Page 66 of The Friend Zone Experiment

Andrew held her hand for slightly too long, before movingon to exchange pleasantries with Su Khoon. They sat down, Su Khoon calling over a waiter so he could order Andrew a drink.

In his place, Renee might have made alittlemore effort to disguise the way he’d transferred his attention to Andrew, as Low Teck Wee’s nephew and the most important person in the Freshview party. But the men Su Khoon had been talking to before didn’t seem offended. They addressed Andrew as Mr. Yeoh, too.

Was this the reason Dad had asked Renee to get involved in this deal? She’d never told him about what had happened when Andrew came to her flat. Dad had been annoyed enough when he found out they’d broken up that he’d frozen her out for a while—her calls had been declined; her messages went unanswered. By the time they were back on speaking terms, she hadn’t felt like raising the subject of Andrew again.

Dad couldn’t be hoping for a reconciliation now. Andrew was married. Renee had seen the photos on Instagram, shared by acquaintances who went to the wedding: Felicia Handoko glowing in Vera Wang, Andrew looking justifiably smug over netting the Delima Corp heiress. There’d be no point for Dad in orchestrating this encounter.

This had to be a test of Renee’s ability to ingratiate herself, despite her history with Andrew. Or—since it seemed unlikely Dad would risk a deal he wanted by staffing it with someone who’d dumped the chairman’s nephew—possibly Dad simply hadn’t known Andrew was involved.

Renee would happily have let Su Khoon monopolise Andrew, but after a time her brother was drawn back into conversation with the other Freshview people. One of the other men identified a mutual school friend, which sent them off into reminiscences Renee and Andrew, who were some years younger, couldn’t share.

Andrew turned to her. “My uncle said he ran into you recently. You’re based in London now, he said?”

Renee tensed despite herself. She rolled her shoulders under her oversized camel blazer, trying to ease the tightness in them.

It was stuffy in the bar, the heating turned too high for the unusually clement weather. She would have taken her blazer off, but she was wearing a black camisole underneath, tucked loosely into an oyster-coloured satin midi skirt, and she didn’t feel like exposing her shoulders to Andrew’s gaze. It felt like his eyes were leaving trails of slime all over her.

“For the past few years, yes,” she said.

“Asia wasn’t enough,” said Andrew. “You want the UK as well.”

“And tomorrow, the world,” said Renee lightly.

Andrew laughed, but it was a nice laugh. “You were always ambitious.”

“Felicia runs her own business, too, right?” said Renee. “I read theMarie Claireprofile of her. The restaurant sounds great.”

“Oh, Indera’s more of a hobby. It doesn’t really make money,” said Andrew. “She’s taken a step back for now. Focusing on the baby.”

Renee blinked. “Oh, I didn’t know. Congratulations!”

The next twenty minutes passed much more pleasantly than she might have expected, Andrew showing her photos of the baby. The baby was not notable for its beauty, but it was easy to be enthusiastic about it, given some of the other paths the conversation could have gone down.

After an hour or so, Andrew said they should be off—he had a dinner engagement—and they all shook hands again. Su Khoon and Renee insisted the Freshview party take the first black cab that came along the Strand. As they watched the cab move off, Su Khoon said to Renee:

“Not too bad.”

Renee didn’t pretend not to know what he meant. She inclined her head.

“I didn’t know Andrew was coming, for the record.” Su Khoon snorted. “Wouldn’t have brought you along if I knew. But at least you can be civil.”

Renee wondered if she could believe him. “It’s business. I’m not going to make things weird so long as he doesn’t.”

“That’s all we need,” said Su Khoon. “But don’t take it too far, OK? You don’t want to piss off his wife’s family. Delima’s a big deal in Indonesia, that’s a growing market for us.”

Renee rolled her eyes. “Please, Er Ge. I broke up with him for a reason.”

“I’m just saying,” said Su Khoon mildly.

It was strange talking to a Su Khoon who was capable of being mild. It reminded Renee of the childhood family holiday when they’d visited the Snake Temple in Penang and she’d had a dozy viper draped over her for photos. The adults promised it had been devenomed, but she could see the creature’s fangs when it yawned, and it had not been possible to trust that she would not be bitten.

“You were talking with Andrew for a long time,” said her brother.

“He was showing mebaby pictures,” said Renee.

Su Khoon curled his lip, as much as to say,Don’t be naive, you and I both know what men are like.

But he spared her the lecture.

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