Because he hadn’t spoken for a long time, his voice came out strained. Ahem. While Eunho cleared his throat, Yi-beom sat back down and waited calmly.
“Ahjussi.”
“Yeah.”
“Our… baby?”
Yi-beom’s expression stiffened instantly. The fact that he didn’t look surprised made it obvious he had found out while running various tests. When no answer came back, Eunho asked again.
“What happened to the baby?”
Without realizing it, he rubbed his lower abdomen. It seemed to be sticking out about the same as before, but he couldn’t be certain. Anxiety rising, Eunho tried to sit up.
Just bracing himself against the bed for a moment drained the strength from his arms. “Ugh—” As his body tilted, Yi-beom shot to his feet. Strong arms wrapped around his shoulders.
“You can’t sit up yet.”
“Then you can just answer me.”
Stacking two pillows behind him, Yi-beom gently pushed Eunho back down. Only after pulling the blanket up to his chest did he meet his eyes and let out a sigh.
As if he would wait forever until he got an answer, Eunho stared at him stubbornly.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“I’m getting up.”
“You can give me that much, can’t you?”
The more Yi-beom delayed, the more Eunho’s anxiety swelled. If it were nothing—if it were really nothing—there was no way Yi-beom wouldn’t answer him like this.
His heart sank to the floor. As his head began to spin again, Eunho bit his lip. Before he could even tug at it, Yi-beom’s hand came down over his mouth.
“Don’t tell me…”
The dreadful thought that had lingered in his mind ever since he woke up finally slipped out.
“Did something… go wrong…? With our baby?”
His head swam. Just putting the words something went wrong into his mouth made his chest heavy, to the point he couldn’t keep his eyes properly open.
“No, no way… right?”
“……”
“Hurry, answer me!”
Breathing harshly, Eunho pushed himself up again. As he leaned forward as if to lunge at Yi-beom, only then did Yi-beom’s gaze finally turn toward him.
“Ahjussi!”
With a sigh that sounded almost like a groan, Yi-beom called him.
“Baby.”
“I’m not the baby!”
The important baby right now was someone else. Panting, Eunho tried to rip out the needles connected to his arm, and Yi-beom cursed, “Fuck,” grabbing his hand to stop him.
Eunho had only just regained consciousness; the odds of him managing to push Yi-beom away even a little were slim. Even so, as if he couldn’t feel reassured, Yi-beom climbed over Eunho’s legs in the blink of an eye and firmly pinned his arms down.
“Ugh.”
Eunho’s eyes filled with tears. The longer the answer was delayed, the more his fear grew. What if something had happened to the baby? What if rolling around had hurt it somewhere?
Even as tears dripped steadily down his cheeks, Eunho glared at Yi-beom.
“Is it that important?”
“…Yes.”
A tear that had pooled at the corner of his eye slid down.
“More than me.”
At that unwavering gaze, Yi-beom realized he couldn’t avoid it any longer.
His own head throbbed just the same. When they had first arrived at the hospital, he had been so shocked he couldn’t even breathe properly while frantically searching for Professor Hwang and running all sorts of tests.
And he had thought there couldn’t possibly be anything more shocking.
“He’s pregnant. And it’s already progressed quite a few weeks…?”
Is this bastard joking in a situation like this? Yi-beom’s face had twisted instantly. In front of him, Professor Hwang wiped sweat from his brow as he diligently explained Eunho’s condition.
“Well, since the world turned into one of Beastmen, this is a phenomenon that’s occasionally been discovered. If you look at the probability, it’s about one in a hundred thousand… but it’s not entirely unheard of.”
For a long while, Professor Hwang went on about the possibility of same-sex pregnancy and its side effects. Listening in silence, Yi-beom looked down at the chart. Against the black background was something that looked like a tiny speck.
“So.”
He pointed to one corner of the chart.
“That’s my kid?”
“Since it’s Student Eunho’s baby… wouldn’t that be the case?”
Wouldn’t that be the case? So it’s in Jung Eunho’s belly, and it might not be my kid?
As his sharp tone cut through the air, Professor Hwang hurriedly added,
“No, well, of course it would be yours, President.”
“……”
“It’s not like Student Eunho would have done that sort of thing with someone else.”
At once, a piercing glare shot his way. Drawing in a sharp breath, Professor Hwang quickly corrected himself.
“Ninety-nine percent it’s yours, President—no, the baby is yours.”
Awkwardly smiling, Professor Hwang had the chart snatched from his hand. This is my kid? The tiny something didn’t look like an animal’s offspring, nor like a baby. If anything, it resembled some organ lodged in a corner.
“…If this is a lie—”
“Goodness, do you think I’ve lost my mind? Why would I lie to you about something like that, President?”
“……”
“If I wanted to die, I’d rather just bash my head into a pillar!”
Ignoring Professor Hwang’s muttering, Yi-beom flipped to the page containing Eunho’s test results. The explanations were written plainly enough to understand at a glance, and his expression darkened.
At this rate, whether it was his kid or not, it was nothing but a parasite gnawing away at Eunho’s body.
A harmful pest that could even threaten his life.
It was Jinwon and Younguk who stopped Yi-beom when he tried to schedule surgery immediately. If he did this, Eunho might hate him for the rest of his life, they argued, trying to persuade him. When they said they would try to talk Eunho down themselves, only then did Yi-beom finally step away from Professor Hwang.
Would it have been better to force the surgery back then? Looking down at the tear-streaked face in front of him, Yi-beom considered it for a moment.
Say it died, and operate—
Anything was easier to ask forgiveness for than permission. If he told Eunho the baby had died in an accident, maybe Eunho wouldn’t have a choice. As his thoughts drifted in that direction, Eunho, who had been staring at him quietly, spoke up.
“D-Don’t even think about lying.”
“……”
“If you do, I—I won’t see you. Ever. For the rest of my life.”
You already ran away planning not to see me. Letting out a disbelieving huff, Yi-beom laughed dryly.
“Have you ever seen me lie to you?”
“You do it all the time.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You did when we were on the stairs, t-too. Saying things you didn’t mean.”
Fearless little thing. Even when Yi-beom flicked the bridge of his nose, Jung Eunho stubbornly talked back. Most of the time he acted like he had a screw loose, yet when it mattered, he was quick to read Yi-beom’s mind. That had always been one of the cute things about him… but right now, it was nothing short of troublesome.
With no other choice, Yi-beom opened his mouth.
“It’s here.”
He lightly stroked Eunho’s belly, and Eunho sucked in a sharp breath.
“…They said it’s healthy?”
“Yeah.”
Only after the firm answer came did the tension drain from his body. As Eunho let out a shaky sigh, Yi-beom wiped away his tear tracks with the back of his hand.
“So stop crying.”
Thank goodness. The moment he heard the baby was fine, tears spilled down again as if by magic. “Hngh—” All the struggles and arguments he’d gone through trying to hide the pregnancy flashed through his mind.
A storm of emotions swept over him. Guilt for what he had done to the baby, guilt toward Yi-beom. Pushing himself up, Eunho suddenly threw his arms around Yi-beom.
As soon as he was enveloped in that familiar embrace, his throat tightened even more. Unable to make a sound, just crying silently, Eunho was wrapped back in Yi-beom’s arms.
“I told you it’s fine. Why are you crying?”
Though he answered irritably, his hand steadily patted Eunho’s back.
“I went through the trouble of answering so you’d stop crying.”
“Sniff— I, I was trying to hide it, hngh, so I ran away—”
“I know. You don’t have to explain.”
From the moment Professor Hwang explained the side effects of same-sex pregnancy, everything that had happened until now had fallen into place in his mind. Obviously, this stupid rabbit had run away because he was determined to give birth to the baby. Even knowing what it could do to his own body.
He must have known what I’d say, too. It irritated him that Eunho had run away like that, yet when he thought about the reason behind it, he couldn’t bring himself to hate him.
“You worked hard. Protecting it on your own.”
At those words, it felt like everything was going to be okay. Tightening his arms around Yi-beom, Eunho broke into choked sobs.
“…I’m sorry I didn’t realize.”
“I-I, hngh, I— hic!”
He should have said it was okay, that he was the one who was sorry, but the words wouldn’t come out properly. After trying several times to respond, Eunho gave up and clung to Yi-beom’s chest instead.
Now we just have to give birth safely.
The baby was healthy, and Yi-beom knew about the pregnancy. There was nothing left to worry about. All that remained was to give birth safely without losing his life and build a cozy home together with Yi-beom.
Seeing how he said he’d worked hard, Yi-beom was clearly welcoming the baby.
All those things he said before… he must’ve just been speaking hypothetically.
His hopeful delusions began spinning in a positive direction. It had hurt at the time, but thinking back, it wasn’t impossible to understand. After all, hadn’t he once said, while watching a movie about someone who could teleport, that if he had that ability, he’d rob a bank?
When in reality, if he really had that power, he’d just trail after Yi-beom all day.
“They say even a knife can’t cut water—so arguing between husband and wife is meaningless.”
“Sniff, snff. Y-Yes.”
Eunho nodded vigorously.
“It’s nothing, h-hic, nothing happened.”
“Nothing happened?”
“I-I’ll say I got amnesia….”
At the absurd suggestion, Yi-beom slowly lifted his head. As he pulled back slightly, Eunho, with his small, bright eyes, whispered,
“Short-term, hic, amnesia….”
After getting completely hooked on morning dramas, he was now applying their most common plot device to real life. Our baby’s good at applying things, too. Yi-beom stroked Eunho’s hair.
“You’re going to do that?”
“Mm, yeah.”
Eunho burrowed into his arms, fidgeting. At that tiny movement, Yi-beom let out a deep breath as if he could finally live again.
“Fine. Let’s do that. I’ll make it happen.”
If that’s what you want, short-term or long-term—it doesn’t matter. Yi-beom muttered in a low voice.
