Office Diaries - Chapter 114

“Yanee Lee, I love you…”

Ugh…

Yanee felt her heart doing jumping jacks in her ċhėst. She was flustered, overwhelmed, and many other things she couldn’t describe. This was caused not only by his love confession but by his sincere words about her not having to change or worry about other things.

“I…” Well, what could she reply. She’s attracted to him and agreed to date him but she still couldn’t say that she’s in love with him. She’s conflicted at the same time worried that he would be offended. But she didn’t want to lie to him.

“You don’t have to answer me right now, okay?” he told her softly as he kissed the top of her head. “I’m not rushing you. As long as you let me pamper you like this,” he said as he squeezed her in a hug.

Oh well…

Yanee felt relieved. She was also grateful that he was giving her space— well not literally at the moment since he had evolved into an octopus clinging onto her like that, but he was not forcing her to reciprocate his feelings when she still hadn’t adjusted to the status quo.

“Tomorrow mom and Marian will take you to the kimono shops,” he said changing the topic.

“Will it be alright? Your mom looks busy,” she asked worriedly.

Today, the elders were not at home since the two were busy with different activities. It seemed Mrs. James had volunteered to be an instructor for tea ceremony and language teacher to foreigners at a nearby school. Mr. James on the other hand accompanied his wife.

“Mom,”Tohru suddenly said making her stop.

“What?”

“Don’t say ‘your’ mom since she’s your mom too,” he said stubbornly and Yanee didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“We’re not married,” she retorted but the potato was stubborn.

“You mean yet?” he countered almost immediately with his voice sounding as if he’d correct that status soon. “She already told you to call her mom and you agreed last night,” he insisted.

“But I didn’t know she was really your mom!” Yanee was perplexed.

If she had known she wouldn’t dare call the elders mom or dad. She didn’t want them to think she’s presumptuous…

“You’re doing it again,”Tohru suddenly spoke, breaking her thoughts.

She just realized he was massaging the mar between her brows with his finger.

Huh?

“You’re regretting calling them mom and dad, right?” he asked and she couldn’t answer since he was correct— and he looked unhappy. “Yanee, they’re the ones who asked you to call them that. It means they like you and want you to be their daughter. Don’t think you’re being bold and unworthy. You are worthy.”

“Don’t forget, I got called an ugly little thing because I failed to bring you home this time as a daughter in law,” he reminded her, and this time, the memory made her smile.

Actually, she laughed— and this made her finally relaxed.

Satisfied that she was okay, Tohru placed a soft kiss on top of her head again before shifting on his feet and stood up.

“You should go and take a rest now, honey. You have a shopping spree with mom tomorrow,” he said as he pulled her up on her feet.

“Why? Is it difficult to find?” Yanee asked and Tohru grinned.

“No. But knowing mom, she’d drag you to several different shops to look at all the kimonos. She’s friends with the owners and managers so she’d want you to look at the best ones.”

“Oh! I love shopping,” Yanee stated with an excited look and Tohru smiled at her indulgently.

“That’s good then. When I tag along with mom and Big Sis I always get so exhausted. It’s actually a good thing my sister’s pregnant at the moment so it means they won’t drag you everywhere for the whole day.”

Yanee laughed. It was typical for guys to dread tagging along on shopping sprees. But she loved it so she was glad that his mom and sister were like her.

“You’re like Ami. She hates shopping so I always do it for her,” Yanee commented referring to her sister before raising her arms to stretch and letting out a yawn.

It’s already half past midnight and they’d go out after breakfast tomorrow.

“Go take a rest,” Tohru said as he walked her back to her room. “By the way, I’ll be running some errands tomorrow from morning ’til late afternoon so we won’t be seeing each other until evening. But you will be with mom and big sis so have fun, okay?”

Yanee entered her sleeping quarters, but before she closed the screen door, Tohru leaned over and kissed her swiftly again on the lips.

“Dream of me,” he said playfully before closing the screen door on her red face.

Urgh…

Standing alone in the room, it took Yanee several minutes before she snapped out of the kiss and finally trudged towards the bedroll. After getting over her surprise, and the crazy heartbeats in her ċhėst, thoughts of strangling the potato crossed her mind.

Just how did he expect her to sleep after doing that?

But then again if she didn’t want to be a walking zombie tomorrow, she had to sleep— or at least try. As to whether she was successful or not, that was an entirely different matter.

“Oh my, Yanee, what happened to you?”

“Good morning Big Sis,” she greeted weakly.

She honestly just slept for three hours and wanted to sleep more but she remembered they’d set out for the kimono shops in the morning so she dragged herself out of bed.

“I take it I look horrible?” she asked deadpanned.

She’s already preparing for the worst answer when Marian giggled and took her hand.

“Come with me,” she said and Yanee found herself being dragged to the other side of the huge house towards what seemed to be Marian’s room.

“The kids are with Liam now so we’re free to do some makeup. Sit here,” the older woman said as she guided Yanee to a stool in front of an antique boudoir and Yanee was aghast upon seeing her face.

She had dark circled around her eyes and the red tint in her eyes made it worse. She’s either looking like a zombie or a drug addict. Either way, she didn’t look so good.

“Here,” Marian suddenly said as she came to her side and Yanee felt a cool sensation on her eyes. “Don’t remove it. Stay that way ’til the cold is gone,” she advised.

The cool pad on her eyes felt soothing that Yanee followed Marian’s words and remained still.

“Thanks. I only slept for three hours,” she confessed. “Your brother gave me insomnia.”

Marian laughed. “Well, he didn’t really sleep a lot as well, but unlike you, my brother looks blooming.”

Huh? Blooming potato?

“He had to wake up earlier today since he took Ria and Michael to the train station. But the ugly little thing’s all smiley,” Marian said before giving her a side-glance full of mischief. “But I remember, he’s no longer an ugly little thing, right? So maybe that’s why he’s blooming?” she prompted, and Yanee laughed.

There was no sense hiding it from her.

“If he’s looking so gorgeous this morning he’ll go back to being an ugly little thing. Who wants a boyfriend who’s prettier than his girl?” Yanee complained and Marian laughed again.

“No, no, don’t dump him,” Marian begged comically. “This big sister will fix you up and make your bags invisible okay?”

True to her words, Marian did magic on her face after the pad cooled. She was a makeup genius and the dark circles under Yanee’s eyes vanished. Although she wore makeup on her face, it looked so natural so she felt so happy.

“Thank you, big sis,” Yanee said as she hugged her.

Marian looked so pleased that Yanee loved her work so with enthusiasm, she dragged her out of her room towards the hall to have breakfast.

“Good morning!” the elderly beamed upon seeing Yanee and she shyly replied.

The potato was still not there but they fussed over her and made her try many dishes. The Cypress Garden served traditional Japanese breakfast so it was a heavy meal consisting of rice, soup, fish, and other side dishes.

“Yanee, Tohru will not be back until late today” Mrs. James told her apologetically as she placed a hand on her arm.

“It’s okay, uhm… mama. Tohru already said he’ll be running errands today,”Yanee said, feeling shy but called the woman mama anyway like a dutiful daughter-in-law.

It seemed like a good idea. The moment she did, the elderly woman looked thrilled. “But don’t worry, mama will be your tour guide today. I already informed the shops we’ll be visiting. Do you have a specific wedding kimono that you need to buy?”

Yanee looked thoughtful. “My sister asked me to buy all kinds…”