I lay in bed feeling hot even though the air-condition was on. My husband was holding me tight against his body and breathing down my neck. It was almost as if he was worried I'd escape from our comfortable bed. He'd been acting out last night, clinging and doing this and that. I let him have his way because I know how unreasonable he can be every time either of us has to travel without the other. This time was no different. It can't be helped that we can't travel together every time. We each have our jobs which we're good at and we're both aspiring to be better.
This two-day conference I have to attend in China would look good on my resume for when I try to be the head of the pediatrics department at my hospital someday. Ming can't come because it is not a vacation, besides, he has work. So I just lay there and let him have his way while I waited for the chirps of the early morning birds.
By the time I rolled out of bed, I was tired from lack of sleep and having to tiredly extricate myself from my clingy husbands grasp. I stood in front of the sink, starring at my reflection in the mirror before picking up my toothbrush. My husband walked in seconds later and picked up his own toothbrush. We stared at each other's reflections -me through blood shot eyes and Ming through blood shot eyes too, for some reason- while we slowly brushed our teeth. It was I who couldn't sleep a wink all through the night because he was all over me and yet he has blood shot eyes too.
I waited for him to rinse the toothpaste out of his mouth before I bent over the sink to do the same. Ming wrapped his hands around my waist from behind and kissed my shoulder. I sighed as I relaxed into his touch. I knew this would happen. There's no way he was letting me get on the plane with a comfortable backside. I thought I'll just watch him do whatever he wants but before I knew it I was actively participating, being more aggressive than usual and calling the shots. Telling him how to move and when, telling him to suck on my nipples and for him to move faster and harder. At one point I shoved him onto his back and rode him until my hips nearly gave out.
By the time I got on the plane and sat uncomfortably on my seat, I was ready to drop. I slept the whole four-hour trip from Bangkok to Shanghai. It took me more than a minute to get my bearings about me when I finally got off the plane. It took me another half hour or so to find my way to the hotel.
I discarded my carry-on bag before dropping tiredly onto the bed. When I couldn't fall asleep, I picked up my phone and connected it to the Wi-Fi using the password I'd been given at the reception before trying to contact my husband, who was probably waiting anxiously to hear from me.
"Are you okay? How did your flight go? Have you eaten? What time did you arrive?" Yep, he was anxious alright. His rapidly fired questions were proof.
"I made it to my hotel room a little while ago. Everything is fine, worry wort." I rolled onto my back, listening to my husband's voice.
"Have you eaten?" He repeated one of his earlier questions.
"Not yet. I'm tired. I want to take a nap first."
"Don't. Eat first, it's already past 7pm over there and you have a long day ahead of you tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll see what they have at the hotel."
"Kit..."
"Yes?"
"I miss you."
"Hmn. Have you eaten?" Ming sighed loudly before answering.
"Not yet. I'm getting ready to leave work now. I'll get something on the way home."
"Okay, I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? No. Let's video chat when I get home. Order room service, we can have dinner together."
"I am a little tired because you wouldn't let me sleep last night. Can we do the video chat tomorrow?"
"No. Your conference will close after nine pm, right? You'll be even more tired." I didn't feel like arguing with him, so I didn't.
"Okay, I'll order room service and I need to set up my laptop. Let me know when you get home."
"Later. I love you."
I hung up and stayed lying on the bed for a minute or two before picking up the menu for the hotel. I was too tired to read every detail of everything on the menu, so I picked something at random. I was halfway through my meal when my laptop pinged with an incoming video call.
"Aw Kit, why didn't you wait for me?" Ming complained when he saw me munching on my food.
"I was hungry. What took you so long?" I saw him pout into his camera before he picked up his plate of food. "How was work today?" I asked him to keep him from complaining about my not waiting for him.
"Work was alright. The house is too big without you. I don't know if I can fall asleep alone." We do this every time. Ming complains about everything being too big or too uninteresting when I'm not there. "What about you? Did anyone try to hit on you on the plane?" I laughed at his question before answering.
"I was asleep the whole time. One of the flight attendants had to wake me up or I would have slept in there until the plane loaded again, so if anyone did hit on me, I didn't see." I took a bite of food of my own plate while I watched as something I assumed to be relief crossed his face.
"How is your food?"
"I don't know. I'm too tired and hungry to care about the taste." I didn't bother asking him what his food tasted like because I knew exactly what he'd say.
"Mine is alright but it'll taste better if you were here." Guess I didn't need to ask. Sometimes he talks like he's still trying to woo me even though we've already been together for over seven years, married for nearly a year of those seven years.
We made small talk for the rest of the video call. Ming suggested some places I could go see if I had a chance.
"Hey, where's my goodnight kiss?" Ming asked when I moved to turn the call off.
"What goodnight kiss? I'll talk to you tomorrow."
"Oi Kit wait."
"What?"
"I'm serious. Blow me a kiss before you hang up..." He sounded so needy I was tempted. I don't like the idea of blowing him a kiss, it's embarrasing. Sometimes I'm afraid I'll forever be shy when it comes to Ming.
"I-I'll give you a real kiss when I get back so wait a little, okay?"
"But Kit..." The desperate look he was giving me through the lens of the camera had my resolve to hold off his advances for online affection melting just a little bit.
"Ming, I'll give you as many kisses as you want when I get back, okay?" I promised him as a last resort. He sighed in defeat before speaking again.
"I love you."
I hung up and stayed up long enough to take a shower. When I finally fell onto the bed fatigued and ready to sleep some more, I couldn't sleep. I stayed up, trying everything I could think of, counting sheep, watching a boring show on tv, nothing worked. It was nearly four am by the time I fell asleep.
The first day of the conference was as hectic as I'd anticipated. I guess that's what happens when they try to fit so many agendas into two days. The first day of the conference went on until midnight as they tried to cover everything on the agenda.
My phone was blinking with unanswered messages when I walked through the door of the hotel room I was currently residing in. I threw my briefcase, which was filled with materials handed out at the conference, on the floor before kicking my shoes off. I picked up my phone before dropping onto the bed. Most of the messages were from Ming, a few from my family and friends wondering how my trip was going. I read through most of them before typing in some replies.
