"Everything seems fine but you are not gaining the proper weight. Have you been eating well?" Dr. Song looks at the two ladies in front of her.

"Ummm...actually I don't have much appetite and I just recently got rid of the morniing sickness. Though I still feel nauseous at times..." Joy answers.

The doctor nods, "Yes. It is quite common  but you still have to try. You need to have the steady weight gain to support yourself and your baby..." She looks at the older woman, "Mrs. Noel, do explain and if required, insist her to eat..." 

"Oh! Ask the girl!! I keep on telling her but she always nags and acts all cute to avoid eating!"

Dr. Song and Noel laugh at the embarrassed face of Joy.

"But Joy, you have to eat properly and if you have any query, please be free to ask me..."

They get up to leave the cabin.

"Don't worry doctor...I'll be careful." Joy promises. 

Jimin checks the watch for the umpteenth time. They have been gone for almost two hours now and he has been restless. He knows he has no right to interfere or even judge Joy but he cannot help but think. Joy is...he just cannot understand. 

He can hear the ladies talk and enter Joy's room. Her room is near to his. They sound...cheerful.

Is Joy married? If not then, how are they so relaxed about her...condition? If she has a husband, then how come she is always here? Or no man has ever visited her?! 

He has called his mom after the tea and she has again asked about Joy. She has understood his feelings when  he has first mentioned about the girl. She is very excited and pleasantly surprised. She wants to meet the girl whom Jimin has finally taken interest into. He has been brushing it off and rolling his eyes but he also knows that his mother is right...  

"Jimin...dinner is served." Noel stands at the open door and smiles.

"Huh? Oh! Yes, I am coming..." He gets startled a little but hides it well.

They are all sitting for dinner. Joy is helping Aera and Noel is sitting across her. Jimin has taken a very little share of  food. It will be very inappropriate to waste. So he says that he is still full due to those buns. 

Namjoon is not there and Noel informs that he is having his dinner in his study, as usual.

Jimin looks closely at the ladies. They look relaxed but there is an underlying merriness in them. Especially in Joy. He pays attention to his few morsels and swallow them with difficulty.

Gradually the dinner comes to an end. Jimin is about to leave when...

"Jimin can you please wait a little?" Noel requests.

He sits back to see Joy squirming a little with a blush and Aera looking at them with curiosity.

Noel asks a maid to get the cake from the freeze which they had brought earlier in the evening. Also asks the butler and the other two servants to join them.

"So...umm...there is a news. Good news. Joy is going to be a mother in some 5 months or more..." Noel announces.

Joy bites her lower lip and looks downwards. Her blush is prominent. The servant begins to congratulate her and Noel cuts the cake to serve everyone. She had initially asked the future mother but she feels too shy.

The servants left and finally Jimin finds his voice, "Con-congratulations Joy-sshi..."

"Thank you..." She whispers back.

Aera looks between the elders. They are all so confusing.

"What heppend?" She asks scratching her little head. is covered in frosting.

Joy smiles and wipes it.

"Well...Aera, there is going to be a baby soon in the house." Noel smiles.

"WHERE?!" Aera jumps at it.

"Here..." Joy puts her hand slightly on her stomach. Aera jumps off the chair and hugs her mid section.

Jimin begins to feel like an intruder and he excuses himself.

Noel tilts her head a little, "What is the matter with him? Is he feeling well?"

"I don't know..." Joy shrugs.

Oh!! Let me go and tell the servants to not let the news out to Mistress Irene, yet. And wait till her delivery... Noel thinks and nods to herself.   

"Dear, don't worry about here. The maids and I will clear the table."

Joy is feeling quiet tired so she did not insist. She takes Aera and leaves for her room.

There is a very different knock on the door. Namjoon looks up from his file. 

Who could it be at this time? The maid had came and collected the plates...

He opens the door to find... no one. A tiny tug makes him look down.

"Hullo Unkeel...It ish me Ae-ra..." She smiles up at him. She is holding a plate with a piece of cake on it.

Namjoon looks around the hallway. There is no one there...

"May- I- come- in?" She asks as if practised.

He sighs and thinks to refuse but her small face is looking expectantly at him.

'Yes, you may..." He moves away from his door.

She enters and sits on the couch.

"So...why are you here now?" Namjoon asks after not finding anything to talk about.

"Oww!! I m sowwy if I distub you...Bad mann-ers..." She frowns a little at herself and shakes her head.

Namjoon hides the smile that was forming on his lips and says, "It's okay..."

Aera's face brightens up and she walks toward him.

"I got you cake!! We all ate!!" She offers the slice to Namjoon.

He looks at the plate in her hand, "I had it for dessert already... But thank you..."

"Owww!! Me ish late!" She pouts, looking at the cake sadly.

"Umm...you can have it..." Namjoon smiles a little.

"Relly? I can?! But...Jooyy says no more chocolet after brush the teeth!!" She sighs sadly.

"You can brush your teeth again..." Namjoon suggests. He does not understand why he continues to talk with her or why he let her in anyway.

"Oh! You so ishmaat!! " She looks at him with more awe and respect.

"Ishmaat?" He asks confused.

"Ishmaat. Ishmaat...Bren, bren!!" She taps her temple and smiles.

"Oh! You mean... Smart?!" He guesses.

"Yesh!! Ishmaat!!" She taps her temple again and gives a small victory skip.

Namjoon bites back his sudden laughter. He frowns.

LAUGHTER?! After so long?! He still can...?! Last time it was Prak Sooyoung's...No!! let the thought be ignored...

Aera sits down beside him and eats the cake. Suddenly she remembers something,

"Do yu know why we eeat cake today?" She whispers mysteriously. Her eyes are narrowed as if she is spilling something secret.

He smirks harmlessly, "No."

"Oh!! I will tell!! JOOY AND NOIL AJUMMA GO TO DOCTA AND JOOY HAS A BABY IN TUMMY!! SO WE DO PARTY WITH CAKE!! YAYY!!!" She cheers with her little fists up in the air and begins to jump slightly.

Namjoon stares blankly at the little girl celebrating the news. He cannot understand what to answer  so he chooses to stay quiet.

Now everyone will know...

"I em so happpyyy!!!" She stops at the knock on the door.

Namjoon recognizes the sound well. He opens the door to find Joy with a cup of chamomile tea. It is something she does every night and honestly it has helped him to wake up without the usual hangover.

She peaks inside the room and sighs.

"Really Aera?! Again you ate cake?!" She enters shaking her head at the little girl.

Aera sheepishly looks at her and asks meekly, "How yu know?"

"You've chocolate all over your mouth!! And also the maid who got the piece out of the freezer for you told me!!" Joy keeps the cup on the coffee table and crosses her arms.

"I...I got it for Nemjun Unkeel!! But he ate so he say I can!!" She pouts looking down.

Joy looks at Namjoon who nods once.

"He say I brush agen..." Aera peeps through her eye lashes at her.

"Aera...baby...It is not only about your teeth...It is so late and it is not good to eat so much sweet at once. What if you got tummy ache?!" She explains putting her hand on Aera's little stomach.

Aera nods, "Sowwyy Jooyy...I will not do it agen..."

Joy kisses her soft and pink cheeks, "It's okay..."

She takes the plate and her hand and turns towards Namjoon, "Good night..."

Namjoon has been observing their interaction with an unclear expression. It is so natural that it is making him uncomfortable.  Joy's words bring him back.

"Hmmm..."

"Good nite Unkeel!! I will meet yu agen..." Aera lets go of Joy's hand to hug Namjoon's leg again.

Joy looks at the small lump covered in blanket beside her. She kisses Aera's forehead and smiles. The afternoon and evening have been really nice. Today she got to see her baby in her womb and hear the rhythm of its heartbeat. Steady and a soft thudding. The first time she was in such distress that she could not feel them at all. But that won't happen anymore. She just cannot wait for the baby to move... 

She looks back at the sleeping little girl and sighs happily. The day has ended with something different as well. A very 'good' different.

When Aera hugged Namjoon, he, for the first time, has patted her head. Goodness!! He looked so awkward and unprepared that she thought she would giggle at his face. But Aera did not seem to feel that. She raised her head to look at his face with such happiness and satisfaction that it clenched Joy's heart. It was as if Namjoon has gifted something precious to her with those stiff pats.

 It was very nostalgic. She saw a very young Joy who was trying her best to get some signs of affection from her father. How similar their childhood are?! No. She may not be able to give anything to Aera and her unborn child but there will be no lack in love and acceptance from her...