Office Diaries - Chapter 103

In a dark room inside a luxurious office, a man sat as memories from a distant past replayed in his mind.

“Let me go!”

A woman screeched as a man carried her and threw her slender body on the huge bed.

“What do you think you’re doing?” she cried demanded as she got up and tried to escape but the man stopped her. She struggled but he did not let her go. “Let me go! I don’t want this!”

“I can’t!” the man cried his answer, his anguish apparent in his voice.

His usually stoic face reflected all the hurt he had been keeping inside. He was breaking. He couldn’t bear the loneliness anymore. He couldn’t. Using his strength, he overpowered her, mȧkɨnġ ŀȯvė with her so desperately. He held her as urgently as if she was his life.

But she was indeed his life. His heart. His everything. Without him, there’s no point in living.

An hour after, two bodies lay entwined on the huge bed wearing nothing but shadows and the soft light coming from the bedside lamp. One body held the other, his heart filled with regrets as he cried silent tears into the night.

The memory ended and he shifted on his seat and stood up. Rain cascaded incessantly outside the huge window. A pair of solemn almond eyes watched the downpour as he leaned over the transom, looking below the thirtieth floor where his office was. In his hand was an almost consumed cancer stick, its ash falling idly on the carpeted floor.

“You’re smoking again,” a voice spoke from behind, and yet he didn’t turn around to look. “I haven’t seen you smoke for a long time,” the voice added as its owner trod the steps that would close the gap between them. “Are you alright?”

For the first time, Charles Wong’s face didn’t have its mischievous aura. Instead, there was a genuinely worried frown marring his youthful feature. He hadn’t seen his cousin this…dark for a long time.

Well, not since…

“Ria already knows I am married.” Michael’s statement made Charles’ brow rise, his lips opening in surprise.

“Oh…” was the only thing he was able to say for a while before the two of them ŀȧpsed into a thoughtful silence.

“That’s good…I think,” Charles commented more to himself than to the other as he nodded, still deep in thought as if he himself was still unsure with his own answer.

In all honesty, he was a little…surprised. He never thought Michael had plans on letting her know about his wife after all, though he somewhat agreed that it was a good idea to do so his cousin could keep his marriage.

“Have you introduced her to your wife then?” he asked lightly and watched as anguish surfaced from within his cousin’s orbs so suddenly that he had to turn his face away, unable to bear seeing the vulnerability Michael had never let anyone see before.

“I tried…but mother came to ruin everything,” he snorted in disgust, remembering the predatory woman who gave birth to him. “It’s impossible now, I think. Ria…” his voice trailed off as he remembered how she had retreated from him.

Since that night he took her out to dinner, Ria had made sure to stay away from him. It’s already been two weeks since that time and until now he was never been given a chance to redeem himself.

How could he explain something if the other party’s not willing to listen?

The worst was that after the project, Ria suddenly asked for a month’s leave and took off somewhere he had no idea where.

It had been days since she had gone. Until now he hadn’t heard a word from her which meant one thing.

“Charles…I think…I think I’ve lost,” Michael stated in half disbelief, his brows shifting as his eyes stared far, far away as if he’d just been hit by that realization himself.

Moisture filled the edges of his almond-shaped orbs, his nose turning red as he swallowed hard, fighting with difficulty the urge to keel over and weep. “I think…I think my wife’s gone now…”

“What are you saying? Don’t tell me you’re giving up?” Charles couldn’t believe his ears.

Over seven months ago, when the tragedy happened, he had seen how his cousin fought tooth and nail to keep everything he held dear. He had witnessed how in spite that his wife wanted to leave him, Michael had held on tight.

Then after the incident months ago, when the doctors told him that he should give up, Michael didn’t. His cousin had been strong through and through. But then now…

And now Michael Chen had broken down.

He could see the traces of despair as well as resignation marring his cousin’s usually unreadable face. He’s giving up, and he felt sad.

After all that happened, he thought that Michael deserved to be happy, and Charles believed it wasn’t impossible since he felt that his wife loved him too. After all the sacrifices and challenges his cousin faced, he wanted Michael to win.

He couldn’t just give up, right?

“I think, I think they are right. I should let go,” Michael said mostly to himself as he placed the cigarette in his mouth and puffed at it one last time before walking towards his table where he crushed it on the ashtray. “I’m losing my wife little by little every day anyway. I think I should just let go…”

Charles then felt tears in his eyes too, listening to his cousin’s words. He could just imagine the pain he was going through. If it were him, he knew he couldn’t bear it. But he knew Michael could— still could bear it a little more.

No, he didn’t want his cousin to give up. He knew that without his wife, Michael would never be the same. In the year they’d been together, Michael’s wife had become his cousin’s world.

“Why don’t you go home and wait? I’m sure your wife would be back. Talk. Don’t give up. Try to fix things,” Charles suggested.

He couldn’t see any other way to end this misery. He believed by laying all cards on the table, by facing each other with all the facts lain out, there’s still a chance. He believed that Ria would never be a problem. She wouldn’t come in between Michael and his wife.

As for the wife in question, Charles believed it’s time for the other party to wake up. She had been spoilt for a long time.

“Go home and talk to your wife. It’s time that you two discuss about Ria,” he urged and he hoped that his older cousin would listen.

=======

“What are you doing here?”

Ria blinked several times as she met her older sister’s puzzled gaze. She just knocked on their door and his sister just opened it.

“Am I not welcome here anymore?” she asked back, sounding a little bit hurt.

It was the first time she came home here in Seoul after getting employed, and her sister’s question felt like they didn’t miss her one bit.

They were at her parents’ place in Korea where they had lived since before Ria started Junior High School. They were originally from the US, but her dad was transferred here for his journalist’s work.

“Awww come on Baby Ria, don’t pout,” her other sister cajoled as she pulled her towards the living room, which she noticed, by the way, was different from what she remembered.

“You were just here the other day. That’s why we’re wondering why you’re here again.”

“The other day? What are you talking about? I haven’t been here in months!” Ria countered as she frowned.

She arrived in Korea two days ago but she only got the courage to return to her parents’ place today. Her eyes continued to wander around the room.

“I didn’t know you had the house repaired,” she commented as she looked around curiously.

More than seven months ago, when she left home after she graduated from college, the house was small and was badly in need of repairs. But now…

She frowned, noting the bigger and more spacious home. Not only that— the furniture and decors were all new too.

“Big Sis, when did you have the house repaired?” she asked.

There was worry in her voice too since she didn’t believe her family’s finances could handle such changes. Noting the furniture, she knew they didn’t come cheap. They’re basically similar to the ones she had in the luxury mansion the company made her borrow back in Singapore.

“Ha?” her sisters looked at her as if she was demented.

“Last year,” they answered and Ria’s frown deepened. Last year, she was still a nerdy university student living in this very house. How come it was renovated last year?

“Are you kidding me?” Ria was unhappy.

Her sisters all looked serious, but her memory was quite clear as well. So for sure, her pretty sisters were toying with.

Or so she thought.

“No— and we have proof.”