195 - Time Passes By. Daddy's Little Admirers
TL/Editor: looloo
Status: ongoing
Illustrations: posted in discord
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Somang's birth on a warm spring day.
Heena took maternity leave and used her vacation days starting a month and a half before her due date. She even entered a postpartum care center in the final stages.
From then on, I constantly shuttled between work and the hospital, helping Heena as much as I could. Though Heena was so stable that there wasn't much for me to do.
And finally, the day Somang was born. Once again, I held Heena's hand and stayed by her side. From start to finish.
After several hours of labor, Somang entered the world, and what more can I say? He was truly adorable. The sight of his wrinkled face crying loudly.
"You did great, Heena.""Yeah... Hehe, he looks just like you. Our son... He's so, so beautiful... Our Somang..."
Our son's name, after countless candidates came and went, was decided as Somang. Han Somang. With the meaning of hoping for days as happy as now, forever.
Seeing both Heena and Somang looking so healthy, I let out a sigh of relief and watched my son, who probably couldn't see clearly yet, reaching out his hands earnestly.
Those little hands fluttering towards me for some reason.
"Even in the womb, he loved it when you touched him. Looks like he still does. Do you want to go to Daddy~?"
"You're right. Am I just naturally good with kids...?"
It wasn't just Sarang, but Sarang's friend Jueun and my nephew Jihu all loved me too. Sarang I could understand since she's our daughter who takes after Heena, but I don't know why the other kids do.
Well... Anyway, just like that, our family was no longer three but four.
The two of us who were once alone.
Now we've become a family of four.
---Raei Translations---
When Heena returned home after four weeks at the postpartum care center, our room was once again overflowing with baby items.
"Somang~ It's your big sister Sarang!"
And Sarang spent all day next to Somang's crib, smiling brightly at her cute little brother.
It was a heartwarming sight. The only problem was that Somang didn't seem to appreciate Sarang's efforts at all.
Like all babies at this age, Somang would roll his eyes around, cry when hungry, eat, sleep, poop, and then sleep again.
This cycle repeated endlessly. Interestingly, out of our whole family, he was most quiet and well-behaved when I held him and gave him formula.
Once, Sarang was holding the bottle next to me, but Somang cried so much that Sarang ended up on the verge of tears herself.
"Sarang. It's Somang's naptime now, so shh!"
"Okay~ Dad! When does Somang eat again?"
"Do you want to feed him?"
"Yeah! I want to help too!"
Of course, Sarang never gave up. It was amazing how much she adored her baby brother, eight years younger than her. She hovered around him all day except when he was sleeping.
She still ran to me without fail when Somang fell asleep though. I'd heard sometimes firstborns feel like they've lost their parents' affection to the second child, but thankfully we had none of that. Sarang just loved her brother so much.
"Honey, is Somang asleep?"
"Yeah. I left the door open so we'll hear if he wakes up."
"Then shall we play a game together, just the three of us? What do you think, Sarang?"
"Yay!!"
"O-Okay..."
"Dada?'
It's great for family members to love each other, but sometimes I wondered if they might be a bit too passionate. Even my mother-in-law, father-in-law, and Heeseong hyung had stepped back to watch the two of them.
"Just one more picture! Sarang, Somang! Kimchi~"
"Kimchi~"
"Abba! Appa!!!"
Oh boy. Somang's starting to get fussy.
It really was too noisy every weekend. I mean, I loved seeing my wife and daughter's unchanging enthusiasm, but still.
Somang, just bear with it a little longer. Your mom and sister are always going to be like this, so you'll have to get used to it...
---Raei Translations---
Time flew by in what felt like a picture-perfect, blissful blur.
Our Somang, who looked just like Heena when we were dating and I wasn't around - with that same aloof expression - grew up healthy and strong. These days, it was a rare sight to see Heena's expressionless face, which Somang so closely resembled.
Heena's DNA must have been deeply embedded in Somang's genes, as he was also extremely fond of me, but that was just a minor detail. It was already so familiar in my life because of Heena and Sarang.
Somang, who once toddled around on unsteady legs with my heart in my throat, turned two, then three, four, and now at five, he could express his own thoughts.
Unlike Sarang, though, his basic temperament seemed to take after Heena, so he was very well-behaved. He wasn't particularly talkative either. And he adored me.
His appearance was just like a mini Heena with short hair, which made me think every day, "Isn't our son just too cute?"
Honestly, dads are usually weaker for their daughters, but I couldn't help but be equally weak for both my son and daughter because of how adorable Somang was. Well, Somang was still quite young too.
Anyway, because of this...
"Somang~ It's big sister's turn to sit on Daddy's lap!"
"......"
*Shakes head*
"Somang~ Your sister wants to sit together too..."
*Shakes head*
"How about big sister sits first and you sit on her lap?"
*Shakes head*
"...Ugh!! Dad!"
Sarang, now in 6th grade but still a daddy's girl, would sometimes get jealous of Somang occupying my lap. Though not enough to actually fight over it.
Somang firmly shook his head, rejecting any compromise. Sarang, unable to be too forceful with her little brother as the older sister, would pout and eventually appeal to me for help.
"Somang, let's give your sister a turn since she's older. I'll make sure you get your turn later, okay?"
"Okay..."
Sarang really loved Somang except when it came to lap privileges. And Somang liked being hugged by Sarang at all other times too.
In this standoff between Somang and Sarang in the living room, all I could do was chuckle and watch. In the end, Somang remained seated on my lap while Sarang leaned against my side, fiddling with her phone.
This 'living room' where we were now gathered wasn't the one in Heena's family home where I had lived for over a decade.
The layout was slightly unfamiliar, and the overall size was smaller than Heena's house. Still, it had three separate rooms besides the living room and kitchen - our slightly awkward but cozy new nest.
That's right.
Now that Sarang was in 6th grade and Somang was 5 years old.
Thirteen years after registering our marriage, Heena and I had moved out of her family home and become independent.
Author's Note:
I struggled a lot between Han Somang, Han Seojun, and Han Noeul, but settled on Somang. It has a similar feel to Sarang too.
You might think it's too pretty for a boy's name? But Somang is handsome, so it's fine.
---
enjoy! :)
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