Episode 8. Battle of Nerves (1)
Kang Dae-oh, who spent time with Min Seung-yeon at the postpartum care center, definitely felt it.
Perhaps because of their experience with their first child, caring for their second didn’t feel as difficult.
At first, everything was new – how to bathe a newborn, how to change diapers, etc. Even after hearing explanations, their minds would go blank, unsure of what to do.
Now, they could skillfully manage everything on their own, without needing explanations from the director of the postpartum care center.
Perhaps thanks to her parents’ steady hands, Kang Yebin never cried once during the mother-baby rooming-in time.
Just like Kang Yera.
When only one day was left until their discharge from the postpartum care center.
Min Seung-yeon spoke to her deeply sleeping second daughter.
“Baby. Tomorrow, you’re going home with Mom and Dad. Okay?”
Perhaps because she was deeply asleep, Kang Yebin showed no reaction despite her mother’s words.
She was simply focused on sleeping.
She’s a newborn. Only the pattern of eating, sleeping, and pooping would repeat.
Min Seung-yeon turned her head towards her husband, who was watching TV, and asked.
“What do you think Yera will say when she sees her sister in person?”
She had visited with her grandfather and grandmother when Min Seung-yeon was hospitalized.
But at that time, she had only seen her through a glass wall. She hadn’t been able to touch her sister directly.
But starting tomorrow, without the obstacle of a glass wall, they would all live together, interacting with her sister.
As the environment changed from three people to four, Min Seung-yeon worried whether their eldest daughter would truly be able to accept this change.
“I checked out a mom’s cafe, and they said there are quite a few cases where the first child gets jealous of the second. Some families even have a complete uproar, with the child crying and screaming, saying Mom and Dad only care about the second one. Surely Yera won’t be like that, right?”
Unlike the worried Min Seung-yeon, Kang Dae-oh’s reaction was lukewarm.
“That won’t happen, so it’s fine.”
“Honey. Aren’t you too carefree? What’s wrong with worrying a bit more with me?”
“It’s because there’s no need to worry.”
“Why?”
“Well……”
Because Kang Yera is a 29-year-old lady.
She’s already past the age to be jealous or anything over her younger sister.
Thanks to her having matured mentally, the worst-case scenario Min Seung-yeon was worried about would definitely not happen.
Rather.
“It might be different if Yebin were jealous of Yera…… No, maybe that wouldn’t be the case either.”
If Kang Yebin was also a regressor like Kang Yera, then this wouldn’t apply either.
Min Seung-yeon tilted her head, seemingly unable to understand Kang Dae-oh’s way of speaking.
“What are you talking about since earlier?”
“Indeed.”
Kang Dae-oh also had no idea what he was talking about.
Still, she didn’t seem to react sensitively to Choi Seon-ah’s songs or popular music, unlike Kang Yera.
‘Perhaps she’s not a regressor…?’
The moment that thought crossed his mind.
“Oh my. Yebin. When did you wake up?”
Had Mom and Dad’s conversation disturbed her sleep?
Kang Yebin wriggled her small body diligently.
Perhaps to escape from the swaddle that tightly bound her to prevent the Moro reflex, she moved her arms with all her might.
As if her efforts had finally paid off, one small arm suddenly popped out of the swaddle.
But this moment of freedom didn’t last long.
“No, baby.”
Min Seung-yeon briefly placed the baby on her own bed to unwrap the swaddle and re-wrap her properly.
At first, Kang Yebin struggled, saying ‘No, no!’
At some point, the baby’s body stopped moving.
“Why is she suddenly like this?”
Kang Yebin’s gaze was fixed on the TV that Kang Dae-oh had turned on.
A popular drama was being aired on TV.
“Honey. Yebin seems to be watching TV.”
“Really? She shouldn’t be able to distinguish objects properly yet. Is it because of the sound?”
Kang Dae-oh deliberately turned off the TV, thinking it might disturb his wife.
And then.
Waaah-waaah-waaah-!!!
“……!”
“You startled me!”
The couple stared at Kang Yebin, their eyes wide.
This was because they never expected the baby, who hadn’t cried once until now, to wail so hysterically just because the TV was turned off.
A flustered Min Seung-yeon pointed the remote control at Kang Dae-oh.
“H-Honey. Turn the TV back on.”
“Alright.”
Beep.
When he pressed the power button, a scene from the drama played, just like before.
Then Kang Yebin’s crying stopped abruptly.
More than just stopping.
Giggle. She even smiled.
“Oh my. Look at her? Yebin, you don’t even know what a drama is, but you like it that much?”
Min Seung-yeon started re-adjusting the swaddle, letting out a bewildered laugh.
On the other hand, Kang Dae-oh fell into deep thought due to the reaction his second daughter had just shown.
His eldest daughter had shown deep interest in songs, and the reason given was that she had been an idol singer.
If that’s the case.
‘Could it be that the second one is……’
Kang Dae-oh’s doubts and worries, which he couldn’t bring himself to tell his wife, deepened with each passing day.
After being discharged from the postpartum care center, Kang Dae-oh carefully laid Kang Yebin in the newborn car seat basket he had prepared in advance.
“Thank you for everything, Director.”
“Thank you for the gift too. I’ll use it well.”
The director smiled at the couple and said.
“If you have a third child later, please visit us again!”
At the mention of a third child, Min Seung-yeon made a complicated expression.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll have a third.”
“Oh my, why not?”
“I think two is enough.”
However, Kang Dae-oh knew.
The fact that they would visit this place again.
The director laughed heartily upon hearing Min Seung-yeon’s weak protest.
“It’s difficult right now, so you might think that way, but many people say that once you see your children growing up, you start thinking about a third. I have three myself.”
“Oh my. I didn’t know! What are their genders? Surely they’re not all daughters like ours?”
“They’re all sons, three of them.”
“……That must be very difficult.”
Just hearing it made her feel her energy draining away already.
“Still, it’s better to be lively than to have no energy. Please drive safely, and if you have any questions, feel free to contact us anytime.”
“Yes. You too, Director, take care!”
After a short farewell, Kang Dae-oh drove his wife and daughter home.
Having spent over two weeks alternating between the hospital and the postpartum care center, returning home felt both unfamiliar and longed-for.
“Honey. Go inside first with Yebin. I’ll stop by my parents’ house and pick up Yera.”
“Alright.”
After dropping off his wife and young second daughter at home first, Kang Dae-oh drove his car again towards his parents’ house.
After driving for about 30 minutes.
Kang Dae-oh was able to meet his eldest daughter again.
“Yera, Dad’s here!”
Kang Dae-oh’s father called out to his granddaughter, who had finished getting ready to go home.
Kang Dae-oh lifted his eldest daughter, whom he hadn’t seen in a while, into his arms.
“While Mom and Dad were away, you listened well to Grandpa and Grandma, right?”
“Yes!”
From behind, Kang Dae-oh’s father nodded and said in a tone that implied it went without saying.
“Other kids supposedly make a fuss, saying they miss Mom and Dad. But our Yera, she’s so well-behaved. Your mom and I, we were so surprised inside. We thought, ‘Our granddaughter is so admirable.’”
Kang Yera could be called the ultimate epitome of admirable behavior.
To someone who knew her true identity, these words were utterly natural, but Kang Dae-oh’s father, who couldn’t possibly know, looked at his granddaughter with a gaze that said he was dying of wonder.
“Come visit Grandpa and Grandma again later. Okay?”
“Yes! I’ll definitely come!”
“Oh, you cute thing!”
Kang Dae-oh’s father, who gently touched Kang Yera’s peach-like, ripe cheeks, tried hard to hide his regret at parting with his granddaughter.
Kang Yera, who had gotten into her father’s car, looked at another baby seat next to her own seat.
“Is Yebin at home with Mom?”
Perhaps because she no longer had to mind her grandfather and grandmother.
Kang Yera’s tone changed to sound like an adult in her twenties, not a two-year-old.
“Yeah. I dropped her off at home before coming to pick you up.”
“That’s good. I should start right away as soon as we get home.”
“Start what?”
“The assistant strategy I mentioned last time.”
“Didn’t Dad say that would probably fail?”
Nevertheless, Kang Yera shook her head, reacting as if that couldn’t possibly be true.
“Dad, do you really believe regression exists? Such an unscientific thing couldn’t possibly happen to Yebin.”
“Anyone else, maybe, but you shouldn’t be saying something like that.”
That was not something the main character of that unscientific event should be saying.
Kang Dae-oh already had something he wanted to ask Kang Yera.
“What did your sister do in the future?”
“Yebin?”
“Yeah.”
Kang Dae-oh had a rough idea of what he expected.
Whether this prediction would turn out to be true or not.
He wanted to ask Kang Yera, the ‘grader’.
“She was an actress.”
“……I knew it.”
Kang Dae-oh’s prediction hit the mark exactly.
“Unlike me, she was a somewhat well-known actress, so it was really annoying.”
“Really? Your sister’s a famous actress. Is there a reason to be annoyed? If it were me, I’d probably puff out my chest and say, ‘My sister’s this amazing.’”
“That’s because Dad doesn’t know Yebin’s personality yet. Do you know how much she lectured me about her success in the entertainment industry? ‘Unnie, you won’t get out of obscurity if you do it like that. You need to do all kinds of stages to gain experience,’ she’d say, spouting all sorts of nonsense… Oh, I’m sorry.”
This was the first time Kang Dae-oh had heard such harsh words come from Kang Yera’s mouth.
It meant her relationship with her sister was that bad.
“Anyway! This time, I’m going to change Yebin to my liking no matter what. So she can’t live without her unnie.”
“Still, it seems you do like your sister.”
“Well, she’s still pretty if she just keeps her mouth shut. Not as much as me, though.”
It seemed like a battle of nerves between the older sister and younger sister was already unfolding.
For a brief moment, Kang Dae-oh wondered if it would be okay to let Kang Yera confront Kang Yebin like this.
“Then what about the third child? Was her name Kang Ye-young?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Was your relationship with Ye-young bad too?”
Kang Yera shook her head.
“No. Ye-young always took on the role of mediator whenever Yebin and I bickered.”
“Oh, really? Even though she’s the youngest?”
“But everyone used to say the youngest among us was the most mature. Yebin and I would never admit it, though.”
Suddenly, Kang Dae-oh recalled the conversation he had with the director when leaving the postpartum care center.
“This, I guess I should do as the director said.”
“What? What did the director say to Mom and Dad?”
“Nothing.”
For the sake of family peace.
No, for the sake of peace between the sisters, Kang Dae-oh thought it would be best to persuade Min Seung-yeon to have a third child as soon as possible.
