Chapter 34

Pon pulls out from the oven a dozen crinkle cookies that have finished baking. They are for his husband, Nom, who will be arriving in a few minutes. Now that it is school break – or semestral break – Nom stays most of the time at Pon’s flat, even sleeping over on certain days.

Pon peeks through the tiny lens at the door after hearing a couple of knocks. He sees Nom standing outside holding a bouquet of flowers and a plastic bag – obviously full.

"Sawadee krap cookie bunch," greeted Pon after opening the door. He gets the flowers and bags from Nom.

"Sawadee cupcake,"

"What's in the bag?"

"Extra food for us. I thought of staying overnight here cupcake."

"I see. Come in so we can eat: it's nearly lunch."

"Did you bake something?" asked Nom, smelling the fragrant scent of cocoa, cinnamon, and vanilla as he enters the room.

"I did your favorite, cookie bunch – crinkles," replied Pon as they make their way to the kitchen. He detours first to set the flowers in the vase on the living room, then puts down the grocery bags on the dining table.

Nom sees the tray with twelve crinkles atop the table, looking at them as they cool down. However, it doesn't yet have the powdered sugar on top.

"I see that you followed what I told you from the last time," said Nom as he stoops to smell the crinkles. Previously, when Pon made them, he put the powdered sugar on top of each uncooked cookie dough. After they baked and cooled down, they looked more like little chocolate donuts with a hard caramel candy on top. The taste was not an issue as both Nom and Pon liked them. However, the shards of the hardened caramel on top annoyed Nom at each bite.

“Don't worry, cookie bunch. No bits of candy will stick to your mouth or teeth this time,” replied Pon, who kisses Nom in the cheeks after. Nom did not answer but returns the kiss to Pon’s lips.

“By the way, Nom. Sorry if I wasn’t with you when you visited P’Sun in the hospital. I had to go to the province to help mom and dad in our slaughterhouse.”

“It’s okay cupcake.”

“I’ll prep the foods you brought, cookie bunch. What did you buy?” he asked as he rummages through the inside of the bag.

“I bought Chinese food – viands, fried rice, dim sum, and soup.”

“Did you get me my…” Pon suddenly stops as Nom hugs him from the back.

“Yes cupcake. I got you your hakaos,” said Nom, who starts kissing Pon randomly from the nape to the back of the head, and even to the cheeks. Pon, being very ticklish, lets out a giggle.

“Easy cookie bunch. I might drop these containers,” said Pon. Nom obeys and settles on just hugging, his head is on his cupcake’s shoulders. “By the way, how is P’Sun?” he asked.

“He has been in a coma for seven months now. The good thing is that the wound on his lung has healed, and his sedation has been stopped. The bad thing is he is still not awake,” replied Nom.

“What did his doctor say?” Pon kisses Nom on the cheeks afterwards.

“His doctor said he is stable, and everything is normal. I’m just worried, cupcake. He said it will only take days before Sun wakes up once the sedation stops. It has been more than a week now since it was discontinued.”

“Let’s pray for P’Sun, cookie bunch. He’ll wake up anytime soon,” said Pon. To make his Nom ease up, he kisses him on the lips – not a smack but a slightly longer one.

“Better?” asked Pon after letting go of the kiss.

“A bit. You really are good in doing that – calming me down. How about…uhm…doing it a little more?”

“What do you want cookie bunch?” asked Pon, pretending he doesn’t know what his boyfriend means.

“I’ll tell you in the bedroom.” Suddenly, Nom grabs Pon’s trunks at the front by the crotch. They walk to the bedroom with Nom dragging his cupcake, who tells him to be careful not to tear his underwear.

Nom lays his boyfriend gently on the bed, kissing him after. Pon kisses back, not letting the affair get one-sided. It’s not a torrid kiss; it is more like a kiss from two boyfriends who did not meet for quite some time, which is true in their case. Pon stayed a few weeks in the province to help in their business that he can barely squeeze the time to talk to Nom.

After a while, Pon tries to pull up Nom’s shirt, but his cookie bunch prevents him. Nom puts Pon’s hands behind the pillow.

“Just lie down cupcake,” said Nom, to which Pon just nodded.

Today is a rather special day for them because it is their anniversary. Cupcake is confident that this could be the day that his cookie bunch has finally learned to overcome his insecurities with spirits. The last time they tried to make love, Nom suddenly stops after hearing one spirit in their room, which was urging him to do good so that Pon will be pleasured enough to make him scream his name.

They continue kissing while removing – piece by piece – the clothes in their body until they are both naked. After that Nom proceeds with the foreplay: it is him doing all the work considering that he misses his cupcake so much, and he wants to make it up to him for what he did before.

“I want you in, cookie bunch,” said Pon after he has been turned on enough.

Nom did not hesitate and did what his cupcake wanted.

“Happy anniversary Pon,” said Nom from the top as he does what tops do. Pon on the other hand just nods to reply, unable to answer with a statement despite his mouth being open.

“Happy…anniversary…my Nom,” replied Pon finally, although they are between gasps of pleasure.

“So I won, right? The top did not have an orgasm in fifteen minutes,” Nom heard someone said – audibly, as if it was near the bed.

“Yeah, yeah. No need to rub it in,” said another one.

Nom immediately stops and looks around. Seeing that no one else is in the room, Nom’s drive from the fifth gear goes to an abrupt brake. Nom sits on the bed in an indian sit after removing the rubber he wore earlier. Pon, on the other hand, covers his face with his hands in disappointment with his legs still spread. Nom hears as the two spirits argue on what the winner of the wager will get.

“Get out you perverts,” Nom said in a raised tone.

“Let’s go, Rain. Next time, guess better. Hahaha!”

“You were just lucky, Check.”

Pon sits on the bed, silent, after Nom sends the spirits away.

“You heard them again?” asked Pon, in a frustrated tone as he covers his bare body with the blanket.

“Krap Pon. There were two this time. I’m sorry for stopping so abruptly.”

Pon did not answer anymore. Instead, he stands up without saying anything back to his boyfriend. Nom tells him to stay in bed to cuddle, but his cupcake did not do it.

“Pon. Cupcake. Come here,” Nom pleaded. However, Pon still did not answer and just proceeds to put on his clothes. Nom gets up, puts on his trunks, and walks towards his cupcake.

“I’m sorry Pon. I’m so sorry. It’s…”

“Can’t you make love to me even if you hear them?” cut Pon without looking at Nom. Nom pats Pon’s head, but cupcake quickly moves away.

“They bother me. They bother me greatly,” said Nom, obviously sad because his boyfriend avoided his touch.

“So every time you hear them, we stop making love? Is that it?” Pon’s usually calm tone is not with him at this moment.

“No. It’s not that. It’s hard not to mind them.”

“Yes it is,” rebutted Pon, almost in a shout, looking Nom in the eyes. “All you should do is neglect them, pretend that they are not there even if you hear them.”

“Neglect what? It’s easy for…”

“THE GOD DAMNED SPIRITS NOM!” shouted Pon, letting all his frustrations out in that one sentence. Both were silent afterwards with Nom stunned. “It is our anniversary; I just returned after spending time without you; now that we celebrate our commitment, this is what you do?” continued Pon, a bit agitated.

“You understand the problem I have, right Pon?”

“I do, Nom. I really do. However, one can only understand so far enough before he stops doing so.”

What Pon said silences Nom. He tries to hug his cupcake but gets another rejection.

“Let’s go eat dinner. I’ll reheat the food you brought,” cut Pon, who sat back on the bed. “I’ll wait for you to get changed. We go to the table together.”

Pon, while waiting, tears up, remembering some of their dates when Nom had to suddenly invite him to go home because he heard spirits. However, tonight is the one he considers the most hurting of all.

At the table, Nom can feel that Pon is still annoyed at him, and there is deafening silence as they eat. When they are done, Nom cleans the table while Pon washes the dishes. Nom finishes earlier at his task and hugs his cupcake from the back. Without warning, Nom started crying, with his face buried on Pon’s back.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry cupcake,” said Nom through the sobs.

Pon did not answer and just continues in washing the dishes. This is the first time that he did not answer the apologies from his cookie bunch.