Grunting in frustration, Carmen eased her body down from its shoulder stand. Why the hell didn’t she remember to turn off the machine? Thirty minutes of pure bliss ruined by one call from her mother. She walked slowly to the phone and picked it up. “Ma, why on earth is Uncle C.K. in a hospice and not at home? Won’t they get him twenty-four-hour home-hospice care even in his final days? I can’t believe the family is as giam siap^*1 as that.”

“Aiyah, it’s not that. Uncle C.K. wants to die at home, but the children won’t let him. They think it will affect the value of the house, lor.”

Carmen rolled her eyes in exasperation. Even before the tin-mining tycoon C. K. Wong’s MRI results came in showing that his cancer had spread all over, everyone had already begun plotting. In the old days, real estate agents would scour the obituaries every morning, hoping to see the name of some prominent tycoon appear, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the family put the big house up for sale. Now, with Good Class Bungalows^*2 becoming rarer than unicorns, the top agents were resorting to “well-placed contacts” at all the hospitals. Five months ago, Carmen’s boss, Owen Kwee, at MangoTee Properties had called her into his office and said, “My lobang^*3 at Mount E. saw C. K. Wong come in for chemo. Aren’t you related to him?”

“Our fathers are cousins.”

“That house of his on Cluny Park Road is on a three-acre plot. It’s one of the last Frank Brewer houses still standing.”

“I know. I’ve been going there my whole life.”

Owen leaned back in his tufted-leather office chair. “I only know the oldest son, Quentin. But there are other siblings, right?

“Two younger brothers and one daughter.” She knew exactly where he was going with this.

“Those two brothers live abroad, don’t they?”

“Yes,” Carmen said impatiently, wishing he would get to the point.

“The family will probably want to sell after the old man conks off, won’t they?”

“Jesus, Owen, my uncle is still very much alive. He was golfing at Pulau Club last Sunday.”

“I know, lah, but can I safely assume that MangoTee will get the exclusive listing if the family ever decides to sell?”

“Stop being so kiasu.^*4 Of course I will get the listing,” Carmen said in annoyance.

“I’m not being kiasu, I just wanted to make sure you are prepared. I hear Willy Sim over at Eon Properties is already circling like a hawk. He went to Raffles with Quentin Wong, you know.”

“Willy Sim can circle all he wants. I’m already in the nest.”

• • •

Six months later, this was precisely where Carmen found herself—standing in the crow’s nest, a small room tucked away in the attic of her late uncle’s old bungalow—as she showed her friend Astrid around the property.

“What a cute space! What did they use this room for?” Astrid asked as she peered around the little nook.