Chapter Text
“I’m home.”
Creaking sounds can be heard behind the door as a pink figure peeked inside. She was being cautious, after all it was late at night and she was worried if the boys were sleeping in the living room. Her eyes first laid upon the training equipment scattered in the corners of the living room, as if they were placed away in a hurry. Despite the house being lit up, there wasn’t anyone downstairs.
After confirming the coast is clear, Orchid took a step inside of the house, locking the door and placing down her bag atop the dining table. She checked what her husband had cooked for them under the covers, some rice with beef soup. Not the best food in the world, but that’ll do. She went into the kitchen and grabbed an empty plate, hoping to have something for the night.
“Darling?”
She heard a familiar voice. Turning around, she noticed her man had entered the kitchen, still up and awake. “You aren’t asleep yet?”
“Was hoping to have dinner together, y’know?” He reached out for a glass of water and drank it down. “Lemme guess, work again?”
“Haha…” She forced out a laugh. “Right again…” She was tired of giving the same excuses. She had tried numerous times convincing her boss to let her work at home, but they told her that there is too much stuff that couldn’t be settled up online. Every work day, she pulled up on the doorstep late at night, working overtime just to put food on the table. She never got to see Purple much these days, just the same ol’ office over and over again…
Navy didn’t care, or rather, he didn’t understand. He just rolled his eyes, turned toward the stove and started heating the soup up. “How ‘bout you take a seat? We can have dinner together.”
“...”
Things were silent for a moment. She went towards the dining table, waiting for her husband to finish things up. Meanwhile Orchid checked her phone for any new messages, hoping that she hadn’t overlooked an important deadline or something similar. Before long, her husband pulled up with two plates of food in his hands. It looked much more appetising than the ones under the cover earlier. Once they had settled down, Orchid took a bite out of the meal and savoured the warmth from the rice.
It’s soothing, to say the least.
“So,” Suddenly her husband spoke up. “You are free this weekend, right?”
Orchid paused, frantically reaching out for her phone and checking over her schedule. Once she’d confirmed the dates and made some calculations, she released a sigh of relief. “Phew, I am.”
“Great, I’ll be away for this gig at the arena this weekend.” Navy commented. “If I get this, then you can quit that burden of a job of yours. You’re the one that should be staying at home, taking care of him.”
Orchid frowned at his words. “Is this about the neighbours again?”
“The stupid, dumb association, of course.” He cursed. “I would’ve punched someone there at the meeting if this loser didn’t hold me back. Told me that I shouldn’t be there.”
Orchid knew where this was coming from. Earlier today she had received an invitation for their annual meetings but with her tightly packed schedule, she couldn’t make it. So she had relayed the message to her husband, hoping for him to take the spot. Needless to say, there were a bunch of ladies commenting on his ‘rascal’ behavior in her messages while she was returning from work. “Honey, you know how things are. The neighbours wouldn’t understand.”
“Because they won’t understand that we need to shake things up!” He slammed his hand hard, causing bits of rice to fall over the table. “The neighbourhood kids are beating up Purple because of this. I should be the one out there going to work. You should be the one here taking care of our son!”
“Honey, dear…” Orchid stared at him in the eyes. “With our current situation, that is… not possible right now. We can configure things, okay?”
“...” He looked up at her. "How exactly?"
"..." She sighed. "There is no reason to get mad over such a small matter. Once things are more stable, I can start spending some more time with you boys.”
“Hopefully so.” He lets out a heavy sigh. “Purple takes a lot after you, y’know? He’s a natural. The other day I taught him some basic self defence to start. With the pace he’s going he might be able to replace his deadbeat father.”
Orchid was a tiny tad worried about this. “Don’t go overboard with it, alright?”
“Nah, just some stuff to defend himself against those dumb kids. Besides, Purple seems to enjoy it.” Navy commented. “He gets the thrill behind stuff like that.”
“Whatever makes him happy, I’m happy with it. Speaking of which...” Orchid wiped her mouth, getting up from her seat. “I can wash the dishes for you.”
“No can do, darlin’.” He got up alongside her. “I can take care of it. Get some rest.”
She was taken aback by his statement. It wasn't the first time for her, yet it shocked every single time. “You sure?”
“Mhm.” He nodded, taking the plate away from her and headed straight for the kitchen. As she went through her bag for her stuff, she could hear water running down the sink. Orchid was glad that he wasn’t complaining or anything, but as his wife, wasn’t it something she was supposed to do?
Why is he the one who cooks?
Why is he the one who cleans?
Why is he the one who’s taking care of their son?
Should it not have been her? Had it not been the responsibilities as a mother and a wife?
She decided not to think about it too much. She slowly got upstairs, mind her way through the messy hallway, peeked at her son’s bedroom to see him fast asleep and finally reached the master bedroom. After performing her nightly routine, she sat atop her bed, scrambling through a bag filled with a variety of medicine she had. She wasn’t facing any major issues, it’s just supplementary for her in order to avoid any casualties at work later. Once she had swallowed her pills, her husband entered the room soon after, calling it for the night.
“Good night darling.” he sat down atop of the bed, muttering to her. She caught a glance of her husband closing his eyes, collapsing out of exhaustion.
"Good night hon." She closed the lights.