a room at Marina Bay Sands, of all places!”
Astrid sighed. “There are very few hotels where I can be sure no one will recognize me. MBS is one of those—it’s mainly tourists.”
“No locals? Really?”
“No one I would know, anyway. When they first opened, my mother tried to go up to the SkyPark with Mrs. Lee Yong Chien and the Queen Mother of Borneo to see the view, but when they found out there was a twenty-dollar entry fee for seniors, Mrs. LYC said, ‘Ah nee kwee! Wah mai chut!’*1 So they ended up going to Toast Box in the mall instead.”
Charlie laughed. “You can’t change those women! It’s funny—my mother used to be so extravagant, but the older she gets, the more she seems to be turning into an obsessive tightwad. You know she won’t let her cooks turn on the lights in the kitchen until seven thirty now? I go over there and they are bumbling around in complete darkness, trying to make dinner for her.”
“That’s crazy! When we go to restaurants nowadays, my mum gets them to tah pow*2 leftover gravy from the dishes. I kid you not. I tell her she’s insane and she says, ‘We paid for it! Why waste all this great gravy? Rosie can put it into tomorrow’s lunch and it will taste so much better!’ ”
Charlie chuckled. “So really, how long are you planning to hide out at the hotel?”
“I’m not hiding. I’m just taking a little break. Cassian and his nanny are with me, and he’s loving the SkyPark pool.”
“You know, the husband is the one that’s supposed to leave. Whenever I got into really bad fights with Isabel, I would either go over to my brother’s or get a hotel room. I couldn’t ever imagine making my wife and children leave the house.”
“Well, you’re a different species than Michael. Besides, he didn’t make me leave. I chose to leave. He got so angry that he began getting physical.”
“What? With you?” Charlie said in shock. I’m going to fucking kill him if he touched her.
“No, come on, Michael would never hurt me, but he completely trashed one of his Porsches. Took a samurai sword and began bashing the hood. I couldn’t bear to stick around and watch.”
“Damn! All because of his issue over who bought the company?” Charlie asked, getting more alarmed by the minute.
“It’s not just that. Things have been bad for him lately. He blew that deal with IBM, he lost the house he really wanted, there was this whole magazine article thing that I won’t even get into, and it seems like all we ever do these days is…” Astrid’s voice trailed off for a minute. I’ve said too much. It’s not fair of me to keep burdening Charlie like this.
Charlie could hear Astrid’s discreet sniffling away from her phone’s mouthpiece. She’s crying. She’s sitting in a hotel room crying.
“I’m sorry, it’s so inappropriate of me to be bothering you with all this when you’re at work.” Astrid sniffled again.
“I’m not really doing much today, but don’t worry, no one can fire me. You know you can call me anytime at all, don’t you?”
“I know. You are the one person who truly understands me. You know what I have to go through with my family. They don’t get what it’s like to have marriage problems.”
“Do you honestly think your brothers are perfectly content in their marriages?”
“Are you kidding me? I think they are all miserable in one way or another, but none of them would ever admit it. No one is allowed to be unhappy in my family. I think only Alex in LA is truly happy—he got away and go
t to be with the love of his life. It’s just pathetic that Salimah’s not accepted. So ironic, isn’t it, when you think that all the family money originally comes from Malaysia.”
“At least they make each other happy. That’s the only thing that matters,” Charlie said.
“You know, when I visited them a few months ago, I thought to myself, ‘I wish I could do this too.’ Sometimes I wish I could just pack a bag and move to California, where no one knows me and no one cares. Cassian can grow up far away from all the pressures he’s going to have to start facing very soon. And I would be perfectly happy, I swear to God, living in a beach shack.”
I could be too, Charlie thought to himself.
They were both silent for a moment, and then Charlie spoke up. “So what are you going to do?”
“There’s nothing to do, really. Michael will calm down in a couple of days and we’ll go home. If you can help me prove that my father had nothing to do with the acquisition of his company, I’m sure that will go a long way toward making him happier.”
Charlie was silent for a moment. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“You’re the best, Charlie, you really are.”
The minute he was off the phone with Astrid, Charlie placed a call to his chief financial officer: “Hey, Aaron. Remember the Michael Teo Cloud Nine acquisition back in 2010?”
“How could I ever forget? We’re still writing down the losses on that one,” Aaron replied.
“Why in God’s name did you name the holding company Pebble Beach LTD?”
“Dude, I was standing on the eighteenth hole when you called to tell me to buy the company. It’s the greatest finishing hole in the world. Why are you asking?”
“Never mind.”
* * *
*1 In Hokkien: “So expensive! I’m not coming out with the money!”
*2 Hokkien for “put in a doggie bag.”