The day after Yongsun gave birth was a very busy day. Doctors and nurses came in the room to test the baby’s eyesight, his ears and his other senses. There was also another set of tests about his organs and other stuff to make sure he’s healthy. They’re basically testing if he’s doing fine despite being born earlier by two weeks. There’s also someone who’s a lactation consultant that talked to Yongsun about her milk and feeding. I never knew there’s a job like that until I met a person with that kind of job.

It was exhausting for both of us, but it didn’t matter though. The baby’s comfort was our priority. As long as he’s fine, we’ll be fine.

Chorong and Irene visited Yongsun right away the moment they found out that she had given birth already. They were aware about the initial idea of Yongsun giving up the baby for adoption too but they were so thrilled when they found out that she’s keeping him. Yongsun could be out of the hospital today but her son wouldn’t be discharged yet until after running some tests on him and making sure that he’s okay to be out of the hospital.

While Yongsun’s friends were with her, I chose the opportunity to go back to the apartment to take a shower and change. I also transferred the crib back to her apartment and placed it in the bedroom. I placed the changing table and baby bath tub right beside the crib. I will clear her small guest room and convert it to a nursery sometime but for now, Yongsun said she wants her son inside her bedroom.

Yongkeey was very excited when she saw me coming inside the apartment. I told Byul and Hyejin to feed Yongkeey while we were in the hospital yesterday and she seemed well fed. She was following me around, watching my every move. She also guarded Yongsun’s apartment when I left the door open while I transferred all the baby things I bought from my living room to Yongsun’s apartment. The last thing I did was move the coffee table in her living room and placed soft mats in there so it would be safe for her son to crawl or lie down on.

By the time I was done, it was almost lunch time already. I took another shower and changed out of my sweaty clothes before I drove back to the hospital, stopping by the café to grab coffees for me, Yongsun and her friends. I wasn’t sure if she still wanted mint chocolate since she gave birth already so I just brought with me mint chocolate and iced Americano for her. My work has also piled up already so I decided to bring my laptop in the hospital if I could have a chance to work there.

I also have to think of a name for her son since she refused to name him herself and wanted me to do it. I have options in my mind already but I couldn’t simply decide right away. It would be something he’d have to carry forever. I don’t want him to hate it. I just decided to ask Yongsun’s opinion about the names I’ve already thought of later in the hospital.

I parked my car and carried my laptop, the drink I had from the café, our food for lunch, and the baby bag with blankets and clothes for her son. My hands were full by the time I reached Yongsun’s room and I had to ask a nurse to help me open the door. I thanked the nurse as I walked inside the room.

I looked up and saw Irene walking towards me. I immediately averted her gaze and moved to the table to place all the things I’ve brought with me.

“Let me help you,” Irene said, lifting the plastic bags of food and the tray of coffee cups from my hands before I could even stop her.

“Thank you” I nervously whispered to her.

She softly chuckled at me, making me blush from both embarrassment and nervousness. “Does Yongsun eat this much? You brought so many”

I placed the baby bag and my laptop on the couch in the room before I walked towards the table where she’s starting to arrange the food. I scratched my neck and cleared my throat as I whispered, “I don’t know what you and Chorong would like to eat so I just bought a lot. I could only bring iced Americanos for your coffee though. I hope that’s okay”

“This is for all of us?” Irene asked while I only nodded at her. “We were supposed to leave once you’ve arrived here but I think we’re staying for lunch as well. Thank you, Wheein” Irene said, chuckling at me again and making me blush from nervousness.

“No problem”

That’s the longest conversation we’ve ever had so far. When I pick up Yongsun from work, they would just greet me and I would greet them back. That’s it. No more further interactions, so having to talk to Irene for even more than just a greeting is making me nervous already. There’s also the dread of talking to Chorong as well. I just hope they wouldn’t mind me.

I grabbed the cups of coffee and passed one to Irene without making any eye contact with her. I plan not to look at them as much as I can. I grabbed another cup and passed it to Chorong who’s sitting in front of the bed of Yongsun’s son. Her son was still sleeping and wrapped in a blanket, which explains the quietness in the room. I smiled at him before I walked towards Yongsun next with mint chocolate and iced Americano drinks.

“You’re blushing” she suddenly whispered, making me groan as I pouted at her while she softly laughed at me.

The moment I raised my eyes to her, that’s when I noticed that she’s wearing my sweatshirt instead of the clothes I packed for her. I blushed even harder at the thought of her wearing my clothes. I should’ve stolen one of her clothes earlier and keep to myself, but that would be too creepy.

“You’re blushing hard now, Wheein. Why are you blushing?”

“Stop it” I mumbled to her and raised both the cups. “I don’t know if you still wanted the mint chocolate or the iced Americano so I brought the two of them”

She picked up the mint chocolate and took a sip from it. Then she grabbed the iced Americano and took a sip from it as well. “I’m drinking both. Why are you changing the subject?”

“Stop it…” I mumbled to her while she just smiled so wide.

“Is Irene making you blush? Are you nervous around her? What about Chorong?” she asked before she moved out of her bed.

I placed my own cup of coffee on her bedside table and helped her out of the bed. “I’m nervous around your friends” I whispered to her and helped her to her slippers next. “You’re wearing my clothes.” I accidentally said it out loud when I saw her wearing my sweatpants as well.

“They seemed comfortable and they were. You packed me my maternity dresses. I don’t want to wear them anymore”

“But your uterus won’t go back to its normal size until after about six weeks. I don’t know what else to pack”

She linked her arms with mine as we walked to the table with all the food I brought. Her stomach grumbled loudly, making me chuckle at her while Irene and I helped her sit down. She pointed at my sweatshirt that she’s wearing and said, “I like these. They’re comfortable”

“I’ll let you borrow some of my clothes then. I don’t think you have sweatshirts in your closet”

Yongsun pointed at my hoodie and said, “That one’s comfortable too”

I softly chuckled at her and nodded at her. “Okay…”

All three of them gathered around the table while I sat on the couch since we couldn’t fit on the table. The three of them were softly talking and admiring the baby while eating. On the other hand, I’m working while eating to catch up with work that I missed from the two days that I wasn’t at the café.

“Is managing a café really that hard that you have to work while eating lunch?” Yongsun said from their table, bringing my attention away from my laptop to her. I instantly looked at my laptop screen again when I saw all three of them looking at me. “Give yourself a moment to just eat, Wheein”

“Your café’s name is Magnolia. Is that right?” Chorong asked while I quickly glanced at her to see her reading the label on the cups. Then I heard them chuckling at me when they saw my blush appearing once again.

“Yes. It’s my Mom’s favorite flower” I whispered shyly before I saw Yongsun standing up with her iced Americano on her hand.

I instantly stood up and held her hand, helping her walk from the table to the couch I was sitting. She sat down first before I sat beside her and went back to eating and working. She has already emptied her mint chocolate before we even started lunch. I think she has come to love that drink already.

“Answer my question” Yongsun said beside me.

“It’s not that difficult to manage a café,” I said, deciding to finish my lunch as I leaned back on the couch.

“It’s not, unless you have twenty one branches all over the country” Irene said before she showed her phone screen to us. “I just read that”

“Twenty one?!” Yongsun whispered-shouted from disbelief, making me blush even more.

I placed my now empty plate on the table and grabbed my water bottle. I leaned back on the couch and shrunk on my seat, wanting to hide and be invisible right now. I drank water, feeling my throat suddenly dry from all their attention.

“Was that how you could afford to transfer me in this private room?” Yongsun whispered beside me.

“She paid for your room?” Chorong asked.

“She did. I could even barely afford the public postpartum ward but she forced me to transfer here and paid for my medical bills behind my back. I only knew about it when the nurse informed me that my bills were all paid”

“If I were you, I’d marry her right away,” Chorong teasingly said.

“We’re not. We’re just friends that’s why I owe her a lot already”

“You don’t have to pay me in return” I mumbled to Yongsun.

“Would you like to go out with me, Wheein?” Irene suddenly asked, making me blush hard once again before I heard her laughing softly, which told me that she was just teasing me.

“She doesn’t date,” Yongsun answered for me while I nodded in agreement, fidgeting with my bottle from nervousness.

“Or maybe she wanted to but the one she wanted to date doesn’t want to date” Irene said. “Yet,” she added.

I glanced at her, surprised by how serious she suddenly sounded and saw her eyeing me intently. I gulped hard and averted her gaze. I placed my water bottle on the table and stood up to clean the table, wanting to do something. Chorong and Irene helped me right away, immediately cutting the conversation.

After throwing the trash in the trash bin, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands. I sighed heavily before I slightly jumped on my heels when Chorong suddenly appeared by the bathroom door.

“Sorry” 

“It’s okay. Do you want to use the bathroom? I’m almost done” I said, hurriedly washing off the soap before I dried my hands.

“No. I wanted to talk to you before Irene and I will go”

I gulped hard, my eyes widening a little before I nervously tipped my chin in a subtle nod. I have no idea what she wanted to tell me. My mind has started running possible questions and topics while she just watched me dry my hands with the tissue, prolonging the silence between us.

“Thank you for taking care of her,” Chorong suddenly said while I gulped hard and nodded at her. She smiled and softly laughed at me as she shook her head and moved to stand beside me to wash her hands as well. “Yongsun was right when she said that you really are shy and nervous around people you don’t know”

“I am” I whispered softly and slowly moved aside to give her room.

“Irene and I don’t have a problem dating anyone.” She turned the faucet off before she grabbed some tissues and dried her hands. “Yongsun does” she said before she dumped the used tissue in the trash bin and turned to look at me intently. “I hope you’re aware of that”

“I’m not doing this for that…”

“I know. We know. I think Yongsun is the only person who’s unaware of it.” She smiled at me before she headed out of the bathroom, patting my shoulder when she passed by me. “Thank you for being here with her always. We’re her close friends but we can’t be with her all the time because of work”

“No problem. I’ll take care of her”

After Chorong and Irene left the room and said silent goodbyes to the baby, Yongsun stayed sitting beside me on the couch as she finished her iced Americano. I went back to my work and tried to cover at least half of it.

“Is that why you were always busy in your café?” Yongsun suddenly asked, breaking the silence in the room.

“Why what?” I asked absentmindedly, my eyes still on my work while my hands danced on my keyboard.

“You have to manage twenty one branches?”

“I only managed the one across the apartment building. I have managers who do that for me on the other branches. I only monitor them and sometimes visit them”

“That’s why you’re busy?”

“Yeah…” I saved my work, sighing heavily when I covered half of my work before I turned my laptop off. I leaned back on my seat and glanced at her, smiling when I found her playing with ice in her cup. “Why do you ask?”

“If you’re going to help me raise my baby while working, wouldn’t that be difficult for you?”

“I can compress a week’s worth of work in a single day. I just have to inform the managers about that, which I’ve already done. I’m just catching up on the work I left two days ago”

She breathed deeply before she placed the cup on the table and tugged on my arm, asking me to sit closer to her. I moved to her while she linked her arms with mine and leaned her head on my shoulder. “Thank you”

I smiled and chuckled softly before I whispered, “No problem”

“Have you thought of a name already? Someone came in with a birth certificate while you were not here and I couldn’t fill that up yet without the name”

“I… About that… I have thought of names but I’m not so sure, which one to pick”

“Tell me about them”

“Okay.” I sat up and scooted close to her so her head would be comfortable on my shoulder while I’m finding a comfortable position as well. “I was thinking of names with Yong since you’re Yongsun and then your dog is Yongkeey, so I thought maybe you’d like something like that too”

“It’s really about something you want more than mine, Wheein. That’s why I asked you”

“Okay… but I wanted something like that too” I mumbled, softly pouting as I fidgeted with the strings on my hoodie.

“Okay then”

I gulped hard and cleared my throat, feeling suddenly nervous. “I thought of three names”

She suddenly laughed as she said, “Just tell me about them. You don’t have to be nervous about it”

I gulped once again and closed my eyes, dreading her reaction before I whispered, “Yongrae, Yongsaeng and Yongjae”

“Hmm…” she hummed, feeling her nodding on my shoulder while I slowly opened my eyes and released the breath I unconsciously held. “I like the last one. Kim Yongjae. I think it fits”

“You do?” I asked, a smile slowly forming on my lips. She also used her last name instead of Eric’s surname. “I like that one too”

We saw her son start moving on the bed, making us both instantly stand up. We walked towards him right away and reached his bed just as he started crying. Yongsun climbed on the bed, preparing to feed him while I slowly lifted her baby and brought him to her.

“Shh… Mommy’s here. Mommy’s here, Yongjae” Yongsun whispered, making me smile when she used the name right away. His son responded with crying louder. “I think he