Episode 6. A Second Child Is Born (2)
The day dawned for Kang Yera’s first family trip since she was born.
Before leaving early in the morning, Kang Dae-oh first went down and started the car.
Kang Dae-oh, who had gone back up to the house, looked for Min Seung-yeon.
“Honey. Where’s the suitcase?”
“It’s in the room. Why?”
“So I can load the luggage beforehand. Give me yours too. I’ll take them together.”
“Thanks. I’ll just finish this and then head out.”
Women often need more preparation time to go out compared to men.
Kang Dae-oh, who had dated Min Seung-yeon for a long time, knew her habits well.
The moment he was about to go out of the house first, pulling the suitcase.
“Appa. I want to go with you too.”
Kang Yera followed her appa out.
Since he had already turned on the car’s air conditioning, Kang Dae-oh allowed Kang Yera to accompany him, perhaps thinking it wouldn’t matter much.
While Kang Dae-oh was neatly loading the luggage into the trunk, Kang Yera waited patiently until her appa came and put her in the baby seat.
“My daughter, you waited a long time, didn’t you?”
Kang Dae-oh put both hands under Kang Yera’s armpits and lifted her up.
After buckling her seatbelt, Kang Dae-oh headed for the driver’s seat.
Just then, a new song was playing.
It was a song by Choi Seon-ah, whom Kang Yera had liked since she was a baby.
“Appa, do you like Seon-ah senior’s songs?”
“Senior?”
“Yes. I really, really like Choi Seon-ah senior’s songs.”
This was the reason why Kang Yera had shown deep interest in Choi Seon-ah’s songs since she was a baby.
Come to think of it, Kang Dae-oh only knew that Kang Yera had regressed to the past at the age of twenty-nine, but he knew nothing else.
“My daughter, were you a singer in the future?”
“I was an idol. Though I was unknown.”
At the word “unknown,” Kang Dae-oh showed a reaction of disbelief.
“Why? My daughter is so pretty and talented. How could you be unknown?”
“The entertainment industry is a place where you can’t succeed just by being pretty, talented, and singing well.”
There must have been various factors for her failure.
The result of those things intertwining.
Kang Yera had no choice but to continue living a reality filled with only regrets.
So she made a promise.
“Appa. I’m going to be a successful idol in this life!”
At her words, Kang Dae-oh laughed heartily.
“So, did you intentionally pick up the microphone at your first birthday party?”
“Of course—!”
There were various objects placed in front of her.
Ding! As soon as the bell rang, Kang Yera showed no interest in any other objects, focusing solely on the microphone.
All the acquaintances who came to the first birthday party said, “Looks like Yera is going to be a singer.”
But who would have thought that it would actually happen.
Kang Dae-oh had no intention of interfering with Kang Yera’s future plans.
“If there’s something you want to do, and if it’s clear, then this appa will naturally support you.”
You should live doing what you want.
This was what Min Seung-yeon had told Kang Dae-oh when she said she wanted to open her own cafe.
Her words changed Kang Dae-oh’s life.
Although he didn’t earn a lot of money, Kang Dae-oh was still much happier than when he worked at a company.
For this reason, Kang Dae-oh wanted to pass on his mother’s philosophy to his daughters as well.
Kang Yera curled the corners of her lips cutely.
“As expected. Appa is still the same. Even before I came back to the past, when I said I wanted to be a singer, you said the exact same thing, without a single word changed.”
“Of course I’d be the same. Because I’m your appa.”
It’s not like I’ve changed as a person.
I am now, and I will be in the future.
I will live as Kang Yera’s appa for my entire life.
Kang Yera nodded her small head.
“This time, I’ll definitely succeed and let you live in luxury.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
How exactly their eldest daughter would draw out her new future.
Kang Dae-oh was already curious about that day.
On the way to Yeongjongdo with his family.
Perhaps because it was almost aligned with the direction to Incheon Airport, Kang Dae-oh felt as if he was going on an international trip, not a domestic one.
Min Seung-yeon seemed to feel something similar, as she unintentionally let slip these words.
“It feels like it’s been quite a while since I’ve been abroad……”
“Didn’t we go there last about three years ago? When you and I got married and went to Europe for our honeymoon. I remember that was the last time.”
Min Seung-yeon replied that Kang Dae-oh’s memory was correct.
Then, she looked at Kang Yera, who was quietly sitting in her baby seat, nodding off, and said.
“When Yera grows up, let’s go on an international trip, all three of us.”
“I guess I’ll have to work hard and save money until then.”
“Keep it up, Yera appa.”
Kang Dae-oh, who was now more accustomed to being called ‘someone’s appa’ rather than by his name, replied “Okay” and slowly turned the steering wheel.
The weather was hot.
And the sunlight was so intense that it was scorching, so they decided to minimize going outside and rest only within the resort hotel that Kang Yera had booked for them for two nights and three days.
In other words, it was a ‘hocance’ (hotel vacation).
“They say there’s an aquarium and a movie theater inside the resort?”
“A movie theater? That’s nice!”
“It seems like almost all the facilities you can enjoy are available inside. Oh my, they even have a water park. I didn’t know there was such a resort hotel in Yeongjongdo. How amazing.”
The price was high accordingly, but thanks to the discounted price applied due to an opening event, they were able to fully enjoy their hocance without spending too much money.
This was all thanks to Kang Yera.
“Isn’t Yera really amazing? How does she know all this resort information?”
Although Min Seung-yeon was Kang Yera’s mother, she still found Kang Yera very mysterious.
On the other hand, Kang Dae-oh, knowing his daughter’s circumstances, wasn’t as surprised.
“It must be because our Yera is so smart.”
“Who does she take after to be so smart?”
“Well—.”
Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon opened their mouths at the same time.
“Wouldn’t it be me?”
“She must take after me, right?”
“……”
“……”
They hadn’t agreed on it beforehand.
Coincidentally, their answers overlapped.
Meanwhile.
Kang Yera, who had woken up after a deep sleep, asked with a bewildered expression.
“Mom, Appa. The atmosphere is strange.”
Their eldest daughter was not only exceptionally intelligent but also very quick-witted.
Although there was a slight ‘trouble’ (?) in the middle, they were able to arrive at their destination safely.
After checking in, an employee guided them as if they had been waiting.
“Please come this way.”
Guided by the employee, they arrived at the room where they would be staying for two nights and three days.
As soon as the door opened, Min Seung-yeon was captivated by the ocean view that first came into sight.
“Oh my goodness, oh my! It’s so beautiful!”
A room with an ocean view!
Kang Dae-oh, like his wife, hastily searched for his smartphone to capture this scenery in a photo.
Unlike her surprised mom and appa.
Kang Yera showed an indifferent reaction.
While Min Seung-yeon was busy taking pictures of the room’s interior, Kang Dae-oh lowered his voice and quietly asked.
“Looks like my daughter isn’t surprised?”
“I’ve been here a few times before.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. Whenever things didn’t go well, I used to come and stay here for a while.”
“So that’s why you recommended we come here?”
“Fifty-fifty.”
Whatever the reason, Kang Dae-oh didn’t particularly care.
Because thanks to Kang Yera, they got to stay in such a nice place.
It was a profit in the end.
Min Seung-yeon, who had gone out to the balcony and then returned to the room, urged Kang Dae-oh with an excited expression like a child.
“Honey! Let’s quickly unpack our bags and look around nearby.”
“Shall we?”
Looking at the excited Min Seung-yeon, Kang Dae-oh was momentarily confused about who was more childlike, his wife or Kang Yera.
As the word ‘resort’ implied, there were quite a lot of things to see and enjoy inside.
Among them, the most eye-catching place was, of course, the swimming pool.
Kang Dae-oh, who had changed into his swimsuit first, picked up Kang Yera and asked.
“You don’t dislike going into the water, do you?”
“No. Before, when I filmed an MV, I did underwater shooting. I’ve been in the water for hours at a time back then, so this much is nothing.”
“Ah…… I see, really?”
It wasn’t a response a two-year-old baby would give.
But there was nothing he could do. Even though she looked like this, inside she was an adult.
While Kang Dae-oh was playing with his daughter, Min Seung-yeon, who had changed into her swimsuit, approached them a step late.
“Sorry, honey. I’m late, aren’t I?”
Kang Dae-oh tilted his head, looking at Min Seung-yeon’s swimsuit.
“Honey, you used to wear bikinis often. Didn’t you bring one today?”
Min Seung-yeon looked down at her one-piece swimsuit and gave a wry smile.
“What’s a mom doing in a bikini? I’m older now, I can’t wear things like that anymore. It’s embarrassing too.”
“Even if you say you’re older, you’re still in your 20s.”
“Still.”
The titles of ‘married woman’ and ‘child’s mother’ made Min Seung-yeon even more reserved.
However, in Kang Dae-oh’s eyes, he thought Min Seung-yeon had no reason to act that way at all.
Because she was still as beautiful as she was when she was single.
To the point where she didn’t look like a mother at all.
Even though she wasn’t particularly the type to care about self-management, her beauty still shone.
The beauty genes her mother possessed would soon be passed down intact to Kang Yera and the two daughters who would be born later.
Thanks to that, Kang Yera was also able to debut as an idol.
Kang Yera shook her head and said to her mom.
“Mom, you’re very pretty. So don’t say things like that.”
At her daughter’s admirable words, Min Seung-yeon smiled sweetly.
“Thank you, Yera. Now, tell Appa to rest a bit. Shall we play together, Mom and you?”
“Yes—!”
Meanwhile, Kang Dae-oh searched for his smartphone to capture the sight of his wife and daughter playing in photos.
‘They say all that remains are photos.’
Click, click!
The sight of his wife and daughter playing in the pool was like a priceless painting to Kang Dae-oh, too valuable to be measured by money.
Watching the mother and daughter splashing water so diligently, Kang Dae-oh suddenly had a thought.
‘I need to somehow have a second child on this trip.’
Kang Yera had once told her appa this.
That the moment their second child was conceived was exactly today, when they went on the family trip.
‘By the way, Yera must have been there, yet they still had marital relations.’
Kang Dae-oh was speechless at his other self in a separate timeline.
Well, still. They’re a married couple.
It wasn’t like they did anything ‘bad’ (?) as a family. It was a natural act for a married couple, so it was ambiguous to point out that it was wrong.
As he thought about a second child, Kang Dae-oh suddenly became curious about one fact.
‘But Yera would want us to have younger siblings, wouldn’t she?’
Because they would be younger siblings.
He thought she probably would.
But he didn’t remember ever asking Kang Yera, ‘Don’t you want a younger sibling?’
‘I haven’t even heard what Yera’s relationship with her younger siblings was like in the future.’
Just like he heard about her dream for the first time today.
He decided to make time later and ask about her relationship with her younger siblings as well.
