The Experiment 2: The Journey

Pancakes and Whipped Cream

"Well?" RJ asked when Dei finally stepped out of the bathroom. He had been leaning against the wall beside the door, nervously waiting for her to come out.

She shook her head. "Negative. And I used three kits."

He let out a huge sigh and she looked at him at once. "Are you upset?" she asked, frowning.

"No," he said quickly and held her hand. "I'm not. I'm sorry. I just thought..."

"You're disappointed," she realized.

He bit his lip and nodded. "Yes, and I'm sorry. I mean we've been trying for two months. It's like the first time all over again. Um, you haven't been taking pills again without my knowledge, are you?"

"Excuse me?"

"Ok, I meant that as a joke. And a lame one too, apparently," he quickly said, pulling her towards him. "I'm sorry."

"That's the third time you've said sorry in just five minutes, RJ," she said coldly.

"I know," he gently said, his hand touching her cheek. "I'm a jerk. I got too excited when you said you're delayed for 5 days. I really thought this was it. Finding out it's a false alarm disappointed me."

She sighed. "Maybe if we stop thinking about it too hard we'd get better results," she said, still sounding upset as she walked past him. "It's only been two months, RJ. It's not like we've been trying for a year."

"Again, I'm sorry, babe. Please forgive your husband's stupidity. I didn't mean to be such a jerk," he whispered, hugging her from behind as she stood by the bed.

"This whole thing is becoming such a pressure. Doing it now feels like a chore," she murmured.

"It is?" he asked, taken aback. He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. "You're not enjoying it anymore?"

"Well it's kinda hard to enjoy it as much when every time we do it lately, we try to be so conscious about the positions, about how we move and about when we should do it. The spontaneity is gone. The worst thing is, after each time, I'm constantly feeling this pressure over my head, always desperately hoping we'd get a positive result soon. You reacting the way you did earlier isn't helping."

He sighed again, placed his palms on her cheeks and kissed her. "I'm really sorry, Dei. I didn't know you feel that way. You're right, maybe we should stop trying, or at least let's stop pressuring ourselves. I love you, babe."

"I love you too," she whispered, sighing, deciding to let it go.

"It's a good thing we're flying to the Philippines again. Maybe that's just the vacation we need. We'd go to the beach, babe. Maybe have another honeymoon too, and this time we will make love just like before. We'll enjoy every moment of it, not thinking about anything else," he whispered in her ear as he hugged her tight.

She gave a small laugh. "Are we going to try and compete with the newlyweds?"

"They're no match to us," he whispered and she giggled again.

RJ and Dei had been invited to his cousin's wedding in the Philippines. Richard and her girlfriend, Maine, travelled to New York more than 2 months ago and had stayed in their home for three week. Maine had gotten so close to Athena and the of them got too attached that it was truly a heartbreaking moment when Richard and Maine finally had to leave. Now the couple wanted to have Athena as their flower girl, and had begged for RJ and Dei to fly to the Philippines with her even though it's the start of the holidays.