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Min-hyuk, hesitating, awkwardly puffed out his cheeks. The sight was so bizarre, he looked like a pufferfish.
Fortunately, a pufferfish born handsome with a lot of luck.
Heh. As Joo-eun burst into a strange laugh, he furrowed his brow with his cheeks puffed out.
“You’re doing great. I’m about to feel really good. Keep going.”
He couldn’t refuse when she, who had been teary-eyed and depressed, was now laughing.
Min-hyuk, enduring the embarrassment, did his best.
He even put his fingers on his puffed-out cheeks and winked, finally causing her to burst into loud laughter.
“Puh-huh... what is that?”
“Is it that bad?”
“I’m so annoyed, I want to kiss you.”
Joo-eun kissed his cheek with a loud smack.
Hmm, Min-hyuk made a sound, both embarrassed and unable to hide his delight.
“You must have suffered a lot. Congratulations, sincerely.”
“Ha... can I really do this well?”
“Of course.”
“When you say that, I feel like I can find the courage.”
Her tear-filled eyes were now sparkling with ambitious determination.
“Let’s go to the hospital together tomorrow morning.”
She wanted to say she’d go alone, but going to the OB/GYN was a new experience for her. She was a little scared to go alone.
“Thank you.”
At Joo-eun’s sincere gaze, he smiled and kissed her forehead.
“It’s only natural.”
He hugged her tightly with his strong arms, and they celebrated the birth of a new life for a long time.
________________________________________
The happiest people about Joo-eun’s pregnancy were undoubtedly their mothers.
The two, who had become quite close, often drank wine together. As soon as Joo-eun announced her pregnancy, they brought the wine they were drinking and barged into their house.
“Are you two... drinking together again?”
Joo-eun and Min-hyuk were quite flustered when they both showed up together, even though they had called them separately.
Their staggering entrance made them look like best friends.
“Is wine alcohol? It’s water. A gift from God.”
“Oh ho ho. Of course, wine is also a gift, but isn’t the real gift the one in our Joo-eun’s belly? Congratulations, my dear co-parent.”
“Oh my, I should be the one congratulating you, my dear co-parent.”
Joo-eun was stunned by their sudden politeness, bowing to each other.
Min-hyuk just laughed, finding the situation amusing.
Then, Hye-joo suddenly straightened up and furrowed her brow.
“Oh my goodness, my dear co-parent. That means we’re going to be grandmothers soon, can you believe it?”
“Oh my, you’re right. My heart is still that of a twenty-year-old girl. How sad.”
“Joo-eun, do you have cheese?”
Joo-eun’s eyes widened at Hye-joo’s question.
“Suddenly...?”
“I want to eat it with this. I should drink while I’m still young.”
There seemed to be many other things to do while still young, but why this...?
“Mom...”
Joo-eun tried to give her a look, but Jin-sook intervened.
“Yes. We don’t need much. Just cheese, Joo-eun.”
Even though they were comfortable with each other, she couldn’t refuse her mother-in-law.
“Yes... mother.”
Joo-eun nodded with an awkward smile.
A short while later.
On the dining table, there were simple cheese snacks, wine, and various photo albums, bringing back memories.
“Ho ho. Joo-eun was really cute. I’ve never envied any luxury handbag, but I was so envious of women holding babies, my dear co-parent.”
“A baby who looks like Joo-eun will definitely be very pretty. She’s pretty now, but she was even more so as a child. Everyone who passed by said she was cute.”
“Min-hyuk has become a dragon now.”
“Really?”
Joo-eun, who was cutting an apple, widened her eyes in amusement.
“His parents-in-law even gave him looks, asking who he looked like. As he grew up, he looked more and more like me, becoming handsome.”
“Ahem.”
“Look at him. He can’t deny it, can he? Ho ho.”
“Really? Heh. That’s how it was? He became a dragon?”
Min-hyuk became increasingly uncomfortable with Joo-eun’s teasing.
“Ahem. Stop it.”
“Come on, how can I stop when I’ve found such a big scoop? Where did he become a dragon? His nose? His eyes?”
“He doesn’t look much different from this ugly kid. Why are you laughing so much?”
Min-hyuk held up a photo from the album and shook it, mocking her.
He pretended to be okay, but he was quite upset.
“That’s a precious photo. Give it back.”
“An ugly photo. It’s not precious. What era did you live in to have a black and white photo?”
“Sorry, I lived in the black and white era.”
“......Huh?”
“That’s your mother-in-law’s photo.”
Blink, blink.
Min-hyuk’s eyes opened and closed endlessly.
Hye-joo emptied her remaining glass in one gulp and glared at Min-hyuk.
“Is she that ugly?”
“Ah...”
A black and white photo fluttered from his powerless hand to the floor.
The three women burst into laughter simultaneously, and Min-hyuk, who didn’t know what to do, couldn’t laugh.
He looked a little pitiful and very cute, so Joo-eun hugged him.
She patted him, saying it was okay, and even wiped his cold sweat.
The frozen Min-hyuk, the three women who couldn’t stop laughing, and the baby in her belly made for a happy evening.
________________________________________
Despite her growing belly, Joo-eun went to work until a week before her due date.
Min-hyuk, busy as he was, took meticulous care of Joo-eun, who was growing heavier by the day, personally buying baby supplies and hand-washing clothes.
After nine months of waiting, their daughter, Haengbok (Happiness), lived up to her name, bringing immense joy to the couple.
Occasionally, when she cried obstinately, she exhausted them to the point of tears, but a single bright smile after a night of torment erased all the pain, a continuous series of miraculous experiences they wouldn’t have known if they hadn’t become parents.
“She’s just like you, really good at training people.”
Min-hyuk whispered, watching their sleeping baby in the crib.
Joo-eun, who was also looking at the baby with a tired face, nodded in agreement.
“I think she looks like you too.”
“She’s going to be great at playing with Dad’s heart.”
“She already is, isn’t she?”
It was true.
He was already a daughter-obsessed father, saying he’d cry just thinking about her getting married.
“I admit it. I can’t help it. She’s too pretty, even though she’s my daughter.”
“Hedgehog.”
“Am I?”
“Actually, me too. She’s too pretty.”
“Haha.”
When he laughed out loud, Joo-eun pressed her index finger to his lips.
Their daughter was beautiful, but she was best when she was asleep, so they couldn’t risk waking her.
He gave her a look of apology and then wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
“I had that dream again yesterday.”
At the sudden mention of the dream, Joo-eun slowly turned to look at him.
“That pension... dream?”
Joo-eun’s heart sank, knowing that the dream always ended with bright red blood.
“For the first time, I just played with you and woke up. Without going into the pension.”
“Really?”
Joo-eun’s face brightened immediately.
“It was weird. It felt like I went back to being a kid and played happily.”
“That’s a relief.”
He always looked pitiful when he woke up drenched in sweat after dreaming about his childhood self, which he couldn’t remember.
She couldn’t help but be happy that he had a dream with only good memories.
“I gave that kid a huge life spoiler.”
“Life spoiler?”
“I told her, ‘You’re going to marry me.’“
That was a real spoiler.
Joo-eun glared at him.
“Wow. That’s too much. What did she say?”
“She cried. She wailed.”
Joo-eun covered her mouth to hide her involuntary laughter.
“That little lady has high standards.”
“Maybe it was before she saw your mother’s face.”
“What?”
“Shh. Haengbok will wake up.”
Joo-eun escaped the situation by pointing to their deeply sleeping child.
“Hmm. Do you know what I used to say every time I met you in my dreams back then?”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
It might have been a cliché confession, but his sincere eyes always touched her heart.
“Thank you. Sincerely.”
When he expressed his gratitude again, Joo-eun smiled and replied.
“I’ll add ‘I love you’ to that thank you.”
“I’ll add ‘I’ll do better’ to that.”
Joo-eun smiled, as if it were a satisfactory answer, and he hugged her tightly.
“You must be bored being home all the time.”
“It’s okay. Everyone does it.”
“Just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s easy.”
“You’re right. Mothers are truly amazing people. Sometimes, I can’t believe I’m becoming one of those amazing people.”
Min-hyuk gently patted the tips of her fingers on her shoulder.
As if to encourage her that she was doing a great job.
“I want Haengbok to grow up quickly so we can travel together. To that pool villa where Mom and Dad met and fell in love.”
“Sounds good.”
“Should we make a reservation?”
Joo-eun still didn’t know that it was a place that only they could use, without needing a reservation.
Min-hyuk simply smiled, finding it quite amusing to have a secret she didn’t know.
“Sounds good.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
“Me too.”
“This time, you drop your swimsuit from above. I can swim now, so I’ll retrieve it.”
“Be careful when you come out. You might be missing something below.”
Remembering that time, Joo-eun leaned her head back and laughed silently.
Twitch. The baby seemed about to wake up, and they both froze.
Fortunately, the angel-like sleeping baby didn’t wake up, and they both felt deep happiness in their silent laughter.
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Their lips met naturally. The kiss, filled with smiles, was sweeter and more loving than ever.
<Fin.>
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