Title: Good, Better, Best
Prompt-#: 102
For: Anonymous
Pairing: het!Onkey (side het!2min)
Author: Minew @ AO3
Word count: 2869 words
Rating: PG
Warnings: N/A
Summary: The only consolation is that Gwiboon most likely also ruined Taeyeon’s day. (In which Gwiboon and Taeyeon are high school rivals and meet once again at the ob-gyn).

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Gwiboon turns around and feels her otherwise good day turn sour. Her lips curl upwards in a sneer and her husband, Jinki, raises an eyebrow at her. There, in the waiting room of Gwiboon’s ob-gyn, sits one Lee Taeyeon, someone Gwiboon had hoped to never meet again. She prays her heels are silent on the linoleum floor as Jinki leads her to an empty seat but no such luck when Taeyeon lifts her head and meets Gwiboon’s eyes. The other woman thins her lips and stares at Gwiboon. The only consolation is that Gwiboon most likely also ruined Taeyeon’s day.

“You should quit the high heels, Gwiboon,” her ob-gyn Jonghyun says. He turns to look at Jinki who only shrugs.

“I tell her every day, but she doesn’t want to.”

The two of them keep talking while Gwiboon zones out and stops listening to her doctor and her husband. Her mind is still on Lee Taeyeon. She can’t believe that the one person she hoped she would never meet again is here, waiting in the waiting area for her ob-gyn. Sure, Kim Jonghyun might be the best ob-gyn in the area but Taeyeon could’ve found someone else. She can’t possibly be living in the same area as Gwiboon, that’s ridiculous. That’s utter nonsense, really, and the thought makes a shiver run down her spine. It can’t be healthy for her unborn child that Gwiboon is around Taeyeon.

“Babe,” Jinki says and gently squeezes her fingers to pull her back to reality. Jonghyun holds a cup out towards her.

“Please drink this Gwiboon. We’ll draw your blood in an hour and I’ll tell you the result before you head home.”

Gwiboon takes the cup from him when she registers his words.

“Wait, an hour?! What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

Both Jonghyun and Jinki turn to look at her with a questioning gaze.

“Didn’t you bring your book?” Jinki asks and Gwiboon bites her cheek. She’d deliberately left it at home because her back aches when she carries too much in her heels and she refuses to wear sneakers. Gwiboon is at her best right now. Her baby bump is showing so it’s obvious but she doesn’t look like a beached whale yet. She’s 6 months pregnant and it suits her, makes her glow. No way she’s going to waste that on carrying stupid items like books and crosswords. Jinki sighs when she doesn’t answer.

“Great,” he murmurs and Gwiboon sends him a glare. Jonghyun sighs a little.

“You know there are magazines in the waiting area, you’re more than welcome to read a few of those. It’s really important, however, that we check you for gestational diabetes and this is the best way to do it for now. Bottoms up.”

Gwiboon eyes the cup before she takes it to her lips and drinks the sugar solution. It makes her cough and wince. Disgusting. That can’t possibly be healthy for her baby either. Jonghyun looks very pleased with her, however.

“Don’t say it,” she says and Jonghyun chuckles.

“Okay. Other than that, your baby is fine and healthy. All ten fingers and all ten toes and with a very healthy heart. Did you start thinking about whether you want to give birth lly, with or without epidural? Or if you want to give birth in a bathtub?”

Jinki coughs a little, immature as he is, and Gwiboon sits tall in her seat.

“Yes, actually, I did think about it, but …” She takes a look at her husband. “I haven’t fully decided yet, but I was thinking of a bathtub without the epidural. At least for now, maybe I’ll change my mind.”

Jonghyun chuckles and nods.

“You don’t have to decide right now. You can change your mind right up until after you have given birth.”

He sends them a smile before he gets up from his seat and walks towards the door. Gwiboon stands and sways a little on her heels before she steadies herself and she sends Jonghyun a smile as well. It isn’t until they step out into the waiting area again that Gwiboon remembers that Taeyeon is there. Ugh.

There is a tall man sitting beside Taeyeon. Gwiboon reasons that it must be the father of Taeyeon’s unborn child but it doesn’t even cross her mind that it can be her boyfriend or her husband.

“Look at that little ,” Gwiboon whispers to Jinki and he squeezes their locked hands so hard she lets go with a small yelp. She glares at him but Jinki glares back at her. She wants to stand tall but it’s so rare that Jinki is actually harsh with her so it makes her cover and scowl for herself. Nope, this waiting she has to do at the ob-gyn is definitely not a good thing for her child.

When Jonghyun exits his room to call on Lee Taeyeon and the skinny girl disappears into the room with the tall man beside her, Gwiboon turns to her husband so she can pout at him. Jinki ignores her pouting while he reads in one of the magazines about pregnancy that lies around in the waiting area. Gwiboon frowns when she doesn’t gain his attention with a small cough and a whine.

“Oh for christ’s sake,” she murmurs and Jinki turns towards her with his trademark smile. Gwiboon wants to wipe it off his face.

“What do you want to say?” he asks in a sweet voice and Gwiboon turns her back to him and grabs a magazine, only to open it on an article of l births and she closes it abruptly again, not wanting to deal with bloody deliveries. She’s not in the mood for that. With a sigh, she turns back around to face Jinki and she jabs a finger in his chest.

“Why does she have to be here?” she asks and Jinki blinks confused.

“Who?” he asks, the sweet voice dropped and just normal confusion clouding his voice.

“Her!” Gwiboon whines. Jinki still doesn’t understand.

“I have no idea who you’re talking about Gwiboon. Taeyeon?”

She growls at the mention of the other woman and Jinki nods to confirm his suspicions that Gwiboon was talking about Taeyeon. Gwiboon ignores her husband again.

Gwiboon changes her attitude with Jinki the second Taeyeon and her companion exits Jonghyun’s examination room and sits down in the waiting area again. She snuggles closer to him and Jinki shakes his head a little in disbelief. He lets her snuggle closer to him anyway.

There are many things Gwiboon wasn’t able to do better than Taeyeon when they were in high school but there is one thing Taeyeon will never be able to get – a husband as nice as Gwiboon’s. If Gwiboon is entirely honest, she’s not really sure Taeyeon will even be able to get a husband, but snark aside, there’s just no way he can ever be as good as Jinki. Gwiboon knows she can be a little difficult and she knows that she sometimes complains about him. Right now, she reasons it’s her hormones that are going all whack. Despite her difficulty and her light-hearted complaints, she loves Jinki with all her heart and couldn’t imagine marrying anybody else. Jinki is patient with her but knows when to be stern. He understands her better than anyone else, even when she says he understands nothing, and he is the best conversation partner she has ever had. Jinki likes adventures and spontaneous trips and he loves quiet evenings and reading and it’s everything Gwiboon has ever dreamt of. She was the world’s luckiest girl when they met and she can never lose the title now that she has married him.

Taeyeon, on the other hand, is quite an eyesore. Honestly, Gwiboon would have forgotten her and the pain she caused her in high school if it wasn’t because she was unable to forget the lithe fairy-like girl that had stolen her high school glory. To call them rivals would be the understatement of the century but that’s what people did anyway. Gwiboon was a year older than Taeyeon but the age difference had been the least of their problems. They had both been dancers, working hard to get their spot on the solo stage, but Taeyeon had, and Gwiboon hates acknowledging it, been the better dancer. But if dance had been the only thing, then maybe Gwiboon would have let it slide.

No, Taeyeon had been her competitor in everything. Gwiboon’s fashion-sense and appearance was suddenly challenge by Taeyeon’s skinny body that looked gorgeous in the most ridiculous clothes. Her grades were suddenly challenged by a girl that breezed through studying without much effort and her popularity was stolen by the newcomer.

Gwiboon hated Taeyeon with everything she had in high school and she had never gotten over her ex-boyfriend breaking up with her because he’d fallen in love with the other girl. There were many things Gwiboon could have forgiven, but not that. And as such, she has held a certain grudge against the other girl for years. Now, however, there is one thing she does better than Taeyeon.

“Oh, hello Gwiboon,” Taeyeon says when they sit down and Gwiboon tries hard not to snarl. “Nice seeing you here.”

Jinki squeezes Gwiboon’s shoulder reassuringly, hoping to calm her down before she says anything she’ll regret. Gwiboon isn’t sure she can ever regret anything she says to other girl, though. Still, she fakes a sugary smile.

“Taeyeon! I didn’t notice you,” she says and she feels Jinki’s shoulders move in a snigger he tries to supress. She has told him about Taeyeon but maybe in slightly different words and maybe not fully describing just how much she truly hates her. Gwiboon really doesn’t want to seem petty but petty is exactly what she is and even though Jinki finds their rivalry silly, he still listens to her complaints from high school. Well, he does when they’re not at the ob-gyn and Gwiboon hasn’t outwardly said mean things.

“It’s so good seeing you here,” Taeyeon says with a smile and Gwiboon knows she doesn’t mean it. “How far are you?”

Gwiboon notices how she subtly grabs the man’s hand and links their fingers as if Gwiboon would have any interest in the tall one beside Taeyeon.

“6 months,” she says. She doesn’t intend on asking the question back but Jinki spoils her plans and asks instead of Gwiboon.

“I’m 6 months as well. What a coincidence.”

The atmosphere in the waiting room is tense and Gwiboon knows that the two men are expecting her to continue the conversation like they’re old friends meeting again.

“You haven’t introduced me to your … friend.”

She can hear the snark in her voice herself and Gwiboon only half-heartedly admits that it’s supposed to be there. Jinki quiets down, the smile on his lips tightening a little at her reluctance to speak with Taeyeon.

“Ah, right. This is my husband, Minho.”

The man, Minho, sends Gwiboon and Jinki a kind smile and Jinki smiles back to him like it’s natural. Gwiboon can still feel Jinki’s apprehension towards her, though. He doesn’t fully trust her to not say something truly mean. If it really slips, Gwiboon decides that Taeyeon must really deserve to know the words, but she’ll try to behave for Jinki. Only for him.

“I don’t think I introduced you to my husband either. Babe, this is Taeyeon from high school. Taeyeon, this is my wonderful husband Jinki,” she says in the sweetest voice she can produce. God, she hates this, but she’s winning this time. If Minho truly is Taeyeon’s husband, then Gwiboon scored so much better.  

“It’s nice to meet you,” Taeyeon says and then hesitates before she says “you look nice together.”

It’s supposed to be a fake compliment, Gwiboon knows it. One of those that means ‘you are an average couple’, maybe one of those that means ‘couldn’t you have found someone better’. It’s one of those polite-for-the-sake-of-being-polite answers and Gwiboon frowns offended. She officially hates Taeyeon.

“Yeah, right?”

She leans up to press a kiss to Jinki’s cheek and then gives Minho a one-over. Gwiboon really does have the more handsome husband of the two.

“You look … good too.”

Gwiboon puts on a fake smile and she can literally see Taeyeon’s hand curling into a fist. It’s good. It feels good to finally win.

“Thank you.” Taeyeon grits her teeth. “Did you know that Minho is a pilot?”

Gwiboon has no idea what makes Taeyeon think she has any idea what the man beside her does, but she recognizes the attempt to make her jealous. Too bad Jinki is everything Gwiboon desires and also an interior designer so it’s not like she’s jealous of Minho’s occupation.

“That’s nice,” she says and snuggles closer to Jinki’s side. “Jinki is an interior designer. Wasn’t that what you desired to be in high school?”

Gwiboon knows, based on the way Jinki squeezes her hand, that she’s tiptoeing the line between being polite and being rude, but she is not going to let Taeyeon have the upper-hand. Not this time. Taeyeon sends her a smile so obviously fake that Gwiboon glows a little in pride.

“It was,” she says, voice like sugar. “Did you end up as a fashion designer?”

Gwiboon tries hard not to frown visibly. That’s a low blow. Everybody knew that she didn’t get the internship at Vogue she had wanted and worked so hard for. Instead of walking red carpets and dressing models for runways, she has ended up designing costumes for a small local theatre. The work is nice, her co-workers are lovely people and she isn’t unhappy. Still it hurts to hear Taeyeon so subtly rub salt in the wound. Maybe she deserves it after she did the exact same to Taeyeon but Gwiboon still thinks it’s rude and unnecessary. Gwiboon spends 30 seconds trying to come up with a great comeback but when she mumbles her ‘no’ and defeated looks towards the ground, she feels Jinki’s arm wrap around her shoulder instead of holding her hand. She leans in just a little closer, just enough to feel his cologne and almost sighs in bliss.

“It’s okay, though,” she says when she looks up and gets eye contact with Taeyeon. “I have the best colleagues and I have a wonderful husband. It would be a mess if we were both too busy to be at home with the kid.”

Taeyeon’s eyes turn to slits like Gwiboon has just offended her greatly. Maybe she has. It wouldn’t be the first time.

“Of course.” The smile on her lips is thin and strained. “I never would have thought you to be a stay-at-home wife.”

Taeyeon thinks she has won with that comment, Gwiboon can see it, but instead of feeling greatly offended by it, Gwiboon shrugs a little. It’s true what Taeyeon says, no one would have thought of Gwiboon as a stay-at-home mom. Gwiboon knows it isn’t going to happen either but Taeyeon doesn’t have to know that.

“You’re right, it doesn’t suit me. It does suit you, though, don’t you think? Your husband seems like he could need the help,” Gwiboon says and Taeyeon widens her eyes before she takes a step closer. Her sneakers squeak against the floor and Gwiboon slowly pulls away from Jinki. There’s fire in Taeyeon’s eyes, fire Gwiboon has never seen before but fire she’s going to rival if it comes down to it.

When Gwiboon utters a childish “I have the best husband!” towards Taeyeon and Taeyeon retorts just as childishly, Jinki sighs heavily and looks at Minho. Minho sends him a smile and chuckles at the sight of their pregnant wives, standing as close together as their bellies allow them while they fight on who have the better husband.

“Choi Minho,” Minho says and reaches his hand out towards Jinki. “A pleasure to meet you.”

Jinki blinks confused before he notices Minho’s hand and grabs it.

“Lee Jinki, pleasure is all mine.”

They turn to their wives when Gwiboon stomps her heels in the floor. Jinki shakes his head fondly.

“We should probably separate them. Their history with each other is not exactly positive.”

Minho laughs and crosses his arms over his chest.

“They would be great friends if they stopped fighting like that,” he says and Jinki looks at the two women. Minho is right, however. Jinki sees that now. Gwiboon and Taeyeon are too alike and their rivalry is still silly. It always has been but now more than ever. Then he hears Minho chuckle and Jinki can’t keep his laughter in anymore either. They are stupid, fighting like that, but also ridiculous cute.

“Kim Gwi … uh, what’s going on?” Jonghyun asks when he exists his examination room and looks at the two women that are glaring at each other, arms crossed over chests and chins raised slightly towards the sky. Jinki grabs Gwiboon’s waist and pulls her along back into Jonghyun’s examination room without answering Jonghyun’s question. Minho intertwines his fingers with Taeyeon’s and sits her down before the door closes behind Jonghyun and they’re alone.