“I’m fat,” Hye Kyo says and Joong Ki looks up from his papers to stare at his sulking wife standing at the door of his makeshift office at home.

“No, you’re not,” he says and Hye Kyo huffs.

“I look ugly,” she continues to sulk and Joong Ki couldn’t help but take a deep breath at her verbalizing her insecurity. She has been feeling really insecure these days, constantly muttering that she feels really big and looks swollen. He disagrees though. Even at 9 months, he still finds her y. In fact, she barely gained weight and you can’t even tell she’s pregnant if not for the bulge in her stomach as if she just swallowed a watermelon. But still, she wouldn’t listen to any of these.

“Of course, not. You’re beautiful,” he sincerely says and he could tell that she still doesn’t believe him. “Aigoo, my sensitive wife. Come here,” he adds and though sulking, she obeys and approaches him, which makes him smile. He then beckons her to sit on his lap.

“But I’m heavy,” she protests and he gives her a “what are you saying” expression.

“Not that heavy that I can’t carry you. I’m strong, you know,” he says and she rolls her eyes at him before finally settling on his lap.

“Oooff,” he gasps the moment she sits and she scowls.

“I told you!” she cries, about to get up but Joong Ki stops her, holding her in place.

“I was just kidding,” he says, chuckling and she glares at him.

“Bad joke.”

“I know. Sorry, it’s just that you’re fun to tease,” he says, leaning close to rub his nose against hers.

“Sometimes I think you only married me because you want to annoy me for the rest of your life,” she says.

“Well, that’s partly true,” he says, earning him a smack on the chest from her.

“I hate you,” she says as she again tries to break free from his hold, but he’s much too strong.

“Oh no, you don’t,” he retorts back, while hugging her tighter. “You love me,” he adds as he nuzzles his face in the crook of her neck, inhaling her.

“True,” she says giving up on trying to get away from him. She just couldn’t fight him when he’s being adorable like this.

“And I love you more,” he says, giving her a peck on the neck before pulling away to stare at her in the eyes, seeming to see through her soul.

“So beautiful,” he adds, caressing her cheek with his hand, causing her breath to hitch a little. While some men do not find pregnancy attractive, such is not the same in Joong Ki’s case. There are still moments when he couldn’t believe his luck of finding someone so beautiful not only on the outside, but on the inside as well. More so, when that beautiful someone is carrying his child, their child. Beautiful. So beautiful. He would always find himself thinking like a man in a trance.

In fact, there was one moment when he came home, excited to spend the rest of the day with her only to find her asleep on the couch near the window. She must’ve fallen asleep while reading, he thought.

He found himself holding his breath as he took in her features, looking so peaceful with her eyes still closed and her hair in slight disarray while she breathed evenly. With the sunlight streaming through the window and casting an angelic glow on her face, a book in one hand while the other holds her now obvious baby bump, he couldn’t help but feel his heart skip a beat then swell with love and joy, knowing that this beautiful woman is his and his alone.

He sometimes feels like it’s still all just a dream and that anytime he would wake up. Everything’s just so surreal. One moment, he was alone, not caring about anything but work, the next he’s not. He now has someone with him, someone who makes him feel so loved, so taken care of, so absolutely and genuinely happy. He never knew how empty he used to feel until she filled his life with love and joy.

 “Are you still in pain?” Joong Ki asks as Hye Kyo settles her head in the crook of his neck and sighs. She has been experiencing cramps lately, which at first got them worried, but when they went to the doctor to check, they were just assured that it was normal for pregnant women to experience those.

Braxton Hicks contractions or false labor contractions, Dr. Pyo called it. She explained that they can feel like real labor contractions where she may experience a cramping, painful feeling that wraps around under the belly and back. However, they shouldn’t be confused with real labor contractions as they may only last up to 20 seconds, release, and come back after 10 minutes.

“Yes,” she answers quietly and he tightens his hold on her while her belly soothingly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything about it,” he says, really feeling sorry that he couldn’t ease Hye Kyo’s discomfort. Just because they’re not real doesn’t mean they don’t hurt and he doesn’t like seeing his wife writhing in pain.

“It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt that much,” she says, smiling and just when she’s about to reassure him further, her smile fades and she flinches. There it goes again.

“See?” Joong Ki says, looking at her worriedly, feeling helpless. He then continues rubbing her belly, praying for the pain to fade away. “I really wish there’s something I can do to make it go away.”

“You know that’s not possible,” she gently tells him, but then stops as a thought comes to mind. “Well, there is something that you can do to ease the pain,” she adds and he cranes his neck to see her face.

“What’s that?” he asks, desperate to help.

“You can distract me,” she says, facing him with a knowing smile forming on her lips.

“How?” he asks, confused and an idea hits him. “Ah! I know,” he smiles mischievously before leaning in, pouting his lips for a kiss but then Hye Kyo stops him.

“That’s not what I meant,” she laughs at him. “I mean, you can entertain me through, like, let’s say, hmm... dancing?”

“But yeobo, you know I’m not a good dancer and…” he starts to protest.

“Please, jagiya? Pleaaassee?” she tries to ask in a sweet voice.

“I can’t…”

“Please, Joong Ki? For me and our baby… please?”

“But yeobo….”

“Fine! If you don’t want to do it, then don’t. You can get back to what you’re doing now. I’ll just endure the pain,” she sulkily says and starts to get up when he stops her.

“Alright. Alright. I’ll do it,” he says, finally giving in and she starts to grin. Aigoo, his wife is so sensitive. “But I can’t promise you that it will be entertaining. You know, dancing’s not really my thing,” he says as he gets up and motions his wife to take a seat on his office chair while he walks around the desk to face her.

Here goes nothing, he says to himself as he tries to think of some dance moves to ‘entertain’ her. He is such a er when it comes to his wife, he’d do just everything for her even if it means he has to embarrass himself.

Anything for you, Hye Kyo. Anything for you.

“Okay, you asked for this, Jagiya. Be prepared to be so distracted that you’ll forget your own name,” he says, pointing a hand at her, seeming to challenge her and she makes a face at his cheesy line. He then takes a deep breath before stretching his body, seeming to warm up. 

He first tries the lamest thing he could think of at the moment and starts moving his hand along with his body, hoping to make a cute dance move. He watches as she starts to smile then laugh softly and continues doing this until he also ends up laughing, finding his moves ridiculous. 

Loving the sight of his wife laughing heartily, he then decides to perform another dance move. This time, he’s bolder in his actions as he tries mimicking a robot dance, just like what they do in TV shows. He looks so rShe seems to finds this real funny as she starts laughing heartily. 

He knows he looks so hilarious with his stiff dance moves, but he doesn’t really care for as long as it makes his wife happy. That’s what matters and right now, he’s succeeding and he even finds himself enjoying seeing her laugh like that.

“OMG. Stop Jagiya, I can’t take it anymore,” she says, laughing really hard with one hand clasping her belly.

“I have one more, Yeobo. Hang on. This is going to be the highlight,” he says, loving the sound of her laughter, as he readies himself for his finale. “Okay so this is what you call a jelly dance,” he says as he starts wiggling his body as best as he could, mimicking the way a jelly moves. She then bursts into laughter and this motivates him to wiggle even more.

“Yeobo, look at this,” he says, wriggling his hips while trying to keep a straight face but fails.

“Jagiya, stop, I can’t,” she’s still laughing really hard and he finds joy in this.

“This is how you do the wiggle dance. Dance with me yeobo,” he says, moving around the room, no longer caring if he looks silly or not.

“Joong Ki, stop…”

“But I’m not yet done, did you forget your name yet?” he asks, going back to the robotic dance move, determined to distract her.

“Joong Ki…”

“Wait up, yeobo. Check this one out,” he says, exaggerating the moves.

“Joong Ki, stop… Joong Ki!” she tries to get his attention, but he’s not listening.

“JOONG KI!!” she’s shouting now and finally, he stops dancing, taken aback. “I think we need to go to the hospital. I think I’m about to give birth.”

--- 

Joong Ki stands there, feeling helpless upon seeing his wife in so much pain, while trying his best to look calm and strong so as to encourage her. He doesn’t like seeing her like this. It makes him want to cry. If he could only take away everything that she’s feeling now.

But he knows she has to go through this, she has to undergo this much pain to give birth to their child and the last thing he wants to do is to add to her worries at the moment and let her see how equally scared and horrified he is.

Instead, he just holds her hand while she squeezes it every time she feels the painful contractions and offers support, muttering words of encouragement and whispering to her how much he loves her.

He can still remember what happened earlier, how he froze the moment Hye Kyo told him that she was about to give birth. She actually had to shake him to get him back to his senses and even then, he was panicking. He was scrambling for his change of clothes and the things to bring all while worrying for Hye Kyo, who was then screaming in pain. Luckily, they already prepared a bag full of necessities before and he only had to find it.

He drove as fast and as safely as he could, trying to focus while dodging cars and at the same time keeping an eye on her. Finally, they were able to reach the hospital and were immediately assisted by the healthcare team. Apparently, she was already experiencing the true labor pain for hours, they just didn’t realize it.

Somewhere between watching over Hye Kyo and praying that everything would be alright, that she would be safe, he found time to call his parents and her dad, who were all excited upon hearing the news and promised to rush to the hospital as fast as they could.

Before he knew it, he was ushered to the labor room where they waited for God knows how long. He was expecting that they will already be escorted to the delivery room, however, the doctor said she wasn’t ready yet and was muttering things like centimeters and dilatation, which he didn’t care about. All he cared about at the moment was her and how to spare her from the pain. In the end, they were finally brought to the room where she is to give birth. They were already waiting for several hours and he was about to shout and threaten the doctors when the one in charge finally decided that it was time.

Initially, they planned on recording the whole delivery process, he even had the GoPro camera already attached to his head. But recording the whole experience was left forgotten the moment they entered the delivery room and he saw her suffering once again.

---

“One more push, Hye Kyo,” the doctor urges for the nth time and beads of sweat form on her forehead as she pushes once more while Joong Ki coaches her. She crushes his hand hard and he feels as if his bones are about to break, but doesn’t complain. He knows that the pain that he is experiencing is no match against the one she’s feeling right now.

“Jagiya, it hurts. It hurts so much,” she says as tears run down her face while Joong Ki feels his heart break.

“I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry,” he says, wiping her tears away and leans down to kiss her on the forehead, a tear also falling from his eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

“Hye Kyo. Again. We need to push hard and then this will be over,” the doctor coaxes again. She takes a deep breath and exerts all the energy she has in that push and finally, after what feels like an eternity, they hear a soft angelic cry.

“Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Song. You are now parents to a healthy baby boy,” the doctor happily tells them while they watch a nurse approach them, carrying their baby. She gently places him on the chest of a teary eyed Hye Kyo  and she holds unto him naturally, as if she was born to do so, as if she was made to be a mother.

Joong Ki on the other hand finds himself frozen in place the second time this night, staring at the breathtaking sight in front of him. If he found Hye Kyo beautiful before, then she’s even more beautiful and absolutely gorgeous right now, looking tired yet so fulfilled, carrying the fruit of their love in her arms.

“Hi there, my little Joong Ki. Welcome to the world,” she says, cooing him. “Would you like to meet your daddy now?” she asks then looks up to Joong Ki, who’s still staring at them in awe. She gives him a soft smile and finally, he awakens from his reverie and leans down to stare at his son.

“Hi, son. It’s nice to finally meet you,” he says taking his son’s little hand. His heart swells with love as a tear runs down his cheek. He has only fallen in love at first sight twice in his life. Once with his w