Chapter 10. Now
10
Now
Renee was humming to herself as she entered the lobby of her office building, after her coffee with Nathalie. She was looking forward to the weekend, getting to see friends in a context that had nothing to do with work. It was like being in her twenties again and having a social life.
Now she’d had time to get used to the idea of Nathalie joining her visit to the National Gallery with Ket Siong, Renee decided it would be nice. She never got to do stuff like that with Nathalie anymore.
On reflection, she felt she’d pulled off something rather clever. Nathalie would have felt guilty about dumping childcare duties on her husband for most of a Saturday if not for the compelling excuse of having to avert romantic disaster.
So Renee was in a good mood, until she saw the man standing in the lobby.
He was inspecting a painting on the wall—a blotchy, half-hearted imitation of a Rothko, blandly corporate. His back was to her, but everything about him was instantly familiar: from the dark hair stiff with hair gel, to the discontented slope of the shoulders in the Ralph Lauren suit, down to the knobbly ankles emerging from the custom-made leather shoes. He’d put on some weight, but he carried it well: it made him look substantial, a man to be reckoned with.
Renee hadn’t seen him in years. Perhaps that was one definition of family—a body of knowledge it was impossible to carve out of yourself, no matter how hard you tried.
Su Khoon turned, as though he’d sensed her watching him.
If not for that call from Dad at the beginning of the week, Renee would have kept on walking, pretending she hadn’t seen her second brother. On leaving Singapore, she’d blocked her brothers’ numbers, put them and their wives on restricted view across her social media accounts, and set up a filter on her inbox so any emails from them would go straight to Trash. As far as she knew, they hadn’t tried to get in touch. They’d accomplished what they wanted, after all—got rid of her, cleared the field.
They must have been royally pissed to hear Renee was in the running to take over Chahaya. If that piece of news had surprised her, she could only imagine her brothers’ reaction.
She suppressed a smile.
“Er Ge,” she said. “I didn’t know you were in London already.”
“I messaged you,” said Su Khoon. “But you didn’t reply.”
“Weird,” said Renee blandly. “Are you sure you had the right number? I’ve changed it.”
If she was going to have to work with Su Khoon, she’d have to update the filters on her inbox so she’d see emails from him, if not Su Beng. Maybe she could get a burner phone exclusively for fraternal communications.
“It was the number Dad gave me.” Su Khoon glanced at the reception desk. The two women on it gave him a forbidding glare, as did the security guard by the barriers. Evidently there had already been some form of interaction, and it hadn’t gone well.
“Must be some glitch, then,” said Renee. “I’ll have to check my phone settings.” She directed a reassuring smile at the reception staff.
She could practically see the ill temper hovering over her brother, as if he were a cartoon character dogged by a storm cloud. He was fidgeting with his cuff links, a crease between his eyebrows.
At least it was her second brother she was dealing with, not Su Beng. Su Khoon could be trusted not to shout or get physical, no matter what shitty things he might say in that even voice.
The downside was that he was the smarter of her two brothers. That should mean he’d see the benefits of playing nice with her. What it would probably mean was he’d try to sabotage her, but with a better chance of success than if it was Su Beng doing it.
“We need to talk,” said Su Khoon.
Renee knew how this was supposed to go. Her job, as the youngest sister, was to identify his displeasure and set about soothing it. Yes, of course, Er Ge. I’ll clear my schedule. Come up to my office and I’ll get you some refreshments while you say whatever the hell you want to me.
She glanced at her phone. “You’re in luck. I’ve got a gap now, though we’ll have to wrap up before four thirty.”
Renee had never been good at managing her brothers’ feelings for them. It was one of the many ways in which she was a failure as a daughter and a sister, by the standards of her family.
Su Khoon’s face twitched. But he knew, just as Renee did, that their behaviour was under scrutiny. Neither could afford to lose points with their father, and they could trust that the other would not waste any advantage they gave away.
“It’s about Chahaya,” he said, with what for him amounted to patience. “We should talk in private.” He cleared his throat. “Can we go to your office?”
For Su Khoon, even this courtesy—making a request of his younger sister, instead of commanding her—amounted to a loss of face. He’d see it as a strategic concession.
Renee decided to take it as a good omen. Maybe they were going to be able to work together, after all.
“Sure,” she said. “Come on up.”
Su Khoon looked around Renee’s office with an expression of faint disgust.
“A little over the top, no?” he said.
This might have hurt Renee’s feelings fifteen years ago, but the one nice thing about her brothers trying to ruin her reputation was that it had made her indifferent to their approval. Anyway, she knew what Su Khoon’s office was like—a gleaming glass-walled room at the top of a skyscraper, with pictures of him shaking hands with various dignitaries and industry tycoons, looking like a dick.
Renee’s office was much nicer, no contest. Virtu rented a serviced unit on the top floor of a restored Edwardian property, so there wasn’t much she could do about the dimensions or layout of the space. But it had large windows, letting in ample natural light, and she’d painted the walls in muted pastels: mint green, blush pink, primrose yellow and hazy blue. Her room was furnished with vintage finds from antique markets and eBay, batik sarongs repurposed as wall hangings, nineteenth-century prints of Southeast Asian flora and fauna, and a thriving miniature grove of plants that was the bane of Louise’s life.
What obviously annoyed Su Khoon the most was the display of framed articles and awards, including a blown-up image of the Vogue Singapore cover featuring Renee. She’d dithered over putting up the Vogue cover, worrying it might come off as narcissistic, but Su Khoon’s jaundiced expression put doubt to rest. It was one hundred percent worth it.
“I’ll get to the point,” said Su Khoon crisply, turning so he couldn’t see the cover. “Dad’s getting old. If he was in his right mind he wouldn’t be giving you ideas about running Chahaya.”
“You don’t want a drink, then?” said Renee. She poked her head out of the office. “Louise, could I have a green tea, please? Lovely, thanks.”
“You don’t need to think it’s a compliment, what Dad’s doing,” said Su Khoon, when she’d got her green tea and shut the door. “He wants to test me and Su Beng, keep us guessing. After all these years, he’s still hoping to get Da Ge to shape up.” He looked down his nose at her, cold. “You’re only useful because Da Ge’s stupid enough to believe you’re actually in the running.”
Renee sat down behind her desk, not bothering to offer her brother a seat. He’d take one if he felt like it.
“That must be annoying for you,” she said. “Having to go through this charade, if you think Dad’s preselected Da Ge anyway.”
“Dad has his preferred choice. He’s traditional,” said Su Khoon. “But he’s not stupid. Da Ge’s going to mess up. Then Dad will see there’s only one person for the job.”
Renee sipped her tea while she considered her response.
Dad would want her to be discreet and accommodating, not say things she knew would piss her brother off.
But being herself had always been her best asset in business, if not in her personal life. Which meant saying what she thought. It was not an approach her family had ever appreciated, but she had to set the terms on which she was willing to engage with them, if this exercise was to be sustainable in the long run.
“Yourself, you mean,” she said. “That’s why you’re here. You’re confident about beating Su Beng, but you’re scared I’m real competition.”
Su Khoon scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. You think you can manage Chahaya? Your little fashion label’s all very well. I assume you’re not losing money if you can afford to fill your office with this crap.”
He glanced around the room again to show what he thought of it. Renee bit her tongue so as not to say, No, we aren’t losing money. Unlike some other people I could name. What was the cryptocurrency you invested in called again—IdiotCoin?
Squabbling with her brothers always reverted her to about age twelve.
“But Chahaya’s beyond you,” Su Khoon was saying. “You can’t take the stress. A little criticism in the newspapers and you ran away. The CEO of Chahaya has to be tougher than that.”
He lowered himself to the sofa, leaning forward and meeting Renee’s eyes.
“Look, I didn’t come here to fight,” he said. “You’re a sensible girl. You need to be realistic about what’s going to happen if you try to take over Chahaya. This isn’t about you or whatever you want to prove. Chahaya is about the family. If you mess up, it’s not only money or investments you’re risking. It’s our future—the kids’ future. They deserve to benefit from everything Dad’s worked so hard to build. True or not?”
This was a calculated blow beneath the belt, attempting to deploy Renee’s nephews and nieces against her.
It might have worked better if she was insecure about her abilities.
“Of course,” she said. “But deciding I’d mess up if I took over seems a big assumption to me. Do you think it’s really justified by the evidence? I appreciate there’s no reason you should have been following Virtu.”
This was a deliberate jab. She knew Su Khoon and Su Beng had to have been watching Virtu closely in order to do what they did a few years back, and they knew she knew.
“But Dad has, and he thinks I could do the job,” Renee continued. “We’re going to have to work together on this pitch to Freshview for the construction contract. Why don’t you give me a chance, see how I do? I might surprise you.”
“Sure,” said Su Khoon. “I should bring you to meet Low Teck Wee. Hope he doesn’t remember you’re the one who fucked things up with his nephew.
“Oh, you thought I didn’t know?” he said, at Renee’s expression. “Andrew Yeoh told me you called the cops on him back then, when he was only trying to apologise. Now Dad’s saying you’re going to help us strike a deal with his uncle’s company.” Su Khoon snorted. “I should get Dad tested for dementia.”
Big talk from a man whose father pays his phone bill, Renee didn’t say.
Her first instinct was to defend herself—explain that Andrew had stormed into her flat, screamed at her for daring to break up with him, and thrown her phone out of the window. She hadn’t even involved the authorities, despite all of that; that was the neighbour’s idea. But her flush of indignation was succeeded almost immediately by weariness.
If Su Khoon cared about what had really happened, he would have asked Renee. This was just another bid for leverage.
“Have you ever told Dad about that?” said Su Khoon.
“He hasn’t raised it,” said Renee. “But you’ve reminded me, I saw Uncle Low the other day. I’m going to meet up with his daughter, she’s interested in getting into the fashion industry. I should mention it to Dad.” She leaned back in her chair, watching her brother’s face work.
“I wasn’t the first woman to dump Andrew, or the last,” she said. “I doubt Low Teck Wee is going to let that influence his business decisions. So how about it? Are you going to work with me, or not?”
Su Khoon had to have expected that she would put up some resistance to his negging campaign. But he’d never been any more patient than Su Beng, merely better at hiding it. His patience was visibly fraying now.
“Work with you?” he said. “Might as well torpedo the deal. I’ll lay it out for you. You can tell Dad you’re not the right person to run Chahaya, withdraw yourself from consideration. Or you can go ahead and destroy your relationship with the family for good. Take up Dad’s offer, and you can forget about seeing the kids. You won’t have brothers anymore, or nieces and nephews. Mom will never talk to you again.”
Renee had been prepared for this threat from the moment Su Khoon mentioned the kids.
It was probably no use pointing out that she had moved to London precisely so she wouldn’t have to see her family. She was fond of her brothers’ kids, but it wasn’t like she kept sending them birthday and Christmas presents because not seeing them had left a void in her life. The pleasure of hanging out with the kids had always been balanced out by having to deal with their parents.
But she figured it was worth reminding the kids they had an aunt who cared about them, whether or not they met their parents’ standards for satisfactory offspring. That was what Auntie Mindy had done for her.
“Dad’s made his decision. He wants to consider all of us,” said Renee. “It’s not my intention to offend you and Da Ge, but it’s an interesting opportunity for me. I’m not going to withdraw.”
Su Khoon sighed. “Wasting my time. I knew you wouldn’t listen, but you’re my sister. I thought I should try to reason with you first.”
He sat up, crossing his arms. Renee tensed. They were coming to what Su Khoon had really come here to say.
“I didn’t want to do this, but you’re forcing my hand,” he said. “I’ve got photos of you from Jason Tsai. If you don’t tell Dad you’re pulling out, I’ll release them to the press. It’s your choice.”
For a moment, Renee didn’t feel anything. Then her brain caught up with her ears.
Here she was, telling herself the breakup with Jason hadn’t bothered her much, she thought dully. It was true she’d never allowed herself to get too attached to Jason. A part of her had always held back, never quite sure how much she could rely on him. She probably hadn’t been in love with him for a while, even before he dumped her.
But she had never thought he would do anything like this. It hurt astonishingly to find out she was wrong.
And Renee prided herself on her judgment of character. What a joke.
She must have betrayed too much emotion. Su Khoon couldn’t resist the opportunity to rub it in. He put his elbows on his knees, looking grave and concerned.
“I understand Jason has video, too,” he said. “I haven’t been able to get his agreement to pass that to me yet, but we’re in negotiations.”
“You know, there are laws against this kind of thing,” said Renee.
Su Khoon shrugged. “Sue me if you want. Once the images are out there, they can’t be taken back. Stupid thing to do,” he added, in a tone of fraternal reproof, “sharing that kind of thing with a man.”
A freezing calm descended on Renee, numbing emotion. Su Khoon’s condescension didn’t register as more than a pinprick, incapable of causing any real sensation.
“You’re right,” she said. “I should have learnt from my family that men can’t be trusted.” She rose to her feet. “I assume that’s all? Don’t let me keep you. I’ve got a call I need to prepare for.”
This took Su Khoon aback, though he covered it up well after the first moment of surprise.
“What’s your answer to my offer?” he said.
Renee allowed her lips to curve in an incredulous smile.
“That wasn’t an offer. That’s what’s usually known as blackmail,” she said. “It’s interesting you thought the first people I’d call were my lawyers. I would’ve thought of the police.”
Su Khoon rolled his eyes. “You’re not going to report me. Dad won’t be impressed if you set the police on your own brother.”
He was right. Renee wasn’t going to report him—or Jason, though that would be tempting, if it weren’t for the fact there was no way she’d be able to keep her family out of it.
But there was no harm in planting a seed of doubt in Su Khoon’s mind. Her brothers found her unpredictable, because she operated by rules they either couldn’t or wouldn’t understand—she’d never quite worked out which it was.
“Do you know your way out, or would you like me to get someone to show you?” she said.
“I’ll manage.” Su Khoon got up, his expression ugly. “You’ve had fair warning. It’s up to you to resolve this in a way that works for everybody. You can’t say I didn’t give you a chance.”
Renee made no reply. She didn’t take her eyes off him, but stood, rigid, behind her desk, while he slunk out of her office. Her staff feigned obliviousness as he passed by.
She only relaxed once the lift doors closed on him.
Louise was staring at her through the glass panel that divided her office from the open-plan workspace. Louise jerked her gaze away when Renee met her eyes.
Renee sat down.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the knock came at the door. She had to try twice before her voice came out, clear and steadier than she felt: “Come in.”
It was Louise. She hovered by the entrance, her freckled face full of worry.
“Are you OK?” she said tentatively.
Renee could pretend there was nothing to be upset about, ask why she wouldn’t be OK.
She said, “Yes.”
It was true, more or less. Su Khoon was behind the times. There was no need for him to come to her office to tell Renee she would no longer have a family if she took over Chahaya. She had known she didn’t have a family for years.
That was nothing to get worked up about. She should be used to it by now.
“Thank you,” she added.
Louise’s gaze lit upon the mug of green tea she’d brought in earlier. She brightened.
“Your tea’ll have gone cold,” she said, with the relief of a Brit who had found something definitely appropriate to do at a time of crisis. “I’ll get you another.” She hesitated. “Would you like me to cancel your four thirty?”
Renee glanced at her computer screen. Fifteen minutes to go. That was ample time to get her head back in the game.
“No.” She managed a smile. “I’ll be fine.”
As Louise left to refill her cup of tea, Renee opened her inbox to track down the email chains she needed for the call. But then a thought struck her. She picked up her phone and tapped out a text:
Jason, we need to talk.
She paused, looking down at the words. She had much more to say to him, but that would do as a start.
She hit send.