“Yun Woo……”

“It’s Yun Woo. Since I haven’t registered the birth yet, no matter how much you investigate, it won’t show up. So, what are you going to do with Yun Woo?”

Yi Hyun’s legs gave out and he staggered, slumping down at the edge of the bench. Tears flowed endlessly from his eyes.

Bok Seon, who had risen from the bench, carefully stood in front of him and handed over Yun Woo.

“Have ye ever held a newborn? No, right? Ye gotta hold ’em gently like a fragile glass doll. Their neck ain’t strong yet, so support the back of the head with yer hand and hold ’em like this.”

Yi Hyun received Yun Woo with trembling hands and held the child in his large embrace. He was so small, just like a doll.

Seemingly quite content in his big father’s arms, Yun Woo smiled with his eyes closed.

“Ah……”

An involuntary sigh of wonder escaped. As if responding to the sound, Yun Woo’s closed eyes suddenly opened.

At just over 20 days old, it wasn’t yet time for him to distinguish objects in front of him. However, Yun Woo smiled brightly at his father, whom he was seeing for the first time since birth.

“Yun Woo……”

“Hehe~ He recognizes his father, how can a newborn’s smile be so pretty? How can he smile so well? Hehe~”

Long fingers touched the baby’s face, which looked smaller than his own fist. The warm, soft feeling made his heart ache as if someone was digging into it.

“Our… son.”

“Ha Jun……”

At Ha Jun’s calm words, Yi Hyun looked up. Seeing Ha Jun with tears in her eyes, his own tears, which had momentarily stopped, began to flow again.

The image of his elder brother’s restless figure in front of the delivery room just a few weeks ago and the tiny nephew who had just been born came to mind. And he vividly imagined Ha Jun enduring the pain of childbirth all alone.

“I’m sorry….. I’m sorry. Ha Jun, I’m really sorry….. I’m sorry for making you give birth alone……”

Waves of unceasing tears made Yi Hyun’s broad shoulders heave. Ha Jun quietly sat down next to Yi Hyun and placed her hand over his, which was holding Yun Woo.

“I wasn’t alone. Grandmother came into the delivery room with me and stayed with me at the hospital and postpartum care center. When I was struggling, she held and put Yun Woo to sleep every day, even went to a naming center to choose a name… I was happy.”

Yi Hyun turned his tearful eyes to look at Bok Seon standing in front of him.

“Thank you…… Thank you so much, Grandmother.”

“If I’d known earlier there was such a fine husband, this old lady wouldn’t have suffered taking care of the new mother, hehe~”

“I’m sorry for being too late……”

“In life, there are all sorts of stories and twists and turns. Now that the three of you have met again, if you cherish and embrace each other from now on, everything will be fine. Hehe~”

At Bok Seon’s warm words, both Ha Jun and Yi Hyun smiled brightly with tears in their eyes.

Shortly after, the three moved inside the house, laid Yun Woo down in the main bedroom, and sat around him.

Bok Seon smiled contentedly at the overflowing love in their eyes for each other and for Yun Woo.

“Now it’s time to eat dinner, ain’t ye hungry? The mother needs to eat for the baby to be full too~”

“We should eat. I want to eat.”

“Right, I wonder if Yun Woo’s father likes seaweed soup.”

“I do like it.”

“Even if ye didn’t like it, ye’d have to eat it, but it’s good that ye do. Hehe~”

Ha Jun suddenly tilted her head. Come to think of it, this was the first time in over 8 months of living with Bok Seon that they had such a smooth conversation.

“By the way, Grandmother, you seem to be hearing really well today.”

“Eh? My ears?”

At Ha Jun’s words, Bok Seon suddenly stuck her finger in her ear and pulled out a tiny hearing aid.

“I always forgot to wear it and didn’t know where it was, but yesterday our Jae Kyung found it for me before going home. So I wore it last night~ and today, as soon as I woke up, I thought of this thing and put it on again~ Hehe~ After wearing it for two days, my ear canal hurts so much I’m gonna take it out now.”

“……”

“……”

Watching Bok Seon speak so nonchalantly, both of them realized at the same time.

The Bok Seon smiling contentedly in front of them was the Cupid of love for their family.

After finishing the meal and feeding Yun Woo, Ha Jun came out to the living room.

Yi Hyun was sitting a step behind Bok Seon, who was watching a TV drama, holding his phone and intently looking at something. Ha Jun sat down next to him.

“Yi Hyun, what are you doing?”

“Studying.”

“Studying?”

“When do you bathe Yun Woo? Before bed, right? I read that postpartum mothers’ bones are spread, so holding and bathing the baby can strain the joints?”

“He’s sleeping now after eating, so we’ll bathe him when he wakes up. In about an hour or two? After that, night sleep starts, but he still wakes up every two to three hours.”

“Got it.”

Yi Hyun nodded seriously. His sharp gaze was still fixed on the phone screen.

“Are you studying childcare methods now?”

“Of course I have to. From now on, bathing is my responsibility. I’ve also mastered changing diapers and getting the formula temperature right, and I need to go for vaccinations too. There’s a lot for a father to do.”

Ha Jun burst out laughing at Yi Hyun’s confident words. Yi Hyun was momentarily lost in her clear smile.

“…It’s the first time. No, maybe the second.”

“What is?”

“You smiling at me so brightly like that.”

“…Wasn’t it the first time?”

Ha Jun tilted her head. Yi Hyun smiled bitterly.

“You probably don’t remember, but it happened.”

“When?”

“Before… that day you said you dreamed about your birth mother… I was watching your sleeping face. You opened your eyes for a moment… and smiled brightly at me just like now. In your sleep.”

“Ah……”

She remembered. That day, when she had cried herself to sleep and had a sweet dream date with Yi Hyun.

Ha Jun smiled brightly.

“Actually, I lied to you then.”

“What? What lie?”

“At that time… It wasn’t my mother in my dream, it was you, Yi Hyun.”

Yi Hyun’s eyes widened at this unexpected truth that was only now being confessed.

“…Really?”

“Really.”

“Then why did you lie?”

“The night before, I had heard from your mouth that I was just a doll to play with, and yet I liked you so much that I was upset. I wanted to run away.”

In a calm tone and with an untroubled face, Ha Jun told the story of that painfully upsetting day. Overwhelmed with guilt, Yi Hyun’s head dropped down. He couldn’t bring himself to look up.

“…I’m really sorry.”

“But isn’t it funny? I fell asleep crying because I hated Kim Yi Hyun, but in my dream, I was on a date with you. We walked the streets like affectionate lovers and ate delicious food together. And it wasn’t in the night when we usually met, but under the bright sun in broad daylight… I was so happy that I smiled brightly in my dream, and it turns out I was smiling in reality too……”

“I was truly… a bad guy, a complete bastard.”

“Pfft, you really were. You were really bad.”

Despite her words, a bright smile never left Ha Jun’s lips.

“I’ll do really well from now on. Just watch. I’ll never make you struggle or cry again. I love you, Ha Jun.”

“I love you too.”

Ha Jun expressed her feelings without hesitation. The love for Kim Yi Hyun that she had always kept hidden deep inside.

Yi Hyun was overwhelmed by Ha Jun’s unexpected confession of love. He suddenly covered his flushed face with his hands.

“Ah… This is… really the first time.”

“The words ‘I love you’?”

“Yeah. I feel like my heart’s going to burst because I’m so happy right now.”

As Yi Hyun pressed his hand against his heart, his face completely red, Ha Jun smiled brightly once again.

She was originally such a bright woman with a lot of smiles, how did she live so expressionlessly like a doll all this time…

Thinking about her painful past, his excited heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly.

Yi Hyun spoke to Ha Jun as if making a promise.

“From now on, I’ll make you live always smiling. Don’t hide anything or hold back. You’re now the super VIP anywhere. After all, you’re the second daughter-in-law of the Jae In Group chairman.”

“Wow, I’ve become Cinderella.”

“Well, not exactly like that. But, that’s not urgent, so let’s talk about it gradually. More than that, there’s something I’m really curious about……”

“What is it?”

Yi Hyun hesitated for a moment before carefully opening his mouth.

“Yun Woo’s umbilical cord… who cut it?”

“Oh, the doctor cut it.”

“Ah! That!”

I should have done it!

Yi Hyun bit his lip in frustration, remembering Il Jun coming out of the delivery room after cutting the umbilical cord on the day his niece, Yun Ji, was born, looking as if he owned the world.

Ha Jun laughed again at the sight of Yi Hyun, who was indignant about not being able to cut the umbilical cord, without knowing the reason.

At that moment, Bok Seon, who had been sitting with her back to the couple after the drama ended, raised her hand and took the hearing aid out of her ear.

“Oh my~ Thanks to this thing, I didn’t miss a single sound from the drama today. I also heard all that love talk very well~ Hehe~ I’m gonna go to the small room and sleep early now, so the lovey-dovey couple can sleep together with Yun Woo in the main room.”

Yi Hyun’s surprised eyes fixed exactly on the small hearing aid in her hand at Bok Seon’s words full of laughter.

“Grandmother, didn’t you say earlier that you were going to take out the hearing aid……”

Did you hear everything?

“If this old lady had strength in her hands, I would’ve snipped that tough umbilical cord myself, oh my~ Come to think of it, I couldn’t do that either. Oh my~ How unfair~ Hehe~”

At Bok Seon’s deliberately teasing words, Yi Hyun and Ha Jun, their faces burning red, finally burst into laughter.

It was a peaceful, happy, and lovely night.