The hospital waiting room was filled with pregnant women in all stages of pregnancy. Jiyong sat uncomfortably next to Dara and avoided looking around him. He saw a few of the pregnant mothers smiled and grinned at him. He lowered his gaze and pretended not to notice the whispering and chuckling among the hormone queens.

One of the pregnant women came up to Dara and asked innocently,

“Is this your first child?”

Dara nodded without looking up, her attention was focused on the magazine she had in her hands. The pregnant woman glanced at Jiyong, she winked at him and with twinkles in her eyes she said loudly,

“It’s so good to see a responsible father! My friends and I were just talking about how we wish our husbands would come with us! And here you are…so young, but already a good husband. The two of you must be newly wed! You look so young!”

Jiyong twitched in his chair, his face flushing in embarrassment. Dara smiled politely oblivious to the approving looks from the other women as they surveyed Jiyong,

“Actually he’s not…”

Jiyong hastily grabbed her hand and announced with a nervous smile,

“It’s our first baby…so we’re a little nervous…especially when a group of pregnant women are staring at us…”

The group of pregnant mothers laughed and teased Jiyong, asking if they could borrow him to be their husband for the day. Jiyong smiled awkwardly wondering if it was normal for pregnant women to act so strangely. He definitely did not want to say or do anything to offend them. Dara remained quiet throughout the exchange; she had a sad wistful look in her eyes as she observed the interaction between Jiyong and the pregnant women in the waiting room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Doctor Han frowned as he checked the beating of Dara’s heart. He motioned for the nurse to do a second reading. The nurse took one of Dara’s hands and pressed her finger over the pulsing vein on Dara’s wrist. The nurse quickly jotted down her reading and handed it to Dr. Han.

“Dara, how are you feeling?” He asked as he scanned over Dara’s previous pre-natal visits. The young girl shrugged,

“Fine I guess.” She answered in a tired voice.

“Wait for a few minutes; I want the nurse to run some blood test on you and the baby.” Dr. Han said as he glanced over at the nurse. Dara wondered if somet