He wasn’t, he concluded, imagining the chill in the air. Nathalie was probably suspicious of him, despite their recent forced rapprochement. At university they had been friendly, but not close. Renee had drawn them together, but when he and Renee had split, Nathalie had picked a side, and it hadn’t been his. Whenever he’d seen Nathalie around the Academy buildings after, the look she’d given him had made it clear he should not expect to be acknowledged.
He didn’t hold it against her. At the time, Ket Siong had even found her resentment comforting. It was what he’d felt he deserved.
His phone buzzed as he was walking to the Tube station.Renee again. This time she’d sent a link to a music competition taking place at the Southbank Centre in the spring.
You should go for this! You’d smash it.
Ket Siong hadn’t thought of competitions in more than half a decade. None of his students now were at a level to compete.
He was just short of being too old for this one, though he’d squeak in under the maximum age threshold in time for the next round. Given he hadn’t performed or practised seriously in years, it wasn’t a lot of time to prepare.
And yet…
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
19
Renee struck adeal with Su Khoon. She’d devote fifty percent of her time in the run-up to the presentation to Freshview working on the pitch. She was free to spend the remainder on Virtu. In theory.
In practice, running Virtu was still a full-time job and then some, and Su Khoon had never respected Renee’s boundaries before. He had no reason to start now, with a pitch looming over him that would determine the course of the rest of their lives.
They had enough preexisting materials that they should have been able to work up the pitch in a matter of days. Left to herself, Renee wouldn’t have spent more on it. But Su Khoon didn’t work like she did. He majored on interminable team meetings at which his staff told him things he would have known if he’d bothered reading the briefing notes they’d prepared for him, and he gave orders he often countermanded the next day.
But the point was to prove to Dad that they could work together. Renee resigned herself to the sacrifice of her time. At least all this face time made it harder for Su Khoon to cut her out, which it had to be expected he would try to do.
This became evident a couple of days into working with him, when they were going through pricing in his office. The phone on Su Khoon’s desk went off.
Since the office was rented, nobody had Su Khoon’s direct line except the Chahaya team, flown over to the UK to support him. He put the call on speaker without looking up.
“Yes?” said Su Khoon.
“Mr. Goh,” said his PA’s voice, “you know the dinner with the Freshview team, after the presentation? They say they cannot do that day anymore. Mr. Yeoh has a conflict. Next available slot is the following week, Friday lunchtime. Do you want me to book Friday lunch, or try to find another date for dinner?”
Su Khoon froze. Renee put down the printout of a spreadsheet she’d been puzzling over.
He cleared his throat.
“Let’s go for lunch on Friday,” he said, with a moderately successful pretence of nonchalance. “Lunch is more fun anyway. But Penny, don’t book yet. I need to confirm numbers.”
There was a perceptible pause.
“Of course, Mr. Goh,” said his PA.
Renee kept her eyes on Su Khoon as he ended the call. He didn’t say anything.
“You really lucked out with Penny,” Renee remarked. “A PA who doesn’t ask unnecessary questions is a godsend.” She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs. “I don’t think this meetup with Freshview is in my diary. It was scheduled for after the presentation, was it?”
She was barely even angry. It was too funny seeing Su Khoon with egg on his face, conscious of the need to explain himself.
She’d seen her brother at a disadvantage before, but on every previous occasion he’d been mad about it. Notembarrassed. It was a stimulating novelty.
“It’s not a work meeting,” said Su Khoon. “Andrew mentioned he wanted to try this restaurant, so I said let’s go. Just so happened the day of the presentation was the best day for it. But it’s not business, it’s for fun only.”
Renee knew she shouldn’t smile—it was too likely to provoke Su Khoon into defensiveness—but she felt the edges of her mouth quirk up despite herself.
“You forget we grew up in the same family, Er Ge,” she said. “Everything’s business.”
Su Khoon didn’t try to argue with this. He tugged at the cuffs on his shirtsleeves, collecting himself. “You want to go? It’s fine by me. I just thought you wouldn’t want to make nice with Andrew. He’s going to be at the pitch meeting, so you’ll have your fill of him. If you want to come to lunch also, it won’t be enough to be professional. You’ll have to be pleasant.”
