“Has Sia put on a little weight?”
“…Pardon?”
38-year-old spinster Manager Baek Eun-hwa twisted one corner of her mouth in a sneer.
“Your cheeks look a bit fuller. And you’ve been favoring loose clothes lately.”
Yoo Sia flinched and asked,
“Really…? I’m not sure.”
“Or maybe it’s just me~” Manager Baek half-teased.
“You should keep your figure while you’re young. Once the weight goes on, it’s hard to take off.”
“Ah, yes…”
Ding-.
The company messenger chimed.
[Park: Assistant Manager, that Manager Baek is ragging Sia again.]
[Park: She could just admit she’s jealous of how pretty Sia is, geez…]
Normally I’d sympathize, but today I felt a twinge in my own chest.
[Son: Hey, don’t you think Sia looks a bit chubbier these days?]
[Park: Nah, she was too skinny before.]
[Park: With that face and a bit of baby fat, it’s cute.]
[Son: Really?]
[Park: Of course.]
I was glad for the compliment—yet I didn’t deny I’d noticed her weight gain.
[Park: Didn’t Sia rank first in our unofficial popularity poll among Planning Teams 1, 2, and 3 not long ago?]
[Son: …We did a poll?]
[Park: Yeah lol. It was unofficial—just something we did on our picnic.]
That must have been when I took leave to visit my parents recently.
What rude guys.
A popularity poll about someone else’s woman. Secretly, I felt a peculiar pride that they’d all vied for her attention.
Oh, and just the other day Sia and I went to inform her father of the twin pregnancy. Seeing that taciturn Gyeongsang-do man beam a full smile made me laugh myself.
“They say daughters are more precious these days. I’d love twin daughters, too.”
Her father, too, desired daughters.
But the problem is…
As the pregnancy weeks progress, Sia’s condition will inevitably become visible. Having passed the very early stage, her belly was already beginning to show—and with twins,
It’s only a matter of time.
Though Sia had covered it with her fashion sense, soon she’d be unable to hide it.
“Sia, shouldn’t we announce it at the office?”
Thanks to the abolition of company dinners and after-work drinking, there were fewer situations where she’d need to hide it—but we spend more than a third of each day together in the office; they’d find out eventually.
“I think so, too, but we still lack permission…”
We’d promised marriage and gained both sets of parents’ blessings, but the one whose approval mattered most—Chairman Yoo Jin-gap—hadn’t yet consented.
Naturally, we hadn’t set a wedding date. We hadn’t decided whether I should keep working until after the birth or switch jobs first.
More crucially, we had no suitable home for raising twins. A studio apartment that barely fit me alone would be impossible with two babies.
“I’ll visit Grandfather again next week.”
“Can you manage?”
“Exactly next Friday is week fifteen.”
“Week fifteen is when…”
“We can definitively determine gender then.”
Yoo Sia said with determination, “I think we’ll settle it once and for all.”
Meanwhile, at the same time.
Chairman Yoo’s office, HR Group headquarters.
“Hmm.”
“Hmmmm.”
“Hmmm…” Chairman Yoo emitted low murmurings, lost in thought.
Noticing, Chief of Staff Choi Gyeong-geun approached cautiously.
“Chairman, is something troubling you?”
“Trouble? What trouble…”
Choi bowed and began to step back, but Yoo called him again.
“Choi.”
“Yes, Chairman?”
“A flower-deer and a koi… They’re not exactly fierce or grand, are they?”
“…Pardon?”
A sudden question. Choi answered earnestly.
“A flower-deer suggests a very gentle image.”
“Right?”
“Yes. But a koi—doesn’t it also leap vigorously?”
“Well, compared to a tiger or a dragon…”
“It’s less powerful, but even a koi…”
“No! I mean a brocade koi in a pond—so delicate and beautiful.”
He furrowed his brow in frustration. “I asked about image alone! Why do you keep adding dynamic connotations?”
“….”
The conversation felt utterly strange. Choi, having served the Chairman for decades, sensed
There’s a right answer he wants…
“Oh, I misunderstood your question. Compared to other creatures, the koi does convey softness.”
“Right?”
As expected, the Chairman raised his eyebrows. “That’s more like it, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
Choi exhaled in relief. “Chairman, did you have any particular association with koi or flower-deer?”
“…No… Let’s move on.”
Choi retreated, puzzled.
In truth, days later Chairman Yoo still couldn’t forget that dream—vivid as if he’d seen it himself. The intensity of the koi and fawn in his arms stayed with him.
He even tried searching on his awkward computer.
“I-n-g… ko… i… no, go… sas… hmm.”
“F-lo… wer… deer… do…ugh.”
He stumbled into a blog post.
[Hello, I’m Ggom-i Mom, 17 weeks pregnant~ ^^]
“-Neighbors~~ Autumn is here; everyone stay well! Pregnant women can’t take meds if they catch a cold ㅠㅠ so stay healthy ^^. Autumn’s temperature swings are big, so bring a coat or cardigan when you go out!!”
“Ggom-i Mom says she passed her second trimester anomaly test safely~ ++ No issues at all! What a relief ＼^^/ My nerves were on edge until the results came back~~”
“Now, about the baby’s gender I forgot to mention last week~~ First, my father-in-law had a pregnancy dream~? He dreamt he wandered into a forest mansion, and a koi leapt from the pond and snuggled into his arms~~! They say a koi indicates a daughter, right?? And sure enough, it was a daughter! Haha. I got confirmation last week ^^* (covering mouth emoji)”
“My husband kept singing ‘daughter, daughter,’ he was so overjoyed ~~ How about you, neighbors? What pregnancy dreams have you had? ^^”
—Ggom-i Mom Blog♥
“What’s with this tone…?” Chairman Yoo knitted his brow.
But from the long post, only one detail remained in his mind:
Anyway, it was a koi dream, and it turned out to be a daughter…
His heart pounded without his realizing it.
A flower-deer is 100%, and if koi also mean daughter…
Positive. Very positive. But he kept it to himself.
No sense jinxing it…
Yet. Thump thump thump. His heart would not calm.
“Is it today?”
“Yes…!”
At last, the day had come. Week fifteen of the pregnancy—when the babies’ genders could be determined with certainty.
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s.”
I took Yoo Sia’s hand firmly, and together we headed to the clinic.