Despite what you may have heard, Chèrie Chan and Jessey Lee are indeed back for Season 2 of Bling Empire — and while their appearance may be brief, it definitely leaves an impact. In Season 1, we see Jessey and Chèrie — both heirs to their family’s respective businesses in furniture and denim — struggle to agree on when to get married. Though they’ve been together for years and already share two kids, daughter Jadore and baby boy Jevon, Jessey keeps delaying their marriage, much to Chèrie’s disappointment. Tired of waiting for Jessey to pop the question, Chèrie takes the initiative and proposes to him in the finale. But little did we know then that there’d be more — way more — to their story than meets the eye. (Warning: Major spoilers ahead). 

In Season 2 Episode 1, Chèrie is first seen shopping for an engagement ring. She explains that she’s been trying to plan her wedding for the past year and a half. “I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t want to get married — he wants the timing to be correct,” she tells fellow castmate Anna Shay, adding that their feng shui consultant told them that the following year would be more auspicious for tying the knot. 

Later at their home, Chèrie broaches the topic of their wedding, but it seems Jessey doesn’t want to talk about it. Then at the end of Episode 1, Leah Qin, a friend of Chèrie’s and a newcomer to the show, meets with Jaime and drops a bombshell: She alleges that five years ago, Jessey had a wife with whom he had two kids. 

By Episode 2, most of the other Bling Empire cast members learn about Jessey’s rumored previous marriage, and Kane and Jaime decide to meet up with Leah to get to the bottom of the story. This time, Leah divulges another shocking piece of information: Chèrie allegedly had an ex-boyfriend who introduced Chèrie to Jessey’s then-wife, and sometime after that, Chèrie broke up with him and entered into a relationship with Jessey. Kane seems particularly floored by the news and even implies that he feels betrayed by Chèrie. 

In the next episode, we see Kane, Kevin, Kelly and Jaime doing some digging on Jessey’s rumored ex, including googling public records and, of course, stalking her on Instagram. They find out that Jessey and she divorced in 2016, which they think means that Jadore was already conceived before the divorce. When Chèrie appears at Anna’s party, Kane wants to talk to her about what he’s heard but confesses feeling awkward about it. Eventually he tries to bring it up — only to be interrupted by none other than... Paula Abdul? Talk about a real plot twist.

“So I thought World War III was gonna happen between Chèrie and Kane, and then Paula Abdul walks in. I’m like, ‘What the fuck?’ I swear, only with this group,” Kim says in response to the  surprise celebrity appearance. We’d have to agree with you on that one, Kim.

Check out all the drama unfolding in Season 2 of Bling Empire, now streaming on Netflix.