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‘The weather throughout the day is expected to have occasional rain showers, it will be a lot more chilly today compare—’
The reporter’s voice from the massive television dissolved into background noise as Im Sol stirred beneath the covers. The moment Sunjae felt her shift, he reached for the remote, lowering the volume until it was barely a murmur. He turned back to her immediately, fingers gentle as he brushed away the loose strands of hair clinging to her cheek.
‘Good Morning!’ he whispered, as if the whole entirety of Seoul could hear them
Sol blinked up at him, still half-asleep, lips curving into a small smile that always made his chest tighten. She let out a soft giggle, one hand instinctively settling over her stomach as she shifted closer.
As always, Sunjae leaned down and pressed a brief kiss to her lips, a kiss that was slow, unhurried, familiar yet still filled with affection and love.
‘You’re up early,’ she murmured.
He hummed, brushing his nose against hers. ‘Didn’t want to miss you waking up today.’
She snorted softly, ‘You say that like you don’t hover every morning…..Thank goodness for Dongseok, he doesn’t need to wait an hour and panic for today.’
He didn’t deny it. Instead, his palm slipped over her belly, warm and steady, his thumb brushing small, absent circles. ‘How are you feeling?’
Sol considered it for a moment. ‘Sleepy, Hungry and a little sore ....our little peanut here refused to let mommy sleep through the entire night.’
Sunjae’s smile softened……then faded, just slightly.It wasn’t because he was disappointed nor frustrated. It was that familiar, quiet guilt that had settled into him ever since he learned how much her body was changing, how much she endured without complaint. He watched her wince when she shifted, counted the hours she lost to discomfort, felt helpless every time she brushed it off with a smile.
There was nothing he could do to take the ache from her bones or the exhaustion from her eyes. He couldn’t carry the weight for her. All he could do was stay. Offer warmth. Learn her rhythms. Anticipate her needs before she has to ask. His thumb slowed, more deliberate now.
‘I’m sorry,’ he murmured, forehead dipping closer. ‘I wish I could help more.’
Sol smiles and reaches to cup his face, ever so gently stroking her husband’s face she shakes her head and reassures him.
‘Sunjae ah…. If there’s anything I could trade for the world just to be comfortable then I’ll choose to not accept it instead. I love this feeling, with our baby growing inside of me. After going through so much, who would’ve thought that I would be that lucky girl to catch our star ace swimmer’s heart?’
He glanced down briefly, then back at her, voice warm with nostalgia. ‘Come to think of it, Chorong was right. After you accidentally kissed me during that MT… we were probably fated to end up together….. Perhaps that legend was real after all’
Sol laughed softly, and for a moment the room felt suspended in time; just the two of them, the rain tapping against the windows, and the quiet certainty of a love that had found its way home.
Throughout the morning, Sunjae finally having a day off from his hectic schedule chose to help with house chores and even help Sol bathe. As her belly was getting bigger and bigger it proved that even simple chores were a tad bit too tedious for her to finish.
Sol, for her part, enjoyed every moment of it. Having her husband home for the entire day felt like a rare luxury, one she didn’t want to rush through. She let herself relax into his care, savoring the gentle massages he gave her aching feet and sore muscles, the warmth of the baths he drew just right, and the way his attention never once drifted elsewhere. For once, the world could wait...... Today belonged to them.
Later in the afternoon, the rain softened into a steady drizzle, the world outside blurred behind the glass. Sol lay reclined against the couch, a blanket draped loosely over her legs, one hand resting comfortably on her belly. Sunjae meanwhile sat beside her, his arm draped protectively over her waist and hand resting on her belly. Somehow as always his attention drifted back to her, always her.
Gently brushing his palm over her stomach, he felt the warmth of her skin through her thin maternity dress. He tried hard not to intrude too much but somehow he always felt surprised every time there would be a sudden movement.
“…Did you behave today?”he murmured.
Sol tilted her head, smiling at him. ‘Sunjae yah’
He did not reply but instead leaned down closer ; His voice dropped, softer than it had been all day. ‘You were pretty tough on Mommy last night, She barely slept.’
As if on cue, there was the faintest flutter beneath his hand, Sunjae froze.
His breath hitched, eyes widening as he looked up at Sol. ‘Did--’
She nodded, eyes bright.‘I guess Peanut’s trying to say hello, he's happy that appa’s chilling at home for once.’
He laughed under his breath, something incredulous and emotional all at once. Slowly, he lowered his forehead to her belly, careful, reverent.
‘Annyeong uri dangkong yah’ he whispered. ‘It’s Appa.’
His hand stayed there, steady now; ‘I know I can’t do much yet… but I promise I’ll try my best, I’ll take care of Mommy and you.’
The room was quiet except for the rain and Sol’s soft breathing. She reached down, fingers threading through his hair, and for a moment Sunjae stayed like that; laying his head at the center of the life they were building, completely undone. Sunjae rested his head against her belly, eyes closed, and for a moment the present blurred.
He thought of the girl she used to be — the girl who fell asleep often during her bus rides, the loud girl who used to jump around with her friends during recess in the school hallways. He saw her often but somehow she always seemed to miss him out. Back then, he hadn’t known what love was supposed to feel like. He only knew that whenever Sol was near, the world felt quieter. A lot lighter and at least for his part bearable.
He remembers it all, each timeline, each moment he had fallen in love with her over and over again. Like a time loop all weaved together. That first moment he met her eyes under the afternoon rain when she had mistaken him for a parcel delivery man, and even the moment she woke up and met his brown eyes in the video shop and he mistakenly rented the basic instinct tape. And to the last memory he cherished when he fell down the cliff after being stabbed to death ; he cherishes each but one thing’s for sure…. He was thankful that all those had to happen. Those were mere challenges and quests they had to both go through in order to finally find each other.
Loving her had never been loud.
It was choosing her again and again in a thousand small moments. It was memorizing the way she smiled when she thought no one was watching. It was learning the weight of her silence when words failed her. Even when they were pulled apart by circumstances, by misunderstandings, by time itself……his heart had never strayed.
She had always been his first love.
And she had remained his only one.
They had stumbled, hurt and even lost pieces of themselves along the way. There were days he thought the universe had taken cruel pleasure in testing them….pushing them to the brink, asking how much they were willing to endure. But somehow, through every fracture, they had found their way back.
Now here they were.
Her body carried the proof of everything they had survived. The life growing beneath his hand felt like a quiet answer to every question he had ever asked the stars.
“I’ll love you the way I loved your mom” he thought, the promise settling deep in his chest.
“Without conditions. Without fear. Even when it hurts.”
Sunjae lifted his head, eyes soft as he looked at Sol…..’his Sol’— so familiar and yet endlessly new.
After everything, she was still the girl he loved.
And this… this was the life he would choose every time.
A few months later after the birth of his son and after he announced it as he accepted his best actor award, Sunjae would open up for the very first time in an interview with national mc Yoo JaeSuk marking the first time the A-list actor ever talked about his family life ever since he shocked the world by marrying his first love a year and a half ago.
‘She was my first love, for me it was only her so my thinking then was if it wasn’t her then I’d rather not have a partner anymore for the rest of my life. I often found myself staring at her thinking how pretty she was and how lucky a man would be to have her as his partner but when the opportunity came for me to court her I remember how thick skinned I was once when I asked her to break up with a boyfriend….’
Yoo Jaesuk, caught by surprise, fixed his glasses briefly and asked.
‘Ani— Ryu Sunjae ssi did what? You mean Im PD wasn’t surprised by such a ridiculous question?’
The staff behind the camera all chuckle as they listened in, even Sunjae himself started to cringe at the thought of their teenage years.
Sunjae nods and continues ‘Well yeah, I was that desperate but somehow through each challenge, we made it here somehow and here I am the luckiest guy in the world with the most beautiful and loving wife and a handsome little son.’
Yoo Jaesuk, also a father himself, nodded in understanding as he replied.
‘I get the feeling, when my first born came I just couldn’t shake off that feeling of amazement… by the way now that we’re already talking about it… do you maybe have plans to have a second child?’
Sunjae chuckles at the question as do some of his own staff behind camera
‘My son was just born a few months ago so bringing that up this early might lead to my wife actually killing me but as I was born an only child I’ve always wanted to have multiple children. At the end of the day though, I leave that choice to my wife… it’s her body and when she says to try then I’ll do my best to obey.’
The answer was met with applause.
Somewhere, watching quietly from home, Sol smiled ,hand resting over their sleeping son. Knowing that even when the world was finally allowed to see him, Sunjae was still the same boy who loved her first, and loved her best.