Кевин Кван - China Rich Girlfriend

“I’m glad you like it. It has a very different feel from my father’s place,” Astrid said measuredly.

It’s also bigger than your father’s house , Michael thought. He could already imagine what his brothers would say when they drove up: Wah lan eh, ji keng choo seeee baaay tua! *5He turned to Carmen and asked, “So, what will it take to get the keys to the front door?”

Carmen considered his question for a moment. “On the open market, this house would go for sixty-five, seventy million, easily. You’d have to make a compelling enough offer for the family to stop the listing tomorrow morning.”

Michael stood at the top of the staircase and fingered the carved woodwork on the banister. Its art deco sunrays reminded him of the Chrysler building. “C. K. Wong had four children, right? I’ll offer seventy-four. This way every sibling gets an extra million for their trouble.”

“Let me just call my cousin Geik Choo,” Carmen said, reaching into her Saint Laurent handbag for her phone and walking discreetly out of the living room.

A few minutes later, she returned. “My cousin thanks you for the offer. But factoring in stamp duties and my commission, the family is going to need more. At eighty million, you have a deal.”

“I knew you were going to say that,” Michael said with a laugh. He looked over at Astrid and said, “Honey, how badly do you want this?”

Wait a minute — it’s you who wants to move , Astrid thought. Instead, she said, “I will be very happy in this house if you are.”

“Okay then, eighty it is.”

Carmen smiled. This was so much easier than she had imagined. She disappeared into a bedroom down the hallway again to call her cousin back.

“How much do you think it’s going to take to decorate this place?” Michael asked Astrid.

“Really depends on what we want to do. It reminds me of the sort of country houses you see in the Cotswolds, so I could picture some simple English pieces mixed with Geoffrey Bennison fabrics perhaps. I think it would go well with your historic artifacts and some of my Chinese antiques. And downstairs, maybe we can—”

“The entire downstairs is going to be converted into a state-of-the-art car museum for my collection,” Michael interrupted.

“All of it?”

“Of course. That’s the first thing I pictured when I walked in the front door. I was like, let’s tear all these reception rooms down and make it one vast hall. Then I could put car turntables into the floor. It will be so cool to see my cars revolving around between all those columns.”

Astrid looked at him, waiting for him to say, Just kidding , but then she realized he was dead serious. “If that’s what you want,” she finally managed to squeak out.

“Now, what is taking that friend of yours so long? Don’t tell me those Wongs are getting greedy and want to take me for another ride.”

Just then, Carmen reentered the room, looking rather flushed in the face. “I’m sorry — I hope I wasn’t shouting too loudly?”

“No. What happened?” Astrid asked.

“Er, I don’t quite know how to say this, but I’m afraid the house has been sold to someone else.”

“WHAAAT? I thought we had an exclusive first bid,” Michael said.

“I’m very sorry. I thought you did too. But my asshole cousin Quentin played me out. He used your offer to bid up another one that was already in the works.”

“I’ll top whatever offer your cousin got,” Michael said defiantly.

“I already suggested that, but it’s apparently a done deal. The buyer doubled your price to take the house off the market completely. It sold for $160 million.”

“$160 million? That’s ridiculous! Who the hell bought it?”

“I don’t know. My cousin doesn’t even know. Some limited liability company in China, obviously as a cover.”

“Mainlanders. Of course,” Astrid said softly.

“ Kan ni na bu chao chee bye! ” *6Michael shouted, kicking the wooden banister in frustration.

“Michael!” Astrid exclaimed in shock.

“What?” Michael looked at her defiantly. “This is all your damn fault! I can’t believe you would waste my time like this!”

Carmen huffed. “Why are you blaming your wife? If there’s anyone you should be blaming, it’s me.”

“You’re both to blame. Astrid, do you have any idea how busy I was today? You shouldn’t have demanded I drop everything to come see this godforsaken house if it wasn’t really available. Carmen, how the hell did you ever get your real estate license when you can’t even do a simple deal like this? Fucking unbelievable!” Michael swore, before storming out of the house.

Astrid sank down onto the top step of the staircase and buried her head in her hands for a moment. “I am so, so sorry.”

“Astrid, please, you have nothing to apologize for. I’m sorry.”

“Is the banister okay?” Astrid asked, gently patting the scuff mark that Michael’s foot had left.

“The banister will be fine. I’m a little more worried about you, to tell the truth.”

“I’m perfectly fine. I think this is a beautiful house, but to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less if we lived here or not.”

“I’m not talking about that. I’m just…” Carmen paused for a moment, pondering whether to open a Pandora’s box. “I’m just wondering what happened to you ?”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay, I’m going to be very frank with you because we’re such old friends: I can’t believe the way Michael talks to you, and how you let him get away with it.”

“Tsk, that was nothing. Michael just got angry for a moment because he got outbid. He’s used to getting what he wants.”

“You don’t say. But I’m not referring to the fit he threw before he stormed out. I didn’t like the way he was talking to you from the moment he arrived.”

“How do you mean?”

“You really don’t see it, do you? You don’t see how much he’s changed?” Carmen sighed in frustration. “When I first met Michael six years ago, he seemed like such a gentle soul. Okay, he didn’t say very much, but I saw the way he looked at you, and I thought, ‘Wow, this guy truly worships her. This is the kind of guy I want.’ I was so used to all these spoiled mama’s boys who expected to be waited on hand and foot, like my ex, but here was this man . This strong, reserved man who was always doing thoughtful little things for you. Do you remember the day we were shopping at Patric’s atelier, and Michael ran all around Chinatown for an hour trying to hunt down kueh tutu *7just because you mentioned that your nanny used to take you there to buy it from the kueh tutu man who sold it out of those old metal carts?”

“He still does nice little things for me—” Astrid began.

“That’s not the point. The man who came to look at this house today was a completely different person than the one I first met.”

“Well, he’s gained much more confidence. I mean, he’s made such a huge success of his business. It’s bound to change anyone.”

“Clearly. But has he changed for better or worse? When Michael first got here, he gave me a kiss on the cheek. That was the first thing that surprised me — it was so Continental, so unlike the chin chye *8guy I know. And then to top it off he pays me a compliment. But then you’re standing there right next to me in the prettiest Dries Van Noten floral dress I’ve ever seen and he doesn’t even say a thing to you.”

“Come on, I don’t expect him to gush over me every time we see each other. We’ve been married for so many years now.”

“My father gives a million compliments to my mother all day long, and they’ve been married over forty years. But aside from that, it was his whole manner to you the entire time he was here that got to me. His body language. His little asides. There was this undercurrent of…of…contempt to everything.”