I've always known about his irregular late nights even before we got married and as much as I don't like it, it's something that is beyond my control. Due to the nature of his work, he either had to forgo appointments with me for a several number of times or arrive 1-2 hours later for our dates than the appointed time. On some occasions, I would keep quiet or take it easy by window-shopping/blasting mp3s into my ears/reading a really good book but there have been a few moments when I would lose my top and make a mountain out of a molehill.

Nowadays, it has gotten much better in the sense that my husband tries to settle his work matters as quickly as possible if we're meeting up after work (which is usually the case when we both don't have any other agenda and thus, go home together). However, he had informed me a few days back that he would be returning home late last night as there was a company function involving all the bigwigs and even those from overseas. Thus, I geared myself for a few hours of loneliness by grocery-shopping after work, taking down the laundry and whipping up a few dishes for dinner.

And he still wasn't home yet even after I'd done all the things that I'd prepared to do! I thought, what the heck, I might as well wait on the couch outside and await his return (much like the *good* wife I am, ha!). So I did, only to be startled by a persistent ringing of the doorbell half an hour after I'd fallen asleep.

Peeped through the door-hole and who did I see but Big Ben himself, holding an assortment of stuff in his arms. I deigned to open the door because he has his own set of keys and partly, I wanted to make him wait much as he had made me wait. Oh well, I opened the door a few minutes later and he thrusted a stalk of rose into my nose!

Ahhh! My husband, the non-romantic. It was the first time I'd ever received any sort of flowers from him, so by right I should have been thrilled and probably squeeze and hug him to the core. However, as I was feeling slightly groggy and irritable, I snapped at him the minute he stepped into the house. Questions such as "Where did you get the rose from?", "Why are you so late?", "What kind of function was it?" poured forth from my mouth and only stopped in the bedroom.

I apologised to him just before we turned in for the night.

My husband gave me a rose!