How It All Goes Down
Astrid — Singapore
- Astrid returns to Singapore in time to put her son Cassian to bed and hide her couture purchases from her husband.
- Her husband, Michael, has been stressed and busy at work, which has required frequent traveling to China to get his new tech biz up and running.
- Missing him, Astrid wants a perfect night to welcome him home: wine and dinner on the balcony.
- Her family doesn't understand her hands-on approach to her life: unpacking her own luggage, talking directly to cooks. Yes, it all seems so strange.
- We're given a little peek into the typical life expectancy of an elite Singaporean girl: which schools to attend, the tutors, the music lessons, the post-secondary experience off in the UK, the choice between medicine or law until marrying a man of prestige at 25, the kids, the social life, the grandkids, and the death.
- But Astrid did things differently and has been scrutinized along the way: rumors followed her throughout childhood.
- Charlie Wu became her beloved after using lots of money for grand gestures. They were engaged until Astrid broke it off, much to her family's relief, by tossing a Frosty in his face outside a Wendy's.
- Astrid disappeared in Paris and eventually emerged engaged to Michael Teo, a middle-class "nobody".
- The two were married in a private, small wedding, starting off an intimate life together.
- Astrid is still in love with Michael and she's excited to see him when he comes home.
- They eat, catch up, Michael seemingly uninterested in Astrid's time away .
- Michael and Astrid make love. While he's in the shower, she hears a phone and assumes it is hers.
- Confused and thinking the text message "MISS U NSIDE ME" is a joke from her cousin, she realizes she grabbed Michael's phone (1.9.19).