The pain was overwhelming for her. She knew it was coming but she didn’t expect it to come this early. It was a woman’s monthly deathly week, in other word, period.

Her stomach hurt so bad this time and she felt a little queasy. At this moment, there was no other place that was more comforting than a fluffy bed accompanied with her Bay Max pillows. Hyerin rolled to the other side of the bed, wishing that the pain would go away quickly.

The pain strikes again and again, as if there was a monster kicking her belly from inside. The groaning sound she made echoed throughout the room.

Meanwhile, somewhere near her apartment, Mark had finished buying some ice creams for her girlfriend. He went out of the ice cream shop with two plastic bags of ice creams, enough for a whole week. The shop was not that far from Hyerin’s apartment, it was just a five minutes walk from there.

She must be happy if she sees these. The lad smiled at the thought of his girlfriend. It had been a week since he last saw her except for the video calls they had every night. He really wanted to bring her with him to go on a vacation with his family but she had work to do. Both of them were reluctant to stay apart for a week, but things happened.

So Mark was eager to finally get to meet his loved one, hug her and tell her how much he missed her.

He thought of an idea for a surprise visit and took no time to dial her number. After waiting for five seconds or so, she answered the phone call. To Mark’s surprise, she didn’t sound like he expected her to be. Normally, she would switch to a full hyper mode whenever he calls her.

“Hey, you okay?” said the guy, worried all of sudden. But her answer was a short “no.”

Alarmed, Mark quickly questioned, “Why? Are you sick? Did you catch a cold again?”

“No,”

“I,” She sighed.

“-I miss you.”

“I need you, here. With me.” Her voice was subtle and barely audible. All his plans were erased from his mind. He would lie to her, saying that he couldn’t come and surprise her when she least expect it. After hearing her voice through the phone, it seemed like he had to push the idea aside. It wasn’t the time for it yet, maybe next time.

“I’ll be there.” The call ended as he rushed over to her apartment. His mind-set was now only of her and how he feel the need to be by her side quickly.

I hope the ice creams wouldn’t melt.

Later, he arrived in front of her door. Being one of the people that his girlfriend trusted, he knew the passcode to her house and could come in without any difficulties.

“Babe?” Mark called as he looked around. All he received was nothing but his own voice bouncing back to him.

He listened more carefully this time and heard someone talking from afar. The voice came from the bedroom. Putting the ice creams on the coffee table as he passed by, he walked to the bedroom expectantly.

His ear was pressed against the wooden door as he figured out what was the noise about. It turned out that his girlfriend was watching a drama, probably through her smartphone.

The girl shouldn’t wait any longer so the boyfriend twisted the door knob, skipping to her girlfriend as the door was opened.

Pulling her into a bear hug, he muttered “I miss you so so much!” It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the girl nearly had a heart attack. He was literally squishing the organs out of her body. Nevertheless it made her forget about her upset stomach. Pain was now replaced with happiness.

“Mark,” The girl mumbled against his neck as she wrapped her hands around his body tightly. No one could break them apart at this rate as they hold onto each other, making them both gasped for air.

As they broke the hug, he cupped her cheeks with his palms to see straight into her eyes.

“I miss you.” He leaned in to peck her lips.

“I know.” The girl smiled and received another peck.

And another one, before he attacked her face with more kisses and almost pushing her off the bed.

Although she would admit she liked it, the pain was coming back. It hurt, so so bad. Seeing that she was enjoying the moment, Mark took the chance to tickle her sensitive spot that was her waist. She flinched as he poked the spot just above her hips.

Her reaction was once again, not as he expected that day. Instead of laughter, she let out a whimper causing him to retreat his hands from her.

She curled herself into a ball-like position as the latter watched in confusion. Sweats were trickling down her forehead and she was clutching onto her stomach as she whined.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You okay?” He asked, still hesitating if he should touch her because her body seemed fragile to him at the moment.

The lack of words from her made him completely anxious that he asked again, “Are you okay? Are you sick? Do you wanna go to the hospital or maybe a clinic nearby?”

No answer again. Thinking of something to do, Mark held her hand like those scene in dramas where the lead female were giving birth.

At least giving birth doesn’t occur every month.

After what seemed like fifteen minutes, she was calm again. She lie on the bed on her back and was gasping for air. Their hands were still holding each other, only that it was loosened.

“Period.” Hyerin finally managed to say. Enough said; now he understood and sighed in relief.

“I thought you were- uh, forget it. Do you need anything? I brought a lot of ice creams.” He said, rather awkwardly. Both of them only dated for five months now and he still hadn’t got used to her having ‘that deathly week’. When she was on her period, it wasn’t just her that was experiencing the pain; he too got the taste of the hell-ish week as well. He would occasionally receive a scolding or her death stare when he thought he didn’t do anything wrong.

“I can’t eat ice creams now…” She pouted and lo