BLUE BLOOD

44 | [kalina jeong]

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I know what they say about me.

They say Kalina Jeong was basically Asian royalty because of her blood. I never corrected these white rich girls and never told them they guessed my ethnicity correctly. I never told them that it was actually my cousin, Theodore Jeong, who was "basically" royalty because of the patriarchy that structured my family.

My great-great something grandfather was one of the first to immigrate to Singapore in the early nineteenth century. He established the family exporting business. Through multiple generations, the Jeongs have expanded until they practically dominated Singapore, now one of the richest places in the world, and other places like Malaysia and the Philippines.

In other words, my elusive family was old money.

One of the oldest Asian bloodlines.

And no one has heard about us. The old Asian families valued their privacy to the extent that any trace or name of us has been wiped away. Those articles that published the silly lists of the richest people in the world? Yeah. Those were very inaccurate. In this world, the truly rich are invisible.

Money talks, but wealth whispers.

I have been detached from that world for a long time. To be exact, ever since my mother broke her arranged marriage, eloped and fled from Singapore (the Jeongs' empire) to America (where she had received most of her schooling and diplomas) with her dirt-poor husband in the name of love. Grandfather almost had her locked up, "You are a Jeong. You have a duty to marry him," but ultimately let her go on the one condition that her children took the last name Jeong.

That is why I was Kalina Jeong — named after my mother, not father.

And I thank God for that.

In the end, all of it seemed pointless. Mother always said, "Your grandfather was right. He always wanted the best for me. The fiancé he picked for me would have treated me better than your father."

Barely a year in, Father had packed up his bags and fled when Mother found out about his infidelity. Father insisted that he did it because he was no longer in love with her. I always knew that it was because his ego could not accept that Mother was so wealthy. In fact, he never wanted her to buy a millions of dollar worth estate in this district so that I could attend Queens Erlington Academy. He thought it was snobby and pretentious.

I haven't seen him in years. I don't miss him, by the way. The only good thing he left me was his cupid bow lips and large eyes I inherited from him.

I did miss the life I could have had if I had never gone to Queens Erlington Academy.

It all started in elementary prep. All the girls fawned over Helen but I never bothered. I had Blake and Mason as my closest friends. I didn't need anymore friends, and certainly not from the girls who made fun of my Asian features.

Helen, however, chose me out of everyone.

She looked at me, sitting in the corner quietly, and said, "I want you to be my partner."

"No," I responded, never looking up from the book I was reading.

That was the quietest the classroom had ever been. No one said no to Helen. I heard her walk over and I glanced up, determined not to be intimidated by her. I grew up with boys. I could throw a mean punch.

But she surprised me. Helen smiled widely and said, "Please?"

No one had ever heard her say please either. That made me feel special. I thought about it for a moment and then nodded.