Chapter 20

Yubin POV

Empty.

That's what I woke up to.

The bed was empty and Seokjin was gone.

My heart ached at his absence and I could feel my baby's discomfort from him being gone.

"Come home soon," I begged.

I rolled out of bed slowly, hoping to avoid a dizzy spell, but what was the point in wishing against the inevitable.

It was probably due to the extra fun hormones, but my heart felt extremely heavy. Being without Seokjin was a lot harder to deal with than I thought.

I had an urge to be clingy and stick onto him like glue, but he wasn't here for that to ever happen.

Honestly, I was missing him incredibly. It took a lot of energy to fight back tears of longing for him. Call me dramatic, but I had gotten way too attached to him and now that he wasn't here, I felt like I was floundering.

I ambled into the kitchen where my mom was waiting patiently with loads of plates strewn across the table.

"Woah. Mom, I love you and this is a really lovely spread, but my appetite is totally shot. I'd feel bad if I couldn't finish it all," I said.

She smiled warmly, "That's alright honey. I just thought more would be better than less."

I sat down, the obvious absence of my father reminding me of the torture of the day prior.

"Where's dad?" I asked.

My mom gave a forlorn sigh, "He usually doesn't wake up till later."

I glanced at my watch, "But it's almost one in the afternoon."

She nodded, "He never gets up before then. And surprisingly you didn't either. You were never a heavy sleeper."

I chuckled halfheartedly, "Yeah, ever since little Suyeon graced me with her presence, I've been taking advantage of my late mornings. Since I'm peeing every thirty minutes I barely get any sleep so what's a few more hours?"

My mom laughed, "Oh honey I hear you. You were not an easy baby to carry around. It was like if Godzilla decided to exist inside of me."

I scoffed, "Wow thanks mom, love you too."

The two of us fell into a comfortable silence, quietly eating our brunch while the weight of our shared struggles settled into the air.

The food she made was delicious as always. I mean nothing beat mom's cooking and it tasted like the golden days of my youth. Before I was worrying about whether or not I'd be a good mom or if my dad was going to die tomorrow.

My mom offered a gentle smile, "I know that look. You must be in the overthinking, paranoid mother phase."

I snickered, "Was it that obvious?"

She scoffed, "You're my daughter and I've been in your position. You wanna talk about it?"

I shrugged, "I think it's the same concerns any newfound mother has. On one hand, I'm literally counting down the days till I get to see her and hold her hand. But on the other hand, I'm utterly terrified. I want to be the best mother I can be, but what if I totally let her down. I'd never forgive myself if I failed her."

My mom placed her hand in mine, her eyes conveying motherly advice before she even opened her mouth.

"I hear you honey. I thought the same thing when I was pregnant with you. Everyday I'd go through random situations and think of the worst case scenario. It'd eat me alive and I honestly had no idea how to have confidence in myself that I could at least manage to take care of you. That's actually where your father acted like a superhero the most. I think he was the first person I'd ever seen not be scared of what the future as a parent held. He was so excited to see you. It was crazy the immense love he held for the little girl he hadn't even met yet. My point is, you have a great support system behind you. You and your sister have the closest bonds of siblings I've ever seen and your boyfriend is quite possibly the best man I've ever seen after your father. He's not shy to fight for you and I like the passion he has for things he cares about. And on top of all of that, you're the best girl there is. If ANYONE could handle a baby, it'd be you. You'll be the greatest role model to your little girl and she'll be bragging to everyone how she has the best mommy in the whole world."

I smiled, "Thanks mom. But I'm still worried about messing up."

"Have you been doing all the prenatal stuff? Like reading to your baby, talking to her, playing music for her? Have you been eating all the right foods? Have you been over working yourself?" She questioned.

"I think I've done all that I've had to do," I said, not seeing the correlation.

"Then you're already on the right path. The time you spend with you baby while it's in the womb is arguably the most important. The fact that you're making the effort to care for it before it even pops out shows how amazing of a mother you will be. I didn't raise you to be feeling sorry for yourself Yubin. I raised you to strive for greatness and recognize it."

My mom smiled proudly, ruffling my hair as she had done when I was younger.

The rest of our brunch was filled with light conversation and laughs as we reminisced about my childhood and the stupid things I did to give my mom a migraine.

And when my dad was brought out, I tried my best to talk with him even though he barely remembered who I was and why I was there.

But I still talked to him and included him in the conversation as much as possible. I tried asking him questions about when I was a kid, hoping his long-term memory would still be intact, but to no avail. He remembered a few things which was good, but it was still heart-wrenching to hear that he barely remembered anything of my eventful childhood which I had so dearly loved him.

All the while, in the back of my mind was a certain someone who constantly lived in my thoughts.

I felt a tiny tear slip out as the desire to be in his arms overwhelmed me. Never in my life did I think I'd ever miss someone so much.

The Kim Seokjin effect was a dangerous game.

Seokjin POV

Thirteen hours.

Thirteen hours wondering how my baby was. Wondering how she slept, if she ate lunch and dinner, if she gossiped with her mom, if she got to talk to her dad.

She was living rent free in my mind, and I didn't even care.

I missed her so damn much.

"CEO Kim!" A thick American accent called.

I swallowed my gooeyness about Yubin and put on a straight face as I greeted the American investors whom I had to reach an agreement with.

All of them were trying to look tough in their Armani suits as if they owned the game and knew how to swerve this deal in their direction.

In actuality, they were sleazy old men about to get played by a millennial.

I shook their hands, greeting them civilly as I always did.

"We've heard much about you CEO Kim and we're more than happy to talk rates so that we can both benefit," one of them sneered.

I calmly gazed at him, "As am I. I just hope we'll come to a suitable agreement for both parties."

With that, I coolly walked passed them with my team following closely behind as we went in search of our car and driver.

Once we found them, we were off to the hotel to start on some work and wear off the jet lag.

When we arrived, my team checked me in while I grabbed the keycard and my bags and headed straight up to the penthouse suite.

The suite was lavish in design and had a very modern design to it, radiating American sitcom level rich of decor.

Everything was neatly organized and there was even a welcome basket with some necessary things for me to use during my stay.

However, the first thing I needed to do was call my girl and check on her.

"Hello?"

I smiled at the sound of her sweet melodic voice. It truly was the most lovely sound I could've ever heard.

Man I was in love with her.

"Hey baby, were you sleeping?"

"Mmmmm, I woke up like two seconds before you called."

I chuckled, "You sound sleepy."

"I'm caring a human inside of me, back off."

"Hey, you remember my rules about being nice to me," I pouted.

"I thought I was your queen."

I snickered, "Well you got me there."

"Are you at the hotel?"

"I am. It's so nice. Not as nice as home but still very luxurious. You'd absolutely hate it," I giggled.

"Haha I'm sure. It's early there isn't it? Do you have meetings to go to today?"

"No, not today. Today is my rest day."

"Oh. And umm...when do you have to tell them about me?"

I felt my heart get heavy at the sound of her anxious voice. The last thing I wanted to do was stress her out by unnecessarily outing our relationship, but there was so much pressure and hate that it might've done more harm than good to keep it quiet.

"I've got that meeting scheduled for before I leave. Until then, it's just meeting with stuffy old investors."

"I'm sure. Well, for your information, baby Suyeon is not very happy that you're gone. She made mommy feel like a sack of poop today and kicked once or twice to let me know she was throwing a fit."

I chuckled, "She certainly has my genes in her."

"Ugh, more like your attitude. If our daughter comes out winking at herself and blowing kisses, I'm gonna lose it."

"Aww come on baby, that wouldn't be so bad. What's a little confidence for our girl?" I joked.

"Yeah sure thing. You can have fun with the drama too."

I huffed, "You're mean."

"I'm pregnant. Hey, I think I've gotta go now. I'm helping mom make dinner. I'll call you before I sleep."

"Okay. Wait let me say bye to baby."

I heard her chuckle on the other line before their was some ruffling on the other end.

"Okay talk."

"Hi baby girl~ it's daddy. I miss you very much. I can't wait to go home and kiss the heck out of you and help your mommy grow you since you're still a little tiny thing. You be nice to her okay? I want to come back to a bright and smiley mommy so that our family can be as happy as can be. And you make sure you use that glowing confidence I bestowed upon you to make your mommy glow like the pavement at golden hour. I'm counting down the days till I get to see you and hold you and absolutely love you to death because I already do, so you tell mommy she's got some stiff competition."

Yubin's sweet laughter filled my ears with joy as she affectionately cooed over my playful teasing. I could tell from her voice that she had been upset and understandably so. I wanted to do whatever I could to cheer her up, even if I wasn't physically there with her.

"Okay baby, you go eat lots for me okay? You're eating for three now. You, baby, and the missing Jinnie. Call me before you sleep okay?"

"Okay. I love you."

My heart skipped a beat, "I love you more."

And with that the line disconnected with my feelings fluttering all over the place.

Damn.

I missed her like hell.

One whole week of this?

It was cruel and unusual punishment.