DASH

"What the hell... is he insane?"

Jisoo muttered in disbelief. The real estate agent stood nearby, completely flustered, wiping cold sweat from her brow.

"I mean... I’m so sorry. There was no mention of this before. The person who gave us the listing was the lady of the house, and she never said anything like this. I don’t know why he’s acting like this all of a sudden... I really am sorry."

"It’s alright."

Jiheon forced a smile, mostly because the agent was so frantic.

"You didn’t know, obviously. That’s why you showed us the listing. It’s not like you weren’t also caught in the crossfire—no need to apologize so much."

Hearing that, the agent looked even more embarrassed, unsure of what to do.

It didn’t seem like there were any more listings worth seeing, so Jiheon told her he’d be in touch and said goodbye.

"Let’s go eat. What do you want?"

As they walked toward the main street to catch a taxi, he asked. Jisoo replied, "Let’s just go home."

"Why? We should eat."

"You look terrible."

Her tone made it clear that she wouldn’t believe him even if he said he was fine. And truthfully, he wasn’t fine.

So in the end, Jiheon took a taxi back to his place. As soon as they got in, he told Jisoo to order whatever she wanted and flopped straight onto the bed.

"You okay?"

Jisoo followed him into the bedroom, worried.

"Yeah, I’m fine. Could you close the curtains?"

Jisoo did as he asked and darkened the room. Then she sat gently on the edge of the bed and said,

"Don’t take it so hard. You can afford a way nicer place than that. Forget it."

"Yeah, you’re right."

"It’s not like that’s the only place you can go. You’ve got nothing to feel ashamed or humiliated about. Just tell yourself, ‘That old man’s got a nasty temper. I wouldn’t live in this place even if someone paid me,’ and forget it."

Her tone was so casual that Jiheon let out a chuckle, placing the back of his hand over his forehead.

"Right. It’s not like we don’t have money. We can find something better."

He added that he hadn’t even liked the place that much, and Jisoo’s eyes widened.

"Really?"

"Of course. We didn’t even get to see inside. What would I know from just the gate?"

"Yeah, that’s true... but then why did you say all that to the old man? I thought you really liked the house and didn’t want to leave."

"It’s not that I was reluctant to go..."

Jiheon trailed off, sighed, and said,

"I don’t know. I don’t know why I said it either."

Lately, he felt off. He rubbed his face with his palm and murmured,

"It keeps happening. Like... I just can’t control my emotions."

He’d get upset over nothing, feel wronged for no reason, lose his temper in the moment and regret it afterward. Everything was a mess.

Jisoo gave him a worried look and asked, "Why? Did something else happen?"

"It’s just... little annoyances keep piling up."

Jiheon briefly explained the string of things that had bothered him over the past few days.

"Honestly, that’s more than enough to piss someone off."

Jisoo responded immediately.

"If it were me, I’d have said something at the pool. Like, ‘Stop interrogating me about my life.’ And with the document mess, I’d have called the person responsible and gone off on them."

"Yeah, that sounds like you."

Jiheon joked, and Jisoo nodded without hesitation.

"Yup. I totally would’ve. But that’s me. You’re not like that... The Jiheon I know would’ve just let it go. Especially saying something like, ‘Why are you speaking informally?’ to that old man—that’s so not you. You’re always the type to avoid conflict if you can."

Jiheon couldn’t argue. That was exactly why his recent behavior had him so unsettled.

"Maybe it’s because Jaekyung’s gone off to training camp?"

Jisoo teased with a smile. Jiheon knew she was joking but still shut it down flatly.

"It’s not because he’s gone. Everything just started going wrong after he left. That’s all."

"Wow, someone’s cold."

Realizing he might have been too harsh, Jiheon softened his tone.

"No, really. Honestly, it’s a good thing he’s not here. If he’d been with us today, that old man would’ve ended up in the hospital."

"What? Our new brother-in-law hits people?"

"He doesn’t hit. It would’ve been from blood pressure. The old man would’ve passed out just from dealing with Kwon Jaekyung."

"Ohhh, if that’s the case—yeah."

Jisoo nodded dramatically.

"He probably would’ve dragged me right back to the pool after I came home that day."

"And then what—somehow a new 400-meter IM world record gets set at Yeoksam Sports Center? Jesus, that’s too intense."

"It’s so intense I just got goosebumps. Let’s not talk about it anymore."

He wasn’t kidding. Just picturing Jaekyung furiously powering through a 25-meter local pool in under 4:03 made Jiheon break into a cold sweat.

Jisoo burst out laughing and, at Jiheon’s earnest request, changed the subject.

"Anyway, I don’t know much about this, but isn’t that just normal during pregnancy? Mood swings, emotions going haywire, that sort of thing."

"Yeah, but... that usually happens because of hormones in the early stages or right before birth. Right now is supposed to be the most stable time."

"But that’s different for everyone, right? And you didn’t even get morning sickness, unlike most people."

True. That’s exactly why Jiheon hadn’t considered that his emotional instability might be due to pregnancy. Since people who had strong morning sickness were usually the ones who also had emotional fluctuations, he had figured he didn’t qualify.

"What the hell. You’re the one who always says everyone’s different."

Jisoo seemed baffled that he hadn’t thought of it. But Jiheon genuinely hadn’t. Because he’d barely had any morning sickness, he’d gotten overconfident and assumed he wasn’t experiencing any pregnancy symptoms at all.

But when he really thought about it, morning sickness was the only symptom he’d dodged. He’d gone through all the others. And even before pregnancy, he’d had a rough time with pheromone suppressants. He’d always been sensitive to hormonal changes.

After Jisoo left, Jiheon looked up articles online about mood swings during pregnancy. Knowing the cause actually made him feel better. If it was hormones, not him suddenly going crazy, it was somewhat comforting. And once you know the cause, you can start looking for solutions—even if all the solutions boiled down to the same generic advice: keep your mind calm and exercise.

The fact that professionals all repeated the same obvious thing probably meant it was the most effective advice there was. Still lying in bed, Jiheon used his exhaustion as an excuse to scroll on his phone until he read that around this time, the fetal nervous system develops rapidly and becomes more emotionally attuned to the mother.

He got up immediately and put on sneakers.

Swimming would’ve been the best workout, but he still wasn’t ready to go back to the pool. So he decided to just go for a walk around the neighborhood. It was late May—perfect weather for walking. The evenings weren’t cold anymore, and it wasn’t too hot, so he could walk for one or two hours with ease.

He started walking to work and back, trying to get as much time on his feet as possible. After dinner, he always went for another walk. And without fail, Jaekyung called around the same time.

He used to call a little earlier—around the time Jiheon got off work, which was when Jaekyung had finished training, eaten dinner, showered, and was lying down in his dorm. But ever since Jiheon started walking, Jaekyung began timing his calls for Jiheon’s evening stroll.

Walking through the neighborhood on a cool evening while talking to Jaekyung was enough to lift his spirits. Though he couldn’t help feeling a little low once he returned to a quiet, empty home, it was just something he had to accept.

Whenever that loneliness crept in, the first person he spoke to was Jini.

"Jini, this isn’t your fault. It’s just the hormones. So don’t misunderstand, and don’t «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» be scared, okay?"

He started doing it to reassure the baby, but the more he talked, the more he felt like he wasn’t really alone. So Jiheon started talking to Jini regularly. Not long ago, he’d felt too embarrassed to even speak to his unborn child—he’d run away when Jaekyung wanted to read stories aloud.

But now, he read books to Jini himself, chatted with him, even watched TV together.

It kept him from getting too down when he was alone, but it also made him develop a new habit: muttering to himself under the guise of talking to Jini.

It was the same on the day Jaekyung came home from training camp. Their new car had arrived just the day before, and Jiheon decided to drive himself to the terminal to pick Jaekyung up.

"Jini, it’s our new car! New car! Grandpa bought it for us!"

He said, fastening his seatbelt as he got into the driver’s seat. As he started the engine, he raised his voice.

"Alright, let’s go pick up Dad!"

When they hit traffic, he muttered, "Jini, why’s the road so backed up today..." and when a car cut him off without using a signal, he didn’t curse. Instead, he calmly said,

"Jini, when you grow up, never drive like that, okay?"