CH 7

It was always the same start of the day, but something different from usual.

Ha-hyun, who sat up, rubbed his eyes to remove the mucus, tilted his head, and fell in that direction. He was drowsy, feeling his sense of balance and procrastination.

“What time is it…”

There was no one to answer the self-talk that came out in a cracked voice. As he fell, he swung his arms around trying to find his cell phone. But he couldn’t get his hands on it at all and made a painful noise.

He didn’t want to get up, but he felt like he had to. His arms stretched out to support his upper body, and he looked up after he regained consciousness a little.

“I didn’t know it was under the pillow.”

Kkuung— Ha-hyun, who stretched to blow away the stiffness and checked the time, took a deep breath.

“One o’clock? One o’clock in the afternoon? Not in the morning?”

He must have slept before midnight yesterday, so why did he only wake up now? Confused, he put his phone down and checked the electronic watch, making sure his eyes weren’t wrong and scratching his cheek.

“It could be, but…”

He slept more than twelve hours though. Shocked by the fact that he had slept for so long, Ha-hyun fell onto the bed.

No matter how unemployed he was, he had his own rules of life, and one of them was to get up before 10 am. Ha-hyun, who generally kept it even though he hadn’t been keeping it up now, was shocked and gloomy.

“Is this because I’m pregnant?”

How many changes did pregnancy bring?

Ha-hyun, who sighed not knowing how many times it was, turned on his cell phone. He felt like he had to eat something to soothe this disturbed mind. For example, strawberries, strawberries, or strawberries.

I might have morning sickness like last time.

But it wasn’t a major issue. Didn’t he hear that he might have been like that only on that day? More than anything else, he kept thinking about strawberries and he felt like he could eat some today.

Even if he couldn’t eat it this time, he should freeze it in the freezer. He was so depressed that he decided not to make the same mistake again, remembering strawberries that he threw straight into the garbage bag without even looking at them.

“I should go buy strawberries right after I wash up.”

It had been a long time since he had decided what to do as soon as he woke up, so Ha-hyun crawled out of bed and moved straight away.

When he bought strawberries, he also bought whipped cream. It was delicious when eaten together with whipped cream and strawberries cut into appropriate sizes on fluffy bread.

He didn’t know if he would be able to eat it or not, but the original plan was to make it grand.

“The nearest place is…”

No. The bread there isn’t good.

He had to go a little far to go to a bakery that sold white bread that was perfect to eat with whipped cream and strawberries. Although it wasn’t more than a 15-minute walk, he thought for a while whether to go by car.

“Umm. Because I haven’t been walking these days.”

He had to walk. He didn’t know that all the vital muscles in his legs might disappear if he continued to drive. As much as he was living idly by using his pregnancy as an excuse, his conscience hurt a little.

Ha-hyun, who left the house with only his wallet and cell phone, leaned against the wall while waiting for the elevator. The disadvantage of the top floor was that it took a relatively long time for the elevator on the first floor to go up.

After waiting for the arrival with a relaxed mind, Ha-hyun then entered the open elevator with a cheerful sound. He habitually looked in the mirror after a long time before pressing the first floor instead of the basement.

“Umm. It looks like your face is swollen from here.”

Ha-hyun, who decided not to care because he wasn’t going to meet anyone, slipped through the open door just in time.

* * *

Walking under the bright sunlight and stopping by a familiar bakery, he was relieved by the fragrant smell of bread. He smelled the fragrant scent and looked around mainly for freshly baked bread, but eventually picked up an unplanned sweet red bean bread (단팥빵, anpan) and soboro bread (소보로, Korean streusel bread, here).

Don’t buy too many because you have to eat alone, just one or two. Finally, Ha-hyun, who picked up the original purpose of bread and whipped cream, left the bakery quickly before making an impulse purchase.

“Now I have to go in to buy strawberries.”

The discount, was it still on. It would be nice if so.

As soon as he entered the mart, he went to the corner with strawberries, and Ha-hyun’s eyes lit up when he saw that it was still on discount.

He might not be able to eat like last time, so this time he didn’t get greedy and just picked up a pack, but after that, he still felt regret. He quickly left the fruit section, thinking he might be buying several packs if he hesitated more.

After resisting temptation and purchasing just the right amount, he returned home and stood in the kitchen for a long time.

“Where is the knife?”

It was his kitchen, but he didn’t know anything.

He took a deep breath as he took out the tools needed to make the strawberry sandwich. It had been a while since he made it, but he still could do it. Could he not get hurt? It wasn’t difficult to use a knife, but Ha-hyun, who cut his hand easily even with simple tasks, swallowed his saliva.

“I can do it.”

Sure thing. I’m thirty-three and I can’t use a knife.

Still, he was careful as much as he could, so he finished making the sandwich after spending nearly an hour.

He devoted his time to taking care of the appearance, but it was meaningless when he saw the finished product.

“As long as it tastes good…”

Ha-hyun, who was trying to spit out the excuses often made by people who couldn’t cook, shook his head. Don’t be pathetic when you’re alone.

He held the sandwich cut into bite-sized pieces in his hand and exhaled tensely. He hoped he wasn’t going to throw up again. Anyway, this time he didn’t get nauseated by the smell. He looked down at the innocent sandwich with his worries on his face, then closed his eyes and took a bite.

Ha-hyun, who had chewed it a few times, opened his eyes wide when he realized that it wasn’t disgusting.

The combination of moist and soft bread, sweet whipped cream, and sour strawberries were always good. It felt more delicious because it was a strawberry he ate after a long time, so he wrapped his cheeks and smiled happily.

“As expected, strawberry and whipped cream are a good combination.”

He was happy to eat strawberries without morning sickness like this.

So, could he eat injeolmi (인절미, a variety of tteok or Korean rice cake, here), which he couldn’t eat because of morning sickness while trying to eat it last time?

Ha-hyun, who put the rest of his pieces in one bite, took out injeolmi from the freezer with a round ball. He ate the sandwich he had made while defrosting it in the microwave.

“Yummy, yummy.”

Ha-hyun, who drank water so as not to dry his throat, took a step and took out the hot injeolmi when the defrosting injeolmi was finished with a cheerful sound. He picked up the edge of the plate and quickly moved it to the table, waving his hand which the heat still remaining.

“Um…”

As he rolled his eyes while eating chewy injeolmi, he smiled broadly.

Today seemed like a happy day to be free from morning sickness.

* * *

“Haa…”

Today was a rough day.

Otherwise, there was no way he could miss the alarm he normally heard. Cho-seung, who got up later than usual and forgot to wear a tie because he was in a hurry, touched the empty nape of his neck.

In addition, the pheromone control, which was close to nothing, became more difficult as if a dam had been opened. If he looked away even for a moment, the pheromone that he had pressed down would flow and go somewhere. It even spread more widely than usual and Cho-seung had been through some troubles lately.

“Assistant Manager Kang, we are going to lunch, would you like to go together?”

“Ah, that’s good. What’s on the menu today?”

Staring at the monitor with blurred vision and touching his forehead, he habitually smiled as he pulled back his body at the sound of a voice over the partition.

“How about tonkatsu (돈가스)? We’re going to the newly opened store.”

“It would be delicious. Are you going now?”

“Yes.”

Cho-seung forcefully swallowed the sigh that came from inside. He didn’t even know it was lunchtime. It was frustrating that he had been sitting fruitlessly through the morning.

What he couldn’t handle now was something he had to deal with at any time soon, so it wouldn’t be good to postpone it. It was just the future itself was difficult.

Anyway, Cho-seung decided to eat first, joined the crowd and headed to the tonkatsu store.

“Oh my God, there are too many people.”

“What should we do? Shall we go to another store?”

“Isn’t it better to wait since we’ve come all the way here?”

Whatever it was, Cho-seung waited for people to decide. Scratching his cheek as he looked at the people in line in front of the store, he opened his mouth to the team members who still had different opinions.

“The rotation seems to be fast, and I think we only need to wait 10 minutes, shall we wait?”

“It’s okay to wait ten minutes.”

“Then let’s wait. I heard from a teammate next to me that it was pretty tasty.”

While waiting to enter, a light topic came up. Variety shows they watched over the weekend, dramas that were trending these days, and talking about the weather.

Rather than talking about something that made headaches, they deliberately brought out light stories to refresh their heads after work and when the waiting was over, they laughed.

Among them, there was the only person who couldn’t laugh and that was Cho-seung. Ever since he stood in front of the store, he had been feeling sick. He didn’t know why, so he stayed still, but it seemed like it would be difficult to eat lunch at this rate.

He hurriedly blocked his mouth when he saw tonkatsu in front of his eyes, rubbing his stomach and taking a deep breath.

“Assistant Manager Kang? What’s wrong?”

“That, up—”

Cho-seung, who was about to answer, turned his head and drank water because he thought he felt nauseous.

“That… I don’t think I can’t eat because I feel sick all of a sudden.”

“Pardon? Where are you sick?”

“No, I don’t know.”

First of all, it was certain that the smell of tonkatsu was driving him crazy. Cho-seung, who was trying to answer as much as possible, frowned and covered his mouth again. Ah, it’s harder.

“Sorry. I’ll go first. I’ll pay for it, so take your time.”

Cho-seung, who took his wallet and headed to the cashier, finished paying for the team members and quickly left the store. One of the team members, who was watching the disappeared Cho-seung, muttered involuntarily.

“Is he pregnant…”

“What? Isn’t Assistant Manager Kang alpha?”

“No, of course, Assistant Manager Kang is an alpha, it’s just similar to when a pregnant friend has morning sickness.”

The team member raised his hand in embarrassment, felt similar to that time and tilted his head.

‘It really feels like morning sickness…’

As the team members guessed, it was the day that Ha-hyun’s morning sickness transferred to Cho-seung.