The Longing

She couldn’t sleep. She didn’t want to wake up too. She raised one eyelid slightly to look at the empty bed beside her. He hadn’t come to bed, yet. Her half-open eye scrolled over to the clock on the wall. One a.m. He was working on his resume. She prayed he didn’t get the new job. It would only mean longer hours and greater work pressure. She never asked him for anything. Why did he want to earn more?

She got out of bed and went towards the mirror. The translucent nightgown complimented her contours. She pushed away the dark curly tresses from her shoulder. Her brown nipples were evident now. She knew that wouldn’t be enough. She opened the first button of the nightgown. She contemplated the second one but then let it be. She was lonely but not desperate.

She walked into the study. “You are still working on the resume?”

“Yeah!” His eyes did not turn towards her.

She walked towards the table and sat on top of it, beside the laptop. His eyes were still glued on the laptop. “Do this tomorrow,” she said. “Let’s go to bed now!”

“I can’t…”

She bent towards him, her cascading ringlets blocking his view of the laptop. Distracted, he looked at her. She gave him a dazzling smile and bit her lower lip slightly.

“You look beautiful,” he said. “Just give me another half-hour.”

She got down from the table and walked into the bedroom. She buttoned the nightgown, slipped into bed and covered herself with the thick Portico quilt. Yet again, it would provide the warmth and comfort that the human could not.