Nick stopped dead in his tracks, staring at a façade across the road that had been covered by a metal construction fence.

“What’s wrong?”

“This is it! Sun Yik Noodles! But where is it?”

They crossed the street and came to a small sign that was glued to the metal sheeting. It read:

TORY BURCH

Opening Summer 2015

Nick ran in to the shop next door, and Rachel could see him gesturing frantically to the baffled salesman inside. A few moments later, he came outside, his face registering nothing but shock.

“It’s gone, Rachel. No more Sun Yik. This area has become so trendy, the original owner’s son apparently sold the building for an insane amount of money and decided to retire. And now it’s going to be a friggin’ Tory Burch boutique.”

“I’m so sorry, Nick.”

“What the fuck!” Nick yelled, kicking the metal sheeting angrily. He sank down onto the pavement and covered his face with his hands despondently. Rachel had never seen him look quite so upset before. She sat down next to him on the pavement and put her arm around his shoulder. Nick sat there for a few minutes, staring off into space. After a while, he finally spoke.

“Everything I love about Singapore is gone. Or it’s disappearing fast. Every time I’m back, more and more of my favorite haunts have closed or been torn down. Restaurants, shops, buildings, cemeteries, nothing is sacred anymore. The whole character of the island I knew growing up is almost completely obliterated.”

Rachel simply nodded.

“Sun Yik was such an institution, I thought it would always be safe. I mean, I swear to God, they had the best noodles in the whole world. Everyone loved it. But now it’s gone forever, and we can never ever get that back.”

“I don’t think people ever realize what they’ve lost until it’s too late,” Rachel said.

Nick looked into her eyes with a sudden intensity. “Rachel, I have to save Tyersall Park. I can’t let it be torn down and turned into some grotesque gated community that only allows in millionaire Christians.”

“I’ve been thinking the same thing.”

“I thought for a while that I would be okay with everything. I thought I wouldn’t care if I didn’t inherit the estate as long as someone in the family got it and maintained it properly. But now I know I’m not.”

“You know, I’ve been wondering all along if you were really okay with losing the house,” Rachel observed.

Nick considered what she’d said for a moment. “I think part of me always resented Tyersall Park in a subconscious way, because everyone always associated me with the house, and I could never detach from it when I was younger. I think that’s why Colin and I became such good friends…I was always ‘the Tyersall Park Boy’ and he was always ‘that Khoo Enterprises Boy.’ But we were just boys.”

“It was like a curse in a way, wasn’t it? It’s amazing how you both managed not to let it define you,” Rachel remarked.

“Well, at some point I made my peace with it, and getting away also helped me appreciate it in a new light. I realized how much the place nurtured me, how I found my adventurous side climbing trees and building forts, and how spending all those hours in the library reading all my grandfather’s old books—Winston Churchill’s memoirs, Sun Yat-sen’s letters—got me fascinated with history. But now it feels like I’m seeing my entire childhood sold off to the highest bidder.”

“I know, Nick. It’s been so painful even for me to watch on the sidelines. I just can’t believe how it’s happening so quick, and how your aunts who also grew up in the house don’t seem to care about letting it go.”

“Even though my grandmother’s will clearly states what it does, I don’t think she would have wanted Tyersall Park to be demolished and forgotten like this. To me, there are so many things that just don’t add up with my grandmother’s will and everything.”

“That’s been my suspicion all along too, but I didn’t feel like it was my place to say anything,” Rachel said with a frown.

“I wish I had more time to dig deeper, and figure out why my grandmother wanted the house sold off like this. But things are moving so fast with my aunties.”

“Wait a minute—your aunties can move as fast as they want, but you heard them yourself, nothing is going to happen without your father. And as far as I know, he’s somewhere in Sydney sipping a well-made cappuccino. And how about Alistair? He’s got a stake in all this too.”

“Hmm…come to think of it, Alistair hasn’t been around the house much over the past few days, has he?” Nick said.

“If your father, Alistair, and you join forces, the three of you have enough votes to block any sale.”

Nick kissed Rachel excitedly and leapt up from the pavement. “You’re brilliant, you know that?”

“I’m not sure that required much brilliance.”

“No, you’re a genius, and you just gave me the best idea! Let’s go call my dad!”

* * *

* Any good tea sommelier will tell you that GFBOP stands for Golden Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe tea leaves, but of course.

CHAPTER TWELVE

THE HELENA MAY, HONG KONG

Astrid walked into the dining room at the Helena May, Hong Kong’s historic private ladies’ club, and Isabel Wu waved to her from her table by the window. She strolled toward Charlie’s ex-wife a little trepidatiously. It was only the third time they were meeting, and the last time in Singapore hadn’t gone so well.

“Astrid. Thank you so much for agreeing to meet with me for lunch. I know it’s your last day in Hong Kong, and you must be so busy,” Isabel said, getting up from her chair and giving Astrid a peck on the cheek.

“Thank you for inviting me. I love coming here.”

“Yes, it’s such a special place, isn’t it? There are very few places like this anymore.”

Astrid took a moment to look around at the other smartly dressed ladies having lunch together. The dining room with its Queen Anne furniture and botanical prints covering the walls was a throwback to another era, when Hong Kong was a British Crown Colony and this was the exclusive bastion for all the wives of high-ranking officials and expatriates. It was all so civilized.

Astrid was relieved by such a warm welcome from Charlie’s ex-wife, and glad to see Isabel looking so well, and so chic in white jeans, a rose-colored cashmere sweater with a quilted vest thrown over it. She looked the epitome of Hong Kong old money.

“What have you been doing since you got here?”

Astrid hesitated for a moment. She didn’t think it would be a good idea to tell Isabel that she’d spent most of the week planning her upcoming Hong Kong wedding, and yesterday, Charlie had taken her to see the breathtaking new house he had built for them in Shek O. “Not much really, I’ve just been decompressing. It’s good to be away from Singapore, you know?”

“Yes, the past few weeks must have been very hard on you. I’m so sorry about your grandmother’s passing. She was a great lady, from everything I know.”