Note – There are only males in this world. No females.

 

_____________

 

“I am pregnant.”

“WHATT??!!!”, the glass almost slips from Jaehwan’s hand as Taekwoon, his partner tells him the shocking news.

“I am pregnant with your child, Jaehwan”, Taekwoon says with a blush on his face.

“How—how did that happen? We used protection, didn’t we?”, Jaehwan still wasn’t able to comprehend what he had just heard.

Taekwoon, surprised at Jaehwan’s reaction couldn’t help but regret telling him that.

“Is there a problem with that?”, Taekwoon asks, his heart clenching as he waits for the reply.

“AHhh”, Jaehwan struggles, “Noo…?”, he wasn’t sure how he felt.

“HAHAHAHA”, Taekwoon breaks out.

Jaehwan looks at him with a furrowed eyes and confused expression. “What is it, love? What is so funny?”

“AHAHA”, Taekwoon laughs again. “I was just kidding, Jaehwanaa. You should have seen the look on your face!”

Jaehwan took a deep breath when he heard that. Relieved, he went to Taekwoon and did the slicing gesture on his neck like they usually do whenever they were angry or annoyed with each other.

Taekwoon put his arms around Jaehwan’s neck and pulled him closer for a hug.

“I know where you are at now”, Taekwoon says, inhaling Jaehwan’s body scent that he really likes.

“I am sorry for reacting like that”, Jaehwan says, lifting Taekwoon up and heading to their bedroom. Once they were inside, Jaehwan slowly puts his partner down on the bed and squeezes together with him.

Taekwoon gestures him to put the blanket over them with a pout which makes him look like a cute little child. Jaehwan, unable to resist the cuteness, gets the blanket and puts it over Taekwoons body.

“Aren’t you getting inside?”, Taekwoon asks, lifting the blanket and inviting Jaehwan inside.

Jaehwan was just looking at the ceiling and he shakes his head which makes Taekwoon frown again, Jaehwan loving all the facial expression he was getting to see from his beautiful partner. Taekwoon scoots over to Jaehwan and rests his head on the younger man’s chest, his head moving up and down with every breath Jaehwan took. They stayed like that for a long time.

“Taekwoonaa”, Jaehwan says, almost like a whisper and the other man just hums in reply.

“Were you disappointed?”, he asks.

“Disappointed? With what?”, Taekwoon asks. His heart beating faster than normal.

“With how I reacted to the pregnancy news”, Jaehwan says.

“Hmm, no no”, Taekwoon says, laughing again. “I know you don’t want to have kids. I was just teasing you”, Taekwoon’s eyes were very watery when he said that but Jaehwan could not see it.

________________

~3 months later~

“Love, I am home!!”, Taekwoon flinches at the sound of Jaehwan.

‘Why is he home so early?’, he thinks. Taekwoon was supposed to do this without Jaehwan knowing anything but it was too late.

“Love?”, Jaehwan says, entering their bedroom. His eyes widen when he sees the mess in the room. Both of them were the neat type of people so Jaehwan was shocked to see the condition of their bedroom.

“What’s going on?”, he shouts when he sees Taekwoon sitting across a big suitcase filled with all his clothes. Taekwoon looks back at him with an apologetic face. He quickly zips the suitcase and gets up.

“Yah-Taekwoona, answer me. What’s going on?”, Jaehwan said. He kind of knew where this was going.

Taekwoon unable to answer, just pulls the suitcase but is stopped by a tight grip on his arm.

“Jaehwan”, Taekwoon finally looks at him. Jaehwan looked really angry and he was not going to let it go by so easily. “Let’s break up.”

“Why?”, Jaehwan feels betrayed. His eyes almost tearing, “Why, DAMN IT!! WHY??!!”.

He grabs Taekwoons shoulder with his hands and shakes him violently. “WHYY?!!”, he asks again.

Taekwoon and Jaehwan had been dating for more than 4 years now and this was the first time he had ever seen Jaehwan like this. Jaehwan was always the happy-go-lucky-type of guy and even if he was feeling down, he would never let people see it. But right now was different. He needed to know why the love of his life was leaving him without any reason.

Taekwoon frees himself from Jaehwans tight grip. He sets his bag aside and stands firmly in front of his partner.

“Jaehwan, I am tired.” It almost sounds like he really was. “I am sorry, Jaehwan. I cannot go on like this anymore.”

“Why Taekwoon?”, This time, he calmed himself. He did not want to scare him. “What are you tired of? Just yesterday, we had a lovely dinner with friends and you were very happy.”

Last night, they had met their friends, Hakyeon, Wonshik, Hongbin and Hyuk after almost a year. The six of them were all good friends since high school. Hakyeon and Wonshik were married and had 2 kids. Same with Hongbin and Hyuk but they had only 1 child.

“Taekwoon?”, Jaehwan can see his partner was thinking about something. “Please tell me, I will make this work.”

“No, you cannot”, Taekwoon says, tears falling slowly down his eyes.

“No no no, why are you crying?”, Jaehwan starts wiping them away but Taekwoon rejects his touch.

“I want to get married! With you”, Taekwoon says, a lot louder than his usual voice. “I want to have your babies!”

When they had first started going out, Jaehwan had already made sure to tell Taekwoon that he wasn’t interested in getting married or having kids. That was one thing Taekwoon could not deal with since he really loved kids and wanted to have his own but since he loved Jaehwan more, he went along with it but after seeing his friends getting married and starting a family, he just envied them so much. The life he had wanted to live was being lived by others.

“But you don’t want these. That’s why it’s hard for me”, Taekwoon says and Jaehwan is unable to utter anything.

He gets his bag and drags it to the main door.

“Will you be happy if I let you go?”, Jaehwan asks, so soft and quiet but Taekwoon still managed to hear it. Taekwoon nods but he knew that he would never be happy with anyone besides Jaehwan.

“Jaehwanaa, I’m sorry! I really am.”, Taekwoon opens the door and Jaehwan’s heart sinks.

“I hope you find someone better than me who will give you the happiness you want”, with that, Taekwoon leaves the place, the place he and Jaehwan had searched so hard for, the place they had made so much memory in and the place they had fallen in love so many times with each other. It was like saying goodbye to all the good things.

Jaehwan looks around the room. He is standing still like a statue. He really loves Taekwoon but that was something he just could not give.

He finally moves and walks around the room. He picked up the shirt Taekwoon usually wore at home that had a picture of a cat in the middle.

“You left your favourite shirt, dummy!”, he said as he fell on the bed and covered his watery eyes.

___________________

~5 months later~

“Lee, Jaehwan!”

“Yes boss?”, Jaehwan politely gestured his boss to sit. “What is it, sir?”

“We need you to be the head of the project that will be starting next month.”

“Me? Why me, boss?”, Jaehwan said, confused. Just 2 months ago, they had interviewed people for that position and Jaehwan was one of the interviewers there.

“What happened to the guy we chose?”, he asked.

“He decided to leave last minute.”

“But sir, I am already handling another one.”

“That project is about to finish though right? You can handle this one! I trust you”, the boss said. “Plus, we will raise your salary and will give you a nice place to stay in Seoul.”

“Seoul?”

“Yes, they want you there at the main office.”

Jaehwan was quiet for a while.

“No pressure though, Jaehwan. Just think about it ok?”

“Yes sir, thank you!”

That night, Jaehwan went home to his empty place, whenever he got inside, he would always picture Taekwoon welcoming him with a warm embrace. Oh, how he missed him so much. Even though Taekwoon was the quiet type, just having him there was enough to make the house complete and lively.

He walks to the couch and throws his briefcase on the floor.

He lets out a heavy sigh and leans his head on the couch. After a moment or so, his phone rings.

“Hello?”, he answers.

“Hello, is this Mr. Lee?”

“Yes, who is this?”

“Hi, I saw your ad on the newspaper and I was wondering if me and my husband could come and see your house this weekend.”

“Oh, yes please. I will be home. Thank you so much!”.

He hung up and sighed again. This was the 7^th time people had called him. He was selling his place.

After Taekwoon had left, everything at home made him miss the guy more and more and it was making him miserable. All he had to do was sell the house and look for another place but selling it was also hard, this was the place where they had made so much memories of each other. They were filled with all the good times, the bad times, the happier times and the sad times. It was like selling a piece of your heart.

_________________

~1 month later~

“Welcome, Sir Jaehwan!!”, the people cheered for him. “We are all so happy to have you here!”

“Ahh Thank you, thank you. I hope we can all work well with each other.” Jaehwan said and everyone started clapping.

It was a welcome party for him from his divisional colleagues and it had only been a week since Jaehwan had arrived in Seoul.

The night ended with singing, eating, drinking, laughing, joking etc.

“Hey, Jaehwan? Is that you?”, He heard a familiar voice.

“HEY!! Hongbin, Wonshik! What a pleasant surprise?!”, Jaehwan said hugging his two friends.

“Why are you here?”, the two asks and Jaehwan tells them about his work.

“Come, let’s get something to drink man!”, Hongbin says excitedly.

When they got in the bar, the three ordered beer and talked about stuffs.

“Oh, yeah. I am sorry about what happened with you and Taekwoon”, Wonshik said, patting Jaehwan’s back. Hongbin nodded.

“Oh that’s ok, I just hope he is doing well”, Jaehwan said. He really missed him though.

“Hakyeon and I met him last time”, Jaehwan quickly turned his head towards Wonshik when he heard that.

“WHERE?!”, Jaehwan had tried to contact Taekwoon for almost a month after he had left but Taekwoon had already changed his number and nobody knew where he had gone.

“Where did you see him?”, Jaehwan asked again. He still loved him so much.

“Here, in Seoul. He told us he moved here.”

‘He is here?’, Jaehwan thought.

“I have his number, do you want?”, Jaehwan smiled happily, something he hadn’t done in a long time after Taekwoon had left. It was like the happiest moment in his life.

“YES! I want to get things right with him!”, Jaehwan said happily.

Hongbin just laughed. “You love him so much, don’t you?!”

Jaehwan just sighs, “Of course I do, I have never loved anyone as much as I loved him.”

Jaehwan bid the two good bye as he made his way to his car that waited at the carpark in his office grounds. He was so happy but he also felt a little nervous to call Taekwoon. He didn’t know what to say or he didn’t know whether he was ready to give up everything and give whatever Taekwoon was asking for. He just hoped that Taekwoon wasn’t seeing anyone.

Thinking about it for a moment, he was now very sure that all he wanted in life was to see Taekwoon happy.

If marriage was going to make him happy, he would gladly marry him. If he wanted kids, he would gladly have them with him. He was ready now.

With a deep breath, Jaehwan dialed his number and waited for the other line to pick up.

After 6-7 rings, someone picked up.

“Hello?”

“Taekwoon?”, Jaehwan asked. No, the voice wasn’t Taekwoon. “Who is this?”, he asked quickly.

“Who is this?”, the other line asked the same question.

“Where is Taekwoon? Isn’t this Taekwoon’s phone?”, Jaehwan asked.

“This is Taekwoon’s friend. May I know who this is?”, Jaehwan could hear the sound of the speaker from the other side.

“I am Jaehwan. I am Taekwoon’s …”

“ahh how is Taekwoon? Is he ok?”, Jaehwan heard the man asking someone from the other line.

“Hello?!!”, Jaehwan said, now worried. “Where are you and what happened to Taekwoon?”

“Taekwoon is in the hospital right now”, Jaehwan almost collapsed when he heard that. His Taekwoon was in the hospital.

“Which hospital?? I am coming there right now!”

Jaehwan drove to the hospital as fast as he could when he got the address from the other man.

When he got there, the other man had texted him that they were in the OB department.

‘OB? Why?’, Jaehwan thought as he walked to the info desk and asked them where it was.

He quickly made his way to the dept and saw a tall man with his arms folded, waiting in the hallway. When Jaehwan entered the area with a worried face, the guy exactly knew that he was the one who he talked to on the phone.

“Are you the one? For Taekwoon?”, He asked Jaehwan and he nodded quickly.

“What’s up? What happened? And Why here?”, Jaehwan said, panting.

“He is going through labour”, the man said.

“WHAT?!!”, Jaehwan finally realized. The talked, the fake news that Taekwoon had told him wasn’t fake after all. It was the truth. Maybe Taekwoon had wanted to see if Jaehwan was ready for them to have kids and after how he had reacted, he had to make an excuse saying that it was a lie.

“Did he leave me because of this?”, he asked himself, tears almost falling. The other man looked at him in confusion.

“Oh, my god! Are you the father?”, He asked.

“I am”, Jaehwan said, feeling guilty about the fact that he was never with Taekwoon during this 9 months of suffering.

“You must be Jaehwan then”, Jaehwan looked at the man. “Go inside! Taekwoon needs you.”

He pushed Jaehwan towards the door and tell him to open it.

He opened it without hesistation but he was indeed very scared and nervous to see Taekwoon.

‘Will he be happy to see me?’, he thought as he made his way inside.

“I cannot do this!!! Please help me!”, Jaehwan’s heart pierced when he heard the voice of the man he deeply loved. He was in pain and he was suffering.

“Please help me!!”, he cried. Jaehwan quickly headed towards the direction.

Everything stopped for a moment when he saw Taekwoon on the bed with two doctors trying to calm him down. He could see him sweating, his eyes were puffed and trails of water streaming down his eyes. He saw Taekwoon’s stomach had grown big and all he could think at that moment was, “That’s my child!”.

“Jaehwanaa?”, He snapped back to reality when Taekwoon called his name with a doubt. Obviously, Taekwoon was too shocked to see him there and at that exact moment, when he was about to give birth.

“Jaehwanaa, is that you?”, he cried but he still managed to form the sentence.

Jaehwan quickly went to Taekwoon’s side and caught his hand.

“I am here, love. I am here now. We will get through this ok?”, He said quickly but calmly. He did not want to make Taekwoon more worried.

“Why are—are you he—here?”

“I am here for you Taekwoon. You are having my child. How can I leave the two of you alone?”, he wiped Taekwoon’s sweat and tears and kissed the man on the forehead.

Taekwoon had finally calmed down a little bit and the doctors left the two alone while they prepared to go in for a caesarean.

“Why did you not tell me?”, Jaehwan asked.

“I was scared. You didn’t want to have kids and I was already carrying yours.”

“So, you wanted to keep that to yourself and suffer alone?”, He scolded Taekwoon and he flinched a little.

“Taekwoon-love, you know how much I love you. If it’s ours, I will love him with all my heart too. How could you have thought that I would hate my own child?”

“But I—I was scared. I thought you would leave me so that’s why, I decided to leave you first. I am sorry.”

The doctors barged in the room and said they were ready for the surgery.

Taekwoon griped Jaehwan’s hands tightly.

“Don’t worry, I am here. I will be here, forever ok?”, Jaehwan leaned down and kissed Taekwoon on the lips. “I cannot wait to start my life with you and the baby again.”

___________________

~1 hr later~

“Mr. Lee?”

“That’s me!!”, Jaehwan quickly stood up from where he was sitting.

“Please, follow me.”

Jaehwan was brought to the room where Taekwoon was resting and their child was in his arms. Just seeing that scene of Taekwoon holding their child was like a blessing for him.

Taekwoon looked at Jaehwan with a blush on his face.

“He looks like you.” Taekwoon said shyly.

“What?!! NO!!”, Jaehwan said walking towards them quickly, “I want him to look like you, my beautiful Taekwoon.”

Jaehwan sat next to Taekwoon on the bed, both admiring the little things their baby did. Taekwoon held the child like it was the most fragile thing in the world and Jaehwan could not be happier, after all, his love was going to love their child so so much.

Jaehwan just stared at Taekwoon looking lovingly, down at their newborn and Taekwoon soon looked at the father of his child.

“What is it?”, He asked, gazing deeply into Jaehwan’s eyes.

Jaehwan moved in and gave him a soft peck. “I missed you.”

Taekwoon smiled. “I missed you too.”

“Sorry, I was not there for all these things.” Jaehwan said with regret. “I promise, from now on, I will be here for you. Whatever you need or whatever you want, just tell me and I will give you everything.”

Taekwoon laughed at the statement.

A little later, the nurse came in and took the baby because they had to feed him and there was an awkward silence between the two. They didn’t know what to say.

Jaehwan noticed that Taekwoon’s hands were not staying still because, maybe, he was also as nervous as he was.

To Taekwoon’s surprise, Jaehwan grabbed his hand and gently put a ring on his ring finger.

“Ahh, what’s this?”, he asked in confusion.

“Let’s get married”, Jaehwan said.

“But you—“

“I am ready Taekwoon. If it’s you, I will marry you any day, anytime. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Taekwoon’s eyes became watery again. Everything was happening in one day and his poor heart could not take it.

“And, sorry!”, Jaehwan laughed a little bit. “That’s not a real engagement ring.”

“I know!”, Taekwoon said, leaning his head on Jaehwan’s shoulder and looking at the ring that perfectly fitted on his finger. “It’s the ring you usually wear on your index finger.”

Taekwoon knew everything, of course.

Jaehwan also leaned his head on Taekwoon’s head and linked their fingers together as they enjoyed the silent moment.

“I love you, Taekwoon-love.”

“I love you more, Jaehwanaa~.”

 

Thanks for reading this cringy fic lol