Office Diaries - Chapter 122

“Yanee, are you alright?”

Yanee Lee turned to see Marian walking towards her with worry in her eyes. The two of them were in the corridor waiting for the others. They were about to go to the restaurant to have dinner.

“Yeah,” she answered and was amused when Marian scrutinized her face as if wondering if she’s telling the truth, and she laughed but the other was not amused.

“Did you have a fight with the little brother?” the older woman suddenly asked surprising Yanee.

“No. We didn’t,” Yanee answered. She wondered why she thought of that.

“I see,” Marian nodded thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, the little brother wouldn’t dare try to argue with you. He’s so whipped,” she snickered and Yanee laughed.

“Do I look as if I just argued with someone?” she asked suddenly feeling conscious. But Marian shook her head.

“No. But you have been spacing out for a while before I approached. I thought you had an argument with the little brother. Since you didn’t that’s good. But you look like you were troubled. Is everything alright?”

The worry in Marian’s voice returned and Yanee felt warmth in her ċhėst as she smiled at the other. It was this kind of warm feeling and thoughtfulness from them that made her to not mind meeting Tohru’s family already even if they just started dating. There was sincerity in the way they treated her and she could feel that they genuinely liked her.

“Ah… I’m just thinking about my project,” she mused out loud followed with a sigh.

“You mean our book?” Marian asked and she nodded. “What about it? Are you having difficulty? Do you want to reschedule the interviews? I can call Jena now,” she offered and Yanee raised her hand with her palms up as she shook her head.

“No, no— it’s not like that,”Yanee ȧssured her hurriedly and she explained herself. “I don’t have problems with the interviews and the schedule. I’m actually grateful that you guys are helping me so much even though most of you are very busy.”

That’s right. For instance, Ria and Michael dropped by Kyoto just for her since their calendar was already full with appointments. They were not just cooperative, but they were really helpful for her. They went out of their way to arrange their own schedule and travel itinerary for her. She couldn’t ask for more.

“Then…”Marian prompted as she looked at her curiously.

“I just learned from Tohru that my project would be an entry for the Ai Awards,” she said with a pout and Marian finally understood what’s wrong.

“Oh, that!” She anchored her arm in her while she patted her for comfort. “You’ll be fine. Don’t be depressed about it.”

“But…”

“But nothing. It’s Little Tohru who’s personally handling this project. Do you think anything could go wrong?”

There was no mistake on the pride she had for her younger sibling that echoed in her voice. This made Yanee smile in spite of the worry lingering in her heart.

“I know he’s great,” she said and Marian giggled as she let go of her to cover her face like a fangirling little girl.

“Kyaaa— is this what you call boyfriend bragging?” Marian teased and Yanee was shocked but embarrassed at the same time that she tapped the other’s arm.

“Ya! I’m not boyfriend bragging! I’m just stating a fact,” she countered but then realized she made things worse when Marian squealed again.

Urgh…

“Give me a break,” she begged followed by a pout and Marian stopped giggling and hanged onto her arm again.

“So what’s been bothering you about the project?” she asked as she peered at her face.

“Oh? Are you still interested in the awards?” Yanee settled the score of her bullying but it made Marian laugh.

“Of course. Otherwise, I will of course believe it’s just boyfriend bragging,” she countered innocently though her eyes definitely had mischief in them, and of course, Yanee got K.O.ed again.

She should have known. She learned recently that in the James family, nobody could beat Marian over lovingly bullying people even her genius twin brother. Afterall, normally twins called each other just by their names but Tohru addressed her as “big sis”. The five minute advantage— a.k.a. age gap she had on Tohru made her the boss.

Yanee shouldn’t have tried to win. She couldn’t.

“It’s the fact that I’m the one who will write it,”Yanee sighed and the other looked confused.

“What’s worrying you about that?” Marian totally looked like she didn’t see any problems.

Yanee sighed again. “Big Sis, I haven’t written any novels in my life. This is the first one.”

“So?”

Huh?

Yanee studied Marian’s face and she understood that the other genuinely couldn’t see any problem with that. She was about to tell her about her lack of skills when Marian spoke.

“Back at the party, didn’t you already say that you will write a good book?” Marian asked and Yanee nodded albeit hesitantly.

Of course. Even if she was not confident with her writing skills, she had full confidence in saying that she would do her best. Her “best” being good enough for the awards was a different story though. She still didn’t believe she was capable of creating something worthy for that.

“Yes I did. I mean I will still write a good book— at least it’s what I think so.”

Selling it was the issue. Sadly, it’s no secret that even the best of books sometimes didn’t sell. Otherwise there wouldn’t be such things as “hidden gems” in the literary world.

“Are you worried about the sales then?” Marian asked and she nodded again.

Ai Awards focused not only on the quality. It also focused on the sales. It’s an award for bestselling books after all.

“Oh, then you have no problems,” Marian dismissed her worries. “All you have to focus on is writing the book. Leave the rest to the Little Brother. It’s his job.”

Hmmnnnn…

That made sense. Actually, Tohru had already ȧssured her about this, but it’s just in her nature to worry as she still didn’t trust herself. How could she trust others?

Trust. Yanee couldn’t help remembering Ashley’s and Alex’s story again. She knew that trust had to start from one’s self in order to give it to someone else. But it’s really hard most especially when you had experienced letting yourself down.

She had a loooooong way to go… At least, she was aware of her own shortcomings. She just prayed that Tohru would have enough patience to wait for her.

Soon, the rest of the James family came to the corridor, and they all went to the restaurant in different cars. Tohru and Yanee drove there with his parents while Liam drove another car with his family.

Upon reaching their destination, the maître d’ ushered them to a private room. The restaurant looked western but in an old way. They served beef from Kobe and their place had the highest recommendations in the area.

“Ah… wagyu,”Marian signed dreamily as she scanned the menu and the others laughed.

“Big Sis, you have to stop eating or you’ll get really fat,” Tohru told her matter-of-factly which earned him a deadly glare.

“Who’s fat?” she countered.

With her holding a knife made it scarier, but of course, no one was really scared of her.

But Yanee elbowed Tohru’s stomach, making him bend and grunt.

“Fat is a taboo word for ladies,” she whispered to him, but the others heard her and laughed.

“Henpecked this early. Good, good,” Liam commented in approval which made Yanee red in embarrassment.

“No— I…”she didn’t know how to explain herself— not that the others were interested in her explanation anyway. They seemed to be thrilled that she was putting Tohru in place.

“Little brother, we’re now on the same boat,” Liam told Tohru as he patted him on the shoulder then hugging him as if to give him comfort. “Marian started with jabs on the gut as well.”

Instead of looking turned off, Tohru looked happy as he returned the man’s embrace and shoulder pats. They looked like two stooges comforting each other making the elderly and the kids laugh.

“Ah, if it’s similar then I’m looking forward to being wrestled down by my honey,” Tohru stated which made Yanee hide her face in the palm of her hands.

This…Masso potato…

Yanee had no words for Tohru anymore.

“Yanee, just ignore that ugly little thing and eat well. He’ll behave soon enough,” Mrs. James told her as she patted her arm.

“Mama, why am I still an ugly little thing? I already have a girlfriend,” Tohru suddenly told her mother making Yanee feel more embarrassed.

“We know— but have you haven’t formally told us. Do you expect us to read minds?” Mama James countered in a joking angry tone.

“But didn’t you already know?”Tohru grumbled and for the first time, Yanee witness the ever smiling Daddy James glare at his son who behaved almost immediately.

“Are you talking back to your mom?”

Urgh…

It really looked like the James family was ruled by women. It was surprising but at the same time, in spite of the embarrassment, a smile played on her lips. Seeing Tohru scolded like a kid was totally funny.