Punches of love

Dinner had come and gone. The three of them were letting their bellies digest all the wonderful food they had eaten, while chatting some more over a board game. Steve and Maria figured that as long as they kept Laila's mind occupied with other things, she wouldn't have time to think about Noah and Olivia. By now it was close to 9 PM so they assumed that it wouldn't take much longer for Noah to finish up what had remained of his fake date and head on home.

Sure enough, after two more rounds of the game they had chosen for the evening, they heard the sound of the front door closing. Immediately Laila's expression changed, she stopped laughing and Steve and Maria did the same as they looked at Laila a bit worriedly. Laila's face had dropped for a brief second as she seemed frozen in the moment but then she got up out of her seat and made her way to the door that separated the living room from the dining room. Just as she reached for the door to open it, Noah beat her to it and she stood face to face with the man she had been waiting for all day. Without thinking, just blindly following her instincts, Laila's body moved on its own and her arms reached out and she wrapped them Noah's neck.

Noah of course immediately put his arms around Laila's waist and held her as he exchanged glances with Steve and Maria to get an understanding of the situation. Their awkward looks, the avoiding of his eyes on Maria's part and the lack of a smile on either of their faces told him all he needed to know. He tightened his hug around Laila and placed a kiss on the top of her head before he let his head rest on hers. He rocked her gently from side to side as he stroked her back and alternated it with kisses on the crown of her head.

Although Steve knew that Noah loved Laila very much. It was still weird for him to see Noah being so gentle. Towards anyone really. But as Steve was staring at Noah comforting his wife with a slightly dropped jaw and a look of mesmerized shock, almost as if he was staring at a traffic accident that had taken place, unable to look away, Maria nudged him gently. This caused his attention to shift away from them to her. When he had turned his head to face Maria, she used her head to gesture that they should leave, wanting her friend to have some privacy and some time alone with Noah. A bit reluctantly Steve obliged, looking back at Noah and Laila with each step he took in order to leave the room through the side door.

Now that Noah and Laila were alone, Noah took his comforting of Laila up a notch. As he said, "Honey, my dear wife, what's wrong? Are you angry at me?" But Laila didn't respond. She only shook her head as she held on tightly. So, in order to stop her from hiding away and shielding her face from him, he tried to pull her arms away from her neck, which hadn't loosened their grip from the moment she had latched on. By attempting to create the slightest bit of physical distance, he tried to actually look at her face and have a conversation with her. But, his first attempt was to no avail. Immediately Laila shook her head and moved her hands from his neck to his stomach, pulling him in even tighter as she buried her face in his chest.

As he did a second attempt, this time moving forward even more carefully, he gently said, "Honey, it's okay now. I'm here. Can we talk? I want to see your face. I haven't seen you all day. I'm not going anywhere. So, why don't we take a seat and talk a little. Can we do that?" When he didn't hear any protest, he slowly tried to push Laila's body back a bit by her shoulders. Though there was still some resistance, Laila didn't stop him and finally he could see her face, which looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. Eyes red from forcing back her tears, lip slightly quivering and her arms still tightly wrapped around Noah's waist as she looked up to meet his eyes.

Noah wiped away the single droplet that fell from her eyes before it could stream down Laila's face. Then he placed a kiss on her lips before gently stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, his hands cupping her face, shielding it from all directions except his own view. With a smile he said, "Much better.", before he proceeded saying, "I missed you. I'm sorry for taking so long. I'm sorry for having to go in the first place." During all these words Laila had kept silently staring at him, not breaking eye contact, not letting go.

As Noah brushed some strands of hair out of her face and tucked them behind her ear, he softly asked, "Are you mad at me?" To which Laila shook her head no. Noah nodded and said, "Good. You can be mad at me if you want. You have every reason and every right. But I am glad that you aren't. Then, if you aren't mad, did you miss me?" Laila narrowed her eyes to glare at Noah. As if saying, "Isn't that obvious! How dare you ask that?" and emphasized those words by letting go of his waist with one hand in order to hit his chest. Noah laughed a bit as he grabbed hold of that hand and said, "Ow...Those punches of love of yours hurt you know?"