3:09

CHAPTER 2 - THE PROPOSAL

"Honey, I'm home" Cara shouted from the doorway. There was no response. "Honey?" She knew that every time she said those three words her husband would respond. Something was wrong. Cara tossed her keys and purse onto the couch and began to creep up the stairway.

"Aaron... where are you?" she called. She walked over to the office room and turned the knob. It was locked.

*CRASH*

"Uh... What the heck was that?"

Obnoxious noises came from the office room upstairs, as if furniture was being moved around.

"Hold on honey. Uh... just a second" Aaron said frantically. He hastily attempted to grab as many fallen papers as he could and pile them into the draws. The computer, now missing its keyboard, had been turned back on to seem as though he was still doing work.

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

"Aaron open the door, what the hell are you doing in there anyway?" she questioned.

She stood back from the door for a moment as she heard her panicked husbands' footsteps walking towards the locked door. The door crept open, only a quarter of the way, leaving just enough room to see Aaron's stressed facial features and a couple of misplaced items in the office.

"Oh, there you are. Wh-why are you so sweaty?" she giggled.

"Well, you know I decided to do this ab workout I saw on YouTube. It said only six minutes long, can you believe it. I just thought I'd give it a go" he anxiously replied.

"You did an ab workout. In your work suit...?" Cara inquired.

"Um... yeah, it was getting a little dirty anyway, so I just thought... you know..."

Before he could finish his awfully strung sentence Cara interjected. "Why is there a teddy bear on your shelf?"

"That... is a great question. I was gonna ask you that as well actually, because I really don't know where it came from. There was no name or tag or anything, so I have no idea" he nonchalantly answered.

"Huh... that's odd isn't it?" she queried. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you about something."

"That's funny," he said "I wanted to ask you something too."

They both knew they were in for a treat when they had something to ask each other at the same time. It was something of an inside joke between the two of them.

"You say it first" Cara stated.

"No no no, you say it first" Aaron insisted after squeezing through the slightly opened office door, attempting to hide the mess from his confused wife.

"Okay, let's say it at the same time" she conceded.

"ONE... TWO... THREE...!"

Aaron's more excited voice overwhelmed Cara's quiet and softer tone.

"I want to have a baby..."

Cara's smile dropped instantly. Her facial expression changed from a content smirk to more of a concerned and confused look. Then, Aaron's smile began to fade as well, however, at a much slower rate than hers.

"Aaron..." She looked away. Her eyesight left his in the dust. She stared off into the distant hallway, as if giving him an answer without needing to use her words.

"I...uh... I don't think..."

He interjected. "I know what you're gonna say, so you don't need to tell me. When is anyone ever ready for something like this. You can't look me in the eye and tell me on this specific year, on this particular month and on this day that it's time. That's not how it works. It's something you have to feel... y'know".

Cara scratched at her palms as Aaron leaned in for a gentle hug.

"Look. I believe with all my heart that now... is the time" he stated.

"Why do you think it's now? Where did this all come from? You still haven't told me what the heck happened in there" she implored.

"You have to trust me on this" he reasoned. "I can feel it in my bones. Maybe you'll feel it soon too."

Her eyesight transferred from the hallway to her passionate husband, then back to the hallway. "You're forgetting one small little detail."

Cara stepped out of his gentle grasp and looked down at her feet.

"I don't think I can... y'know..."

Aaron's eyes widened as he tried to go in for another hug.

"Physically... I know. I know..." he muttered.

Cara scratched her nose and pre-emptively wiped her eye.

"I... Um... I had a long day today" she reasoned as her voice swelled to a deeper level. "The printer wasn't working and Jen sort of broke down in tears today because of... you know... it doesn't matter. I think what I need right now is a nap. Please don't disturb me."

Cara left the conversation, left the room and left her speechless husband. There was nothing Aaron hated more than silence, and she knew that. The sound of each footstep treading down the stairs felt like knives piercing into his heart. The only thing Aaron hated as much as silence, or possibly hated even more than that were the thoughts that came with it. She knew that too.

He walked downstairs and out into the backyard. He sat on the black and white striped chair and put his feet onto the table. He sat there for a couple of minutes... thinking. He loosened his tie and untucked his buttoned shirt, knowing that the mosquitos would have a chance to get him. Surely enough, one came along. The mosquito landed on his forearm. He didn't move his hand an inch or show any attempt to stop it. He simply stared at it until it flew away.

Aaron's stomach grumbled with loud anger. At the sound of his stomach he checked his watch and decided to go inside the living room. He opened the fridge and scanned it. He pressed his hand against his chin, looking around the fridge for what meal to prepare. Aaron paused for a moment and looked at the study room, taking notice that the door was closed.

Should I cook for her too? He thought to himself. "No, she didn't want to be disturbed" he said quietly, reassuring himself. He grabbed the frozen pizza from the freezer and placed it in the oven.

The evening sunset slowly subsided. The crickets grew louder into the summer night. Every couple of minutes Aaron peeked around the corner to look at the door of the study. It was still closed. After scratching his forearm from the mosquito bite he paced to the study room door. Standing inches away, he considered knocking, when suddenly the oven timer started to beep. He walked to the kitchen and began eating his meal.

*CREAK*

It was the sound of dread. The study room door reopened and out she came, sluggishly waddling into the kitchen. 

"You didn't make me anything?" she asserted.

"You said you... diddent wonna be disturved" Aaron mumbled with a mouth full of food.

Her eyes shook. He could see the anger written on her face. The anger turned to disgust as she shook her head, and the disgust turned to disappointment.