Chapter 11
We sat across each other and ate our dinner while the stereo continued to play some songs. We stole brief glances at each other and looked away every time our eyes met. It was almost like we were teenagers again.
"So, Mr. Sensitive Man, why were you crying?" Asuka began.
I chuckled. "First, you call me 'Mr. Serial Killer', now I'm 'Mr. Sensitive Man'?"
"I just love to call you different nicknames," she said, "it's cute. So, why were you crying?" she repeated.
I continued eating. She stopped and took a good look at me. "Why were you crying?" she repeated in a more singsong voice. I didn't answer her. "Why were you crying?" she repeated again.
"Because I thought you didn't love me anymore." I said finally, trying my best to make it sound casual.
She fell silent. I looked at her to see her reaction.
"What?" she exclaimed.
"Yup." I nodded.
"Edo… is that what this is all about?" she asked, "You think I don't love you anymore?"
"Yeah." I said.
"Ooh…" she murmured, "You really are Mr. Sensitive Man!" she exclaimed. She stood from her seat. I stopped eating momentarily and wondered what she was about to do.
"Stand up." She said. I swallowed my food and stood. "Come closer." She said. I took a step closer. "Closer." She said again. I walked towards her and stopped right in front of her.
"Is this enough?" I asked.
"Yeah." She said. She brought out her hand and swung it across my face.
"Ouch!" I cried, holding my red cheek. "What was that for?"
"That was for thinking I didn't love you anymore." She informed. "You're such an idiot, you know that? Just because we fight and argue a lot, doesn't mean I lost interest in you! Ugh! I knew something was up…"
"I'm sorry," I muttered.
"Yeah, you better be!" she exclaimed, "because now I know that you have no idea how much you mean to me!"
I was stunned. "What?"
"Yeah! You heard me right, Mr. Sensitive Man." she said. There was moment of silence. She looked away. "I love you Edo," she continued, "And I've always loved you. I just didn't want to tell you that on a daily basis because… because…"
"Because what?" I asked.
"Because I thought… you didn't love me anymore."
"What?" I shouted, "That's ridiculous!"
"No, it isn't!" she defended, "It's been bothering me for so long!" she sighed. Then she continued, "I didn't want to express my feelings anymore because I thought it would get you even more irritated, and I thought you were just telling me that you loved me to keep me happy… I didn't think you were." she stopped, and her tears began to fall, but she continued, "You know, I actually thought you were cheating on me… I mean, we haven't made love for so long, and we argue all the time, and we shout at each other, and we curse each other, and… and…" her voice began to shiver, "I'm sorry, Edo… I'm sorry I've never let you know how I truly felt… I just thought that-"
"-Asuka," I interrupted, "Shut up."
She fell silent. I brought out my hand, touched her face, and caressed her. She closed her eyes and let her tears fall. "I love you, Edo," she said again, "And I miss this… I miss moments like this."
She opened her eyes. I wiped away her tears. I placed my other hand on her face too, and neared her to me. "I miss this too." I whispered. Then, I planted a soft, gentle kiss on her lips. I heard her utter a slight gasp, then she kissed me back. I felt her hands run through my hair. I felt that familiar sensation of lust and desire as her tongue danced with mine. I pulled her closer. She moaned. I felt butterflies on my stomach as I tried my best to balance my animalistic desire and my desire to satisfy her. When she moaned again, I pulled away.
"What's wrong?" she whined.
I didn't answer. Instead, I swooped down and carried her. "Edo!" she gasped, not taking her eyes off me. I smiled at her, then carried her to our bedroom. She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.
I laid her on our bed and began to touch every part of her. Every time she moaned, I felt my desires gradually increasing. I removed my black jacket. Asuka giggled and got up. She kissed me while her hands unbuttoned my shirt. The room was starting to get hotter and hotter by the minute.
She pulled away. I was panting. She took a good look at me, and laughed. "You're all red, Mr. Sensitive Man!" she teased.
"And you're all sweaty, Little Miss Sunshine." I teased back.
She frowned. "Hm… you better leave the nicknames to me." She said.
"What, you don't like that name?" I asked.
"It's pretty corny." She criticized. I laughed.
"Alright, let's not waste time!" she exclaimed, pushing me down and trapping me beneath her.
"Whoa," I panted, "Someone's getting a little hot."
She had that naughty look on her face. Before I could even react, she dove in and kissed me. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sensations. Her hands were on my chest, but they were slowly heading down south. I was getting excited by the minute as her kisses became harder and harder.
- - -
We spent the whole night satisfying each other with gentle kisses and soft touches. We were both surprised on how wonderful it was; our sensations were at its peak, our desire for each other were stronger than ever; and it was safe to conclude that our love making that night was the best one we ever had. It was so good, that a week later, Asuka told me she had one on the way.
I, of course, was caught off guard when she said this. At first, I thought I didn't hear her right.
"What?" I said, "You mean, you're expecting?"
She giggled. "Honey, you look like you've seen a ghost!"
I laughed nervously. "Are you sure about this?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed happily, "I checked with my OB-Gyne. I'm so excited! Aren't you excited?"
"Of course I'm excited!" I said, "It's just… I wasn't expecting something like this to happen."
"Well, now we're expecting," she said in a melodic tune, "Oh Edo! Do you think it's a boy or a girl? Will he look more like you or me? Ooh! I hope he has my eyes!"
"What?" I shouted, "What's wrong with my eyes?"
"Your eyes are fine, Edo. It's just that I think brown eyes will look better on the baby."
"Excuse me?" I said, "No way! I think the baby will be better off with blue eyes. Did you know that people with blue eyes have better eyesight than others?"
"Humph!" Asuka said, "I say brown."
I smiled. "Blue's a much rarer color. Let him have my eyes, and I'll let him have your hair color."
"Hm…" Asuka thought, "Your blue eyes and my blonde hair… not bad."
"Pretty good, huh?" I asked.
She giggled. "Alright, fine. But I still want the brown eyes."
"No fair!" I exclaimed, "What's in it for me then?"
"Well… he can have your nose."
"My nose?" I reiterated more slowly. "After everything I've done, all I'm getting is a nose?"
She laughed at me and gave me a quick kiss. "I'm so happy we're having another one."
"Me too." I said, wrapping my arms around her.
I've never thought this sort of thing would happen again. It was our third one, our third child, and we knew it was one that we would keep and treasure forever. But again, destiny had other ideas.
A few weeks later, Asuka and I went to her OB-gyne to get another quick glimpse at our developing baby. Everything was fine at first; Asuka was lain on the bed, with numerous electrodes connected to her stomach; I was seated beside her while holding her hand, and the nurse was there, standing next to us, presenting the sonogram. The nurse told us that the baby was healthy, and he was doing just fine, until…
"Hm…" the nurse murmured, furrowing her eyebrows as if suspicious about something. Then she started moving the computer mouse a bit faster while looking at the monitor attentively.
As I observed her, I couldn't help but notice the jerky movements of her wrist as she zoomed in and out the screen. "Everything alright?" I asked almost nervously, expecting she would reassure me that everything was indeed going well.
"Please wait a moment," she replied, not answering my question. My heart skipped a beat. I stole a glance at Asuka. She looked nervous as well.
"What's going on?" Asuka asked, "Is the baby alright?"
"There's nothing wrong," the nurse finally said, "There's just something in here that the doctor might want to take a good look at."
"Is it a bad thing?" I asked.
"I should call her," the nurse said, obviously avoiding to answer our questions, "She can explain this better than I can." With that, she stood, and hurriedly left. Asuka squeezed my hand. I looked at her.
"What's happening?" she cried almost helplessly, "Did she see something?"
"I don't know." I said. I knew that this answer would get her all the more worried, but it got me worried too. My heart sank when I saw Asuka in the verge of tears.
"I thought she said our baby was doing fine," she cried, "What's going on?"
I couldn't answer. We both suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Silence enveloped the room. Silence and worry. I was almost relieved to see the doctor come in, but when she hurriedly approached the computer screen with a slightly panicked expression on her face, I felt myself literally losing the energy that I had left. The nurse went by her side.
"Are you sure you've checked all sides?" the doctor asked.
"Yes, I'm positive." the nurse said, "And I'm sure it hasn't attached yet."
"Alright, let me see..."
The doctor scanned the screen thoroughly, zoomed in and out and turned the 3D ultrasound again and again... until she finally stopped and turned to us. I braced myself for the worst.
"Your baby is fine." She announced.
Asuka and I both made a sigh of relief, as if a heavy burden had just been lifted from us.
"But there's a chance that something might happen if this white fluid-" –she pointed it to the sonogram- "-would attach to the baby."
I observed as the white fluid-like entity floated around the baby. "What's that?" I asked.
"That's the amniotic band," the doctor explained, "it's the fluid that serves to nourish the child inside the womb. But in this case, the amnion tore apart, so the band is free-floating, so it could attach to one of the baby's limbs."
"What's going to happen if it did?" Asuka said.
"If it attached, your child will be born with something we call ABS, or 'Amniotic Band Syndrome'. Basically, if the band attaches to one of the fetus' arms, the child would have a deformed arm; likewise, if it were to attach to his legs, the child would have a deformed foot or leg. Or if the band were to attach elsewhere, the child would be born with a cleft lip, a cleft palate, or a clubfoot."
"But… how can this happen?" Asuka began, "Why didn't we prevent this?"
"Cases like these happen in 1 in 10,000 births, Mrs. Phoenix, and there is no way to see it coming, since we cannot even explain why the amnion separates- but please remember that the band hasn't attached yet. Your baby is still very healthy."
"But there's a possibility that it wouldn't," Asuka said, her voice trembling. I squeezed her hand and tried to comfort her, to no avail; tears started to form around her eyes. "This baby… this is our third one, and the other two… they… they-"
"Sssh," I whispered, "Don't think about that. Just because those things happened, doesn't mean the probability of something going wrong now would get higher." I tried to search even more arguments to be optimistic, "Besides, the baby will only be deformed… it's not like we'll lose him,-" -I turned to the doctor- "-right?"
The doctor wore an unreadable expression on her face, and hesitated before saying anything else.
"Right?" I repeated, this time even louder.
"Mr. Phoenix, I'm sorry, I…" she stopped, trying to search for the right words to deliver yet another bad news, "Well, if the band attaches to the umbilical cord… you could lose the baby."