Chapter 3. Suddenly Daddy

Her footsteps became slower as she dragged her feet on the wet and very slippery street. The umbrella on her hand was barely covering her body while her bag clutched uncomfortably on her stomach. She could feel the different kind of pain the doctor warned her of feeling that she could not even count the time interval as it came. She just focused on her goal— to reach the hospital before it's too late.

She left her apartment moments ago when she realized that it was really it. Days before, she had a false alarm that the doctor joked of her being too excited for her graduation. What can she do? It was her first time and it seemed like luck has wandered somewhere. The weather did not cooperate and even the time. “Why now? You could have bugged me to go out a while ago when it was not raining...” she loudly cried since no one, except her, braved the rain.

It felt like an overrated scene in a movie and TV drama but she was the most unwilling actress. Anyway, it was her fault since her landlady told her to go to the hospital that morning but she was too stubborn to listen. Now it was too late and she felt embarrassed to be knocking on the old woman's door.

“Please don't give mommy a hard time when we get there, okay?” She said again as she gasped because of the sudden gush of pain.

“Hang on, little one, let's just get a taxi and you're outta there before you know it,” she soothed her bulging stomach as she stood by the side of the pedestrian lane and waited for the lights.

Red.

Adjusting her bag on her left and holding her umbrella tighter, she moved forward but the skidding car made her stop just in time.

Her heart palpitated so fast with the fear that it almost hit her and the panic caused an even painful contraction. The sudden gush of pain made her groan louder as her umbrella flew with the wind and her bag seemed to be consciously freed her from the additional baggage as it landed on the street. To make things worse, she fell on her bottom when she attempted to bend down to reach it.

Then another contraction came.

~~~

The moment he realized that he must have hit someone, his mind battled to just make a run for it or check it out. Yonghwa was shaking with the thought but he knew he couldn’t live with himself if he didn’t get out of the car. And when he did, he was struck with the sight of a woman barely sitting in the middle of the street just a good few feet away from his car with all her things sprawled on the ground. He realized then that he could have killed her— a shiver crawled on his body.

Thankfully, the rain turned into tiny drizzle but she was almost soaking wet when he reached her and helped her gather her belongings.

“I'm sorry, I did not notice the red light. Are you okay? Did I hit you? Do you want to see a doctor?” Yonghwa almost hastily spoke while guiding her to her feet.

“I...” the woman exhaled heavily and closed her eyes that he really thought she was in deep pain, “I was not... but... please take me to the hospital...”

He stopped midway from offering her bag to her when he realized her condition. Yonghwa winced. She was pregnant and he could have killed her and her baby. He swallowed hard. Right then and there he promised never to drive that way again. The woman’s smile broke his train of thought. She was smiling despite the obvious pain she was feeling. How could she manage that? Aside from that, he found it really enigmatic— her beautiful smile despite her pain.

“My baby's gonna come out...” she bit her lower lip once again and held on to her stomach.

“Oh!” Yonghwa gasped when he realized that he should be doing something instead of admiring her smile, “O—okay...” he mumbled almost stupidly and helped her in his car. He didn’t even have to think about it as he opened the passenger door and supported her weight as she slipped inside. After taking his own seat, he carefully put her bag behind them and noticed that she had her eyes shut tight and she was breathing through .

He has many experiences with woman, of course, but never the pregnant types so he was barely hanging on to this situation he was faced. Sighing, he decided to do her seatbelt as she seemed to have forgotten about it. Her eyes flew open the moment he moved an inch from her, he smiled, “We have to buckle you up or you might go flying out in here…”

“And we don’t want that…”

The woman managed to say and he chuckled. With her condition, it was amazing that she could smile and even joke like that. “Of course, we don't want that!” He replied, “Ready, ma’am?”

“I really hope I am…”

Yonghwa understood what she meant. It must be terrifying and he didn’t know what to say to that so he just started the engine.

And prayed.

He never prayed, but this time he did. Yonghwa prayed to the higher power to give this woman strength.

Yonghwa drove fast but he managed to keep it on the acceptable this-is-an-emergency speed. First, because he didn’t want to kill somebody else. And mostly because, he didn’t want to terrify his passenger. From his estimate, the nearest hospital was almost fifteen minutes’ drive and the way the woman exhaled loudly was driving him insane. Not that it was annoying but he was so scared to death with what was happening.  His day suddenly became excessively weird. And right that moment his own heart beat was far from normal as he took a quick look at her clutching her belly with tiny sweats running down from her temples.

“Are you okay?” That was the dumbest question he ever asked someone all his life but he could not take it back. The woman nodded with waning energy then he decided to just drive as fast as he could just to get to the hospital.

The hospital. Funny as it sounded but he has this kind of uncomfortable feeling about that place and he could not understand himself why he didn't realize it soon. Yonghwa put on the earpiece and dialed his aunt's number.

“Yeoboseyo? De,