Zach was sleeping soundly and was awakened by Keira"s patting his shoulder. He asked in a sluggish voice, "Hmm? What is it? You need anything?"
He lazily raised his body up to sit and looked at Keira with blinking eyes.
Keira bit her lip as she said, "I want to eat something spicy..."
Zach looked at the clock on the wall. It was past 1:00 in the morning. "Something spicy at this hour?" Zach repeated what Keira said, and the latter nodded.
"Okay, do you want anything in particular? A meat dish? Seafood?" Keira looked at him blankly as she shook her head. She wanted to eat something spicy, but she did not know what.
"Alright, wait here. I"ll go bring you some spicy food…" Zach kissed her forehead and quickly stood up. He went out of the hospital to check a nearby restaurant that was open twenty-four hours.
He was reminded of what Jeru had told him, "Listen, Zach. Pregnant women usually don"t know what exactly they"re craving for. Often, they could only tell you of the taste that they want. Either something sweet, sour, or spicy. Thea always said she wanted something sweet, and I just bought her every sweet stuff that I could find. So, if Keira says she wants something like that but can"t name anything in particular, you just have to make sure to buy a variety of stuff which she could choose from. That way, in case she didn"t like the one thing that you bought, you would not have to tire yourself of having to go out and buy another one."
So following Jeru"s advice, what Zach did was, he bought all the spicy dishes that the restaurant had to offer. Spicy seafood dish, spicy soup, spicy meat dish, spicy noodles dish, spicy chicken dish, even some spicy snacks.
Keira gawked at what she saw when Zach entered their room. "This is too many! I can"t eat them all!" Keira blurted as she inspected all the things that her husband had bought. Her face cringed when she saw there was even spicy chicken feet.
Then her face fell as she looked through all the spicy food that Zach had just bought her, when she finally realized what she was really craving for. She looked guiltily at Zach and murmured, "I want something cold and spicy... maybe spicy ice cream..."
Zach almost laughed when he saw her expression. But he just smiled and said, "Alright, I"ll look for one." Keira pulled him and gave Zach a smooch on his lips and whispered," Sorry…"
Zach smiled and pinched her nose before he left to get her a spicy ice cream. He searched the internet for a place where he could buy one at that hour and found a store that sold them, around thirty minutes of driving from the hospital.
After more than an hour, Zach was back at the hospital and was grinning widely as he opened the door to their room. "I bought you different flavors of spicy ice cream. They even had spicy strawberry and spicy avocado," Zach excitedly told her, as he entered their room, but quickly stopped when he saw Keira was already sleeping soundly on the bed.
Zach quickly put the ice creams inside the refrigerator before he went to bed and gently laid himself down next to his wife. He lay on his side, facing her, and stared lovingly at Keira.
They had been through so much together. Zach had once closed off his heart and thought that he would never be able to love again. But he was wrong. So very wrong. The love he had for Keira was too indescribable. He always told her that he loved her so much whenever he wanted to express his love through words. But the truth was, what he truly felt for her was beyond "so much." It was beyond what any words can describe. It was so intense, beautiful, infinite, and unconditional.
He was very proud of his wife. His strong wife. "Such a fighter..." he whispered as he leaned forward to kiss Keira"s nose.
No matter what happened, he would never give up on Keira. Just like she had never given up on him. He was indeed the luckiest guy on earth.
He gave Keira a gentle kiss on her lips before he whispered, "Sleep well, my falling star… My everything..."
Then he looked at Keira"s tummy. He smiled while he caressed it tenderly and added, "You too, my dear babies, sleep well…"
The next morning Zach was awakened by Keira"s vomiting inside the restroom, so he rushed to her and caressed her back.
The doorbell beeped, and Zach pressed the b.u.t.ton in the restroom to unlock the door.
"Good morning, you lovebirds, who had turned my boring hospital room into a pa.s.sionate one!" Xander greeted, mixed with a teasing tone.
"Oh, vomiting in the morning, my darling cousin? Well, that"s normal, and hopefully, it will stop after two months… could be earlier or could be longer," Xander added as he checked Keira"s chart.
"Anyway, you are good to go today. All tests came back normal, and you"re fine now. Just pregnant," Xander grinned as he signaled Keira to sit so he could remove her IV.
Keira threw him a dissatisfied look and said, "Where"s my doctor? You"re a quack doctor, so your words are a bit unreliable."
Xander scoffed, "This brat. Do I have to remind you that I graduated from a medical school just like any other doctors? And I pa.s.sed all the board exams? I have all the necessary credentials, it"s just that.."
"Yeah yeah… It"s just that you prefer staying in the office…" Keira rolled her eyes as she finished his sentence for him, copying Xander"s favorite excuse whenever someone would ask him why he wouldn"t practice his profession as a doctor. Then she giggled when she saw the exasperated expression on her cousin"s face.
"You"re going to become a mother soon, you know? And you"re still so naughty and playful like this. I feel for you, Zach, this one right here is a brat," Xander chided her while he removed her IV.
Zach only shook his head as he watched the two cousins bluntly bantered with each other. As his mother-in-law already warned him, this was just a regular occurrence between these two.
"By the way, big bro, have you found the right girl for you? Someone who could make your..."
"Shut up, Keira…" Xander hissed as he interrupted her.
Keira laughed. Then she patted Xander"s shoulder, full of sympathy, and promised, "Tell me if you find a woman who could help you with your disorder, brother... I will help you win her over."
Xander looked at her and sighed before he said, "No, thanks… I can do it on my own. And I will only pursue her if I like her too, and not only because she is the solution to my disorder."
Keira shrugged her shoulders and insisted, "Just in case… You know you are the best cousin in the whole wide world, and I love you. So I will definitely make sure you get the woman whoever she is."
Then Keira suddenly snorted, and her face crumpled as she tried her best to control her laughter.
Xander looked at her suspiciously, and hissed, "What!?"
"Nothing... It"s just that a thought suddenly crossed my mind… I kept saying "Woman", but what if… What if your little buddy decided that he likes to salute a guy? Or an old woman?" Keira burst out with a fit of laughter. Xander instantly had the urge to shave Keira"s head bald.
In the end, he admitted defeat. He twitched his mouth and looked at Zach helplessly before he said, "Gosh, take care of your wife properly. I think she"s going crazy soon…"