Jjang Appa

“I’m off to work. Are you sure you’re okay?” Gyuri said staring at her wife’s pale face. She was worried because her wife was under the weather since the day before and she was more than willing to stay at home to take care of her.

Saerom, the wife, weakly smiled. “Yes.” She patted the younger’s cheek.

“I can always call Umma to accompany you.”

“I’m fine, Puppy. Now go.”

“Alright…” Gyuri sighed before leaning in to kiss her wife goodbye. “Call me if you feel worse, okay?”

The older nodded and waited until her wife really went out from their apartment before going back to the couch. “Oof…” Saerom massaged her temples. What is happening… She unlocked her phone and scrolled the contact names.

“Hey Unnie, what’s up?”

“Hey Jiwonie, are you on the clock today?”

“Yeap. Why? Are you sick?”

“Yes. I’m having this terrible headache and nausea since yesterday. I’ve taken headache meds but it does not work.”

“I see. Is Gyuri Unnie already left?”

“Yea…”

“Okay. I’ll be there in a bit. Hang on.” Jiwon was about to hang up when she remembered something. “Wait, do I need to notify your wife?”

“No, she knows. I’ll let her know after you check me up.”

“Alright.”

---

Jiwon put down her stethoscope. “Hmm… There’s nothing wrong with you from the preliminary check up. Or maybe you just got the cold or you’re too tired from your work…? Or maybe the IVF medication is giving you side effect—wait, have you tested about pregnancy?”

Saerom creased her brows. “Huh?”

“You’re planning to have a baby, aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh…” The older nodded.

“What step are you in now?”

“Uhh… They put Gyul’s inseminated egg inside me two weeks ago. It couldn’t be this fast. The doctor told us that it needs three or four weeks to grow.”

“It might grow faster.”

“Uhh… What should I do?”

“Come with me to the hospital. We’ll check you up thoroughly.”

---

“Saerom-ah, I’m homeeeee~”

“Hi Puppy…” Saerom greeted, all smile.

“You’re okay now?”

“Yes.”

Gyuri then finally noticed that her wife had her make up on and had worn a pretty dress. “What’s with the dress and make up? Did I miss our important dates?” She looked at her watch.

The older woman pulled her wife inside before moving to push her inside their bedroom. “No. But I need you to shower and change your clothes. I’m taking you out on dinner.”

“Okay.”

Two hours later the couple had eaten their fancy dinner and currently enjoying their desserts. “Sooo… We have a nice dinner. You look really beautiful… What’s the occasion?” Gyuri couldn’t help but to ask because she was really curious—and actually scared she really forgot about their important date.

Saerom looked at Gyuri and beamed before holding her wife’s hand. “I’m pregnant.”

“Pregnant?!”

“Yes…”

Gyuri’s jaw dropped upon the news. “There’s a little puppy in your tummy?” She was still processing the information.

“Uh-huh.”

The younger one then moved to seat beside her wife. “Oh My God. It’s working.” She softly caressed the flat stomach.

“Stop rubbing my stomach in public!”

“I can’t help it…” Gyuri grinned, hand was still caressing the stomach. “Saerom-ah…” She looked at her wife full of love.

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

“For?”

“Doing this for us.”

“You’re welcome and I’m sorry…”

“Sorry for?”

“Sorry for going to be a jerk for the next thirty six-ish weeks.”

“I think I can handle that.” Gyuri leaned in and closed their gap. “I love you…”

“I love you too, Gyuri-yah.”

---

“Hey Chaeng, sorry to disturb you so early, but I think I can’t go to work today, can you cover up for me?” Gyuri talked on her phone.

“Sure. But why, Unnie?”

“My wife is having the worst morning sick.”

“Oh… Okay… Do you need anything?”

“Nah, we’re good.”

“Alright. Thanks Chaeyoung-ah.” The tall woman hung up before going back to attend her vomiting better half.

“You can go, I’m okay, Puppy Appa.”

Gyuri sighed, she felt really bad seeing her wife had to go through this thing. “I know you’re not. It’s okay, I haven’t used my leave rights this year anyway, so it’s fine.” She then helped Saerom up. “Let’s get you clean up. I’ll draw a warm bath for you.”

After Saerom done with her morning bath, Gyuri initiated to make breakfast for her dear wife. “Do you want something, Puppy Umma?” She asked.

“No, thanks. I just need your cuddles as soon as you’re done.” Saerom replied as she settled in front of the TV.

“I’m sorry…”

“Huh? Sorry for?”

“Sorry that you have to go through this. Morning sickness and all.” Gyuri kissed her wife’s temple.

“I’m willing, remember?”

“Still, I feel bad every time I see you’re struggling from your morning sick. I wish I could replace you to suffer from all of that.”

“Maybe for our second kid you’ll do the carrying.”

---

Gyuri beamed as she read the name flashing on her phone. She picked up the incoming call. “Puppy Appa’s at your service.”

“Hey Appa, I was wondering are you going home soon or not?”

“I am… Why, Umma?” The tall woman answered while getting inside her car.

“I kinda wanted this Chocolate Croissant from the French Artisan Bakery downtown…”

“The one that you modeled before?”

“Yeah… Can you bring home some of that? It’s near your office.”

“Sure. Anything else?”

“And uhm… I want a milk tea flavored frozen yogurt, if you can get me, plus a whole bunch of mochis on the side please.”

“Do you happen to know where I should get that?” Gyuri had learned the hard way of getting Saerom’s request from the wrong place.

“I know one shop… but it’s near my parent’s house…”

The thing is Saerom’s parents house was really far from their apartment, Gyuri didn’t want to disappoint her wife, but there was no other way, so she tried to reason with her, knowing that sometimes pregnant mother would take no for an answer. “It will be melted along the way home… Can I get the frozen yogurt from someplace else?”

“Sure. I know that it’s too far.”

Gyuri sighed in relief. “Alright. I’ll be home soon.”

---

“Appa…” Saerom called from their shared bedroom.

“Yea? Need my help?”

“I can’t… Hmmpphh…” Apparently, the pregnant mother tried to put on her jeans that were not fit anymore due to her bulging belly.

Seeing that, Gyuri offered a solution. “How about just wearing a dress? We’ll buy new jeans for you after the check up.”

Saerom frowned as she let her wife removed the skinny pants. “I’m getting fat, no one’s calling me for modeling anymore, I can’t fit in my clothes anymore. I’m ugly… You’re going to leave me, aren’t you?”

“Wh—“ Gyuri looked up, surprised.

“There are many prettier girls in your office. Chaeyoung too. She’s tall, she’s skinny…”

The other half tried to hold her laughter when she heard more unreasonable sentences coming from her wife. “Yea and she’s super strong and super scary like Hulk. I don’t think she fits my taste because she’s not you. And I will never leave you. I vowed to spend the rest of my life with you and I’m not intending to be disloyal to it, to you.”

“But I’m—“

Gyuri cut off. “You’re not ugly. You’re very beautiful although there is some changes on your body because there’s a tiny puppy growing up in your tummy and I love you even more because of that. Now come on, I’ll help you change.” She walked to their closet to search for Saerom’s dress.

“Appa…”

“Yes?” Gyuri looked up and saw the look on her wife’s face. She knew what it meant. “I love you too, Umma.” She then lovingly kissed her better half.

---

“Ow, she’s smiling!” The Doctor grinned when she saw the clear smiling face on the monitor.

“That’s totally your smile.” Saerom commented after seeing that their daughter has an identical eye-smile with her wife.

Gyuri only grinned and winked at her wife. “Can we have that printed, Doctor?” She asked.

“Of course.” The Doctor pushed several buttons on the machine. “Well, everything looks good both you and the baby. I’ll just give you vitamins. Rest well and please don’t overwork, Mrs. Jang. You’re in the last trimester.”

“Noted, Doctor.”

The couple wrapped up their monthly pregnancy checks up and now queued in the pharmacy to get the said vitamins. Saerom was holding their smiling daughter’s picture next to her wife’s face, another hand intertwined with her wife’s. “She really takes after you. No Saerom right there.” She sadly said.

Gyuri laughed and bent down. “Well, hello Puppy Princess!” She greeted the bulging tummy.

“Ooowww…” Saerom winced and held her stomach on reflex.

“Why why why? What happened?”

“She just kicked me right after you said that.”

“Is that how you say hi, Puppy Princess?” Gyuri asked her daughter in her wife’s stomach.

Saerom lightly slapped her better half’s shoulder. “Oh my God stop doing that. She’s like somersaulting in my stomach.”

“I have an eternal fan plus doppelganger.” Gyuri snickered before kissing her wife. “Fro-yo?”

“Yes, please! And cakes!”

“Mrs. Jang Saerom.”

“Oh that’s us!”

---

Gyuri let out a tired sigh once she snuggled on her wife’s baby bulge. “Hi Puppy Princess, Appa just done with meetings and work loads. Did you miss me?”

Saerom automatically Gyuri’s hair as she listened to her better half conversation with their baby. She then winced when she felt her child kicked from the inside.

“Did she just—“

“Kicked you? Yep.”

“Sorry~” Gyuri kissed her wife’s baby bump.

“It’s okay. It means that she’s healthy and that she’s happy that you’re home. Come on, eat your dinner.” Saerom smiled and patted her wife’s head again.

“Can I stay like this for a while?”

“Nope. You need to eat your dinner and I really want ice cream right now.”

Gyuri grinned. “I see.” She stood up.

“Help me up, please~” The older woman reached out to her wife. “Oh, Appa…”

“Hmm?”

“I’ll have a photo shoot tomorrow. “

“Photo shoot?”

“For maternity product. Can you accompany me?”

“Sure.”

---

Saerom leaned her body on the nearest wall. “Can we take a break, please?” She clutched her baby bump.

Seeing that, Gyuri quickly went to her side. “Why, Umma? Is something wrong?”

“I think I’m having contractions… Ooww…”

“Okay okay…” Trying not to be panic, the taller woman dialed a number in a flash while helping her wife to go to their car. “Hey Jiwon, I need your favor, I think Saerom is going to labor… Okay… Thanks…”

Several moments later the couple sat down in a doctor’s office. “It’s only a Braxton hicks, Mrs. Jang. Nothing to worry about.” The doctor explained.

“So I’m not going to deliver her today?”

“Not today, Mrs. Jang…”

---

From: Appa
Gyul, Saerom’s water just broke. Your Umma and I are taking her to the hospital, could you meet us there?

Gyuri’s eyes bulged as she read the text message and quickly stood up. “I’m terribly sorry for walking out of the meeting, but my wife is in labor I—”

“Go Gyuri-yah.”

“Thank you Sunbaenim.”

“Where is she?”

“She’s inside and waiting for you.”

---

“Whoa, Gyul Junior!” Jiwon commented after she witnessed the identical eye-smile the baby just showed.

Gyuri grimaced. “Don’t say that in front of Saerom…”

“Too late, already heard that, Appa.” Saerom said.

“But she got your lips. Pretty lips.”

“It’s like only 20% of her face composition which the other 80% are yours.”

Jisun only smiled seeing the couple’s banter. “What’s her name, Unnie?” She asked.

“Jang Jiheon.” Saerom answered, eyes filled with love and pride of her new born.

“Jang Jiwon?”

“Not Jiwon, Jisun-ah. Ji. Heon.” Gyuri said again.

“What’s wrong with naming her after me?” Jiwon was still holding the baby.

“All is wrong with naming her after you.”

---

Gyuri sat up when she heard her baby cried. She squinted her eyes and looked at the clock on their nightstand. 3:23 a.m. It read. She was about to leave the bed when a hand halted her.

“Bring her here, I can feed her.”

“You sure? I can always heat up a bottle.”

Saerom nodded. “Yes.” She then sat up and positioned herself while waiting for her wife and their daughter.

Gyuri softly patted her kid’s bottom while seeing her drinking. Until a loud fart interrupted the peaceful moments. She sniffed the diaper. “And how you can poop while drinking, Jiheon-ah?”

The little princess smiled.

“Definitely your kid.” Saerom commented after she saw the smile.

“Stop being so sour. She’s your kid too, Umma.”

“I was just kidding.” Saerom affectionately Gyuri’s cheek. “I’m happy she got your smile because I really love your smile.”

---

“Jiheon-ah!” Gyuri laughed when she heard her baby loudly laughed too. “Say… Aaaa-Ppaaaaaa…”

“Bwa!”

“Appa…”

“Bwwwbbbbbrrrr…”

“Appa, Jiheon-ah. Appa…”

“Ppappappappappa…”

“Whoa…”

“Say that again. Appa.”

“Ap-pa!”

Gyuri was surprised when her daughter finally able to call her. “Whoa! Jiheon’s Umma…” She called for her wife.

“Mma!”

“Sorry to let you down, but her first word is a distinct ‘Umma’ a few days ago.”

“Huh? How so?”

“Here.” Saerom showed the video when Jiheon was trying to stand on her own then called her by a clear ‘Umma’.

“NOOOOOOO WHYYYYYYYYYY… My Babyyyyy~ I feel betrayed.”

“Ppa?”

---

“Hey hey hey, Jiheon-ah! Waiiiiittt! Jiheon-ah!” Jiheon just escaped her Appa by giggling right after she finished dressed up with her favorite PJs.

“Gotcha!”

“Umma!”

“Hello, Jiheon-ah. I missed you oh so sooooo much.” Saerom said while peppering kisses to her daughter’s face. She had a photoshoot and that was the first time she went away from Jiheon for the whole day.

Gyuri sighed in relief when she saw her wife. “You’re home! Thank God!” She went to kiss her wife.

“Have you guys had dinner?” The older woman asked.

“We’re waiting for you actually.”

“Clean daughter, clean house, and food’s on the table. Jjang Appa!”

“I like that.”

“What? Jjang Appa?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good then, because you are Jjang Appa. Since the start I was pregnant with her up until now. You’re incredible. Thank you. I don’t know what to do without you.” Saerom kissed her wife.

“I love you too, Jiheon’s Umma.”

---