"Now, are you sure you don't have other things to be doing?" You said, taking careful steps as Onew laid a protective hand on the small of your back. He flashed you a toothy grin and nodded.

"It's fine," he answered. "Besides, it's been a while since we've been on a proper date and I think it's high time we started up on this age-old tradition." You laughed a little.

"The same portside restaurant as before?" you asked. "I'm surprised it's still there. I thought by now they would have taken it down and built something else. No one else frequents that place aside from you and me and a few old ladies."

"Nope, it's still up and running," Onew answered, steadying you with his hands. "Besides, the baby could use some seafood, don't you think?"

You peered down at your protruding belly, which actually was not all that big for woman as far along as you were. You smiled down at your tummy and thought about just wondrous it would be to welcome the new babe and start a family with your beloved Jinki. There were always some worries of course, such as whether or not you believed yourself ready to undertake such responsibility, ready to welcome an entirely new and unique person and promise to love and care for them, denying even yourself. But such doubts never lasted long; when they came into your mind, Onew would pull you to lean against him and massage your temples, and he'd sing a comforting song in your ear. They vanished completely the first time you felt your daughter kicking in your womb. 

"What if I can't eat anything there?" you asked. "You know how pregnant women can't eat certain foods?"

"Well, have you eaten any seafood recently?"

"No," you answered. "I... guess I can try. I do love the crab there."

Onew smiled and reached a hand out to rub your belly. "And I'm sure she will, too. But you're so insistent on walking, I told you we could have parked closer so you'll be less tired."

"I'm not tired at all," you said, and it was the truth. Contrary to what most other mothers told you about what to expect, you didn't have unusual cravings and you weren't tired as often as they said you would be. You started to wonder if those silly stories were made up. Onew took your hand and began to pull you along as soon as your favorite portside restaurant came into view. The sky was turning dark blue as nightfall loomed closer, and you wrapped your jacket around yourself tighter as the temperature dropped. But once inside, the toasty air from the stoves and ovens warmed you up. Onew pulled out the chair from a table and you sat down.

"Comfy?" He asked as he took off his scarf and sat down across from you. You smiled and nodded, shifitng in your seat to put your belly in a more comfortable position. The restaurant was quite old, but the bright lighting and happy energy made it seem a lot younger. The kife-wielding, joke-telling chefs were always audible even from their kitchen, and the rest of the place was always filled with chattering ajummas and their small grandchildren. Tonight was no exception, and at the table beside you sat four grand ladies in their thick winter coats. One had a small boy on her lap and he was blowing bubbles while his grandmother told him to stop. 

"Is this a pregnant young girl here?" One lady said as a waiter came by with your order to rice, crabs, and clams. She caught your eye and you smiled and bowed politely. Onew followed suit.

"Good evening, ladies," Onew said with a smile. "How are you?"

"Oh, we're fine," said the same lady. "We were just admiring your wife here. I didn't think it was possible to be pregnant and still look so beautiful. A lucky young man you must be,"

"Thank you," you and Onew both said at the same time and you blushed at the woman's compliments. 

"I think I have seen them here, before, Soo Hwa," another woman said, squinting her eyes and looking hard at Onew. "He especially looks familiar. Weren't you the one who felt sick and threw up at my son's wedding?"

Onew raised his eyebrows at her, having no idea what she was talking about. 

"No, that wasn't him, Ra Yoon," the woman with the little boy said. "He's too handsome, the other one was uglier. And he had a concave chest."

"Hmm, you're right," Miss Ra Yoon said. "And his voice is too smooth, the other boy had a voice like a goat that swallowed sandpaper."

You and Onew laughed lightly, not quite understanding where the conversation was going. Onew looked at you, appearing very confused indeed, and without another word, the two of you went ahead eating your meal. The crab meat was as delicious as always and you felt relief at finally satisfying your hunger. You went through the events of that dya in your head and thought of something worth mentioning to Onew to start up a conversation when one of the women tapped you on the shoulder. You turned to her, a bit of rice still stuck to your lips and you wiped it away. "Ah, yes?" you said in answer.

"How's your meal, sweetheart?" the woman asked, smiling from ear to ear. You smiled nervously in response.

"Umm, it's delicious, thank you for asking," you said. Onew looked over at you and then at the ladies. Onew was usually a polite young man, but he had forgotten how nosy and relentless that ajummas at this restaurant were. He was looking forward to spending time with you, but he was beginning to see that it would impossible while sitting next to a table to prying old women. Still, he put on his best smile and tried not to let his annoyed feelings show. 

"How far along are you?" the lady asked.

"Just 5 months," you answered proudly, laying a hand on your baby bump. The ladies all squealed in delight and hurriedly asked questions such as the baby's gender, your due date, names you had thought of, even things as indiscreet as where the baby had been conceived and whether or not it had been from artificial insemination or the result of direct , which you politely declined to answer. Onew, too, blushed a little at the suggestion of such a question. But after the asking was done, the ladies then turned to women's usual practice of offering their advice and their own pregnancy stories as they feel necessary anytime they come in contact with another pregnant young woman. All were things that you had heard before of course, but rather than wave them off, you decided to nod, hoping your silence would make everything go faster.

Meanwhile, Onew sat quietly, eating his meal by himself and watching as you interacted with the women. He noticed your food getting cold and he just wished for his wife back and even considered moving tables just to take you back from the ajummas. But one lady suddenly took note of the crabs you were both eating and spoke up.

"Ah!" she said, eyeing the crab meat on the table, and Onew widened his eyes at the eccentric woman. "So I see that you both are enjoying your crab meat?"

Onew smiled and nodded. "Best in Seoul, in my opinion," he said, proudly holding up the crab leg he was eating. "We come here really often, actually, just to get some of the best seafood in town."

"Right," you said, agreeing with your husband. The ladies all turned to each other, snickering and talking in hushed tones that worried you and Onew.

"Oh, that's lovely," the one named Soo Hwa said. "Actually, my son owns this resturant, so I shall thank you on his behalf for such flattering words?"

"Really?" Onew said. "Tell him we also said thank you. Actually, this restaunrant is where my wife and I had our first date many years ago, so he's partially responsible for our marriage, I guess."

"Oh, but I don't think that such a meal is what your wif needs right now," she answered. Both you and Onew stopped moving for a bit and looked at each other with puzzlement. 

"Sorry?" you said. "Why is that?"

"Oh, don't you know, honey?" the woman said again, placing a hand on he rbreast and leaning forward, a look of concern on her face. "You're a pregnant woman right now, you must watch what you eat. It reflects on your child as well!" 

"I don't get it," Onew said.

"Oh, just ask Hae Jung," the woman said. "When she was pregant with her second son, she was always eating barbcued pork, it was one of her strange cravings. Lo and behold, her boy was born with a pig's nose!"

You widened your eyes at the woman while, onew tried his best to stifle a laugh at the incredible story. 

"It's true!" the woman went on. "And just a few years ago, my own daughter was pregant and she drank soda like water. This boy here on my lap, look at how he's always using his mouth to make bubbles and spitting like a donkey."

"No, hear my story!" the other woman said, and you and Onew redirected your attention to her. "When my daughter was pregnant, she was always eating tomatoes and her daughter came out with a plump face, swollen and red like a tomato itself!"

"That's a weird conicidence," Onew remarked, looking bewteen you and the ladies. "They're interesting stories, but I don't think my yeobo has had any strange cravings lately. I'm sure our daughter will be fine, she'll come out beautiful like her mother. And if something does seem a little.. off, well, we'll love her just the same."

"Exactly," you said, smiling at your husband. "We'll love just as she is, tomato-faced or not."

"Oh, but those aren't tomatoes you're eating," one woman said, a sly smile on her face. "Those are crabs."

Onew looked down at the last crab that hadn't been eaten yet. It was still bright red and warm, the crab's pinchers still attached to its body, and that way, it looked as though it were still alive.

"When I was pregant with my son," the woman said. "I always made crab for ym husband and we always ate it together, almost every night for dinner. And then when our son was born, he had small beady eyes, too far apart like a crab and one leg was bent toard the inside and facing sideways, just like a crab's!"

Onew pictured the boy's beady crab eyes and sideways twisted leg in his head and shivered at the thought. But then again, ajummas always exagerrated their stories and he was sure that the man did not look quite as bad as they described or as he imagined. And these preganacy stories were never to be taken seriously; they were only stories that old women made up for their own enjoyment and to convey a sense of wisdom to the young. He looked at you and your pregnant belly and conjured up an image of what he believed his daughter would look like. She would have soft hair like her mother, gentle expressive eyes, a full mouth, and velvet soft skin. She would be pretty and cute and adorable and he would love her more than anything. She was his treasure, his precious jewel, his amazing grace. 

"True story!" the woman attached to the end of her story, and with her wide eyes, she nodded to the both of you. "Mark my words! Eating crab results in a crabby baby!"

"Duly noted," Onew replied and the two of you returned to his meal. How ridiculous, you thought, taking the last bit of crab meat and stuffing it into your mouth. To believe that a baby's features were based off of the foods one ate when she was pregnant. You scoffed at the notion, choosing not to believe in such age-old superstitions. You were sure that the ladies just wanted to pass on some wisdom and ended up exagerrating a bit. How could anyone really look like a crab?

The door of the restaurant suddenly swung open, but you and your band were too busy talking amognst yourselves and eating to notice the stranger. But he suddenly called out "omoni" and walked toward the table of ladies, and one of them greeted her grown son.

"There you are!" the woman said, standing up and putting her hands on his shoulders and holding his an arms-length away. "You were supposed to pick me up an hour ago!"

"Sorry," he said. The woman turned to you and Onew again. 

"Son," she said. "How rude you are? Greet the other ladies and say hello to this young couple I've befriended."

Following his mother, he turned and bowed to the old ladies. You and Onew smiled up at him as he turned to greet the both of you. But Onew's smile suddenly disappeared. It was the woman's son, and Onew came face-to-face with the man's small, beady, monolidded eyes, spread far apart and seeming a bit higher up than usual. His dark eyes filled them up. Looking down, Onew noticed one leg that was bent a little bit inward... like a crab's. An unwanted vision suddenly filled Onew's mind: his beautiful little girl having all beady eyes, high up on her forehead, her fingers molded together like pinchers and her legs bent inward and his daughter walking and shuffling sideways like a crab, her skin bright red. 

No, he thought to himself. 

The man smiled at you and returned the gesture with a bow. "Nice to meet you," you said cheerfully. The man spoke little to you and Onew before turning and saying goodbye to everyone as he took his mother away.

"He seemed nice," you said, smiling at Onew and taking a sip of water. But Onew kept his mouth clamped shut and his eyes wide. He peered down at the beady-eyed crab that still sat on the plate in the enter of the table and then turned and looked at you with your unconsumed meal. He conjured up the image of the crab-faced man again and his heart beat quick and hard. A crabby daughter? Would that be what he ended up with? She'd be tortured by the other children relentelessly, he thought. They'd call her cruel names like Crab Face or Sushi or Crustacean Kid. She'd be miserable.

"Yeobo!" he yelled out, standing so suddenly that his own chopsticks flew off the table. You widened your eyes at him in utter surprise and touched your hand to your heart.

"Yah, Jinki! What is it?" you asked. "Sit down, your food will get cold." You reached for the crab with your hands, but Onew suddenly reache dout and slapped oyur hand away.

"Yah, don't touch it!" he said. You raised an eyebrow at him.

"What's gotten into you?" you asked. "Sit down and eat your crab."

"No!" he said and and he reached over and grabbed your wrist and pulled you to stand up. "No more crab. Come on, let's go eat something else, smething pretty like cake or pie or something, no more crabs for you."

"What? But I never finished--," you protested.

"No, no, we gotta go," he said, slamming down a few bills to pay for the meal and then pulling you out of the restaurant, wrapping his own scarf around you. "Do you want to have a crab-faced daughter?"

You laughed. "What?"

"Yah! You heard the old ladies in there! And you saw her son!"

"Onew, that's just a coincidence, it doesn't have anything to do with how the babies are born."

"I'm not taking any chances!" he said, and together the two of you walked to the car. 

"Onew, you're being ridiculous," you said with a playful smile. But Onew looked at you with a serious look on his face that only made you want to laugh even more. you couldn't believe how seriously he was taking the ajumma's story. Still, it was rather amusing to see him so put-off by it. "Will you calm down? Nothing is happening to our baby, Onew."

"Of course not," Onew said. "But.. better safe than sorry."

You laughed as you got into the car. "If anything, our daughter will turn out crabby because you're crabby."

"I'm not," he said, stuffing the key into the ignition and starting the car. You smirked to yourself and then leaned toward him. Onew turned his head just in time, and when your face came closer, you pressed your lips against his. Onew froze up at the contact at first but soon softened up to the familiar feel of your kiss. It was stil the same despite the years you'd spent together. Kissing still felt like the first time you'd ever kissed. And like the first time, he felt all the bad feelings subsiding, making way for the happiness that came with each kiss. 

"I'm perfectly fine, Jinki," you reassured him. "What I eat doesn't have anything to do with what happens to our baby, she'll be perfect, alright?"

"Alright," he said with a sigh.

You laughed. "But maybe we should avoid tofu, I don't want her to be clumsy and reckless like you."

"Yah."

. : The End :.

Author's note: loosely based off of an experience that my cousin and his new wife had during Thanksgiving XD