Obey like a Dog

Seohee roughly picked out her clothes and went to the sink. Even though she knew that Lee Hyun was waiting right in front of the door, she couldn’t go out. But she couldn’t call him either.

I couldn’t believe that I was pregnant because I was so worried about losing my memory. I was more scared than happy.

What did the doctor say during my gynecological examination? I was so confused at the time that I don’t even remember it properly.

A week ago, when I heard the baby’s heartbeat through ultrasound, I couldn’t really perceive it. The heartbeat was so loud, I wondered if the baby was really growing in my belly.

The hand on the sink shook violently. The legs shook as if they would collapse at any moment.

“Seohee.”

The soft and familiar voice was Lee Hyun’s.

I glanced towards the door and then back at the mirror, only to find myself biting my lip in sheer fright.

I was scared. I dragged my legs, wanting to collapse, and opened the door. Lee Hyun approached me as if he had been waiting for me.

“This…….”

My mouth was about to drop, but it wouldn’t. It was like someone had glued it on.

He didn’t complain. He just waited patiently, one hand on his hip.

His face had turned pale, his lips were trembling, it was clear that something had happened, but there was no change in Lee Hyun’s expression as he looked at Seo Hee.

“my stomach hurts.”

As Seo-hee stood in front of the bathroom and muttered, Lee-hyun’s eyebrows furrowed. He reached out and carefully picked her up.

“Brown blood… … .”

My mouth was dry and my body was shaking.

When she lowered her head, unable to continue speaking, Lee Hyun calmly pressed the nurse call button and laid her down.

“Are you okay?”

I couldn’t tell if he was saying that the child was okay or that she was okay no matter what.

Unlike Seo-hee, who was trembling with excitement, Lee-hyeon’s expression was monotonous.

As soon as the nurse came in, Lee Hyun roughly told her to call the obstetrician and gynecologist right away. From then on, everything went smoothly.

It was clearly night and everyone was asleep, but Seohee was able to encounter one of the doctors she had seen in the hospital room during the day.

“You must be very surprised. Let’s do a test first.”

The doctor who introduced himself as Professor Park Ji-yeon was kind. Seo-hee glanced up at Lee Hyeon, who was standing next to her. When she blinked, he grabbed her hand that he had been touching the whole time.

She asked him if he was going out, but Hyun seemed to sense that she was feeling uneasy and came closer to her.

“It’s cold.”

As Seo-hee sighed at the feeling of the gel, Lee-hyeon worriedly brushed her forehead.

“You can see the baby here. The uterus is not too thick and is well positioned.”

Doctor explained, while pointing to the ultrasound image.

Seohee, who had been listening blankly, stopped breathing when she met the pitch-black eyes looking down at her.

The explanation for the delay continued.

If there is a lot of blood pooling in the uterus or the uterine lining is shed, it could be a problem, but looking at the current condition, it seems like the pooled implantation blood has flowed out.

I breathed a sigh of relief at hearing that it was a rare but possible event.

“Would you like to hear the baby’s heartbeat?”

Thump, thump, thump.

Seohee held her breath at the loud sound of it’s heart. She turned her gaze to the monitor and saw a small, round figure. A jelly bear. It was the first thing that came to her mind.

Lee Hyun, who had been looking at Seo Hee-man, moved his gaze. The moment he saw something white on the monitor, his black pupils turned dark. His lips, which had been tightly shut, opened slightly.

“Baby’s heart is beating well. It looks healthy.”

Seohee couldn’t say anything other than nodding her head. When she had listened to it’s heartbeat alone, she had only been scared, but now, what can I say? She felt a tingling sensation that she couldn’t define.

“Oh, I heard you had an accident.”

Jiyeon, who had wiped off the gel, turned around to face Seohee. Lee Hyun’s eyebrows furrowed in discomfort at the sudden words, but Jiyeon didn’t care.

“……Yes.”

“It’s currently 8 weeks and 1 day, so if it was 4 weeks ago, you would have to assume that you had the surgery around 4 weeks into your pregnancy.”

Seohee responded with an “Ah” to Jiyeon’s words.

“I think you can assume that any medication or alcohol you take without knowing it will not have a big effect because it is before the umbilical cord is connected.”

He added that the delay may vary slightly from obstetrician to obstetrician.

Going forward, we will likely need to conduct a NIFT test and amniocentesis to determine whether the surgery has had any effect on the fetus.

As the explanation continued, Seohee just nodded. Soon, tears began to flow down her eyes.

I guess this is what had been bothering me the whole time. I pretended it wasn’t true, but I was worried about whether it was okay for me to have surgery while pregnant and whether the baby would be okay. When I heard the answers to the questions I had never been able to ask, my eyes welled up with tears.

“How about getting a blood test while you’re at it?”

At Jiyeon’s suggestion, Lee Hyeon nodded while wiping the tears at the corner of Seohee’s eyes with one hand.

As soon as Professor Park was sent out of the hospital room with the ultrasound machine, saying that the rest of the tests would be done when daylight came, Seo-hee felt sick. She swallowed hard.

“You need to eat something.”

Seohee’s tears welled up in her eyes at Lee Hyun’s indifferent words. She bit her lips to keep herself from crying, and Lee Hyun gently smoothed out her wrinkles with his thumb.

“Is strawberry juice okay?”

My eyes twitched slightly. How did he know? How much does this man know about me?

My throat felt hot as memories of the nights I would groan from heartburn flashed through my mind.

My stomach was so upset and empty that I felt like I was going to vomit, so I didn’t really want to chew or swallow anything. I didn’t want water, I didn’t want anything. In the midst of all that, I kept thinking about strawberry juice.

Lee Hyun even offered her some washed strawberries that he had gotten from somewhere. Seohee burst into laughter at the sight of his eyes that said, “Would you eat one of them?”

Lee Hyun, who had been staring at that smile as if possessed, raised the corners of his mouth in a smirk the moment she chose strawberry juice.

“That’s fortunate.”

Seohee read various emotions in the soft voice. Worry, nervousness, anxiety, and finally relief.

There was a subtle tension underlying it.

‘Why do you care so much about my reaction?’

Her gaze fell deeply into the strawberry juice.

The strawberry juice, which I don’t know when it was prepared, had a strong color and aroma as if it was freshly squeezed. Just looking at it made my mouth water.

As she swallowed one sip, two sips of juice, tears welled up in her eyes. Her vision became blurry. She shouldn’t cry. It wasn’t a situation where she should cry. Seohee stubbornly kept her mouth shut and put the juice down, feeling as if tears were about to fall.

Lee Hyeon rubbed the back of his throat as if he was embarrassed, even after drinking the strawberry juice.

“Would you like something else?”

It was a dry voice. Why did that voice, which had no emotional depth at all, feel so cautious? As if it was so reliable that it seemed like it would do anything if I just said it.

His voice still had a subtle tension, and I felt a lump in my throat.

The tears kept making her feel cold. Her vision was blurry and her nose was numb. As Lee Hyun approached, Seohee quietly leaned her face against his stomach.

“Seohee.”

Lee Hyun looked surprised and bent down to meet her gaze. The water droplets that had been splashing down eventually ran down her face. Lee Hyun grabbed Seo Hee’s shoulders with both hands.

What should I do? What should I do? Lee Hyun swallowed the words welling up in his throat and held his breath, unable to do anything.

In the meantime, a drop of water fell from Seohee’s eye and touched his heart. His blood rippled like ripples on a calm surface of water.

What did the doctor say?

Emergency surgery stopped a small hemorrhage in the brain, but it appears the clot was not removed. It is in a bad location.

Moreover, it is not easy to take medication while pregnant. The medical staff’s common opinion is to wait and see if the blood clot disappears.

Lee Hyun, who was recalling Seo Hee’s condition, clenched his fist to suppress his surging emotions. He clenched his fist so hard that his hand started to tingle.

In addition, there was talk of things like, “You might feel dizzy. If you have a headache, you should let me know.” All of the words were just squeezing Lee Hyun’s throat.

I think you said that you have to be extremely careful about stress and that you have to minimize emotional ups and downs.

‘I told you to be especially careful not to cry.’

High intracranial pressure may cause tears to flow, but on the other hand, crying can increase intracranial pressure, so try to refrain from crying as much as possible.

“Seohee.”

You must not cry. You must hold back your tears.

Lee Hyun stroked her cheek with the back of his hand to soothe her. He didn’t forget to look into her clouded eyes.

Just calling her name made her cry louder. It was on a different level from just water drops falling. Lee Hyun, who had been frozen, became agitated.

She must never cry.

The doctor’s instructions were spinning around in his head. As the hand that was holding Seo-hee’s shoulder kept tightening, Lee-hyeon released her arms.

Hyun, who was worried, put his lips to Seo-hee’s tears like a dog comforting its crying owner.

Seohee, who had been sobbing, suddenly opened her eyes wide. It was around the time when he lifted his lowered lips as if he was relieved.

“Wahhhh.”

Seohee’s crying, which she thought had stopped, burst out loud as if her emotions were exploding. Lee Hyun’s black eyes shook.

“Don’t cry.” The doctor’s words rang like a siren. Lee Hyun quietly wrapped his arms around Seo Hee’s neck.

“You, I told you not to cry.”

Chu.

Lee Hyun’s lips lightly touched Seo Hee’s lips. Her brown eyes widened.

As the tears that had been hanging from her eyes finally fell, Lee Hyeon took Seo Hee’s lips without hesitation.

Seohee’s brown eyes were hidden by her eyelids. Lee Hyun, who had been rubbing the corner of her lips as if to soothe her, turned his face away.

Seo-hee, unable to close her red lips, stared blankly at Lee Hyun. Suddenly, a tear that had been hanging from her right eyelash fell.

“This…”

Lee Hyun, who let out a deep breath, pressed his lips together again as if he had no choice. He scanned the corners of Seo Hee’s eyes, brushed past the tip of her nose, and ultimately reached his destination, her lips.