My Girlfriend Is Very Good To Me [EN]: Chapter 196

195. Outside. The Second Child and Future Plans (2)

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Clink.

I poured alcohol into a small soju glass, wordlessly toasted, turned, and downed it in one gulp. It truly felt like I was getting drunk—not just getting wasted from drinking too much, but enjoying the atmosphere of drinking and the quietness of the early morning.

For a while, we just silently exchanged drinks without much conversation. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a drink alone with my father-in-law. There were times when we were alone briefly before drinking with everyone else, but never just the two of us like this.

Basically, when I drink, Heena is always right by my side. After graduating from college, I hardly drank unless it was a company dinner or a family gathering. It was hard to even see my friends.

And being alone with him like this wasn’t uncomfortable at all. Generally, it might be an awkward situation for a son-in-law, but I’ve been living in this house for eight years already. And it’s been ten years since I first greeted my father-in-law.

It might sound strange to say, but aside from my parents, my father-in-law is more comfortable than any other relative. We’ve spent so much time together that it’s inevitable.

“Yeon-hoo.”

“Yes, please speak.”

I don’t know how much time had passed or how much we had drunk, but as I was leisurely drinking, my father-in-law called my name. It’s been a while since he called me Yeon-hoo instead of son-in-law.

My father-in-law was sitting on the floor, leaning against the sofa, fiddling with his glass in one hand as he continued.

“Stay here for another four… no, about five years.”

“Yes.”

“It would be good to become independent around that time.”

“……”

Gurgle.

My father-in-law calmly brought up the topic and then poured more alcohol into his glass. It wasn’t at all like he was telling me to stop freeloading or to move out because living together was difficult. It couldn’t be such a foolish reason.

Because we were family. Although not connected by blood, I could confidently say anywhere that they were my family.

Besides, the bitter look on his face as he spoke showed that those five years were too short for him.

He already seemed to be feeling sad about separating from Heena, Sarang, our future Haengbok [Happiness, the baby’s name], and me.

“I’d like to keep living together, but once you’ve started a family, you can’t keep living like this forever. You can’t get too used to us being around.”

“Yes.”

“And once Haengbok grows up, this house will be too small.”

He said, glancing around the quiet house. It’s hard for me to accurately guess the feelings in his wistful eyes, but I thought he might be looking at the empty space where Heesung hyung [older brother] used to be.

Children eventually leave their parents’ nest, and although Sarang filled the house with liveliness in place of hyung, a family’s emptiness can never be replaced by anything else.

And I was silently listening to my father-in-law’s words. Coincidentally, when I visited my parents’ house today, the conversation I had with my dad was also about our independence.

The reason for that was the same as what he just said. We were receiving so much help in every way while living together, and it was very comfortable, but we couldn’t live like this forever.

We had to learn to stand on our own.

My father-in-law smiled and nodded at my reaction, which was calm and accepting without much agitation.

“You probably have something in mind too, Yeon-hoo.”

“Yes… actually, I talked a bit with my father today when I visited my parents’ house. I don’t know exactly when it will be, but I think we should.”

“Really? Haha, we have something in common.”

My father-in-law and I exchanged drinks. The future that was coming would surely be lonely, but it wasn’t a bad thing at all. It was a future that we would naturally face if we continued to enjoy each day as we do now without any major problems.

“I heard from Heena that you’ve been saving diligently. You must have had a lot of things you wanted to do… you’re really amazing.”

“It’s nothing. I should be doing that. I’m the head of the household, after all.”

“Yes, that’s right. It might sound old-fashioned, but that’s how it should be. You, like me and hyung, are the head of the household who has to take responsibility for the family.”

We had been working hard. Both Heena and I saved most of our money, except for the minimum necessary expenses.

Of course, we didn’t just save. We took Sarang to various places to play and spent time with our family, but we never wasted money.

In fact, I didn’t think it was that hard. For me, my family was more important than anything else, and it was something I had to do for the future of my family.

Heena and I had talked about this sometimes, and of course, Heena felt the same way.

No, she was even more considerate of our family than I was. Heena has always been like that. She has always valued me and Sarang more than anything in the world.

Always. Heena has always been like that. And I have always thought about how I can keep pace with her for Heena.

Fortunately, I had a way to do that given my circumstances.

“Now that I’ve heard your thoughts, let’s stop with the difficult talk. We still have some time left.”

“Yes. By the way, are you sure you’ll be okay to go to work tomorrow? You seem to be drinking a lot.”

“Hey, who are you worried about? I can still drink all night without any problems!”

“Well… won’t you have problems getting scolded by your wife or Heena?”

“That’s true…”

We looked at each other and muffled our laughter so that our family wouldn’t wake up.

It’s still far away, but it’s gradually approaching. The moment when we have to leave this warmth and comfort and face life solely as the four of us.

* * *

After confirming the pregnancy, we spent busy days. We went to the OB/GYN every week, and I refreshed my memory of baby products and checked them more carefully.

And whenever Heena tried to do anything, I would immediately take it away from her. But no matter how much I said I would do everything and told her to rest, Heena couldn’t stay still, so I ended up enlisting Sarang’s help.

“Daddy! Mommy went to do the dishes!”

“What?! Heena! I said I’d do it!!”

“Honey, you’re folding laundry right now. It’s okay for me to do the dishes~”

“No! Sarang! Subdue Mommy!”

“Okay!!”

“Oh, geez~”

I told Sarang to report to me immediately if Heena went to the kitchen or tried to clean. And Agent Sarang was doing her job perfectly.

One of Sarang’s hobbies these days is putting her ear to Heena’s belly and listening to the sounds, so she was definitely checking on her whenever I was doing something else.

As I spent each day keeping Heena as stable as possible, Heena’s belly started to show little by little, and we finally found out the gender of Haengbok.

“Hehehe, it’s a boy~ I think he’ll look just like you!”

“Of course, of course! Sarang, are you a big sister now?”

“Yes. Sarang is a big sister. Sarang has to work hard to be a good big sister to Haengbok.”

“Our Sarang is so kind~”

A son, huh?

I couldn’t imagine it very well. When it was Sarang, I just thought she would look like Heena, but what would it feel like to have a son who looks like me? Of course, even if it’s a son, he might look like Heena.

And Heena was very happy to know it was a son. Not because she liked sons more than daughters, but because she felt happiness in her relationship with Heesung hyung as siblings, so she wanted Sarang to feel the same.

“What should I do? I really, really want to see you holding our Haengbok!”

Well… I guess she just wants to see a mini Yeon-hoo.

Except for the fact that the whole house was in a festive mood, there wasn’t much different from usual. The family was all concerned about Heena’s health, but Heena was good at taking care of herself.

Besides, Heena’s mood swings weren’t that big this time. Rather, the problem was that she kept trying to do housework. She didn’t seem as unstable as she was during her first pregnancy.

Of course.

“Honey, I want to eat grapes.”

“Really? I’ll call Heesung hyung… oh, right, he’s not here.”

She would suddenly make requests like this when she craved something.

Ah! I miss Heesung hyung!

Anyway, other than that, it was really just everyday life. It wasn’t easy to enjoy anything special because we were worried about Heena’s health.

Of course, that didn’t mean our family skipped the seasonal events we enjoyed every year. We went to the beach for a bit of sea breeze at the end of Sarang’s summer vacation, and we also visited the zoo in the fall.

We also took a day off and participated in Sarang’s elementary school sports day. Sarang takes after me in that area, so her athletic ability isn’t bad.

But honestly, Sarang gives strength to those around her just by smiling, so her presence alone would have been a big help to the team. It’s not just because I’m a fool for my daughter that I think that.

And in the winter, we went to the sledding hill. This was something Heena had been promoting every year for about four years, so it had become an annual event.

Around this time, Heena’s belly started to show noticeably, so she was mainly just taking pictures, but she seemed happy enough just doing that.

After that, the year passed, we enjoyed our three-person birthday party, and full spring returned.

That’s how time passed.

Perhaps because it was a path we had already taken once, we were more stable than before, helping each other without any problems.

Heena’s and my second child.

We were able to give birth to Haengbok.

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