Vexing

Noah dropped his head on his pillow as he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He had been utterly defeated and he had been left with no way of saying anything back to Laila. She had planned out her payback, for what he had done at the cottage, perfectly. So, now Noah had no choice but to accept the current situation and swallow his frustration. In his mind he was thinking about how Laila knew so well how to rile him up and push his buttons. This reminded him of the relationship with Laila he had before, with 'his' Laila.

He had loved everything about his wife but it seemed that this Laila had a side that 'his' Laila hadn't possessed. He hadn't noticed this difference between them until now and he certainly had never thought of this being something that was missing in his previous relationship with Laila. Though this side was vexing, he also knew that it was a side of Laila he loved and a side that excited him. Their little tit for tat helped their relationship grow in different ways and stay strong.

This was probably because many sides of a relationship can be quite serious. Buying a house, starting a family, having a job. All of these things bring joy but also responsibilities. Mixing a little fun in there every now and then, made the weariness that can come with everyday life disappear and helped the flame stay alive. It kept their relationship healthy. However this particular tit for tat had left him with a bit of a predicament. With a chuckle Noah said out loud, "My sweet, vengeful, wife, you might have explained it to me but who is going to explain it to 'him'." Referring to his little friend who was ready for action.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later Noah came downstairs to say goodbye and head to work. He had taken care of his little problem, taken a shower and was dressed in another one of his sharp suits. When he walked into the dining room, Laila was still wearing her robe and eating her breakfast. With a cheeky look on her face Laila greeted Noah. "Good morning honey. Did you recover from your present? Considering the look on your face, I think it made quite an impression." Noah looked at Laila with a glare while trying hard to fight the smile that was forming on his face. As he walked over to the far end of the table, where Laila was seated, he said, "All I can say is, well played. You might not be a gracious winner but I am a gracious loser."

Laila chuckled in response and as she put some food in Noah's mouth she said, "As long as you know that you are the loser, I am fine with you being a bigger person than I am. It works well with the size of your defeat." Noah pinched both of Laila's cheeks and once he was able he said, "Why you mean little thing.", before he placed a kiss on her lips. After that he added, "Have fun out there. Say hi to your mom and dad for me. I will visit them myself when I get the chance. Make sure you take care of yourself and give me a call when you get there." Laila was feeling in a teasing mood and despite Noah being kind to her right now, she felt like being a little mean. "Oh, so no helloes for your own parents? Or does that not help maintain your image as the perfect son-in-law and therefore is not considered important."

Noah, who was still cupping her cheeks after he had kissed Laila, looked at her with narrowed eyes and an unamused expression on his face. "A mean, mean and ungracious winner I tell ya." After that he let go of her and headed towards the door. Laila chuckled as she watched Noah walk away and said, "At least I gave you the same thing you had given me. If I was truly an ungracious winner, I would have given you a kiss on the cheek and walked away right after. Now I played a fair game and gave what I had received." Noah couldn't prevent a chuckle from escaping before he replied but without turning back he said, "Yeah, yeah, whatever you need to tell yourself to keep that heart of yours from freezing over."

With that final sentence Noah stepped out of the door with just a single bite of Laila's breakfast to tide him over until he got to the office and could get someone to get him something to eat from the cafeteria. Laila chuckled once more as she took another bite of her plate of food. She glanced at her watch and started to hurry a bit because she too needed to finish eating breakfast and head out as she had a busy day. The first stop in her itinerary being a visit to her own parents. Though the drive wasn't far, she had to stop somewhere in between in order to buy some gifts. If she didn't find anything for her own parents, that would be fine, as she was sure Noah got them something regularly. But after that she planned on heading over to Noah's parents. Laila didn't want to show empty handed for that visit because for her it was the first time in a long time that she would be seeing his parents and even longer since the last time she had seen his grandmother.