TSG 138

Se-hyun lay down next to Seo-jun, gently patting the baby’s chest. The sight of the Honey Rice Cake’s lips moving as he was about to fall asleep was unbearably cute. Se-hyun smiled silently.

As Seo-jun, who was trying to sleep, opened his eyes with a babble, Se-hyun quickly closed his own. While his hand continued to pat the baby rhythmically, his face gave nothing away, as if he were genuinely dozing.

Even with his eyes closed, Se-hyun could feel Seo-jun staring intently at him. It was amazing how intently the baby stared at Se-hyun’s face, even though he probably couldn’t see much yet.

Se-hyun peeked through slightly opened eyes, and when he saw Seo-jun close his eyes, he fully opened his own.

When Seo-jun opened his eyes again, Se-hyun closed his.

After repeating this a few times, Seo-jun finally stopped opening his eyes. Now able to keep his eyes open comfortably, Se-hyun looked at his son with renewed wonder.

Seo-jun was approaching his 100th day since birth.

If asked about what happened during that time…

‘It’s like I became a wreck.’

Male omegas underwent cesarean sections for delivery. As a result, Se-hyun, who was under general anesthesia, didn’t know how he had given birth. He just opened his eyes and found Honey Rice Cake beside him.

Seeing the child that had been in his womb was so fascinating. Looking at the tiny, wrinkled baby still didn’t feel quite real.

Shin Tae-oh’s reaction to seeing the baby was beyond words. He was so careful, hesitant to touch the baby as most of his body fit in the palm of his hand. The baby was so small. Perhaps because of this, he became overly cautious about everything related to Seo-jun, feeling the need to take extra good care of the baby.

The joy of both families’ elders goes without saying. Shin Gi-han, who couldn’t come because he was overseas, kept calling Shin Tae-oh constantly, and Jeong Mi-jung wanted to look after the baby herself despite her busy schedule.

Se-hyun’s parents, despite the tiring journey to Seoul, said that their fatigue melted away just by looking at Seo-jun.

Those days with Seo-jun, born amidst everyone’s love, were as much a new beginning for Se-hyun as the imprinting had been.

It was amazing how Seo-jun had become an inseparable part of his life. From being alone to having parents, a spouse, and now a child – it was unbelievable.

It was hard to believe, yet it made him happy that this was his life. So Se-hyun resolved to live happily in the family he now had.

Not knowing the reality of childcare that comes with having a baby.

It was fine while they were in the hospital. It was okay when the parents visited almost every day after coming home. It wasn’t bad when the daytime caregiver came to look after the baby.

When did it start to become a problem…?

The moment they realized that their strength was slowly being drained, even though they thought they were fine, that’s when the reality for Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyun began.

The biggest challenge at first was sleep.

Se-hyun didn’t realize how exhausting it would be for the baby to wake up every three hours. He thought he could handle the lack of sleep since he used to work overtime so often, but…

At least companies have weekends. Even if he works weekends, the burden is incomparable. Childcare was completely different. There are no weekdays or weekends, and you don’t know when it will end. They say babies sleep longer after 100 days, but that’s not guaranteed either.

Next was the crying.

Se-hyun couldn’t understand why the baby was crying. Even after checking everything – whether he was tired, hungry, or needed a diaper change – he wouldn’t stop crying. That crying sound gradually wore down his mental strength.

Eating didn’t feel like eating, sleeping didn’t feel like sleeping. Strangely enough, living this life made him fall deeper in love with Shin Tae-oh.

‘He was truly lovable.’

Not Seo-jun, but ShinTae-oh.

When Seo-jun woke up in the middle of the night, Shin Tae-oh would tell him to sleep and quickly take the baby out. Watching him do that made Tae-oh seem so endearing. Conversely, when Se-hyun poured coffee into Shin Tae-oh’s mouth when he looked exhausted, it was Tae-oh who would look at him with gratitude-filled eyes.

‘We weren’t living like humans for a while.’

Even if someone offered to watch the baby, there were still things only parents could do, so Se-hyun’s life really changed 180 degrees from before.

Se-hyun stared at Seo-jun’s sleeping face.

He hasn’t reached 100 days yet, so the ‘100-day miracle’ hasn’t happened, but it’s much better than at first. Now he expresses tiredness by whimpering and falls asleep when patted.

‘How can he look so similar?’

For a baby, his long eyes, his already prominent nose bridge, and his plump lower lip…

Se-hyun was so surprised when Seo-jun’s wrinkly face smoothed out.

Whenever Se-hyun took Seo-jun out, people would look back and forth between them and say,

‘The baby looks like his dad.’

Then when Shin Tae-oh came home from work and held Seo-jun, people would look at them and repeat the same comment.

‘The baby looks like his dad.’

With Se-hyun, he seemed to be the spitting image of Se-hyun, and with Shin Tae-oh, he looked exactly like Shin Tae-oh.

The question of whether the baby would look like Se-hyun or Shin Tae-oh was resolved at once. Honey Rice Cake that resembled both sides equally was already clearly showing signs of handsomeness.

‘He’s so cute.’

To his eyes, his son was still so adorable.

Suddenly, Se-hyun noticed the baby focus book at Seo-jun’s bedside and let out a big sigh without realizing it. The baby focus book that Shin Tae-oh made himself. At first glance, it seemed like a testament to his thoughtful parenting.

However, the word ‘World’ printed on the front bothered him.

“How about naming our son ‘World’? It means he’s the only one in the whole world.”

Before deciding whose surname to use, Se-hyun immediately frowned at the name Shin Tae-oh mentioned. It seemed like a very strange name if it followed Shin Tae-oh’s surname. The same would be true if it followed Se-hyun’s surname.

However, when Shin Tae-oh, unable to let go, made a focus book and showed it to him, Se-hyun pushed him away, telling him not to even dream about it. Shin Tae-oh retreated with regretful eyes. Se-hyun, unable to bring himself to throw away the focus book Shin Tae-oh had made himself, kept it and used it.

He knew Shin Tae-oh wasn’t an ordinary person to begin with, but to try to give their son a name on such a grand scale? He was someone one couldn’t let their guard down around for even a moment.

Now that Seo-jun seemed to be fully asleep, Se-hyun was about to get up, thinking of dimming the mood light.

At the sound of the door clicking open, Se-hyun startled and looked up.

As Shin Tae-oh carefully entered, his eyes met Se-hyun’s, and he pointed at Seo-jun. He kept mouthing words. Probably asking if Seo-jun was asleep.

‘If you know, why did you come in?’

Se-hyun waved his hand. There was no need for excuses about Seo-jun taking a nap now, and how daytime naps are better with ambient noise. He wanted to smash anything that made noise for fear of waking Seo-jun up right away.

After sending Shin Tae-oh out and about to leave himself, Se-hyun glanced at Seo-jun and was startled so badly he thought his heart would stop.

He made eye contact with Seo-jun.

“Ahh… my heart.”

Se-hyun, who had been trying to stay quiet, muttered, touching his heart as if he couldn’t help it this time.

If the baby had moved, he would have known he was awake. But the sight of the baby opening his eyes without any warning was just like a climactic scene from a horror movie.

As Se-hyun placed his hand on his heart and took deep breaths, Shin Tae-oh, who had approached without notice, stroked Se-hyun’s back.

“I know what you mean.”

As if he had experienced the same thing before, Shin Tae-oh helped Se-hyun calm his startled nerves. Meanwhile, Seo-jun kindly fell back asleep, allowing Shin Tae-oh and Se-hyun to barely make it outside.

As the door quietly closed, Se-hyun and Shin Tae-oh collapsed onto the floor.

“Wow.”

What was this all about?

The baby they thought was small and fragile and needed protection was tossing two grown adults around like this. While thinking this might be an overreaction, they really felt drained of energy.

Shin Tae-oh slipped his arm under Se-hyun’s head and grabbed a toy he had roughly picked up to use as a pillow for himself.

They didn’t mind being on the bare floor. Rather, the coolness on their backs felt good, as if it was cooling off all the sweat they had just shed.

“Do you think the hundred-day miracle will really happen?”

“I heard that doesn’t happen exactly on the hundredth day.”

“Then how do you know if the miracle comes or not?”

“Se-hyun…”

Shin Tae-oh pulled Se-hyun close into his arms and whispered in his ear.

“This is my first time raising a child too.”