FIRE PLACE
Cuddles and Meanings (Cain & Erised)
Stretching his body like that of a cat's, he dropped himself on the couch with his arms spread eagle. Latang-lata siyang naka-upo sa couch na akala mo ay sumali sa triathlon o kaya ay sa Amazing Race.
But the truth is, he's been moving around the house the whole day: fixing the plumbing problems at the kitchen and bathroom sinks, cleaning the entire house, doing their week-worth of laundry, cooking whatever his wife requested, which were a lot, washing the dishes and he even did gardening, despite not knowing anything about it.
All under his wife's order. He didn't have the heart to object, given her condition.
"Cain!" his wife yelled from upstairs, sending him bolting up the couch and up the stairs. "Cain!"
He rushed over to where their bedroom was, the door banged as he kicked his way inside. A look of horror, disorientation and dread mirrored his handsome face, his eyes wide and wild in utter surprise. He frantically asked, "What happened?"
To his bewilderment, there was nothing alarming inside the room at all. Nothing that could harm his wife, nothing concerning. Except Erised has this vexed look painted on her lovely face, the blanket wrapped around her tightly, with her face the only part of her on sight. She glared at him, lips slightly pouting.
He slowly made his way towards her and patted her blanket-covered head. "What's wrong?"
"Malamig." his wife replied through gritted teeth.
Lumambot agad ang eskpresyon sa mukha ni Cain bago dahan-dahan na tumabi rito. "What do you want me to do?"
"Cuddle."
He softly smiled, nodding. "Okay. We'll cuddle."
He planted a kiss on his wife's forehead before rising back into his feet and started for the door, but his wife beat him to it, clutching at his hand, looking up at him like she's a lost pup.
"Where are you going?" there was irritation in her voice, her brows knitted together into a frown. "Akala ko ba cuddle?"
"Oo nga." he assured her. "May aayusin lang ako saglit."
Erised pouted, letting his hand go reluctantly.
"Balik ka agad."
Ngumisi si Cain. "Ang bilis mo naman ako ma-miss, Misis."
Sumimangot ang asawa at tuluyan na siyang pinakawalan. "On second thought, 'wag ka na bumalik!" tinaboy-taboy siya nito. "Lumayas ka na!"
Natatawang nagnakaw siya ng mabilis na halik sa pisng nito, bago ngingisi-ngising bumaba para ayusin ang mga dapat ayusin.
The moment Erised told him that it's cold, he knew exactly what to do. Totoo nga naman na malamig sa labas, pero bilang bugbog sa gawaing bahay ay hindi niya maramdaman iyon.
And now his wife's cold and requested a cuddle from him so cutely, how could he even say no? He'd grab every opportunity that would come, minsanan na nga lang maging cute ang asawa niya, malalampasin pa ba niya?
He moved in haste as he stuck logs beside the fireplace. He set up the fire exactly like how they both wanted it. He prepared a cup of milk for his wife and a mug of coffee for him, to further warm them up later.
When everything was ready, he scrambled up to their bedroom again only to find his wife giving him death glares, still clutching the thick blanket tightly.
