The heat of her body under her covers pulled her out of her sleep as the shuffling of movements fully awakened her. She tosses the blanket off her upper body gently as she tries to cool herself down. She wipes off the moisture on her forehead with the back of her hand before opening her eyes. The walk-in closet was lit and a figure was eagerly deciding what to wear. Hearing her toss in bed he turns around with a smile on his face.

            “Good morning beautiful.” Young Jae calls out softly. He makes his way to her as he attempts to tie his tie without a mirror.

            “Good morning handsome.” She greets back. She groans as she sits up. A growing pain was noticeable in her lower back while the cramps of her stomach began to make itself known as well.

            “Babe. Are you okay?” Young Jae asked as he knelt down next to the bed. “Is your fever down?” He places a hand on her forehead. He frowns. “You’re still burning up.” He gets up and sits on the edge of the bed. “I’ll call in today for work and take you to the doctor’s instead.”

            “No… I’m okay.” She shakes her head lightly. “I’m fine… really.” She leans forward ignoring the pain she was in and reaches for his tie. “Come here and let me tie that for you.”

            He leans forward just a bit. “Are you sure babe? This fever has been going on for a while now. I’ll take you to the doctor’s okay?”

            “No.” She sternly states. “You have too much work that needs to be done. The paperwork for last week isn’t even done yet.” She pulls the tie tight. “If anything, I should be out of bed and helping you.”

            “Which I will not allow.”

            “Exactly. So I will not let you stay home from work.” She pulls a victorious smile across her lips. “Now get going. You’re going to be late.” She pats Young Jae’s chest signaling that she was done with the tie.

            He heaves a sigh before nodding his head. “Fine.” He attempts to kiss her but is stopped with her hand. He stares at her confused and a bit amused.

            “No… Not today.” She teasingly smiles. “I’m sick. We can’t afford you to get sick also.”

            “Babe…” Young Jae pouts. “I’m going to be at work for the eeennntttiiirrreee day. Just one little kiss. Hmm?” He moves in again, but was stopped again. He groans a bit but gently shoves her arms out of the way and connects their lips. She chuckles softly but gives him what he wants. She doesn’t let it live for long though. To his disappointment, she pushes him away.

            “Nooo…” Young Jae whines. He pecks her lips. “Just a bit… more… please… babe.” He complains in between pecks. But she refuses and pushes him away completely. “Baby…”

            “No.” She grins sleepily. “Go. Now.”

            “Hmmm.” He smirks. “I like it when you get bossy like that.”

            “Yeah?” She reflects his smirk. “Well if you hurry up and get back home…” She leans forward and brushes some lint off of his tie. “I’ll just show just how bossy I can be.”

            “Mmm… Baby…” Young Jae moans teasingly. “You make it hard to leave.”

            “Go.” She places a finger on his lips as he leans in again. “I’ll call Ji Yoon to keep me company today.

            “Yeahhh…” Young Jae lets out a nervous laugh. “I should leave before she gets here.”

            She lets out a chuckle loudly. “Yeah. Definitely.”

            Young Jae lets out a soft laugh and immediately lowers himself onto on knee so he was eye-level with Hae Ri’s stomach. His lips meet her clothed abdomen while he took in a whiff of her natural sweet scent; a smile splaying widely on his face.

            “I’ll see you two later. Don’t be a too bad to your mommy today, okay son?”

            “Or daughter…”

            Young Jae looks up at Hae Ri through his lashes innocently. “Of course.”

            As soon as Young Jae is up and out of the door – not missing the chance to give her another kiss, of course – Hae Ri is quick to call Ji Yoon to call her to take her to the hospital. She’s almost crying when her friend picks up. The pain in her lower back and stomach and peaked and her cramps had her almost on her knees.

~ * ~

            Young Jae is panting, head running even faster than his own two feet. His entire body is shaking when he reaches the front desk. He’s quickly escorted to Hae Ri’s room, but stops right in front of it. He gestures towards to nurse to go ahead, and she does. He takes a deep breath before he takes the door handle in his hand, twists it and steps inside.

            She’s laying on the bed, back towards him, with the sheets curving softly around her hips. His hands are trembling and his breathing is stuck in his throat. His heart is still drumming and he’s just about to pass out but he makes it to the bed. His fingers softly trace the curves of her shoulder, and he is finally able to feeling the shaking of her entire body. He is finally able to hear the sniffles and the ragged breathing.

            “Baby…” Young Jae whispers. “Honey…”

            “H-H-Hey…” Hae Ri was broken. He could tell. He quickly pushes off his shoes and climbs into bed with her.

            His arms automatically wraps around small waist and pulls her closer to him so they were right up against each other. And that was enough to crush the rest of their walls. The first to break was Hae Ri. As Young Jae’s warmth surrounded her, her soft sniffles and heavy breathing became long shudders and broken whimpers. Her body trembled even more than before, and he knew if it wasn’t for him holding her she would’ve shattered to a million pieces.

            His guard didn’t last as long as it should’ve. He was soon weeping his sorrows away as well. His forehead leaned up against her back, but still holding her close, he cried. He cried more than when his mother passed, more than when he thought Hae Ri had left him. He cried because Hae Ri was crying. He cried because he lost a part of him. He cried because-

            Just at the thought, he pulled her even closer to him. He held her close and tight, just like that, for the rest of the night as they both cried. They cried until they couldn’t cry anymore, and then kept crying until they cried themselves to exhaustion and fell asleep. But that only let the nightmares take over.