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“Haerin-ah!”
Soohyun shouted Haerin’s name as he burst into the house.
Engulfed in all sorts of anxious thoughts and negative premonitions, he had rushed inside, only to find Haerin sitting on the living room sofa, looking surprised to see him.
Haerin sat in the middle of the sofa, her face calm, and raised one hand towards Soohyun.
“Are you okay?”
“Sunbae.”
“I thought something really bad had happened.”
Anxious and restless, Soohyun approached Haerin and sat beside her, taking her hand. But Haerin’s hand was soaked with sweat.
“Haerin-ah, why is your hand like this?”
“Well, actually, my stomach hurts a lot. Right now.”
“What?!”
At Haerin’s words, Soohyun stood up again abruptly. Then Haerin smiled faintly and calmed Soohyun down.
“I was watching to see if it was another false labor. I have an app here too.”
Haerin, holding up her phone that she had placed beside her on the sofa with one hand, looked quite composed.
“Can’t we just go to the hospital?”
“We might go and it could be a false alarm again. If we go to the hospital, it will automatically be reported to both our parents.”
Thinking Haerin was right, Soohyun finally calmed his chest and asked again.
“Still, it doesn’t seem like it hurts as much as dying.”
“Actually... ugh...”
Haerin, who had opened her mouth to reply, covered her stomach with her hand and frowned.
Just watching that made his heart feel like it was shattering into pieces, and Soohyun restlessly sat down and stood up repeatedly.
“Haerin-ah. Let’s just go. We’re both new to this, we don’t know.”
“I’m checking as the doctor told me. When the time comes...”
Haerin, who had been frowning, looked comfortable again after a moment, as if the pain had subsided, and stood up.
“They say real labor pains feel like you’re about to die, but it’s not that bad yet.”
“What if it hurts like you’re dying? We should go to the hospital before that.”
As the two were bickering, Haerin shivered. Then something flowed down her legs.
“......”
The two were speechless for a few seconds, watching the unidentified liquid soak the floor.
“I think my water broke.”
“What?!”
At Haerin’s words, Soohyun suddenly lifted her up and held her in his arms.
Even though she was originally slender, Haerin was quite heavy in her full-term pregnancy, but Soohyun carried her without any sign of strain, burst out the front door, and went outside.
“Chief Choi!”
As he went out the door, he yelled, and Chief Choi, who had been waiting, quickly pulled up the car.
“To the hospital, quickly!”
As Soohyun sat Haerin in the back seat and got in, Haerin grabbed her stomach and started to groan. Sweat beaded on her forehead, and Haerin, who even refused Soohyun’s hand, occasionally cried out in pain, tears streaming down her face.
“Haerin-ah. Haerin-ah. What should I do?”
Inside the rapidly moving car, Soohyun held the hand of Haerin, who was crying in pain, and choked back his own tears. There was nothing he could do but stay by his suffering wife’s side.
“Sunbae. I’m okay... ugh...”
“Don’t talk. We’ll be there soon.”
Haerin smiled at her husband, who looked pale and was stroking her back, even amidst her pain.
“I’m okay. I think the baby is really coming.”
Soohyun bit his lip hard, watching Haerin, who was reassuring and comforting him instead.
Praying that none of the worst scenarios he imagined would happen.
________________________________________
Upon arriving at the hospital, the delivery process proceeded quickly with the medical staff who had been contacted in advance.
Fetal monitoring devices were attached to Haerin’s body, and preparations for childbirth were carried out smoothly. Up to this point, Soohyun had expected everything.
However, what he hadn’t expected at all was...
“Sunbae! Don’t touch me!”
...It had been a long time since Haerin had been so angry.
She got angry if he held her hand, and she got angry if he didn’t.
Yoon Haerin, who had been calm and comforting him just a moment ago, had vanished in an instant. As if she had become a different person, Haerin writhed in pain, pouring out all sorts of emotions.
Soohyun’s eyes welled up with tears, wishing he could lie down in Haerin’s place instead.
Making Mom hurt like this. What a bad kid.
Resentment towards the child he hadn’t even seen yet surged within him. He already hated that kid for making Haerin cry.
Just as they had said it might take time for a first birth, Haerin labored and suffered in pain all night, welcoming the dawn.
It was a difficult labor.
Around the time Assistant Professor Jo Soo-jin appeared in the delivery room and urgently discussed the possibility of needing an emergency surgery if they delayed any longer, the nurses surrounding Haerin suddenly began to move busily.
As the delivery approached, Soohyun went into the space next to the bed separated by a curtain and waited. Outside the curtain, the nurses encouraged Haerin, and sobs mixed with groans were heard continuously.
While Soohyun restlessly clasped and unclasped his hands, everyone in the delivery room outside the curtain cheered for Haerin, waiting for one sound.
“Push, Mom, it’s the last one. Just one more push.”
“Huuuh...”
And then.
“Waaah!”
When the baby’s cry first echoed in the delivery room, Soohyun thought it was a recording, not a real cry. It felt that unreal.
The nurse guided him to cut the umbilical cord, but even then, Soohyun was so out of it that he couldn’t tell what he was doing.
“You gave birth at 4:33 AM.”
Along with the voice announcing the time of birth, a red, bloody mass that had just been born was placed on a small bed in front of Soohyun and cried vigorously.
The baby was small and red.
It was pitiful to see it squirming its hands and feet without being able to open its eyes, and it was also amazing that it was a real, living person, not a doll.
While he was mesmerized by the baby’s movements, the nurse who had wiped the foreign substances from the baby’s body called Soohyun.
“Look here. One finger, two, three...”
While the nurse confirmed the baby’s fingers and toes and wrapped it in swaddling clothes, Haerin, who had heard the nurse’s voice, asked Soohyun from beyond the curtain.
“Sunbae. Is our baby healthy?”
“Yeah. Very healthy.”
“All ten fingers and ten toes are okay?”
“Yeah. They’re all there. Don’t worry.”
“Who does the baby look like?”
“...Well. I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
Soohyun, who had been obediently answering Haerin’s questions, choked up in the middle of speaking.
His gaze was entirely fixed on the baby, to the point of being dazed. His mind went blank, unable to continue speaking. He couldn’t think of anything.
“Mom, look at the baby.”
The baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, passed in front of Soohyun. Soohyun followed the baby to Haerin’s side. The newborn baby was placed on Haerin’s chest.
The sight of the two of them was so beautiful, like a painting, that Soohyun just cried, stroking Haerin’s hair.
Could he have ever imagined such a moment in his life? Haerin’s sweat-soaked face and the small baby nestled in her arms were so beautiful and radiant that Soohyun could only shed tears.
“Haerin-ah. You worked hard. You did so well.”
Haerin’s face was swollen all over from the delivery, but to Soohyun, she looked more beautiful than ever.
“Sunbae, look at our baby.”
Haerin looked down at the baby lying on her chest, as if amazed.
The wriggling little creature had closed its half-opened eyes and was lying flat on Haerin’s chest with a peaceful face, as if it had never cried. Every time Haerin breathed, the baby’s small body rose and fell in unison.
“Look here. Look at the baby’s hand. It’s so small.”
Haerin took the baby’s fingers attached to her chest and showed them to Soohyun, placing them on her own finger. The baby’s fingers were so small that all five fit on one of Haerin’s fingers.
The moment Soohyun saw the baby’s fingers neatly placed on Haerin’s finger, he burst into tears once more.
Everything about the baby looked so small and fragile. It seemed as weak as a life that could be extinguished with a puff of breath, yet his vision was so full of the baby and Haerin that it felt like it was the whole world.
“......I, I don’t know what to say.”
“Why?”
“It’s so... so small...”
“It was just born. We have to protect this baby well.”
“Uh-huh. We, I will... will protect it well...”
Soohyun swallowed his tears and looked down at the baby. He couldn’t even dare to touch the baby, just stared intently. He was amazed that such a small body, only about the size of Soohyun’s forearm, had eyes, nose, mouth, arms, and legs.
“I think the baby looks like Sunbae.”
“Ha. I don’t know what to say.”
“Our family has grown like this.”
Haerin looked up at Soohyun and smiled brightly.
Family.
As soon as Soohyun heard Haerin’s words, he turned his head to stop the tears that were welling up. If he stayed like that, he felt like he would just cry uncontrollably.
The baby was a very healthy baby boy who looked like him at first glance.
A son.
Soohyun’s first child, a son, was born to him, the same Soohyun who had vowed never to have a child who resembled him. Moreover, seeing the baby who looked exactly like him, Soohyun felt his chest fill with overwhelming emotions.
He felt like he had fallen in love from the moment he saw the baby.
“Um, Mom, we need to do the postpartum care. Could you please wait outside for a moment?”
Following the doctor’s suggestion, Soohyun left the delivery room with reluctant steps.
The parents of both sides, who had been waiting outside, stood up simultaneously when Soohyun appeared.
“You’ve worked hard. How’s the baby?”
“...Healthy.”
For some reason, his throat kept tightening and his eyes were getting red. The faces of both parents looking at him also flushed.
The moment his eyes met Chief Seok, who had been quietly standing behind his parents, Soohyun couldn’t stop the tears that had welled up in his eyes from flowing down.
“Haa...”
Tears flowed without giving him a chance to hold them back. Soohyun raised one hand and covered his embarrassed face. Taehoon quietly approached and patted Soohyun’s back, saying softly,
“Soohyun-ah. Congratulations on becoming a father.”
As Taehoon finished speaking, Hyeyeon took Soohyun’s hand, and Haerin’s parents and Chief Seok also approached and congratulated Soohyun, patting his back.
“CEO, now that you have a child, you have to live with more responsibility.”
“Congratulations, Jung Seo-bang. Only good things will happen now.”
“Soohyun-ah, you’ve really become the head of the family now.”
Receiving the warm congratulations from the adults, Soohyun couldn’t lift his head. Tears continued to flow down.
Today was the day that Jung Soohyun became the father of a child.
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