Most of the board members gasped audibly as they stared wide-eyed at Astrid.
"When it comes to Anish Kapoor, I am totally biased. I have loved his work for many years now, and as you probably know I own several of his pieces and yes, I was the anonymous donor who helped to fund the new installation in Antwerp. So we will be examining two new artworks from him for possible acquisition, and I will recuse myself from that vote." Astrid smiled at everyone and sat down again.
"Un fucking believable … " Lauren Lee muttered under her breath.
Sarita Singh tapped on her coffee mug with her spoon, and everyone looked at her as she spoke up in a righteous tone. "I was expecting our chairwoman to humbly announce her resignation, but since she has shown no intention of doing that, I'd like to start a motion for Astrid Leong's immediate removal from the acquisitions board."
Astrid stared at Sarita in shock.
"I second that motion," Lauren Lee immediately said.
"What the hell?" Felipe blurted out, his mouth still full of soft-boiled egg as the room erupted in commotion.
"Sarita, why are you suddenly suggesting this motion?" Astrid asked.
"Astrid, let's be perfectly honest here. We're going to lose funding now because of your actions. The entire museum's reputation is going to be affected because of you. I can't even believe you dared to show up here this morning."
"I'm really not following … is this because of my divorce?" Astrid asked, trying to remain gracious and calm.
From the other end of the table, Sophie Khoo stood up and ran over to Astrid's side. "Come with me now," she whispered, taking hold of her arm.
Astrid stood up and followed Sophie out of the room. "What is going on in there?" she asked, absolutely bewildered.
"Astrid, it just became apparent to me that you don't even know yet."
"Know what?"
Sophie closed her eyes for a moment and inhaled. "There is a video of you that leaked late last night. It's gone viral."
"A video?" Astrid still didn't catch on.
"Yes, of you … with Charlie Wu."
All the color drained from Astrid's face. "Oh my God."
"I'm so sorry … " Sophie began.
Astrid stood stock-still for a moment, and then she snapped into crisis-management mode. "I need to go. I need to get Cassian out of school. Please tell them I needed to go," Astrid said, as she made a run for her car.
As Astrid sped along the Sentosa Gateway heading back to Singapore, she found herself unusually calm and collected. She tried ringing Charlie from her Bluetooth but his cell kept going straight to voice mail. Finally, she left a message: "Charlie, I suspect you've already heard about the video leak since you're not answering. I just found out minutes ago. I'm fine, don't worry, I'm on my way to ACS now to get Cassian. I would suggest doing the same for Chloe and Delphine. If they haven't found out already, it's better coming from us than from some classmate. You know how kids can be. I'll talk to you soon."
The minute Astrid ended the call, her phone started ringing again. "Charlie?"
There was a brief silence on the other end, and then a screeching voice filled her car. "Oh my God, you are still talking to that horrible pervert! I can't believe you!" It was her mother.
"Mum, please calm down."
"A sex tape! Ohmygod, in my worst nightmare I never imagined I would ever hear those words uttered about one of my children! I just got home from showing Tyersall Park to some dreadful Chinese people, and now I hear this news from Cassandra Shang? Your father is so angry, I'm worried he's going to drop dead of a heart attack!" Felicity cried.
Astrid couldn't help but notice how her mother always managed to sob hysterically, scold, and guilt-trip her simultaneously. "Mother, we did nothing wrong! Michael secretly videotaped us in the privacy of Charlie's home, and now he's leaked the video everywhere. This is a crime, Mum."
"The crime is you sleeping with Charlie in the first place!"
"How is that a crime?"
"You're a harlot! Your reputation has gone down the toilet, and you're branded for life now!"
"Did you even see the video? It's ten seconds of grainy footage-"
"Ohmygod, if I were to actually see the video I think I would instantly go blind! How could you have slept with that man when you're not even married to him? This is God punishing you!"
"I'm sorry, I've had sex before marriage, okay, and I've had sex with Charlie, who, by the way, I was having sex with the first time he was my fiancé over a decade ago!"