It was a painting very much like the ones his father had drawn during the happy times Yeehyeon remembered, when the whole family was together. The affectionate, warm silhouettes and colors. A painting with a feeling like balloons floating gently up into the sky, something only his father could express.
Yeehyeon placed a hand gently on his lower abdomen and smiled softly. The frantic pounding in his chest seemed to have subsided.
He waited for about an hour more, until he felt the urge to use the restroom again, enough to take the test.
The third, and then the fourth, were also two clear, indubitable red lines.
And then, Yeehyeon crawled inside the clothing rack in the dressing room where he and Liu had gone through his heat. It was impossible for Liu’s actual scent to be on the freshly laundered shirts, but psychologically, it was a different story. Curled up and surrounded by Liu’s shirts, he waited for another hour. Until his plane arrived in Hong Kong.
■ ■ ■
Unlike when they had departed from Bali, the sky over Hong Kong was perfectly clear. In the distance, he could see the dense high-rise buildings of the Kowloon Peninsula and Hong Kong Island. It was starting to feel real that he was in Hong Kong.
As the plane landed and moved toward the terminal, an announcement was made that it was safe to turn on mobile phones, and Liu immediately switched off airplane mode.
Bzzzt, bzzzt, bzzzt.
Mixed in with the customary messages that came with the change in country and the messages from partners related to the upcoming fair was a message from Yeehyeon.
『Did you have a good flight? Give me a quick call when you get off at the gate and can talk alone. Don’t be alarmed, it’s not anything to worry about :)』
Even with the added sentence that it wasn’t anything to worry about, Liu grew slightly anxious. It was rare for Yeehyeon to send such a message.
The aircraft connected to the gate, and the passengers began to disembark in an orderly fashion.
As soon as he stepped into the jet bridge, Liu took out his phone and looked back at Yuni, who was following him.
“Go on ahead and clear immigration. I’ll catch up in a minute.”
“Why? Did you leave something on the plane?”
“No, Yeehyeon asked me to give him a call.”
“Okay. I’ll wait for you at baggage claim.”
“Okay.”
Knowing full well that Yeehyeon wouldn’t ask him to call for a trivial matter, Yuni didn’t press further and led the other staff ahead of Liu.
Liu stepped to one side of the corridor, toward the window, so as not to obstruct the other passengers. He could see the busy movements of the ground crews servicing the other planes that had already landed. Placing his heavy Boston bag on the floor, he tried calling Bali.
[Did you arrive safely?]
Thankfully, Yeehyeon’s voice on the other end of the line sounded the same as usual.
“Yeah, I just got off the plane and stopped for a moment on the way to immigration. Is something wrong?”
[What about the others? Yuni-noona or Michelle….]
“I told them to go ahead. I’m alone.”
[Kun, we….]
Yeehyeon’s tone, which had seemed normal until then, suddenly changed color. In an instant, Liu’s entire body went on high alert. It was instinct.
[Our baby….]
Liu didn’t quite catch the word ‘baby.’ He only sensed Yeehyeon’s voice falter and his breathing grow unsteady.
“Yeehyeon, what’s wrong? Are you crying? What is it?”
To better hear even a single breath from Yeehyeon, Liu pressed himself closer to the window, covering his other ear.
[Kun….]
“Yeah.”
[We’re, we’re dads now.]
“……”
Liu was silent for about thirty seconds. Thirty seconds that felt longer than thirty minutes.
Passengers who came pouring out after him passed by, chattering noisily in Indonesian, Cantonese, or English, excited for the real start of their trip or relieved to be back home. In the long corridor where everyone was flocking toward the same destination, only one large man, a head or two taller than the average person, stood frozen in place.
To properly understand the meaning of what he had just heard, Liu had to wrestle with something within himself. The words Yeehyeon spoke were a ‘miracle’ so difficult to accept.
“Yeehyeon? Seo Yeehyeon?”
He finally managed to move his lips to call Yeehyeon’s name.
“I think I must have misheard you. Can you explain it slowly?”
[Right after you left, I started feeling unwell. I was at the atelier, but I went home….]
A gush of fluid, a feeling that was different from usual, made him suspect he might be pregnant. He thought it couldn’t be, but he felt he had to check. He went to a drugstore and checked with five different test kits. The results were all positive—Yeehyeon relayed the story to Liu as calmly as he could.
“How on earth… How could this….”
While listening to the story, Liu paced back and forth by the window, sometimes placing a hand on his hip or rubbing his face. He looked like a businessman on a very troublesome work call.
[Kun, this is real, right? I used five tests. They can’t be wrong, can they? Our baby… is really here, right?]
Yeehyeon, who had been maintaining a precarious calm until then, was now looking to Liu for some kind of confirmation. Only then did Liu snap to his senses.
“Yeehyeon.”
His tone was calm and firm. As if he were holding Yeehyeon’s shoulders firmly in front of him, meeting his eyes.
“I’m coming back right now. For now, you just lie down and rest, don’t overdo anything. Okay?”
Liu picked up his Boston bag and started walking, striding through the crowd of people who had gone ahead.
[You’re… coming back now?]
“I’ll take the earliest flight with an available seat. If there are no tickets, I’ll charter a plane. I’ll call you back as soon as the schedule is set. You just focus on resting, no matter what. Okay? Got it, Seo Yeehyeon? You can do that, right?”
[Kun, Kun. Wait a minute.]
Yeehyeon called out to stop Liu, who was rushing with his long legs.
“What.”
[You don’t have to go that far. When you come back, we can go to the hospital together then.]
“I can’t. You’re pregnant. I have to be with you at a time like this.”
[I’m really okay. I called because I wanted to tell you quickly, not to make you come back. Finish the fair and come back safely. And then we’ll go to the hospital together. Let’s do that.]
“The fair starts tomorrow. I can go now and come back here again tomorrow.”
[Kun, you don’t have to….]
Liu’s hurried pace suddenly slowed.
Yeehyeon was pregnant.
Theoretically, it was impossible, but in the time he had walked this path with Yeehyeon, he had continuously experienced things that shouldn’t have been possible. Because of that, Liu could slowly begin to accept it as reality.
Yeehyeon’s impossible heat, and their child, conceived at last despite the near-overdose of contraceptives.
“Yeehyeon.”
Stopping alone amidst the countless people passing by, Liu let himself be swept away by the overwhelming emotion and called Yeehyeon’s name.
[Yes.]
“You’re carrying our baby.”
[…….]
“Even if I were to gain anything else while leaving you alone at a time like this, I… I don’t want to live that kind of life. That’s not why I proposed to you.”
Liu murmured, low, as if whispering words of love, slowly shaking his head.
On the other end of the line, after a moment’s pause, Yeehyeon changed his mind.
[Okay. Then, check for flights and call me back. I’ll be waiting.]
“Yeah, I will. Good boy, my Seo Yeehyeon. So good, and so brave… so amazing….”
Yeehyeon’s laughter wrapped around Liu’s ear.
“Hah… I can’t hang up.”
Liu quickened his pace again. Faster than before. Almost running.
[Come quickly. To be honest… I want to be with you too.]
“Yeehyeon.”
[Yes.]
“Seo Yeehyeon.”
[I’m here.]
Yeehyeon’s low laugh tickled Liu’s hearing once more.
Yeehyeon was pregnant, or might be pregnant. His brain hadn’t even properly registered the fact yet, but his chest was swelling, a smile kept spreading across his face, and he wanted to leap into the air.
“Seo Leehyuuuun!”
Liu shouted Yeehyeon’s name as if for the whole world to hear. It was a first in his life, for a man who had been educated to have public decorum and manners ingrained in him.
People murmured and turned to look at Liu. He didn’t care. He felt like grabbing every single one of them and shouting it as much as he wanted.
That my Seo Yeehyeon, my partner, is carrying our baby.
“How… how are you carrying our baby? How can you do something so amazing? Huh?”
As the surprise and shock subsided, this time an intense sense of reality and excitement washed over Liu. The dreary, monochrome airport interior felt like it was glowing in full technicolor. He felt so full of energy he could have swum all the way to Bali.
“I could die from how lovely you are, Seo Yeehyeon, really.”
Heading for the fast track to expedite his entry procedures, Liu had to let out a long breath. He felt he had to release at least a little of the something that was filling his chest to the brim.
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