Are you really pregnant, Han Yeoul?
Sitting on the bed, I opened the search window on my phone.
-Morning sickness -Morning sickness symptoms -When does morning sickness start? -Can you eat a lot during morning sickness?
As I searched various things, I heard the front door opening so I quickly closed the search window on my phone.
Yoo Seonjae came in carrying a medicine bag, checked on me in the bedroom, said “Just a moment!” and urgently brought two pills and a cup of water.
“Yeoul, at least take this first.”
As I stared at the medicine he held out for a long time, Yoo Seonjae said with a worried face:
“First take this and if you feel a bit better, that’s fortunate, and if not, let’s go to the hospital. Tell the company you’re taking one more day off tomorrow.”
“No. I’m okay now. I have to try going to work tomorrow.”
Right. I absolutely had to go. There were many things I needed to check in places where Yoo Seonjae’s eyes couldn’t reach.
“How can you work when your body is in this state?”
“I told you I’m fine? Look- I’m perfectly fine.”
I deliberately spread my arms and laughed. Yoo Seonjae let out a deep sigh and released his pheromones a bit more thickly. It was a gentle pheromone that warmed my whole body.
“Then, at least take the medicine. Okay?”
“Ah, okay.”
I took the medicine he held out and pretended to toss the pills into my mouth. Then I tilted my head back, pretending to swallow the medicine while drinking water. While he was looking at my face, I quickly hid the pills that had been in my palm up my sleeve.
“Is that good now?”
Only then, as if relieved, Yoo Seonjae took the water cup from me, set it down, and hugged me.
“Don’t get sick, Yeoul. When you’re sick, my heart pounds so much I can’t do anything.”
At Yoo Seonjae’s words, I quietly patted his back.
It wasn’t that I was sick often, but Yoo Seonjae was sensitive to me being sick. Reacting sensitively even at the slightest sign of difficulty was probably because of that incident from before.
The day I received the recessive omega diagnosis, and not long after we decided to date, the day I fully manifested as an omega…
During class at school as usual, I convulsed in my limbs, couldn’t control my body, rolled on the floor, and released a tremendous amount of pheromones. Thick omega pheromones enough to make everyone in the classroom mentally hazy.
I learned from stories I heard sporadically from classmates, but I don’t remember exactly what happened that day. However, one thing is certain: if Yoo Seonjae hadn’t carried me on his back and run that day, I wouldn’t be a person of this world.
That day, I learned that I was an extreme recessive, belonging to the lowest tier among recessives.
Even in my imprecise memories, what remained deeply etched in my mind was that Han Yeoul is an extreme recessive, and a familiar voice saying to absolutely never tell Han Yeoul that he’s an extreme recessive. Even in my hazy consciousness, I knew it wasn’t a dream.
It wasn’t that there was solid evidence.
Rather, it was conviction based on more primal intuition.
That’s why I didn’t particularly reveal that I knew I was an extreme recessive. Unlike dominants, extreme recessives aren’t separately marked on trait certificates. It’s just marked as ‘recessive.’
This is because, unlike dominants who receive all sorts of privileges in life, extreme recessives can be subject to discrimination just for being what they are, so the law specifies it that way under that concern. Therefore, no one could know that someone was an extreme recessive except family, the person themselves, and their primary physician.
In my case, it seemed the family and primary physician decided not to tell even the person themselves.
Unfortunately, I already found out, but well… if them thinking I don’t know makes my people feel more comfortable, I decided to let it be that way.
So this is all the more impossible. Extreme recessives literally have almost no probability of pregnancy.
I didn’t even believe that 1 percent figure Professor Yeonwoo always mentioned. It’s just a kind of false hope. Try your best because the possibility isn’t completely zero… Like comforting someone with a terminal diagnosis by saying “a miracle might happen.”
“Let’s sleep early today, Yeoul. I wish you wouldn’t go out tomorrow if possible…”
“That would be nice, but I have something I absolutely must do tomorrow, Seonjae.”
“Okay. I understand, so let’s sleep now.”
Yoo Seonjae released his pheromones thickly and stroked me. His pheromones were so warm. Enough to bring tears.
Right…
That won’t happen, right? Something is seriously wrong. So if I sleep and wake up, everything will be okay. Everything will return to its proper place.
*
Something was seriously wrong.
“Why is this like this?”
There were eight pregnancy testers I bought by stopping at every pharmacy on the way to work. Trembling as I held testers of different types in my hand and waited for the results, they were all clear two lines.
“Am I… really pregnant?”
I was flustered. Countless nights with Yoo Seonjae flashed through my mind. Especially during his rut cycles, after we started knotting, we had no restraint. Like people with no tomorrow, we tangled and entangled with each other, moaning for days and nights.
Because we’re safe.
No, because I’m deficient.
But this deficient me… is pregnant? Can this really happen?
“Han sunbae, sunbae, are you in there?”
“Yes, why?”
“No, a quick delivery came for you.”
“Quick delivery?”
I hurriedly put only one of the testers in my pocket, then put the rest in a black bag, rolled it up, threw it in the trash, and came out of the bathroom. Park Jeongin was looking at me with a flushed, excited face.
“What quick delivery?”
“You’ll know when you see. Sunbae, you’re so lucky.”
What’s she making such a fuss about…
The place Park Jeongin took me to was the employee lounge. As soon as I entered this place where people were gathered in small groups, murmuring started from here and there.
“I’m jealous, every time…”
“What day is it today that something like this came?”
Letting their words flow past my ears, I looked at the table and saw a fruit basket and a rose bouquet neatly placed. The sender was obviously who I thought it would be.
“There’s a card. Hurry up and take it out, sunbae.”
At the fussy voice, I picked up the card with a somewhat embarrassed face. There was no need to be so obvious, but Yoo Seonjae always made his “mark” like this every time. As if I should never forget for a single moment that Han Yeoul belongs to Yoo Seonjae.
He doesn’t even know what I was doing just now, yet he sent something like this as if to “congratulate” me, which was a bit absurd. How could the timing be so exquisite? He could have just come directly as usual, or sent some snacks for the staff appropriately, but what wind blew for this…
I sighed and opened the card. Park Jeongin stood behind me curiously. The content would be obvious anyway.
[Yeoul, honey, darling. Work hard today too. I love you.]
Obviously…
“As expected, it’s not from Writer Yoo… nim?”
At Park Jeongin’s words, everyone looked at me with puzzled eyes. I was equally flustered. I never thought the name written on the card wouldn’t be Yoo Seonjae.
“Who is Kim Yeonghyo… sunbae?”
The fruit and flowers were sent by Kim Yeonghyo. Not knowing why he sent such a thing, I couldn’t answer Park Jeongin’s question right away and stared at the card for a long time. My head wasn’t working fast.
[Yeoul. It was nice to see you after so long. I’m really grateful that you still give me hope. It’s nothing much, but I’m sending this hoping it will improve your mood. Don’t feel burdened, share it with your coworkers. I bought the flowers just because they were pretty. Then, see you next time. I’ll stop by your company once. Like you said, I want to try doing something too. Then, I’ll contact you. -Kim Yeonghyo]
“A friend.”
After staring at the card for a long time, realizing that people’s gazes were still on me, the word I barely squeezed out was “friend.” We weren’t close enough to exchange things like this, but anyway, a friend is a friend.
“Wow… a friend sends things like this too, you must not be ordinary friends.”
At Park Jeongin’s words, people started murmuring again. Anyway, there’s no one on this team who doesn’t know how much Yoo Seonjae hovers around me, and Yoo Seonjae couldn’t not know about a friend who sends me such things, so they must have concluded he’s a close enough friend that even Yoo Seonjae would tolerate.
“He might become our client.”
“Oh- really?”
