“What did you do with it?”
“I wore it,” Piya replied patiently, wondering why on earth her husband’s cousin was so weirdly fixated on this badge.
“I mean, what did you do with your badge after the conference?”
“Er…I must have either thrown it away or left it in the hotel room.”
Eddie stared at her in disbelief. His Davos badge was folded and placed in a special pouch along with his prized Roger W. Smith*6 watch and his precious sapphire-and-platinum cuff links. He couldn’t wait to get it framed the minute he returned to Hong Kong. He was quiet for a few moments before turning his attention to Adam. “So what are you up to these days? Do you work or do you just live a life of leisure?”
Adam felt like grimacing, but he was too well brought up to show any reaction. Why did so many people assume that just because he had a royal title, he didn’t have to work for a living? “I’m in F&B.*7 I have a restaurant at Central Embassy, which is the newest mall in town, and I also have a few gourmet food trucks that serve authentic Austrian Würstelstand snacks like bratwurst, currywurst, and Käsekrainer. You know, those Austrian sausages filled with cheese?”
“A sausage truck! You actually make a profit from that?” Eddie asked.
“We do quite well. We park the trucks in all the nightlife spots around the city. People love to get a snack late at night after they leave the bars and clubs.”
“The sausages help to soak up the alcohol,” Piya added.
“Hmm. Drunk-people snacks. How lucrative,” Eddie said with a not-so-subtle hint of condescension. He sat waiting for Adam or Piya to ask him what he did for a living when his aunt and uncle came out of the bedroom. “She’s asleep, but you can go in,” Catherine said to her son.
Catherine sank down on the settee next to Eddie, suddenly looking totally deflated.
“How is she today?” Eddie asked.
“Hard to tell. Francis said that with the morphine drip, she wasn’t in any pain. I’ve just never seen her look so…so frail,” Catherine said, her voice cracking a little. Taksin placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as she continued to talk. “I should have come down in November like I meant to. And the boys. Why didn’t we make them come down more often?”
“Auntie Cat, you should go to your room and rest for a little while,” Eddie suggested in a gentle tone. He became uncomfortable whenever women got emotional around him.
“Yes, I think that’s a good idea,” Catherine said, getting up from the settee.
“I’m going to call Jimmy and Mattie. We’ll get them to fly over immediately. There’s not a moment to waste,” Taksin said to her as they walked off.
Not a moment to waste, Eddie thought to himself. But Auntie Cat had done nothing but waste her time. She had spent so many decades away, and his cousins hardly knew their grandmother. And now that Ah Ma was dying, they were finally going to show their faces? It was too little, too late! Or could there be another motive behind all this? Were the Aakaras tight on money these days? Was this why they came down on a commercial flight? He couldn’t imagine the humiliation. A Thai prince, flying in economy class! And they only brought five maids with them this time. And Adam had to run these pathetic little hot-dog trucks. It was all beginning to make sense. Was Uncle Taksin urgently summoning all his sons to Singapore so they get their hands on Tyersall Park? Everyone knew that Nicky had been disinherited, and that Ah Ma would never leave any of the Leong cousins Tyersall Park when they already owned most of Malaysia. The only contenders left were the Aakara boys; his brother, Alistair; and him. Ah Ma had never thought much of Alistair, especially after he tried to bring Kitty Pong home, but the Aakaras, she always had a soft spot for them because they were half Thai. She loved her Thai food and her Thai silks and her creepy Thai maids—everything from that goddamn country! But he wasn’t going to let those Aakaras win. They lived their lavish snotty royal lives and only deigned to come for short visits every three or four years, while he made a point of visiting his grandmother at least once a year. Yes, he was the only one who deserved the deed to Tyersall Park!
Adam and Piya emerged from the bedroom, and Eddie immediately went in—there wasn’t a moment of his time to waste. Su Yi’s canopied bed with its ornately carved art nouveau headboard had been replaced by one of those state-of-the-art hospital beds with an electronic mattress that constantly shifted the patient’s body weight to prevent bedsores. Aside from the oxygen tube at her nose and a few tubes coming out of various veins on her arms, she looked so serene lying there under her sumptuous lotus silk bedsheets. A heart monitor on a stand pulsed quietly by her side, its screen displaying her ever changing heart rate. Eddie stood at the foot of the bed, wondering whether he should say a little prayer or something. It seemed slightly absurd, since he didn’t really believe in God, but he did promise Auntie Victoria. He kneeled down beside his grandmother, folded his hands, and just as he closed his eyes, he heard a sharp voice say in Cantonese, “Nay zhou mut yeah?” What on earth are you doing?
Eddie opened his eyes and saw his grandmother staring at him.
“Fucky fuh…I mean, Ah Ma! You’re finally awake! I was about to say a prayer for you.”
“Nay chyee seen ah!*8 Don’t you start on me. I’m so sick of all these people trying to pray for me. Victoria kept sending that Bishop See Bei Sien to drone his idiotic prayers every morning when I was at the hospital, and I was too weak to chase him out at the time.”
Eddie laughed. “If you want, I can make sure Bishop See isn’t allowed to see you ever again.”
“Please!”
“Were you awake when Adam and Piya came in?”
“No. Adam is here?”
“Yes, and he brought his wife. She’s pretty, in that Thai sort of way.”
“How about his brothers?”
“No, they aren’t here. I’m told Jimmy is much too busy working to come down. I guess since he’s a plastic surgeon, there are too many urgent face-lifts and nose jobs that require his attention right now.”
Su Yi smiled slightly at Eddie’s comment.
“And do you know what Mattie is doing?”