M 203

Side Story 3 Episode 5

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‘How already… No, putting that aside, how is it even possible? I mean, that….’

‘Sensitive pregnant individuals can sometimes show morning sickness symptoms from the very early stages. Of course, such an intense morning sickness reaction this early on is quite rare….’

Captain Na wiped the sweat beaded on his forehead with his sleeve and recited the detailed examination results that had just come in.

‘Yes, it’s definitely a confirmed pregnancy.’

‘Hah….’

Ki Tae-jeong blew out a sharp breath through his teeth. A hollow laugh escaped him unbidden. It was absolutely not because he was happy. But it wasn’t that he disliked it or was angry… or any other negative emotion either. So it was pregnancy, not a terminal illness or a rare disease, that’s a relief…, it was on that level of acknowledgment.

When he had decided to try for a second child with Sehwa, when he had imagined the name ‘Sunlight’ for their second child while tightly holding his family in his arms under the morning sun, he had been so overwhelmed it felt prickly in the back of his throat…. Was it because he had seen Sehwa collapse? Even hearing the news that the long-awaited ‘Sunlight’ had arrived didn’t evoke much emotion in him.

Ki Tae-jeong, who had been dryly accepting the series of events as if observing something happening to a third party, only faced reality belatedly after taking the ultrasound hologram handed to him by Captain Na.

Lee Sehwa, hospitalized in the officer’s intensive care unit reserved for use by the Lieutenant General’s spouse.

Beyond the transparent glass in the door, his face was still pale, but he looked more peaceful than during the moments when he had been coughing wretchedly. Ki Tae-jeong stared at Sehwa’s long, sweeping eyelashes fluttering as if taking flight, and pressed his thumb hard against the edge of the hologram in his hand. The stinging sensation finally made him feel like he was coming to his senses.

My one and only, beloved spouse is with child.

Inside Lee Sehwa’s womb is our child.

We are having a second child….

‘Captain Na.’

‘Yes, Lieutenant General.’

This is no time to be spacing out. Ki Tae-jeong was a competent soldier who never forgot anything once it was etched into his bones. So this time, he was determined not to act like a fool like he did when it was Hae-rim. He would do his best to ensure that Sehwa, the second child in his womb, and Hae-rim, who would soon be an older brother, would not get hurt.

‘Captain Na, you will focus solely on the surgical research for the upcoming procedure, rather than Sehwa’s general check-ups or examinations. Delegate all other duties to someone else.’

‘Yes, understood.’

And so, Lee Sehwa’s ultra-luxury dedicated team was formed, led by the attending physician and consisting of six other doctors in charge—or seven, if they included Captain Na. Seven specialists, and if they considered the assigned managers, nurses, nutritionists, and so on, it amounted to nearly thirty people. Neither Ki Tae-jeong nor General Oh Seon-ran had requested such a large number of personnel; the scale had grown a bit thanks to the hospital’s enthusiastic involvement. Well. Who would neglect the spouse of an active-duty Lieutenant General and the son of an active-duty General?

‘Big Daddy.’

‘Yeah.’

‘But when can I meet Little Daddy?’

However, despite the medical staff’s meticulous care, Ki Tae-jeong couldn’t get anywhere near Sehwa for the entire first week of hospitalization. It was the same for General Oh Seon-ran and Hae-rim as well.

Sehwa, who had barely regained consciousness, couldn’t even stand the lingering scent of the cologne ingrained in Ki Tae-jeong’s body and started dry-heaving again. Since even rubbing an alcohol swab on his skin before an injection made him nauseous and miserable, he wasn’t even allowed to see his face from a distance.

‘Hmm, it seems like it’ll be a little while longer.’

‘Whyyy? Grandpa said little Daddy is okay now, that little Daddy woke up?’

‘That’s true, but Little Daddy’s body has become weak… How should I put it. Yes, for the time being, they say it’s better for him to be in a germ-free place. So the doctor said he still can’t meet other people.’

‘Germs…?’

‘Uh-huh. Don’t you wash your hands properly when you come in from outside, Hae-rim? To get rid of germs.’

‘Mmhmm, yes. So, are there germs on Little Daddy right now…?’

‘Something like that. Because Little Daddy is sick, germs can attack him easily. So we have to be careful not to transfer any germs we might have.’

Mmm, I see. Although he was nodding his head, Hae-rim didn’t seem to fully understand. He probably accepted it as germs having infiltrated Little Daddy’s body or something like that.

‘But then, if I wash my hands and feet, and wash my hair too, really clean… Then can’t I see him?’

‘Well. But if we do that, Little Daddy might have to stay in the hospital even longer? Would that be okay, Hae-rim?’

He had just made up any excuse that came to mind, wanting to tell him about the new sibling once things stabilized, but fortunately, the child let it pass without much question.

‘Nooo. I don’t want that….’

‘Right, Big Daddy doesn’t want that either.’

‘So that’s why we can’t even call Little Daddy yet? Because phones have lots of germs?’

‘Uh-huh, that’s right. If it becomes possible to visit Little Daddy, Big Daddy will take you right away.’

‘Okay….’

‘Big Daddy has to go to the hospital to check on Little Daddy’s condition and also go to work, so he asked Grandpa to look after you for a little while. Don’t feel too sad about that either, okay?’

‘Mmkay, it’s okay.’

Hae-rim stuffed the galbi patty that Ki Tae-jeong had cut into small pieces into his mouth, and also chewed and ate the carrots and green onion kimchi he usually disliked. Perhaps he wanted to show his big daddy, whom he would be apart from for a while, that he was doing well and being brave. His still very young son was doing his best in his own way.

The one saving grace was that Sehwa, who couldn’t even swallow water and was barely sustained by IV fluids, began to get a little better as he entered his second week of hospitalization. After hesitating for a long time upon hearing that Sehwa, who had opened his eyes, was asking for him, he opened the hospital room door. His beloved spouse, whom he hadn’t seen in so long, smiled to show he was okay, despite his terribly emaciated appearance. That day, Ki Tae-jeong learned exactly what kind of feeling the expression ‘my heart is being ripped apart’ describes.

Anyway, although the attending physician couldn’t draw any definitive conclusions about Sehwa’s condition, Ki Tae-jeong guessed that perhaps his body was starting to accept things familiar to him, like his scent. Of course, it was just a guess, but the mere fact that Sehwa wasn’t rejecting him made him feel like he could go on living.

Unlike himself, who had caught a breather, Sehwa still couldn’t eat much well. He sometimes suffered, saying even the hospital bed sheets brushing against his skin felt stinging. Still, it was a relief—a relief that incidents like his body temperature dropping sharply or him fainting, as before, were gradually decreasing.

‘Darling. Do you think you can eat candy now? Should I give you some?’
‘Ah, yes. I think I might be able to eat it.’
‘How about some rice gruel?’
‘Hmm… I had a little earlier, so I’m not sure if more will stay down…’
‘Alright. Let’s try the candy first and then think about it.’

Ki Tae-jeong brought over a small glass jar placed on the island counter. It was filled with pink candies the size of a thumbnail. They were something Ki Tae-jeong had made himself by boiling down sugar, corn syrup, vanilla syrup, and strawberry syrup. While their appearance was far from that of proper candies sold in stores, if one had to give them a name, there was nothing else to call them but handmade candies.

If it weren’t for these candies, Sehwa might not have been able to leave the ICU until now. The biggest reason his recovery was inevitably slow was that his sense of smell had become so acute it was affecting his ability to eat. After several days passed with Sehwa unable to eat anything, Ki Tae-jeong and General Oh Seon-ran had sought out and presented every food they could find that was said to be edible for pregnant people with severe morning sickness. They set aside all notions of good nutrients and prioritized solely whether Lee Sehwa could chew and swallow that food.

‘Did you buy strawberries instead of tangerines?’

‘Yes.’