Tbh, I've been stressed this whole month because I just sent out my application to grad school in the States. Now I'm just waiting if they'll accept me or not (つ﹏⊂)

To take my mind off things, I went back to writing ♡

INFJ (male) x INTJ (female)

There are some things in life that Lucas can’t seem to fix despite placing one’s mind, body, and soul into them.

Especially fixing the DAMN KITCHEN CUPBOARD AT TWO IN THE MORNING.

“What. The. Heck!” He grunted heavily under his breath, using all his strength to pull the hinges off the cupboard door. His hands started to ache and he felt an onset of a strain in his forearms as he continues to heave and pull on the stubborn hinge.

A question one might be asking now, though, is why work on fixing a kitchen cupboard hinge at two in the morning?

In all actuality, Lucas was not supposed to be fixing anything around this time of the night. As one of the lead designers for a certain prominent and famous appliance manufacturer, he has a project proposal that is not yet finished for this new feature they wish to add to their air conditioning units. He just needs a few more explanations and another column in the chart for his Current and Pending Support segment of the proposal and he would be done.

But…since he knows that it’s the last thing to finish and that he’s having a hard time with it, he thought that maybe he could do something to take his mind off it. The pressure of making sure that the higher officials accept this project proposal also adds to his worries and apprehension.

Thus, the kitchen cupboard. And a reasonable excuse as to why the activity he is currently doing is not considered procrastination.

His laptop screen has stayed on the same open word document for the past 57 minutes and the battery is slowly running out, waiting for its owner to go back to working on it.

Unfortunately, the owner is too busy making his mind and body work on other things.

“Come on,” he spoke in a hushed voice toward the stubborn hinge. He needs to stay quiet or else he’s definitely going to wake his wife up. Knowing that she’s a light sleeper, she is going to check the commotion and scold him.

He spots that the hinge has loosened all the more. Just one more tug and he’ll finally have it out.

“Work with me, please, I beg of you.”

“What are you doing?” A disembodied voice that sounded strict speaks from behind him and he instantly goes cold. His whole body turns rigid and his eyes widen, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Cautiously, he twists his body to find his wife towering over him. Her hands are rolled into fists and are on her hips. Her hair clearly shows signs that she just came out of bed but it’s the look on her face that chills him to the core.

God, he loves his Pam very much, but damn, that woman is freaking scary at times. And yet, if it were not for her, Lucas wouldn’t have his life in check.

Still, he can be scared of her.

Like now.

He raises a shaking hand to the air and waves it from side to side. “H-Hi?”

“What are you doing?” Pam repeats with the same intensity in her voice from a while ago.

“...Fixing the cupboard,” he sheepishly replies.

She moves her arms to cross them in front of her. “At 2 A.M.? Lou, I thought you were working on your project proposal!”

"I am!" He says defensively.

Pam raises an unamused eyebrow at him and drops it to eye the loosened hinge of the cupboard door before returning her gaze to him.

"Was," he immediately corrects himself. “I should be asking you the same question, though. What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be sleeping, love.”

“I was, but someone and their ruckus thought that 2 A.M. would be the perfect time to fix a cupboard door.” She then heaves out a long and heavy sigh. While reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose, Pam continues, "I'm about to go back to sleep. You, on the other hand, have a project proposal due in 12 hours!"

Lucas waves a hand in dismissal to her. “I can get it done,” he utters in a nonchalant tone. “Just one more segment then I’m finished. I bet it’ll take an hour.”

“Then why aren’t you finishing it now?”

“I’m not in a hurry, love.”

“Lou, it sounds like you’re rationalizing your procrastination,” she points out.

Lucas gets to his feet and cocks his head, peering at her curiously. “Do you really think that I’m procrastinating?”

“Yes,” Pam answers in a beat. “You’ve told me how important this proposal is for your department. You can’t just do other things aside from getting it done. If you’re not going to finish your proposal this instant, then I’m going to do something about it.”

Lucas laughs. “Oh yeah? Sounds like you’re testing me. What are you threatening me with?”

Pam puffs out her chest and regards him with her chin raised in a haughty manner. She pauses for a moment, thinking of what she would say next. And Lucas continues to watch her. A laugh begins to bubble out of him when his wife has stayed too quiet for some time already. But just as he was about to let it out, Pam suddenly says, “I’m not going to sleep beside you in our room for the whole week.”

The laugh dies in his throat instantly and his face loses color. “No. No, you wouldn’t do that.”

Pam stays quiet, still keeping her strong stance.

His eyes widen and he gasps in disbelief, “You would?” He realizes that she really means her words. There have been instances where Pam would pull something like this, but she would always tell him that she didn’t mean it in an instant. This, though, seems serious. She knew how to target him. She knows that he loves to be beside her when they sleep, so this is a huge thing for her to threaten him with.

“Lou, this isn’t your first time to delay work that could be done if you were to sit and really place all your attention on it,” she murmurs. “...How would you learn?”

His frown deepens. “Wait,” he begins in a soft voice, “you’re really going to do it?”

Pam looks away and purses her lips. “So, are you going to go back to working on it or not?” She asks, refusing to answer his question.

Damn, he thought, she really is serious about this. “Okay, I understand. You have your ways and I respect that. I’ll go back to work, then.” Lucas dusts off his pajama bottoms, out of habit, and walks back to the dining room where his laptop is sitting on the dining table. Pam follows him and carries a chair with her to sit beside her husband who has taken his seat before his laptop.

Lucas navigates through his laptop and places his fingers on the keyboard, ready to type the last remaining paragraphs he needs to add before the proposal could be considered finished.

But he can’t. Not with the thought of what his Pam said.

Even if his eyes are on the screen before him, his mind is imagining what it would be like for the next seven days if she wouldn’t stay with him when they sleep at night.

Okay, all I need is to finish this and it won’t happen at all. But he still can’t focus well! Now he feels more worried because he’s not only thinking about the proposal but also about his wife. Through the corner of his eye, he would look at Pam who has her eyes on the open word document on the laptop.

Suddenly, she exhales a loud sigh. “No, you don’t.”

Lucas fully faces her. “What?”

“You don’t respect my decision, Lou.”

“What are you talking about? Of course, I do.”

“Let me rephrase it then. You respect it, but it doesn’t mean that you’re happy about it,” she guiltily admits. “You think I can’t read you? Please, I’ll never forget one of the reasons why you wanted to marry me.”

“And what would that be?”

She rests her elbows on the table before them, leaning forward toward her husband. “That I have, as you said, a ‘brilliant’ mind. And this brilliant mind that you’re so smitten with knows that you’re going to knock the socks of your superiors off.”

A small but serene smile forms on Lucas’s face. “...I know you love me even if you don’t say it as much as I do.”

Pam gently loops her arm around her husband’s. “I’ll stay here until you finish your proposal, alright?”

After another 50 minutes, and with the help of Pam, Lucas was able to finally finish his project proposal. He even gained the initiative and energy to begin a slide presentation that he and the rest of his department could edit together.

He asked Pam to read through the whole project proposal and after another five minutes of her going through it, she says in all honesty, “I like it. Succinct and informative.”

“Thank God,” Lucas breathes out. “I’m so happy that this is all done…and it’s still three in the morning.”

“See? I knew you could do it.” Suddenly Pam shivers slightly and then wraps her arms around herself. “Wooh, it’s cold tonight. I’d like to sleep feeling warm.”

Even if she was not explicit about what she wanted to convey, Lucas definitely knew what she was trying to say: I want you beside me.

He breaks off into a soft chuckle and asks, “Do you want me to wrap my arms around you, love?”

Pam stands and keeps her gaze on him. She shrugs and utters nonchalantly, “Up to you.”

Lucas’s smile grew wider. He knows she means, Yes, please. “Go ahead to the room and I’ll be there in a jiffy. I just need to clean up a bit here.”

She begins her way leading to the room. “It’s rude to let someone wait, you know.”

That definitely was code for: Don’t keep me waiting.

“Set a timer for five minutes, then,” Lucas calls after her, “and the rest of the night belongs to you.” His eyes fall on his work area in the kitchen. The cupboard door hinge is on the ground and he couldn’t believe that if it were not for his wife, he would be stuck the entire night trying to finish his project proposal.

Yes, his wife can be scary and strict at times.

But there is no one in this world who could love and understand her more, except him.

A thought then comes to his mind. When he is tasked with another project proposal, he will be asking Pam out for a work date. And he knows that she’ll surely love it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

I'll be going back to working on Darling, You. So I hope you'll look forward to that story again! ♡

Some positive traits of INFJ: sensitive, genial, perceptive

Some positive traits of INTJ: efficient, dignified, foresighted