Jongdae stares at his meat in great displeasure. It looked weird and too burnt in his eyes that he pushes it away and instead takes a drink of his strawberry lemonade. His friends devours their food hungrily and Jongdae cringes at the sight, gulping his saliva down to stop himself from puking. After Zitao left them to absorb the newly acquired knowledge of Jongdae's magical pregnancy, Baekhyun decided that it was time to eat at his favorite restaurant. 

Jongdae wants to sleep his worry away but was unable to do so when Kyungsoo insists that Jongdae needed fresh air and meat in his system. Jongdae definitely needed air but not meat. Jongdae also needed to pick a ring for LiYin but after the results Jongdae thinks that it's best to postpone the proposal until everything is solved. 

"So when are you gonna tell Yixing about baby Zhang?" Baekhyun talks with his mouth full and Jongdae throws a tissue at him in disgust. 

"Never" Jongdae answers, sipping on his drink without a care. "I would rather die than tell Yixing about my predicament"

"Okay" Baekhyun swallows his food down his esophagus and into his stomach, "then when are you going to tell LiYin about baby Zhang?"

"The moment I die and decompose" 

"But that would take years"

"Then I will go hiding" Jongdae glares at his bestfriend for a brief moment before turning his attention back on his drink. Jongdae wonders why he never order Strawberry lemonade before, it was much more delicious than the water he drinks every single minute of his life. Baekhyun remains silent on his side and no one dares to even breathe at Jongdae's announcement.

Jongdae thinks back to the time when his life wasn't polluted with the thought of conceiving someone else's child on his abdomen. LiYin was the only constant person in his life for the past five years, other than his bestfriend, and he was afraid of hurting her. LiYin makes him happy just as much as Yoona makes Yixing happy and the egg yolk in his abdomen would destroy this establish relationships. "I won't propose to her, tonight" he hears a gasp from his friends and he squeezes his eyes shut. 

"But you've planned this for a long time already" Minseok informs the male in front with a frown. "You can't just change your mind at the last minute"

"I just did" Jongdae ignores the sad gazes of his Bestfriends and flashes them a big yet fake smile. "There's always a next year and the year after that. I just think I'm not mentally healthy yet to deal with an engagement"

"Acceptable reason" Kyungsoo pats Jongdae in the head and the other nods. "But what about the baby? What happens to the baby after you deliver him/her?"

"I'm gonna give him to people who would actually take good care of him" Jongdae absently rubs a hand on his abdomen. Minseok and the others observe the soft look in Jongdae's face and their heart clenches at the thought of baby Zhang not ever meeting his real parents. An orphan after child birth. 

"You're considering adoption?" 

"It's better than abortion" Jongdae ignores the look of disbelief from his friend and continuing to sip on his drink. Jongdae's gut stirs in guilt at the thought of sending the child to adoption but he have a life to live and a mistake isn't a reasonable reason to change it. Plus he was in the same position as the child in his abdomen before.

"Jongdae, please reconsider" Minseok tries to reason out. Adoption and abortion were two things that confuses Minseok profusely. Abortion being the lead and adoption being the second, he believes the two wouldn't happen if a mother is just careful with his actions or in Jongdae's case careful with strangers. "You can't put an innocent child to that. No! You can't let your own child taste your life before"

Jongdae clenches a fist but doesn't do anything. Kyungsoo looks back and forth between the two male while Baekhyun snatches Jongdae's meat hungrily. "It's my child I could do whatever I want with it"

Minseok wags a finger at Jongdae, "Correction, you're the other half of the whole. Yixing's opinion still matter in this situation"

"Yixing's opinion is irrelevant at the moment. Since one he's not here and two" Jongdae reaches two fingers up to Minseok's nostril. Minseok bats it away but Jongdae doesn't waver, "two, he is getting married" Minseok glares at Jongdae and Jongdae glares back.

"You know let's just delve onto this matter another time" Kyungsoo intervenes at the two male, before taking a look at Jongdae who was slowly going back to sit. "I know its hard, Jongdae but please think of it carefully" Baekhyun smiles up at Jongdae and squeezes the tense males hand. Kyungsoo expects Jongdae to lash out at him for his suggestion but Jongdae nods in agreement. Kyungsoo shares a look of thanks to Baekhyun and smiles at Jongdae widely. "Thank you"

"So, what are you going to wear tonight" Baekhyun burps and his friends look at him in disgust. 

"I don't know" Jongdae throws a tissue paper at Baekhyun, who burps for the second time that day.

-----

Jongdae is never nervous, scared maybe, but never nervous. Jongdae never associate the two together and most often he mixes up there meanings that Kyungsoo had to smack him with a dictionary in the face. So him being called up by Mr. Zhang spontaneously, had him quivering in fear (nervousness), don't get him wrong Mr. Zhang is a nice man with Adolf hitler mustache that Jongdae thinks is intimidating and weird. "So, Jongdae how's the proposal going" the man lays a finger on Jongdae offering a glass of redwine which made Jongdae's stomach churn. Jongdae had asked Minseok if it was okay to drink wine and the latter nodded but advises to drink only one glass. Jongdae had stayed off the red wine for a whole night after puking his head off. He guesses that Baby Zhang was a control freak or maybe just as picky as Baekhyun when it comes to wine. "Jongdae, yohoo, are you there?" Mr. Zhang snaps a finger in Jongdae's a face and the other blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry Mr. Zhang just had a rough day" Jongdae bowed, putting the wine glass on the table. Nope Jongdae won't go near any type of wines until he dispels the thing in him for nine month. 

"Picking a ring?" Mr. Zhang smiles and Jongdae shakes his head as a no. Mr. Zhang frowns for and Jongdae fidgets with his pants. Jongdae is thankful for the high table separating him from Mr. Zhang and his out of character action. "Jongdae are you backing out?"

"No!" Jongdae shouts before scrambling to regain his face. Mr. Zhang raises a brow at the males antic, Jongdae wanted to hide his head like an ostrich. "No, it's not like that Mr. Zhang. It's just that something happened and I...I wanted to wait a few months to propose to her"

Mr. Zhang places a hand on his waist and swirls his wine glass. Jongdae follows the red wine with his eye, distracting himself with Mr. Zhang's stare. "Jongdae, is this just an excuse cause you didn't find a ring"

'No, it's me indirectly telling you I'm pregnant' Jongdae wanted to scream at the man but instead offers a sheepish grin, "maybe?"

Mr. Zhang judges Jongdae for a quick second then walks out of the room with a warning for Jongdae not to move. Jongdae taps his finger nervously on the table and pulls out his phone to check his messages. He scrolls through them until he comes across Baekhyun's text sent ten minutes after they parted ways in the afternoon.

From: Queen Baek
Date: February 24, 2014 2:30:00
Do what you want Jongdae. 
Minseok and Kyungsoo were just concerned.
No matter what happens we will always support you.
Fighting baby Dae.

Jongdae wanted to cry at his friends support when Mr. Zhang decided to come in the balcony at the same time. Jongdae hides his phone while Mr. Zhang smiles widely at the male, presenting a small violet box. "Are you trying to propose to me, Mr. Zhang? I'm sorry but I have LiYin already" Mr. Zhang laughs at the male, holding a hand on his stomach before turning back to seriousness.

"No, I'm not trying to propose to you" Mr. Zhang opens the box and Jongdae is greeted with the most beautiful ring he had seen in his life. Jongdae's eyes widened at the sight of a ring decorated with a single authentic black pearl with glimmering diamonds encasing it in a small circle. 

"Mr. Zhang?" Jongdae starts with a clogged air way, shock and nervousness clouding his brain. "Why are you giving me this?"

"It's a family treasure" Mr. Zhang takes Jongdae's sweaty hand and laying the box on the male's palm. Jongdae feels the weight of the object both physically and emotionally in his body, "My grandfather made this ring for my grandmother on their 50th year. It took him ten years to find the materials and another five years to finish with his work coming in the way.  Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away two months before their wedding anniversary and my grandfather, devastated, made me promise to give the ring to my only girl. My wife. But then I forgot about it"

Jongdae laughs, "I'm sure your grandpa is mad at you right now" 

Mr. Zhang smiles at him then nods, "He probably is and that is why I'm giving it to you. I have two girls in my life while you have one. Jongdae take the ring, it's yours now" Mr. Zhang closes Jongdae's finger with wrinkled hands. "Do what I haven't done, give the ring to someone who made your heart beat. Give it to your only girl whether if it's LiYin or not. It's yours to keep"

Jongdae whimpers in his place, eyes filling up with tears as he watches Mr. Zhang's fatherly gaze land on him full of love and support. Something he had never felt before for the past 25 years of his screwed up life filled with a substitute family that never made him feel the way Mr. Zhang have. Jongdae cries silently, due to hormones and Mr. Zhang's comforting hug. "Thank you for trusting me"

"No worries" Mr. Zhang pats Jongdae in the back and Jongdae stands a little bit straighter, wiping his eyes from his tears. "Now, let's get back to our ladies"

"Okay" Jongdae smiles, his biggest and sincerest smile before following the man towards the garden where two beautiful females were laughing and chatting with each other. LiYin beams up at the two's arrival and Jongdae returns it with his own. Jongdae plays with the ring on his pocket, debating if he should finally propose to LiYin. 

"I need to speak to you alone" Jongdae tells LiYin with an unwavering gaze. Mr. Zhang hold up a thumb and Jongdae ignores his aching head. LiYin was beautiful in white, hair curled in the end, a wide smile plastered on her beautiful face. Jongdae feels guilty of lying to her while basking on her beauty. He ushers LiYin to the bench beside the pool with a smile. 

"So how was your day with the boys?" LiYin asked innocently while Jongdae takes a sit beside her. 

Jongdae plays with her hair. "It was..." 'Horrible' "good. We went to Baekhyun's favorite restaurant"

"The expensive restaurant by Gangnam?" Jongdae nods his head, watching LiYin so fondly before stealing a small lighthearted kiss from her. Jongdae doesn't feel sparks like before but he persuades himself that it was him being terrified at the thought of getting rejected. "You're awfully sweet and quiet today. What's wrong baby?" LiYin leans her forehead on the other male. 

"Nothing's wrong" everything is wrong, "i'm just thinking about our future" LiYin widens her eyes when Jongdae knelt down on one knee. 

"Jongdae?"

"I can't think of any words to say. Well I did until this morning" Jongdae laughs at his forgetfulness and bad luck. Jongdae wasn't lying though, he did have his speech laid out since three years ago but with the events that had taken place in the morning he had out and erase every single words he planned to tell LiYin. " I'm sorry if this is the crappiest proposal you will I ever had but I promised you there will be a million proposal to come your way, if you would accept me" Jongdae feels something stir inside him, "I adore you LiYin and I want to spend my life with you" they say when one man proposes to the girl of his dream they feel nervous and jittery, in Jongdae's case he felt terrified. "Will you marry me?"

LiYin breaks out into a smile, "yes! I will!" Jongdae finds it hard to smile the same way LiYin had, when he put the ring on LiYin's finger. He kisses her sweetly like before but he thinks that it only made his fear worse. He kisses her like it's the last kiss he'll ever get from her. He kisses her to calm the guilt in his nerve. 

"I love you" LiYin whispers in his lips and Jongdae doesn't answer even though he badly wanted to. Jongdae hugs her instead and she doesn't push and question his action.

To: Queen Baek
Date: February 23, 2014 11:25:00
I proposed to her Baek
But it feels like it's the wrong thing to do
I need your help Baekhyun
I can't even say I love her like before