Office Diaries - Chapter 96

“Bye! See you back in Tokyo!”

The authors waved at them before disappearing inside the hotel building where they had walked them back from the restaurant. Only Yanee and Tohru were left outside.

“Come,” Tohru said as he extended his hand towards her.

“You!” She was still fuming a bit and kicked his shin making him jump back in pain.

“Aw! Honey, don’t be mad,” he said as he rubbed the injured part, but he didn’t look angry.

He just had on a helpless expression, and his light brown eyes looked at her like a puppy asking for forgiveness. He stood back up and extended his hand again with a sheepish smile.

After they had dessert, they finally did some serious work. She checked Rui’s outline and the part where she was having difficulty and made some suggestions just as a normal developmental editor would while Tohru checked Bajj’s. They did some revisions as well as offered some ideas on how they could get around some plot holes.

Nonetheless, they did all the work with some joshing involved. Each time they discussed a specific scene, Yanee found herself being teased mercilessly by the two unexpected fangirls. Due to the potato’s shameless flirting, the authors found out about their status quo and had unabashedly asked them a lot of questions for “reference” which the potato audaciously answered.

How did you meet?

“Oh, it was when she did an interview for her magazine. I was one of the interviewees,” he said.

How did you fall in love?

“Er… It was love at first sight on my part,” he answered shyly which made the authors squeal. Yanee was sure she saw stars in their eyes.

Who confessed first?

“I did. It was yesterday on the train on the way here to Kyoto,” he answered.

How did you two get together?

At this question, the potato let out a sad, dreamy sigh. “She hasn’t really said yes, so I’m courting her now.” Of course, Yanee got scolded and begged to take the potato in.

“Authors, I just told him I’ll go out with him earlier before you came,” Yanee said in frustration as she buried her face in her palms. She thought the potato already got what she meant but it seemed not.

Or yes…

When she looked up at that time, the potato had a smug look on his face. Yanee realized then and there that he just wanted her to mention their status out loud. It was like he egged her to confirm their relationship in front of witnesses.

“I changed my mind,” she added as she glared at him, but of course with his and the authors’ “pleading” Yanee gave up.

So now, after three hours with the authors, she felt exhausted.

“Don’t be mad at me anymore, okay?” Tohru apologized softly as he took her hand and they started walking down the road.

The weather was nice although it was a little hot. Both Yanee and Tohru dressed simply when not in the office so they opted for thin shirts and jeans. But this getup made Yanee surreptitiously give him glances when she thought he was not looking. The potato really looked good, better than those jeans models on ads.

She hadn’t realized her heart had been pounding but at the same time her insecurity kicked in as well. In most countries in Asia, the standard of beauty was having fair skin— the whiter the prettier. Although Yanee knew she looked good, she had insecurities about her color. It was darker than most girls in Japan since she’s part South East Asian.

And Tohru James had lighter skin than her since he’s half-American…

“What’s the matter, honey?”Tohru asked, making Yanee snap out of her reverie. “You’ve been frowning at me for a while now. Are you still angry?”

Yanee shook her head. “No. I just think you have better skin than I do. My girl pride just took a hit,” she said teasingly with a nervous chuckle.

“Ha? What are you talking about?”Tohru looked confused which also puzzled her in return. He then pulled her towards a shop window they passed and made her look at her reflection. “Honey, your skin is so beautiful. I may look lighter but you… you glow.”

Yanee stared at the reflection in the mirror. But what her eyes noted was not herself but the man who held her with such a gentle and happy expression and she sighed.

“Chummy said you had issues with your skin color, but to me, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered to her ear and she blushed as she turned around to face him.

“Alright. I believe you,” she said with a helpless smile. “You don’t have to flatter me all the time. I already had an earful back at the restaurant with the authors,” she said and he laughed as they continued to walk.

“We still have time before Ria and Michael arrive. Do you want to go to the Heian Temple to look around?” he asked.

Yanee didn’t really have anything in mind to do and she didn’t want to go back to the Cypress Gardens yet since she just started dating this potato. Being alone in the east wing with him made her very nervous. She wanted to have a working brain when she grilled him about the other things he still hadn’t told her. It’s better to ask her questions outside.

“Alright,” she said and they went to the place to pay and get their pass to the shrine gardens.

Even on a weekday, the place was lively with people although less than what it would have on the weekends. Kyoto was one of the favorite tourist hubs after all.

“Where do you want to go first?” he asked as they stepped inside the gardens.

The place was huge. The gardens took up half of the land property of the shrine that was more than three thousand square meters in size.

“Let’s go there,” Yanee said as she pointed at the bridge ahead.

As she remembered, people could buy food there to feed the fish and turtles. If she’s going to talk to the potato, she reckoned she’d rather keep her hands busy as well so she wouldn’t be so nervous. They walked towards the bridge and sensing her intension, Tohru took money out of his wallet and got four packs of food.

“Four?” she asked in surprise.

Tohru grinned. “Well, the food’s mostly for fish and turtles. But you see? There are ducks and swans as well. They normally try to take all the food so you will run out fast.”

Ah. Yes.

Just as he said, as soon as the birds and fish saw people standing by the bridge, they started gathering below. It was as if they knew food would come soon and were anticipating it.

“These guys are smart,” she chuckled as she opened one pack and threw some food into the water.

The ducks, geese, swans, fish, and turtles immediately scrambled to get morsels. Tohru mimicked her and threw food on the water as well.

“So?” Yanee began as she continued feeding the animals. “What are the other things you still haven’t told me, boss?”

“Boss?” Tohru asked in alarm.

“I’ll keep calling you that until you confessed everything,” Yanee retorted and he sighed.

He stepped closer to her as she continued feeling the animals. He leaned forward against the railing and propped her elbow to support his chin as he looked at her.

“Well…” he began and waited for Yanee to look at him before he continued. “I already told you earlier with the authors how it started.”

Yanee felt the heat on her face again, remembering how he talked about falling in love with her at first sight with the authors. But, that was not the one she wanted to clarify. When she realized he was Marian Kang’s younger brother, she already knew what his background was.

Arcus Iris International.

No wonder he was able to easily take over her old company, he was the son of Arcus Iris’ chairman and CEO.

The image of the quiet but smiling old man back at the Cypress Gardens flashed in Yanee’s mind and she sighed. She didn’t know that Daddy was Arcus. If she knew, she’d have been very nervous.

Oh, wait— that’s wrong. She knew Marian’s background so it meant she was not nervous because he was AI’s chairman but because he’s Tohru’s dad.

Urgh…

“Yanee, you’re not going to hold being filthy rich against me, are you?” he asked suddenly, and of course, she shook her head.

“No. It’s not like you asked for it,” she said. “And I did your interview before so you don’t have to worry about me thinking that you used connections to get to where you are.”

True enough, Tohru James had deliberately hidden his identity since his school days until he started work. It was why she couldn’t find out anything about his family background before. He started off as a lowly editor who did miscellaneous work in the office too. No one, not even his coworkers knew his prince status until now although some had guessed.

All his efforts to get where he was right now was solely due to his own hard work. Yanee should know. She was basically like him. Even if she was not as rich as the James, she was still a princess living like a pauper. It was why she had trouble with her ex before. It was because he thought she was poor.

“Can you call me by my name now?” he asked and Yanee snapped out of her reverie again.

It seemed the potato was talking a lot; confessing things while she was spacing out— and she missed them. But it didn’t matter anymore, as long as there wouldn’t be any secret between them from now on.

“Tohru, let’s go back?”