Tick, Tick
Chapter 30: Tick, Tick
“Ready, Tawan?”
Lai had her head poked around Tawan’s office door and Tawan waved her in as she finished a call with a colleague from another magazine. He was calling to ask her to pass along his congratulations to Ira whose pictures he had just saw in Vogue for Versace’s new fall line. Tawan was very appreciative and had been fielding calls and messages all morning and afternoon from her peers who wanted to express their praise.
Though Ira did not cover the issue, her spread modeling Versace’s line was rippling rather quickly through social media. Her representing the country for one of the world's top luxury fashion brands was no small feat and it made her fellow countrymen proud. This was especially true for those who worked in the industry in some capacity within the country.
“Sorry,” Tawan apologized and adjusted some papers on her desk. “I’ve been getting calls and messages all day from people wanting to congratulate Ira.”
Lai forced her best genuine smile. “It must be hard being the wife of the most beautiful woman in Thailand right now,” she said a little tightly, trying to mask her jealousy.
Tawan, still sifting through papers, widened her smiling eyes. “You have no idea,” she mumbled mostly to herself.
Lai’s nose started to flare and her ears started ringing as she thought about how Tawan had truly won in life. How Tawan was now living the life that she was supposed to have lived. Lai believed that she should have been the one to occupy Tawan’s spot in the pictures on her desk of her holding Ira or their children or both.
She always regretted leaving Ira all those years ago, but her father was persistent about her experiencing working overseas to be more well rounded. And though Lai hated to admit it, if anyone ever found out how Ira ended up in a wrist brace, her father would have shipped her overseas permanently to try to mitigate the blow of the scandal. The absolute last thing she needed or wanted was her father meddling in her life more than he already did.
“Let’s reschedule,” Lai announced and stood, pushing her sleeve back to look at her watch.
Tawan stopped her search and looked up to her. “Why?” She asked and looked at her own watch.
“I forgot I have a meeting with my next project,” she said and headed for the door. “We can do it over lunch tomorrow. My treat?”
Tawan shrugged, still trying to process her abruptness. “I-I guess,” she said a little unsurely.
Lai tightly smiled and nodded at her. “It’s only vendor lists,” she assured.
“Yeah, you’re right,” Tawan agreed in thought.
Lai nodded again and exited her office, so Tawan took the newly freed hour to respond to text messages and emails from people asking her to congratulate Ira on their behalf.
She smiled at the thought of being able to boost Ira’s mood and confidence with all of these praises from within the industry. Though her wife seemed to be feeling better over the last few days, Tawan was still worried about all of the stress she was undertaking. Between her work and Ira’s work, Tawan felt like they needed to slow down and come back to each other.
A knock at her door pulled her from her thoughts.
Meena poked her head around the door and smiled. “Hey? You got a minute?” She asked and waved her cellphone at her.
Tawan smiled and stood to wave her in. “What’s up?” She asked and settled back down into her seat.
“Check this out,” Meena grinned and showed her, her phone.
Tawan sat up some as Meena scrolled her Instagram feed to a post of Ira’s that she made a few hours ago. It was of some shots from her Versace shoot with a simple caption of her tagging the luxury brand and adding a red heart. Tawan smiled at how beautiful she looked before Meena pointed to the numbers she was receiving in likes. It made Tawan’s eyes bulge some as she took the phone and stood next to her.
There were well over 400,000 likes on the post.
“I told Ira it would spread like wildfire,” Meena chuckled and shook her head in disbelief.
“You’re still monitoring her analytics,” Tawan remembered and clicked the comments. “This is insane, right?”
“I haven’t seen something like this in a long time time,” Meena informed and reached over to press her finger to the screen again. “But look at this.”
Meena clicked over to Ira’s profile and clicked on a picture she posted not too long after her Versace post. Tawan’s heart skipped a beat at the picture and caption having recognized when and where it was taken. Meena watched her boss’ eyes tear up, knowing that this post would touch her deep into her soul.
The way that it touched a rather large number of people considering the size of her follower count because it had almost 300,000 likes and so much more other interactions.
Ira had posted a picture Tawan did not know she had taken of her with the twins a few days ago. It was not only a reminder for herself when things got tough in this brutal industry, but also a thank you for the love and support that allowed her to make it this far and right into this moment. Ira always wanted the world to know how much she adored and was dedicated to her wife and children, how special her family was to her.
It was raining outside and Tawan was standing by the backdoor staring out the glass like she always did when it rained. She enjoyed the peace and serenity it brought as well as the smell that it produced and how it punched her senses. The twins were standing beside her, each holding a leg, as she pointed out the glass and talked to them about thunder and lightning, something her mother did with her growing up.
However, it was the caption that really wrecked her emotions - My Purpose💜💜💜
“Dammit,” Tawan sniffed and sat down quickly. “How does she always do that?”
Meena chuckled lightly and pocketed her phone as she watched her boss grab her own cellphone. She watched as she smiled and tapped away on it, knowing what she was doing and feeling like she had accomplished something. Tawan barely used her social medias except when to promote Ira’s projects or for special events.
With Ira adapting almost expertly as she got the hang of being a public figure and user of social media rather than her private self, Meena knew that would keep Tawan busy on her own social media which was needed of her since she was an editor-in-chief of a reputable fashion magazine.
“Just wanted to show you that,” Meena smiled and winked as she headed for the door again.
“Thank you for helping her,” Tawan called after her.
“Hey, she did all the work. I just gave her some pointers,” Meena dismissed with a smile.
“Still. Thank you, Meena,” Tawan said appreciatively.
Meena nodded and opened the door to exit. “Everyone in the office saw. Not a dry eye in the room out here,” she chuckled and jutted her thumb behind her.
Tawan laughed a little and looked back to her phone as Meena exited her office to leave her alone again. She had reposted both of Ira’s posts to her story and liked both of them adding her own purple hearts to the comments. The post felt like Ira was releasing some of her stress, like she was setting her foundation for her reminder of why she did what she did.
Tawan was so moved and touched and proud of her that she texted her that she loved her with the screenshot of her purpose post to show her she saw it. Ira immediately texted her back with crying emojis and a lot of hearts which made Tawan’s smile consume her face.
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“Are you sure?” Mr. Tek asked.
Lai nodded at him as she stood in front of his desk and informed her of her plans.
She had, had enough of the constant reminder of what she had lost and was never going to get back. She could not stand another moment being around the woman that she had lost to. Her spirit was beaten to a pulp and she got defensive about how she was going to protect herself and avenge her heart.
So, she concluded that there was only one thing left to do and that was start a new project, something that would heal and fulfill all of those areas for her.
“I need to see what the next thing is,” she stated firmly.
Mr. Tek nodded in thought and stood from his desk. “Okay. I will make the announcement by the end of this week,” he promised and stepped around his desk.
“No!” Lai exclaimed, clenching her jaw then bowing her head in apology. “I-Im sorry. I mean, it has to be tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” Mr. Tek grunted and looked at her preposterously. “I need time to plan the contract and-,”
“I trust you will compensate me accordingly,” Lai cut in, leaving no room for argument.
Mr. Tek eyed her then slowly nodded as he put his hand to his chin. “Okay. Tomorrow. But I have to speak to her first, of course,” he reminded her.
Lai swallowed and nodded, putting her hands behind her back. “Of course,” she agreed.
“Fine,” Mr. Tek grunted again and sat back in his chair. “Leave me to it.”
Lai bowed her head and turned on her heel to exit his office.
As she headed back to the conference room, she caught a glimpse of Tawan in her office on her cellphone speaking excitedly with a warmth on her face that she had only seen when she was around Ira at Mr. Tek’s party. She gritted her teeth and practically stomped through the door, almost slamming it open against the glass. Lai plopped into her chair and pulled her cellphone out to stare again at the screenshot of Ira’s viral Instagram posts on a news website.
The whirl of nausea at how beloved and admired Ira and her family had become hit her stomach and head at the same time.