Free Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan

being the priest.
    “Tell me, my child, have you sinned?” he asked.
    She didn’t want to say anything, but suddenly, she felt her lips moving uncontrollably. “Yes I have.”
    “I can’t hear you—”
    “I have sinned. I have sinned against you.” Again the words just pouring out even as she tried to keep her mouth closed.
    “Speak up, dear. Can you hear me?”
    “Of course I can hear you. You’re sitting one foot away from me,” Su Yi said, annoyed, as a bright flash of light coming through the latticework screen suddenly glared into her eyes.
    “Can you hear me?” The voice sounded garbled as it morphed from English into Hokkien.
    Suddenly it was all terribly bright, and she was no longer in the confession booth of Mount Mary in Bombay. She was in a hospital room, and her cardiologist was staring down at her. “Mrs. Young, can you hear me?”
    “Yes,” she murmured weakly.
    “Good, good,” Professor Oon said. “Do you know where you are?”
    “Hospital.”
    “Yes, you’re at Mount Elizabeth. You had a cardiac episode, but we’ve managed to stabilize you and I’m very happy with the progress you’re making. Do you feel any pain?”
    “Not really.”
    “Good, you shouldn’t. We have you on a constant dose of hydrocodone, so you should not have to feel any discomfort at all. Now, I’m going to send Felicity in. She’s very eager to see you.”
    Felicity entered and tiptoed rather awkwardly to her mother’s bedside. “Oh Mummy! You’re finally awake. They’ve had you sedated for the past two days so that your heart could rest. How are you feeling? You gave us quite a scare!”
    “Where are Madri and Patravadee?”
    “Oh, your lady’s maids are right outside. They’ve been with you all this time, but you haven’t known it. Francis only allows one of us in at a time.”
    “I’m very thirsty.”
    “Yes, yes. It’s this medication they have you on, and the oxygen tube in your nose. It really dries out your throat. Let’s get you some water.” Felicity looked around and found a water jug on a side table. “Hmm. I wonder if this is filtered or from the tap. Oh dear, they only have plastic cups. Do you mind? I’ll have some proper glasses brought up as soon as possible. I don’t understand why there are only plastic cups in here. I don’t know if you can tell, but you’re in the Royal Suite, built for the Brunei royals. We had it specially arranged for you. But dear me, they need proper cups.”
    “I don’t care,” Su Yi said impatiently.
    Felicity poured some water into the cup and brought it over to her mother. She held the cup up to her mother’s lips and began to tilt it forward, noticing that her hands were beginning to shake. “Oh, silly me, we need a straw. We wouldn’t want to spill any of this on you.”
    Su Yi let out a sigh. Even in her delirious state, Su Yi noticed that her eldest daughter always brought along a certain frenetic energy. She was so eager to please, but in a cloying, obsequious way that Su Yi found so irritating. She had been like this even as a child. Where did she get it from?
    Felicity found a cluster of straws on the side table and hastily jabbed one into the cup. “Here, that’s much better.” As she placed the straw up to her mother’s lips, she glanced at the heart monitor and saw the numbers slowly begin to rise: 95…105…110. She knew she was agitating her mother, and her hands started shaking again. A few drops of water splashed onto her mother’s chin.
    “Hold still!” Su Yi hissed.
    Felicity grasped the cup tightly, suddenly feeling like she was ten years old again, perched on the ottoman in her mother’s bedroom as one of the Thai maids arranged her hair into an intricate braid. She would shift a little, and her mother would groan in annoyance. “Hold still! Siri is doing very delicate work here, and if you make one false move, you’re going to mess it all up! Do you want to be the only girl at Countess Mountbatten’s tea