opia [n.]

pain is always underestimated during the birth of a baby, for both the mother and the father. and jaerim hisses and makes a face as hyejung has a death grip on his arm. all he’s thinking about now is getting her to the car and to the hospital, where he’ll be for the next eight hours or so listening to her screams of labor and hopefully a good cry of a baby after.

“i’m chill. you need to chill,” he said, wiping the sweat off her brow before leading her out of the room slowly but surely as to not give her anymore stress. “you’re not going to die, jagiya. don’t worry about that.”

she follows him more easily than one would think of a small pregnant woman, but she just wants to get this over with and to not drag everything out for too long. sure, a baby’s birth should be magical and all--and maybe it will be, once she has her drugs and her ass down on a bed. for now she’ll just apologize to jaerim, moving her arm to take his hand into hers instead.

hyejung almost feels like giving him some affection because well, he deserves to, but for once, she is going to be the overly dramatic one here and sigh. “you don’t know that. but at least you’re going to be a better parent than me, so that’ll be okay, yes?” she looks up at him, biting her bottom lip. “if i do survive, we’ll never have sex again, i swear to god.”

it really is like he’s the one who’s having the baby and not his girlfriend hyejung here. even after all the maternal books he’s read, videos he’s watched online, and classes taken together with her, he’s completely confused as to what to do now. like, this is it. the real thing is happening and the universe chooses now to blank on his brain?

“sorry,” he apologizes, rushing over to pick up the messily packed bag and helping the female up. after nine months of her bad morning sickness, swollen feet, and complains of wanting the baby out, it’s time. he has to be ready and strong for her. “don’t worry about me. let’s get you to the hospital.”

she groans as he helps her get to her feet, and hyejung is sure she’s almost bouncing with how big she is. at least this is going to end soon and the baby will be out and she will feel all better--or so she expected. thankfully, another contraction keeps her from thinking about this or else she’d start freaking out as much or worse than jaerim.

“dude, you will be able to chill, won’t you?” she asks, just in case, already clinging to his arm and probably squeezing the life out of him in the process. “ah, was it supposed to hurt this much? i’m going to die.”

he’s jamming his finger into the elevator door button but it doesn’t come any faster, unfortunately, so he does what is second best. he dashes for the stairs and he’s already on the third floor in one minute flat, but his apartment is on the sixth and he’s breathing heavily but it doesn’t matter at all! the baby’s coming! oh my god!!!

“i’m coming, i’m coming,” he repeats like a mantra on the phone, panting and skipping four steps at a time (thank the lord for his longs legs). another five minutes or so and he’s in front of the apartment door, fumbling for his keys while staying on the phone at the same time. this is even more stressful than taking the damn sats, man. “hyejung!” he calls out as he enters his home, shoving his phone into his pocket. he immediately goes to his room where he believes her to be and sees her there before panicking. “i’m here!”

she manages to finish packing in a very poorly manner -- but at least she finished and nothing will be missed when needed, hopefully -- with some time to spare, which she uses to lie back down because it’s been comfirmed it’s today her back will die. either her back, or her because how come everythig seems to hurt? how come moms do this so often? jesus christ, if jaerim ever think about touching her again, she’ll make him use extra condoms just in case because she won’t go through this again!

“ah, you’re here,” she tries to welcome him as calmly as possible, even smiling a little though he can’t see since she has that huge belly in the way. nor she can get up, not alone. “jaerim, help me,” hyejung asks with a short whine. “help me and breathe. help me, drink some water and breathe, please.” if someone would look at them, it seemed he was the one having a baby, and while hyejung appreacited how in love he seemed with this baby now, the guy also mattered and should at least chill a little.

AHHHH, was all he could think as he heard her words. oh my god, the baby is coming. all he sees is white as he breaks out into a run, whipping past unsuspecting strangers on the sidewalk who give him weird looks as he runs past them. has it been nine months already? is little taehyung ready to come out? jesus fucking christ, oh my god.

“i’m running!” he said loudly into the phone, weaving past people and around mailboxes, jumping over cracks in the pavement like fucking flash the hero. already his apartment building was seen around the corner and he was breathing heavily as he yanked the door open upon arrival. now to the elevator shaft — he’s going to be a father! “how far apart are your contractions? on a scale from 1-10, how much does it hurt?”

even through the phone hyejung can hear jaerim freak out, and it’s as if her warning had never mattered--well, she is sure it hasn’t, but at least it would make some effect on him and he’d get there faster. somehow she manages to laugh through the pain as she imagines her baby’s father going crazy on the streets, and it’s the biggest smile she’s given in weeks, for sure.

it doesn’t lasts long though, because another wave of pain is made known and hyejung hisses, grabbing at the sheets and tugging at them gently. “fuck, like one in each ten minutes or so,” she isn’t counting, but so it seems. it doesn’t matter really, does it? what matters is that she has to finish putting on diapers and clothes for both her and the baby in the bag before jaerim gets here. “i don’t--it just really hurts!” it won’t get worse than this, right? it can’t be possible (but it is, and it’s only the start, unfortunately).

he’s stuffing the keys to the bakery back into his pocket after locking up when he hears her words, and brightens up his tired night. he smiles at her voice, shaking his head and knowing she can’t see from the other of the phone but doing it anyway. their love was going back to its original state, thank god.

“i’ll be there in ten minutes. can you wait for a little bit?” he asked, quickening up his pace so that his long legs could take him home a bit faster. he’d even run (it would help with the freezing weather) but he also didn’t want hyejung to hear weird sounds from him over the phone as he did so.

sure, she could wait. same couldn’t be saying about the baby trying to get out of her though, but jaerim doesn’t know about that detail and hyejung isn’t sure on how to tell him. she gets up from the couch with a small moan, moving to the bedroom and not yet turning off the phone, even if they were in silence and only the faint noises of the night from his side and from hers the struggle could be heard.

she has so many to pack, and that causes her to groan even more, taking her pregnant bag to start shove the things inside. “jae,” she calls, sitting down again. “don’t freak out, but the baby is coming tonight.”

the months had ticked by a lot faster than expected. it was true — the older you get, the faster time flies by. and jaerim’s life was no exception, especially now when he was a father-to-be and had a baby along the way in his girlfriend’s tummy. if that didn’t fuel him on and stressed him out enough, he isn’t sure what does.

he was just closing up the bakery (the place had been left in his care after the manager left) and was now on the way home when he received a call from none other than hyejung herself. with a tired voice and rubbing at his eyes a little, he picked up the call and tried to sound as cheery as possible through the exhaustion in his bones.

“i just closed up and i’m coming home now,” he said, walking a little quicker because he already had in mind what might be happening. probably a call asking him to buy her something at the grocery store or gas station to quench one of her bad cravings. “do you need something? pizza? ice cream?”

she sighs in relief, shutting her eyes as it seems the baby is kicking again, too hard for comfort. hyejung isn’t sure if this is truly it -- jaerim had been the one to brag over baby books -- but if it isn’t, she wouldn’t know what it was. she still tries to keep it together though, and laugh a little at how worried he seems about her diet. he was still cute, that fellow.

“nah,” hyejung puts her feet up and takes one more deep breath, letting her hand fall to her lower abdomen, almost gone by how big her belly was. “i just...miss you?” her voice trembles at the lie, and it’s way too obvious. “could you hurry home? i’m not feeling that great....sorry.”

@90sliners

living with jaerim was…something. hyejung had been used for almost a year on living by herself, sometimes crashing in a friend’s or her boyfriend’s, but the times spent alone were far more often. alone and with her baby, that is. little taehyung grew fast and as far as she knew, healthy. and apparently, happier. whenever jaerim spoke with his child, it would kick and it’s as if hyejung could hear its heartbeat. nothing makes her happier.

but besides a mom, she’s also a woman and things have been…awkward. maybe it’s because of her? anything not related to the baby is left unsaid and she can’t tell who is the less comfortable during the nights they have to sleep next to each other. today had been one of those, and hyejung could swear she was about to die. she doesn’t say anything to jaerim though, and cooks him breakfast as always, deep eyebags under her eyes but silent as ever. he doesn’t poke on that and goes to work.

it starts to get worse by the evening, and when the pain starts, hyejung is sure she can’t breathe. there has never been such an intense kicking before, and all the food in her stomach is going to come out soon, that’s certain. “holy f–,” she bites her bottom lip, struggling to sit on the couch and take her phone to dial her boyfriend (or whatever they were). “jaerim? are you coming home yet?”

kyeojoy-blog

♡

GAP shooting.

since she was a little girl, choi heejae has loved performing arts. theater, to be specific, and if it’s not already obvious with all the plays she’s been in and the lead roles she’s auditioned for (and gotten, of course). you could only expect her to take advantage of her home being so close to disneyland, the place of dreams and performances. no one was surprised to find out the girl had landed a role as a princess.

though being snow white is a tiring job, since she has to keep her skin as pale as can be and also has to walk around in uncomfortable character shoes all the time hanging off the arm of her prince charming. who she couldn’t have less of an interest in, by the way. though heejae isn’t too sure of her sexuality right now, one thing is set in stone: she’s very interested in princess ariel.

“nah. i just finished getting into my costume,” she said, taking a sip from her mug of steaming coffee. it kept her going through most days, along with cassie, of course. “but i have some time to kill. let’s get a donut.”

truth it was that cassandra might have been a bit of a pervert. she was very interested on the anatomy of women, but in her defense, when it came to heejae, she wanted to see it all, inside or out. however, if princess snow white didn’t need help, she wouldn’t argue with that.

instead, she pulls away and nods a little, reminding herself she hadn’t had breakfast yet and having some food before going around parading with a tail would be nice. that if she didn’t thin about the boy she’d have to kiss later, that is. “mhm, let’s go,” the red haired is quick to smile, taking the other’s hand and already dragging her outside--which was a very different side of her, but when it comes to girls, cassandra -- friends or more than that -- is just like that, she can’t help it. “how was your evening? dreamt a lot with me?”

#lcs;w

and the reason why he was tinkering on his phone and not paying too much attention to the conversation at hand (which can explain his slight obliviousness) was because he was doing exactly that: texting his manager hyung to bring him some food. and something good, not just nasty leftovers from the night before. partially because jiho didn’t want to eat that, mostly because he didn’t want to share that with his coordi noona.

“hey!” he greeted as soon as the familiar face of his manager made an appearance. and the older male was scurrying off after placing a lunch box in jiho’s hands, still warm from the large amount of rice and other goodies inside. he turned and smiled up at the female. “food’s here.”