DASH-Chapter 142

“.......”

Jiheon let out a quiet sigh. Seeing him no longer denying it, Jisoo remarked:

“That’s why I’m saying, just go ahead and keep the baby. I feel like you’re already considering it, so what’s the point of throwing cold water on that? It’s just giving you stress. And even if I advise you against it, you’ll probably come up with all sorts of excuses, right? You’ll likely say, ‘Shouldn’t this child be born?’ Just like when you covered for your boyfriend earlier.”

Caught off guard, Jiheon blushed and burst into laughter.

“Hey, when did I? It’s not like I’m covering for him....”

“Aaah, enough said, enough. Stop it.”

Jisoo waved her hand, signaling she didn’t want to hear more. Fortunately, at that moment, a staff member arrived with a pot of jiritang, momentarily interrupting the conversation. After the staff turned on the burner and left, Jisoo stirred the soup with a ladle and clicked her tongue.

“Oh, but I really don’t like the way he talks.”

Jisoo said disapprovingly.

“Maybe because he’s still young? I thought you got a call from some debt collector earlier. He’s acting like he’s going to devour you whole.”

“That’s just... because he’s worried.”

Jiheon carefully made an excuse.

“We were supposed to go to the hospital together today, but he couldn’t make it because something came up. So—”

“Look at this, look! You’re doing that again! You’re covering for him again!”

Jisoo got irritated.

“No, I’m not trying to cover for him, really. Why would I?”

When Jiheon complained of injustice, Jisoo put down the ladle roughly and said:

“That’s exactly what you’re doing! Also, if he’s worried, he can just ask if you went to the hospital. Why is he asking so much about who you’re with and where you are? Even though you told him to call you later, he kept calling you again and again! Is he some kind of a green-eyed monster [1]?”

“No, what green-eyed monster?”

Jiheon laughed in surprise and shook his head.

“Jeez, never mind. Let’s drop it. You don’t like him right now, so no matter what he does, it doesn’t sit well with you. Maybe your opinion will change when you meet him in person.”

“What if I meet him and dislike him even more?”

“Hmm...... I doubt that. You’ll probably end up liking him.”

Saying this, Jisoo exploded in frustration.

“You’re losing it, seriously.”

Finally, she scooped up a ladle of the boiling jiritang and gave it to Jiheon.

“How did you break your no-marriage resolution and start thinking about getting married?”

“No idea.”

Jiheon pondered for a moment and responded.

“Maybe because he really likes me?”

“......Whaaat?”

Jisoo widened her eyes as she finished getting her share of jiritang.

“Excuse me, sir, but it seems like you might like him more?”

Jiheon burst into laughter for the first time today at Jisoo’s remark. Once the laughter subsided, he finally took a spoon and tasted the soup that Jisoo had praised so much.

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“Yeah, I think so too.”

“When are you going to tell Mom and Dad?”

Jisoo asked while waiting for a taxi.

“Do you want me to start dropping hints? Should I ask them what if you have a shotgun marriage or something?”

“No, please don’t ever do that.”

Jiheon urgently stopped his sister.

“I’ll tell them later, so just act like you don’t know until then. Don’t even mention that you think I’m dating someone.”

“When are you planning to tell them?”

“Later.”

“Why? If you’re gonna tell them, it might be better to do it sooner than later.”

While Jisoo was talking, an empty taxi pulled up. Thanks to this, Jisoo didn’t wait for Jiheon’s answer and had to hop into the taxi.

“I’m heading out first. Take care on your way home, oppa. Give me a call if anything comes up.”

The taxi carrying Jisoo vanished into the darkness, and shortly after, another taxi headed for Seoul arrived.

“Sir, please go to this address.”

Jiheon, settling into the backseat, shared his home address with the driver, then pulled out his cell phone from his coat pocket. After glancing at the turned-off screen, he stowed it away again.

He was certain that if he turned it on, Jaekyoung would call within ten minutes. Having already ended the call twice before, this time he needed to wait for Jaekyoung to hang up. However, he wasn’t sure if he could end the call before reaching home. Talking on the phone wasn’t an issue, but the presence of the taxi driver made it a bit awkward. Jiheon wasn’t the type to shamelessly make an embarrassing call with his lover while a third party listened.

And even if it wasn’t for that reason, he didn’t feel like talking on the phone right now. He needed time—time to be alone, to think quietly, and to organize his thoughts.

He didn’t know how many times he changed his mind while talking to Jisoo. Encouraged by Jisoo’s cheers, he thought, ‘Yeah, I can give birth, right? There’s no reason I can’t do that.’ He felt a surge of excitement with vague hope but quickly questioned himself, ‘Haa.... But can I... really do that? Even if others manage, that’s their situation. I’m not prepared for anything yet.’ Then, he got excited again, thinking, ‘Okay, let’s keep the baby.’ But he snapped back, thinking, ‘No, let’s be cautious.’ His mind was in chaos.

So he closed his eyes and contemplated, thinking that if others could do it, he should follow his heart. Yet, the conclusion remained the same: he didn’t know.

He could keep the baby if he chose to. Perhaps he could imitate what others were doing and raise the «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» child somehow. However, he lost confidence when he considered, ‘Is it truly wise to have a baby with such a carefree mindset?’ The child’s arrival would inevitably reshape his lifestyle, and he worried about adjusting from his current routine. He also feared harboring resentment toward the child or feeling like he had the child for no reason.

Furthermore, even though people didn’t care about shotgun marriages these days, if Kwon Jaekyoung were to have one, there would definitely be another uproar. He felt sorry for the potential chaos in the company, especially with the Olympics approaching. He couldn’t even imagine how Mrs. Shim would react to it.

Really, the more he thought about it, the more complicated it seemed. Yet, Jiheon couldn’t grasp why he couldn’t definitively decide, ‘Okay, let’s not keep the baby.’ Numerous challenging situations loomed, and the only positive aspect was the impending arrival of his and Jaekyoung’s child, whose face they hadn’t seen yet, into the world. However, that one positive aspect felt too enormous, something he had never contemplated before.

In the end, before coming to any conclusion, the taxi pulled up in front of Jiheon’s house, and he stepped out of the car with a more tangled mind.

Even at home, he didn’t rush to switch on his cell phone. After a long shower, he quickly prepared for work the next day, packed his outfit, and headed to bed with his cell phone one last time.

There were 17 new missed calls, all from the same person, of course. Jiheon thought about hitting the call button right away, but using the excuse that it was well past eleven, he decided against it and checked his work mailbox, reviewing the advertising contracts that Team Leader Lee had sent him over the past two weeks. And then he went online to do some research, ensuring that pheromones wouldn’t be secreted during pregnancy.

Jiheon had planned to buy some medication on his way to work if even a trace amount was secreted, but he felt relieved to discover that pheromone levels typically decreased rapidly right after conception and were undetectable after 3 or 4 days.

He initially intended to just browse information about pheromones before bedtime, but for some reason, he couldn’t put his cell phone down. His search continued into pregnancy-related information, an area he had previously never paid attention to, so everything seemed new.

What surprised Jiheon the most, given his vague knowledge that the early stages of pregnancy involved “suffering from morning sickness,” was the fact that most miscarriages occurred during this period. Particularly shocking was the fact that Omega men had a more than 30% higher probability of early miscarriage within 12 weeks compared to women, categorizing them as a high-risk group regardless of age.

‘Wait, in this case...... just because I wanted to give birth doesn’t mean I can.’

Jiheon thought, feeling a little depressed. (Despite not yet planning on having the baby,) he felt anxious for no reason, so he began searching for anti-miscarriage injections that popped up in related search terms. In the end, he grew frustrated with himself once again and decided to get up.

‘This won’t do. Let’s grab some warm water and go to sleep quickly.’

Jiheon stumbled out of bed and headed to the kitchen to fill a pot with water. Unable to endure the brief wait for the water to boil, he started looking up essential nutrients during pregnancy on his cell phone. Suddenly, the screen changed, and it began ringing. Startled, Jiheon checked the time once more and answered the call.

“You haven’t slept?”

He asked the moment the call connected, but Jaekyoung didn’t respond and quickly fired back with a question of his own.

｢Hyung, where are you now?｣

His voice, unusually too serious, made Jiheon hold back the words at the tip of his tongue. Instead, he replied:

“Hey, I asked you first, you know? Anyway, where else could I be? I’m at home.”

｢Where were you before?｣

“Ilsan. I went to the hospital and met my dongsaeng afterwards.”

｢What kind of dongsaeng?｣

“What do you mean, what kind? It’s my little sister.”

A brief “ah” came from the other end of the line.

｢I thought it was a dongsaeng that you knew.｣

Only then did Jaekyoung speak in a calmer voice, but Jiheon couldn’t help but chuckle.

“So, you called 17 times because of that? Hey, my sister asked me if you were a green-eyed monster.”

｢What green-eyed monster?]

Jaekyoung asked angrily.

｢I was just worried.｣

“That’s why she called you a green-eyed monster.”

Jiheon completely forgot about the excuse he gave Jisoo earlier about covering up for Jaekyoung.

“You’re not at the airport now, are you?”

He picked up the pot with freshly boiled water, jokingly asking. Jaekyoung responded in a blunt tone:

｢No. The earliest flight is at 2:30 in the morning, so why would I go to the airport already?｣

Jiheon paused while pouring water into his cup.

“How do you know that?”

Jaekyoung suddenly fell silent. Jiheon pressed.

“No way. Did you look up the flight time? Seriously?”

｢.......｣

“Hey, no, don’t do that! Don’t come!”

Jiheon shouted in horror.