I leaned a hand on the wall and took a couple of deep breaths. I raised my hand and wiped the sweat that’s starting to form on my forehead even when I just got out of the shower. I breathed deeply one last time before I pushed myself off the wall and opened the bedroom door.

My left hand automatically went to my back and my other hand rested on my growing belly. I trudged the distance from the bedroom to the kitchen where I found that everyone was here already. Yong was by the kitchen sink and Nabi was by the dining table eating breakfast already. Nabi was miraculously showered early in the morning. She’s usually still asleep at this time if she doesn’t have classes.

They all glanced at me when they heard me coming. They couldn’t miss me, especially with how I’m breathing deeply. My sweat has made their appearance once again when all I did was walk from the bedroom to the dining area.

“Good morning,” Yong said, bringing a mug of coffee and a glass of my apple juice as she walked towards the dining table.

“Morning” I barely whispered.

Nabi jumped out from her seat and pulled out a chair beside me. She patted the chair and gave me a huge smile, showing her dimple to me. “Sit here, Mama”

I smiled at her and sat down on the chair she pulled for me, sighing deeply from relief. I cradled Nabi’s head and pulled her closer to me to give her a kiss on her dimple. “Thank you, baby”

She flashed me a wide smile before she sat down on her chair again.

Yong placed her mug of coffee by her plate before she walked towards me and placed my glass of apple juice by my plate. She bent down and kissed my temple and my cheek. Then she wrapped her arms around me and rested her hands on my growing belly to feel our baby inside me.

“How’s our Taeyang?” she whispered.

We found out when I was already five months pregnant that our baby’s going to be a boy. Yong was beyond ecstatic. Nabi was the second most ecstatic person after her Mommy. They both wanted to have a baby boy. Yong even named him already and had been calling him Taeyang since. They’d still be happy if it was a girl but having a boy in our family would be a good change that we wanted to welcome.

So far, only the three of us and Dr. Song know the gender of our baby. Mom and our friends had been nagging Nabi to tell them the gender. She’s loyal and knows how to keep our secrets. It’s her Mommy that’s having trouble keeping that secret. Yong almost slipped plenty of times and Nabi would sometimes reprimand her. We planned to have a gender reveal party and a baby shower. However, I’m already seven months pregnant and we still haven't done that because of our friends’ work schedules. It will finally happen next weekend because everyone’s dying to know the gender, especially Mom.

“Kicking wildly like he’s ready to run around already”

Yong giggled as she rubbed her hands on my baby bump. “Are we having an athlete in the family? Or maybe we’re going to have a soccer player”

I smiled as I listened to her excited voice. “He can do whatever he wants, just not run away from us”

“Hmm…” She slowly nodded her head in agreement before she kissed my cheek again. She walked to her seat on Nabi’s other side. “Nabi wanted to be with you at work, that’s why she woke up early in the morning even when she didn’t have any classes. I already told Ma about this”

That’s why…

I chewed on my food as I turned to face Nabi who’s already giving me a huge smile. I playfully narrowed my eyes at her as I reached for the tissue. I reached to her and wiped off the grease on her chin. “What are you going to do in Mama’s office?”

She turned away from me and pointed at something on the kitchen counter. I saw her backpack there while she said, “I can do my homework or draw or color”

“But why in Mama’s office? You can also draw and color in Grandma’s house. Mama can’t watch you later because I’ll be working”

Mom didn’t have work during the weekends so we dropped off Nabi at her house so she could watch over her for us. Ever since she moved in with Dr. Song, things were easier for us every time we needed help to watch over Nabi when Yong and I were at work. Or if we wanted some alone time.

She shook her head while still chewing her food and reaching for her glass of milk. “I will be watching over Mama and baby Taeyang” she mumbled before she drank her milk while I furrowed my eyebrows from confusion. “I’ll make sure that Mama and baby Taeyang are okay.” She gave me a proud smile that I couldn’t say no to.

I smiled back at her as I softly pinched her cheek then ruffled her hair before fixing it. I turned to the instigator and saw her smiling so wide at me already. When I saw that Nabi’s attention was back to her food, I gave Yong a pointed look and mouthed, “What is this all about?”

She only winked and shrugged her shoulders at me. Then she ignored me and continued eating breakfast.

I turned to Nabi again and said, “Baby, you don’t have to watch over Mommy. I have Auntie Hyejin and Grandpa with me in the hospital”

“I will make sure that Mama and baby Taeyang will be alright,” she said with finality.

She really got her stubbornness from her Mommy and now they’re planning behind my back. It’s really sweet that Yong asked Nabi to watch over me while she’s at work, and that Nabi’s ready to do it. I appreciated it so much but kids really have a short span of attention. Nabi might be bored after a whole minute of watching over me and an hour of doing her homework and drawing. I can’t attend to my patients if I have to entertain her and I don’t want to leave her as well. I couldn’t say no to her.

“Are you really sure about that, Nabi?” I asked and she nodded with absolute certainty. I sighed heavily and relented as I whispered, “Okay… You can come with Mama”

“Yes!” She pumped her fist up before she high-fived with her Mommy.

I pouted at Yong but she wasn’t able to see it because she was busy giving Nabi thumbs up while praising her. I just went back to my breakfast and finished it right away before I drank my apple juice.

When we were done with breakfast, Yong went to wash the dishes while Nabi and I brushed our teeth. We exited the bathroom and found Yong brushing her teeth in the kitchen sink. I helped Nabi with her backpack before I fished out my keys from my bag.

“I’ll drive you and Nabi to the hospital” Yong said as she passed by me to grab her bag. “I’ll pick you up later too”

“What? But that would be out of your way”

“I know, that’s why I got up early.” She pulled out her keys from her bag before she slang it on her shoulder. “Let’s go”

“I can’t argue you out of it, can I?”

She chuckled and shook her head at me, making me nod my head defeatedly as I sighed.

Nabi reached for my hand and told me to start walking already. We walked to the front door while Yong checked everything in the house before we left for work. I wore my shoes while Nabi tied her own shoes. I smiled proudly as I watched her lace her shoes while whispering the instructions we always tell her when we taught her how to do it.

Nabi held my hand again as we headed to the elevator while Yong was walking beside me with her hand resting on the small of my back. She made me lean onto her as we waited for the elevator to reach the basement parking lot, occasionally wiping the sweat on my forehead. I took that moment to catch my breath. I still have two months to go and I know the remaining months would be more difficult than now. I couldn’t imagine having to catch my breath every ten to twenty seconds.

When we reached the parking lot, Nabi ran ahead to Yong’s car, jumping and skipping on her way there. Yong watched over Nabi while I was busy moving my legs and breathing deeply. Nabi opened the passenger seat for me, making me smile at her. Yong helped me get inside and fastened my seatbelt while I wiped the sweat off my face.

“Can I also go see Grandpa if he’s on break, Mama?” Nabi asked from the backseat.

I turned around to check her seatbelt. I nodded in satisfaction before I smiled at Nabi. “You can but you have to ask Auntie Sujin or Auntie Jieun to accompany you to Grandpa’s office. And you can only do that if they’re not doing anything so we won’t bother them. Okay, Nabi?”

“How about Auntie Hyejin?”

I nodded at her again. “You can too but you have to ask the nurse aunties to accompany you to their office, okay? You can’t leave Mama’s office if no one accompanies you. Do you understand that, baby?”

She gave me a very enthusiastic salute before she nodded at me. “Of course!”

I giggled at her and wanted to pinch her cheek but with my belly, it’s hard to turn some more and lean to Nabi. I just gave her a salute, less enthusiastic than hers, and a thumbs up. “Very good, baby”

Nabi nodded again before she dropped the salute while Yong chuckled softly from the driver seat.

I turned to Yong and leaned closer to her. “You sent a mini version of you, someone equally stubborn as you, to watch over me” I whispered, making her laugh again.

“Exactly.” She briefly glanced to smile at me before she focused on the road.

I grunted as I leaned back on my seat before I sighed heavily. “And you planned this behind my back and cornered me with it”

“We just want you safe. I know how frustrated you are that you couldn’t perform surgeries anymore because you’re carrying our son. And I know how you’ve been channeling that frustration into working harder than before.” She softly flicked my cheek when I pouted before she held my hand. “If Mama’s healthy, then Taeyang is healthy. You can perform how many surgeries you wanted after you gave birth, babe. No one’s stopping you but for now, let us take care of you, okay?”

“Yeah…” I sighed, feeling her squeeze my hand. “I understand your frustration now back when you couldn’t go to work”

“But it still wasn’t right of me. What I did then—”

I squeezed her hand this time and smiled at her when I heard the guilt in her voice. Even now that we got back and buried the memories of how we almost got divorced in the past, she still felt bad about it. And even now that we’re together, I am still guilty of not telling her everything when she forgot a lot of her memories.

“We both did a lot of mistakes but mistakes made us stronger”

She scoffed and playfully rolled her eyes at me, making me pout at her. “Is this the result of eating tteokbokki? You’ve gotten way cheesy than before and even cringy”

“I’m trying to be sweet…” I whined as I pouted harder. I pulled my hand away from her hold but she caught it and held it tightly. “I don’t like you right now” I whispered, turning around to look out through the windows.

“Nabi-ah… Mama’s being whiny again” Yong said, using her trump card for a millionth time against me.

“Just stop teasing Mama, Mommy” Nabi scolded, making me laugh so hard because of how unexpected that was. She used to be on her Mommy’s side and would try to get rid of my annoyance towards her Mommy. That’s why Yong would still tease me even though I’m still pregnant and heavy on mood swings.

“Nabi-ah…” Yong whined, pouting at Nabi through the rearview mirror.

I covered my mouth as I snickered at Yong who’s still frowning and pouting at Nabi while still focusing on the road. She pouted at me for a second before she turned her attention on the road. That one-second pout directed at me made me laugh even more.

“Grandma told me not to tease Mama because she’s carrying Taeyang. Grandma said to make Mama happy so Taeyang would be healthy, Mommy. So stop teasing Mama already”

I smiled so wide at Nabi and gave her a thumbs-up. She dropped her pout at her Mommy and smiled back at me. “You’re making Mama happy right now, baby. I love you…”

“Love you…” She blew me a kiss before she giggled adorably.

“Nabi-ah… What about Mommy? Stop scolding Mommy already” Yong whined while I leaned back and snickered at her once again.

“I love you, Mommy…” Then she hurriedly mumbled, “But you’re not getting a flying kiss from me”

“Okay…” She sighed while her shoulders dropped, looking like the five-year-old kid between her and our daughter, who's the actual five-year-old kid. “Mommy will remember that, baby”

I raised our joined hands and kissed the back of her hand. “Stop teasing me and just follow what our daughter said”

She shook her head and absentmindedly whispered, “She wasn’t like this before”

I silently laughed at her as I released her hand so she could use both of her hands in turning the car into the hospital parking lot. We all unfastened our seatbelts and moved out of the car. Yong jogged around the car to get to me and helped me out of the car. Then she went to Nabi and helped her out of the car as well. She carried my bag for me and placed her hand on my back. Nabi held my hand before we started walking towards the hospital entrance.

Nabi started skipping beside me, her bag bouncing and its contents rattling in her every skip. She greeted the nurses and doctors and even waved her hand at them. She really has grown comfortable in the hospital that it has somewhat became a fourth home to her; Mom and Dr. Song’s house is her second home and Hyejin and Byul’s house is her third. She was very shy, and she still is until now, but she has grown familiar with the people in the hospital by how often she’d come here.

She still has apprehensions towards guys with beards because of our biological father but it wasn’t as severe as before. Especially after her series of therapies with Dr. Lee. There was even a time that she called out Dr. Song about his beard. She asked her Grandpa to take it off because it’s scaring her. Dr. Song was instantly clean-shaven a minute after that conversation and has stayed clean from his beard ever since.

“The Jungs are here, I see…”

“Auntie Hyejin!” Nabi squealed and ran towards Hyejin when we saw her on our way to my office.

Hyejin lifted Nabi and carried her in her arms, grunting from Nabi’s weight. “What are you doing here, Baby Jung?” She started walking beside us and headed towards my office. “You should be with your Grandma, right?”

Nabi shook her head before she said, “I’ll be watching over Mama today. I’ll make sure that she stays healthy so our baby will be healthy”

I smirked when she consistently never slipped revealing the gender of her baby brother. Then I leaned closer to Yong and whispered, “You should follow how our daughter consistently never slips”

“I only have until next weekend for that. I can survive”

“I hope so…” I softly laughed at her when she frowned at her. “Love, you’re good at a lot of things but you’re not good at keeping secrets, especially if it excites you so much like our baby”

She scrunched up her nose and snuggled her face to my ear, lightly tickling me. “I’ll hang on. I don’t want to be scolded by Nabi again. It’s so embarrassing” she whispered while I laughed at her.

She walked ahead and opened the door, letting me, Hyejin, and Nabi in first. She placed my bag on my table and helped me with my coat. Then she sat me down on my chair while I sighed in relief and wiped the sweat off my forehead.

“Come visit Auntie Hyejin in the office. Okay, Baby Jung?”

“I will…” Nabi said while Yong helped her sit down on the bench across from me.

“Or you can just stay with Auntie Hyejin. That way, I have an excuse not to work” Hyejin said before she chuckled at herself while I scoffed and rolled my eyes at that.

“I’ll be Mama’s doctor for today. I can’t do that but I’ll come visit, Auntie Hyejin”

Nabi ran to Hyejin and high-fived her. She hugged Hyejin before Hyejin bent down so Nabi could kiss her cheek. Hyejin waved goodbye at us before she exited my office while Nabi went to her Mommy.

I could see Yong whispering something to Nabi, which I think must’ve been her reminders about their plan to watch over me. A smile unconsciously formed on my lips when I could see the dedication in Nabi’s eyes and Yong’s proud smile.

“Be good to Mama, okay?”

“Okay” Nabi said with a determined nod.

“Don’t ask her about your homework unless she doesn’t have any patients yet, okay?”

“Okay.” Another determined nod, making me smile wider.

“Make Mama happy so our Taeyang will be healthy, okay?”

Nabi smiled this time and nodded excitedly at Yong. “Okay!”

Yong laughed at Nabi, amused by our daughter as she hugged Nabi and kissed Nabi’s dimple. She cupped Nabi’s cheeks and kissed her forehead, making our daughter smile. Then she stood up while Nabi went to sit on the bench and started rummaging in her backpack. Yong walked towards me and I turned my chair so I’d be facing her once she reached me behind my table.

She crouched down in front of me and placed a hand on my baby bump. Then she held my hand with her other hand. “Be good to our Nabi and Taeyang, okay?”

“Okay” I said and nodded at her, copying Nabi’s determined nod and making her smile at me.

“Don’t overwork and entertain a lot of patients, okay?”

“Okay”

“Stay healthy so our Taeyang will be healthy, okay?”

“Okay”

She leaned forward and pressed soft kisses on my belly. “I love you, baby. Mommy can’t wait to see our Taeyang. Nabi can’t wait to see her baby brother” she whispered in between kisses while I watched her with a huge smile on my lips. “Don’t give Mama a hard time.” She pressed a long kiss on my baby bump before she stood up and cupped my cheeks. “I love you” she whispered before she leaned forward and kissed me.

“I love you too”

“I’ll pick you up by five so you better be done by then and so you can rest.” She kissed my cheek and rubbed her hand on my belly.

“Roger that” I said, giving her a small salute while she chuckled at me.

“I have to go now”

I raised her hand and kissed it before I released it and waved at her. “Drive safely and call me if your head hurts”

“Yes, doc.” She winked at me and I hope she really meant to call me if something’s wrong, instead of being stubborn about it. She walked towards the door while waving at Nabi. “Bye, baby. Mommy will go now”

“Bye!” Nabi responded as she waved at her Mommy.

Yong waved her hand at me before she exited my office and closed the door behind her.

“Mama, can we play before you have patients later?” Nabi immediately asked the moment Yong was out of the office.

I closed my eyes and leaned back on my chair, making it rock a little bit. I silently groaned and expected this much the moment we’ll be left by ourselves. I was, after all, more lenient of Nabi compared to Yong when it comes to parenting her.

“Mama can’t run around, baby” I whispered, trying to bargain because I don’t know how to say no to her.

She picked up her drawing book and her box of crayons from the bench. Then she ran towards me and placed her things on the table. “Can I just sit on your lap? You can help me with the colors”

I pointed at one of the chairs across from me and said, “You can grab that chair and sit beside Mama. Taeyang is already sitting on my lap, Nabi. I’m sorry”

“That’s okay.” She hurriedly grabbed the chair and rolled it beside me. She climbed up and sat on the chair while I adjusted its height so she could reach the table. “This is also okay, Mama”

“So… what are you coloring today?”

I don’t think there’s much work I could do with Nabi around. I kind of think that this is their plan; distract me so I’ll be tending with less patients, which means less work. Or maybe Nabi just really wants to play with me before I’ll be entertaining patients.

Surprisingly, Nabi stuck to her promise to her Mommy that she wouldn’t bother me if I’d be working. When a nurse arrived to give me clipboards of my patients’ profiles, Nabi went back to the bench across fro