29. Time

When was the last time he stayed the whole Saturday at home?

Oh, he asked that question already. He brushed his hands on his face. Why did he even go out a lot for a drink when he had a stock of wines, spirits, not to mention soju, in this place? He would go out with Jonghyun, other employees in the firm and some of his friends, but that doesn’t really happen all the time.

Most of those times, he spent drinking alone.

And he could actually do that right here.

Actually, he did that last night in the balcony outside the nursery while Euna slept and Seohyun read in bed before sleeping.

Last night wasn’t too bad at all.

Especially since he stopped making jokes about massages—

But that was just for last night, of course he’d joke about it again when the opportunity comes.

Yonghwa sat up with that stupid grin on his face, he felt like a ridiculous, hormonal teenager making lots and lots of jokes because he was frustrated— very much ually frustrated.

He kicked the sheets and hit the shower.

~~~

She gushed over her baby who was now stretching her little limbs and sporting this pink piggy baby suit she got from her ‘grandmother’ – Yonghwa’s mother. Putting the hoody over her head to complete the look, Seohyun laughed when Euna put three fingers in , raised a brow at her and groaned.

“What’s that? You’re too skinny to be a piggy? But you’re a cute little piggy! Appa will definitely say so too,” she smiled then mumbled the moment she remembered, “At least, it’ll keep his mind off giving your umma a massage…”

Euna grunted. Her baby was probably agreeing with her so she laughed out loud, “Oh, Euna…”

Seohyun smiled, rubbing her nose on her baby’s belly, loving her scent even more. This tiny, tiny person was the reason why she would wake up happy and somewhat fearless. Euna gave her every reason to look forward to mornings and new beginnings. Seohyun sighed as she dabbed her finger on the sides of her eyes. She was getting sappy feelings again but at least this post-birth side-effect was better than the physical ones she was having. Although the medicines and vitamins the doctor gave her helped a lot, she was still having some discomforts. And light exercises also helped, she was told.

With that thought in mind, her eyes darted to the door wondering if Yonghwa would show up this time. She straightened then picked her baby up when she started grumbling. Laying her on her shoulder, she muttered, “Did he forget us again?”

Seohyun shrugged, oh well, they could go by themselves just like yesterday.

When she was about to lose every hope of his second promise of farmer’s market, Yonghwa walked in the room looking ready to go. “You’re up so early,” he sat on the bed.

“Blame Euna,” she shrugged and smiled when he offered his hands to get the cranky baby, “Thank you, you’re a good man.”

“Look at you!” He laughed tapping the baby’s bottom, “You are so cute, Euna!”

“See, Euna? Appa likes your piggy costume…” Seohyun said as she tied her hair in a bun, then added, “She doesn’t like it. She thinks it’s silly.”

Yonghwa laughed. He found it funny every time she would talk about Euna that way, “She told you?”

“Yeah, we have this kind of mental telepathy thing going on,” she chuckled when he laughed out loud but she decided to tell him the truth with a shrug, “Sometimes, I get too crazy when it’s just the two of us, so I just have to pretend to have this adult conversation with her.”

He smiled, “Call me… we can have adult conversations, you know?” He winked, and stressed, “Adult talks.”

Seohyun took a loud exhaled, “Seriously. Anyway, I told her that she couldn’t escape wearing those since she basically has a box full of animal onesies— panda, tiger, duck, chick, and… sheep, I think. Basically like a baby animal transformer.”

“Your mother is making fun of you,” Yonghwa laughed again while the baby in his arms continued to grumble. When Seohyun only shrugged and turned away fixing the baby bag. His eyes fixed on her. She was sporting a loose fitting sweats and a white T-shirt. Yonghwa was seeing some signs of how her body would have been before getting pregnant and the thought of ways to help her get back to shape hovered in his brain. Euna jerked hard, she practically kneed his rib. Yonghwa kissed her head in silent apology for his corrupt thoughts to her umma. He sighed and muttered, “You ready to go?”

Sometime later, they were strolling along the maze of fresh vegetables and fruits stalls. There were also a lot of newly cooked street foods diffusing all over the open street. was already watering they haven’t even reached the end of the street. Yesterday, Seohyun wasn’t able to reach even the middle of the weekend farmer’s market since Euna grew grumpy from her stroller ride. But now, as she looked everywhere, there was this feeling of normalcy in her. This kind of life was beautiful that she almost felt the completeness in her whole being; like this was her normal. Every sense she possessed was busily taking in everything. Perhaps she was just thankful to be out and just minding herself since Euna was being taken care of by her father.

She looked over her shoulder feigning the idea that she was focusing into something else, but by the corner of her eyes, she watched him push Euna’s stroller. She smiled thinking to herself that they may be faking their relationship but there was no way he was faking his feelings towards Euna.

Her baby was lucky. Seohyun couldn’t really ask for anything more. Like herself, he may be rookie daddy but she could already tell that he was trying his best to be good at it. It would really be hard for him by the time they would need to leave— especially when it came to Euna.

When her baby needed changing, she just suggested that maybe she could take Euna on one of the benches and change her. And he offered that he could do it since his aunt showed him how and so she asked if he was sure and he just smiled and wheeled Euna’s stroller away.

She didn’t expect that, really. She thought if she asked him to do it even as a joke, he’d say no since it would hurt his man-ego. But he didn’t even give her a second glance as he wheeled Euna towards one of the benches a few meters away from the busy market. She stayed where she was and watched them, ready to go to them any minute he would call for help.

It was a beautiful sight really as he struggled to get the diaper ready and at the same time calm Euna. She grinned with the thought that dirty Euna was harder to handle than hungry Euna but he was trying so hard. Her smile widened the moment he looked up at her over the distance. He held her gaze for a moment, smiling back at her. They had that few meters away between them but something inside her felt warm and… and weird.

The morning breeze blew, she pushed her hair away from her face. But when she looked back at them again, Yonghwa dropped his gaze to Euna.

She wanted to laugh, his sudden change of mood was hilarious. Seohyun wanted to laugh but she was somehow irritated as her eyes wandered around her. There were many older people and families enjoying the market but there were also a number of younger men and women obviously taking their morning exercise like them. Perhaps it had dawn on him that he was losing his chance for the company of some of the young women. And as if on cue, two women walked to him while he was, obviously, fixing Euna inside her stroller.

For a moment, she remained standing where she was watching closely as they started talking. He was nodding and smiling and the women were obviously gushing over her baby but they were just giggling with him. The thought that Euna was a reason to encourage a small talk pissed her off. Seohyun took her hands out of her pockets and decided to walk just get Euna. It would probably make him feel better so he could focus on the women talking to him.

And, oh, why should she even be pissed?

~~~

Before they could even get out of the house, Euna was already fast asleep but Seohyun insisted they could go and just put the baby in her stroller. Yonghwa didn’t argue since he knew she needed to go out of the house as well. Being locked up for a few days at the lake house would also make him want to take every chance to be out.

The mood was light and airy— like the weather. They didn’t talk much because Yonghwa was just basking at the sight of his baby’s mommy’s smile as she looked all around her. She didn’t look hungry, just plainly happy with whatever was around them. And the strangeness of it was that he felt glad. He had always liked walking around this market as well but he didn’t really have this kind of enjoyment. Just something he took for granted since it had always been there.

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