Crazy Rich Canadians

The End

March 30, 2018

9:06 am

Rogers Centre. Toronto, Canada.

Rachel's POV

I was currently waiting for Pattie to show up. She had somehow arranged for us to go ice skating at the main event arena in Canada. It was something I did when I was little, so I was looking forward to it. I was going back to LA tonight with my mom, and I felt we had some unfinished business.

"Rachel?" I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to see her coming towards me. "Thanks for meeting me." I said, standing up from the bleachers. "It's not like I had that much of a choice." She sighed, putting her purse on a bench and started putting on her skates. "My mom taught me how to ice skate. She told me it would teach me valuable life skills. Balance, agility, hard work, and dedication." I said, lacing up my own skates.

"My mother taught me, too. That's probably where I got my competitive nature." She said, standing up. "Do you believe that everything in life is a competition?" I asked, following her to the rink. "Of course. Haven't you heard the expression 'survival of the fittest'? We always have to be competitive. If we are not and we just believe life will go our way, we're never going to go anywhere. Optimism is not going to get you to success. Look at it this way. Say you go to an audition for a lead role in a movie and there are about fifty girls in the room. You all want the part. But, it will only go to one of you. If you don't give the audition of your life, you will not get it. Why? Because there will always be someone better than you in the room. It's a cut throat world. As someone who teaches about the industry, I'm sure you've realized that." She replied, skating backwards.

"Yeah, but life isn't an audition for a movie. In a movie, everything ends in the way it's supposed to. Life doesn't always give you a happy ending." I said, referring to how I had turned down Justin's proposal. But I don't think she knew about that.

"Well, I'm pleased you're aware of that. Look at it this way. Just because your relationship with my son didn't work out, it doesn't mean you will never find happiness. You're a nice girl, you're just not a good fit for this family." She said, spinning around. "It's just as well you said that because he asked me to marry him yesterday." I said as I did a lunge. I could tell she was surprised because she immediately stopped spinning. Her eyes moved down to inspect my left hand that was covered by a glove to see if I had a ring.

"He said he would leave you and the rest of his family for good. I'm sure that also means he will never accept anything he's going to inherit." I said, putting my hand in my jacket pocket so she would stop staring. Her expression was dead, I couldn't make out how she was feeling. "But don't worry. I turned him down." I said as I started skating backwards.

I noticed she still hadn't said anything, so I continued talking. "You didn't like me from the second I got here. Why is that?" I asked, hoping we could get to the bottom of this issue. I may have ended my relationship, but that doesn't mean I want to remain on bad terms with the person that's most important to my ex-boyfriend.

"There's a saying my mother used to tell me when I was little. It's 'You must be with your own kind of people'. You are not our kind." Pattie said. "Why? Because I wasn't born into a rich family and I didn't become wealthy once I was older?" I asked. "Precisely. For all I know, you could be some gold digger that's planning to kill my son so you can inherit his fortune. If he was with someone rich, I wouldn't have to worry about her because I would know she's not his girlfriend for his status." Pattie replied.

"I'm not with Justin because of his money. In fact, I didn't know about all this until we were on the plane over here. He rarely ever talks about you guys. I know you won't take my word for it, so you can ask him if you really want to. I didn't know about all this until we were on the damn plane over here when he revealed everything. Even then, I didn't look at him any differently because at the end of the day, all I want is him. But, let me make sure you understand one thing. I fell in love with your son because of who he is. He is my best friend and I would've said yes to his proposal in a heartbeat even if he had absolutely no money. But I know now I'm not what he needs, as you've made perfectly clear. I love him too much to lose his mother a second time. So in twenty years when you're at his mansion with his wife that's enough for you because she will come from a wealthy family, know it was because of me. An American girl from California, raised by a single mother with a criminal record, living on a teacher's salary, nobody." I said, deciding this little excursion was over. I took my skates off and prepared to leave and I turned around to see Pattie's face, looking dumbfounded. I could tell what I just said hit her hard.