Returning to Seoul, it wasn't what I expected. I was seeing the doctor every two weeks since the discovery of the three babies. So, when we got back at the end of July, Hyunseong called a bunch of my friends to come over so we could tell them the news. Knowing how overwhelmed both of us were, he wanted our friends' support. So, we told them. I suddenly had an overabundance of friends offering to step up to help me whenever we needed it.
Boyfriend had their Korean comeback at the beginning of August. I went with them for the comeback shows, not wanting to sit at home alone. Mr. Sohn, happily got me the backstage passes necessary so I could be with Hyunseong and safely away from the crowds of fan girls for all the shows. He even congratulated us on the pregnancy, which made both of us happy that he wasn't angry that, after I left, I started dating one of my former charges.
After a while, Jonghyun even came to visit me.
"Hey, Noona," he said, smiling at me. "Congratulations!"
He hugged me as he walked into the house. Hyunseong was busy and he came over because he heard that after Jackson dropped me off from my appointment I'd be home alone until Hyunseong came home. I was happy to see him.
"Thanks, Jjong," I said, smiling back at him. "How have you been? We've both been so busy since the wedding we haven't seen each other much."
"One of us has been a little busier than the other," he said, laughing. "But I'm the same. Writing, producing, touring. But I come back and find out that little Hea is going to be an Eomma. I couldn't just not come see you!"
Seeing him smile made me smile, even though as the pregnancy progressed, I was getting tired more and more easily. It was mid-September, I was about six months pregnant already, and I was done. It was exhausting, and I wanted the pregnancy to be over.
"So how have you been?" he asked. "I'm glad to see you're not out on tour with G-Dragon."
"Not for lack of trying," I told him, laughing, and he gave me a look of sheer shock.
"Hea! You didn't!" he exclaimed.
"Kinda," I said sheepishly. "I was tag-teamed by Hyunseong and G-Dragon, okay! Whenever Hyunseong wants to surprise me, or now, whenever they know I haven't told them something or they're worried, they plot together, Jjong! It's not fair! I woke up and had both of them standing over me, wanting to know what I hadn't told them, and when I told them, G-Dragon immediately started planning my maternity leave!"
"What's so bad about that?" Jjong asked.
"I didn't have a say!" I replied.
"What did Hyunseong say?"
"I kinda felt bad for him," I started. "With him being younger than both me and G-Dragon, he seemed so unsure about speaking against me when I said I didn't want to go on maternity leave immediately. But he told me he was scared to have me out there. Unlike everyone else in Boyfriend except Donghyun, Hyunseong knows I've taken hits to protect G-Dragon over the years. So, when it came down to it, he said he was afraid that knowing that, he was afraid to have me and his unborn child out there protecting G-Dragon for basically my entire pregnancy. Ultimately, we compromised and I only stayed on until the beginning of June, until after BigBang's fan meets in Japan. That was when I went on medical leave, just moving into the apartment Hyunseong and I have near Boyfriend's dorm, and he moved in with me. We were there for about six weeks or so before we came back for their Korean comeback. Now, Donghyun, Kwangmin, Min Woo, and Jeongmin are doing a show because Starship isn't really doing that much with the group, and their contract technically ends next year, so they're planning their next steps, while Hyunseong is just doing whatever they want him to now, so when I go into labor, they leave him be."
"Would you have really left on tour with G-Dragon while you were pregnant, Hea? Knowing how dangerous being a bodyguard can be for a woman? Especially a pregnant woman?" Jjong asked me.
"I don't know," I admitted. "My hormones have been so out of whack for so long I don't know what I would have done if they had tried to force me to stay home. The thing is, though, only G-Dragon was the only one trying to force me to stay. Hyunseong was trying to make me see reason, telling me how he felt. I think that made me compromise more than G-Dragon just telling me he was putting me on leave effective immediately."
"Well, you and Hyunseong do finally have a chance to be together for a while, without you having to worry about your next flight to your next country," Jjong mentioned.
"That was another point Jiyong mentioned," I told him. "He said that by taking my benefits to stay home, I was finally going to have real time to spend with my husband. When he said that to me, it was almost like a pain in my heart because, just in February, Hyunseong had been willing to walk away from Boyfriend to follow me so we could have a semi-normal relationship, Jjong. We've been together for over three years now, married for almost a year, and until I got pregnant, the longest time we'd ever spent together consecutively was earlier this year when he came with me to Hong Kong to see Mom and Pop Wang, then to Beijing to see the escaped members of EXO, before I then went to Japan and stayed for a few weeks. It's when I got the apartment for us. Other than that, our relationship has been completely long-distance, Jjong. I mean, our first night in the apartment in Japan I realized it was the first time in our relationship we had a place to call a home of our own."
"We're too young to have to live like that, Hea," Jjong said to me. "Hyunseong is even younger than we are. It's got to be harder on him. So, this pregnancy might really have been a good thing. Something to slow you down long enough to just be together in peace for a while. You've lived out of a suitcase for more than five years, Hea. It's time to put the suitcase away for a bit."
"I guess, Jjong," I said. "It's just weird to be home all the time."
"Do you love Hyunseong?" he asked.
"With all my heart. No questions asked."
"Then just don't overthink this and just enjoy the time you have," he said to me with a smile.
We talked and joked about a lot of different things for the next few hours. Before we knew it, Hyunseong was coming in the door and Jinki was calling Jjong to find out where he was. He'd been with me for more than a few hours.
"I really loved seeing you today, Jjong," I told him as I walked him to the door. "Please, don't be a stranger. I miss you guys. You're all welcome to visit, you know."
"Okay, Sweet Hea," Jjong said with a smile. "We'll all try to come visit soon."
He kissed my cheek and left. I went back inside to Hyunseong.
"I haven't seen you smile that much since we got back to Seoul," he said. "Did you and Jonghyun have a good visit today?"
"I smile," I said defensively. "And yes, we did. I'm just always so tired, Hyunseong. Carrying triplets is exhausting."
He looked at me sympathetically and came over to me, picking me up. He carried me to the couch, sitting me on his lap and started stroking my hair to soothe me.
"I can't imagine how exhausting it is for you, Hea. I'm in awe that you are carrying three new lives inside of you. I hadn't thought about becoming a father yet, but the further along you get, the more excited I'm finding myself. You've made me so happy, Hea. And I know that you've had some issues, not being able to be as independent as you normally are because of the pregnancy. But I'm a phone call away if you need someone to yell at to make yourself feel better."
I laughed.
"I'm not going to call you to yell at you. Especially if you haven't done anything to upset me," I said, kissing him.
"That's good to hear," he said, laughing.
"How are Donghyun, Jeongmin, Kwangmin, and Min Woo doing on the show?" I asked him.
"They're not allowed to talk about it," he said. "How was your appointment today?"
"They told me they can tell me the genders of the triplets," I said to him and he got excited. "I told them not to tell me."
"Why?" he asked.
"I get you can't be there because Jiyong said to pick your battles. But I don't want to find that out while I'm with one of our friends, Hyunseong. That's something you and I should find out together, if what we choose is that we want. I don't think anyone else should know that before you."
"Okay," he conceded with me.
"Did they tell you anything else?"
"They finally narrowed down my actual due date," I said to him. It had been a point of debate between the Japanese and Korean doctors since I had found out I'd been pregnant and they discovered I was carrying triplets. "My actual due date is January 10, 2018, but they said that I could safely deliver anywhere as early as November 15th of this year because I'm carrying triplets."
I could see him doing the math in his head.
"Hea, that's eight weeks premature that they're saying you can deliver. That means you can go into labor in just two months." Hyunseong said, sounding worried.
"I know," I said to him. "They said the babies are all looking healthy though and I am too. The doctors said that my diet is definitely being kept healthy enough to support not only my health, but the healthy development of the triplets. They're confident that even if they are premature, there won't be serious effects on the babies."
Hyunseong looked more worried.
"When is your next appointment?" he asked me.
"In a week," I told him and he looked at me confused. "I have to go in once a week now because having triplets mean a high-risk pregnancy, Hyunseong."
"You never mentioned that carrying all three babies was high-risk for you, Hea," he said, looking scared.
"I'm fine, Hyunseong," I reassured him. "All multiple birth pregnancies are considered high-risk. I didn't want to worry you unless the doctors said there was actually something in my pregnancy that said I was actually at risk other than the fact that I was carrying triplets. If there was, I would have told you. But since I'm carrying three other lives in my body now, it does have it's tolls on me, which is why I'm always so tired and sore. And why the doctors want to see me weekly now that I'm getting closer to the point where I can go into labor."
Hyunseong kissed me gently and then hugged me. I could hear his heart racing. He was scared. I took his hand and put it on my stomach, letting him feel our babies moving around. Since we'd been home in Korea, I'd found that he'd found comfort in the sensation of feeling our babies moving inside of me. There had been nights where he'd even fallen asleep with his hand on my stomach.
The following week, Yongguk, from B.A.P,was supposed to take me to the doctors. Instead, when he was supposed to pick me up, Hyunseong came home.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him in shock.
"I told Starship that with you having a high-risk pregnancy, I needed to go to today's appointment. Even if it's the only pre-natal appointment I can go to between now and when you actually go into labor. I made it clear, I needed to be with you today because this is our first pregnancy, we're both going through this and I don't understand what's going on, and I just found out that while you're due in January, you can go into labor as soon as mid-November," he replied. "Some managers wanted to argue, but Mr. Sohn stood up for us. He gave me today off and sent his love."
He smiled at me as he helped me put a light jacket on, then my shoes, since I could no longer put them on by myself.
At the appointment, Hyunseong asked the doctor a lot of questions. I was worried she was going to be upset, but I was relieved when she was so patient with Hyunseong. In fact, she was happy to answer his questions because she was happier that he had finally been able to come to one of the appointments himself. Towards the end of the appointment, she did another ultrasound.
"Mrs. Shim, you've been refusing to find out the genders of the triplets because you didn't want to know without your husband at your side," my doctor said. "Now that he's here, do you want to know?"
I looked at Hyunseong and he nodded at her excitedly. She moved the wand around my stomach.
"Baby A... is a little girl," she said happily. "Baby B... is a little boy. And Baby C... is another little boy."
She looked at us with a big smile before printing out the ultrasound picture that marked each baby. She handed it to Hyunseong and left so I could clean up and change.
"We're having two little boys and a girl, Hea!" Hyunseong said, very excited, and I couldn't help but share his excitement. "We can finally settle on baby names!"
When we left the appointment, we went to get lunch before we did more shopping for the nursery. After shopping for the nursery, we stopped for dinner before Hyunseong took us home. I grabbed my laptop when we got in the house.
"What are you doing?" Hyunseong asked, confused it was the first thing I was doing.
"Before we tell anyone else, I think we need to tell your partner in crime. Don't you?" I replied.
"Where is he today?"
I looked at my watch, did the math on the time difference, and remembered his tour schedule.
"London."
"You remember that?"
"I need to remember things like that for my job," I pointed out. "It's part of what I'm paid for."
"But it's almost nine thirty here. What time is it there?"
"Nearly one thirty in the afternoon."
"No wonder he loved having you at his side so much," Hyunseong said. "You're good at the little details."
I opened my laptop and made up the gender reveal for Jiyong and hit send. It was an animated announcement. Then I looked back to Hyunseong.
"What?"
"Now, we wait," I told him.
"For what?"
"The video call," I replied.
"What do you mean?"
"The man is always on his phone. Let's see how long it takes for him to open the gender reveal I sent him and Skype us."
On cue, Skype rang. I opened it on my computer.
"Hey, Ji," I said, smiling at his goofy grin.
"Was that serious, Hea?" he asked me, as Hyunseong came and sat next to me on the couch so Jiyong could see us both.
"Yeah, it was, Jiyong," I replied. "Hyunseong and I are having a little girl and two boys. We found out earlier today at my now, weekly, appointments."
"Wait, Hyunseong took you?" he asked, confused.
"Yeah, Jiyong. Hea told me last week that the doctors told her she can go into labor up to eight weeks prematurely. I had too many questions. I needed to go with her myself. And the only way to find out the genders of the babies was if I was there. Hea decided she wouldn't let them tell her if she was with anyone else."
"What about picking your fights, Hyunseong?"
"I did," Hyunseong replied. "I needed this one pre-natal visit, Jiyong. I couldn't just sit back and act like everything was fine after being told the pregnancy was high-risk and she could deliver in as soon as seven weeks from now instead of the full term of fifteen weeks. I'll fall into line for the other appointments, but I needed this one."
"I understand," Jiyong said, nodding. "But how are the five of you?"
We laughed.
"We're fine, Jiyong," I reassured him. "I miss you coming over here whenever you were bored and you knew I was home alone."
"You have an entire city of idols. Don't tell me you're ever alone, Hea."
"It happens. I have an entire city of idols with schedules, Jiyong. They come over when they can, they take turns bringing me to the doctors, but they have their own obligations."
"I'm sorry, Hea," Jiyong said.
"Why? You didn't get me pregnant."
"No. That I did not," Jiyong said and he glanced at Hyunseong.
"How's the tour going?" I asked him.
"Great actually," he said. "It's not as fun without you. My other bodyguards don't know how to have fun like you, Hea."
He pouted at me.
"Sorry, you helped plan my wedding behind my back," I said to him. "You had to consider I might end up pregnant at some point."
"It wasn't an issue before!" Jiyong said defensively, and neither me nor Hyunseong looked at the screen. "You're shitting me! You're not seriously telling me that...! Are you?"
"What if I am?" I asked, just as defensively.
"I had no idea, Hea," he said to me.
"That's because, thankfully, some parts of our relationship were still a mystery to you," I said, laughing.
"You guys were together so long, had known each other longer than you'd known me... I just assumed that things just naturally progressed..." he replied.
"No, Jiyong," Hyunseong told him. "Neither of us wanted to rush that. Especially since we were almost never with each other for extended periods of time."
"Maybe you should have used condoms, then," Jiyong said, laughing.
Hyunseong and I shared a glance.
"I did," he admitted. "Hea still got pregnant."
"That's why I didn't want to talk when I found out, Jiyong," I said. "We always used protection. I couldn't believe I was pregnant."
"Whoa," was all Jiyong said. "Those babies were very determined little babies."
We all laughed.
We talked a little longer before Jiyong told me to get the hell off the computer and go to sleep. It was almost eleven in Korea by that point, so it was nearly three in the afternoon in London. As much as I needed sleep, I knew he needed to get ready for his show. We said goodbye and Hyunseong carried me to our room.