Office Diaries

Huh?

Yanee blinked several times as if in a daze.

What did just happen?

She looked and felt confused.

What did she just hear?

Until now she couldn't really process what she just heard. She looked at Ashley who grinned at her, her light brown eyes sparkling in amusement, and she felt all the more confused.

"E-Excuse me?"

After several attempts at trying to comprehend what happened, Yanee admitted defeat. She reckoned she might have heard wrong and didn't want to ȧssume.

Right.

It's better to ask again than misunderstand, even if it meant that it might annoy the other person. "You are… Amethyst Eyes?"

Seeing her predicament, Ashley's grin turned into full-blown laughter. She threw back her head and just guffawed as she clapped her hands together. She tried to nod in answer to Yanee's question nonetheless, and the other couldn't believe it.

"But how's that possible?" Yanee frowned at Ashley's obviously brown eyes.

"Contact lens," Ashley told her matter-of-factly as she sat still and took one lens out to show Yanee her real eye color.

Oh. My. Lord.

To say that Yanee was stunned by the vibrant purple of Ashley's eyes was an understatement. It was truly a spectacular eye color – most especially since they were highly emphasized by rows or dark, thick lashes. Aside from the exquisite eye color, Ashley also had a condition called distichiasis. Instead of just one layer, she had two rows of very dark eyelashes.

"Wow. Your eyes are very pretty! And your lashes too! I thought you were wearing mascara – but you did not put anything at all, did you?"

Hearing her compliments, Ashley smiled warmly. She was very pleased. "No, I have no other makeup except for a light CC cream and lip gloss."

"I'm so jealous!"Yanee pouted comically like a child about to throw a tantrum making Ashley laugh again.

But then again, Yanee remembered what they were talking about before and she snapped back to the issue at hand.

"But – Oh God! Your story's so amazing! For the longest time, while you were telling the story, I was thinking the worst thing that could happen and… and…"

Yanee's voice trailed off, unable to say what she was about to say. Why? It's because for a while there, she really thought that Alex Li had cheated on his fiancée and had cursed him silently in her mind plenty of times.

Well, how could he? He already had Ashley who Yanee thought as the most beautiful among all the ladies in the group and he still had the gall to look at another woman. Ah, and the bet too!

Yanee's eyes grew dim. There was nothing she hated in the world the most other than people playing games at the expense of another person. She wondered why would people even think of this sick kind of game in the first place? It's making her furious.

"Are you alright, Yanee?"Ashley asked and Yanee sighed.

"I'm alright now," she answered honestly. "But for a while there, I'm so sorry but saying that I wanted to get a voodoo doll and do something to your husband was an understatement."

Her remarks made Ash laugh again. She waved her hand at her as if to say "don't" but words didn't come out as she was laughing hard. It took time for her to settle down – Yanee too!

Until now, the young journalist had a hand on her ċhėst as if she was trying to calm down her heart. "My anxiety level was so high earlier. I was angry and sad for you."

"You're so sweet," Ashley told her afterwards. "But no, since we met, Alex had always been faithful."

The last line was delivered with a warm and gentle smile that was so infectious. Yanee couldn't help but mirror it.

"I'm glad you two got everything sorted out," she said.

"It's my fault anyway," Ashley added, but Yanee begged to disagree.

"Isn't it also his fault for not explaining things to you? I mean, even if he didn't want to trouble you, he should have at least tried to tell you."

Ashley looked thoughtful for a while before inclining her head. "Well, you have a point there," she said, but the tone of her voice sounded as if there was still something else. "But, communication needs the cooperation of both parties. If the other party was too scared to talk, then how can the other side tell the other something?"

Oh…

Yanee nodded, finally understanding. It was not that Alex had hidden the thing with his mother. It's just that Ashley had been behaving strangely since that day she had let him meet up with his friends that it was hard to talk to her. She evaded having conversations like a big coward.

"That's right," Ashley told her. "I was so scared to hear something I didn't like so I didn't want to talk to him about anything important at all."

"I see…"

"In the three years we've been together, he had mȧturėd and became a real man," Ashley said, her voice rang with nostalgia. "It was me who got stuck because of my fears."

Yanee was quiet for a while as if weighing her words. "But isn't it normal to be scared when you are in a relationship? After all, it's with someone you are considering to be with for the rest of your life."

Oh well, there's divorce and annulment, but a marriage was still a marriage. Even if Yanee was a bit jaded, she still believed that people still got married with spending together until they were old and gray in their minds.

"True," Ash agreed without hesitation. "But still, if you only have fear in your heart, then what's the point of being with someone? Look at me; in those three years, before we got married, I was actually not happy. I was always scared things would be taken away – and it nearly did."

"You mean Alex would leave you if you didn't change?" Yanee asked in disbelief and Ash shook her head.

"No. But he would have given up asking for my love," Ash explained. "We wouldn't be so happy now if we still had that barrier between us."

True.

"Do you know what the hardest part is when it comes to trust?" Ash asked, and when Yanee didn't say anything she continued. "The hardest part is not trusting someone or trusting someone again if he does something bad before. It's trusting yourself."

Huh?

Ashley let out a chuckle at Yanee's confused expression. "Yanee, if you don't trust yourself, how can you believe that what you do is right and what you deserve?"

Yanee remained quiet, but her expression told Ash that she was thinking about it and agreed.

"It's basically the same as not loving yourself. If you don't love yourself, how can you expect someone else to love you?"

Finally, Yanee smiled. There was nothing she could say to rebut that idea. It was totally correct.

"Your eyes are beautiful. Why are you wearing brown contacts? Wouldn't colorless be better?" Yanee asked out of curiosity. If she had beautiful eyes like Ash, she'd definitely flaunt them.

"It's bothersome. People always look at me as if I'm an alien, I dislike that," Ashley confessed.

Ah…

Well, the reason why Ash became the target of silly people's bet was due to her eyes. It must have been exhausting fending off weird people. Yanee was not jealous of her eyes anymore.

"What are you ladies talking about?"

An amused voice suddenly sounded from the doorway and the two turned around in time to see Alex Li walk in. He was not alone, though. In his arms was a smiling little boy – the cutest one Yanee had ever seen.

"Ira, come to mama," Ashley crooned as she held out her hands.

Alex placed the boy down and Ira quickly ran towards his mother's embrace. "Say hello to Tatie Yanee," Ash told the boy who cutely obeyed.

As Yanee understood, "tatie" meant "auntie" in French. It was obvious that the boy had foreign blood like his mom, Ashley. But the most unique part of his face was his pair of blue-grey eyes. It looked like he inherited much of his mom's genes.

Seeing Yanee's amazed expression as she looked at Ira, Alex laughed.

"Yeah, Ira got her mom's eyes," he said before turning to Ash. "Are you done with your interview?"

"Ah – yes," Yanee answered nervously upon remembering her murderous thoughts on Alex. "We already finished talking."

The man seemed to understand what she was thinking and let out another round of laughter. Yanee couldn't help but feel guilty for thinking badly of him. "I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

"Did Ash tell you what she did to my former friends?" he asked.

"Former?"Yanee was surprised.

"Yeah. I don't hang out with them anymore. They're idiots," Alex said with a grin. "Did she?"

Yanee shook her head. Ash ended her story after revealing that she was Amethyst Eyes.

"Do you want to know?" Alex asked and Yanee finally grinned.

"Sure…"