* * *

There were mountains of things to discuss. We had only just decided on a name, and it was already late, so we went to Taeshin’s house. While having a late dinner, Taeshin’s mother came in.

“Sunwoo, it’s been a while.”

“Hello.”

“Are you having dinner now?”

“Yes.”

Taeshin’s mother, dressed in her work clothes, entered the dining room. I stood up and nodded in response, gesturing to the table as I noticed she hadn’t put her bag down yet.

“Have you eaten?”

“I did earlier, but….”

“If you’re still hungry, join us!”

I cut in, poking the usually indifferent Taeshin in the side. Taeshin’s mother smiled warmly.

“Shall I?”

“Of course! We just started eating.”

“I’ll just change my clothes and come back.”

“Sure!”

As soon as Taeshin’s mother left to change, I smacked Taeshin’s back.

“Be nicer to your mother.”

“I am nice.”

“Nice? Telling her to go away like that?”

“She said she already ate.”

“Still! You didn’t even let her finish talking. So rude.”

I scolded Taeshin in Moon Jinwoo’s manner, causing him to make a sulky face. Warning him not to sulk, I squeezed his cheek. His skin felt really nice to touch.

“Oh my.”

“Oh, please sit down.”

While wondering why Taeshin’s skin felt different from mine, Taeshin’s mother returned in more comfortable clothes and smiled, seeing me pinching his cheek.

“Are you doing well in school, Sunwoo?”

“Yes. It’s fun. We have exams soon, but I don’t remember anything, so Taeshin is going to tutor me.”

“Glad to hear Taeshin is helping. Keep bringing him out often. He’s so lazy he won’t go outside without you.”

“Oh, that’s not true. Taeshin is very diligent. He just likes being at home, not because he’s lazy.”

For years, Taeshin’s mother had worried about his laziness. I waved my hand, dismissing her concern. Taeshin was anything but lazy. Even at home, he read every day. Clearly, their personalities clashed.

Since Taeshin was a homebody and his mother wished he were more outgoing, I passionately explained how diligent he was.

I told her how he planned his course schedule immediately after enrollment and took good care of me during orientation, always coming when asked. Taeshin’s mother seemed reassured and smiled beautifully.

“It sounds like you’re talking about someone else’s son.”

“Pardon?”

“Right, Taeshin?”

“Not sure.”

Taeshin, who looked very much like his mother, tilted his head, feigning ignorance. I shot him a sharp look as he drank water nonchalantly, still acting clueless.

“If I had a son like Sunwoo, I’d be so happy.”

“Me? I….”

Suddenly recalling how my mom and I were, my throat tightened.

…Mom, are we okay?

My mom would at least hit me when I misbehaved or caused trouble, but Taeshin said his parents had never scolded or hit him even once. If Taeshin’s parents never disciplined him, they must have been suffering inside whenever I caused trouble as their son.

“No. With Sunwoo, uh…”

“Wasn’t I already your son? Wow, that’s hurtful.”

Shut up, Lee Taeshin. Don’t say anything right now. I quickly covered Taeshin’s mouth and expressed my disappointment to Mom.

She had always prepared delicious food for me and called me pretty whenever I visited since I was little. It’s been ten years, yet there was still a wall.

As I lamented, Mom said something unexpected.

“My heart sees you as a son, but you never said you liked it. I could be making you my son against your will.”

“No! I like it! I really like it!”

I guarantee that at our house, we didn’t ask for Taeshin’s consent before treating him like a son. At some point, my parents just decided, ‘He’s our son now!’ and Taeshin accepted it.

I realized again that Taeshin’s family valued clear communication and decided to express my feelings clearly.

“I want to be your son too!”

“Don’t…”

“Really? I’m so happy to hear that, Sunwoo.”

I pinched Taeshin, who was about to interrupt again, to keep him quiet, and Mom beamed with joy. She said Dad would be thrilled to hear this news, and that made me happy too.

Wait, so Taeshin was treated like a son at our house, but I was only a half-son here? Ridiculous.

We had a light meal and chatted with Mom before heading to Taeshin’s room. I sat Taeshin, who looked grumpy, in a chair and took a seat opposite him.

“You really need to be good to your parents.”

“I’m doing that.”

“What do you mean ‘doing’? If you’re doing it, do it better.”

I always tell him he should be grateful not only to his parents but also to his ancestors for being born with that face.

I shook my head at Taeshin, who still didn’t know how to appreciate his parents and ancestors. I nudged his leg with my foot to cheer him up and took out the notebook where I kept notes about our plans.

“Cheer up, idiot. We have a lot to do.”

“What are we going to do?”

“Well.”

I was about to answer but tapped the notebook with my pen.

“We can’t just tell our parents we’re going to have a baby without any plan. We need to prepare something.”

When I thought about telling our parents the truth, I couldn’t imagine them reacting well. All I could envision were negative reactions like scolding or getting hit.

How are you going to raise a child? What will you do next? Do you know how old you are? These typical drama lines filled my head.

So, when I told them about the baby, I wanted to explain our plans clearly to minimize their opposition.

I didn’t want to hear them say we couldn’t have the baby.

“Our due date is…”

“November. Second Saturday.”

“Uh… right.”

When I took out my pregnancy journal to check, Taeshin was right.

“How did you know?”

“The doctor mentioned it earlier.”

I didn’t remember that. I noted the due date in the notebook, amazed. Meanwhile, Taeshin took out the ultrasound picture.

“I’ll have to take a break in the second semester.”

“It’ll be tough to do anything by then.”

“Then I’ll attend until the first semester and take a break in the second.”

“Should I take a break too?”

“You need to keep going. You’ll have a lot to do after graduation, especially with the baby coming. You should graduate quickly and think about what to do next.”

“Okay.”

We had a lot to decide and do. My head was a mess, but Taeshin, seemingly unfazed, just watched me discuss the future and smiled quietly.

Sighing, I glanced at him, wondering how he’d handle all this, and he just burst out laughing, oblivious to the tension.

“I’ll graduate first, and what about you, Sunwoo?”

“I think I should take a year off. I’ll have to raise the baby after giving birth. I can’t just leave the baby right away.”

“I need to help too.”

“After thinking about it, it’s better if you graduate quickly. You never know, you might go abroad for further studies. Whether you go or not, you still need to get a job.”

“There won’t be much choice for jobs.”

Taeshin took my pen and wrote ‘Taesan’ over the ‘job’ section in my notebook.

“Don’t worry about that.”

“What if your grandfather gets mad and tells you not to come back?”

“That won’t happen.”

“You can’t be sure.”

Worried about Taeshin’s naive optimism, I wrote ‘get a job’ under ‘company’. Regardless of size, we needed to secure employment, so I planned to apply everywhere.

“By the way, how much money do you have?”

“Money?”

“If they oppose us, we can’t stay at home. We’ll have to live separately, and raising a baby costs a lot. How much is the rent?”

Taeshin suddenly got up, opened his laptop, and turned it so I could see the screen.

“What are you doing?”

I watched as he opened several files filled with unfamiliar terms and numbers, pointing them out one by one.

“This is cash, this is stocks, and this is real estate, trust funds, and bonds. It’s all my money, not my parents’. I saved it with investments from my grandfather. I’ve paid back all the loans.”

“You did all this?”

“Yeah. Everything you’re worried about won’t be a problem, so let’s move on to the important parts.”

Despite spending time studying, reading, and hanging out with me, he had saved all this. Resting my cheek on the desk, I was impressed by Taeshin’s well-prepared, confident demeanor.

“Wow, suddenly Taeshin seems cool.”

* * *