Raising her gaze to look at her husband again, he was staring at her as if to say don’t even dream of contacting him. Feeling wronged and bewildered, Seo Yeon spoke up impulsively.

“I wasn’t planning to contact him anyway.”

She was angry at her husband’s attitude, acting as if he was restraining an unfaithful wife when she had merely received a business card.

If I had wanted to have an affair, I would have met another man when I found out you were cheating.

As Seo Yeon was swallowing her resentment inside, Seong Jun’s voice cut through her inner cries.

“We need to talk.”

Seong Jun gestured with his chin towards a chair.

“It doesn’t seem like something to discuss standing up. It might be a long conversation, so let’s sit down.”

His expression looked more serious than ever. The piercing gaze was somehow intimidating. Seo Yeon’s delicate shoulders flinched slightly upwards.

What on earth does he want to talk about…

Seo Yeon went and sat on the sofa Seong Jun had indicated. He walked over and sat across from her. Seo Yeon swallowed dryly as she stared at him, feeling worried yet somewhat expectant about what he would say.

“That day.”

Of the two silently staring at each other, Seong Jun was the first to speak.

“I brushed it off thinking you weren’t in your right mind because you were sick. But were you serious?”

“About what?”

“About wanting to share a room with me.”

“…!”

Seo Yeon unconsciously swallowed dryly from the tension. She had just been wondering how to share a room with him without arousing suspicion, and this was her opportunity. Seo Yeon answered as if she had been waiting for this.

“Yes, I was serious.”

At that, Seong Jun’s eyes wavered as he looked at Seo Yeon. After staring intently at her face for a moment with a pensive expression, he asked:

“What about that nonsense about it being okay for me to meet other women?”

“That…”

That was also sincere, something she had meant. She truly wouldn’t have cared as long as he cooperated with having a child. But if she revealed her true feelings like that, it seemed likely to provoke her husband’s opposition.

“…I meant I wouldn’t mind even if you did.”

As expected. As soon as those words left her mouth, Seong Jun glared fiercely at Seo Yeon. His gaze was so sharp that Seo Yeon, startled, hurriedly spoke up in explanation:

“But I’ve changed my mind now!”

Only after hearing that response did Seong Jun relax his gaze and ask:

“Why did you suddenly want to share a room?”

Seo Yeon’s eyes widened slightly at that question. A sense of awkwardness permeated the living room. The silence stretched uncomfortably long, making Seo Yeon tense up again.

To him, all of her proposals must have seemed sudden and suspicious. Since only she possessed the memories of a past he had never experienced, Seo Yeon conveyed her thoughts clearly, hoping her sincerity would come across.

“We’ve been married for 3 years now. I didn’t want to keep living in this awkward state forever. And I thought our marriage needed some kind of change.”

Seo Yeon worried that Seong Jun might again misunderstand her sincerity and take it the wrong way. However, he looked at her with a completely serious expression, seeming to take her words genuinely.

“I agree with you. I feel the same way.”

“You… do?”

Seo Yeon’s expression turned bewildered at Seong Jun’s easy acquiescence. In the past, her husband would frown or sigh as if frustrated whenever he saw her face.

She had thought he was even more stressed about talking to her than she was uncomfortable. She believed his expression was proof of that.

Has my husband changed? Or have I changed? Or was it a misunderstanding from the start?

But there was something more important than resolving her curiosity.

“Um… Seong Jun, I have something I want to tell you too.”

“Go ahead and speak comfortably.”

“Please don’t take this strangely.”

“Even if you say something strange, I’ll try to understand.”

Seo Yeon rolled her eyes at Seong Jun’s playful response, then spoke in a careful voice after a moment:

“As you probably know, wanting to share a room didn’t just mean literally sharing a room. I want to have a child soon.”

“…!”

Seong Jun’s eyes wavered as if perplexed. His expression said he didn’t know what to say.

Seo Yeon had seen that expression before. It was the same look he had when she confessed she was pregnant after their one reckless night together in the past. Seo Yeon felt anxious.

“Do you dislike the idea?”

At Seo Yeon’s question, Seong Jun wore a thoughtful expression.

“I haven’t seriously thought about having children until now, but… hearing you talk about it, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea.”

His initially uncertain tone became closer to one of conviction by the end.

“Really?”

Seo Yeon’s expression brightened noticeably. She realized she would have been very sad if he had said he didn’t want to have children.

“It would be pretty.”

Then Seong Jun looked at Seo Yeon meaningfully and muttered in a voice close to talking to himself. Seo Yeon, who had somehow understood Seong Jun’s words, looked at him and rolled her eyes, speaking as if to chide him:

“How do you know it’ll be pretty when you don’t even know if it’s a boy or girl?”

“Can’t I express my hopes?”

“I’m saying don’t discriminate whether it’s a boy or girl.”

“Of course I won’t discriminate. I don’t care if it’s a boy or girl. I’ll raise them better than anyone so that next time they’ll say they were born well.”

At those words, Seo Yeon’s eyes slowly began to tremble.

The day she lost her husband in a sudden car accident. She recalled the baby’s ultrasound photos and shoes that Seong Jun had kept in his study drawer.

Come to think of it, though she hadn’t realized it, her husband had loved the child that suddenly came into their lives in his own way in the past. And he had missed the child.

He may not have been a good husband, but he was a man with infinite potential to be a good father. If only she had known this before. If she had known, she would have tried to understand him instead of resenting him for so long.

“Make sure you keep that promise.”

Seo Yeon spoke as if pleading, hoping that even if something happened to separate her from Seong Jun, he would at least be a good father to their child. Seong Jun replied with a smile:

“I’ll have to work harder then. Our child might want to become president someday.”

“Will you support them if they want to?”

“Of course I’ll support them wholeheartedly. So they can achieve their dreams. If they take after me, whether daughter or son, they’ll be born with big dreams anyway.”

Seo Yeon smiled at those words.

She had only asked for cooperation in having a child, but she found it lovable how her husband was already seriously answering while imagining how to raise their child.

Startled by her own thoughts, Seo Yeon composed herself again. Now was not the time to be swayed by her husband.

“Actually, I didn’t just go to the music bookstore today.”

Seo Yeon got up and brought over the shopping bag she had put on the floor, handing it to Seong Jun.

It was the shopping bag containing books related to pregnancy and childcare that she had bought at the bookstore in the afternoon. Seong Jun looked surprised as he checked the titles of the books.

“You really thought about this seriously.”

As he said that, Seong Jun’s gaze on Seo Yeon was softer than ever before. Not noticing how her husband was looking at her, Seo Yeon nodded earnestly.

“I really want to have a healthy baby. Even if they’re not smart or pretty, I just want them to be healthy. I bought these books hoping they might help even a little. I’m planning to study hard with them.”

“Alright. I’ll study hard too.”

Excited by Seong Jun’s cooperation, Seo Yeon nodded earnestly again. Then with a smile all over her face, she asked in a clear voice:

“Then can I set the date and let you know?”

“…?”

Seeing Seong Jun’s expression of complete incomprehension, Seo Yeon looked perplexed.

“You said you’d cooperate with having a child. For that, we need to do it. Our first night.”

Somehow, saying the words “first night” directly made her face heat up. Her face became incredibly hot.

It’s just a word, what’s so special about it. Seong Jun, who had been fixated on Seo Yeon’s bright red earlobes, shifted his gaze back to her face and asked:

“Is there a reason we need to set a specific date?”

Seo Yeon wanted to look away from her husband for some reason. His intense gaze felt like it was burning, not just hot.

“Well, we need to maximize the chances of pregnancy, right?”

Seong Jun stared at Seo Yeon for a moment as if gauging something, then spoke:

“If we want to increase the chances, wouldn’t increasing the frequency be a simpler method than setting a date?”

Her husband had a point. But Seo Yeon remembered exactly which day she had gotten pregnant.

So she could get pregnant without resorting to such a troublesome method. But not knowing how to explain this situation, Seo Yeon muttered as if to herself:

“We don’t need to do it multiple times, I think once would be enough…”

“Just once?”

At that moment, her husband’s gaze, which had felt hot enough to burn, turned cold.

Her husband’s face, which had been unbelievably cooperative until just moments ago, sank into a chilly expression. Seo Yeon sensed something had gone wrong and was frantically thinking of what to say when Seong Jun spoke first:

“So what you’re saying, Han Seo Yeon, is…”

“…?”

“You really want to get pregnant… No. You want to thoroughly use me just to get pregnant.”

“…!”

“Is that what you mean?”