Chapter One
Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Middle Building, Singapore
Clarity Nice pushed open the door of Shalia's Palatial Suite at the Marina Bay Sands hotel, settling in the living room area, watching Shalia watch a rerun of 'Singapore Idol' on MediaCorp Channel Five, a popular television show in Singapore based on the UK show Pop Idol. The teleoperator from Malibu thought that Shalia wanted to reconcile, in order to go to bed with her. This time, it wasn't the case.
"You lied to me, you're not Darcy Emmers." Shalia returned to Clarity the badge of Herbaline, insisting that she was very angry with the deceit. The interphone of the Suite rang, and Shalia pressed on the speaking button.
"Shalia here."
"Ms. Elsie Chu is here to see you."
"Send her up." Shalia poured a glass of 'Stony Bank' Sauvignon Blanc from a bottle bought from Underground Wines, an online shop recommended by the concierge at Marina Bay.
"My friendship with you was authentic, is authentic," said Clarity.
"I don't know how you got a Singapore passport with diplomatic status, but you deceived me. I'm going to dismiss you as assistant."
Clarity held the stare of the blond girl, sighing inwardly with relief. The wealthy socialite did not mention telling anyone at Infocomm or Immigration about her status in Singapore.
The door of the Suite opened, and Elsie Chu strolled inside, ready to share thoughts of trading her Audi A8 for a BMW 335i, costing thereabouts of two hundred sixty thousand dollars, five times the cost of the same car in the U.S., due to excise and registration duties, and also due to a costly certificate of entitlement which allowed the car to be on the road for ten years.
"What exactly were you after? Why did you befriend me?" Asked Shalia. Elsie Chu placed her Opal clutch bag from Khirma on a table, and walked towards Clarity.
"What's the problem?"
"This woman, she lied to me, she introduced herself with a false name." The wife of Singapore billionaire Dao Bin eyed Clarity for a few seconds.
"She was with you at the Institute of Long Health, wasn't she, Herbaline employee?" Asked Elsie Chu.
"Yes," said Shalia. Elsie Chu prompted a few photographs from her smartphone, and a few documents, before lifting her eyes towards Clarity.
"Come with me," said the wealthy wife of Dao Bin, "I'll protect you from uncomfortable inquiries."
"You're taking her with you?" Asked Shalia. She was thrown off and could not react.
"Don't worry Shalia, I'll give you a call later, we need to do some serious shopping at Ion Orchard."
Clarity was apprehensive about having to face Singapore authorities to explain why her name was not Darcy Emmers. Elsie Chu was a wealthy woman, and a well-known name in Singapore. She nodded and followed the middle-aged woman out of Shalia's Suite, thinking that she wasn't leaving with a stranger. They drove west in Elsie Chu's Audi, to the outdoor parking lot of a residential area south of Orchard Road.
Clarity stepped out of Elsie Chu's car, admiring the elliptical building before her, housing the penthouse of Dao Bin and his wife on the top floor, the thirty second floor. Wilkinson Vue, a 'sanctuary of calm living', adjacent to the upscale and commercial Orchard Road, combined interlocking curves of metal cladding with glass. They waved at the concierge walking through an alley beside a large infinity pool and a dining area offering alfresco entertainment. The weekly events included singers from Vegas experiencing a dry spell of gigs, and jazz and bossa-nova bands brought in for the listening pleasure of the freehold residential owners of each unit.
They took one of the elevators to the top floor, which opened on a three thousand square foot penthouse, doubling the space in a second floor harboring four bedrooms, four bathrooms, and a theater and music room. Clarity stepped out of the elevator onto a spectacular bespoke parquet marquetry oak floor showing a flower radial inlay enhanced with a Matt lacquer finish, which turned the floor into a piece of art. The first floor of the apartment designed by Takashi Sugimoto of Super Potato, featured a spacious balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows offering a three sixty panoramic view of Singapore.
Elsie Chu pointed Clarity towards the living room area, sitting with her in a curved, soft grain white leather sofa imported from Turkey. The middle-aged doyenne sat closer to Clarity, pointing to the latest issues of Vanity Fair and Singapore Tatler, two magazines describing the lives of prominent people in the city-state, which fed her gossip inclinations.
"One of your duties and missions, will be to keep me abreast of all the information shown about me, in print, television, and online. I want to know what others are saying about me. I'm also going to put you in charge of administering some aspects of my agenda, buying groceries, and putting gas in my car."
She lifted her right hand, showing Clarity a luxury ring made of rose gold, pairing two asymmetric circular bands: one showing a line of diamonds, and a wider one set with a single diamond in half-moon setting. The ring, made by Swiss luxury jeweler Viauget, was sold for fifty thousand dollars, providing the owner with the satisfying consumer intangible sensation of controlling all aspects of her life. Appropriately, the ring was called 'Rose Property'.
"Turn and the world is yours, that's what Viauget says, it's one of the reasons I bought it, I was so empowered by that, for some reason."
Clarity saw Elsie Chu rotate the single diamond eighteen carat pink gold band ninety degrees and her smartphone lit up, showing the numberless phone of Madame Wa, the masseuse and manicure esthetician working at the Institute of Long Health with Professor Chang. Like the Taoist Master working with her, Madame Wa was an advocate of maximum longevity. The summum of longevity, immortality, was possible, according to her, with the technology available in western economies. Clarity watched the pink gold ring move away, as Elsie Chu grabbed her smartphone to talk with Madame Wa.
"I'm not sure about the next manicure, I'm expecting my husband, we have to talk business."
Clarity picked up a real estate magazine from the living room table, belonging to 'Street Sense' the company owned by Olivia Chai, a real estate developer of residential areas, industrial parks, and a Sino-Singapore knowledge city in Guangzhou, who had advised Dao Bin on buying the Wilkinson Vue penthouse as a freehold apartment at a 'bargain' fifteen million dollars. Clarity felt a pair of soft hands land in the back of her neck, which felt wonderful. She was actually in need of lowering tension in and around her shoulder blades. A good looking woman in her early twenties displaying long, light brown hair, and sensual full lips, pressed her breasts against her upper vertebrae. The sensation of smooth, soft fingers against her sweater melted Clarity, who smelled the vanilla-tinged nectar of the Osmanthus perfume the woman was wearing, labeled 'Disarming Touch'. A sultry voice spoke softly into her ears.
"Hi, I'm Vanity Lane, I'm the private maid of Mr. Dao Bin and Ms. Elsie Chu."
She held the arm of Clarity and pulled her off the white leather sofa, leading her towards one of the windows, away from Elsie Chu, who kept refusing to share information on Hunan Enterprises, the flagship smartphone company of Dao Bin, with Madame Wa.
"I'm Clarity, the personal shopper, agenda and media damage control assistant of Elsie Chu."
"That's a job I wouldn't mind, except for the damage control part, that's going to be a lot of work for you. How did you get that position?"
The five foot six maid took the sweater off Clarity, and began caressing her back, doing a massage which felt quite pleasant.
"Circumstance," said Clarity, "going here and there, came from Orange County, in California, landed in Singapore a few weeks ago. One rich person led to another."
"Yeah, I see, wealthy people do tend to be around together." She added. "You don't like rich people."
"I like the middle-class. I don't like the too-much arrogance of some rich people, it means their wealth is not completely well-deserved. But it's not that easy to tell the difference. How did you end up here?"
"I was working as hostess in the private plane of Oli
via Chai, she referred me to Elsie Chu when I told her I wanted to stop traveling so much. I began to work for Olivia Chai after leaving Aura Escort in Copenhagen."
"How do you like your work?" Vanity shrugged.
"Pays all right."
"How much?" Clarity realized that she had not even asked for money to Elsie Chu, in return for doing all that she was assigned to do. For now, her protection from additional inquiries by Shalia Owell and Singapore authorities was enough.
"One thousand dollars a day. You?"
"Still negotiating," said Clarity.
Adding up the numbers, Clarity came up with a yearly figure for Vanity's compensation of three hundred sixty five thousand dollars, assuming Vanity was working seven days a week. That was about forty five percent of the price of a home she'd eyed on Topanga Canyon, at 369 South Topanga Canyon Boulevard, worth a whopping eight hundred thousand dollars. She kneeled on the floor to grab her sweater and put it on again. Elsie Chu was finishing her conversation with Madame Wa.
"I'll give you a call when I'm available," said Elsie Chu. The doyenne hung up and glanced at Clarity and Vanity.
"You've met Vanity, very good, I hope you two get along. Vanity, get ready for the bedroom, my husband is coming home any minute."
"Yes, ma'am," said Vanity. Clarity eyed the backside of Vanity, who was wearing size twenty six jeans. The maid walked towards the cantilever staircase of the penthouse leading to the second floor, the bedroom area. She walked up the stairs slowly, holding on to the stainless steel handrail of the glass balustrade panels. When she reached the tenth step, she turned around to speak with Elsie Chu.
"Naked or clothed welcome for Mr. Dao Bin?"
"Let him choose," said Elsie Chu, "not sure what mood he's in."