Episode 13. You too, perhaps? (1)
Upon hearing the news of his wife’s third pregnancy, Kang Dae-oh received countless congratulatory messages from those around him.
The word he mainly heard through his acquaintances was, as expected, this:
“A patriot, a patriot! A third child in this day and age! I’m struggling just to have a second child. That’s amazing, Dae-oh.”
Oh Myung-woon, who visited the store, continuously gave thumbs-up, not holding back his praise for his friend’s arduous efforts (?).
“I didn’t know you had such good stamina. No, should I say virility?”
“Uh-huh. There are other customers here.”
Kang Dae-oh briefly warned Oh Myung-woon to watch his mouth.
Oh Myung-woon gave a bitter smile, apologizing.
“Anyway, congratulations. How many months along?”
“It’s only been one month.”
“It’ll be a while until the gender is known, right?”
“Uh. But, well……”
At Kang Dae-oh’s trailing words, Oh Myung-woon tilted his head as if he didn’t quite understand.
“Aren’t you curious? Whether it’s a daughter or a son. I thought you’d be hoping for a son this time since you’ve had two daughters already.”
Son or daughter. Kang Dae-oh didn’t particularly prefer one gender over the other.
As long as the baby was born healthy, it didn’t matter.
However, it wasn’t for this reason that he showed a lukewarm reaction when Oh Myung-woon brought up the gender.
There was another reason.
“I think I somehow already know.”
“Know what?”
“Whether it’s a son or a daughter.”
“……? How do you know that?”
“There’s just something about it.”
Kang Dae-oh had his own secret.
Instead.
There was a big drawback: he couldn’t tell anyone.
When two months had passed since the Kang Dae-oh and Min Seung-yeon couple started going to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic.
The obstetrician who had treated Min Seung-yeon during her pregnancies with Kang Yera and Kang Yebin smiled faintly and uttered a meaningful remark.
“You were very curious about the gender, weren’t you?”
Min Seung-yeon nodded vigorously and replied briefly, “Yes.”
Kang Dae-oh also answered in the affirmative.
However, it was an answer that, like with Oh Myung-woon, had a little less soul in it.
The obstetrician asked Kang Dae-oh.
“Oh my. Aren’t you curious, father?”
“No, I am curious. What did it turn out to be?”
Kang Dae-oh thought to himself.
With a very high probability……
“It’s a child who would look good in a princess dress.”
As expected.
Since he had already expected it, Kang Dae-oh didn’t show much surprise.
On the other hand, Min Seung-yeon looked dumbfounded at the news that their third child was also a daughter.
“That’s strange. Is there some kind of rule that families who have daughters only have daughters…?”
“There’s no such thing. It’s just luck. You must be happy, mother. You won’t have anything to be bored about later.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Min Seung-yeon also didn’t care much about the gender of their third child.
Instead, she was just a little amazed and surprised by the fact that she was pregnant with a daughter three times in a row.
“The approximate due date has also come out, and if you give birth as scheduled, it will be a tight two-year age gap with Yera.”
Kang Dae-oh already believed that would happen.
This was because he had already been spoiled with the information that all three sisters would have a two-year age difference.
“Since this is already your third time, I won’t go into specific details about what you need to be careful about. Instead, if you detect even the slightest unusual symptom in your body, please come to the hospital immediately. You know that our hospital offers night consultations and has an emergency room, right?”
“Yes, of course.”
It might be a bit strange to use such an expression, but they were already regulars at this obstetrics and gynecology clinic.
They even knew at what time they should come to park comfortably.
As Kang Dae-oh walked with Min Seung-yeon after leaving the examination room, he paused for a moment.
This was because he had been working at the cafe until late, then drove his wife to the obstetrics and gynecology clinic early in the morning, making him desperately crave coffee.
Min Seung-yeon knew exactly what Kang Dae-oh was thinking just by looking at his steps.
“You can drink it.”
“No, it’s okay. If I order coffee, you’ll want to drink it too.”
It’s generally better to refrain from coffee during pregnancy.
The same goes for pumping milk.
Knowing that Min Seung-yeon also liked coffee just as much as Kang Dae-oh, he couldn’t just make himself comfortable alone.
But Min Seung-yeon’s thoughts were different.
“It’s true that the pregnant person goes through a lot, but the guardian also goes through a lot. So, if there’s something you want to eat or drink, you don’t have to worry about me, just eat or drink to your heart’s content.”
“……Thank you, honey.”
The thought that marrying Min Seung-yeon was the right choice was once again reinforced today.
As much as Min Seung-yeon was considerate of him, Kang Dae-oh also resolved to take good care of his wife.
Of course.
The same applied to their first and second daughters, and the third child yet to be born.
Was it thanks to two previous pregnancies?
Min Seung-yeon felt that her pregnancy was much easier this time compared to her first pregnancy with Kang Yera.
Time passed.
Before they knew it, the due date for their third child was approaching.
As the due date approached, another concern grew for the couple.
It was about Kang Yera and Kang Yebin.
After much thought, Kang Dae-oh decided to rely on his mother and father for a while again this time.
Since the two daughters didn’t dislike their grandparents, entrusting the children to them for a while wasn’t a big burden.
However, he didn’t intend to ask them to look after the children for free.
“Father. Please take this.”
“What is this?”
His father, looking at the white envelope Kang Dae-oh handed him, asked with a puzzled expression.
“I made sure to put in as much as I could.”
Inside, 50,000 won bills were tightly packed.
Kang Dae-oh’s father said with wide eyes.
“Oh dear, why are you giving us something like this? Anyone would think we’re taking money from our son and daughter-in-law to look after the kids.”
“Please think of it as your daughter-in-law giving it, not me.”
“Still……”
“Seung-yeon said she doesn’t want to just leave the children with you empty-handed, mother and father. So please take it.”
“……Thank you, son.”
As one gets older, and as the ability to work and earn money decreases, the money given by children inevitably becomes a great source of strength.
Kang Dae-oh knew this well.
So, he tended to provide as generously as possible to his parents on such occasions.
“How is your daughter-in-law? How is her body?”
“Her body is fine. Yeyoung is also diligently kicking and punching in her belly. It seems she knows it’s almost time for her to come out into the world.”
“Now that you mention it, you said you’d name the third baby Kang Yeyoung, right?”
“Yes.”
“You decided quickly this time. Didn’t you agonize over Yera’s name for almost over three months?”
“It was like that back then. But for Yeyoung, there was a person… no, there were people who had already chosen her name.”
“Oh, really?”
Kang Yeyoung’s older sisters from the future were the ones.
Kang Dae-oh looked for the children playing with their grandmother in the living room.
“Daddy’s leaving. You have to listen to grandpa and grandma, okay?”
“Yes—!”
A formal question and a formal answer were exchanged.
Kang Dae-oh knew very well that Kang Yera and Kang Yebin would be more than fine even without him saying such things.
Because they were all adults (on the inside).
Perhaps because of this, Kang Dae-oh’s mother also didn’t feel much burden when her son came to leave his granddaughters with her.
“The children are all so quiet and good. They’re such little angels. How can they be so different from their dad?”
“Mom. Wasn’t I quiet when I was little too?”
“Quiet, my foot. As soon as I put you down, you’d cry endlessly, so this mom had to carry you all day. And your crying was so loud… the whole neighborhood would stir.”
At their dad’s unexpected revelation of his dark past, the two daughters giggled.
Kang Dae-oh cleared his throat loudly, his face flushed.
“Ah, anyway, I’ll get going! If anything happens, please contact me right away. Understood?”
“Yes, yes. I understand. Tell Seung-yeon to stay healthy and have a good delivery.”
“Yes, I’ll be sure to tell her.”
Before heading out of the house, Kang Dae-oh exchanged glances with his two daughters.
Kang Yera and Kang Yebin put strength into their eyes and nods, like those seeing off a general going to battle.
At his daughters’ unchildlike reaction, Kang Dae-oh swallowed a hollow laugh.
“Alright, then……”
Kang Dae-oh got into the car and gripped the steering wheel firmly.
“Shall we go welcome our third princess?”
The exhaust sound of the car he was driving sounded particularly energetic today.
Their surgery date was set for the second slot in the morning.
From the moment Min Seung-yeon entered the operating room, Kang Dae-oh found it difficult to stay seated.
This wasn’t his first child. Since it was the birth of his third, he thought he would be fine as he was already familiar with the process.
‘Waiting never gets easier.’
When he sent her into the operating room, it was just Min Seung-yeon.
But now, it wasn’t just one person waiting for Kang Dae-oh to return, but two.
As he was anxiously passing the time.
A nurse raised her voice.
“Is Min Seung-yeon, the expectant mother’s guardian, here?”
“Yes, yes! That’s me!”
Kang Dae-oh raised his hand high and practically ran towards where the nurse was.
The nurse smiled brightly and informed him about the birth result.
“Congratulations, it’s a beautiful princess.”
“Th-thank you. More importantly, are both the mother and the baby safe?”
“Yes, of course.”
Although Kang Yera and Kang Yebin had told Kang Dae-oh over the phone multiple times that everything would go smoothly without any issues.
Still, from a father’s and husband’s perspective, he couldn’t easily rest assured.
What if an unforeseen accident, unknown to the two children, were to occur?
Because of the worst possible variables, Kang Dae-oh couldn’t relax until he heard the results directly from the nurse.
This tension continued until he entered the entrance of the nursery to see the baby himself.
“Please come in, father.”
Kang Dae-oh swallowed dryly and stepped inside.
His third daughter, Kang Yeyoung, who had just come into the world, was clearly visible at a glance, her small body breathing in and out.
Although this was the third time he was witnessing this scene, Kang Dae-oh was still amazed and still deeply moved.
“Baby. Do you recognize daddy?”
Kang Dae-oh smiled faintly and looked down at Kang Yeyoung.
Perhaps because she was his youngest daughter, she felt even more delicate.
However, unlike the image Kang Dae-oh had in mind, Kang Yeyoung’s hand movements were full of strength.
“Oh my. Her hand came out again.”
“Again?”
“Yes. I had the swaddle securely fastened so she couldn’t move, but she keeps pulling her hand out. Usually, newborns can’t pull their hands out by themselves……”
That didn’t mean the nurse had swaddled the baby poorly.
It was because she looked like a veteran at a glance.
It wasn’t just her hand movements.
Her kicking was also incredible.
“Oh dear, oh dear. You should stay still, baby.”
It was as if she knew she was feeling confined.
The third child, like the first and second, gave her dad a distinct impression from their very first meeting.
Although it might be a bit rash to judge based on just small gestures.
“You too, perhaps……?”
“Huh?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just something I said.”
Was it because he had experienced the same thing twice?
It was enough to make him develop a suspicion he didn’t have before.
