Yeehyeon nodded with a smile, and Ra-ou came out from the pantry connected to the kitchen with a bundle. It was a shopping basket containing several small paper boxes.
“So when’s the announcement? I’m dying of curiosity!”
Someone from the dining area shouted playfully toward the hosts.
Ra-ou and Yeehyeon, who were transferring the boxes onto a large tray, looked at each other and grinned.
When Ra-ou appeared carrying the cake and plates, and Yeehyeon with the tray of boxes, the guests’ attention focused on them all at once.
“Ooh, what’s that?”
“Is it a gift?”
The reaction wasn’t bad.
Cream-colored boxes tied with cream-colored ribbons were placed one by one in front of the guests. Cream white was the color the two hosts of the day had chosen for their wedding attire.
Some lifted the boxes and shook them, while others held them up to the light. Leo, the only little guest, was the first to untie the ribbon and open the box.
“It’s a balloon! Dad, it’s a balloon!”
As soon as Leo shouted excitedly, Ra-ou immediately advised the boy’s father.
“You have to prick it with a pin, so make sure Leo is careful.”
Following Leo’s lead, the other guests also opened their boxes.
Inside the paper box was a small balloon, and attached to the box was a small pin to pop it. The first to figure out its purpose were Lim Morae and Seo Yeehan. They, too, had once thrown a gender reveal* party for Parang’s surrogate mother.
“You said you weren’t doing a separate gender reveal. When did you prepare something like this?”
“We told you we’d throw you a party.”
“No, it’s not anything that formal.”
Standing side-by-side with Ra-ou in front of the dining table, Yeehyeon smiled faintly. Being the center of a party was still an awkward affair for Yeehyeon.
“You invited us for dinner, and the two of you were making these during the day?”
“You two are so cute, really.”
The other guests, each holding a box, were as delighted as children.
“What is this? How do you do it?”
Michelle kindly explained to Yuni, who had no way of knowing how a gender reveal usually worked.
“It says here on the box. Purple for a girl, yellow for a boy.”
Leo’s father, with his child on his lap, also explained to the boy who was showing interest in the balloon.
“Leo, about Kun and Yeehyeon’s baby. If it’s a baby sister, purple paper will come out of the balloon, and if it’s a baby brother, yellow paper will come out.”
Leaning over with both hands on the edge of the table, Ra-ou met Leo’s eyes and asked.
“Leo, would you like purple to come out, or yellow?”
“Purple!”
The child shouted out coolly without a moment’s hesitation, raising his arms high.
“Purple? Why?”
“Because me and Parang are both boys, so it would be nice to have a girl to play with too.”
Hearing Leo’s answer, Ra-ou and Yeehyeon secretly exchanged a look and a smile that only they could understand.
“Leo, on the count of three, we’re all going to pop them together, okay?”
One, two, three.
Pop, pop-pop, pop.
Someone failed to pierce it cleanly on the first try, and the air just hissed out. But most popped their balloons almost simultaneously, with very short time differences.
For a brief moment, a hush fell over the dining room.
What scattered onto the table and floor as the balloons burst was purple confetti.
“Yeehyeon, is it a girl?”
The first to break the silence was Morae’s flushed voice. Yeehyeon smiled and nodded.
“Yes, noona. Our Diamond Dust, she’s a girl.”
“Oh my goodness. What a beautiful baby she’ll be!”
Lim Morae rose from her seat and went to Yeehyeon. Not just her, but all the other guests followed suit. They congratulated and blessed the two hosts, sharing hugs or kisses on the cheek.
“A doting dad Ra-ou Kun, you can already picture it, can’t you?”
Seo Yeehan nudged Ra-ou’s arm and joked, and the other guests chimed in.
“Aren’t you going to carry her around so much she won’t even learn to walk on two feet?”
“How are you going to marry her off when she’s so precious?”
Ra-ou shrugged and wrinkled his nose.
“You’re already talking about marrying her off? What happened to all the steps in between?”
Yuni and Michelle gathered the confetti from the table and sprinkled it over Ra-ou and Yeehyeon’s heads. Ra-ou, while picking a piece of paper off Yeehyeon’s face, made a playful fuss at the guests.
“Alright, now that you know our Diamond Dust’s gender, everyone go home. Yeehyeon is tired.”
“I just had one bite of cake. And you’re kicking us out?”
Seo Yeehan held up his fork with an aggrieved expression. Baek Yuni, scooping cake onto her plate, picked up where Seo Yeehan left off.
“They say that the things a husband does to upset you during pregnancy last a lifetime. But when I asked Yeehyeon, he said he wasn’t the least bit upset about anything.”
“I can see why. He’s so devoted.”
“But aren’t we the ones who are upset? He’s been so cold to us since he got pregnant, you know?”
Moonlight poured in through the large window next to the dining table. The purple confetti scattered around the table glittered in the moonlight as if it had a life of its own.
■ ■ ■
It was past 11 p.m. by the time they returned after seeing the guests off at the main gate. It had been quite a while since Yeehyeon had stayed up this late.
As soon as the front door closed and they were alone, Ra-ou gently wrapped an arm around Yeehyeon’s back and stroked his hair. Yeehyeon looked a little tired.
“Tired?”
“A little.”
“Go on in and wash up first.”
“What about you, Kun?”
“I’ll just move the dishes to the kitchen and come in. Seo Yeehyeon should lie down quickly.”
Even though the housekeeper would take care of the dishwashing and cleanup the next day, it was Ra-ou’s habit to at least move the dishes himself.
“I’ll help.”
“We agreed not to feel sorry about things like this.”
Yeehyeon, who had been stroking Ra-ou’s arm, paused for a moment before nodding.
“Okay, I’ll leave it to you then.”
Watching Yeehyeon’s back as he walked down the hallway toward the bedroom, Ra-ou let out a soft breath, hmm, and headed to the dining room.
The table where seven people, including Leo, had eaten and drunk was quite a mess. More time had passed than he expected after he moved the dishes and did a rough cleanup of the confetti on the floor and table.
He turned off the lights in the dining room and kitchen and double-checked the front door. After carefully drawing the living room curtains, he turned off the living room light just before turning into the hallway.
As everything went dark, the faint light leaking from the end of the hallway felt intensely bright.
Warm light from a lamp was streaming from the bedroom door, which was open about a hand’s breadth. It was like a signal that Yeehyeon was waiting for him, and Ra-ou smiled.
Just as Ra-ou had expected, Yeehyeon was asleep.
He was propped up against pillows piled against the headboard.
He had tried to stay awake and wait for Ra-ou.
Ra-ou first dimmed the light even further. Then he sat in the armchair beside the bed and watched Yeehyeon’s sleeping face for a while.
The room was so quiet that the clamor from just a while ago felt like a distant memory. Only Yeehyeon’s regular breathing could be heard, a comforting sound.
As if by an unconscious act, Yeehyeon had his left hand resting gently on his belly. As if protecting the belly that was now just beginning to show. Ra-ou carefully placed his own left hand over it.
Beneath their clasped hands, their baby was breathing healthily.
Ra-ou sometimes found it hard to believe that one human being could bestow this much happiness upon another. Am I making Seo Yeehyeon this happy? As happy as Seo Yeehyeon makes me?
Probably not. He was sure of it. It didn’t seem possible for it to be this degree of happiness.
However, he was certain of one thing: his resolve to love Yeehyeon with his all, with his whole body, his whole heart, and his whole life. Just as he had once promised him, he would protect Yeehyeon’s choices and hopes with everything he had. And now, not just Yeehyeon, but Yeehyeon and the baby. This miraculous being that Yeehyeon was nurturing inside his own body, through sacrifice and endurance.
Seo Yeehan had been right when he said that having a baby doesn’t mean the honeymoon is over.
Because every day with Yeehyeon would be a honeymoon.
The matching rings on their clasped hands shone faintly, like moonlight.
As Ra-ou himself had once scathingly criticized, not even diamonds were forever. But he knew that this light, the light emitted by his diamond dust, would not fade.
Forever. Or for a very long time, close enough to forever, it was a light that would illuminate the two of them as one.
Diamond Dust Side Story 2
A Diamond is Forever
The End
*Telling people the sex of an unborn baby. It can also refer to a party for that purpose.
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