CH 3

Ha-hyun sighed and muttered in a voice full of melancholy.

“I’m going to throw away everything I bought…”

It might get better later, but right now, the symptoms were getting worse, and just looking at it made him feel uncomfortable. It was as if the baby was controlling Ha-hyun to clean it up.

He couldn’t believe the day came when he just threw all these strawberries away without eating them. Had he known this would be the case, he should have eaten as much as he could before.

Regretting the past of eating only three cans a week, Ha-hyun took out all the strawberries from the refrigerator and swept them into a garbage bag.

Throwing the plastic bag in a corner, he trudged and sat on the sofa in the living room, hugging his legs. Blinking with his head on his knees, he suddenly rubbed his stomach and muttered.

“I’m hungry.”

He threw away the strawberries he was going to eat as a snack, so he had no choice but to be hungry. The body began to ask for food and he thought seriously. What kind of food was good for the baby in the stomach and for him as well?

“Snack?”

Nope.

As soon as the word came out of his mouth, a warning bell that instinctively wasn’t a snack rang in his head. He didn’t want to go through the same thing that he wanted to throw away everything like strawberries, so Ha-hyun, who quietly accepted, naturally thought of meals.

Kimchi stew, seaweed soup, feast noodles, leek pancake, chicken, hamburger, steamed kodari.

Every time he thought about it, he would have come up with at least one thing he was drawn to, but there was no food that he wanted from all of them this time. Ha-hyun, who was forced to keep thinking again, opened his eyes wide to the image that came to mind.

“Gamjatang.” (감자탕, gamjatang or pork back-bone stew)

He didn’t know why soup for a hangover, which he usually didn’t like, let alone eat, was in his head so much.

When he remembered the soft potatoes and chewy sujebi in gamjatang, his mouth watered. It would be really delicious if he wrapped the rice around the dried radish greens.

Ha-hyun, who was thinking about gamjatang, touched his growling stomach. It was clear that the child liked it too. Ha-hyun became a little nervous because it urged him to eat quickly.

He hurriedly grabbed his cell phone and searched for a gamjatang restaurant near his house. Since there were many companies nearby, there must be a famous restaurant among office workers.

Ha-hyun, who found a restaurant with the most blog reviews and good ratings on delivery apps, grabbed the car key from the table and headed out.

After booking a drop-off and checking the pick-up time, he searched for the time it would take by car. He smiled satisfyingly as he thought it would be perfect if he left now. He let out a hum and moved his light steps toward the parking lot.

Originally, Ha-hyun didn’t often laugh at trivial things like this, but now, strangely, a laugh came out. He forgot all the feelings he had felt because of the strawberry until now and floated around with only gamjatang, which he was about to eat.

He knew his emotions were running wild, but he wanted to do something and let it go. The only thing that mattered to him now was that he had to eat gamjatang.

“But, Baby. You have a very mature taste.”

No. Did young children like gamjatang?

It had been over 10 years since he didn’t come into contact with the existence of children. As a result, Ha-hyun didn’t know what they liked or disliked. He tried to recall whether he liked gamjatang when he was young, but it was so long ago that he couldn’t remember.

He got into the car and pulled the seat belt, which he had usually fastened without thinking, all the way to the end. After checking the seat belt, he grabbed the steering wheel with both his hands.

He didn’t think much of riding alone, but when he realized there was another life in his stomach, he got a little nervous. Ha-hyun, who tried to relax as much as possible by taking a deep breath, moved his feet slowly.

He was about to move. As soon as he put his foot on the accelerator, he heard a sound. Ha-hyun stopped his actions and checked his cell phone that had been thrown into the passenger seat.

[Ma Woo-jin] (마우진)

He received a familiar name when connecting the phone to the car’s Bluetooth.

“Hello?”

[Oi, Nominal Boss, how are you?]

Ha-hyun laughed at the loud voice and stepped on the accelerator.

Ever since he found out that Ha-hyun was leaving the actual operation of the cafe he set up in a hurry to the manager because he was bored, Woo-jin continued to call Ha-hyun the Nominal Boss. (바지사장)

Ha-hyun continued to listen as he got used to the loud voice that he hated and decided to pass it on as it wasn’t particularly wrong. He did, of course, say something sometimes.

“I’m good. But why did you call? Isn’t it time to work?”

[I came out for a while because of the cigarette.]

The sound of the wind came over as if he was calling from outside. Ha-hyun glanced at his watch, checked that it was past three o’clock, and shook his head. His friend had a habit of smoking during this time.

[Since you have a lot of time, shall we have a drink?]

“Drink…”

It was a common suggestion without anything special, but Ha-hyun quickly rejected it.

“I can’t drink.”

[It’s not that you don’t want to, but why you can’t drink.]

“I’m pregnant.”

Ha-hyun, who calmly told the truth, stepped on the brake in line with the red light. When he was smiling satisfactorily at the smooth stopped car, Woo-jin’s reaction gradually became more intense.

[You’re pregnant so you can’t, pregnant? Pregnant?!]

“Ung. Pregnant.”

[You get pregnant but you don’t have a lover! What kind of pregnancy is a guy who hasn’t even been married!]

“Accidents happen no matter how old you are.”

Ha-hyun, who lowered the volume of the sound hitting his ears and moved his feet again in accordance to the signal, quickly continued to the destination he could see.

“Come to my house if you’re bored. Have other drinks instead of alcohol. I’ll order the food on time for you. I’m busy, so I’m hanging up.”

Ha-hyun, who unilaterally hung up the phone, safely parked around the restaurant, breathed a sigh of relief, and got out of the car quickly.

When Ha-hyun went inside with his wallet in case something unexpected happened, he smelled the scent of pine trees that passed by in an instant and quickly turned his head.

“The pheromone…”

Kang Cho-seung. It was that person’s scent.

Is he in this restaurant? But it wasn’t even lunchtime now. It was already 3 o’clock, so an ordinary office worker would have to be at the company.

“He’s not here, right?”

It could be the remaining pheromone. The pheromone he quickly grabbed was already bouncing around as if it had been buried in other things and disappeared.

When he faced the pheromone in his memory, Ha-hyun became tense as if he had committed a crime. Thinking like that, this space was uncomfortable. Ha-hyun, who found the staff, quickly took the packaged food and went out.

Ironically, unlike his stiff muscles, he was at ease. Ha-hyun, who forcibly suppressed the desire to follow the pheromone after a long time, looked down at the heavy packaging in his right hand.

“This is the child’s father.” (Refer to the pheromone left around the packaging)

It was a very small amount of pheromone, but it had a great effect on Ha-hyun. Slight nausea he felt because the strawberry disappeared the moment he faced the pine pheromone, so there was no need to mention the effect.

He felt better this morning than when he got the pheromone injection. When he got the injection, he didn’t really know if his condition was bad or if it had improved, but now he knew at once. His condition wasn’t that good.

It seemed that the saying that Alpha’s pheromone was helpful not only for morning sickness but also throughout pregnancy was true.

Swallowing up his bitter feelings, he headed to the place where the car was parked with a little less energy than when he came.

He wasn’t happy because he felt like he was facing a part he couldn’t fill no matter how much money he had.

“As expected, I should let him know so we can meet.”

He knew his name and it seemed like he lived close to Seoul, so it wouldn’t be as difficult to find as he thought. Well, he didn’t know how long it would take.

“A famous detective agency…”

Ha-hyun, who was sitting in the driver’s seat muttering, shook his head as if it wasn’t a good idea. It was difficult for him to adjust with just one child, but suddenly it seemed difficult to bring another person into the line.

He felt like getting regular pheromone injections was a better option than getting stressed out. It was going to be hard. Ha-hyun, who had just realized the importance of alpha pheromone, noticed that the road ahead wasn’t quite easy.

Still, since he had decided, he had to do it.

He put his face on the steering wheel and stayed still, making a dazed voice.

“Sleepy.”

It was a really absurd thing to say, but his eyelids got heavier. He guessed he should go home soon and eat only one bite of gamjatang before going to bed.

Even though he was sleepy, Ha-hyun didn’t forget gamjatang.

* * *

Ha-hyun, who returned home and fell asleep after eating gamjatang, woke up to the loud ringtone of his cell phone.

Rubbing his still heavy eyelids, he roughly stretched out his arms to answer the phone and he was awakened by the voice echoing in his ears.

“You’re loud.”

[I’m here, open the door quickly.]

“Alright.”

Ha-hyun, who got out of bed in slow steps, went to the intercom on the joint front door, looking at the screen showing Woo-jin’s face.

Come to think of it, he said he would order food, but he didn’t because he was sleeping. Realizing that his work had increased, he pursed his lips while pondering whether or not to open the door for a moment, and then shook his head.

Still, he wasn’t going to kick him out after coming all the way here. When he heard the sound of the front door, Ha-hyun, who walked to open the door, stiffened as he saw Woo-jin’s face.

“You, are you really pregnant? Is our Nominal Boss really pregnant?”

“Don’t call me Nominal Boss, call me by name.”

“Yes, our Ha-hyun. Are you pregnant?”

“I am.”

He didn’t want to keep talking at the front door. Woo-jin followed Ha-hyun as he went inside.

“How can? Whose kid is it? Where’s the bastard who got you pregnant?”

Ha-hyun, who had sat leaning on the sofa at the sound of words gradually becoming louder, waved his hand. No matter how much he persuaded him to calm down, Woo-jin was still excited.

“The result of a one-night stand.”

“Oh, one-night… ya!”

When he suddenly shouted, Ha-hyun was startled and his shoulders stiffened. Woo-jin, who slapped his own lips, took a deep breath.

“Are you going to give birth to them? No, right? Are you really not going to give birth to the child who doesn’t even know where the father is and what he is doing, right?”

When Ha-hyun kept his mouth shut and didn’t say anything, Woo-jin slapped his own chest as if he was frustrated.

“You have a lot of money so you can erase the kid, ung? You think raising children is easy. And how do you raise them yourself? Parenting isn’t something that can only be solved with money, you know?”

It was quite the right word. He had a lot of money, so he could remove the child and he felt a little at a loss as to how to raise them on his own, and it was also right that money couldn’t solve it.

Woo-jin pulled down his tie as he looked at Ha-hyun, whose eyes were rolling around, and sighed.

“You, are going to give birth.”

“Why do you know me so well?”

“It is said that the village school dog can recite a good harvest in three years…”

Ha-hyun shook his head at the word from a video, even if she didn’t watch it for a long time. That was Woo-jin.