Reasonable Loss - 64

“Well… when I went to the obstetrics and gynecology department, everyone else was there with someone…”

Eunsoo scratched the corner of the box with his fingernail. He felt embarrassed, as if making a shameless request. No, wait. Isn’t this something a father should naturally do? Just buying clothes and medicine isn’t enough of an obligation.

When Eunsoo licked the inside of his cheek lightly and made a serious expression, Dokwon nodded.

“I understand.”

Dokwon nodded. Eunsoo’s shoulders relaxed at the unexpected ease with which he agreed. Dokwon gently held Eunsoo’s hand, which was still holding the baby shoes.

“Is there anything I need to prepare? It’s my first time going to the obstetrics and gynecology department.”

“Uhm… I don’t think so? I haven’t been that many times either.”

At Eunsoo’s somewhat blank response, Dokwon chuckled softly. Well, it wasn’t that Eunsoo didn’t remember, he was just a rookie father who had only entered his third month of pregnancy.

The two of them giggled at how ridiculous they must have looked. Then Eunsoo, holding the shoes, said:

“Give this to me.”

“Yes.”

Dokwon agreed without hesitation. Eunsoo raised an eyebrow slightly.

“What? So easily?”

“There are about ten similar ones.”

“Ah…”

Eunsoo admired briefly. He didn’t expect there to be ten of them. He had just assumed there would be one pair of shoes, one rattle, one set of clothes, and so on. But Dokwon, who always overdid things, had bought ten of everything.

It was easy to imagine him going to a baby supply store and buying every type and color, but he hadn’t expected it. That was his mistake.

In the past, if Dokwon liked something like macarons, donuts, or even cake, just mentioning it would have him bringing every type of it. He even bought eighty macarons once and shared them with all the employees on the 14th floor.

Eunsoo, chuckling silently, glanced at his wristwatch. It was already 10 o’clock. After dinner, they had barely watched any of the movie, just brushing lips, and yet somehow, it was 10.

Eunsoo stood up from the sofa, holding the box.

“I have to go home now. It’s 10.”

“Already?”

“Already? If we leave now, we won’t get home until after 11.”

Eunsoo frowned in dismay. The thought of crossing Seoul by subway made his heels feel heavy. But he had to go. He needed to hurry, take a shower, and lie down.

A worker must sleep to survive and wake up as if dragged.

Eunsoo put on his jacket and searched through Dokwon’s house to find a paper bag. He packed food for the next morning and the baby shoes. Dokwon followed him around, helping in a way that wasn’t quite help.

“Take this too.”

Dokwon tried to put a bag of seaweed soup with a lot of beef into the bag. Eunsoo frowned and pulled the bag away.

“It’s too heavy.”

“What’s heavy about this?”

“It’s not heavy if I just carry it. But if I have to carry it for an hour, it’s heavy. If there are no seats on the subway, it’s like hell.”

“Then I can go with you…”

Dokwon, who had been saying something, suddenly stopped. He had almost said, “I’ll go with you,” but then realized it might be too much of a consideration.

In fact, when Eunsoo had said earlier that he would leave, Dokwon had thought, “Why bother?”

He couldn’t even ride the car. He didn’t want to take the subway. Why was he going back at night when his house was only 15 minutes away from the office? He could just stay here, but then the thought of that felt strange and uncomfortable, so he didn’t say it out loud.