Office Diaries - Chapter 109

Surprised, he turned to the bed and met his wife’s gaze and he felt nervous. “Love?” he asked hesitantly and she nodded.

“Stay. Don’t go,” she said and he was at a loss.

“But I can’t stay here. You might…” he thought of ways on how to tell her about her condition but he couldn’t come up with anything. “You might…”

“You mean the other “me” might show up and cause a ruckus?” she supplied and his eyes widened.

“You know about the other you?” he asked and his wife nodded once more.

“I’ve always known about her though she didn’t know about me,” she answered as she lifted herself and sat up, her back leaning against the headboard. “But now she does…”

“What do you mean?”

“It means what you think it means,” she said as she smiled lovingly at him. “We have become one. There are no more gaps in our memories— and each of us had come to terms with each other’s fears and sorrow.”

Michael looked at his wife in amazement. “You…”

She patted the space next to her and he sat on it, taking her back in his arms as he did so.

“My sisters told me everything,” she stated and she told him what she had been up to for the past month.

“You mean to say that you’re better now?” he asked happily but she shook her head. “Not yet Mikey, but I’m getting there. I still need to continue with my therapy,” she replied and he hugged her tight.

“Oh God I’m so happy right now. I was about to give up.”

“Why?”

“Because you – I mean the “you” that I married appeared less and less frequently. I feared you were disappearing and I wasn’t able to do anything to stop it. I had been so scared. The other “you” didn’t seem to like me and I was going crazy thinking about ways to make you undergo therapy.”

“There’s no need for you to be scared anymore,” she told him. She too felt like bursting with happiness.

��I’m so sorry about our baby and for hurting you that night,” he murmured against her temple where her scar was and she gave him a reassuring pat on the arm.

“I’m not angry at you Mikey. It wasn’t entirely your fault. Maybe God didn’t want us to have a child yet. I think that happened because the heavens wanted me to get well first so that I could love our family completely.”

“Thank God,” he murmured as he showered kisses all over her face. “I love you so much. I love you so much,” he whispered over and over again and the two of them ŀȧpsed in silence as they held each other tight, too happy to let go.

After a while, Ria became thoughtful.

“What’s wrong?” Michael inquired as he once again kissed his wife’s temple where the scar was.

“Getting better has some downsides though,” she announced as he chuckled.

“What downsides?” he asked again as he pecked at her brow.

Now that everything’s fine between him and his wife, he couldn’t care less about other issues.

“I don’t know how to face Charles and Dylan when I see them next,” she announced woefully and Michael laughed making his wife cover her face in embarrassment. “I can’t imagine what they were thinking when I suddenly barged in the office thinking it was my first day of work!” she added which made her husband laugh harder.

But there was no need to worry at all. As soon as Michael had an idea what was going on with his wife, he quickly called all his employees for a meeting and oriented them about his wife’s memory loss and asked them to play along.

On the other hand, though she seemed to continue to worry about this, in reality she was so happy she didn’t give a damn. As a wife, she could finally be with her husband completely.

There’s no longer a need for her to compare herself to a besotted Psyche yearning for Eros to come to her even only at night. Because Michael Chen, her dream lover wasn’t a dream anymore.

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Charles Wong sat behind his office table grinning at the documents in front of him. In his hand was another extension of contract from Aqua. It seemed that the sports equipment company was really impressed and pleased with Ria’s work that they wanted to secure their number one employee’s services longer.

This was really good news for their company – however…

Hmmmnnnn….

With a thoughtful expression crossing his face, he wondered what his cousin would say about this. It hasn’t been long since Michael’s wife finally recovered from her psychological disorder that he wasn’t sure if his cousin would allow his wife to continue working now that she could remember him. In fact, in the two months since Ria’s memories returned, he hadn’t seen the couple at the office much.

For a realist such as Charles, however, the couple’s absence was a blessing. It’s like torture seeing the lovebirds these days. It was as if the two were having their second honeymoon pawing at each other all the time with those gooey expressions on their faces which would make one puke rainbows if you stayed long enough with them.

Come to think of it, the reason why he was the one getting the contract was because Michael had left the advertising company for him to handle while his cousin catered to his other businesses tagging his wife along wherever he went.

Oh well…

Charles placed the documents on the table and stretched his arms. It was not as if he could blame the couple for being like the way they were at the moment. Those two had been through a lot for almost a year that they deserved all the enjoyment they’re doing at present.

After marrying his cousin, Ria had stopped working anyway and so Charles wouldn’t insist for her to continue working now that she remembered everything.

With a grin, the executive shook his head as he recalled the time almost a year ago when his cousin’s wife came barging in his office asking for work. It took a lot for him to maintain a straight face that time. Charles might be tough— someone who’d crook his finger at challenges to bring it on, but he had to admit that nothing had ever made him prepare for Ria’s bizarre problem.

Thank God it was already over and done with, he thought as he frowned. If Ria wouldn’t take on the task Aqua had in store for her, Charles would just have to consider persuading them to have Dylan Ng take over the project instead. The latter was after all another one of their special employees— not to mention that he’s a little better than Ria when it came to concept.

Maybe, he’d ask Dylan Ng to his office and discuss the possibility already just in case, he decided as he reached for the intercom to tell his secretary to call Dylan to his office. Before he did so however, there was an urgent knock on his door which made him pause as he called out for the person to come in.

Speaking of the devil, the door to his office opened and in came Dylan Ng looking a little worried.

“Boss,” the designer called as he padded across the room and Charles motioned for him to sit down.

“Good timing Dy. I was about to tell my secretary to call you,” the executive said as the other seated in front of his table though he frowned after a fashion wondering why the designer sought him out. “What’s up?” he asked.

“Ria’s sick,” Dylan announced worriedly and Charles’s frown deepened.

“Sick?” The executive looked troubled as well upon hearing it.

It was true that last night, his cousin told him that his wife was a little unwell, but he never really pondered on it since it didn’t sound as urgent as the way Dylan delivered him the news just now.

“Yes,” Dylan answered as he scratched the side of his head, a sign which told Charles that the other was genuinely distressed and he felt a little anxious as well. He’d keep his cool though until after he’d learned everything.

“How did you know?” he questioned the designer who scratched his head once more before answering.

“Ria called me earlier,” Dylan replied. “But it was not really Ria. It was Boss Chen who was using her phone who talked to me.”

“My cousin called you?” Charles couldn’t believe his ears. Michael wasn’t one who’d just call anyone about personal matters.

“Well…” Dylan’s voice trailed off as he continued with his nervous gestures and it took a lot for Charles not to shake the other man into talking. Honestly, the suspense was killing him.

“Well, the boss thought I was you. He even called me Charles when he told me Ria’s sick and that he brought her to the hospital. The boss sounded in panic. I was not able to ask questions before he cut the call,” Dylan told him which made the executive stand up in alarm.

Charles’s mind raced as he thought of different scenarios. Michael making a mistake— calling someone else while sounding so panicked meant his cousin was under such pressure he wasn’t thinking right.

Could it be? Could Ria’s mind snap again? He heard it was difficult treating people with dual personalities— and so far, the time Ria spent for therapy wasn’t enough. Could it be?