Crazy Rich Asians Read Free Page A

you get up and talk to him?” Mrs. Lim said excitedly.
    “Why should I bother, when you swat away every guy who dares come near,” Charlotte
     answered curtly.
    “
Alamak
, stupid girl! I’m only trying to protect you from fortune hunters. This one you’d
     be lucky to have. This one you can
cheong
!”
    Celine couldn’t believe her mother was actually encouraging her big sister to
snatch
this boy. She stared curiously at Nicholas, now laughing animatedly with his friends
     at a table under a blue-and-white umbrella by the pool. Even from afar, he stood out
     in high relief. Unlike the other fellows with their regulation Indian barbershop haircuts,
     Nicholas had perfectly tousled black hair, chiseled Cantonese pop-idol features, and
     impossibly thick eyelashes. He was the cutest, dreamiest guy she’d ever seen.
    “Charlotte, why don’t you go over and invite him to your fund-raiser on Saturday?”
     their mother kept on.
    “Stop it, Mum.” Charlotte smiled through gritted teeth. “I know what I’m doing.”
    As it turned out, Charlotte did not know what she was doing, since Nicholas never
     showed up at her fund-raiser, much to their mother’s eternal disappointment. But that
     afternoon at Pulau Club left such an indelible mark on Celine’s adolescent memory
     that six years later and on the other side of the planet, she still recognized him.
    “Hannah, let me get a picture of you with that delicious sticky toffee pudding,” Celine
     said, taking out her camera phone. She pointed it in the direction of her friend,
     but surreptitiously trained the lens on Nicholas. She snapped the photo and immediately
     e-mailed it to her sister, who now lived in Atherton, California. Her phone pinged
     minutes later.
        BigSis: OMFG! THAT’S NICK YOUNG! WHERE ARE U?
        Celine Lim: T&S.
        BigSis: Who’s the girl he’s with?
        Celine Lim: GF, I think. Looks ABC. †
        BigSis: Hmm … do you see a ring?
        Celine Lim: No ring.
        BigSis: PLS spy for me!!!
        Celine Lim: You owe me big-time!!!
    Nick gazed out the café window, marveling at the people with tiny dogs parading along
     this stretch of Greenwich Avenue as if itwere a catwalk for the city’s most fashionable breeds. A year ago, French bulldogs
     were all the rage, but now it looked like Italian grey hounds were giving the Frenchies
     a run for their money. He faced Rachel again, resuming his campaign. “The great thing
     about starting out in Singapore is that it’s the perfect base. Malaysia is just across
     a bridge, and it’s a quick hop to Hong Kong, Cambodia, Thailand. We can even go island-hopping
     off Indonesia—”
    “It all sounds amazing, but
ten weeks
 … I don’t know if I want to be away that long,” Rachel mused. She could sense Nick’s
     eagerness, and the idea of visiting Asia again filled her with excitement. She had
     spent a year teaching in Chengdu between college and grad school but couldn’t afford
     to travel anywhere beyond China’s borders back then. As an economist, she certainly
     knew enough about Singapore—this tiny, intriguing island at the tip of the Malay Peninsula,
     which had transformed within a few short decades from a British colonial backwater
     into the country with the world’s highest concentration of millionaires. It would
     be fascinating to see the place up close, especially with Nick as her guide.
    Yet something about this trip made Rachel a little apprehensive, and she couldn’t
     help but ponder the deeper implications. Nick made it seem so spontaneous, but knowing
     him, she was sure he had put far more thought into it than he let on. They had been
     together for almost two years, and now he was inviting her on an extended trip to
     visit his hometown, to attend his best friend’s wedding, no less. Did this mean what
     she thought it did?
    Rachel peered into her teacup, wishing she could divine something from the stray leaves
     pooled at the