Somin pressed play on the radio and sunk into the bathtub as the soft ballad music began to play. She soaked into the warm water and played with the bubbles around her four month pregnant belly. She had gotten bigger and much more noticeable. Somin kept coped up in the house watching dramas, reading books, and most of all eating. This afternoon, Somin had decided to take a nice and soothing bubble bath. Her back and feet were killing her.

 

It has been two months since Hyunjoong and Somin started living together. He wasn’t home much because he still had to work at the hotel but Somin had gotten used to his presence. She had become pretty good at housework as well. Cleaning and cooking for herself had gotten easier without the maids back at home. Somin was also able to work a little here and there in her office thinking up of new ideas for her father’s phone company. She liked the peacefulness she had to herself. Being pregnant made her…happy.

 

Suddenly, she heard the master bedroom open.

 

“Somin, are you in there?”

 

“I’m taking a bath!” She called out. “I’ll be done in a minute.”

 

“Okay! I’ll see you downstairs.”

 

She waited until she heard his footsteps trudge down the stairs before sinking into the warm water more. She closed her eyes and recalled the time he had gotten drunk and they had slept on the same bed together. The next morning, not only did Somin feel awkward but it felt right. They had both played it off cool and Hyunjoong went off to work. They didn’t speak of it since but Somin could tell he was treating her better.

 

She rinsed off the bubbles, climbed out of the tub and put on her pink bathrobe. She got changed into a light and most importantly stretchy gray knit dress. She put on white socks and headed downstairs. It was around lunch time and Somin found Hyunjoong making himself a quick sandwich in the kitchen.

 

“What are you doing home early?” She asked as she sat on the kitchen stool.

 

“I wanted to come home and get lunch. All the takeout my secretary keeps giving me makes me feel fat.”

 

Somin laughed. “Why didn’t you ask me to make lunch for you?”

 

He shrugged as he sat on the stool next to her and took a bite off his sandwich. “I just didn’t want too.”

 

Somin smiled. “What a liar, you just didn’t want me to do work.”

 

“You’re right, just sit your lazy around the house and do nothing.”

 

Somin pointed at her round belly. “And whose fault is that?”

 

Hyunjoong laughed as he took another bite of his sandwich. “Ours.”

 

Somin glared at him. She snatched the other half of his sandwich from his plate and began eating it. “Yah, I want to go somewhere today. How long is your lunch break?”

 

“Why you want to go together?”

 

“No,” said Somin sarcastically. “I just want you to take me there because I obviously can’t just take the bus myself.”

 

Hyunjoong chuckled. “Fine, fine. Where too?”

 

Somin set the remainder of the sandwich back down on his plate. “I’ll tell you when we get in the car.”

 

...........................................

 

“A bookstore?!”

 

Somin smiled as she unbuckled her seatbelt. “A very large bookstore attached to a very large mall.”

 

They got out of the car and began making their way inside. Somin felt excited. It’s been a while since Somin had been to a bookstore. She had been cooped up inside for so long that the mall buzz gave her tingles. She heard Hyunjoong laugh behind her.

 

“Are you that excited? You’re practically skipping to the door.”

 

Somin opened the door to the bookstore and stepped inside. She was instantly hit with the smell of new books. Somin immediately headed towards the Baby and Pregnancy section. She began to browse through books.

 

She turned to Hyunjoong and held her arms up. “Hold your arms like this.”

 

As Hyunjoong did what he was told, Somin stacked on three books.

 

“Relax Your Pregnant, 1001 Baby Names,Happy Mommy Happy Daddy? What the hell do you need these for?!”

 

“What?!” said Somin with an innocent look on her face.  “I need some good books to read. I stay home all day you know.”

 

“Then why don’t you go out? It’s not like I lock you in before I leave to work.”

 

“I know that but our moms advised me to stay inside for a while until we get engaged and Dr. Moon said not to go out alone for a long period of time. You never know what will happen to me, I could faint or get hurt. Yoomi has a job too and I just can’t ask her to go out with me all the time.”

 

“Okay, okay.” Said Hyunjoong giving in. “Use me all you want.”

 

Somin laughed as she put another book on the stack of his arms. After Somin finished looking through the Pregnancy and Baby section she moved on to the business and then to the CD section. Without her knowing it an hour had already flown by.

 

“I love ballad singers,” said Somin as she placed CDs on the stack. “Do you want to buy some too?”

 

Suddenly Somin felt Hyunjoong grab for her arm. He began tugging her towards the cashier.

 

“Wait, I’m not done!”

 

He ignored her as he quickly paid for the books and CD’s. After he took hold of Somin’s arm again, he led her out of the bookstore and into the mall.

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

Hyunjoong rocked back and forth on the heel of his foot as he watched Somin browse through the countless CD’s. His gaze shifted to a large poster that hung outside the bookstore. It was an ad for the malls indoor ice skating rink. On May 14 they were having a couples special. Hyunjoong scrambled for his cell phone and looked for the date.

 

The cell phone calendar read May 14. It was today. He looked over at Somin. Although it was May, it would be nice to go ice skating in this heat. But it was a couples thing…they weren’t really official.

 

‘To heck with it,’ Hyunjoong thought as he grabbed for Somin’s arm. He ignored her protests as he paid for all her items and headed out the door.

 

A couple minutes later, Hyunjoong was kneeling on the floor helping Somin put on her skates.

 

“Hyunjoong I don’t know how to skate! Are you sure this is safe?”

 

“You’ll be perfectly fine,” said Hyunjoong as he double knotted her lace. “Besides, it’ll be fun.”

 

He stood up and helped Somin up from the bench. He could see the worry in her eyes.

 

“Are you sure this is safe?” She asked once again.

 

Hyunjoong nodded as he slowly pulled her towards the rink. “The employee said its safe.” He entered the rink, turned and urged Somin to follow him.

 

She stood frozen in her place. “Hyunjoong I’m scared.”

 

Hyunjoong held out his hand and smiled reassuringly at her. “Come on, I won’t let you fall.”

 

“Promise?” Somin asked as she slowly reached for his hand.

 

Once their hands interlocked, Hyunjoong squeezed her hand firmly. “I promise.”

 

Somin smiled with relief. Hyunjoong could see her begin to trust him as she stepped on into the ice.

 

It was a bumpy start at first but soon enough Somin had gotten the hang of it. They slowly circled the rink with other couples. Hyunjoong looked down at their firmly held hands. Their fingers were not naturally interlaced.

 

Flushed from the cold and excitement Somin tugged on Hyunjoong to hurry along. “Come on slow poke!”

 

They circled the rink around for what seemed to be like the millionth time. Hyunjoong would twirl her and . As they skated by he could see some older couples smiling at them. One couple had even congratulated them on having a child on the way. Somin and Hyunjoong would only look at each other and laugh. After a while more, the two of them decided to take a rest in a booth.

 

Somin sat first, leaning against the wall and placing her hand on top of her belly. Hyunjoong sat beside her.

 

“Oh, I’m so tired.” said Somin as she looked at Hyunjoong. “It’s so hot.”

 

Hyunjoong reached over and with the back of his hand began wiping away the sweat on Somin’s forehead. Somin had closed her eyes as he did so.

 

Hyunjoong let his hand linger against her cheek. He began to lean towards her and just as soon as his lips were about to touch hers, a voice called out.

 

“Oh! How cute!”

 

Somin opened her eyes and looked towards the direction of the voice. An employee with a camera had called out to them.

 

“Can I take your picture?”

 

Somin turned to Hyunjoong who nodded at her.

 

“Okay, get close please!”

 

Hyunjoong put his arm around Somin and smiled to the camera.

 

“1, 2, 3, say kimchi!”

 

“Kimchi!”

 

“Okay great, we'll send you the picture by mail.” Hyunjoong gave the employee their address.

 

“Thank you!” said Somin as the employee left. She turned back to Hyunjoong. “Are you cold?”

 

“A little bit,” He said.

 

“Do you want to get some hot chocolate? I saw before that this rink has its own café. My treat, since you bought all my books and CD’s.”

 

Hyunjoong nodded. “That would be great.”

 

Somin held her arms up for Hyunjoong to help her up. “Help me, this pregnant lady can’t get up on her own with these skates on!”

 

They both burst out laughing as they made their way to the café. Hyunjoong helped Somin take off her skates. He took off his own before they entered. Somin instructed Hyunjoong to find a seat for she would order the drinks. Hyunjoong choose a seat by the window so that they could see all the ice skaters skate by. A couple minutes Somin came back with two steaming hot mugs of hot chocolate.

 

Hyunjoong thanked her and carefully took a sip.

 

“Thank you for bringing me here,” Somin said as she too took a sip. “I haven’t had fun like this in a very long time.”

 

“Even before you got pregnant?”

 

Somin nodded. “It was always work this work that. I worked all the time so that I could get to the position I was in before I was pregnant.” She chuckled. “My dad made sure I worked hard and played my cards right. I never ice skated before even when I was a kid.”

 

“Not even at a kid’s birthday party or something like that?”

 

Somin scoffed. “What friends? I was the richest kid at the elementary school. No one wanted to play with me or go near me. Until Yoomi came along in high school. I had no one. My parents were both too busy with their own lives that I was always forgotten and left to play alone.” She looked out the café window. “These childish things, I never got to do.”

 

“Like what?” asked Hyunjoong.

 

He watched her close her eyes as she thought for a moment.

 

“Like…running around the park blowing bubbles, going to amusement parks, building a tree house, taking care of pets, and the one that I really want to do is to build a sandcastle at the beach.”

 

Hyunjoong grimaced. “All the things that I don’t ever want to relive again.”

 

“Why not?!” exclaimed Somin. “It looks like fun in the movies.”

 

“Yeah, in the movies,” said Hyunjoong making sure movies was accentuated. “Movies make everything look like fun and fabulous.”

 

Somin shrugged. “It’s just something fun I want to do one day.”

 

Hyunjoong smiled seeing that he had annoyed her a little bit. He reached over and pinched the apple of her cheek. “We’ll do it together one day.”

 

Somin smiled. “You know, you’re a very different person from when we first met.”

 

“Before or after I was drunk?”

 

“Both,” said Somin with a laugh. “What is it Kim Hyunjoong? Have I melted your heart?”

 

Had she melted his heart? He didn’t know. One thing for sure, these days Hyunjoong had been looking at Somin differently. Maerin barely crossed his mind anymore. And her texts had dwindled down to the occasional one or two. But for Somin, he always wanted to take care of her and protect her. It was getting to be more than just the protection of the baby in his mind. Somin was on his mind constantly.

 

He didn’t answer her question but laughed to himself. Just months ago, Hyunjoong would have never been with a girl like Somin. Conservative and strong, it wasn’t Hyunjoong’s type.

 

Switch~...//...//...

 

“You have no answer for me?” asked Somin with a teasing smile.

 

He shook his head. “No, I don’t.”

 

“Ah, I see.” Somin leaned against the back of the chair. “I did melt that ice cold heart of yours.” Somin could feel her smile grow wider. It was funny.

 

“Come on Somin, is it necessary for you to ask these questions?”

 

“Yes!”

 

“How about we get out of here and shop a little so that I don’t have to answer all your questions?”

 

Somin’s attention span quickly diverted to the thought of shopping. “Hm, that does sound like a good idea…I have too much closet space.”

 

“What are you talking about?! The closet is as big as two living rooms. Not just one but two! And your clothes fill up the entire space!”

 

Somin put up his hand to silence him. “Whoa there Kim Hyunjoong, you’re a tad bit over exaggerating the clothes I have.”

 

Hyunjoong snorted. “No I’m not. It’s a miracle that my clothes even fit in there.”

 

Somin rolled her eyes. “Are we going or not?”

 

Hyunjoong shrugged as he got up and began walking out of the café.

 

“You’re really trying to annoy me!” yelled Somin. She quickly paid the tip and hurriedly caught up to him.

 

As they exited the rink, they entered into the mall. They walked together through the mall. Somin glanced here and there and looked for a shop she wanted to visit. Her eyes landed on a cute and large baby store. She pointed at it.

 

“Let’s go in there.”

 

Somin quickly shuffled her pregnant body to the store and was immediately googley eyed over all the cute baby items.

 

“I like this one.”

 

Somin turned around and found Hyunjoong holding up a tiny baby blue t-shirt that read ‘I love Appa,’. Somin looked down and grabbed a baby pink t-shirt that read ‘I Love Umma’. She held it up. “Well I like this one.”

 

“Well those t-shirts come in family packs.”

 

They both turned and found a salesperson smiling at them. She walked over and held up a larger version of the shirts they were holding.

 

“The baby blue is for the mom and the pink is for the dad.”

 

Hyunjoong quickly put down the shirt. “Actually never mind we’ll—“

 

“I’ll take the whole set!” interrupted Somin.

 

The saleswoman smiled. “Of course, you can take a basket if you’d like.”

 

“Thank you,” said Somin as she picked one up.

 

Hyunjoong hovered over Somin as she picked up a few toys.

 

“Yah, what are you doing? What makes you think I’ll really wear that?”

 

Somin only shrugged. “I mean you don’t have to but it would be nice if you did when the baby comes along.” Somin picked up a baby mobile. There were small stars and a moon that hung on it. “Do you like this one?”

 

“Somin we don’t even know the of the baby yet, why are we buying these things.”

 

“This mobile is uni. We can buy uni things.” Somin quickly ran over to a baby crib. “I like this one!”

 

“I think we should wait to decorate the baby’s room until we know the .”

 

“Hyunjoong, it doesn’t matter. I want to do it now.” Somin put her hand on the crib feeling the quality of it. “Excuse me miss, I’d like to buy this one!”

 

She heard Hyunjoong sigh behind her. “Fine, fine do what you want.”

 

Somin grinned from ear to ear at him. “Help me pick out the wallpaper.” Somin made sure Hyunjoong trailed behind her as she commented on every wallpaper she could find.

 

...........................................

 

As they arrived home, Somin carefully got out of the car and made her way to the trunk to help Hyunjoong to get all of the baby stuff bought at the mall. 

 

“Just carry the books, I’ll carry the rest,” said Hyunjoong handing Somin the bag of books.  

 

“Are you sure?” asked Somin as she took the bag from him. “I can help you carry the crib.”

 

“It’s only a box Somin, we’ll assemble this tomorrow,” He took out the large box and placed it on the ground. “Come on go inside, I’ll follow you.”

 

Somin did as she was told. She opened the door. Hyunjoong quickly placed the box of crib parts in the living. Somin walked towards the kitchen.

 

“Want me to make you something to eat before you go?”

 

Hyunjoong shook his head. “It’s okay, I’ll grab something to eat later.”

 

Somin grabbed his suit jacket off from the kitchen stool and handed it to him. “What time will you be home?”

 

He smiled softly at her as he put on his suit jacket. “Don’t stay up too late watching dramas.”

 

Somin scowled. “I won’t.”

 

Hyunjoong began walking towards the front door. Somin trailed behind him.

 

“Don’t sleep on the couch okay? I found you like that last night and you know that’s where I sleep.”

 

“Hey! That’s why I need a T.V. in my bedroom.”

 

“Keep it up and I’ll make the couch your new bed.” Hyunjoong gave her a smirk and opened the door to leave.

 

“Thank you!” She called out. “For today…”

 

She heard Hyunjoong chuckle before stepping out the door to go off to work.

 

Somin began organizing her new books and CD’s into the bookshelf in the living room. Once she finished she roamed around the house in boredom. She went into her office and stared outside the large window.

 

It was a nice sunny day. Somin decided to step out and go to the park across the street. She grabbed a light knit sweater, locked the door and made her way to the park.

 

There weren’t that many people at the park. Somin took a little stroll through and found a park bench to sit on. It overlooked the rest of the park.

 

“How far are you along?”

 

Somin turned to see who had spoken to her. On the farther side of the bench was a woman who seemed to be her age.

 

“I’m four months along now.”

 

The woman smiled. “May I?”

 

Somin nodded. “Sure,”

 

The woman slid closer to Somin and carefully placed her hand on Somin’s belly.

 

“Wow,” She said. “It’s so different.”

 

Somin chuckled. “It takes some getting used to.”

 

“Must be exciting.”

 

Somin nodded. “Do you live around here?” asked Somin. “Are you a neighbor?”

 

She shook her head. “I’m waiting for someone who lives around here. He’s my ex.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah, well he broke up with me a while ago and we had this fight… and I feel bad about it. It’s been months and I was hoping we could maybe get back together. I really miss him.”

 

Somin nodded, sympathizing with her. Somin looked at her closely. Why did she seem so familiar?

 

“Somin!”

 

Somin turned and found Hyunjoong running towards her. She got up from the bench. “What is it? Why are you here?”

 

“I left my briefcase in the bedroom and when I came back you were gone! How could you not even leave a note or anything?”

 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d be home anytime soon. Are you going to go back?”

 

“Yeah, after I bring you home.”

 

Somin smiled as she put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m fine, I’m here with—“

 

“Maerin,” Hyunjoong said interrupting her.

 

“Maerin?” said Somin. She’s definitely heard that name before.

 

Then it hit her. She was the woman that Hyunjoong talked to at her cell phone launch party. Maerin was also the name Hyunjoong’s friends had said to her the night he had gotten drunk. This was her.

 

“Hello Hyunjoong,” Maerin turned to Somin. “And you must be Somin.” She held her hand out to her.

 

Somin hesitantly shook it.

 

“I’m Park Maerin, Hyunjoong’s ex-girlfriend.”

 

“Maerin!”

 

Somin stared at Hyunjoong. His face had turned hard as ice. But his eyes…his eyes were soft as he looked at Maerin.

 

“How’d you do it Somin? How’d you make Hyunjoong have with you? Did you seduce him? Is that how you got pregnant?”

 

Somin was speechless. Her attitude had taken a whole 360 degree turn.”

 

“Maerin what are you doing here?”

 

Maerin turned to Hyunjoong, her eyes wide and upset. “I was going to go to your house but I guess you’re busy.” She then stared straight at Somin.  

 

“Let’s go Somin,” Hyunjoong took her hand and began leading Somin back.

 

Somin took a glance behind her for Maerin. She only stared back at the two of them, her hands balled up into a fist. She felt Hyunjoong’s grip tighten on her hand. He brought inside the house.

 

“Are you going back?” Somin asked him.

 

Hyunjoong shook his head no. “Can I use your office for today?”

 

“Sure…” Somin watch him take his briefcase and close the door behind him once he entered her office.

 

Park Maerin. Somehow, Somin wanted to get to know her. She wanted to know what happened to them and if it was because of her. Somin needed to know and if secretly meeting her behind Hyunjoong’s back was the only way then it had to be done.

 

“Somin?” Hyunjoong popped his head out of the office’s doorway.

 

She looked at him.

 

“Come in and read a book or something. Keep me company.” He opened the door wider for her.

 

Somin rolled her eyes, grabbed a book off the shelf and entered the office. She settled onto the couch and began to read ‘Happy Mommy, Happy Daddy’.