“Do we really have to go this far?”
Siwoo looked at the four cars of the same design and color filling the garage as he received the bucket hat Evan handed him and put it on.
“Just in case…….”
Evan’s expression wasn’t very good either as he approached and personally put on Siwoo’s mask.
The day he had recklessly gone out because he wanted to see Evan.
Since that day, the two had been living in their newlywed home. Fayden said Siwoo would have a harder time than the baby, and Evan had also tried to dissuade him at those words, but Siwoo chose to be with him.
Even though they couldn’t eat together and couldn’t sleep in the same bed, he could see Evan with just a few steps.
As their distance decreased from ten steps to nine steps to eight steps, and his resistance to Evan’s pheromones decreased, proportionally he began to feel discomfort with food.
In the new house, Evan commuted to and from work and Fayden consistently came and went to that house, but everyone’s attention was still pinned on this house because of Siwoo, who still hadn’t shown even a single strand of hair. They couldn’t hide away forever, and the hospital appointment could no longer be delayed.
It was Siwoo’s job to stop Evan, who was spouting ridiculous things like he would buy all the necessary equipment so they wouldn’t have to go to the hospital.
Siwoo, who had barely left the house for nearly a month since the wedding, never expected his first outing after marriage would be to the hospital. He couldn’t even do the vlog filming he had been trying to do consistently.
He recalled Sangjun hyung’s words about how everyone only asked about their story when they saw him, asking what the hell he was doing and where he was living, and suggesting it might be time to show himself.
“Even now if you change your mind, I can immediately order…….”
It wasn’t that he couldn’t accept the plum that came like a miracle. After morning sickness began in earnest, perhaps taking after his mom, he kept biscuits within reach because an empty stomach made him uncomfortable. Naturally, cooking at home became forbidden. A few days ago, he had unknowingly gotten irritated at Evan who was opening the refrigerator to drink water.
The stale smell from the meticulously managed refrigerator turned his stomach. Was that all?
Water was full of fishy smells, and every smell in the world tormented him.
Starting with mint chocolate ice cream, what Siwoo had eaten during the past time was so little it could be counted on one hand.
If he wanted something easily available in Britain, he told Evan anytime. If not Evan, he told the butler, and he ate everything he wanted to eat, even if he only took one bite of what they bought and then got sick of it.
Then this dawn.
Looking at Evan’s sleeping face once and carefully leaving the bedroom, while eating biscuits with warm barley tea to calm his churning stomach, he suddenly wanted Grandma’s bean sprout hangover soup. Watching the dawn break, dividing and eating one piece of biscuit several times, drinking barley tea instead of his favorite carbonated drinks, his circumstances suddenly felt pitiful.
The gulping somaek with chicken enthusiastically devoured, and the next day clutching his throbbing headache and burning stomach while getting thoroughly cursed out by Grandma as he ate that hot bean sprout hangover soup became the trigger. He had thought he was okay. It was a miracle, and a child resembling him and Evan even seemed mystical.
He drew the baby’s face alone and smiled thinking of the Nimos who would be surprised at this news. He also recalled the many baby products he received at fan sign events. But where did he put all that? Anyway, Siwoo had been staying as positive as possible.
Starting with Grandma’s bean sprout hangover soup, things hard to get here came to mind in a jumble. Mung bean pancakes and sikhye sold at traditional markets, and even fire-grilled pig’s feet so insanely spicy he couldn’t even attempt them without milk danced before his eyes.
Currently, only Fayden, his mom, the butler, and Evan knew about his pregnancy. He had talked with his mom yesterday too. He missed his mom who only worried about him, telling him to say everything he wanted to eat and rest well.
Like that, Siwoo unknowingly ended up crying while holding a biscuit in one hand and a mug of barley tea in the other.
‘Coco.’
Whether he woke up because he wasn’t there, or woke up at his usual time. Anyway, he ended up sobbing in Evan’s arms when he came out of the bedroom. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to say he wanted hangover soup, fire-grilled pig’s feet, or that he missed his mom. Perhaps the person having the hardest time right now was Evan.
Even while at the company, he sent the foods he wanted within almost an hour of a single text, and on days when he didn’t say what he wanted to eat, he bought lots of things he usually liked and came home from work. He tried to make him eat one more thing next to him who couldn’t eat properly, and was accepting all the whining from tremendous mood swings that were hard even for himself to handle.
‘Should we go to Korea?’
It was Evan who first brought up what he wanted to say. And the first thing to do to go to Korea was to know his exact condition.
“If it’s hard, we can go in the afternoon.”
Siwoo, who couldn’t easily step forward in front of the car, tightly held Evan’s hand as he spoke while checking his complexion.
“Let’s go now. Won’t the paparazzi follow if we go in the afternoon?”
The four cars that left the garage side by side scattered at the third intersection they met. Siwoo leaned his head on Evan’s shoulder, who was holding his hand. The newlywed life he had imagined wasn’t like this, and he naturally laughed at his appearance looking more anxious than himself.
“Even the great Evan Lewis gets nervous?”
“I’m not nervous.”
“Liar. Why are you so worried? They say this is something everyone goes through.”
“Isn’t there anything you want to eat?”
“There is something I want to eat. My Evanie.”
Even when he teased Evan who was slyly changing the subject, his mood didn’t seem to easily improve. That’s why he deliberately stroked his firm thigh.
“You’re being cheeky.”
Though he hadn’t expected Evan to readily agree, Siwoo stuck out his tongue at his action of grabbing his hand that had been sneakily touching his thigh to prevent further movement.
As always, entering the Alpha and Omega Center without encountering almost anyone, Siwoo looked at Evan who was still tightly holding his hand. Why are you so stiff today?
Come to think of it, they had been in this space like this before. Back then, he wasn’t sitting next to him holding his hand like this, but was leaning against the door with a dissatisfied expression.
What had he been so dissatisfied about back then when he was getting an ultrasound?
“It might be a little cold.”
At the doctor’s words applying thin gel to Siwoo’s flat abdomen, slightly exposed, and placing the device, Siwoo’s gaze naturally turned to the monitor. And Evan’s gaze was also on the monitor.
“Do you see it here?”
“…….”
Something looked whitish, but Siwoo, unable to properly identify what it was, blinked rapidly.
“Let’s listen to the heartbeat too.”
At the fast sound that felt like pounding, Siwoo unknowingly gripped Evan’s hand he was holding even tighter.
“You said you don’t know exactly when your heat cycle was. Looking at the current state, it seems to be about 7 weeks. Right now it’s early so there can be a little error depending on the measurement position or situation. The heart rate is also stable and the size is a little over 1cm. Next time you come, you’ll be able to see a gummy bear. Let’s move to another seat for consultation.”
Though it was called consultation, Evan and Siwoo couldn’t easily say anything. While Fayden was the greatest scholar in the pheromone field, the doctor he introduced saying there was someone better than him in the pregnancy and childbirth aspects of omegas was a middle-aged man.
“Your expression is full of surprise, but don’t worry because I understand Siwoo-ssi’s feelings better than anyone. Everyone said I wouldn’t be able to have children because I’m a recessive omega, but believe it or not, I have three kids.”
“No…… that morning sickness…….”
“You feel like dying, right? Really, it gets better after doing it just enough not to die, so don’t worry about that either. You’ve already lost a little weight. I lost up to 7kg in the early stages too.”
“What?”
“As you know since Professor Fayden is taking good care of you, you must take the nutritional supplements the professor recommended. Especially iron supplements, and just in case, I’ll prescribe anti-nausea medication too.”
“……But I can’t even swallow water properly, so I can’t take pills.”
Siwoo, glancing at Evan, spoke honestly. Right now, because of the fishy smell of water, he was struggling to even drink one cup in half a day by just moistening his lips, let alone drinking bottled water or even barley tea.
After finishing the consultation and coming out, Evan’s expression had hardened even more.
An omega’s pregnancy is harder than that of ordinary people. So as soon as he mentioned the word Korea, the answer came that long-distance travel was dangerous.
The doctor’s advice was simple. Don’t overdo it and rest, don’t stress and think positively, and don’t be too scared about not being able to eat. Just eat as much as you can of whatever you can eat—that was all.
In the car returning after the appointment. Siwoo looked at Evan who maintained silence but didn’t let go of his hand. Inside a small paper bag on the passenger seat were information booklets related to omega pregnancy and ultrasound photos of the plum they just took.
“Evan.”
“Yeah.”
You said you’d unconditionally like it.
Siwoo was suddenly scared knowing what Evan was thinking right now.
“You can’t.”
“Why? The most important person to me is you.”
“If you think that one more time, I’ll really get angry. I won’t see you. Don’t do that to Plum.”
“…….”
Without giving an exact answer, Siwoo just let out a long sigh and placed his hand over his, which gripped their interlaced hands tighter.
“Don’t think about what the doctor said. Both me and Plum will be okay. You’re here too, so I can do well.”
“Coco. If it were me having a hard time and not you, I wouldn’t think like this either.”
“Evan.”
“…….”
“Evan Lewis.”
“What?”
“You want me to have a hard time? Is that it? Try having morning sickness for just one day. See if you can say that. Change that thought from today. Our Plum is growing hard, so just cheer us on. Got it? And Grandma’s bean sprout hangover soup, seed hotteok, fire-grilled pig’s feet, plus mung bean pancakes and sikhye set sold at traditional markets. You know what I’m talking about, right? Things I like. Sulppang and…….”
For Evan who kept thinking other thoughts, Siwoo listed out all the things he wanted to eat. I can’t go to Korea? Evan Lewis, then do what you’re best at right now. Contact Korea right away and have them send it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to eat it all, but at least let me see it.
And the next day.
Siwoo had to run into the bathroom in front of the tremendous amount of food that came from Korea.
