Crazy Rich Asians Read Online Free PDF Page B

to sleeping arrangements.”
    Rachel wondered if that was really true. She tried to go back to reading the State
     Department’s Southeast Asia travel advisory website. As she sat there in the glow
     of the laptop, Nick couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful his girlfriend looked
     even at the end of a long day. How did he get so lucky? Everything about her—from
     the dewy just-back-from-a-morning-run-on-the-beach complexion to the obsidian-black
     hair that stopped just short of her collarbone—conveyed a natural, uncomplicated beauty
     so different from the red-carpet-ready girls he had grown up around.
    Now Rachel was absentmindedly rubbing her index finger back and forth over her upper
     lip, her brow slightly furrowed. Nick knew that gesture well. What was she worrying
     about? Ever since he had invited Rachel to Asia a few days ago, the questions had
     been piling on steadily. Where were they staying? What gift should she bring for his
     parents? What had Nick told them about her? Nick wished he could stop that brilliant
     analytical mind of hers from overthinking every aspect of the trip. He was beginning
     to see that Astrid had been right. Astrid was not only his cousin, she was his closest
     female confidant, and he had first fielded the idea of inviting Rachel to Singapore
     during their phone conversation a week ago.
    “First of all, you know you’ll be instantly escalating things to the next level, don’t
     you? Is this what you really want?” Astrid asked point-blank.
    “No. Well … maybe. This is just a summer holiday.”
    “Come on, Nicky, this is not ‘just a summer holiday.’ That’s not how women think,
     and you know it. You’ve been dating seriously for almost two years now. You’re thirty-two,
     and up till now you have
never
brought anyone home. This
is
major. Everyone is going to assume that you’re going to—”
    “Please,” Nick warned, “don’t say the m-word.”
    “See—you know that is
precisely
what will be on everyone’s mind. Most of all, I can guarantee you it’s on Rachel’s
     mind.”
    Nick sighed. Why did everything have to be so fraught with significance? This always
     happened whenever he sought the female perspective. Maybe calling Astrid was a bad
     idea. She was older than him by just six months, but sometimes she slipped into big-sister
     mode too much. He preferred the capricious, devil-may-care side of Astrid. “I just
     want to show Rachel my part of the world, that’s all, no strings attached,” he tried
     to explain. “And I guess part of me wants to see how she’ll react to it.”
    “By ‘it’ you mean our family,” Astrid said.
    “No, not just our family. My friends, the island, everything. Can’t I go on holiday
     with my girlfriend without it becoming a diplomatic incident?”
    Astrid paused for a moment, trying to assess the situation. This was the most serious
     her cousin had ever gotten with anyone. Even if he wasn’t ready to admit it to himself,
     she knew that on a subconscious level, at least, he was taking the next crucial step
     on the way tothe altar. But that step needed to be handled with extreme care. Was Nicky truly prepared
     for all the land mines he would be setting off? He could be rather oblivious to the
     intricacies of the world he had been born into. Maybe he had always been shielded
     by their grandmother, since he was the apple of her eye. Or maybe Nick had just spent
     too many years living outside of Asia. In their world, you
did not
bring home some unknown girl unannounced.
    “You know I think Rachel is lovely. I really do. But if you invite her to come home
     with you, it
will
change things between you, whether you like it or not. Now, I’m not concerned about
     whether your relationship can handle it—I know it can. My worry is more about how
     everyone else is going to react. You know how small the island is. You know how things
     can get with …” Astrid’s voice was suddenly drowned out by