“Baby, congratulations! You’re a milf!”

Yoohyeon can be out of pocket sometimes. She has a habit of saying rather interesting things throughout the seventeen years that Minji knows her, even more so in their twelve years of being together. 

(Nothing quite beats Yoohyeon saying that Minji’s brain would taste the best should an unfortunate zombie apocalypse occur and Yoohyeon tragically turns into a zombie that ravages her to death—or into the undead. As it turns out, Yoohyeon is vehemently adamant about spending their undead lives together and insists that she’d let Minji eat her brains and flesh if Minji ever turned before her—it’s oddly romantic in a gross way when Minji thinks about it). 

Still, Minji finds herself freezing in her spot, pregnancy test in her hands, “Pregnant 1-2” staring back at her. 

(Minji is just glad Yoohyeon didn’t say, “Oh my God, we’re having one to two babies!”).

“Excuse me?”

Yoohyeon beams. She ing shines as she gazes at Minji like the universe lives inside of her. 

“A mom I love fondly!”

Yoohyeon looks so cute— so blissfully overjoyed—that even if Minji rolls her eyes at her, she tugs her wife into her arms and lovingly presses a kiss on her lips, the happy curling of Yoohyeon’s lips melting into her. Briefly pulling away to sweetly nudge her nose against Yoohyeon’s, Minji can’t help but to think that fate might finally be on their side this time around. 

(From false positives to miscarriages, conceiving has been hard, terribly devastating, and discouraging to say the least. It’s a dreary experience, sobbing in Yoohyeon’s arms over the death of their unborn baby—their baby that they already promised the world to. Trying again is harrowing—putting herself on the line again, open for another chance at getting heartbroken and hurt, risking the delicate natures of their mental states once more to try artificial insemination one last time before moving on to another option. 

It shatters her heart into a million unrecoverable shards when Minji thinks about how Yoohyeon was so willing to try as well—to harbor the load of the weight on her shoulders—only for her to find that her body was incapable of conception. Infertility broke Yoohyeon’s heart. Minji will never understand the grief that swept over her, the desolate helplessness and disappointment that dragged her into depression. All she could do was hold Yoohyeon close whenever she cried, console her in whichever way possible to help the sadness, support her through her therapy sessions and lapses).

“I don’t think that’s what that means, my love.”

Yoohyeon laughs, her eyes turning into crescents. “Maybe. But that’s how I mean it. Our baby is in you, Ji, and I love you so much!” When Yoohyeon lovingly caresses Minji’s flat stomach before sinking to her knees, the tears that sit behind Minji’s eyelids softly fall like raindrops trailing down windows. Flipping Minji’s shirt up and scattering kisses along her belly, Yoohyeon quietly speaks, “Your mommies are gonna take such good care of you; I promise.”

(Minji is hoping that life won’t take this one away because Yoohyeon looks so ing happy, already looks so smitten for their baby, already looks like she’d flip the world upside down for them. They need something good, need for this to work out for them). 

All Minji wants to do in life is make Yoohyeon happy, to be by her side through hell or heaven, to be the woman that Yoohyeon loves—the one that she married. This is the life that Minji will choose over and over again, to be Yoohyeon’s partner—her companion, someone to hold her hand and kiss her good night, to be the mother of their child. 

(Minji didn’t know it was possible for her greatest pride of being Yoohyeon’s wife to ever sit in the backseat. Yet, as it turns out, to be the person to raise another human being beside her just might dethrone their wonderful marriage).

So, as Minji wipes her tears from her cheeks and grins a toothy smile at her wife, she feels her heart double in size when Yoohyeon goofily smiles back. As she looks up at Minji with love singing in her eyes, Minji believes with her entire being that in every possible reality, the stars would find a way for their red strings to tangle and intertwine. 

(And even if the stars weren’t on their side, they’d find a way to defy them, to stubbornly bypass fate, because Minji knows that they’re meant to be).

When Yoohyeon leaves work to attend the ultrasound appointment Minji makes after a month passes, Yoohyeon comes thirty minutes early, a carton of low-fat milk in her hands. 

“I read that milk is good to drink for the baby! Something about their bones and growth. The book said at least 1000 milligrams a day so drink up, baby!”

Yoohyeon pauses, looks down at Minji’s stomach, places a hand there, and caresses her thumb comfortingly, “Not you, baby. My other baby.”

So, Minji drinks the milk. For the baby. But also, because Yoohyeon is so endearing and sweet. 

Ultrasound goop is so cold and it’s generously lathered on her stomach, but it all fades away when Minji looks at the screen. Even the nervous pounding of her heartbeat seems to fall silent, the spotlight all on their little miracle. 

The first time Yoohyeon sees their baby on the screen, she sobs into her hands, her nerves crashing into broken fragments of relief and joy. Even if it’s just a black circle that they see, it feels like so much more. It’s a rush of emotion that tides over her and Minji just tightens her hold on Yoohyeon’s waist, kisses the small sliver of skin that shows when her shirt rides up, and wills herself to stay strong. 

-

To no surprise, pregnancy is a mothering . 

The morning sickness is brutal. Minji loves food like it’s her one true soulmate but the thought of it makes her gag and, really, that makes her terribly sad. It has been three months and Minji can’t think of a day where she didn’t throw up and, God, even the thought of throwing up makes her stomach feel queasy. 

The only thing she can stomach without much struggle is bread and the slightest smidge of vanilla ice cream. (There is a god after all, Minji thinks. If she ever lost her love for vanilla ice cream, life just might lose its meaning). 

But, when Minji craves something, it’s nearly ravenous. Normally, she can be even-tempered when she needs to be, but her food cravings get the best of her. She gets so bothered and irritated that she doesn’t even care about being too difficult. So, even if Minji might feel bad later on when she’s satisfied, she still drags Yoohyeon from her dream world and wakes her up to make her slip out of bed at midnight just to get pizza and kimchi for her. She still pushes her sleepy wife out of their house, tucks her wallet and phone into the pocket of her sweatpants after kissing her goodbye. 

(Yoohyeon is a saint, Minji thinks. She never complains even if sleep is precious to her, never whines about spending her money on a box of expensive macarons, never back talks or guilt trips when Minji craves for chicken feet or malatang even at the most inconvenient hours. Yoohyeon just quietly and happily endures, ensures that her wife is content with her food, even stays awake to sit at the dinner table while Minji eats so that she doesn’t have to eat alone, before falling back into bed and chasing her dreams).

Then, there’s all the aching. So much aching—an almost unbearable amount some days. But, through the course of her pregnancy, Minji notices an obvious improvement in Yoohyeon’s skill at massaging—her increased stamina, familiarity with what Minji needs, her overall effectiveness. It’s nice, having a wife who’ll massage her feet or back through three whole hours of K-Dramas without a single mumble of complaint. (If anything, Yoohyeon is willing to persevere through her tired wrists and fingers when she asks if Minji is feeling any better, fully prepared to go another hour or two if she needs it). 

So, yeah. Even if morning sickness and her body is one big walking mess, Yoohyeon makes everything bearable—she does her best to ease the pain, to support Minji through it all. Because it’ll be worth it, because Minji is carrying their baby, because Yoohyeon loves that beautiful woman with her entire heart and soul, loves their unnamed baby more than she has ever loved anyone else. (And, holy , does Yoohyeon love Minji).

(And plus, being Minji’s glorified Uber Eats, Postmates, Door Dash, and every ing food delivery app under the sun, and personal masseuse and nurse all at once is part of the package—the “I Promised My Life to You; You Are My Greatest Happiness and I’ll Do Everything I Can to Show You That” package).

-

Minji would call herself reasonably healthy. Even before her pregnancy, she thoroughly enjoyed exercising and staying fit, if not for the health benefits but because it made her feel accomplished and proud to take good care of her body.

When her morning sickness is less frequent and she isn’t as sensitive to getting nauseous, Minji still finds the motivation in her to work out despite being four and a half months pregnant.

Extremely cautiously. 

Mostly because she can’t bear another lecture about being careful or Yoohyeon treating her like she’s made of glass. 

(She gets it, she really does. Yoohyeon just cares an infinite amount for her health and the health of their baby, so much that it gets in the way of her reasoning and logic. So, even if Minji is perfectly capable of doing light strength training and some harder cardio, she sticks to unweighted squats and “very slow jogging” around their block).

Still, her blood pressure is higher than usual (which is normal for pregnant women according to her obstetrician) and Minji finds herself cutting back on high-sodium and unhealthy foods, no matter how much she is craving those yummy Royce chocolate potato chips. 

Yoohyeon, ever the loving sweetheart that she is, has taken it upon herself to change her diet as well. She had even taken the alcohol in their cabinet and generously donated it to Bora and Handong’s pantry, drinks low-fat milk with Minji even if she doesn’t need to, stocks up on ginger tea and brews some for the both of them when Minji is feeling nauseous (which, thankfully, doesn’t hit as strong as it used to).

It’s not that Minji ever doubted it but, Yoohyeon is a good mother, knows that their baby will grow up feeling secure, that they will never ever have to question what they are worth, that they will know what it feels like to be unconditionally and irrevocably loved. 

And it’s not like it’s exactly the same, but Minji is confident in this because Yoohyeon has never failed to make Minji feel loved, is always going out of her way to dote on her, comfort her, care for her. 

Yoohyeon is good at loving. 

Minji will never doubt that. 

It shows in the little things, the silly things, the big things. 

It’s how Yoohyeon comes to every appointment even if she has to take off of work (even if that means she’ll be scolded for it), how she answers every request Minji makes with genuine compassion and empathy, how she holds her hair back when she throws up, lays awake with Minji to listen to her fears even when she’s exhausted, how she talks to their baby throughout the day with full confidence that they are listening, how she cried when she felt them kick for the first time. 

(It’s really endearing to her when Minji plays the audio of their baby’s heartbeat after their appointment. Yoohyeon smiles happily (like she did not just hear their heartbeat five minutes ago), playfully beatboxes to the rhythm as she dances, proudly claps when the audio ends).

It’s how Yoohyeon baby proofs the entire house, spends all her free time assembling the crib and getting the baby’s room ready, how she takes on a majority of the house chores so that Minji can rest a little more even if her workday drags on her. It’s the pile of parenting books on Yoohyeon’s desk and how she reads them every night, how she is so helpful and patient and flexible to Minji’s wants and needs. 

As the sixth month comes along, her baby bump is bigger. In their ultrasounds, they can slightly make out the features of their baby’s face and Yoohyeon cries again when the technician points out a teeny tiny balled up fist on the screen. 

(Minji can even prop her