It was getting harder for her to carry out mundane things. Getting out of bed, she finds, requires the help of her husband. She’d turn to her side, toward a sleeping Mike and place a hand gently (or not-so-gently on some occasions) to wake him up. He’d wake up gradually and she’d patiently wait for him to gain consciousness, only then will she let out a small whine. 

“Help me?”

He won’t necessarily give her the help she needs. He’d peek open an eye and smile lazily at her sleepy face, then he’d gather her close to him (or as close as her stomach will allow) and drifts back to sleep. She’d only let him snuggle for a few minutes since she needed to help Pim make breakfast, so when Mike’s breathing evens out, and the arm holding her grows slack, she’d start pecking his face noisily to get him to wake up. There are instances when Mike just wouldn’t wake up so she resorted to biting the tip of his nose until Mike lets out a yelp and pulls back to glare at her. Like today. 

“Ow! What’d you do that for, Aom?!”

“You wouldn’t wake up! I need to start making breakfast or else you’d starve, you sleepyhead!”

He’d mutter something close to “wives these days are so aggressive” while rubbing the reddened tip of his nose. It wasn’t so much the pain that woke him up, it was pretty jarring to suddenly have teeth clamp up on your nose when mere seconds ago your face was showered with gentle kisses. 

“Oh, you big baby, c’mere.. let me make it all better.”

“Oh no you don’t, Aom.”

Aom was just about to kiss the tip of his nose when he cradled her face and swooped down to capture her pouting lips.

“What are you-- ummffff”

He kissed her with wild abandon. Tilting her face this way and that, and when her lips started moving in harmony with his, Mike bit down on her lower lip. Aom moaned, with pain or arousal, he didn’t exactly know, but he was having too much fun with her to contemplate. He released her lips and leaned back, watching at her with heavy-lidded eyes. She simmered under his appraisal and felt her whole body flush warm as his gaze drank in her every movement. He reached out his thumb to and soothe her lips when he saw her softly lapping the raw flesh. He replaced her tongue with his own and softly , evidently trying to relieve the pain. 

“Mike.”

He grinned against at her frenzied gasp and moved his hands to the base of her skull. He kneaded at the area between her neck and shoulder, releasing the tension in the muscles.  Nearing the end of her second trimester, her back constantly aches, in turn, she constantly needles Mike to give her a back rub. Not that he’s complaining, Mike barely lets out a peep of protest when it comes to relieving his wife off of the drawbacks pregnancy brought. 

“Oh, Mike.. your.. hmmmm.. your hands are so-- oh!”

He dragged his hands heavily across the expanse of her torso until they reached her lower back, his widened his fingers there and urged her pelvis against him. Her stomach was too large now to allow free movement, but that didn’t stop her from feeling his arousal hard against her swollen belly. She is a little disappointed for not being able to probably cradle him between her thighs so she made up for it by reaching down and sneaking her hands between their body to grip his . 

“.”

This time it was Aom who grinned against Mike’s mouth. Two can play this game, buddy. 

"Aom.. oh .. don't do that.. I'm gonna.. ."

He caught her hands with his own while releasing her lips. He quickly loosened the vice he had on her and moved them gently so Aom was no longer half-hidden beneath him. He moved her so that she was on her knees and pulled her legs apart so they were now straddling him. He nearly buckled at the feel of her warm quim.

"Mike, are we gonna--"

"Hell yeah, baby."

"Right now--"

"Yeah."

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Aom hastily put up her hair in a messy bun and sprinted across the kitchen. Well, that wasn't completely true, it was a waddle more than anything but we're not going to get too technical here. She threw a distracted "good morning" towards Pim and beckoned her to start chopping up the the vegetables for breakfast. Aom tried tying up the apron around her waist but who was she kidding, she'd need new aprons with longer straps long before she entered her third and last trimester. She was in denial, that's why, and so she continued using her teeny weeny aprons and opted to simply not tie the strings together. 

"Aom, are you ever planning to buy bigger aprons?"

Aom was whisking eggs for an omelette for Mike when Pim's nasally voiced suddenly piped up. She gritted her teeth and threw Pim a disgruntled look. Wiping her forehead with the back of her hand, she poured the eggs into a heated pan.

"Why should I? I'm nearing the end of my 7th month.. don't you think it's a little too late to buy new aprons?"

"But Aom, you'll only get bigger from here!"

Aom turned her back on the frying pan and glared at the smirking girl. Pim was a long-distance cousin of hers, her mother and Pim's father were cousins one way or another. She's known Pim most of her life, and begrudgingly thought of her as someone she can rely and trust. 

"Shut it, Pim! It's your nephew I'm carrying here. Do you want him to hate you the moment he's born?"

"What?! How's that even possible? Babies love me! I'm the baby whisperer."

Aom can only shake her head at her cousin's antics. For all the good she brings to this house, Pim cannot keep shut even if her life depended on it. 

"Why are you even here anyway? What, no one will take your hand in marriage back home?"

Aom snickered at her own sassy comeback. She knew exactly why Pim moved hundreds of miles away from Khon Kaen all the way to Bangkok. 

"Hey! I'll have you know that boys line up for me! You should see the queue they make just to ask me out for a date!"

"Yeah sure, Pim, but I'm pretty sure-- what's his name-- oh, right, Arthit, wasn't waiting in that line. Am I right or am I right?"

Aom accidentally dropped her spatula and started bending down to retrieve it. Pim, seeing her struggle, got her to it and fetched the utensil all the while trying to remain calm under her cousin's attempt at riling her up. Pim knew that Aom knew the reason behind her move from her hometown to the capital. Both Aom and Mike knew exactly why she took such a drastic step last year. Arthit was a schoolfriend back in Khon Kaen. Pim grew up with him and called him her best friend. Though she insisted there wasn't anything remotely romantic between them, Aom and Mike knew better. Moving hundreds of miles away from home to a foreign place without really having any lead towards finding him is not what a "friend" would do. 

"You know, I'm starting to think that I just get on with my life."

Aom raised her head hearing the somber note in her cousin's voice. It wasn't every day that her loud and rambunctious tomboy of a cousin talk like this. 

"I'm glad you think that way, Pim. Life's too short to dwell on uncertainty."

"I know, it's just that.. he was my best best friend, Aom. And I missed him so damn much."

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"What's up with Pim?"

Mike towered over his diminutive wife who was busy figuring out how to do a windsor knot with the tie looped around his neck. With his arms akimbo, Mike waited patiently for her clumsy hands to finish the knot. He wasn't very particular about his attire but Aom insisted he put on his best formal wear to look sleek and professional. He once argued that she married a TV star, not a lawyer or banker, to which she replied "Mike, you're too old to wear baseball caps and oversized sweatpants-- look your age! And it looks hideous anyway, you look so much hotter wearing a suit".

Well, he can't argue with that. Welp, there goes his badboy persona. 

"Hm? Oh, you know, she's still hung up on that guy. Can you lean down a little-- yup, that's it."

MIke 's outfit was unually formal today because he's attending a meeting with a major company to seal the deal for a multi-million dollar investment. Yes, Mikey is all grown up now, ever since deciding to cut down the time he spent shooting films, he's been venturing out into unknown territory (but he's willing and driven, not to mention cunning when the need arises, so he's pretty sure he won't tank any time soon).

"Is it too tight? Can you breathe?"

Mike glanced down at his wife's face and smiled softly at her expression, the frown of concentration on her face faded as she felt Mike's large hands rub the sides of her stomach. His smile turned into a mischievous grin, he waggled his thick eyebrows for added effect. 

"I'm breathing just fine, mama. And how are you feeling this morning?"

Aom blushed under his playful eyes. Married and heavily pregnant-- she is still affected by his ways. She felt his finger slide under her jaw and towards her chin, tilting her head back to look at him. An amused smile formed on her face and she refused to look at him in the eyes. 

"Aom.."

"Ye-es.."

She slid her eyes close and placed both her hands behind her back, playful smile remaining on her pale face. Mike stared down at the woman before him-- his love, his light, his wife. Seeing her happy and warm and safe and pregnant with his child caused havoc in his mind. The image of her, with her head tilted back and her face hitting the ray of sun shining through the windows behind him, Mike's fingers curled in anticipation. He had to lean down to align his face with hers, and when their lips were only a hairsbreadth away, Aom suddenly shot her arms out and framed his face with her hands. She gripped his jaw with one hand while the other reached back behind her to retrieve the briefcase she had prepared for him. She grinned up at his bewildered face and patted his cheek. 

"Wha--"

"Off you go, husband mine! Good luck!"

She turned and walked (waddled, really) away without waiting for an answer.  

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