Previously on A Baby's Breath: 
 
"Choose. I can act like a friend, normal conversations like the one before."
"Or...?" 
"Let us continue what we started a month ago."
"Kai, we canno-"

"Have this tea, once a day, every day." Rahee's mother placed a cup in front of Hailey, taking a seat in front of her while Hailey fidgeted nervously beneath the table. She felt the eyes of her child's aunts on her, gentle yet calculating her worth and sincerity.

"You're scaring her." Kai said, a smile on her face while his niece played with his phone curiously. He brushed her hair with his fingers, his eyes for a moment resting on Hailey's stomach before he looked up to his sisters again. "It's not good for the baby." He finished, watching Rahee's mother expression soften in understanding and the woman besides her change into a shocked one.

"I never thought I would see Jongin behave like this. Ever." She smiled towards Hailey, a playful glint in her eye as her eyes went back to Jongin, who did his best to ignore her attempts at teasing him. "But yeah, have this tea. Lots of fruit and vegetables, less seafood. Also..."

"Avoid tofu." Rahee's mother added, remembering old wives' tales in Korea of things pregnant women should avoid. Tofu fell apart easily and that wasn't good.
"Eat lots of seaweed soup, during the pregnancy and after giving birth. At least, that's what Mother made Sister do when she had Rahee, right?" She asked, looking over at Rahee's mother for confirmation and only receiving a nod as an answer.

"Please, have your tea." Rahee's mother pressed, glancing over at Hailey to meet her light brown eyes, trying to place where she had seen her before besides the news on SNS. Her group was called NYX and she knew that, what she didn't know was if she knew about them before the article linking Hailey with his brother came out. Of course, thousands of articles of Hailey and her group were coming out now; they were digging out NYX's past and bringing absolutely everything into the light again. But did she knew Hailey or this group before the scandal...?

  Hailey bit on her lip, stopping her fidgeting and allowing herself to reach for the tea. She could see the steam of the tea rising from the cup slowly, creating pretty and distracting swirls to play with Hailey's mind. She hooked her finger on the saucer and slowly dragged it towards her, suddenly aware of all the eyes on her while she took the first small sip.

Bitter.

Rahee's mother laughed softly, cringing as she remembered her first impression of the tea herself. "Bitter, right?"

"Yes." Hailey answered, a frown on her face as she inhaled the strong scent of the tea. It was then when something shifted in her stomach and she placed both the saucer and teacup down. She covered with a hand and stood up, hurrying to the bathroom as she felt the tea she had just taken - slowly coming back up. She pushed the door of the bathroom open, rushing over to the first stall she came across to drop to her knees. It took a minute or two, but the door of the bathroom opened and she heard steps.

"Hailey?" Kai asked, finding the stall she was in and slowly pushing the door open to look at her.

"Please, don't look at me." She moaned in pain, using one leg to hold the stall door closed with Kai on the other side. He held his hand on the door, but didn't push it open. He had taken some time because he had to convince Rahee to let his uncle go and that took a bit. Yet there he was now, standing in the girls' bathroom while the mother of his child refused to be seen by him.

"Hailey, I won't mind..." He whispered, sighing after and closing his eyes while listening how she tried to not vomit with him a mere foot away from her. 

I will mind. She thought to herself. Yes, she would mind if Kai saw her in her current state. The reason was stupid, but it was a reason nonetheless. She didn't wish to corrupt her image before him and it was so pathetic, really. In a few months or mere weeks, Kai would see her go through rough moments - whether she wanted it or not. 

You will make mommy pay for her sins, won't you? She thought again, moving a hand to her stomach while her body jerked forward again in attempts to empty her stomach while Hailey suffered.

Kai decided to leave the bathroom and give her space, but he would do it while being useful. He didn't want to seem as if he were running away from the situation. He hadn't been there for her a full complete month, he needed to make it up for her and his child. "Do you need anything?"

Hailey closed her eyes, sniffling softly and nodding, even when he couldn't see her. "Water." She answered in a whisper, raising a hand and wiping the tears on her eyes. It was so painful. Would the next eight months be this way?

She heard the steps of Kai as he walked out of the bathroom, followed by the door opening and closing behind him. Actually, the first signs of pregnancy besides the fainting had been morning sickness which they attributed to the flu members had caught. For Hailey, even after the flu was gone, she kept fainting and experiencing the inability to keep food down. Even then, she managed to gain weight which the company found inacceptable and became concerned, not enough to send her to a doctor, but enough to force her into an extreme weight loss regimen until Hailey talked. 

Hailey had a feeling of what was going on because she knew that Kai nor her had been bothered by protection when they had . Her company had also stopped giving all the members except Sun and Claire birth control, so it was quite easy for Hailey to do the math. plus no protection or birth control...

Bingo! Pregnant.

She took a deep breath, her hand shaky as she reached for some kind of support to stand up.

"Hailey, are you okay?" This time, a female voice called for her and Hailey recognized her as Rahee's mother. "Open up, let me help you." She said, kindly knocking on the stall. Hailey stayed quiet for a few seconds before taking a deep breath, reaching behind her and unlocking the stall.

Opening up to someone, finally.

 Kai watched silently how Hailey drank the rest of her tea after her small bathroom break. When he went back into the bathroom with the water, his sister was helping Hailey clean up by the sink - how Kai had done just a day ago. They were having small talk, but the way his sister looked at Hailey, he knew they had talked about other things and that they would be talking again, soon. He was honestly relieved Hailey had someone to count on, but he was also dying of curiosity. What had they talked about? How did they grow comfortable so fast?