What Other Secrets?

chapter two... dang it

Lada felt like the heavens were testing her willpower by dropping Earn dressed in a Teal colored floral gown that seemed to do more than just heighten her beauty. Lada had been coming home late more often than she’d like and barely had any time to glance at her beautiful wife, at least not for as long as she’d wanted. She was always stopping herself from being selfish by waking Earn up when she got in at night. Last night in particular, she’d gotten in a little over 4 am and had to be out by 5 am for a meeting then her rounds in the wards. She’d walked into their shared room as quietly as possible and stopped when her eyes caught Earn’s sleeping form in bed, she was in a matching red pair of pajamas and she laid sprawled on the bed in a way that made Lada’s breath hitch as she struggled to exhale. She physically fought herself from climbing in bed with her and fulfilling so many different fantasies that she had buried. As she got new clothes from their shared wardrobe, the scent of Earn buried itself in her. She missed Earn’s warmth and wanted so desperately to bury herself in her wife’s cuddle and rest, but she knew she couldn’t, at least not yet.

Getting what she’d wear for the day and deciding to shower in the guest room to avoid waking a sleeping Earn and doing more than just waking her, she exited the room and then the house at 4:53 hoping to get there on time. And now all that effort seemed wasted, as standing before her was, simply put, a walking temptation. The curls that framed her face, the lips in a heart shaped smile, the gown that clung to her body in just the right way and the legs that seemed to go on for miles. Lada had only so much self control left when she glanced at her ipad in a bid to distract her wandering mind and the goosebumps that were starting to dance on her skin.

She cleared her throat and swallowed as she glanced back at Earn who seemed to have a teasing smile playing on her lips. ‘of course she’s enjoying what she’s doing to me’ Lada thought with a slight grim look. A small part of her was happy to see Earn here because she for sure thought that the actress was angry or would be upset with her by now, she knew she’d been distant, but she wanted to make their anniversary special, she missed the exact date because some meetings couldn’t be moved and a small crisis had come up with their equipment manufacturing company that required her attention, but she would make it all up to Earn in the nearing future. The bigger parts of her were happy and filling with warmth just to see her.

Lada noticed the questioning glance that was shot her way by Earn and realized she’d gotten lost in her thoughts for a bit too long. She put on an apologetic look as she looked at Earn.

“N’Earn, I’m sorry, I really can’t move these particular meetings this evening” she said while glancing away from her and back to her IPad, not wanting to see the reaction

“P’mor, you already promised me the anniversary dinner could happen tonight, you’ve been moving it for a week” Earn said with a tinge of hurt in her voice that she tried to hide.

“I know teerak, but this is really important, I can’t move th-” Lada started to say but was cut off by the actress

“P’mor, did I do something to upset you?” her face was fallen, the sadness that she had tried to keep off her face mixed with the fear and anxieties were clawing their way to the surface and her shoulders fell.

“Of course not my love, I promise you, tomorrow night without fail, it will just be the two of us, this meeting is just really important” Lada rushed out, panicked, seeing how sad her lover had gotten, she had made a promise she wasn’t entirely sure how she’d keep as her tomorrow was just as bad as today if not worse, but she couldn’t bear the look on Earn’s face especially when she was the sole cause of it. Guilt clawed at her as she looked away trying to keep her face neutral.

“I have a fan meet at Hong Kong tomorrow, I told you about it before, you were supposed to drop me off at the airport at noon” Earn said wondering if this was the same woman she’d married, the one who was attentive to every little detail about her, that same woman was the one who had forgotten she was scheduled to leave the country?

Lada had looked at Earn’s face swiftly as the words left her mouth, shock and guilt written on her face. She couldn’t even hide the reality that stared at her. She had actually forgotten such a vital piece of information. She looked away from Earn’s face, realizing it may take the actress a week in Hong Kong, she’d be done by then with the hospital and could fly over to surprise her and they would start their anniversary celebrations from there, taking a flight straight to Hawaii. Lada took a deep breath and looked at Earn with a neutral look and semi apologetic eyes, she said

“Have P’suzie drive you teerak, we can move it till whenever you’re back”

Earn looked at Lada with disbelief and disappointment, she couldn’t bring herself to say any words. She glanced at Cherine who looked at her with an apologetic almost pitying gaze and Earn silently shook her head. She tried to tell herself that the Doctor wouldn’t side bar her unless she had to, but the seed of doubt had already been planted by her fears, and this conversation did nothing more than boost it’s growth. Lada tried to gauge her lover’s reaction before pressing on

“N’Earn… teerak?... I can’t skip this in-”

“KHONG CHAN!!” {means mine in thai} a loud yell was heard in the quiet of the hall, splitting through the silence making the 3 heads turn to the source. There were 3 different reactions on the faces of each of them. Lada looked confused at first then it contorted to a look of shock and pure joy, Cherine had the same expression on her face from when she’d met Earn, idolization and amazement, and Earn passed through different emotions, curiosity as to why someone like her was at the hospital and why she was looking at P’mor while saying the word ‘khong chan’. The owner of the voice ran and jumped into Lada’s arms, much to Earn’s chagrin. And what didn’t help was Lada turning them around while holding to her tightly. It tugged at all the wrong strings and built a pool of jealousy in Earn’s stomach, this mysterious person was having more contact with Lada than she’d had in weeks. She hated this feeling.

“N’Ira, what are you doing here? Are you hurt? Do you need help? Did something happen to-” Lada rushed out when she finally put Ira on the ground but her questions were caught short when a giggling Ira interrupted

“Khong chann, stop, I’m fine, I’m not hurt, nothing happened to anybody, I’m here because I missed you. My plane just touched the ground and I had to come see you, and before you ask, she had to go to the office with my manager, so I’m alone for now” she was still being held by Lada’s arms that rested on her hips while she replied and her hands found a way to Lada’s cheeks as she playfully pinched them.

“N’Ira, you could have told me, I would have gotten you from the Airport.” Those words seemed to pierce through Earn’s heart. Minutes ago, Lada was telling her to ask P’suzie for a ride, but here she was with the biggest smile on her face telling someone else that she would have given a ride if she’d been asked

“I know you would have come if I’d asked, but I wouldn’t have gotten the surprise reaction now, would i?” Ira smiled as she was pulled into another hug by Lada who was unaware of the small storm brewing in her wife behind her.

Ira glanced at Earn and gasped as she pushed Lada to the side lightly.

“Nong Earn!!, Earn Sanithada, oh my God, are you one of Lada’s patients? I’m your biggest fan, I’ve been watching all your series and I follow your fan meets and we follow each other on i********:. We work for the same company, I can’t believe I finally get to meet you and here of all places. You and I were actually scheduled to meet next month or so, I asked for you to be in my music video personally, I picked out my outfits and everything, who thought that I’d meet you in these, and I’m rambling again, I’m sorry, I do that when I’m really nervous a-”

She was indeed rambling and was stopped by Lada’s laughter. She softly glared at Lada and lightly slapped her arm. Lada who had briefly forgotten how tense the air was before Ira’s sudden appearance couldn’t help but laugh at the woman fangirling over Earn. She held her arm where she was hit and showed mock hurt.

“why didn’t you ever tell me that you knew THE Earn Sanithada Lada? You know how much I admired her, I even told you I joined this industry because of her and it never crossed your mind to tell me?” Ira accusingly said.

“I didn’t think you meant this Earn…” Lada shot back defensively.

Earn watched their back and fort with a small smile. She tried to bury the different feelings that were playing tug of war in her stomach. Lada hadn’t corrected Ira that she wasn’t just a patient, that she was her wife… she didn’t like how this day was going at all. Feeling intimidated by a popstar whose music Earn actually loved, was not in her plans. Watching her wife be clung to and embracing a famous beautiful woman, was not in her plans. She couldn’t understand why Lada never mentioned that she knew Ira personally. She wondered if that was why Lada seemingly uninterested in all things entertainment, knew all the words to Ira’s songs. She thought of how an Ira song had actually been played on the day of their wedding and it left a bitter taste in her mouth.

Cherine who had been observing, saw the look that flashed on Earn’s face and cleared her throat loudly in a bid to get the doctors attention. She was successful as the Doctor glanced at her and Earn before saying

“Ah, N’Ira, this is my personal assistant, Cherine and of course you know Earn, she’s… a good friend of mine” Lada said those last words slowly as though she thought it through and was scared, but she continued without looking at Earn, fearful of the look she might find on her face.

“Cherine, N’Earn, this is N’Ira, she’s one of my oldest and closest friends” she glanced at Earn but looked away just as fast, pretending she didn’t see anything.

Cherine and N’Earn said hi to Ira but both of them were stunned at the unfolding events. Earn couldn’t believe that P’mor had introduced her -her wife- as a ‘good friend’.