"So," Jongin starts, taking off his suit jacket, "What did the doctor say?"

Your breath hitches, heart hammering against your ribcage. You move to take the jacket from him, smoothing out the creases carefully. "Seemed to be fatigue. Nothing serious; he just told me to get more rest."

"Fatigue?" Jongin frowns, turning to look at you. "Have I been giving you too much work? I apologize. I'll make sure you do not get work until your condition improves."

"What?" Your heart stops. "No, please. It's not that I'm overworked, just not sleeping well. There's no need for that."

"I insist." Jongin says, grabbing the jacket from you and hanging it up himself. "It would be terrible if anything happens to you. You will listen to me and stop working."

Frustration bubbles inside your stomach, so much you almost feel like bursting into tears. But you take a deep breath, straightening yourself, hands clenching your dress. You stare at him evenly, face stern. "I will work whether you like it or not. And if you do not give me work, I will go and find work to do."

This time it's his turn to look at you and ask, "What?" He sounds more shocked than you expected.

You huff, "You heard me. I will go to the city and find work if I must."

His jaw drops. "You can't be serious. You became sick with fatigue, and you insist to keep working? What if you run your body to the ground?"

"I assure you, that will not happen."

"You are not the type to leave things unfinished even if you were to die in the process." He answers flatly.

Well, you can't really argue with that. Still, you can't imagine what life would be like without anything to do. It's hard enough already, just sitting around and taking up space—or so you've heard the servants whisper.

You decide to pull the teary-act. Surely he can't deny you if he sees how distressed you are over this. You look up at him from under your lashes, your lower lip jutting out just the slightest bit in a pout. "Please, Jongin. Don't take this away from me."

Just as you expected, his expression falters. He swallows, seemingly weighing the pros and cons before he sighs in defeat. "I will cut your work by half, and keep a guard with you at all times."

Your eyes light up at that, a smile gracing your face. Half is better than nothing; you can live with that. "Thank you."

Jongdae is assigned as your knight. You had asked Jongin if it was possible, and he had readily agreed. Junmyeon is much too busy as commander, so other than him, Jongdae is the one he trusts most. You were overjoyed to have someone you're familiar with guard you. You even consider him a friend now.

Your days are slow, boredom constantly gnawing at your mind. You've spent most of your time in the library, looking through records and trying to memorize important information. The work Jongin gives you is much too little—you barely even need to put effort into doing them. None of them are really important, just enough to keep you satisfied for now. At least it feels like you're earning your spot as Queen, even if it's just a little.

After you've read through all the records, you move onto educational books like medicine or science. There are also days where you just want to shut your mind off and bury yourself in a fictional novel. Jongdae is beside you tirelessly, and you wonder if he's even more bored than you with this job. A part of you feels bad for pushing this onto him—as you've done so several times before—but when you asked him about it, he'd just smile and say it's his honor to serve you. You can't tell if it's the truth or if he's just saying that.

You still haven't said a word to Jongin about the baby.

Surely you can't keep this a secret from him forever. Your stomach will show in a few months, and you'll have to monitor your body soon. Every time you think about it, it makes you want to vomit.

Your morning sickness has gotten slightly better. Now that you know about it, you attempt to avoid Jongin whenever you feel sick. Several times you had to convince him that your tastes had changed, as some food now make you nauseus. Every day it makes you more and more anxious to lie to Jongin, knowing he'll find out soon. You should just tell him, but you can't bring yourself to. Why? Why are you such a coward?

It's a few weeks later when you feel like something is wrong.

Jongin had grown more distant, to the point where you rarely even see him. He comes to bed after you're asleep and is gone before you wake up. He no longer dines with you. During conferences, he hardly even glances at you.

Your stomach churns with uneasiness. This is just like when you first got married. But even then, it was you who was avoiding him, never the other way around. Jongin always cared about you, was always kind.

Sometimes he smells like the sea. Salty and familiar, yet foreign at the same time. Why would Jongin be near the sea? Does his work require that? Did something happen with the Merfolk that requires his attention?

In attempt to comfort yourself, you follow that train of thought. Yes, perhaps King Triton had begun to show signs of conflict and Jongin is afraid you'll be upset if he tells you. Yes, that sounds like something he would do. There's nothing to worry about.

But you can't help but feel so very lonely without him. Jongdae is constantly by your side to comfort you, his cheery outlook bringing smiles to your faces but only until you walk into your empty bedroom yet again.

You can't go on much longer.

No matter what, you're going to stay awake tonight and you're going to talk to Jongin. You're going to ask if something's wrong, and you're going to fix this like any mature couple.

He comes in much earlier than you expected, the first time in weeks.

But his expression is stormy.

You carefully set your book down as he closes the door behind him, his shoulders trembling with emotion. What emotion?

Then he turns to you, his eyes blazing and jaw clenched tight, making you step back in surprise.

"How long were you planning on keeping this a secret?" His voice is low and barely above a whisper. You've never heard him like that. It's the quiet kind of anger—the scariest kind of anger.

You blink, mind racing and heart hammering but you're going numb so you don't understand.