"..I will love you for the rest of my life; you are forever etched in my heart and my mind, you are my soulmate, and I will never ever forget you. I love you so much, babe. "
Those words are an excerpt of Alyssa's vow that made me cry on our wedding day sixteen years ago. She's always been the sappy one, and I'm the one who'll get all red-faced and just kiss her instead of using words.
Yes, we've been married for sixteen years with only one daughter. We spent our first six years traveling around the world and spent enough time alone with each other before we decided to have a kid. Luckily we are blessed to have a daughter after trying IVF three times, I guess third time's a charm, and our little angel's name is Kyla.
Being married to Alyssa was a blessing itself. Who would've thought that we'd end up together? I didn't even dare to think about it when we were in college, but here I am, staring at my wife while she sleeps.
On some days, she would whisper in her whiny sleepy voice, "Stop staring at me, baka matunaw ako."
Then I would just giggle and tell her how mayabang she is and then she'll open her beautiful eyes, stare right into mine and she'll shower me with words of love and tells me, for the millionth time, how lucky she is to be Mika Reyes' wife. Psh, it's the other way around.
And before she could even start being sappy again, I would close the gap between us and give her a chaste kiss that would make her giggle – aah, music to my ears.
On other days, she would just hug me and bury her face in my neck and continue her sleep and I would just let her until Ky enters our room to wake us up because she's hungry for pancakes – she's literally a mini me.
"Okay, I'll make some pancakes na," will be her sweet words for me and Ky, before giving me another kiss. I would just giggle and would sometimes slap her butt before she could even get far from my reach. Ky would just laugh with me.
My wife knows me so well and spoils our daughter sometimes. Not all the time, of course, because we still have rules – my rules. She always remembers all the things that we like and that's what I love the most about her. Even the smallest things like how I like the smell of coffee every morning, how maasim my favorite sinigang should be, how Ky likes Nutella instead of maple syrup on her pancakes or how I like to be loved and pampered in the bedroom.
She never forgets the little special things.
But life isn't fair and it surely isn't perfect, because things happened that we never expected at all.
***
"Babe, nakita mo ba kung nasaan ang reading glasses ko?" Alyssa asked outside our bathroom door.
I carefully stepped out of the shower, grabbed my robe and wiped my hair with my dry towel as I faced the mirror.
"Wala ba sa table, babe?" I asked louder so she could hear me from inside.
Alyssa always asks me things like this, so I'm used to it. She would sometimes ask me to get her a towel or a robe because she forgot to bring one before going inside the bathroom: typical.
I heard a grunt as I opened the door; Alyssa was pacing around our bedroom checking every corner looking for her glasses. Right when I saw her, I shake my head and smiled as I walked towards her.
"Babe," I called her attention and made her look at me.
She was clearly on a foul mood because she was pouting big time when she faced me. My wife can sometimes be a little whiny kid when she couldn't get what she wants.
