Chapter 178 - Happy Birthday

After a leisurely bath,Alicia came to the movie room refreshed and in a good mood.Ryu had prepared a simple meal of rice and stir fry whereas Ru was sitting with a big tub of popcorn in his hands.Both her boys were waiting for her to begin the movie.Settling on the couch with Ryu on the other end and Ru in the middle,the family of three was ready for the movie experience.

The large movie room was actually built like a theater with plush recliner seats and two big couches in the back.Though Alicia had seen this room when she toured the house,this as going to be her first experience watching a movie here and that too with family..Picking up the three dimensional spectacles from the table,Ryu passed them to her and Ru.Once the glasses had been put on,The Lion King started to play.But alas they were not destined to watch the entire movie.About 30 minutes into the movie,Ryu turned his head to see Alicia and Ru fast asleep.

Alicia's dinner was sitting untouched on the side table whereas Ru was leaning on his mother with his hand still inside the tub of popcorn.Ryu shook his head at the pair,and decided put them in a more comfortable place.First he took the popcorn and placed them on the table,then picking up little Ru,he made his way to the room.Laying Ru on the bed,he covered him with a blanket and with a kiss on his forehead left the room to handle his second child...

Alicia had made herself even more comfortable on the couch with her legs curled under her to ward off the cold.Carrying Alicia the same way he did Ru,he took her to their bedroom.Putting this big baby on the bed,Ryu shook his head and tried to remove his hand from under her head.Tried being the key word.Alicia had held on to Ryu's hand as if it was a pillow and with her cheek pillowed by his palm,she had a smile on her face even in sleep.

Trying once again to extract himself,Ryu soon realized that it was useless to keep trying.She was holding onto his hand very firmly.Shaking his head he got into bed.After a little while,his hand started to go numb from being in the same position for too long so he shifted so that both of them would be comfortable and fell asleep.

Sometimes the subconscious mind knows more that the our conscious mind.In sleep the couple gravitated towards each other with ALicia's arms around Ryu and his around hers.Alicia had buried her nose in Ryu's chest while he hed buried his in her hair and their legs tangled naturally.The next morning Ryu woke up and realized their precarious position.Jerking out of the sleep,he thought of how to get out of his position.Picking up her arm from over his stomach,he suddenly stilled.He had felt a flash of something similar in the past.This was a feeling of Deja vu.This feeling made him fall back on the bed and force him to close his eyes hoping to catch a glimpse of the past.But the feeling was already gone.Sighing he openedhis eyes and finally got out of the bed to freshen up and get some work done.Ryu's leaving made Alicia wake up as well and she sat up in bed and streched.She had a good night's sleep last night!Her hubby was the best pillow in the world.Suddenly remembering the gift that Neil had prepared and sent for her last night she opened the bedside drawer and took out the gift box.Tearing open the packaging,Alicia admires the beautiful box inside.She shook it and smelled to try to guess but could guess at nothing.Giving up on the guessing game,Alicia simply opened the box.In the next moment,an ear piercing shriek could be heard throughout the room and the sound of something falling was heard.

Shocked at that,Ryu who had just come out of the shower rushed out with only a towek covering him and saw Alicia sitting on the bed with her hands covering her face.Rushing to her and thinking maybe she had a bad dream,he tried to touch her shoulders but this led onto another scream.When Alicia pointed to the box on the floor,only then he understood the words that Alicia was muttering.It seemed there was something scary in the box.

Ryu went to the box and saw a plastic lizard had fallen out of the box.Inside there was also a note that read,"Happy Birthday Al.Hope this will help you get over your fear!Thugh I wish I was there to see your reaction!This is payback for the last gift of the dead frog you gave me.Love,Neil"

Shaking his head at Neil's childishness,Ryu went to the shivering Alicia and picking her up,put her on his lap.Slowly rubbing her back,Ryu tried to explain the content of the notes.Once Alicia had realized that the lizard was not real,she looked at Ryu with her eyes blazing and vowed,"Neil!You will pay for this."

Only when she was plotting her revenge,did she realize that something was poking at her from below which was not there earlier.Her senses which were until now lazing,jolted to awareness and she tried to think of a way to get out of this position without being obvious about it...