〈Chapter 196〉 Outside. Time Passed. Daddy’s Girl and Boy
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The birth of Happiness on a warm spring day.
Hee-na took early maternity leave, using her vacation days starting a month and a half before her due date. She even went to a postpartum care center towards the end of her pregnancy.
From then on, I constantly went back and forth between the company and the hospital, doing my best to help take care of Hee-na. However, Hee-na was more stable than I thought, so there wasn’t much for me to do.
And finally, the day Happiness was born arrived. I held Hee-na’s hand and stayed by her side from beginning to end.
After several hours of labor, Happiness came into the world. What more needs to be said? She was really cute, with her wrinkled face and loud cries.
“You worked hard, Hee-na.”
“Yeah… Hehe, he looks just like you. Our son… he’s so, so pretty… Our Somang…”
After considering countless candidates, we decided on Somang as our son’s name. Han Somang. It means hoping for happy days like these forever.
Hee-na and Somang both looked very healthy, so I breathed a sigh of relief and watched my son, who couldn’t even see properly yet, reaching out with all his might.
That hand gesture seemed to be directed towards me for some reason.
“He really liked it when you touched him when he was in my belly. Is it the same now? Does he want to go to Daddy~?”
“I guess so. Am I someone that kids like…?”
Not only Sarang, but also Sarang’s friend Ju-eun and my niece Ji-hoo liked me a lot. Sarang is our daughter who looks just like Hee-na, so that’s understandable, but I don’t know why the other kids do.
Anyway… like this, our family grew from three to four.
We who were two.
Now we are a family of four.
After four weeks of postpartum care, when Hee-na returned home, our room was once again filled with baby products.
“Somang~ It’s Sarang noona [older sister]!”
And Sarang was always next to the baby crib where Somang was lying, smiling brightly at her cute younger brother all day long.
It was a very heartwarming sight. The problem was that Somang didn’t pay any attention to Sarang’s efforts.
Like all babies at this age, Somang rolled his eyes around, cried when he was hungry, ate, slept after eating, pooped while sleeping, and then slept again.
It was just this repetition. What was amazing was that, out of all our family members, he ate the most quietly without crying when I held him and fed him formula.
Once, Sarang was holding the formula bottle next to him, and Somang cried so much that Sarang almost cried too.
“Sarang, it’s Somang’s sleeping time, so shh!”
“Yes~ Daddy! When does Somang eat again?”
“Do you want to feed him, Sarang?”
“Yes! I want to help too!”
Of course, Sarang never gave up. She found her 8-year-old younger brother so cute that she hovered around him all day long, except when Somang was sleeping.
She still runs to me as soon as Somang falls asleep, though. Sometimes the first child feels like the parents’ affection has been taken away by the second child, but we didn’t experience that at all, which was a relief, because Sarang likes her younger brother so much.
“Honey, is Somang asleep?”
“Yeah. I left the door open, so we’ll hear him when he wakes up.”
“Then shall we play a game together for the first time in a while? What do you think, Sarang?”
“Yes!!”
And during this short break before Hee-na returned to work, we spent even more time together. I also left work as early as possible, and when the time was right, I used my remaining vacation days generously.
It will be difficult to have this kind of time once Hee-na’s maternity leave is over. My mother-in-law will help, but it is never easy to work and raise a newborn at the same time.
Soon, the day will come when we have to endure that while living.
One year has passed.
Because it was our second child and we were so busy, we held Somang’s first birthday party on a smaller scale than Sarang’s. We only invited family and a few acquaintances.
Somang, who had his first birthday, had already grown so much that he could walk around well. Moreover, his increasingly distinct features were, well, exactly like Hee-na.
Sarang still had eyes that resembled mine a lot, but Somang was just a male version of Hee-na. In a way, he looked a bit like Hee-sung hyung [older brother]. In short, he was handsome.
And our handsome Somang stared intently at me with those chic eyes and waddled towards me with his arms outstretched.
“Daddyyy… Appa [Dad]…”
“That’s right! Our Somang walks well~ Come to Daddy~”
I slowly backed away, clapping for Somang so he could practice walking.
Behind Somang, four adults and one child were filming this scene, each holding their phones.
“Crazy, crazy. I wonder if my baby will feel like that too? It would be cute even if she looked like Rin…”
“Hee-sung, be quiet. The video will pick up the noise.”
“Our prince is so cool, so cool~ Fighting~ [A phrase of encouragement]”
“Honey! Move a little to the left diagonally! I want to take a side view!”
“Mom, Mom! I took a really good picture of Dad and Somang right now!”
“Send it to me later!”
As if they weren’t family, they were really serious about photos and videos. Moreover, Hee-sung hyung, being a siscon [brother obsessed with his sister], loved Somang, who looked just like Hee-na, as much as Sarang.
Even to the point of leaving Rin noona [older sister], who is pregnant, here on his day off, even though Rin noona said she took a lot of photos and asked to see them later.
It goes without saying that our Hee-na is especially passionate, and Sarang, who is in third grade this year, has also become more interested in taking pictures. Can’t escape your blood, I guess.
“Abubu~”
“Oh, I caught you. Good job, Somang!”
Eventually, I squatted down in a place where it became difficult to back away further and lifted Somang, who had safely arrived to me. Then, like Sarang in the old days, Somang grabbed my face with both hands.
He didn’t smile as much as Sarang, but Somang’s expressionless face had its own charm. A different type of chicness than Ji-hoo. Just looking at him makes me smile.
As I smiled naturally while looking at Somang, the two mothers started making even more fuss.
“Kya! Honey! Look over here! Somang~ Can you look at Mom once? That’s right, that’s right!”
“Dad! Smile! More brightly!”
“O-okay…”
“Abu?”
It’s a good thing for families to love each other, but sometimes I think it’s a bit extreme. Even my mother-in-law and father-in-law, and Hee-sung hyung, take a step back and watch them.
“I’ll take one more picture! Honey, Somang! Kimchi~ [Say cheese!]”
“Kimchi~”
“Ebi! Abe!!!”
Oh dear. Somang is starting to get annoyed.
Really, it was a problem that it was so noisy every weekend. Well, I like the unchanging appearance of my wife and daughter.
Somang, even if it’s hard, please bear with it a little longer. Your mom and noona [older sister] will continue to be like this, so you have to get used to it…
Time passed quickly, like a picture, filled with happiness.
Somang, who resembled Hee-na when we were dating and I wasn’t around, grew up healthy. You could say it’s the expressionless face of Hee-na that I can barely see these days.
Hee-na’s DNA was deeply embedded in his genes, so Somang liked me a lot, but that was a minor part. It was something I was already too familiar with in my life because of Hee-na and Sarang.
Somang, who used to walk around anxiously, turned two, three, and four years old, and now he can express his own opinions.
However, unlike Sarang, he was very quiet, perhaps because his basic tendencies resembled Hee-na. He didn’t talk much either. And he liked me a lot.
His appearance was just like a mini Hee-na with short hair, so I couldn’t help but think, ‘Isn’t our son too cute?’ every day.
Honestly, fathers are weaker for daughters than sons, but for me, I couldn’t help but be equally weak for the cuteness of both of them. Well, Somang is still very young.
Anyway, because of that.
“Somang~ It’s noona’s [older sister’s] turn to sit on Dad’s lap now!”
“……”
-Shakes head
“Somang~ Noona [older sister] wants to sit with you too…”
-Shakes head
“Can’t Noona [older sister] sit first and Somang sit on Noona’s lap?”
-Shakes head
“…Ugh!! Daddyyy!”
Sarang, who is now in the sixth grade of elementary school but still a daddy’s girl, sometimes gets jealous of Somang, who is occupying my lap. But not to the point of fighting.
Somang firmly shakes his head without any compromise. Sarang can’t be strong with Somang as his older sister, so she pouts and eventually asks me for help.
“Sarang is your older sister, so let’s give in a little. Dad will make time for Sarang later.”
“Okay…”
She likes Somang a lot except when it comes to the right to occupy my lap. Somang also likes Sarang hugging him unless it’s at times like this.
In this situation where Somang and Sarang are facing off in the living room, I can only laugh and watch.
Eventually, Somang remains sitting on my lap, and Sarang leans against my side and plays with her phone.
So now, this ‘living room’ where we are sitting together is not Hee-na’s family home where I have lived for over 10 years.
A slightly unfamiliar structure and a house that is smaller overall than Hee-na’s house. Still, it has three separate rooms in addition to the living room and kitchen, our slightly awkward new home.
Yes.
Sarang is in the 6th grade,
Somang is 4 years old now.
13 years after registering our marriage with Hee-na, we left Hee-na’s family home and became independent.
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