Chapter Text
NOBLESTMAGAZINE.COM.CN
The latest scoop from China’s most trusted society columnist, Honey Chai
Is everyone sitting down? Well you’d better sit now, because boy, do I have a story for you?! Everyone on the planet knows about heiress Colette Bing’s breakup with Carlton Bao. Well it looks like Colette didn’t take the split so well! According to an extremely reliable source, Colette enlisted the help of her personal assistant, Roxanne Ma, to scare off the person that she felt was to blame: fashion goddess, Rachel Young. Who, incidentally, also happens to be Carlton’s sister. This ended up with poor Mrs Young in the hospital (though thankfully she’s now recovered) and Roxanne in prison. But Colette’s schemes don’t stop there. Oh no, there’s more.
You all remember how Richie Yang was arrested for the attempted murder of Carlton, right? Well it turns out that Colette knew about what Richie had done and was covering up for him! This revelation led to the speedy loss of all of Colette’s followers (350 million followers gone in two hours!). With at least a billion people calling for Colette’s head on a silver platter, the heiress has now become one the world's most hated people.
So it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that Prêt-à-Couture has now cancelled their multimillion-dollar endorsement deal with her. There are rumours flying around that the new ambassador will be Araminta Khoo (who also happens to be a very good friend of Rachel Young).
Carlton, understandably was unavailable for comment. When I asked Colette’s ‘best friend’, Pan TingTing, how she felt, she had this to say: “I really don’t know why people keep calling us best friends. The Save the Seamstress fashion show in June was literally the fifth time we had met each other. Still, I never thought that Colette was capable of something so cruel. I’m just glad that she wasn’t able to cause any lasting damage and I wish Carlton and Rachel the very best.” That’s a classy response in my book.
Speaking of classy, Carlton’s parents, Bao Gaoliang and his wife, Bao Shaoyen, hosted a farewell dinner party at Yong Foo Elite last night for his daughter and her husband, Nicholas Young, who would be heading back to Singapore shortly. There wasn’t a dry eye in the splendid art deco room when Bao made an emotional toast to his “long lost” daughter, recounting the harrowing story of his youth and how he rescued his infant daughter and her mother from the clutches of an abusive family. The glittering crowd of China’s top political and financial powerhouse families clapped wildly after his speech. Among the crowd was Hong Kong’s tech titan Charles Wu and his girlfriend, fashion icon, Astrid Leong.
When I can mention Yong Foo Elite and abusive families in the same breath, I know it’s time to end my column.
The minute Amanda Ling heard that the newest Mrs Young was back in Singapore, she immediately called to ask her to lunch and took it as a small victory when she accepted. That was how she found herself waiting at a table in Pulau Club for the younger woman.
Ever since Lauren Liang had suggested that she wait until Rachel had gotten back to apologise, Amanda had been agonising over what to say. Because, really, what could she say? Rachel had been nervous at Araminta’s bachelorette party and rightfully so. It was a new environment, she’d been surrounded by people that she didn’t know and she had known that there was a target on her back due to being the girlfriend of Southeast Asia’s most eligible bachelor. Amanda could have just left her alone but instead ruthlessly took advantage of that. How could she properly apologise?
“Hi Amanda,” a voice called. The woman in question looked up to see Rachel Young sliding into the chair opposite her. The newest Mrs Young was more dressed down than Amanda had ever seen her, but still looked effortlessly chic in a light brown utility jumpsuit, wedges and a pair of Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses which she quickly took off.
“Rachel, hi,” Amanda greeted in relief. She was spared from having to sit in an awkward silence by the waiter who came to take their order. When he left the table, Amanda finally went for it.
“Rachel, I’m so sorry for what I did last year,” she said. Rachel sighed.
“Amanda, I have to ask, did you genuinely think I was a gold digger?”
“No. In fact, I knew you weren’t,” Amanda assured her hurriedly. “I knew from my mum that you had no idea that Nick was from that Young family. And as far as personal wealth, it was common knowledge that you were on the same level as him. Me calling you a gold digger was projection and it was also out of jealousy.”
“Really?” Rachel looked like she wasn’t sure of whether or not she should believe her.
“Look, Nick and I were barely twenty when we started dating and while we cared about each other immensely, we weren’t in love. My mum had just been so desperate for me to marry well, and I’m sure you can guess how she defined that.” Rachel nodded. She knew exactly what a woman like Jacqueline Ling considered as “marrying well”. “I must confess that I internalised all of that to the point where I made Nick very frustrated with me. Nonetheless, I wasn’t too heartbroken about us splitting up. But when we met at the jet hangar last year, I actually did recognise you, partly because I’d seen you in magazines, but also because of the way Nick looked at you. Like you were the most precious thing in the universe. As irrational as it was, I got jealous that Nick had never looked at me like that. It was stupid and I know that I hurt you. I’m sorry.” When Amanda finished her explanation, Rachel took a deep breath before saying her own piece.
“Amanda, I almost died in China. My little brother’s ex had her personal assistant try and scare me away, and the bitch paid someone to poison me with a drug that Mossad agents use for assassinations. After going through all that, it seems silly to be hurt about what happened last year.” Amanda winced slightly at this. “But I can’t help it. When we met, I thought we could be friends. You were just as sweet and welcoming as Parker, Wandi and Lauren. And you seemed to really get how nerve-wracking the whole experience was for me. So imagine how I felt when you started that crap about people expecting you and Nick to get married. Or when I went back to my suite and saw that fish and what you guys wrote on my wall.”
Amanda did know about what happened to Rachel when she was in Shanghai. The entire world probably knew that Colette Bing had known about Carlton Bao being drugged and had kept quiet about it. And that Colette had been so desperate to keep her hooks into Carlton that she had gotten her assistant to scare Rachel away, which nearly resulted in not only Rachel’s death but the death of her unborn child. However, Amanda certainly had no intention of using that ordeal to manipulate Rachel into forgiving her. And if Rachel thought that, it just showed how badly Amanda had behaved.
“Rachel, I don’t expect you to just forget about my behaviour…” she began to say but was interrupted.
“It’ll take a while, but I would like for us to start over and be friends for real,” said Rachel with a smile. It was crazy how things changed. After she had faced off against Amanda at Colin and Araminta’s wedding, Rachel had been certain they’d be enemies forever. When she found out that she had to invite Amanda to her own wedding, Rachel decided that she didn’t care as long as Amanda behaved herself. It was an extremely pleasant surprise for her when Amanda not only behaved herself, but recognised that Rachel did not feel comfortable around her and kept her distance during the wedding preparations and the celebrations. And listening to Amanda now, it was clear that she knew she had fucked up and wasn’t just apologising to get back into Nick’s good graces. That made it a lot easier for Rachel to forgive her.
“Really?” asked Amanda, with a megawatt smile of her own.
“Really,” confirmed Rachel, bringing her hand up to grasp Amanda’s and lightly squeeze it. Suddenly, she remembered something that Francesca had been bragging about during Araminta’s bachelorette weekend. “Wait, if you and Nick were barely twenty when you started dating, how old was he when he dated Francesca?”
“They both would’ve been seventeen.”
“So does that mean you guys never had a threesome?” Rachel whispered the last word as she didn’t want to get kicked out of the club for being crass.
“What? Of course we didn’t!” Amanda whisper-shouted before letting out a laugh of bewilderment. “Who the hell told you that?”
“Francesca.”
“Of fucking course,” Amanda groaned. “That girl is full of shit, Rachel. You’re better off not listening to anything that comes out of her mouth.”
“Aren’t you two friends?” Rachel asked in confusion.
“Not really,” Amanda admitted. “We just bonded over our jealousy.”
They were soon interrupted by the reappearance of their waiter, this time with two heaping portions of stewed lobster tails and noodles.
“Mmm, looks delicious,” said Rachel, practically salivating.
“Well, let’s dig in.”
When Nick had invited Carlton to stay with him and Rachel for a week or two in Singapore, he readily accepted. Even though he was now on much better terms with his parents (thanks to Rachel and Nick), Carlton wanted to be away from China for a while. He now stood in the enormous home theatre watching a video of Rachel and Nick’s wedding. Specifically the part where Rachel was serenading her new husband.
Carlton was fairly certain that he had been a saint in a past life. That was the only thing he could have possibly done to deserve a sister like Rachel. He had barely had time to feel heartbroken about Colette’s betrayal when Rachel promised him that she would make her pay for it. Sure enough, the downfall of Colette Bing had been plastered all over the media in less than twenty-four hours. Colette had lost everything, from her multimillion-dollar endorsement deal with Prêt-à-Couture to her social standing. Rachel had even made sure that Jack Bing had been punished, with him losing investors and major deals.
“Actions have consequences, dìdì,” (younger brother) Rachel had explained. “Jack Bing chose to enable his daughter’s shitty behaviour, so he gets to feel some real consequences.”
“She was amazing, wasn’t she?” a lilting voice broke Carlton out of his reverie. He swivelled around to see Scheherazade Shang approaching. She approached him with a smile as she gestured at the screen where his sister was singing the final note of the song. “ I heard from Peik Lin that John Legend tried to sign Rachel after he heard her at the wedding.”
“Can’t blame him,” Carlton agreed, turning back to the screen and trying not to blush. What was wrong with him? Since when could he not keep it together around a beautiful woman?
“How’ve you been Carlton?” Scheherazade asked. “I’ve been worried about you.” Carlton's eyes widened at that admission. Did this goddess really just say that she had been worried about him?
“I’m… way better. Thank you so much. How are you doing? I thought you were going back to England.”
“I was supposed to be,” Scheherazade admitted, plopping herself down on the Italian leather sofa, “Buuuut, I convinced my parents to let me stay in Singapore a bit longer. I told them I wanted to see Nick and Rachel’s new place, but now, I’m not sure that I’ll ever leave. I think I might just live in this home theatre and binge watch every James Bond movie ever made.” Carlton’s eyes lit up.
Four hours later, Rachel and Nick came home together. When they asked one of the maids where Carlton and Scheherazade were, they were directed to the theatre. There, the couple found their brother and cousin staring with rapt attention at the screen showing the James Bond movie, From Russia With Love. It took a Herculean amount of effort for Rachel not to squeal when she noticed that Carlton and Scheherazade were sitting very close to each other.
“Come on, honey,” Nick whispered as he took his wife’s hand. “Let’s give them some privacy.” As her husband led her away, Rachel couldn’t help but smirk. It looked like Carlton’s time in Singapore was going to be very well spent.