High Class.

Episode 8: Aunt Grace.

Grace Chua wasn't just Paul's elder sister and the oldest in the family, she was the head of the family, she held authority and was and still is the most important person in the family. She was feared and respected. The seventy five years old was a widow, she had a son but he died of cancer like his Dad when he was eighteen and since then she had to remain unmarried, spending the rest of her days doing things she couldn't do when she was younger and trying to make the world a better place.

Esther smiled, this was the most beautiful news she had heard in a long while, Aunt Grace's coming to Singapore. Finally, someone is going to put things in order, since Sarah got married to Father, the Chua name became a joke, everyone in the family were acting like bunch of idiots, tarnishing the family name, thrown it completely to the dogs. It wasn't suppose to be that bad but with Sarah and her sister why would there still be sanity left, so Esther took it upon herself to prepare for Aunt Grace visit.

While they waited for Daniel, Yvonne was thinking of different ways to make the special, national dish, Hainanese Chicken Rice. One of Aunt Grace's best food, While Genesis was thinking of the proposal she would propose to Daniel, she knew Yvonne was not the type of person suitable for the job but the girl needed someone or something to boost her confidence, she was going to act like a friend and sister till when she decided to let go, no need to be clingy. She was also not going to let her feelings for Daniel make her act foolishly, at times he could be just as cruel as Laurence and even worst.

When Daniel finished his meeting, he walked to the reception, upon seeing them, he raised his hand. "Dear Yvonne!, darling" He hugged and kissed her and turned to Genesis, quickly kissing her cheeks, he led them to his office.

"I am sorry to have kept you waiting but my schedules are packed, I reserved thirty minutes for us, though" He said glancing at his watch.

"Thirty minutes?" Genesis asked. "What would that do?" She looked mad at him.

"We have a proposal for you" Yvonne spoke up. "Or let's say.... a request"

Daniel leaned back. "I am all ears"

"Employ Yvonne to work on that skincare advert you talked to me about" Genesis said. "Look at her, she has everything, the looks, the attitude, the right face...."

"We have a model for that already, Suzy Cho" Genesis frowned at the mention of the name.

"Who is she?" Yvonne asked as she saw Genesis countenance.

"You don't want to know her, she is Eva's best friend"

"I know I have nothing to offer...." Yvonne started as she looked at Daniel. "But I really need this, this has been my dream, and I am so close to getting it, I won't back down"

Daniel was quiet. "Are you ready for fame?" He asked as he walked over to the wall, looking at a chart on the wall.

"Viola..." He said turning to the girls. "needs a model to promote their newest designs, they have asked me to see to it"

Genesis was shaking her head.

"Daniel!!, Viola is going bankrupt already,you can't do this to her"

"Maybe that's why they need Yvonne" He said and walked back to her seat. "That's all I can do for her...."

"No, it's not!" She cut in, angrily.

"Genesis" Daniel looked like he had no choice but she wasn't going to he deceived by that, he was as shrewd as every other business man she knew,she thought he was different "You know very well that she doesn't know anything about modelling, and I am so sure she doesn't know what Viola is".

Genesis was fuming and she got up, Yvonne was still sitting.

"I'll do it"

#. #. #. #.

The very presence of Grace in the house carried a mysterious air, she was elegant, rich, decent and confidence, and Yvonne almost lost her courage looking at her or maybe because she was contagious.

When she came, everyone was standing, Paul went over to her and kissed her, Sarah was smiling like she had just won a lottery and Christiana was grinning.

"Auntie" Esther called lovingly as she walked to give her a hug. "We are so happy to see you here"

"Really?, I didn't know" She said smiling. "And where are my nephews and nieces?"

Mariana walked to her, Genesis followed and Laurence and Yvonne too.

She hugged them.one after the other, but didn't hug Yvonne nor acknowledge her presence.

"I am so tired from the journey I need a cold bath to wake my senses"

"No cold baths for you, Auntie, don't you know you are aging?" Esther said.

"And you have to see the newest grand nephew" Mariana said, she wanted to not be ignored, why were Esther and Genesis so close to Aunt Grace than she was, that was annoying.

Aunt Grace feigned ignorance and was walking ahead.

"Auntie!" Laurence called, she stopped, everyone did. "You forgot one more member of this family"

"Julio?, I thought he was away, right?"

"My fiancee" Laurence said, Grace looked like she didn't hear it at first and then she smiled. "After dinner, yes?"

Dinner included many Singaporean dishes and plus the national dish, Aunt Grace favorite food, specially made by the chief cook. Sadly, no one wanted Yvonne to prove her cooking skills, Sarah said something nasty and insulting in Mandarin to Mariana in front of the cooks and helps and they laughed, the cooks couldn't laugh openly so they would giggle and look at her with contempt, she was so ashamed she lost all confidence and blamed Laurence for being so selfish, he never even cared what she was feeling.

The family talked about everything but not about Yvonne nor the baby, though Grace looked twice at the baby but she didn't say anything more and after dinner announced she was going to take a short rest in her room. She however went over to the baby in front of everyone and checked him out, to see if he was healthy and bold she held his legs up for a while, the baby wasn't scared at first but then he cried, she nodded her head in satisfaction and turning to Yvonne and Laurence, she shook her head and smiled and went into her room.

Yvonne didn't know what to feel when Grace called her to her room, she was in Jordan's room, looking at the sleeping baby and wondering what it would have been like if she never had him. She went back to her room to take a shower and dress in her pajamas to show the woman that she was already dressed for bed which of course wasn't the truth but who cares about the truth.

As she came out of the bathroom, she saw Laurence leaning by the door to her dressing room, she almost fell back.

"What the hell!!, What do you want now?"

He turned to her and quickly looked away, she looked at the towel tied around her.

"Get out now!"

"This is my house, you are not going to tell me when and when not to leave"

"I don't care, I am not going to stay in the same room as you" She said, he walked to her.

"You are going to see Aunt Grace....." He held her left hand and removing a wrist watch from his pocket, he proceeded to fix it on her hand.

"What are you doing?"

"Let's say just making you feel confident in front of her"

"I don't need a wrist watch to make me feel confident"

"Yes" He said as he tapped her head, she shrugged his hands off, he walked out.

She looked baffled at first, shrugged it off and went into her dressing room, the recorder on her left hand beeped but she was too busy to hear it.

When she walked into Aunt Grace room, the woman was looking into a tablet, she was smiling.

"Come on in, Yvonne Solis".