Late Nights

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"Alam mo namang hindi ako makakatulog hangga't wala sa bahay ang isa sa inyo ni Jessie" - Corazon

He looked at his watch, unable to believe it was already 12 midnight. As he opened the front door, he announced, "Ma, I'm home." No one answered, but there on the couch, he found Corazon sleeping peacefully. He sighed and stood there for a while, admiring her and reflecting on how lucky he is to have such a beautiful, loving, and caring woman as his wife. Marcial pondered whether he should wake her up or carry her to their bedroom. "Hmm," he said, kissing her forehead, inhaling her scent, and smiling to himself. She smelled like home; she is home.

He then went to their bedroom, changed into a simple white shirt and gray pajama pants. He decided to just sleep beside her, so he brought extra pillows and a blanket for both of them. He went downstairs to the living room. As he squeezed himself in with Corazon, he opened his arms and adjusted her head onto his right arm as her pillow while his left hugged her waist. As Marcial settled in, he heard Corazon murmur half-asleep, "Hmm, Mahal," as she hugged him back tighter. He just smirked in response. Oh, how he missed this, as if they didn't always cuddle when they were asleep. He placed a sweet and gentle peck on her forehead, closed his eyes while caressing her, and fell asleep.

They remained in that cuddling position until he felt the warmth of the sun. He tried to open his eyes, but he just let out a sigh and closed his eyes, causing Corazon to hug him tighter.

Rhian woke up early since she had come home early before her father. Since it's the weekend, she decided to go downstairs to prepare their breakfast. As she was going downstairs, scratching her eyes and still yawning, she noticed two figures hugging each other. It was her parents. Her parents were cuddling each other, still asleep, and they looked very peaceful. She watches them in awe. She thought of taking a picture of them and sending it to the family chat group with Jessie and Ethan.

As she was taking a picture, she didn't notice that the flash was on, so she was a bit confused and panicked when it flashed. But Papa was the only one who woke up a bit, so it's okay, he just moved a little and hugged even tighter to Mama. At the same time, she thought her father must be really tired, as he wasn't woken up by the flash. She took this opportunity to take more pictures from different angles, especially when she rarely saw her parents like this. And because she's in a very goofy mood, she decided to take a selfie with her parents in the background. 

She immediately sent two of the pictures to the family group chat. She sent the one with only the two of them and one with her selfie, with the caption "Tignan niyo 'tong dalawang 'to, napakaaga at nilalanggam ako dito. Shene ell may kayakap Ma @Corazon Pa @Marcial 😩" 

"Ay nako ate, masanay ka na 😭😂" Jessie replied. Jessie remembered when she was still a kid, her parents always cuddled whenever they were asleep, no matter where they were.

"Grabe, ang higpit nung yakap ni Tita ah, akala mo may aagaw kay Tito," Ethan replied. 

"Sinabi mo pa, ang cute nga eh. Hindi ko akalaing isang malaking soft teddy bear pala si Papa HAHAHAHAHAHA" Rhian replied.

"Sige na, magluluto pa ako ng breakfast namin bago pa sila magising. Good morning nga rin pala hehehe 😜🤸🏻‍♀️" Rhian continued.

"Sige Ate, kailangan ko na rin bumangon, kita kita na lang tayo mamaya?" Jessie.

"Yesss, see you all later. Love y'all!" Rhian.

Corazon woke up to the sizzle and smell of garlic and onions. She immediately knew it was Rhian cooking their breakfast. She fully opened her eyes and stared at the person sleeping beside her and thought—  hala, dito na rin pala siya natulog, pero in fairness, ang guwapo guwapo pa rin talaga kahit tulog. 

She turns and continue observing how peacefully asleep her husband is and smiled. She buried herself in his chest for a few more minutes and lets herself melt into his arms savoring the feeling of pure contentment and bliss. She wishes they could stay like this forever. The safeness and security she feels whenever she's in his arms is overhelming in the best way possible. 

"Good morning, ma," he has fully woken up and greeted her with a kiss.

"Good morning, pa," she replied in her soft morning voice.

 "Oh bumangon na ho kayo diyan, at mag almusal." Rhian said from afar. Unbeknownst to them, she was watching them in awe and smiling to herself, she was obviously kinikilig. 

Marcial picked up his glasses from the coffee table and checked his phone for unread messages. He saw the pictures Rhian sent in the family chat group making him smile.

"Oh anong nginingiti-ngiti mo dyan?" Corazon inquired, smiling herself. Her husband's smile was that infectious.

He then showed the group conversation to his wife and chuckled with her, "Oh, ayan, tignan mo, ginawa ng anak mo. Puwede na pang wallpaper."

"OMG, Ikaw kasi eh. Bakit hindi mo ako ginising? Nakita pa tuloy tayo ng anak mo," Corazon said in a fake-annoyed tone, while giggling and playfully slapping her husband's arm.

"Ang himbing kasi ng tulog mo eh. Tapos ang ganda-ganda mo pa matulog. Wala na akong magawa."

"Sus, general, ang aga aga mo mambola ah." The general's eyes widened by what she just said.

"Wait, wait, kahit kailan hindi kita binola ah. At saka, bakit ba ako yung hinahampas mo? Anak mo yung may kasalanan. She's taking pictures of beautiful people sleeping peacefully. And cute naman tayo tignan."

"Okay, fine. Yeah, we're cute."

"Ma, pa, tama na 'yan! Lalamig ang pagkain at baka langgamin pa ako dito oh. Daig niyo pa po kami ni Franco kung magharutan eh." Rhian said, cackling and taking a video of the scene. She couldn't help it; Jessie and Ethan shouldn't miss this.