“You’re the closest to Heaven that I’ll ever be.”

https://open.spotify.com/track/6Qyc6fS4DsZjB2mRW9DsQs?si=36b7f52fb1ab427d

Few years later, at a prenatal hospital in Jakarta.

“Hati-hati, mind your steps. The floor is not even.”

Alexa rolled her eyes. She knew that Atlas was protective and mindful, but ever since she carried their child, his protectiveness skyrocketed that it was getting annoying sometimes. “I’m not sick, Laz. I’m just pregnant.”

“Just??? You’re carrying a whole universe in there, Lex. Kalo bisa aku gendong, aku udah gendong kamu kemana-mana.”

Alexa rolled her eyes again, but she was suppressing a laughter this time. “You’re such a dork.”

“Awas, pintunya yang kanan, jangan nabrak kaca.”

“I’m not blind, for God’s sake!”

The security was laughing upon hearing their banter. “Maklumin aja, Bu. Suami emang suka gitu, apalagi kalo lagi hamil anak pertama,” he said as he opened the door for them. Alexa pouted while Atlas smiled smugly.

“Pak, perut saya aja masih rata…”

The security laughed again. “Berarti emang kecintaan aja itu suaminya, Bu.”

Atlas was still grinning when they were finally inside the doctor office. Alexa was lying on the examination table, both of them were looking at the ultrasound screen while the doctor ran an ultrasound scanner above her belly and explained her pregnancy.

“You’re at your twelfth week of pregnancy. Your blood pressure is good, but you’re still low on sugar, so I suggest you can start consuming more food that contains natural sugar in it. As you can see, the baby is more developed than your last ultrasound. We can see its head here… The structure of the skull is good, I see. And here’s its hands, and these are the legs…” The doctor smiled at them. “Everything is good, no need to worry. Do you want to listen to its heartbeat?”

Alexa nodded, while Atlas’ jaw dropped in surprise. “You can… do that? We can listen to her heartbeat?”

“Yes, of course,” the doctor pressed few buttons on the ultrasound machine. “Wait, you guys already did the NIPT blood test to find out the gender?”

“Not yet,” Alexa reached for Atlas’ hand to hold. “But she told me in dreams.”

The doctor nodded. “That happened a lot. We can find out through NIPT blood test actually, the accuracy is nearly 100%. Or, we can wait until 18th weeks to find out through ultrasound.”

Atlas squeezed Alexa’s hand back. “We can do it later, then.”