Crazy Rich Asians

She had been dragged to Churchill Club for a charity fashion show organized by one of her Leong cousins and had sat bored stiff throughout the proceedings. For someone used to a front-row seat at Jean Paul Gaultier’s elaborate flights of stagecraft, this hastily constructed catwalk lit with yellow gels, fake palm fronds, and flashing strobe lights seemed like underfunded community theater.

But then Michael appeared, and suddenly everything went into slow motion. He was taller and bigger than most Asian men, with a gorgeous nut-brown tan that wasn’t the sort you could spray on at a salon. His severe military buzz cut served to accentuate a hawklike nose that seemed so incongruous to the rest of his face, it took on an overtly sexual quality. Then there were those piercing, deep-set eyes and the washboard abs rippling along his lean torso. He was only on the runway for less than thirty seconds, but she immediately recognized him a few weeks later at Andy Ong’s birthday party even though he was fully clothed in a V-neck T-shirt and faded gray jeans.

This time it was Michael who noticed her first. He was leaning against a ledge at the bottom of the garden at the Ong bungalow with Andy and some friends when Astrid appeared on the terrace in a long white linen dress with delicate lace cutouts. Here’s a girl who does not belong at this party, he thought to himself. The girl soon spotted the birthday boy, and made a beeline toward them, giving Andy a big hug. The guys around him stared openmouthed.

“Many happy returns!” she exclaimed, handing over a small present exquisitely wrapped in purple silk fabric.

“Aiyah, Astrid, um sai lah!”[48] Andy said.

“It’s just a little something I thought you’d like from Paris, that’s all.”

“So did you get that city totally out of your system? Back for good now?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Astrid said carefully.

The guys were all jockeying for position, so as reluctant as he was, Andy felt that it would be rude not to introduce them. “Astrid, allow me to introduce Lee Shen Wei, Michael Teo, and Terence Tan. All army buddies.”

Astrid smiled sweetly at everyone before fixing her gaze on Michael. “If I’m not mistaken, I’ve seen you in a speedo,” she said.

The guys were equal parts stunned and baffled by her statement. Michael just shook his head and laughed.

“Er … what is she talking about?” Shen Wei asked.

Astrid peered at Michael’s sculpted torso, which was clearly evident despite his loose T-shirt. “Yes, it was you, wasn’t it? At Churchill Club’s fashion show to benefit juvenile shopaholics?”

“Michael, you modeled in a fashion show?” Shen Wei said in disbelief.

“In a speedo?” Terence added.

“It was for charity. I got dragged into it!” Michael sputtered, his face turning beet red.

“So you don’t model professionally?” Astrid asked.

The guys all started laughing. “He does! He does! He’s Michael Zoolander,” Andy cracked.

“No, I’m serious,” Astrid insisted. “If you ever want to model professionally, I know a few agencies in Paris that would probably love to represent you.”

Michael just looked at her, not knowing how to respond. There was a palpable tension in the air, and none of the guys knew what to say.

“Listen, I’m famished, and I think I have to have some of that delicious-looking mee rebus[49] back at the house,” Astrid said, giving Andy a quick peck on the cheek before striding back toward the house.

“Okay, laeng tsai,[50] what are you waiting for? She was obviously into you,” Shen Wei said to Michael.

“Don’t want to get your hopes up, Teo, but she’s untouchable,” Andy warned.

“What do you mean untouchable?” Shen Wei asked.

“Astrid doesn’t date in our stratosphere. You know who she almost married? Charlie Wu, the tech billionaire Wu Hao Lian’s son. They were engaged, but then she broke it off at the last minute because her family felt that even he wasn’t good enough,” Andy said.

“Well, Teo here is going to prove you wrong. Mike, that was an open invitation if I’ve ever seen one. Don’t be so kiasu,[51] man!” Shen Wei exclaimed.

Michael did not know what to make of the girl sitting across the table from him. First of all, this date should not even be happening. Astrid wasn’t his type. This was the kind of girl he would see shopping at one of those pricey boutiques on Orchard Road or sitting in the lobby café of some fancy hotel having a double decaf macchiato with her banker boyfriend. He wasn’t even sure why he had asked her out. It wasn’t his style to go after girls in such an obvious way. All his life, he had never needed to chase after women. They had always given themselves freely to him, starting with his older brother’s girlfriend when he was fourteen. Technically, Astrid had made the first move, so he didn’t mind going after her. Andy’s talk about her being “out of his league” really irked him, and he thought it would be fun to bed her, just to shove it in Andy’s face.