The corners of Siwoo’s mouth gently lifted as he turned his head at Evan’s voice. He’d seen him this morning when he went to work too, but why did he feel so good every time he saw him?
As he naturally raised both arms and waved, a smile settled on Evan’s face when their eyes met, then it slightly stiffened as he approached closer, and laughter burst from Siwoo’s mouth.
“Oh! Hey, Evan! You, good news…”
At the sight of Evan approaching with quick steps, lightly embracing the sitting Siwoo and briefly kissing him regardless of whether there was a camera or not, Sangjun couldn’t even finish his words and gaped.
“It’s been a while, Nimo. Everyone’s doing well, right?”
Hyunsu also couldn’t hide his flustered expression, witnessing right before his eyes that brazen action of waving at the camera in front while still embracing Siwoo.
“Evanie suddenly showed up, right? Evanie, if you’re going to join us too, go change your clothes. But we’re almost done.”
“No. If you’re almost done, you can finish up. Hyunsu hyung and Sangjun hyung are doing well.”
Roughly brushing it off, Evan left that spot and didn’t show himself until the live ended.
* * *
After announcing Jadu’s existence on the live, there was another uproar. What only the family had known, now everyone in the entire world knew, and Siwoo became the hottest celebrity these days.
Everyone was watching with blazing eyes to see what pregnant Siwoo ate, what care he received, and even what items he would buy for the baby to be born.
Evan, who always thought of Siwoo’s safety first, buying a high-end sedan equipped with bulletproof glass this time was the start of it all. Since they didn’t know exactly how many weeks along the baby was or when it would be born, everyone was just waiting for Siwoo to appear.
“It’ll be okay, right?”
Siwoo, who hadn’t left the house except for going to the hospital, was now preparing to go out.
The morning sickness that had disgustingly stayed with Evan was gradually subsiding, and now that he could feel Jadu’s fetal movements when still, Siwoo always hungered for Evan.
Whether what Fayden said was true, in early pregnancy even the slightest feel of Evan’s pheromones made his stomach turn over, causing quite an ordeal. But now, without his pheromones, anxiety would come. Even if Evan gave Siwoo a pheromone shower before going to work, after lunchtime passed, Siwoo would burrow into bed.
Knowing that the root of this anxiety was Evan’s absence, Siwoo decided to venture out for once. Through Evan’s secretary, he heard that there were no urgent schedules after the 2 PM meeting today, so it seemed they might be able to leave work together.
“It will be okay.”
Though he’d like to drive alone and go quietly, the paparazzi were beyond Siwoo’s imagination. He thought he’d been quite chased by sasaengs and paparazzi while doing Ocean activities, but this was on a different dimension. He was a member of the Lewis family, a famous idol-turned, and even had the trait of being a hidden omega—even he thought people’s attention would naturally focus on him.
Siwoo stood in front of the mirror and looked over himself. They said that in the case of male omegas, the belly doesn’t protrude as much as regular females or female omegas, so for tops, he could wear the same things he usually wore.
When he put on slim design training pants and a loose box t-shirt, his protruding belly wasn’t particularly noticeable, so Siwoo placed his hand on his belly.
“Our Jadu, you’re well hidden, right? Perfect.”
As soon as the words ended, as if understanding his words, Jadu moved inside with a thump, and the corners of Siwoo’s mouth gently lifted. These days, the fun of conversing like this was quite satisfying. His waist was heavy and his belly was tight, but compared to morning sickness, this was nothing. Instead, he was swept up in an indescribable feeling when he moved sluggishly or when the thumping Jadu asserted itself.
“You want to see Evanie too, right?”
Then again from inside, a thump of an answer was heard. Siwoo gently stroked with his hand where Jadu had tapped.
“Let’s ask Evanie to buy us something delicious. Jadu, what do you want to eat? Shall we eat something delicious and go look at our Jadu’s things too? That place where we went to buy Katie’s gift before was good. I looked around roughly but there were a lot of various things.”
Siwoo, now accustomed to talking to himself, headed to the parking lot while touching his belly. Having multiple cars attached in front and behind was uncomfortable and awkward at first, but now he was accepting it. Above all, the safety of himself and Jadu came first.
April’s sunlight was warm, and the spring breeze was full of warmth.
Siwoo, who asked them to park the car in front of the company rather than in the company’s underground parking lot, didn’t accept the hat the accompanying butler offered.
“Let them take pictures. They’re making such a fuss wanting to take them, and if we prevent them from taking them too much, I think there’ll be an accident. This is in front of the company, does Evanie know I came?”
Siwoo asked the butler while heading to the company lobby accompanied by security guards.
“We just contacted him, so he’ll come down soon.”
At the flashing lights of flashes going off here and there and the camera sounds, laughter eventually burst from Siwoo’s mouth. What’s so great about this that they’re taking so many pictures? Can’t I even come visit my husband’s company?
Siwoo, who entered the lobby while pouting his lips for no reason, raised his head and slowly looked around. Ridiculously, this was his first time coming to Evan’s company.
What was there to hide and be so secret about?
Accustomed to people’s sideways glances at him, Siwoo didn’t care and slightly rolled up his sleeve end to look at his watch. The department store wasn’t far from here, so it seemed they could shop and have dinner.
Siwoo, who was about to place his right hand on his belly, slightly clenched his fist. Though he was used to stroking his belly and talking to himself, it didn’t seem right to do so in front of people. He’d deliberately worn baggy tops, and it seemed to shine here. You don’t know, right? Try hard to figure it out. How much our Jadu has grown.
“Coco.”
Siwoo, who had his gaze on a large painting on one wall of the lobby, quickly turned his head toward Evan at the sound of his voice calling him. Seeing him approach with quick steps as soon as he got off the elevator made him laugh senselessly again. Was I someone who laughed so easily? The image of himself always hurting in his chest and rushing to hide whenever he saw Evan had now completely disappeared.
“If you were coming, you should have said so. Aren’t you tired? Motion sickness? Did Jadu not give mom a hard time today?”
As he approached closely and naturally put his arm around his waist while pouring out what he wanted to say to him and Jadu like rapid fire, when Evan’s hand approached toward his belly, Siwoo slyly grabbed that hand.
“Jadu is sleeping now. Don’t wake her. If you’re not too busy with work, let’s go shopping. I’m bored of always looking at catalogs or looking at items the shoppers picked. I want to see with my own eyes. I want to go to that store where we bought Katie’s gift.”
“Even if I’m busy, I have to make time no matter what. It’s about you and Jadu.”
“So I came in the car you bought me, did well, right?”
Siwoo obediently stayed in the embrace of him saying he did well, kissing his head, and escorting him to the car. The pheromones flowing from Evan gently soothed Siwoo’s unstable pheromones.
* * *
“Shall we do a live?”
Evan paused at Siwoo’s sudden remark as he was about to get out of the department store parking lot. He had heard that due to hormonal changes from pregnancy, personality could change a bit, and favorite preferences could change. In early pregnancy, Siwoo too had struggled with intense emotional changes. Since entering the stable period, there weren’t intense emotional changes, but Siwoo had become very challenging and proactive.
Where did our Siwoo who tried to hide and avoid go?
“Now?”
“Before, when people found out about our Jadu and Nimo-nim were trying to send gifts and various things, you blocked it. You told them not to send anything anywhere, whether to the agency or your company, and the agency even issued official notices and everything. So our Jadu is also curious, and they’re curious about all that too. When I upload vlogs, everyone gives comments like is Jadu well, what did you do today, how’s your condition. So let’s do a live today and buy at least one thing for Jadu, whether clothes or whatever the Nimo-nim say is pretty.”
Siwoo walked ahead before Evan could answer.
“Do as you like.”
Siwoo, who walked ahead first then turned around and smiled brightly, imitated Evan and said what he would say instead. Then he grabbed the hand of Evan, who was still standing in that spot, and led him first.
“You can see we’re walking with the paparazzi right now, right? You could just watch this live. No wait, should I ask those people to film? Their cameras are way better than my cell phone.”
Siwoo muttered while looking at the screen with Evan, who was holding his camera on the selfie stick he’d brought just in case.
“For now, we’ll film ourselves shopping while walking around the department store. If too many people crowd or it seems dangerous, the live might suddenly cut off, so please understand that point.”
Evan, who was continuing his comment while wrapping his arm around Siwoo’s waist and pulling him more into his embrace, let out a short sigh only after entering the baby supplies store. Though they couldn’t control the entire department store, inside the baby supplies store would be easier for the security guards to work.
“I came out wanting to see Jadu’s things, but coming out like this seems to cause trouble for many people. I don’t think I’ll be able to come shopping from now on. But since we came out anyway, I’ll just buy one thing, just one thing and go.”
Though he boldly started shopping, the corners of Siwoo’s mouth drooped down seeing the people gradually crowding. Instead of watching the rapidly rising chat window, Siwoo quickly walked around inside the store.
“Coco, this.”
Evan, who was following behind Siwoo, picked up a light pink onesie hanging on a small clothes hanger and held it up so the camera could catch it well.
“Ah, our Evanie now knows a bit about fashion. As expected, pink is for men.”
Turning around to look at the camera, in Siwoo’s hand was a dark pink bodysuit.
