Doc Pyo, also known as Pyo Ji Soo, was just pouring herself a cup of tea when her colleague and best friend, Kang Mo Yeon, came lumbering none too gracefully through her office door.

“Yah, what are you doing here?” she asked. Last time she’d checked the clock it was already 8 pm. The only reason she was still at work was because she was on night duty that week.

“I’m on call tonight,” Mo Yeon sighed. She settled herself as best she could in the chair across from her friend’s desk and tried not to look too uncomfortable. Even if she did feel like a freight train had settled somewhere on her back. Hips. Bladder. Ankles. Pretty much everywhere and anywhere. The only problem was if she dared to voice those complaints, her colleagues would send her home, which was the last place she wanted to be. Although it meant walking around in discomfort, she much preferred being at work.

“Again?”

Mo Yeon shrugged. “Are you going to share your tea with me or not?”

“What’s wrong with your department,” Doc Pyo asked. She dug out another mug for her friend. “You’d think they’d cut a pregnant woman some slack.”

“Don’t be mad on my behalf.” Mo Yeon accepted the cup of tea and took a sip of the warm liquid, letting it soothe and relax her insides. “They wanted to cut me from the on call list this last month, but I insisted they keep me on.”

“What’s wrong with you? You could have your baby any day now and you look like you’re about ready to burst. You shouldn’t even be working let alone handling on call duties.”

“At least I’ve given up operating for the time being.”

“I suppose you think you should get points for that. Good job, Dr. Kang, good job.” Doc Pyo let the sarcasm flow from her as she lifted her own mug for a sip. “But seriously, as a doctor, you should know how important it is for you and the baby to get rest.”

“You sound like my mother,” Mo Yeon grumbled.

“You should listen to your mother. This time, at least,” Doc Pyo added.

“Don’t nag me. Let me work. There’ll be plenty of time to rest once the baby comes.”

“Once the baby comes, you’ll be running around after the baby,” her friend wisely predicted. “I really think you should go home. Call another doctor to take your place tonight. What about Dr. Song? I bet he’d take your shift for you. Or better yet, call Dr. Kim. There’s no way she can say no to you in this situation. You should milk it while you can.”

Mo Yeon shot her friend an incredulous look. “And risk the lives of all our patients? Never! No thank you. I think it’d be better for me to stick it out.”

“Where are you going to sleep tonight? In the call room again? How can you possibly be comfortable in one of those tiny beds? Will you and your stomach even fit?”

“Yah! I’m not that big.”

“Want me to get out my measuring tape?” Mo Yeon answered the question by sticking out her tongue. “I’m serious. If you won’t take care of yourself, who will?”

“Let it go.” Mo Yeon sounded tired all of the sudden. “Let me be. It’s better for me to be at work where I can stay busy. The distraction . . . it’s good for me.”

Doc Pyo reached for her friend’s hand. “Still no word?”

Mo Yeon shook her head wordlessly and Doc Pyo patted her hand sympathetically. “Drink up,” she told her.

#####

Having children hadn’t been on their radars.

It’d been on their parents radars, naturally. But not on theirs. At least, not for now. Mo Yeon was busy trying to make a name for herself at the hospital where she worked. And her husband, Major Yoo Shi Jin, well, he was busy trying to save the world. At least, that’s how she liked to put it.

But things didn’t always work out as planned, and about eight months earlier, they’d received the surprise of their life when Mo Yeon took a pregnancy test and it was returned positive.

The revelation had started ironically enough with dinner at her mother’s house, where they’d been pestered to death about having kids.

“Yeh, is there still no news?”

Mo Yeon and Shi Jin looked at each other. The latter shrugged his shoulders and shot her a questioning look. The former rolled her eyes before turning back to her mother to answer. “Nope, no news.

“Why not? Is there something wrong? Are you having problems? Or is it Yoo-seobang? Yoo-seobang, is everything okay? You’re not having any problems are you?”

Shi Jin started choking on the rice he’d just taken a bite of.

“Eomma!” Mo Yeon slapped her husband on the back and handed him a napkin as she glared at her mother, but her mother was not to be deterred. Plus, she had the innocent act down to a pat. “You’ve been married for almost a year. Isn’t it only natural to wonder? Yoo seobang, have some more of this kimchi. I made it special, just for you. I know how much you like my kimchi.”

“Thank you, Eommoni.”

Mo Yeon knew exactly what her mother was up to and wasn’t about to be sidetracked either. “There’s nothing wrong, with either of us, and there’s no need to ask such pointed questions. We already told you; it’s not that we can’t have kids. We’re just not ready for kids right now.”

“Alright, alright, I heard you the first time. There’s no need to yell. Yoo-seobang, have some more of this beef. I made it just for you. You need to keep your strength up at a time like this.”

“Thank you, Eommoni.” This time, it was his turn to be on the receiving end of Mo Yeon’s glare. Later, in the car, she turned to him and asked how he could have just sat there eating as if nothing was going on.

“What was I supposed to say?” Shi Jin asked.

“You could have agreed with me.”

“You were doing a good job speaking for the both of us. And it’s not like I can talk to your mother in the same way,” he pointed out. “It’d be disrespectful.”

Mo Yeon crossed her arms and turned away huffily. “Oh, whatever, I give up. I don’t care. If you want to keep on getting harassed that’s fine by me. Just don’t expect me to say anything the next time we’re have dinner with your father.”

“My father never asks us when we’re going to have kids.”

She hated when her husband was right. “No, but I bet he’s thinking it.”

Shi Jin laughed good-naturedly. “You’re probably right.”

A few seconds later, Mo Yeon shifted in her seat.

“Is everything okay?”

She clamped a hand over . “Yoo Shi Jin-ssi.”

Her husband looked over. “What’s the matter? Are you suddenly not feeling well?”

“I think I’m going to throw up.”

“What? Right now? You can’t! Just hold on for a few minutes. We’re almost home. Think of Big Boss; you don’t want to ruin another car.”

If she’d been feeling better, Mo Yeon would’ve hit him for the last comment, but all she could do was nod her head in agreement and do as instructed.

The minute Shi Jin pulled the car in front of her house, now their house, she was unbuckled and running for the front door. After parking the car, Shi Jin found her huddled over the toilet. He asked if there was anything he could do for her, but she waved him away. When she finally emerged from the bathroom, her husband had lit some candles, which he knew would help soothe her, and poured her a glass of water. “How are you feeling?” he asked.

“It’s weird,” she said, rolling up the sleeves of the shirt she’d changed into and walking over to join him at the kitchen island. “I feel better now that I’ve thrown up.”

He put a hand up to her forehead. “Any signs of a fever? Are you sure you’re not coming down with something?”

She shook her head. “I feel fine. In fact . . . I’m kind of hungry.”

Shi Jin stared at her. “Come again?”

“I could really eat right now. Would you order something for me?”

“Yeobo. We just had dinner.”

“I know, but I could really go for some dolbi right now.”

Though he could hardly believe her, he did what any good husband would do under the circumstances and ordered her a carry out order of dolsot bibimbap. He then watched in amazement as she polished off the entire bowl. “Feel better now?”

“Much.”

The next night, it was a near repeat of the day before, except this time, she’d craved ramen. Army style. “I don’t have any night vision goggles on hand, but I’ll call up Kim Gi Bum Ha-sa and see if he can come over and cook the ramen for you.”

The third night, after he’d had to call up Kim Gi Bum Ha-sa again for a refresher on how to make samgyetang, Shi Jin put his foot down. “Something’s not right. You’re a doctor. You have to realize this is not normal. I think you’d better make an appointment and get checked out.”

Which is how they found out that instead of morning sickness, Mo Yeon was suffering from night sickness and pregnancy food cravings.

To say that they were shocked would have been an understatement, but they weren’t exactly unhappy either. At least, one of them wasn’t.

“Daebak,” was Shi Jin’s response, as they sat across from Dr. Song and took in the news.

“That’s impossible,” was Mo Yeon’s.

“Why is it impossible?” Dr. Song asked, popping an almond. “When two people get married, they do certain things together, and when two people who are married do certain things together . . .”

That’s when Nurse Ha stepped in stop him mid-sentence. “I don’t think Dr. Kang needs you to explain that to her.”

“But she said it was impossible and unless she and Major Yoo aren’t doing certain things together, she should know it’s not impossible.”

“You’re hopeless,” Nurse Ha muttered, giving up and walking away.

“We’re definitely doing certain things together!” Shi Jin’s unnecessary comment earned him a slap to the arm from his wife.

Later, as they sat across from each other in their favorite coffee shop, they took some time to process the news privately. “This is crazy. I can’t believe I’m pregnant.”

“Is it such a bad thing?”

“It’s not bad, it’s just . . . we’re not ready for this.”

“Is anybody ever ready for a baby?”

“How are we going to take care of a baby? Who’s going to take care of a baby? I practically live at the hospital and you . . . well, you know. You . . .” she waved her hand in the general direction of the air. “And what about our house? There’s no room for a baby in our house. We only have the one bedroom. There was barely enough room for your things when you moved in. Where are we going to put a baby? Babies come with things, and those things take up space! And . . . .”

Shi Jin grabbed Mo Yeon’s hands to keep them still. “Stop. Take a breath. Relax. We only just found out about the baby, we don’t have to plan out its entire future right now. There’s plenty of time to figure everything out.

“What