Office Diaries - Chapter 112

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

Knowing your own worth? Yanee was not exactly sure what Ria meant by that. She wondered if it was knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and working your way around it.

“I told you that my story was like Cinderella, right?” Ria reminded her and she nodded. “But how do you think Cinderella really fared when the prince swept her off her feet and brought her to the palace?”

Urgh…

Opposition. Bullying. Discrimination.

There was no way a commoner would not be reminded of her origins— just as Ria was bullied and abused by her mother-in-law. Even if the prince loved Cinderella, it didn’t apply to the people around him.

“I love Michael. But at the same time, I was also insecure. He fought with his own mother for us to be together. After we got married people might think I have won, but no. As you already know there was never a day that passed by that I wasn’t made aware of how I was unworthy of being Mrs. Chen.” Ria snorted.

“And I let the abuse go on because I thought I owed it to her for taking her son from her. I thought that if I put up with it, a day would come that she’d realize how I really love her son and we could form a truce. But you know what? When you set your eyes only to the people around you, you learn to be afraid of making errors and you gradually lose sight of yourself. You let things happen to you and people take that for granted.” Ria sighed.

“The only reason why Michael’s mother was confident in hurting me was because of myself. It’s because I let her. Did I deserve all that? No, but I let it happen,” Ria said.

Her tone was neutral but Yanee could see the flash of self-derision in her eyes. It seemed that even if everything’s alright now, she still regretted not standing up for herself before.

“Anyway, the bottom line is… never lose sight of who you are. It’s alright to compromise but never put up with anyone who doesn’t respect you. Don’t change who you are for someone else’s convenience either.”

Ria squeezed her hand and Yanee squeezed her back as if to tell her she was there for her. She hadn’t known Ria for a long time, but surprisingly, she felt really comfortable with all of the “sisters” although she was overwhelmed by them the first time she saw them at the party.

Hearing her story just made her feel closer to her.

“I’ll remember this lesson very well,”Yanee told her and Ria grinned.

“Well, I cannot see you having problems with your in-laws,”Ria told her out of the blue startling Yanee.

EHHHHHHHHHHH

How did the conversation suddenly go this way?

Ria chuckled at what must be a very stupid expression on her face. “Why are you so startled? You’ve been here for two days. Don’t tell me Little Tohru still hasn’t introduced you to his parents?”

Yanee shook her head as she put her hands up as if to ward her words off. “No, no, no— I mean yes, but not the way you think.”

Oh?

Ria’s eyes rounded in interest as she leaned forward. She looked like a typical girl eager for gossip that Yanee didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“What way are you talking about then?” she prompted and Yanee had no choice but to explain.

“I mean, we arrived yesterday so I met his parents yesterday. But we haven’t… you know— I mean we were not together yesterday… and…”Yanee’s voice trailed off as she turned red.

She wanted to explain that they only got together today officially so they haven’t had an opportunity to tell the elderly couple about it— not that Yanee was looking forward to it. She was nervous!

AAAARGH

She mentally pulled at her hair. Why was she acting like a love-sick teenager?

Ria laughed. “I get it, I get it. You don’t have to be so flustered,” she said as she patted her shoulder.

Yanee blew out some air as she relaxed back on the hot spring.

“I don’t know why, but these days, I feel like you guys love teasing me a lot,” she complained.

“That’s because you’re so cute,”Ria told her, not denying the fact that they loved to tease her. “But don’t worry, we bully Little Tohru too.”

The image of the sisters ganging up on the potato made Yanee giggle. It was not hard to imagine at all. Based on how they acted with him, it was totally possible.

“Uncle and Auntie are very nice people. You don’t have to worry about them not liking you,”Ria told her, and Yanee of course agreed.

Remembering the events of the previous night, Yanee realized that the couple must have known about her for some time. They wouldn’t ask about their son’s “relationship” with her or the lack thereof if they didn’t know Tohru liked her.

“Well, they’re really nice to me so far,”Yanee blurted out without thinking.

“What do you mean by “so far”? Yanee, they’ll be nice to you forever and ever,”Ria scolded her and she smiled sheepishly. “You know, Michael’s dad passed away when he was five and his mom’s always busy managing their company. She sent Mikey to the US to study from primary school and that’s where he and Tohru met.”

“Oh!” Yanee now understood the connection of the Chens to Tohru.

So far, the only ones she was able to connect so far were Marian, then the Kangs, of course, since Liam and Jinho were brothers. So, Michael and Tohru were classmates it seemed.

Ria nodded. “Yeah, Alex too,” she added, and Yanee somehow remembered that Tohru had mentioned this already and she’s just being a ditz, spacing out all the time so she couldn’t remember a lot of things.

She now worried about what other things she might have missed. Still, she was aware of this problem. She wouldn’t get mad at Tohru in case she discovered something she thought he hadn’t mentioned to her when he might have already and she just didn’t listen.

“Mikey didn’t feel alone in the US because of Tohru and his family. He was like a foster son of the James Family,” Ria continued to explain with a smile. “Even after we got married, they are the ones who stand as grandparents to our kids.”

“I see,”Yanee smiled. She could totally imagine that too.

The James family… the people in it were warm…

Yanee was still happy for Ria, Michael, and their children.

“So when you and Tohru have kids, they’re going to be super lucky to have adorable grandparents!”

HA?

Yanee looked at Ria as if she’d gone mad. “Big Sis, I just started dating Tohru less than twenty-four hours ago. Why are we talking about us having kids already?”

Ria laughed again. “Well, you’re going down that road anyway knowing the Little Brother, so I’m just telling you in advance.”

But that’s not the point right now! Yanee pouted as she turned to Ria. She failed epically as an interviewer. How did she end up being interviewed instead?

“What’s wrong?”Ria asked.

“I feel like I’m doing everything wrong in this interview. I mean am I still doing an interview or are you interviewing me?” she complained woefully making Ria laugh.

“Well, just relax. We’re all having informal interviews anyway. Plus, it’s not as if you are going to really write our story as is, right? You just listen to our stories as reference but you will have to write something else,”Ria reminded her and she nodded.

“That too,”Yanee sighed. “I’m still trying to figure out how to do it honestly,” she confessed. “I mean the stories are wonderful, but to stick to theme would be tricky.”

Ria was thoughtful too. “You mean because our stories deviate from normal office romance?”

“Well,”Yanee started as she processed the stories in her head. “So far, all of you do have romances in office settings…”

“But?”

“But the stories that came before or after that initial phase of office setting was more interesting,”Yanee answered as she recalled the others’ stories. “For example, with Big Sis Yunjae, her romance started before she worked with Jinho as his secretary and became really together. Then, for Ash and Alex, they were already together when the interesting part of their story happened. Then your story was like office romance take two,” she added sheepishly making Ria chuckle.

“That’s right,” Ria agreed. “The only one with a real pure office romance is Marian and Liam.”

Yanee nodded. “That’s why I have to come up with something to get everything together.”

Ria sighed and patted her shoulder. “Take your time. Just finish the interviews first then if you need help, all your big sisters are here to help you out and brainstorm with you.”

Yanee felt touched that she hugged Ria.

“Your bȯȯbs are poking me,”Ria complained comically making Yanee laugh too.

They were both nȧkėd in the hot spring after all.

“But, how are you doing now, honestly?”Yanee asked worriedly and Ria seemed to understand what she meant.

“Good as can be,”Ria answered. “Even if Mikey’s mom’s a hopeless case, life is still good with friends and other families…”