Kim Ji-hye (4)

,”Are you, by any chance, her boyfriend? Or her husband?”

,”If I say half and half, I’ll get scold… Kkeuaak!”

I tried to lighten the mood in front of the doctor with some nonsense, but it stopped when Ji-hye stepped on my instep with her high heel.

Even though it was pressed down on top of my sneakers, the burning pain I felt on my instep kept throbbing.

,”We’re not married yet, but I’m her husband, that’s right…”

,”Ah… I see. Anyway, the test results are out.”

Ji-hye must be nervous, because she fidgeted with my hand as she held it, listening to the doctor.

I held her hand back, swallowed hard, and waited for the doctor’s answer.

,”If you have plans, then it’s something to celebrate, and if you don’t have plans, it’s a bit of a sad story.”

,”…Does that mean, per…haps…”

,”Yes, she’s two weeks pregnant. There are no major problems, and other than your wife being tired, there’s nothing seriously wrong.”

I couldn’t show it on my face, but I felt a little complicated.

It’s not because she’s pregnant. It’s that it happened at this timing.

Why does it have to be this timing? How am I supposed to deal with Ji-hye’s career being cut short when she’s just starting to get settled?

,’It’s my fault, so I can’t blame anyone else… How am I going to tell my parents about this…?’

I barely managed to hold back the throbbing in my head and focused on the doctor, who was turning over papers and opening his mouth.

Ji-hye must have noticed the pulse in my hand, because she squeezed my hand even harder.

Thanks to that, I was able to listen to the story a little more calmly.

,”Since the woman doesn’t have any major illnesses or diseases, there won’t be any problems as long as she doesn’t overwork herself. If the husband-bun can take responsibility, it’s best for her to rest at home.”

,”There’s no chance of a misdiagnosis, is there?”

I opened my mouth, just in case.

,”Of course not. I’m sure the husband-bun is worried, it seems like it happened suddenly, but rest assured, the woman is healthy.”

It’s not that I’m worried about Ji-hye being sick, it’s that I’m worried about her career being cut short.

Still, I couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief at the words that she’s healthy.

It’s better to be healthy than sick, right? I glanced at Ji-hye and saw a smile on her face.

,”You happy?”

I whispered quietly, and she lightly raised her thumb with her other hand.

I wouldn’t mind if she just said she was happy, but she’s giving me a thumbs up here?

I let out a dumbfounded laugh and moistened my dry lips with my tongue.

,”That’s all. Husband-bun, please do whatever your wife asks you to do right away. If you don’t do this, it’ll last a long time?”

,”I understand…”

Ji-hye and I left the hospital and walked down the street.

It’s not that I don’t like it. But Ji-hye is being harmed by something that happened because of my carelessness, so is she okay?

,”I’m going to have it.”

,”What about your career? Aren’t you sad about everything you’ve done so far?”

Ji-hye smiled instead.

,”It’s a shame, but is there anything more important than the baby growing in my body right now?”

,”I feel so sorry right now, what am I supposed to do when you smile so brightly…”

,”Oppa has to get settled before I stay home so you can feed me.”

,”So you’re going to work until then?”

She nodded and grabbed my arm.

Well, if she says it’s okay, what can I do to stop her? If I even mention abortion, she’ll probably smash my head in right away.

,”But Oppa.”

,”Huh?”

,”Are the other girls okay?”

,”…Huh…?”

The other girls? Suddenly?

,”Why are you talking about the other girls? I did it with you much less, and I haven’t touched them recently.”

,”That’s not what I mean. They’ve almost all gathered here because of Oppa, so if they hear that only I’m pregnant, will they just stand by?”

Pregnancy. To be honest, I didn’t think about pregnancy, so my head is blank.

Ji-hye allowed it, so it shouldn’t be a big problem, but I was still full of thoughts about whether she would be in pain or whether it would be a burden on her body.

She might be okay because it’s still early, but the process is said to be incredibly difficult…

,”That’s something to get over. Your problem is more serious right now.”

,”My problem? I said I’m going to have it, so what’s the problem?”

,”Are you going to register the kid in the air…? You’re having it because you allowed it, so there’s no problem, but are you going to put it under your name as a single mother?”

,”Oppa, you’re talking so smoothly, so you must have thought it was important…?”

,”It’s okay to ignore me, but don’t treat me like an idiot.”

There’s no worse image than registering a child in the family register of an unmarried woman.

But isn’t it a problem to put it in the family register of a strange man?

,’Even if marriage between second cousins is allowed…’

I remembered the news I heard on the way home.

The content I found after that was, ‘Due to the population shortage, marriage up to second cousins is allowed, but children must marry someone else.’.

It is said to be an essential action to prevent genetic diseases, and I clearly remembered the words that children of second cousin marriages cannot marry family members below sixth cousins.

,’If I tell Mom I’m marrying Ji-hye, won’t my head be smashed…?’

I was worried, that’s for sure.

It’s not a problem for the child or Ji-hye, but even if I’m an adult, if I get married without my parents’ permission and then visit them, I’ll really have to be prepared to die.

I had to tell them at least before I had a child, before I got married, so my face didn’t brighten.

Ji-hye is smiling, but the aftermath I have to deal with for what I did is too strong.

,”Why is your expression so stiff? Are you unhappy with marrying me?”

Unlike Ji-hye, she puffed up her cheeks and acted overly cute.

,”I’m not unhappy with you…”

I wiped my face for a moment, then swallowed the sigh that was rising from inside and opened my mouth.

,”…I have to tell Mom.”

,”…….Ah…that’s, that’s right…”

Ji-hye must have finally grasped the situation, because she made a similar expression to me.

Yeah, marriage and children are okay as long as the people involved are okay.

Even my cousins wouldn’t oppose it, but if I think about it from my parents’ point of view, will they even think of me as their son?

,”If I go and tell her, won’t she try to kill me?”

,”If it’s Mom’s temper, she’d do more than that…”

,”Father’s right to speak has weakened, so even if he passes it over quietly, Mom…”

,”Yeah…Mom will…”

Like siblings, we both sighed and walked.

Ji-hye and I, who stopped at the same time at a cafe we saw while walking down the street, looked at each other, nodded, and headed to the cafe.

–

,”Americano here.”

,”Thank you, it’s rare for you to bring something hot so perceptively.”

,”You’re not in good shape, so you have to stay warm. It’s not that cold outside, but you can’t get sick.”

I had an iced Americano, and Ji-hye sipped on her Americano.

I smiled for a moment and looked at her, but as if we were thinking about what would happen next at the same time, our expressions hardened almost simultaneously and we looked at each other.

I broke the silence.

,”Okay, let’s get organized.”

,”Okay. I’ll point out anything that’s wrong.”

,”Okay. First of all, Ji-hye, you’re pregnant with my child, and it’s been two weeks. Right?”

,”That’s right. There’s nothing particularly wrong with my body, so leave that out.”

I nodded and rubbed the moisture on the outside of the Americano with my hand and wrote “Mother” simply on the table.

,”Then there are two problems here. One is that we have to tell Mom, and we have to tell her that we’re getting married.”

,”Let’s change it to three. Including coming back alive after telling Mom.”

,”…Y-yeah.”

I nodded.

,”But will Mom save me here? A guy who’s just getting settled, made his sister pregnant.”

I’m just starting to work, and I’m making my sister, who’s in the middle of her career, pregnant and turning her into a housewife?

I didn’t think Mom would be willing to save me.

First of all, from the moment I made my ‘sister’ pregnant, it would be a relief if Mom didn’t chop me up with a kitchen knife.

,”Honestly, it’ll be a relief if Oppa just gets slapped. Even if the law has been implemented, she won’t understand.”

,”Still, since I’m pregnant anyway, I want to get married?”

,”Yeah, marriage…huh?”

Ji-hye’s cheeks flushed at the sudden word “marriage.”

It wasn’t a big deal when she said it, but it seems that me saying it has more of a mental impact than I thought.

,”Uh…yeah, marriage…we have to, yeah.”

,”You were just saying that you weren’t happy about getting married.”

,”Still, hearing a man say it is a little um, like a proposal.”

,”Were you the kind of girl who liked that?”

Ji-hye frowned and took a sip of coffee.

,”You’d have to search the world to find a woman who doesn’t like that.”

Then she lightly tapped the table with her palm and continued.

,”Unless it’s from a man she doesn’t like, there’s no woman who doesn’t like hearing those kind of kind words from someone she likes.”

,”Okay, okay, I’ll make sure to propose to you later, so let’s continue the story.”

She nodded and continued.

,”There are two options: get married and go home and tell them, or tell them before we get married.”

,”If we get married and go tell them, don’t you think they’ll tear up the family register?”

,”Shouldn’t we think about coming back alive before the family register?”

,”We have to give up on that from the moment we tell Mom…”

There’s also the option of telling them by phone, but honestly, that’s not really an option.

It’s a major event in the family, but we’re just going to end it with a phone call? There’s no way she’ll forgive us, Mom will probably come to chop me up with a Chinese knife.

,”It’s best to tell them before we get married… When should we go tell them? Shouldn’t we go before your belly comes out?”

,”The best is the weekend. I only have a week left of vacation, and I don’t want to get stressed out going to tell them after that.”

,”…So we’re going to go on the weekend and tell them that you’re pregnant and that we’re going to get married?”

,”Are you confident that you can survive alone after that?”

,”No…”

I can’t help but sigh.

A huge worry about whether I can really come back alive.

Regardless of my worries, Ji-hye’s smile didn’t go away.

I just wish she would take half of my worries, but I couldn’t even think about that easily when I thought about the baby in her belly.