Hyejin’s head was about to explode. 

In the kitchen, there was a whole mess of milk powder and porridge ingredients waiting to be cleared up. In her bedroom, her laptop was propped up with work waiting to be done. And in the living room — where she had just run out into — a crying, screaming baby was waiting for her. 

“Aw, Jun, don’t cry,” she cooed, scooping the flailing baby into her arms. Then she rushed to the sofa to sit just in case she dropped the baby (he was so active; what else could she do?). 

“Hush, hush.” But the baby just cried louder. Hyejin bit her lip and held back her frustration. She tried to use her shoulder to clean the beads of perspiration that had materialised on her face and was now dangerously hanging from the tip of her chin (what if the baby ate the sweat? Oh goodness).

How was she supposed to do this? 

Balancing the baby with one arm, she reached for the milk bottle on the table with her other and tried to feed the baby, hoping this would be the solution. The baby seemed to calm, and she calmed for a moment as well. Then the baby slowly on the bottle. 

And then started to cry again, flinging the milk bottle onto the floor. 

“Jun...” she groaned in frustration, looking at the fallen milk bottle. Hyejin repeated in her head not to give up, this was her responsibility, she could do it if she tried. No use crying over spilt milk, literally.  

But after five more minutes of intense crying Hyejin decided she couldn’t cope with this anymore. The baby’s cries were beginning to get scary, and she was afraid something would happen if he continued crying like this. 

So she gently placed him in the cot and ran to her room to grab her phone, and speed-dialled 1. 

“Hey, sweetheart. What’s my jasmine up to today?” 

“Chen,” she breathed, closing her eyes and properly wiping away her perspiration. “Can you come over?” 

There was a bit of shuffling, then she heard the jingle of keys faintly in the background. “Why? Are you okay? I’m coming over right now.” 

“Do you hear what’s in the background? I need someone to save my soul,” Hyejin pleaded. 

“Oh, goodness. Is that a baby? Oh! It’s the baby?” 

Hyejin slumped downwards. “Yeah, my friend dropped the baby off today for me to babysit. I told you about this before, right? But she couldn’t have possibly chosen a worse time. You know this too, I have to present a segment at our meeting next week and my head is splitting from everything.” 

“Babe, don’t worry, okay? For now try to calm the baby first. Be there as quick as I can.” 

Chen’s voice is extremely soothing. It is clear above the cacophony and is somehow a great remedy for her headache. She goes out of her room with new motivation, armed with the comfort that he would be arriving anytime soon.  

“Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are,” Hyejin sang, clapping her hands as she went out of her room. Then she took a deep breath and held the baby in her arms again. He had calmed significantly by now, but was still extremely fidgety. 

Hyejin rocked the baby in her arms, singing all the children’s songs she knew (on repeat) for what seemed like eternity. 

She had never been so relieved to hear someone keying in the passcode to unlock the door in her entire life. 

“Hey jasmine,” he called as soon as he stepped into the house. 

“Chen!” She exclaimed in delight, springing up from the sofa. He laughed and shook his head tenderly at her excitement. Then he bounded straight up to her and cupped his hands onto her cheeks, squishing them slightly. 

“Did you miss me that much?” Chen was doing the husky-voice-thing which he was an expert at. It always made her heart quiver, this time included. But she didn’t give an answer to his cheesy question. 

“Help me?” She asked softly instead, looking directly into his eyes. The baby was now looking at Chen with much curiosity, and had stopped crying totally. 

He let go of Hyejin’s cheeks and took over carrying the baby instead. “Aw, he’s such a good boy. What’s his name?” 

Hyejin shook out her sore arms. “Jun. Park Jun. And no, he’s not a good boy at all. He just became good the moment you arrived.” 

Chen continued to rock the baby in his arms tenderly, cooing at him and talking to him in a gentle voice. Hyejin watched the both of them, smiling. She tried to push away the thought of Chen being a dad in real life, because it was making her excited way too early. They were just engaged, not married yet, and she was already having thoughts about children? No way. 

Chen looked up at Hyejin, then smiled at her. “You go settle work first. I’ll take care of Jun.” 

“Are you sure?” She asked softly. Hyejin felt quite bad that she had called him all the way to her apartment just to help her with the baby while she went to do work. But she convinced herself to stop feeling bad about everything. Chen was her fiancée, for goodness’ sake. 

He nodded, then smiled at her again, reaching over to give her a small kiss on the cheek. “Yup. Don’t worry and go.” 

Hyejin retreated into the room, leaving the door open so she could sneak glances at Chen and his adorable father-skills whenever she got tired. She was so grateful for him. For everything. 

The first time she looked out into the living room, Jun was silent in Chen’s arms. He seemed to be rocking him to sleep, and it seemed to be working. Hyejin watched as he slowly put him down into the cot.

The second time she looked out was when the baby started crying. Loudly. Chen rushed to him and cuddled him in his arms, comforting him. She couldn’t bear to watch further because it made her heart flutter, and she could tell she was slowly losing concentration on work. And him being completely amazing at taking care of the baby wasn’t helping her get back on track. 

She had just forced herself to look at the laptop in front of her and continue work when Chen called out to her. 

“Jasmine, where are the fresh diapers?”

Hyejin stood up from her seat, slightly alarmed. “You’re going to change his diapers? It’s okay, let me do it.” 

But she only heard a chuckle. “Silly, I can do it as well. Where are they?” 

Her first instinct was to protest, but she caved after a while. Then she slowly sat back down. “In the large blue bag by the couch.” 

“Okay, I see it!” Then soon after, the sound of the bag zipper opening and diaper-changing noises. 

The third time she looked up from work is when she felt a warm arm curling around her neck like a scarf. Then a familiar, fluffy head of hair nuzzling her cheek. She turned around the best she could, only for her nose to be buried in his hair now (it smells so good, oh gosh). She couldn’t see Chen but she could totally imagine how tired he felt. 

Aw, my poor baby, she thought. 

“Stretch out your arm,” he suddenly said, his voice muffled. Hyejin could feel the vibration of his voice on her neck and it made her tingly. 

“Why?” She asked, but still did it anyway. 

Then Chen got up and reached for her arm, and started to gently massage it. 

“Your hands must be exhausted from caring for Jun and then working back-to-back,” he said, his voice so soft it almost sounded sad. It made Hyejin’s heart wrench. 

“You’re the one who needs the massage. You’ve been taking care of him the entire afternoon without rest,” she pouts, pulling her arm away from him. But Chen just smiled and took it back in his hands.

“I rather massage you.” 

“But I rather massage you too.” 

Chen seemed to think for a while. Then he looked straight at Hyejin and grinned. “How about instead, you repay me for the massage?” 

“With?” 

He tried to control the grin which was spreading rapidly on his face. Then he pouted his lips wordlessly. Hyejin knew what he wanted. It was obvious. 

“That’s not even repayment,” she scoffed. “It’s something we should be doing on a frequent basis.” Then she landed the softest, most gentle kiss on his lips, and savoured the feeling of his lips on hers. 

“Frequent basis?” He asked, his cheeks flushing pink now. Chen gave her a big smooch straight on her lips. And then another. And another. “Like this?” 

Hyejin laughed. He rained a few more on her forehead, then on her cheeks, and one more on her jaw, before returning to her lips. 

“Like this,” he answered himself, then cupped her face in his hands and kissed her again. 

That night he crawled into Hyejin’s bed without asking. Chen scooted to the side and spread out his arms wide the moment she entered the room. It was near midnight, they had just gotten a cranky Jun back to sleep, and were exhausted, so say the least. 

“You have three seconds to jump into my arms,” he said cheekily. “One... two... three!” 

And Hyejin was buried in the crook of his arm. He laughed a throaty laugh, and spread the blanket so it covered both Hyejin and him. Then he wrapped his other arm around Hyejin, keeping her in his embrace. Cuddling sessions like this were her favourite. Especially after a tiring day — it just felt so wonderful to be able to sink into her man and let his presence consume her whole. 

She closed her eyes, but Chen suddenly spoke. “When is it our turn?”

“Hmm?” Hyejin was sleepy, and it was so toasty in his arms she couldn’t exactly focus. 

“Our turn. To have a baby.” 

That was all she needed to be suddenly jolted awake. She tilted her head upward, narrowing her eyes at Chen. “We aren’t even married yet.” 

“Technically, we are,” he said, tracing the ring on Hyejin’s ring finger with his own finger. 

“Don’t even think about it,” she sternly said, then moved even closer to Chen such that her nose was pressed against the side of his shirt. It smelled so good. She closed her eyes and snuggled in

“You can’t control my dreams,” he singsonged playfully, then rubbed her back soothingly, seeing that she was already going to sleep. He lightly kissed her forehead, then reached over to turn off the night lamp. 

There’s silence for a few seconds. 

Then Jun’s cries filled the apartment, ending the peaceful silence. Hyejin furrowed her eyebrows and gave a slight whine. She heard Chen sigh softly before turning on the night lamp again, then crawling out of the blanket. 

“Maybe you were right about us having a baby,” he chuckled in resignation as he reached the door. “Just... Not now.” 

___________________________________________________________________

“Thank you so much again, Chaeyoung!” Hyejin exclaimed, grinning. She and Chen were standing at Chaeyoung’s doorstep with a large bag of things. “Sorry for giving you such a big burden to take care of over your weekend break.” 

“Don’t say that. I like doing things like this,” Chaeyoung giggled. Her boyfriend of a month (yes, finally!) reached out and took the bag from Chen, smiling. 

Hyejin gave Chaeyoung a hug, then bent down to talk to the small bundle in the pram. 

“Mommy and daddy are going to come home soon, for now listen to big sister Chaeyoung, okay?” She was really getting the hang of baby talk after seeing Chen do it so many times, especially at the beginning of gaining their new addition to their family. 

Chen bent down until his head was at the same level as Hyejin’s. “Be good, you little cutie pie,” he crooned. Chaeyoung beamed at the both of them and started to open the bag. 

“Are there toys in here?” She asked. 

“Yeah, and lots of other things too. You can feed her some sweet stuff when she’s especially naughty. She really likes it. Oh, and she eats literally anything off the floor, so just be extra careful with that,” Chen laughed, then circled his arm around Hyejin. “Thanks a lot, Chaeyoung. You’re a big help.” 

The bundle poked her head out of her little blanket even further. Then she barked, as if she knew Hyejin and Chen were leaving. Chaeyoung her fur lovingly. 

“You’re a very pretty Chihuahua,” she said to the dog. She continued to bark, and Chaeyoung scratched her under her snout, smiling. Then she turned to the both of them. “You go enjoy your weekend trip. Come back with good news!” She teased. 

“There won’t be,” Hyejin laughed. “A dog is enough. She is like our child already.” 

“That’s what you say,” Chen suddenly interjected, earning a smack from Hyejin.  

“Don’t you dare.” 

_____________________________________________________

The sound of the door closing, then him taking out his shoes and putting them into the cabinet. “Baby, I’m home!” He called. “I’m sorry I couldn’t come home with you today.”

Hyejin flopped down, feeling her heart beat. What was this? Anticipation? Excitement? 

“Jasmine, where are you?” Chen called again. 

“In the toilet.” 

“Okay! I’ll go set the table for dinner first.” 

Silence. Should she tell him now? Should she wait? Hyejin swallowed. Yes, she’d tell him now. This couldn’t wait. She already felt her heart leaping out of her chest. 

“Chen?”

“Yes, baby?”

“I think I’m pregnant.” 

[a/n: yes this is officially the end :”) it’s a pretty short chapter i know but i kinda wanted to make this a sneak peak into the afters of the last chapter oh and did y’all think they were letting chaeyoung take care of their baby ;) heh i’m sorry there isn’t that much fluff in this chapter but i still hope you enjoyed it! once again thank you so much for sticking by; i really appreciate every single one of you <3 ps elyxion is starting and i am not ready (!!!) i’m so excited ohgosh]