Dara held the beautiful pink bundle in her arms, still in awe that something so precious had come out of her. It was a beautiful moment. A perfect gift to end their Valentine's Day. It had been a dinner date that had ended in a frantic rush to the hospital.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Mrs. Kwon,” Jiyong said, leaning over the belly of his very pregnant wife in order to give her a proper kiss.

“Happy my , Mr. Kwon! I'm huge, I'm hormonal, and I'm so bloated I don't even have ankles anymore. I have cankles, Mr. Kwon. CANKLES! God, why won't our little one make her grand entrance already!”

“Would you prefer she was already out and we were knee deep in diapers and midnight feedings instead of a last romantic date?”

“Shut up and give me my prime rib, Mr. Kwon,” hormonal Dara muttered.

“Good to know you haven't lost your appetite. You should be thankful, you know. Some women can't eat that much when they're pregnant.”

Jiyong looked at Dara and shut his mouth, cutting the steak diligently in order to avoid the seething rage spilling from his wife's eyes.

They were walking the short distance to the valet area when Dara stopped midstep.

“Oh .”

“Dara?”

“My water.”

“You're thirsty?”

“No, Jiyong. My water...it broke.”

“Oh !”

Jiyong looked down to see fluid streaming down the legs of his beloved, making a puddle on the ground. He looked wildly around for the valet driver.

“Hurry up and get me my car, now!”

He dialed the preset number on his phone.
 

“Dr. Lim? Yes, it's Jiyong Kwon. We're coming in. Dara's water just broke. What? No, I don't think so.”

He looked over at her, his hand covering his phone.

“Are you having contractions?”

“What?” Dara looked up, both arms gripping her womb.

“Uh, scratch that, doc. She's just started having contractions. Yes. I'll be driving. We're about 20 minutes away. Thank you.”

He hung up the phone just as the valet attendant brought their Audi around.

“Jagi, the seats.”

“Oh Jesus, Dara. I don't give a about the seats. Get in already!”

They got in and were off, Jiyong driving like a maniac on the streets of Seoul.

“Slow down! You'll kill us all!” Dara screeched.

There was a blur of activity as Dara was registered tagged and prepped for delivery, the nurses smiling at the string profanities flowing from her lips with each contraction.

“I hate you, Jiyong. I ing hate you right now!”

Jiyong smiled apologetically at the starstruck little nurse that blushed at the latest profanities screamed by the laboring Mrs. Kwon.

“Sorry, Dara.”

“Sorry! Why the hell do women have to be the ones to suffer childbirth! You should have to pass something from that tiny hole in your for this! !!!!!!”

The nurses chuckled as they brought ice chips and wet cloths to aid with the pain.

“I want my epidural goddamnit! Where's the ing doctor for the epidural!”

“The ing doctor is right here, Mrs. Kwon,” an amused doctor smiled.

“I'm sorry doctor,” Jiyong bowed at 90 degrees in embarrassment.

“Sorry, doctor,” Dara mumbled, her teeth biting her lips so tightly, Jiyong feared she would break skin and spill blood.

“Let's see what we can do about this pain, shall we?” the doctor soothed.

A few curses and deadly hand grips later, Dara became a completely different person.

“Jagi, I'm so sorry,” she apologized, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment from her earlier behavior, her eyes hooded with grogginess.

“Shh, D. Relax. The labor will be coming soon. The doctors say you're already 8 centimeters dilated. You're doing great. Save your strength.”

“I'm scared, Jiyong.”

“You'll do just great, Dara. You are the woman that makes the impossible possible. This childbirth thing is cake! You got this.”

“I...I don't know. I don't think I'm ready. What if I screw our kid up?”

“How can you possibly screw her up? If you do for her what you did for me, she'll be the best version of her she can be.”

Dara's eyes filled with tears.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” he smiled.

An hour later Dara was spitting profanities again as she pushed through her labor.

“I hate you!”

“I love you.”

“I'm sorry. I love you. BUT I ING HATE YOU RIGHT NOW!” she screamed as she bit her lip and pushed again.

“Very good, Mrs. Kwon. You're doing just fi--”

A high pitched beep hung in the air as the baby monitor sounded an alarm. There was a rush of nurses that flew into the room, their faces set in a grim expression. The doctor nodded and murmured directives. Jiyong looked from nurse to nurse before the doctor murmured something in his ear.

“What is it? Jagi? What is it?”

Jiyong smiled and held her hand firmly.

“Nothing, Jagi. Everything is just fine. Sanyoung just needs to come out a bit faster, ok? The doctor's going to ask you to push. I really need you to push hard, ok?”

Dara nodded her head in determination. Jiyong was lying. He never lied very well. The fear was all over his eyes. Something was wrong with the baby. And Dara needed to help get her out.

“Tell me what's wrong,” Dara pleaded with the doctor.

“Mrs. Kwon, your umbilical cord is wrapped around your baby's neck. Because she's already entered your l canal, I can't push her back and unwrap the cord. Right now, she's in distress. I'm going to need you to push her out in the next push or we'll have to rush you for an immediate c-section surgery.”

Dara nodded again, her lips tight, ready to push for her life.

“Ready and push,” ordered the doctor.

Dara pushed, barely feeling the tear of her skin as she bore down to save her child.

There was silence then a cry that broke through the air, the high pitched beeping sound of the baby monitor silenced by that resilient cry.

Dara breathed in relief and looked at Jiyong whose face was white with fear. Then darkness came as she fell into an exhausted sleep, giving into the effects of the drugs coursing through her blood.

Labor and delivery done. The effects of the epidural slowly ebbing out of her system, Dara held her daughter in her arms as Jiyong lay asleep. She fuddled with the iPad until it was positioned just right. Then, she pressed the red button.

“Sanyoungah. It's mommy. When I was little I always told myself I would write a letter to my little baby when you were born. But times have changed and the technology is so wonderful. So here I am making a video letter for you like I do for my fans sometimes.”

She smiled as she looked at Jiyong snoring softly in the sofabed beside her.

“Look at poor daddy. He's so tired looking after you and me. I was really mean to him during your birth so you have to be really nice to him, ok? You scared us, and I think daddy is exhausted from being so worried. I'm just so thankful you're all right.”

She wiped the tears forming in her eyes.

“When I was little, grandma used to warn me of the horrible things men could be. How I had to avoid the ones that would hurt me, use me, abandon me and my children. She had a tough life, little one. You can't blame her. She was hurt and afraid that I would face the same fate. She was scared I would never find someone--”

Dara's voice shook as the emotions of it all took over.

She was so very lucky to have Jiyong. A man who restored her jaded view of men into one that hoped for a future that was filled with love and children and happiness.

“Grandma was wrong. Sanyoungah. Mommy is so lucky. Just look at us now. We are so very happy to have each other and words can't express how happy we are to have you. So my advice to you is this. Find a man like daddy. Find a man that believes in you. That helps you and supports your dreams like daddy does. Daddy exists. So the man lucky enough to have you is out there, too. He will love you, adore you, do anything to be the man that deserves you. And if he's the right one, my darling, he'll be the one that makes you want to be the woman that deserves him, too. He'll be your everything. He'll protect you, he'll encourage you. He'll make you feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, even if you're so swollen you don't even recognize your own face.”

Dara patted her face, chuckling at how much water retention she had.

“Aigo. I look horrible. But daddy says I'm pretty. So I believe him. You believe him, too, okay?”

She chuckled as Sanyoung stirred in her arms, whimpering her cries of hunger, her eyes clamped tightly shut in a sleep she was determined to maintain while nursing from her mother. Dara looked at the iPad.

“You're a hungry little thing. My milk hasn't fully let down, but it will soon. Be patient with mommy, ok? Bye for now! I love you!”

She turned off the iPad as Jiyong stirred from his sleep.

“You okay, D?” he yawned.

“I'm fine, Jagi. Go back to sleep,” she cooed, rocking a fussy Sanyoung in her arms.

Jiyong rubbed the sleep from his eyes and came to lie beside Dara and their child.

“Hi,” he murmured, as Sanyoung settled on the of his wife.

“Hi,” she giggled.

“Is it horrible that I'm jealous of her?”

“What do you mean?” she laughed.

“Those used to be mine, those beautiful s,” he pouted.

“Oh, Jagi. They'll still be yours.....in between feedings.”

“I don't know. I feel kind of weird making love to Sanyoung's food source.”

They laughed together.

“Happy Valentine's Day, Jyong ah.”

“Happy Valentine's Day, D.”

She snuggled against him, happy to be blessed to have this wonderful specimen of a man and a beautiful child that was a testament of their love.