Chapter 39:
I Am My Father's DaughterYejin wasn't sure what she was expecting, maybe a chandelier, rose wood furniture and crystal everything, but when she finally entered Minseok's home she was surprised to see it wasn't much different than the condo they stayed in together. His apartment was two floors with three bedrooms upstairs with one full bath and a half. Downstairs was a living room, kitchen. Small dining room, bathroom and a study. Between the dining room and living room was an overly stocked bat that was made from sculpted metal and frosted glass. It was the first place Yejin stepped over to when they arrived late September, she gave him a smirk that he rolled his eyes at.
As time went on Yejin spent more and more nights at Minseok's place until she had fully taken over one of his closets with her clothes, rearranged the pantry and dishes in the cupboards to her preferences, had more toiletries in the bathroom than the owner did and she had the key to the building and the passcode to his apartment. She found the place more of a home than her old apartment that Suho had torn apart and sold during her runaway.
Now Yejin was spending the night not at Minseok's like she wanted but at the small room off of her office since she had a late conference call with a buyer in California. It was just after two in the morning for her when the call ended, orders placed and Yejin trudged off to the room to collapse onto the foam mattress. The room was a mess, like Yejin liked, and she buried herself under the mound of blankets on the bed. She wasn't sure how long she was asleep before an unsettling gurgle inside her woke her up.
Shooting upright Yejin clamped one hand over while the other tossed the blankets aside wildly to free her. She stumbled out of the bed struggling to keep the bile rising up down as she tripped and bumped her way across the messy room. Throwing open the door to her office she blinked against the sudden light, continuing across the office towards the door to the bathroom. Her stomach clenched again more bile rising up threatening to spew passed her lips and hand. She dropped hard on her knees at the toilet yanking the seat up and removing her hand from to hurl into the bowl.
Yejin stayed there for a while to make sure dry heaves were done and that her stomach had settled. When she was sure that her insides were done revolting against her she spat into the toilet one last time, closed the lid and flushed as she got to her feet. Pressing a clammy hand to her warm forehead she dragged her feet to the sink to brush her teeth and rid of the rancid taste. She didn't feel sick, at least not common cold or flu like sick, so maybe it had just been a freak thing, something bad she ate for dinner. The Alfredo chicken, she thought offhandedly, did taste a little funny.
Spitting out the last round of mouth wash into the sink she straightened up with her hands running through her coppery hair. She took a deep breath studying her reflection which didn't look much different than normal except for the gray bags under her eyes showing her exhaustion. She didn't look sick, just tired, her face wasn't even flushed.
“Bad chicken,” she muttered to herself.
Huffing out a sigh she turned to leave the bathroom, halfway back across the office wanting to go back to sleep there was a knock at the front door. She was tempted to ignore it and just go to bed, but it was probably important so she her heel and opened the door. Standing there was a smiling Daehyun holding a cardboard carrier with two to-go cups of coffee in one hand and a brown paper bag with something that smelled sweet and tasty inside. At first whiff Yejin's stomach gurgled hungrily, but as she went to take an excited sniff her stomach clenched and made an angry groaning noise, or maybe that was Yejin herself who quickly grabbed at her belly.
“Boss?” Daehyun questioned when her face scrunched up unpleasantly.
Yejin didn't dare open out of fear something expelling itself form her. Groaning again she shook her head and mad dash for the bathroom where she only purged stomach acid and dry heaved for a while. When she stood from the toilet to clean again (annoyed because she had literally just done that) she spotted a concerned looked Daehyun standing in the open doorway. She raised a brow at him as she picked up her toothbrush urging him to speak what was on his mind.
“How are you feeling?” he asked tentatively.
Yejin didn't answer right away as she brushed her teeth, appreciating the double mint flavor of her toothpaste of the vile acid taste that had coated her tongue earlier. After spitting and rinsing out she turned to the man in the doorway with a tired shrug.
“Not sick if that's what you mean. I think there was something with the chicken last night,” she said.
“How many times have you thrown up?” Daehyun questioned, doctor mode activated.
Leaning against the sink counter she sighed knowing an interrogation was coming and nothing could stop Doctor Daehyun when he got started. “Twice, the first was just before you got here,” she replied simply.
Daehyun stared at her face harder, scanning her features as a crease formed between his brows like he didn't understand something. “We ate dinner at seven, it's nine in the morning,” he spoke slowly like he was dealing with a child, “if there was something wrong with the chicken then you should have felt something sooner and I would be feeling sick too.”
“I told you I don't feel sick, just queasy, but afterward I fine, see,” she gestured to herself as she spoke.
He scanned her face again before opening his mouth again, tone serious and businesslike. He was definitely all doctor at the moment.
“When was your last period?” he inquired straightforwardly. So much so that Yejin sputtered for words and air for ten seconds before her sanity came back to her.
“I – ah – I don't know,” she mumbled trying to count back to the last one she remembered. Daehyun waited with a stiff spine as he watched her use her fingers to calculate. “Back when I still had my stitches,” she concluded . It was already mid November.
“I think you should take a pregnancy test,” he stated. “I'll got get it.”
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