It was a beautiful ceremony overseas. No one would question that, but Jaejoong wished that he and Yunho could have gotten married in their home country. Why couldn’t Korea be as accepting as Canada? Jaejoong shook the thought away because he knew it would take many years for Koreans to change their longstanding views on homouality. He sighed. “Why am I thinking about that again?” He looked to the right of the computer and saw the calendar on the wall. “Oh yeah, it’s almost our anniversary.” Jaejoong gazed at the gold band on his left hand. “Three years in two weeks.” October 27, 2017. “I still can’t believe it.”

“Neither can I,” Yunho said walking into the room.

Jaejoong turned around, shock evident on his face and a hand over his heart. “Yunho! You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry Boo. I was just wondering where you were since I woke up in bed alone this morning. I should have known you were in your work room.”

“When inspiration hits at five in the morning and I have a deadline coming up for an album, I have to take it.” Jaejoong was a top composer and songwriter while Yunho was a top chorographer and dance instructor, and they were so in demand that they didn’t just work for one entertainment company, they worked for all of them on an album-to-album basis.

“I thought you finished all the songs for the new SM rookie group,” commented Yunho.

“I did, but they wanted more ballads because Shinil was part of the last SM the Ballad. I think they’re going to promote two different styles for the album to show off the talents of the boys.”

Yunho kissed Jaejoong on the lips. “Have fun with that. I’m off to teach those boys how to dance; they’re going to need all the help they can get.”

“If anyone can teach someone how to dance, it’s you.” Jaejoong kissed Yunho. “Hwaiting!”

“Thanks Jaejoong. I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”

“I love you too, Yunho.”

~*~*~*~*~

Jaejoong stretched his arms while sitting in his chair. He realized he hadn’t had anything to eat all day, and it was nearing two o’clock. He went to the kitchen to make a sandwich and brought it back to the workroom for a short break.

The first thing he did was check his long over-looked work email. Well would you look at that! It was flooded with request for him to write songs for more people. He would have to tell them that he was currently working on a project. There was also a lot of spam too, but just as Jaejoong was about to delete them, one caught his eye.

From: choi[.]kwangsun[@]kirs[.]org 

Subject: Men Who Want to Have a Child

Jaejoong thought about that. Did he want to have kids? Did Yunho? They never really talked about it because… Why hadn’t they ever talked about it? Maybe it was it was never the right time, thought Jae. Maybe it was because we’re both men, and we know how hard it would be. However, they both loved to be with Yunho’s niece and all of Jaejoong’s nieces and nephews. He also remembered Yunho once joking about wanting to have twenty-five children someday. He clicked the email open.

A survey of South Koreans between the ages of 23 and 36 has revealed financial pressures as a major reason for the decline in the birth rate, which averaged 1.25 births per woman in 2016 according to statistics released by the CIA World Factbook. SBS reports youth unemployment is directly linked to those statistics and many young people are now postponing marriage and childbirth as a result. They also report women on average now have their first child at age 31, up from 25 in 1993 and 29.6 in 2013. Poor work life balance and spouses not sharing child-rearing responsibilities are factors for the low numbers as well. President Kim Euldong has promised to improve these statistics. Therefore, she gave a grant to The Korean Institute for Reproductive Studies in 2014 to further our fertility research with the aim of increasing the birth rate, advancing the field, and helping all couples, whether they have infertility issues or are in same relationships, have children.

Are you in a committed relationship, and do you fit into one of those categories? Our dedicated team of scientists and doctors have revolutionized in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination and developed a procedure in which men can become pregnant and carry a fetus. If that is of interest to you, please give me, Dr. Choi Kwangsun, or one of my associates a call for more information about our fertility programs. We would love to tell you more about our revolutionary ways to help you fulfill your dreams of having a family.

From our family to yours,

Dr. Choi Kwangsun, Senior Medical Researcher and Reproductive Endocrinologist at The Korean Institute for Reproductive Studies

Jaejoong couldn’t believe what had just read. Homoual couples having children of their own? Men having babies? It seemed like a ridiculous notion, but… He knew that adoption would be difficult for Yunho and him and that Yunho really wanted a family of his own. Besides, Jaejoong couldn’t deny the fact that his friends had said for the longest time that he had a very strong mothering streak.

“It’s settled. I’ll talk to Yunho about this later tonight.”