Even after spitting it out myself, I had absolutely no confidence to meet his eyes and turned my head sharply, but Won Dogyeong was silent for a long while. When I sneakily looked back down, I saw him stopped still as if thinking about something, in the same position where I had covered his eyes.
Won Dogyeong slowly removed the hand covering his eyes, then cautiously reading the room, nestled a bit deeper into my embrace, pressed his cheek against my fully exposed stomach, and hugged my waist.
I flinched in surprise, trembling as I stiffened with my arms awkwardly raised.
My face burned so hot it felt like it would explode. Being held like this with Won Dogyeong felt insanely awkward. My hands hesitated in midair, lost. Rather than disliking it, I just couldn’t calm down because this whole situation was embarrassing.
When he let out a sigh, a small vibration traveled up from where his cheek connected.
“When you say it like that, it does feel a bit unfair that I haven’t done anything until now…”
“Ah, sorry…?”
“Forget it. What’s the point of thinking about the past? Anyway, doesn’t this mean you’ll get along well with me from now on?”
“Well, something like… that’s what I mean.”
“That’s enough for me.”
Won Dogyeong rubbed his cheek lightly against my stomach. I just rolled my eyes around. Both arms were still floating in the air. My face felt like it would explode.
However, when I sneakily looked down, despite shamelessly wrapping his arms around me and burying his face in my embrace, Won Dogyeong seemed just as awkward in this situation—his peeking ear was still burning red.
The hand gently placed on my bare waist was also awkwardly hovering, barely touching or not touching my skin.
Seeing that, my tension eased and I laughed a little.
“Are you embarrassed too?”
“…Shut up.”
“You said you liked me.”
“…Don’t.”
“You told me not to take off my clothes?”
“Ah, I said don’t.”
As I giggled, Won Dogyeong slowly retreated and buttoned up my shirt that had been wide open, grumbling with a sulky face.
“You keep acting awkward, so even I…”
“What did I do?”
“…You said you’d consider it positively.”
“…I did.”
“Then make an effort.”
“Mmm.”
At his words while glaring at me with arms firmly crossed, I sluggishly spat out an answer.
I’m making a huge effort right now. I can’t just start making out with Won Dogyeong overnight, can I?
No wait, he acted awkward too, so why is he blaming it all on me?
Sitting plop on the floor with eyes rolled up, he seemed to have decided to get the better of me, grinning crookedly and continuing to flap his mischievous mouth.
“You said you keep thinking about sleeping with me?”
“Ah.”
“Keep thinking about that.”
“No, hey.”
Ugh. I basically shoved my own head into a lion’s mouth.
“You said I’m important and you want to get along well with me.”
“……”
“You care about m—mmph.”
I grabbed his freely moving mouth with my hand and squished it like a carp.
Won Dogyeong seemed to want to say more, his lips gathered in the center opening and closing, but since I was holding them firmly shut, no proper words flowed out.
“Stop it and let’s go wash up and sleep, Dogyeong. We have to go see the ultrasound tomorrow.”
At my words said through gritted teeth while pulling up the corners of my mouth, Won Dogyeong seemed to sense when to back down, stopped resisting, and nodded. I looked at him suspiciously as he blinked innocently, then let go of the hand I was holding.
Released, he moved his mouth around wildly to loosen the muscles, then spoke in a deliberately dejected voice.
“Ow…”
“You brought it on yourself.”
At my blunt words, Won Dogyeong grinned with satisfaction and disappeared to wash up. I watched that retreating figure pathetically, then also gathered my clothes and went in to shower.
Under the stream of water with my reddened face, I brought out the worries I’d been having every day lately once again.
Shouldn’t parents be more dignified? Is this right?
*
I pressed the elevator button while looking disapprovingly at Won Dogyeong, who was covered from top to bottom. It was the same obstetrics clinic we’d visited before.
I felt my face heat up as I sensed the people who got on with us sneaking glances at Won Dogyeong with his sun cap pressed down, pretending not to look, but I forced myself to act calm and straightened my back.
Unable to see well ahead, he bumped into the wall while getting off the elevator. Geez, you fool.
Seeing the reception staff’s eyes glance over Won Dogyeong’s getup as they passed, I felt guilty preemptively and made excuses that he’d recently had surgery and his face was very swollen so he covered it. I don’t even know what kind of surgery. If they asked why he didn’t just wear sunglasses and a mask, I’d have nothing to say, but surely they wouldn’t interrogate him over just a sun cap.
Seeing the staff member accept it with a suspicious “Ah~” exclamation, it seemed they thought he’d had dermabrasion or an equivalent facial overhaul. Your husband is pregnant and you got plastic surgery? That was exactly the kind of thought they were pressing down with their service spirit showing on their face.
He’s not my husband and it’s not plastic surgery, yes… and he’s not an attention seeker either…
I glanced back at Won Dogyeong but couldn’t tell what he was thinking since I couldn’t see anything. Come to think of it, that bizarre outfit did have one definite effect.
You said you’d come, so deal with it.
Since it was the weekend, the waiting area was bustling with people. If I’d known it would be like this, I should have taken a day off during the week to come. But not knowing what might happen in the future, it felt wasteful to use a day off for a regular checkup.
Even before I knew I was pregnant, thinking about how I’d suffered from my body feeling languid made me hesitate.
Even now, I felt my body loosening more than usual, but as that sensation continued, I’d gotten somewhat used to it. Knowing the cause seemed to make me worry less about it too.
Won Dogyeong sat quietly in the seat next to me with his arms crossed, spacing out.
…Is he forced to space out because it’s pitch dark in front of him?
There didn’t seem to be many couples visiting the obstetrics clinic together. I should come alone next time too. It would be more comfortable than constantly being aware of Won Dogyeong sitting next to me.
After waiting over thirty minutes, we were called into the examination room. The doctor who’d been telling me to come in seemed momentarily speechless upon discovering Won Dogyeong standing behind me.
“He had m-major surgery. His face is really swollen so… haha.”
I laughed awkwardly and hastily made excuses.
“Ah~ I see~.”
I don’t know if they were convinced, but the doctor laughed it off appropriately. I could only feel sorry for bringing someone in this state.
“It’s been a week. Let’s see, the blood test results are in, you are pregnant. Congratulations. Based on the numbers, it seems to be progressing well. Should we look at the ultrasound first and talk more after?”
My belly hadn’t come out yet and it hadn’t been long, so it was natural, but on the screen only something like a small black sphere was floating around.
Rather than a baby, it looked more like something with a hole punched through the middle. Still, it was amazing to hear the small sound of a heartbeat.
That little circle is a person.
Won Dogyeong fidgeted with and clung to my fingers while watching the ultrasound.
His palm was damp with whatever he was thinking. Even so, if you’re going to hold my hand, hold it properly—I don’t know what state of mind makes you hang onto my pinky finger.
When was it that he was threatening me to make an effort? The one actually scared stiff is Won Dogyeong.
Even at mundane explanations like “what you see here is the gestational sac” and “the heartbeat is captured well,” he nodded vigorously. Each time he did, the hand he was holding flinched.
“Next time we’ll see you in 2 weeks.”
After that, we heard all about the checkup schedule and testing plans. At the instruction to make sure to take folic acid, Won Dogyeong quickly picked up his phone to take notes.
There was a pile of precautions: avoid raw food, alcohol, and caffeine; morning sickness might come; if something’s wrong with your body or there’s bleeding, go to the emergency room.
He wrote down each one with a serious atmosphere. It didn’t seem necessary to be that scared, but the sight of him desperately tapping the keyboard was funny, so I left him alone.
As soon as Won Dogyeong got home, he sat alone with the ultrasound photo laid out in front of him, fiddling with his phone for a long while. And the next morning, a pile of various vitamins, stretch mark cream, pregnancy pillows, toothpaste, and such arrived.
I didn’t even know there was special toothpaste for pregnant people, honestly. Too much, it’s too much.
I told him several times to return some of them, but Won Dogyeong gathered them like a squirrel storing acorns and stuffed them neatly into the cupboard.
Needless to say, all those vitamins were allocated to me. I gave up and obediently swallowed them.
They’re good for the body, so I’ll endure it.
And still with the ultrasound photo laid out in front of me, I faced another crisis.
This… how do I tell Mom?
I’d been so busy worrying about how to tell Won Dogyeong that I’d forgotten. Since I can’t hide it until I give birth and raise the child, I should tell her as soon as possible…
Sitting at the table chewing my lips, I whipped my head around to look at the living room.
Won Dogyeong seemed to have rolled around on the sofa a bit after dinner, and was now sitting on the floor folding laundry. That’s my job though.
Just as Won Dogyeong cooked for me, cleaning and laundry were mainly my responsibility. Occasionally when I was busy and Won Dogyeong stayed home the whole time, he’d do it instead. Then on my way home, I’d buy snacks that he’d miss while going to filming sites—that was our routine.
“Did you tell your dad?”
“Not yet.”
Won Dogyeong shook his head while folding a towel and pressing it down firmly.
“I was going to tell him after talking with you. If I tell my dad, your family will all find out too.”
“That’s probably how it’ll be, right?”
I let out a sigh while holding my head.
