Office Diaries - Chapter 123

“You can take a nap if you want, honey,” Tohru James told Yanee.

The two of them were on board the bullet train bound for Tokyo. It was still early in the morning as they decided to take the earliest train at 6:14AM. After they had dinner with the family last night the two of them stayed by the balcony to talk. They discussed mostly about themselves— getting to know each other and the like and didn’t realize the time was already late.

Tohru was used to not really sleeping a lot, but Yanee wasn’t and she ahdn’t been sleeping properly the past few days ergo her panic attacks. This was why he urged her to take a rest once they boarded the train. It would take two hours and twenty minutes for them to reach the capital anyway. She had time to nap.

“Alright,” she agreed without a fuss, and a soft smile curved her lips as she leaned back on the seat and closed her eyes.

As soon as she did, she felt him pull her sideways so she’d rest her head on his shoulders. At first, she tensed up, feeling awkward, but his soothing voice made her stop resisting and rest.

“Just sleep. I’ll wake you up when we’re near,”Tohru murmured to her and she hummed her agreement as she drifted off to sleep.

She still felt a bit awkward and clumsy around him, but after their talk last night, she could adjust to his presence easier than before. Although she tensed up at the beginning, she was now developing a consciousness to rely on him even just a bit.

Slowly but surely…

True to his words, Tohru stopped being a clingy octopus— at least not as much as before and he seemed to respect her sense of personal space. Even last night after their talk, he quietly sent her to her room and said good night.

Slowly but surely…

Yanee’s feelings were comfortable right now and she continued to smile as if in a good dream. The next thing she knew, someone was tickling her nose awake.

“Wake up, honey. We’re almost there,” a soft voice murmured as someone tapped her nose.

Yanee scrunched her face as she slowly came awake just in time to hear a soft chuckle near her ear. When she opened her eyes she was still unclear of where she was. But she felt a pressure on the top of her head as someone kissed her there.

“Honey? Are you still booting?” the soft amused voice asked again and normally she’d be in panic upon finding herself sleeping on another person who was not Ami.

Where were her sister’s boobies?

But her brain quickly recognized Tohru’s voice— well, quicker than normal as she booted slowly usually. Instead of feeling alarmed and lifting her head up, she just hummed as she came awake while still resting against his shoulder.

“I’m awake,” she murmured before slowly lifting her head up.

“We still have ten minutes but I woke you up earlier in case you needed time to really wake up properly,” he teased and she smiled.

Last night, she had told him that when she’s tired, it took a while for her to wake up even from naps unless there’s an emergency situation. She felt satisfied that he remember that small bit even if it was only mentioned in passing. He really was a very thoughtful person.

Soon, the train stopped and the two of them got off. Tohru didn’t use a car so he had a taxi service pick them up. Since it’s more than half past eight in the morning, they decided to go to the office immediately.

“Honey, I’ll be booking your tickets to Seoul tomorrow morning. Will that be okay? Or do you want to rest and just go to Korea the day after?” he asked.

They already discussed this partially last night. Jena had five days off since she had a bit of an accident and was asked to rest by the doctor. That was the other day so she still had three days free time. The interview wouldn’t take long so Yanee still could take a rest.

“I’ll be alright to fly tomorrow,” she said.

“Are you sure?” he asked with worry and she chuckled.

“Why are you asking me? You already know I should finish all the interviews as fast as I can,” she reminded him and he sighed.

There was nothing he could say to rebut that since it was true. It was necessary for her to complete the interviews the earliest time possible so she could write the book. Only then he could do his part on the editing and then the marketing of the work to be able to enter the AI Awards for next year.

“I’m sorry,”Tohru suddenly apologized and she raised a brow at him.

“Why are you apologizing? Are you regretting making me join the awards?” she prompted.

“I…”Tohru’s voice trailed off as he looked thoughtful. “No,” he said afterwards, and she was satisfied.

Even if she’s still not resigned to the fact that she’s carrying a big responsibility, she would feel bad if he suddenly changed his mind just to make things easy for her. He had pushed her to face her fears. She’s still afraid but she wanted to try and conquer them. If he backed out she would be totally disappointed, and so she was satisfied that he didn’t.

“I want you to win the awards— that’s a given. But let me fuss over you sometimes okay? I just realized that your schedule was so packed that it might affect your health,” he said softly.

Yanee was again touched.

“How about I take a break from interviews for a few days after I interview Jena and start writing the outlines?” she suggested and Tohru seemed to think it was plausible.

“Let’s do that,” he agreed. “The other big sisters don’t have free time yet so I think you can take a break. You don’t have to go to the office too. Write at home,” he said.

Yanee frowned and was about to reject the idea, but Tohru explained.

“Honey, you are currently not an editor— you’re a writer, a literary one. Which writer do you see working at a noisy office?” he asked her and she stopped as she realized he was correct.

The answer? None, of course.

“When we reach the office just get the things you need then go home. Take a rest and prepare for your flight tomorrow. Technically, I’m the ȧssigned editor for this project but there are some things I need to settle in the mother company since dad is on sick leave.”

Huh? Mr. James was sick?

“Dad is sick?”Yanee had no idea and looked alarmed.

Her worry made Tohru smile and reached out to pat her arm affectionately. “Don’t be worried. He just caught a cold a week ago but he came bouncing back in good health even before we went to Kyoto. Mother just took advantage of this and asked him to take a leave of absence as he had been working so hard since he founded the company and told him to relax.”

“I see…”Yanee was relieved it was nothing serious. She couldn’t imagine the ever smiling elderly to be sick. “That’s good then.”

“It’s why I will ȧssign you an ȧssistant editor to take care of whatever you need,” he added and Yanee frowned.

“I don’t think it’s necessary?” Yanee would just be writing an outline. She didn’t think she’d need an editor already but Tohru shook his head.

“Developmental editing, remember? You have your materials but I’m sure you’re still wondering how to use them,” he reminded her and Yanee was stumped at how correct he was again.

“But…”

Well, it’s true that she would somehow have to work on that, but it’s still a fact that she hated people buŧŧing into her business. She’s also uncomfortable with strangers. Also, if the editor would work with her with that, it meant the person had to come to her house.

No.

Aside from the fact that it’s troublesome, it’s not also her house but her sister’s house. She had no say on the matter. Ami’s not fond of strangers coming into the apartment as well. Even if she agreed to the set up since Yanee needed it— she was sure Ami would agree though. But knowing her sister, Ami wouldn’t come back home and stay somewhere else too.

Yanee didn’t want that. She wouldn’t kick the owner of the house out.

As if reading her mind, Tohru smiled at her. “Relax, I’m not going to pit a stranger to you. It’s better that you should work with someone you’re comfortable with so I will be ȧssigning Cynthia to you.”

Oh?

Yanee was surprised but delighted. “Will it be alright for you to lend Chummy to me?”she asked and Tohru shrugged.

“She’s my ȧssistant. Since I won’t be at the publishing house since I’m needed at Arcus, she has nothing to do.”

Tohru James was the editor-in-chief of the literary department not the CEO of the newly acquired publishing house so he didn’t really have a lot of things he needed to bother with since he had already delegated the workload among the other editors.

“I’ll be happy to have her then…”