“Mike..”

Aom’s soft voice was met with silence. After a few seconds, she tried again.

“Mike.”

The man beside her let out a muffled groan. She tried a little louder. Propping her head up with an elbow, she shuffled closer to his ear and placed a hand on his bare shoulder.

“Mike!”

The big lump under the blanket turned away from the distracting noise, lifting the blanket over his head. Said distracting noise decided to make an even noisier noise.

“Mike! Wake up! Mikeeeey!”

The big lump curled into a ball and voiced out his complaint at being rudely awoken in the middle of the night.

“Aom.. go to sleep.. I’m sleepy..”

It was incoherently said but Aom got the message. What Aom didn’t get was the irrational hunger she felt, keeping her up when everybody else was asleep. She envied the man beside her, snoring blissfully only minutes ago. Well, not anymore!

“Mike, I really need you to wake up.”

He, who has absolutely no intention of waking up, craned his head towards his very beautiful, very irritating wife and peeked up at her with one eye. Satisfied that her husband is finally awake, albeit very slightly, she cuddled closer to him and whispered sultrily in his ear.

“Mike.. I’m hungry.”

That got his full attention. Mike turned around completely so he was now facing his wife. She had her face against his neck and her arms around his torso all under one second. Impertinent wife. Mike groaned aloud when he felt her dragging her tongue from his Adam’s apple down, down, down..

“Whoa, whoa, whoa we just had half an hour ago, Aom! Give a man some break!”

Aom stopped suddenly and pulled away from him, making a distasteful face at her disgruntled husband. She gave him a frown of her own and unwind her arms from his warm body. He gave a small but noticeable whine, as if the act disappointed him. 

“I thought you’re tired?”

“I am.. but you can still snuggle, I don’t mind.”

On second thought, he does look exhausted. 

“Well, I mind!”

“What? Aom.. c’mon,”

He let out a sigh and tugged her closer to him. He pecked her on the nose and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. 

“Okay, fine, let’s have round three.. but you’d have to be on top this time--”

“What? Who said I wanted to do.. do.. that?!”

“You said you were hungry so I thought--”

“Yeah, I was hungry, I am, but not for that! I wanted to you to make me some food.”

Mike looked at her long and hard, making Aom shift in his embrace. He always had that effect on her. No matter how many times they’ve been intimate, his gaze always had the ability to unravel her. She duck under his chin and buried her face against his warm chest. They stayed like that for what felt like minutes when it was only mere seconds when Aom felt his body tremble. She slowly pulled away from him and looked up, confused by the sudden change, when she felt a deep rumble coming from his chest. 

“Mike--”

She never got to finish her sentence because Mike suddenly let out a boisterous laugh and pulled her body over him, draping her like a blanket. He laughed against her hair and held her tightly to him.

“Ever since you got pregnant the word ‘hungry’ has double meaning and I feel like I’m spending half my time construing which hunger you want me to--”

“Mike!”

She was more surprised than anything and she thumped his shoulder a few times to get him to loosen his hold. All of a sudden, Mike ceased laughing and gently moved their body so they can lay on their sides. He ran his hands along her body, lingering on her sides. It was almost as if he was searching for any harm done.

“Sorry, did I.. did I hurt you?”

Aom pulled his hand that were resting hesitatingly on her hip towards her belly. She pressed his large hand firmly just above her navel and caressed his fingers soothingly.

“I’m okay, a little tumble won’t hurt the baby, Mike. He’s a strong and healthy baby.”

Mike’s gaze was now riveted to bump he cradled under his hand. Since the moment she started showing, he felt drawn to her bump and felt a rush of affection whenever he made contact with it. 

“I know, I just.. sometimes I get a little too--”

“No. You’ve never hurt me.”

Technically, that wasn’t true. Their past wasn’t a happy one and it’s only by some miracle that they can stand where they are now. Though he’s never laid a hand on her, he has inflicted bruises not visible to the eye. He’s never let a day pass without reminding himself of the emotional pain she endured early on in their marriage. He’s never let a day pass without resolving to make her the happiest woman in the world, either. Seeing the change of emotion on his face, Aom sought to chase away her husband’s sudden melancholy.

“Hey, I did wake you up for a purpose, you know?”

“Hmm?”

Mike nuzzled his nose against the side of her face, earning him a small chuckle. 

“I said I was hungry.”

Mike tilted her chin so he could straight in her eyes.

“Yes.. and I’m pretty sure this time it’s for food-kinda-hungry, am I right?”

“Yep!”

He kissed her damp temple and leaned his forehead against hers. He ran his hands up her back and all the way through her wild mane of hair.

“Come to think about it, I’m kinda hungry for the other sort, Aom.”

Aom deeply moaned at the way his hands know exactly where to touch her. She stilled his arm, keeping his wandering fingers to deviate her attention from what’s really important.

“But I’m so so hungry, Mike. I want to eat fro-yo.”

Mike snapped his head away to see her face better. He though she was joking. 

“Fro-yo? Where the hell could I find frozen yoghurt at 3 am in the morning?”

He frowned at her innocently smiling face and started to try compromising with her. It’s like their own thing now: compromising on her cravings.

“Baby, what about ice cream? We’ve got some Ben & Jerry’s.. I think there’s some salted caramel.. and then there's the peanut butter fudge.. and the-- oh! I bought you the frozen yoghurt one! What was it.. hm, the, uh.. greek yoghurt, uh, the Raspberry Greek Frozen Yoghurt!”

“But that’s not actually fro-yo, Mike..”

“But it tastes the same, baby! It actually tastes a whole lot better. And it’s raspberry-flavored, your favorite right?”

Seeing the pout starting to form on her face, Mike amped up his compromising skills. 

“Baby, I got you a whole tub! And..and I’ll even make some pancake for you to--”

“No, Mike. Your kid wants fro-yo and nothing else!”

“But--”

“And who got me pregnant in the first place?”

She haughtily raised an eyebrow at him, and after seeing him hesitate, she morphed her features into one of innocence. Complete with the doe eyes and all that.

Damn.

He’s done for it. Utterly, completely done. She looked up at him with those puppy eyes of hers and he’s damned if he couldn’t give her anything she wants. It was only a little cup of fro-yo anyway. 

A little cup of fro-yo at 3 am in the morning.. I bet my hairy no yogurt place is open this early.

Letting out a deep sigh, he rolled onto his side of the bed and got up. Searching for the boxers she flung in the midst of their passion, Aom let out a giggle.

“Your looks really nice from this angle, Mike.”

He threw a smirk over his shoulder on his way out the door.

“My looks really nice from any angle, wife.”

//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////

It was almost 7.05 in morning when Mike staggered into their bedroom, hands full of fro-yo containers and savory snacks he knew his wife could never refuse. He found out early on in her pregnancy that Aom had a penchant for combining savory food with sweets. It was absolutely horrifying (there was the anchovies and cotton candy combination that made him want to hurl, then the tomatoes dipped into nutella phase where she’d eat it for dinner every day for a week, and then there’s the ‘pickled phase’ which absolute takes the cake, where she ate pickled everything dunk in chocolate milk) as he complained countless times these past months, but it made Aom happy so what else can he do about it? When she was asked about this weird habit of hers, she answered with full of pickled radish, “Well, combining the two balances it all out, you know? Sweet and sour, salty and chocolate-y.. that sorta thing”

Oh, he definitely does not know. Nor will he ever want to know. But for the sake of his wife’s happiness and comfort, he’s willing to go the extra mile to cater to her every whim. 

He placed the bags on the bedside table and gently shook Aom awake. She awoke with a start and jackknifed into a sitting position. Not an easy feat for a 5-month-old pregnant woman.

“Hey, hey.. easy there, sweetheart.”

“I had a nightmare.”

“Did you? What was it about?”

Nightmares were also common for Aom ever since she got pregnant. Mike helped her sit up more comfortably, sliding a pillow behind her to support her back. 

“Yeah.. I dreamed you were out buying all the food that I want and when you got all of them and finally returned home you woke me up and told me-- wait no, you laughed at my face, and then told me you had to eat all of them on your way back because they were melting or something. So you didn’t leave me anything. At all. You ate all my food!”

Mike really didn’t know what husbands do in situations like this so he only did what he knew could never be considered wrong; feed her food. He started digging out the fro-yo and getting her the plastic spoon that goes with it. He passed a large cup of fro-yo to his wife and slowly sat down beside her on the bed. She accepted the cup willingly, albeit with a disgruntled thanks, and wasted no time inhaling the stuff. It never ceased to amaze him how fast of an eater she is when she really sets her mind to it.

“So.. where did you get these?”

Mouthful of fro-yo and toppings, Aom wiped with the back of her hand and pressed the cup with her other hand against her neck. Another thing he learnt about pregnant woman: they get hot really easily. 

“I met a man at the minimarket, he was wandering down the frozen food aisle, turns out he was also buying food for his wife so I asked him about fro-yo-- I mean, I gotta try my luck, right? And surprise, surprise he told me there’s a pancake parlour that sells frozen yoghurt and it opens up really early since it serves breakfast! So I went straight to the place and got you all these.”

“And where was it?”

“Err.. it was a bit out of town.”

“A bit? Where was it, wait what time is it right now?”

She craned her neck towards the bedside table, she gasped seeing the numbers on their digital clock.

“Mike! It’s been hours since you’ve left! Where exactly was the pancake place?”

Mike sheepishly started rubbing at the back of his neck. Aom just barely heard him mutter the location of the pancake parlour.

“But Mike, that’s.. that’s.. one and a half hour drive from the city! I didn’t think you’d--”

Aom stopped munching on her food and turned to fully look at Mike. Seeing him look away, as if embarrassed, Aom put aside the cup of fro-yo on the table and shuffled closer to him. She raised her hand to cup his jaw and caressed the stubble growing there. Mike’s breath hitched at the way she looked at him. Like she’s seeing all the answer to her prayers. She strained a little to kiss him so he swooped down and helped her a bit. Her lips felt cool to his touch and tasted sweet. After a while she leaned back on the pillow and caressed her bump.

“You treat us real good, you know that? Thank you, Mike.”

Mike finally looked straight into her eyes and placed his hand on top of her own where it rested on her bump.

“Wife, you’re the one I should be thanking.”

//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////.//////////