Into the fire

While Laila was calming her racing heart, Noah was talking on the phone with a stern expression on his face. She couldn't make out the words he was saying but he was clearly not amused to be disturbed during his 'family time'. From time to time he would glance over in her direction and give her a smile. Gesturing that he was almost done. Though Noah meant it as a sign of affection, for her it was currently more of a warning sign. A countdown until they would continue where they had left off. She knew the peck on her lips was just a preview for what was to come.

Laila didn't understand how she was so nervous around Noah. How she was so affected by his behaviour. It is not like she has never kissed a man. Nor has she not been intimate with one. She had even once been close in kissing Noah himself. But somehow, in this timeline and with this confident and mature Noah, every touch, gentle stroke and kiss, set her skin on fire and her heart ablaze. Since for him nothing had changed from the day before, Laila could understand why he was acting the way he was. But for her, this was all hard to keep up with and accept. In her eyes, he was still the innocent and slightly awkward Noah from her past. The Noah who was struggling with holding her hand. The Noah she was contemplating to date. Not the one that she had been married to for shy of a dozen years and who was about to be the father of her child.

But since he didn't know that she didn't have any memories of the past ten plus years and there was no way she could explain to him what had happened without sounding completely insane, she had no choice but to go along with it all in order to not make him suspicious or hurt his feelings. Her mind understood this very clearly, but her body was apparently not yet on board with this approach. It was still making her heart beat away rapidly and her eyes were looking in Noah's direction like a cornered deer looks at the hungry lion lying in wait. Before Laila could manage to bring her heartrate back to normal, Noah had finished his phone call and he, the lion in her story, was back on his way to where she was standing. Meanwhile Laila was defencelessly waiting for her seemingly unescapable fate.

Time was indeed up for Laila and with long strides, the cause for her flushed cheeks, was fast approaching. Just like she had anticipated, he walked right up in front of her, placed his hand on the small of her back and in one swift move, he pulled her back close against his body. With a playful look on his face and a flirtatious smile, he said, "Alright, where were we?". But before Laila's lips had a chance to respond to his question, his kiss was fast approaching in order to maintain her silence.

As Noah's face was being lowered towards hers in a rapid speed, Laila had to act fast to protect her frantic heart. So, just before his lips could touch hers, she put her hand up against his lips and without thinking ahead, she yelled out, "Wait!". This action caused Noah to stop abruptly in his movement, making her poorly thought out plan a success but now she was left in a situation that was quite hard to explain. What was she supposed to say about why she stopped his kiss?! They are married. They aren't fighting. He had come home early especially for her. Any normal wife would reciprocate the kiss and probably even initiate it herself, not reject a moment of affection. So, just like that, in a split second of unfounded panic, she had escaped from one hole, by digging another. Her action was like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire.

But Laila wasn't one to give up and luckily for her, she was quick on her feet and surprisingly crafty in the excuse department. With Noah's curious eyes gazing at her stammering lips, she managed to spit out an excuse. "Why don't we go eat something! I am suddenly feeling really hungry. It must be the baby's appetite acting up now that daddy is here." Her words had left her lips before she could think them over. Since she didn't know what gender her baby had yet, she had to play it neutral. Especially since the nursery she had walked into hadn't been finished yet and the colours that were there, were all gender neutral. With an awkward laughter, she tried to sell this clear lie and it seemed like it had worked.

Somehow her words were believable to Noah and his expression quickly changed from confused to smiling. As his hand moved, from the small of her back to being wrapped around her neck, he said with an air of laughter, "I guess my hunger will have to wait till after mother and child have been fed." Laila let out another awkward laughter in response to this comment and sighed a breath of relief as she had bought herself some time until Noah would act on that type of "hunger" again. This was something that was unavoidable and considering the time between his first "attack" and his second one, his third attempt was bound to not be too far off either!