Be My Baby - Vol.1 Chapter 2 Part 4
After exiting through the first floor entrance and getting into the waiting car, they drove for about 30 minutes before arriving at a traditional Korean restaurant on the outskirts of Seoul.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, the elegant hanok that preserved the natural landscape exuded a subtle atmosphere under the gradually darkening sky.
Seonwoo looked around curiously at the quiet and distant scene.
“I didn’t know places like this still existed.”
“You said you can’t eat Western food. Let’s go in.”
Following the employee dressed in a beautiful hanbok, they entered the guided room where a garden full of plum trees could be seen through the open window.
The plum blossoms, illuminated by the lights turned on in the darkened garden, filled the sky like white clouds.
As Seonwoo looked around at the flowers, which seemed to be a cultivated variety that bloomed quite long and very splendidly compared to regular plum blossoms, Eungyo took off his jacket first, hung it on the coat rack, and sat down. Seonwoo obediently sat across from him.
Seeing Seonwoo’s unusually docile reaction compared to usual, Eungyo looked at him for a moment before speaking on the most neutral topic.
“I’ve pre-ordered the meal, so it will be out soon.”
“…Yes…”
An awkward atmosphere flowed between the two men left alone in the large room.
Even normally, they didn’t talk much when alone together, but Seonwoo’s strangely quiet reaction made Eungyo stare at him intently. Seonwoo lifted his head as if he had something to say and moved his lips.
However, unable to speak up, he closed his mouth again, and Eungyo spoke first.
“If you have something to say, say it. Why did you ask to meet?”
At the brief question, Seonwoo lowered his head again and fiddled with his hands clasped together.
Seeing him unable to keep his hands still and avoiding eye contact as if anxious, Eungyo spoke again in the gentlest voice possible.
“You said it was related to an experiment, is it about the equipment?”
Since he was already someone who feared him, Eungyo spoke as kindly as possible, as if coaxing him. Seonwoo finally lifted his head, seemingly encouraged.
Then he moved his lips and barely managed to speak.
“Um, about that…”
“About what?”
“…Well…”
Just as he was about to open his mouth, there was a knock on the sliding door and it opened as an employee carrying a tray entered and placed pumpkin porridge, jeon, and water kimchi on the table.
Eungyo picked up his spoon first at the neat and tidy food.
“Let’s eat first.”
“…Okay.”
With that answer, Seonwoo picked up his spoon and started eating the porridge little by little.
Eungyo raised his eyebrows and looked at him as he nibbled at the porridge, unlike just three days ago when he had eaten meat ravenously as if he hadn’t eaten for days. Seonwoo, who had been glancing this way, quickly lowered his head.
Seeing his clear inability to speak freely out of fear, even though he clearly had something to say, Eungyo put down his spoon and asked again.
“If you have something to say, say it.”
At that gaze urging him to speak quickly, Seonwoo hesitated for a moment before cautiously bringing up the topic.
“Um…”
“Um?”
“…Um… So…”
“So?”
As Eungyo waited for the next words, responding gently in his own way with a very low voice, Seonwoo rolled his eyes for a moment before finally speaking with difficulty.
“Do you hate babies?”
At that question, Eungyo frowned as if he didn’t quite understand the words.
“Babies?”
“…Yes. Children. Babies, infants.”
At the word ‘baby’, Eungyo suddenly felt annoyed.
If he hadn’t come here, he would have had to listen to his father’s nonsensical ramblings about going home and having a child by now, so he didn’t like the topic at all.
So he lowered his voice a bit.
“…Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“Well… I mean… What if…”
“What if?”
“I mean, in a very, very hypothetical situation, if someone you spent one drunken night with got pregnant… what would you do?”
At those absurd words, Eungyo gave a clean-cut answer immediately.
“I don’t make those kinds of mistakes.”
At that answer stating that such a thing could never happen, Seonwoo’s voice faded.
“…I mean, really, really, really hypothetically…”
Even with the repeated emphasis on “what if”, Eungyo continued speaking, openly showing his displeasure.
“First of all, I would never drink enough to get drunk, and even if I did get drunk, there’s no possibility of making such a mistake. I don’t do it when I’m drunk. And I absolutely don’t touch anyone unless they’re a predetermined partner. In a world where taking just one pill gives you a 99% chance of contraception, such a thing couldn’t happen.”
As Eungyo answered in a slightly stiff voice to that situation that was horrifying just to imagine, Seonwoo repeated the same words with the spoon in his mouth.
“So really, ve~ry hypothetically, if such a thing did happen, what would you do? If it really wasn’t intentional, rather than a mistake, in a completely unexpected situation…”
As Seonwoo repeated the question, glancing around furtively with the spoon in his mouth, Eungyo fell into thought for a moment.
Wondering why he was asking such a thing that could never and should never happen, he looked at Seonwoo for a moment as he gnawed on his spoon with a crunching sound… when suddenly his brother’s words from last night flashed through his mind.
He had dismissed it as nonsense last night, but now he thought that his father might actually use such a method.
Since his life goal was to get his sons to participate in the marriage hell tour no matter what, he might even drug them and send a woman into their room to cause an unintentional accident.
It’s possible.
If it’s his father, it’s possible.
“Come to think of it… I suppose that could happen.”
“…Pardon?”
“Yes… I suppose it could.”
Thinking that his father might do such a thing since his four grown sons were stubbornly resisting marriage and children, Eungyo let out a small exclamation. Seonwoo looked at him with round eyes, as if frightened.
Seeing that face, he suddenly understood the situation.
Since this airhead and the youngest were friends, it seemed he had heard something and asked to meet today.
Thinking that this airhead really did like him after all, Eungyo relaxed his expression this time and smiled gently.
“Well, alright. If it’s just a hypothetical, though of course it would never actually happen… If such a thing really did happen by any chance, I’d have to meet that person in court. Good timing actually. My legal counsel has been swatting flies lately with nothing to do, so this could keep him busy. It would be quite interesting.”
Smiling brightly at the thought that he could sue his father as well in that case, Seonwoo gasped and held his breath.
“You’d… sue?”
“Of course. As you said, if a child really was conceived, it definitely wouldn’t be from a relationship of my own will, so I’d have to file a lawsuit for fraud, rape, and blackmail.”
Just as he was muttering to himself, “Including Father too,” Seonwoo’s voice rose.
“Even fraud?”
“I never make mistakes, so if a child was conceived, the other party must have used some trick, and if so, they need to take responsibility for that.”
As Eungyo smiled faintly and made his final point clearly, Seonwoo bit down on his spoon so hard it made a crunching sound.
Seeing that terrified-looking face, Eungyo added more words as if to reassure him.
“But that will absolutely never happen. I don’t create such situations in the first place. Anyway, I detest both marriage and children. I hate needlessly expanding family and all the noise that comes with it, and I refuse to go on that hellish marriage tour. It’s abnormal to even talk about marriage and children in this day and age. I have no intention of ever getting married. Of course, I have no plans for children either. Hyung or Eunsoo can handle the issue of continuing the family line.”
Thinking his brother would hate to hear it, but that it was fortunate to be the second son at times like this, Eungyo clearly conveyed to the airhead that he absolutely had no plans to marry. The guy who had been biting his spoon hard several times asked once again.
“Then if something like that really did happen, what would you do with the baby?”
“Of course, since a child was conceived, the child would have to be born, but that’s the end of it. If the other party wants parental rights and custody, I could agree to let them take the child on the condition that they make no claims, but using the child as an excuse for anything else is not acceptable.”
Absolutely, no matter what, he could not join his father’s dream hell tour of experiencing marriage and childbirth all around.
Gritting his teeth slightly at the thought that he would rather lose all his assets and be kicked out than do that, he saw the airhead slump his shoulders.
Then, as he drooped his eyes as if about to cry, Eungyo felt something was off.
If he was worried that Eungyo might get married, he should be smiling brightly with sparkling eyes by now, but his expression was rather strange.
It made Eungyo wonder, as this guy who normally couldn’t hide his emotions at all looked so dejected.
“Why are you suddenly like this?”
“…”
“Talking about babies and all… You, don’t tell me…”
Thinking the direction of the questions was a bit strange, Eungyo looked straight at the airhead with a sudden thought. The airhead quickly shook his head with the spoon in his mouth.
“No! No! I’m not pregnant! Absolutely not!”
A sigh automatically escaped at the sight of him shaking his head in disgust.
“You idiot, why would you be pregnant? That’s not what I meant. Don’t tell me you’ve been following me around and causing accidents behind my back?”
“Huh? Accidents?”
“Did you get a woman pregnant?”
Since it was entirely possible for this airhead who was also a man, Eungyo shouted fiercely as if interrogating him. The airhead shook his head vehemently.
“No! I didn’t! I only cause accidents with you! I don’t cause accidents anywhere else!”
At that adamant denial, Eungyo had to admit that was indeed true.
Even when drunk, this guy would only call him to act like a beagle, but he never damaged property or clung to just anyone after drinking.
He had heard that normally, after calling him, he would quietly go home and sleep.
That was certain.
According to the testimony of his friends who were always with him when this guy caused trouble, there was no need to suspect anything else.
“Alright. I understand that. Then why are you suddenly talking about this?”
“Well… My, my brother caused an accident. So I didn’t know what to do…”
“Seonjung?”
“Yes.”
Looking at Seonwoo who was now nodding his head incessantly, Eungyo finally seemed to understand and relaxed his expression.
He knew Seonjung’s face as a high school junior, and thought that it could happen to someone like him.
Though he tends to be a bit picky, blood doesn’t lie – that guy is a bit lacking too.
“That must be troublesome. A baby all of a sudden.”
Speaking with a bit of sympathy for Seonjung who had suddenly encountered a life catastrophe, the guy who still had the spoon in his mouth muttered softly.
“…But babies are pretty.”
“What?”
“Babies are pretty… It would be nice to raise one…”
Watching Seonwoo whisper that even with a half-dead face, Eungyo felt his previously good mood rapidly plummeting.
A lacking sperm collector with a face like rice cake talking about babies…
He’s got some nerve.
“That’s impossible. It’s not like a child raising a child, and originally the child might end up raising you, so don’t even dream about things like children. Even if one is born, how sad would the child be to be born into this harsh world and find out you’re the father?”
“…”
“For the sake of others too, just keep living as you are now.”
After saying that, feeling annoyed just imagining this airhead getting married, Eungyo picked up his spoon again. But the guy, still not giving up, brought up the “what if” again.
“What if, what if. Still, if I became a dad…”
At the expression “If I become a dad” rather than “If a baby is born”, Eungyo became very displeased and put down his spoon with a clang. Seonwoo lowered his head as if intimidated.
Though he didn’t like seeing him trembling like that, Eungyo thought he should make things clear while he was at it, so he spoke slowly and clearly so it would be etched into his mind forever.
“Don’t even dream about it.”
“…Okay…”
With that tiny answer, the door opened and the main course was brought in.
As various namul (side) dishes,gujeolpan,galbi-jjim,sanjeok (skewered food), andtteokgalbicame out one after another, Eungyo turned his gaze back to the table and slowly began eating.
Seonwoo also picked up his spoon again and started moving it, nibbling away.
But seeing him somehow unable to eat properly, Eungyo silently cut some sanjeok and placed it on top of Seonwoo’s rice. Seonwoo looked at Eungyo in surprise for a moment before smiling brightly.
Seeing that face smiling happily right after looking like death, Eungyo also relaxed his expression a bit.
“You were eating like there was no tomorrow back then, but today you’re eating like a bird. Are you really on a diet?”
“Ah… A little bit.”
“Don’t do useless things and just eat. You’re already a rice cake anyway, there’s no point in losing weight. Come to think of it, you seem too skinny for how much you eat…”
Eungyo suddenly realized that despite his oddly puffy face, Seonwoo’s body was quite thin.
For someone who never budged from the lab and only ate, he was unexpectedly slim without an ounce of fat.
It wasn’t just appearance – his bare body was prettier than expected, which was quite surprising.
Since he was such a poor athlete, Eungyo had thought he would be chubby and dull, but especially when he put his arms around Seonwoo’s shoulders, they were so thin he worried they might break.
Of course, when those thin arms clung to him like a leech, it made him shudder, but the feeling against his skin wasn’t bad.
He remembered being quite aroused by the unexpectedly soft and slender legs awkwardly wrapping around his waist, the waist that writhed while moaning, and that nape.
Above all, when that normally airhead clung to him moaning, it was really…
The vivid memory of that moment made him feel a bit parched.
Until then, he had thought this airhead was just playing around, but seeing how desperately he clung to him, he realized it was sincere.
And it’s also true that the relationship he started to teach him a lesson ended up being better than he imagined.
No, actually… it might have been the best.
Eungyo stared intently at Seonwoo as he ate the sanjeok neatly with narrowed eyes, then poured warmcheongju(clear rice wine) into the cup beside him.
Then he spoke to Seonwoo in a subtle tone.
“Have a drink.”
As he placed a cup in front of Seonwoo and lifted the bottle, Seonwoo quickly shook his head.
“No, I absolutely won’t drink alcohol.”
“You don’t get drunk easily. It’s just to accompany the meal, so a few cups should be fine. I told you not to drink enough to get drunk, not to never drink at all. It’s nonsense to say you never drink while living in society.”
As Eungyo coaxed him in a generous tone and was about to pour alcohol into the cup, Seonwoo made a face of disgust and covered the cup with the napkin in front of him.
Then he lifted his head again and answered firmly.
“I don’t need to drink. Until the day I die, I will absolutely never touch alcohol again.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes. Until I die. I don’t want to be tied to a spaceship.”
Seeing that solemn face making a vow as if he thought Eungyo was just testing him, Eungyo had no choice but to put down the bottle and mutter softly to himself.
“Clueless beagle pup,” he said.
***
