Office Diaries - Chapter 111

“I told you that you don’t have to apologize about that,”Ria reminded Yanee who smiled.

Well, Ria was right. The last thing she needed was someone unrelated feeling sorry for what she’d gone through. At least, it’s what Yanee believed. Her own trauma might not be the same as Ria’s but she still felt uncomfortable when someone told how unfortunate she was because of what happened to her.

“Alright. I won’t anymore,” she promised.

“But hey, you still didn’t answer my question,”Ria reminded her.

“Well,”Yanee began as she remembered details of the story. “Your story is quite intriguing honestly.”

Just as she had said earlier, she’d never encountered anyone with this type of disorder before. While Ria was telling her story, she had been confused at times— like the part where she thought Michael was trying to woo his employee but turned out already married to someone else that was not Ria. But in the end, he was truly married to Ria, but not the Ria who went to dine with him at the restaurant and met his mother.

No wonder Tohru told her to read about mental disorders before. The things she read about came handy this time. If she hadn’t read a bit, she wouldn’t be able to understand Ria’s story at all. Also, she’s glad that she seemed to have recovered already.

“I’m curious though,”Yanee started and Ria inclined her head in her direction; her eyes told her to speak up. “I’m curious if you can now remember what happened in those missing fifteen months.”

Well, it was the period where the real “Office Romance” happened after all. Then she worried if her question would cause trouble or offend Ria, but it was already too late to take the question back.

“Oh, that.” Ria looked thoughtful. “I remember all now, of course. It’s been years since I started my therapy. There was a pause as she gathered her thoughts before she spoke again. “Now that’s a typical office romance,” she added with a chuckle.

“I woke up after the accident then went to the company. Normally Michael didn’t have to be at the ad agency but since we met there one day, and he seemed to remember me from the competition. He started coming more often after that.”

There was a nostalgic smile of Ria’s lips which made Yanee feel warm. She truly loved her husband from the way she looked and talked about him.

“Just like what he tried to do with me when I forgot about him, he always asked me out. At first it’s a pretense for work. But after that we started going out for real as a couple until he asked me to marry him, and we did.”

Yanee couldn’t help but smile as she listened.

“A Cinderella,”Ria suddenly said and Yanee inclined her head as she waited for her to continue. “I was like Cinderella— a commoner who fell in love and married the prince.”

Ah…

Well, in a way, it was true. Ria was after all from a middle-class family, while Michael Chen was the heir to a business empire. Unlike Yunjae, Ashley, and Marian who were princesses in their own ways. Even if they married rich men, the disparity of their statuses were not that high— most especially Marian. The James family was even richer than the Kangs. Compared to them, Ria’s family was normal.

Then again, not all fairytale-like stories ended in happy endings— at least not entirely.

“Er…”Yanee didn’t know why but she suddenly wanted to ask about Michael’s family. But she also knew that asking about it was not appropriate.

Michael’s mother…

She reckoned, even if two people truly loved each other and wanted to be together, there would always be others who would not be amicable with the setup. They could be parents, siblings, relatives, or even friends— people that a person couldn’t easily remove from his life. To receive protests and dislike from people your significant other deemed important hurt.

On the other hand, for that someone whose chosen lover was rejected it would also hurt. Choosing between your mate and the people you cared about was painful. Yanee could totally understand how both Ria and Michael felt.

“Why did you become quiet?”Ria suddenly asked lightly. “Are you thinking about my mother-in-law?”

Yanee glanced at her with caution. Of course she was thinking that. But she didn’t want to be insensitive.

“You can ask about her. I don’t mind telling you,”Ria told her. “As I already told you earlier when I was telling you my story, Michael used to be very close to his mother. But she was only ever nice to him but not to me. When we first met, she did everything in her power to break us up. She even brought Mikey’s old flame to the house one day like a villainess of a clichéd love story.”

Urgh…

Wicked, evil, bitch…

Yanee couldn’t think of a more apt word to describe the old Mrs. Chen. She was truly horrible. But then again, it’s also a fact that most people who belonged to the upper echelon on society valued status more than emotions. It’s always a practice since the beginning of time to prioritize the family’s financial and political gains more than feelings. For people in the high society, to be able to marry the one they loved was sort of a miracle.

Yanee should know. The jerk who cheated on her was one of those fools after all.

“Well, the tragedy that made me lose my child happened,”Ria continued. “It’s safe to say that the relationship between me and her is irreparable.”

“It’s not like she was remorseful of her actions anyway,” Ria added with a pensive expression on her face. “And that��s a good thing.”

Yanee nodded her head. She totally understood what Ria meant. Even if the other asked for forgiveness, Ria was not sure if she could grant it anyway, so it was better to remain adversaries.

“By the way,”Ria suddenly said, changing the topic and Yanee felt relieved. “Your handsome potato asked me to ask you this: What did you learn about my story?”

Handsome potato?

Yanee’s lips twitched in amusement, but decided to seriously answer. Normally, it was Tohru who asked her this question after her interviews so she had more time to chew on the information. But it seemed it’s not the case this time. She paused to think for a moment before speaking.

“Facing one’s fears?” Yanee said afterwards.

Ria looked thoughtful before nodded. “True. If I were not such a coward, I wouldn’t have had to rely on another “me” to take all the bad things.”

“Well, that’s not what I meant,” Yanee pouted. She mentioned facing fears because she thought that it was the theme of Ria finally being able to recover. “It’s not your fault that you created another personality within you. A person could only take too much stimulus.”

Even if Yanee believed that it’s good to face your fears, it’s also a good idea to take a step back and run— and it really wasn’t Ria’s fault.

“Well, you’re right about that too,” Ria agreed with a sigh but then perked up again. “Actually, I kind of thought that you will say that as your answer.”

“Well, I guess that’s the most obvious one I can come up with in short notice,”Yanee agreed as she scratched the side of her head. “Communication comes next to mind.”

“Oh?”Ria looked interested and waited for her to explain.

“Well, your monster-in-law have been mistreating you,”Yanee said hesitantly. As much as possible she didn’t want to go back on this topic but it was inevitable as it’s a turning point in the story. “I mean, if you and Michael were able to discuss about her treatment it wouldn’t have escalated.”

“That’s correct. If I told Mikey I was being abused by his mom early on, we might have had a different story.” Ria smiled sadly. “But Yanee, aside from facing your fears and having good communication with your significant other, there’s another lesson in the story— the most important one actually.”

“Oh?”Yanee stared at Ria intently. She was totally curious.

“Don’t you find it odd that the other ‘me’ who was supposed to be the stronger between us didn’t put up a fight against Mikey’s mother until that one last straw?” Ria quizzed her and Yanee realized that yes, it was strange.

Based on what Ria told her earlier, that version of her was the more daring and blunt— bordering on obnoxious at times. It was strange for that personality to be subservient towards another.

So, why? “Please tell me,”Yanee almost begged.

Seeing the eagerness for the answer in her eyes, Ria chuckled again before she looked up at the starry sky.

“The greatest lesson in the story is actually knowing your own worth…”