“I’m not playing any games, Mother. I’m just letting nature take its course.”
Alix stared her son in the eye. “Eddie, I want the truth: Did Ah Ma really tell you that she didn’t want Nicky in the house?”
“She…she almost went into cardiac arrest when I mentioned his name!” Eddie sputtered.
“Then tell me why she just asked for him?”
Eddie paced around the balcony, looking for a shady spot to stand. “Can’t you see that Nicky only wants to see Ah Ma so that he can beg for her forgiveness?”
“Yes, and I’m all for it. Why shouldn’t he be allowed to patch things up with her?”
“Are you crazy or what? Do I really need to spell it out for you? I’m fighting for what’s rightfully mine!”
Alix threw up her hands in exasperation. “You’re delusional, Eddie. Do you really think my mother is going to change her will and leave you Tyersall Park?”
“She already has, Mother! Didn’t you see how Freddie Tan acted the other day after he came to visit Ah Ma?”
“He seemed his usual friendly self to me.”
“Maybe he’s always been friendly to you, but to me, he behaved in a way that he never has. The man has hardly exchanged two words with me over the past thirty years, but the other day, he spoke to me as if I was his biggest client. He told me I was the ‘man of the hour.’ And then he spent an inordinate amount of time talking to me about my watch collection. What does that tell you?”
“Only that Freddie Tan is a watch lunatic like you.”
“No, Mother, Freddie Tan was trying to give me a hint about being the man of the hour in Ah Ma’s new will! He’s already sucking up to us, can’t you see? Now, do you want to ruin all that and see Ah Ma give Nicky this house? The house you grew up in?”
Alix gave a weary sigh. “Eddie, this house is already supposed to be his. We have all known since the day Nicky was born that it was meant for him. He’s a Young.”
“That’s right, he’s a Young, he’s a Young! All my bloody life people have been telling me he’s a Young and I’m just a Cheng. This is all your fault!”
“My fault? I don’t understand you half the time—”
“Why the hell did you have to marry Dad, a complete nobody from Hong Kong? Why couldn’t you marry someone else, like an Aakara or a Leong? Someone with a respectable surname? Didn’t you think of how it would affect your children? Didn’t you realize how it has fucked up my whole life?” Eddie seethed.
Alix looked at her son’s petulant expression and for a moment felt the urge to slap him. Instead, she took a deep breath, sat down on one of the wrought-iron chairs, and said through gritted teeth, “I’m glad I married your father. He may not have inherited an empire or been born a prince, but for me he is far more impressive. He built himself up from nothing to become one of the world’s leading cardiologists, and his hard work has sent you to the best schools and given us a lovely home.”
Eddie laughed mockingly. “A lovely home? Oh my God, Mum, your flat is a disgrace!”
“I think ninety-five percent of the population of Hong Kong would beg to differ. And don’t forget, we even bought you your first flat when you graduated from university to help you get started—”
“Ha! Leo Ming was given a hundred-million-dollar tech company when he graduated.”
“And where has that gotten him, Eddie? I don’t see that Leo has accomplished much in his life except expand his number of ex-wives. We gave you the support to become successful on your own terms. I can’t believe you fail to see all the advantages your father and I tried to give you. How did we manage to raise you to be so ungrateful? I don’t hear Cecilia or Alistair complaining about their lives or their surname.”
“They’re both underachieving losers! Cecilia is so obsessed with her horses, you should have named her Catherine the Great! And Alistair and his film-production bullshit—who in Hong Kong has ever seen any of those strange art-house movies that his director friend makes? Fallen Angels? It should have been called ‘Fallen Asleep’! I’m the only one of your children who has ever accomplished a damn thing! Do you really want to know what having the surname Cheng has done for me? It meant that I didn’t get to go to
Robbie Ko-Tung’s birthday party at Ocean Park when we were in Primary Two. It meant that I didn’t get picked for the debate team at Diocesan. It meant that I didn’t get asked to be a groomsman at Andrew Ladoorie’s wedding. It meant that I knew I would never get a cushy no-show job at one of the Hong Kong banks and had to spend half my life licking the balls of everyone at Liechtenburg Group in order to claw my way to the top!”
“I never realized you felt this way.” Alix shook her head sadly.
“That’s because you never bothered to get to know your own children! You’ve never really had time to care about our needs!”
Alix got up from her chair, finally losing her patience. “I’m not going to sit here in the hot sun and listen to you whine about being a neglected child, when you jet around the world and hardly ever make time for your own kids!”
“Well, that’s fitting, isn’t it? Dad spent most of my childhood flying to medical conferences in Sweden or Swaziland while you were always off buying up properties in Vancouver. You’ve never listened to me! You’ve never once asked me what I truly wanted! YOU’VE NEVER EVEN GIVEN ME A BUTT MASSAGE!” Eddie wailed, as he collapsed onto one of the balcony chairs, his body suddenly wracked with sobs.
Alix stared at her son, thinking that he must have temporarily gone mad.
Eddie wiped away his tears and glared at his mother. “If you truly care about your children, if you truly love us as you say you do, you will say NOTHING to Ah Ma about Nicky. Don’t you see what a perfect opportunity this is for us? We need to make sure he never gets to see her, and we need to keep reinforcing to Auntie Felicity that Astrid is still not welcome here! We can tell Uncle Philip that Ah Ma is too weak to see anyone. I will plant myself outside Ah Ma’s bedroom at all times—nobody is going to get in or out without my approval!”