A woman with disheveled hair surrounded by people.
“No! I said I’m not buying…! Why is everyone like this, really…!”
A sharp voice echoed loudly throughout the event hall. Her face wasn’t clearly visible because of her hair, but it was a somehow familiar voice.
No way…
I pushed through the tightly packed crowd and moved forward.
“Ma’am, still… you spilled coffee on the stroller that’s for sale…”
“Ridiculous! Did I do it on purpose? Huh?! What am I supposed to do about coffee suddenly spilling?”
“Well… outside food isn’t allowed either…”
“You didn’t stop me! Then you should have stopped me from the moment I entered! Why now…!”
The closer I got, the clearer and louder the woman’s voice became.
Splash!
Then I heard the sound of something spilling. The woman had thrown the coffee she was holding directly at the stroller sales booth. The stroller for sale was instantly stained with coffee.
As the flustered staff began wiping it with tissues in a panic, the woman became even more confident, brushing her hair behind her ears and turning her head slightly.
“These people are looking down on me…”
“……”
And it was the moment the woman turned her head. Our eyes met directly.
Oh no…
“Oh my, honey? What brings you here?”
The troublemaker people were talking about was none other than Yoon Mina.
“Ah, you came because of Hyeol? You didn’t seem like it, but you’re quite passionate, honey?”
Yoon Mina approached me as if nothing had happened, despite causing such a commotion just moments before.
No, no, this isn’t right…
I was troubled. The people’s attention that had been focused on Yoon Mina was now directed at me.
I got caught at the wrong time. I should have pretended not to know her…
I tried to turn my gaze elsewhere and escape from that spot, albeit belatedly. But before I could even turn around, Yoon Mina’s hand grabbed my arm.
“Honey! Where are you trying to go?”
“Huh…!”
What, why is she so strong…!
“I’d be hurt if you left without saying hello.”
“Ah, haha… Hello… Right, nice to… see you here…”
Eventually, I was stuck in an unavoidable situation. I tried my best to manage my expression while attempting to free my wrist from Yoon Mina’s grip. But she was so strong that she didn’t budge at all. Cold sweat was dripping down my forehead.
“Um, excuse me… I’m really sorry, but I have some business to attend to right now…”
“Business? What business? Mother-in-law is coming soon, so why don’t you at least see her face before you go?”
“What?!”
Mother-in-law? No way, if she means mother-in-law… my mother-in-law…?!
My mother-in-law was someone I wanted to meet even less than Yoon Mina. I hadn’t seen her face even once since the cattle ranch incident… I didn’t know what face I should make when meeting her again now.
“No, well, I really need to use the bathroom urgently…!”
Eventually, I used all the strength I could muster to quickly shake off Yoon Mina’s hand.
“Oh, honey, really! Just wait a little… Oh? There she comes, Mother-in-law! Over here!”
No, don’t call her over…!
I tried to escape from that spot immediately, but Yoon Mina waved her hand toward the approaching person while firmly gripping the hem of my coat.
If I had known this would happen, I should have worn a short coat…!
I deeply regretted it inwardly and struggled to free at least the hem of my coat with my head down.
“No, I’m right now…!”
Click-clack. At the gradually approaching sound of my mother-in-law’s heels and the scent of her perfume, I stiffened my body.
“It’s been a while.”
And my mother-in-law stopped right in front of me and spoke in a subdued voice. I could see purple high heels and black stockings in front of my eyes. I slowly lifted my head.
“Have you been well?”
“……”
“Looking at your face, it seems you’ve been very well.”
What is this… Is it just my imagination? With her heavy makeup and voluminous wavy brown hair, she looked exactly the same as the first day I saw her externally, but strangely, her previously cold tone had softened compared to before.
“Hyung-nim, Mother-in-law is speaking to you…”
“Yes…?”
Then, at some point, Yoon Mina, who had let go of my coat hem, spoke briefly. She had been like an angry bull just moments ago, but now she had a demure expression like a gentle sheep. Moreover, didn’t she always call me ‘honey’? At the sudden ‘hyung-nim,’ I stared blankly at Yoon Mina.
“That’s enough.”
Then my mother-in-law glanced with an indifferent expression and turned her body toward where the commotion had occurred.
“Mina, let me handle what just happened. You’re not alone anymore, so you should be more careful when you go around.”
My mother-in-law was right. Before I knew it, men in black suits were standing around the sales booth in a circle. The sales staff were hurriedly organizing their items, and the people who had been watching were also rushing outside in confusion.
“I’m sorry, Mother-in-law… I suddenly got too emotional… *sob*…”
Yoon Mina suddenly made sniffling sounds and pretended to cry. It was obviously acting, so I, standing beside her, couldn’t manage my expression properly.
“Take this opportunity to quit coffee too. It’s early stages, so you need to be careful about everything, don’t you?”
“Yes, I will. Mother-in-law, *sob*, Mina is so lacking and doesn’t know much. Please teach Mina a lot, Mother-in-law…”
Now Yoon Mina was referring to herself in third person.
No… more than that, wait a minute. What did she just say? Not alone anymore? Early stages…? No way…
“Huh… Yoon… no, sister-in-law? Are you pregnant?”
When I asked Yoon Mina in surprise, she nodded while pretending to wipe her tears with the back of her hand.
“Yes, I’m three weeks pregnant. Come to think of it, this is the first time our Doraion is meeting hyung-nim, right? Wow…!”
Yoon Mina said this while rubbing her belly toward me.
“What…? Dora… ion?”
It wasn’t even ‘ttora-i’ (crazy), so I wondered what kind of compound word ‘Doraion’ was.
“No, Doraion…! It’s our baby’s nickname. Proud lion, isn’t it pretty? Doraion.”
“……”
It was absurd beyond words, but Yoon Mina seemed to have seriously chosen the baby’s nickname, explaining with a truly bright smile.
“Ah, yes… Congratulations.”
I wasn’t really in the mood for it, but since she said she was carrying a life, I offered congratulations to Yoon Mina. On one hand, I also felt sorry for the legitimate wife of Gwak Ihan, the second son of the Gwak family, whom I had never even seen.
“What were you trying to buy over there?”
“What?”
Then my mother-in-law suddenly asked me. At first, I didn’t know what she was talking about, but the moment her gaze turned somewhere, I was startled.
How long had she been watching me? My mother-in-law had accurately pinpointed the sales booth where I had been.
“I was just… trying to buy some books…”
“Books for Hyeol to read?”
“That’s right…?”
“Hmm…”
My mother-in-law, who had been lost in thought for a moment at my words, suddenly opened her mouth as if she had decided something.
“I need to check what you were trying to buy.”
“What…?”
No, there’s no need to go that far, is there…
I tried to stop my mother-in-law, but she had already quickly passed me and was walking toward the sales booth.
‘…Do you really think you can properly raise a child by yourself?’
Naturally, I recalled what she had said when she met me last time.
I sighed involuntarily. She probably doesn’t trust me and wants to interfere even with buying a single book… Anyway, even if I said no, it would only cause more commotion. There were many eyes watching, so this time I should stay quiet. At least I was grateful that Baek Woojin wasn’t here right now.
“Oh my, sir! You’re back? You’re going to buy that book from earlier, right?”
As soon as my mother-in-law and I entered the sales booth, the staff member who had tried to sell me the book earlier clapped and approached. But as soon as she saw my mother-in-law next to me, her shoulders flinched. It was probably because my mother-in-law had a different aura compared to ordinary people.
“Yes, I want to buy that one from earlier. How much is it?”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
