How to Have a Baby Secretly

Since starting his job at the publishing house, Sunwoo had established one principle: whenever he felt curious or had doubts about something, he had to ask.

That way, he could avoid mistakes or misunderstandings.

What Kang Jin-tae had thrown at Sunwoo was a seed of suspicion. Or rather, it seemed like he had intentionally revealed only part of the information, deliberately concealing the whole picture.

Things like a sense of crisis, asking if Sunwoo hadn't noticed, and calling him dull.

It was as if Kang Jinwook had started looking elsewhere behind Sunwoo's back, and the words seemed to confirm that. And then there was Butler Baek's behavior, watching over him all day long.

At that point, Sunwoo had realized there was something going on that he didn't know about—something related to him. He could ask Butler Baek, but it seemed more direct to ask Kang Jinwook himself, who was likely more involved.

But it wasn’t Sunwoo who spoke first.

"You met Kang Jin-tae, didn’t you?"

Kang Jinwook, pushing his empty plate aside, asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah."

He was casually calling him by name. Then again, their relationship wasn’t exactly great in the original story, so this wasn’t surprising. Since Kang Jinwook brought up the topic of the hospital visit, Sunwoo figured it would be a good opportunity to ask any questions he had.

"I'm sorry. It seems like he figured out that you went for a check-up at the hospital."

But before Sunwoo could even say anything, Kang Jinwook spoke again, offering an unexpected apology.

"Uh?"

"You meeting Kang Jin-tae at the hospital wasn’t a coincidence. He probably went out of his way to meet you after hearing you were getting a health check-up."

"Ah..."

It wasn’t just a coincidence after all. Well, even though they met in the elevator, what were the chances of it being such perfect timing?

Anyway, the fact that Kang Jin-tae had approached him with those meaningful words meant that, as Sunwoo had guessed, it was deliberate.

"He probably thought it was related to your genetics," Kang Jinwook continued.

"Genetics?"

"Yeah, it’s until this year, right? The contract period you have with Chairman Kang. So he probably thought you were going in for a more detailed test to check your genetic traits."

"So you're saying he knows that I’ve been hiding the fact that I'm an Omega?"

Now that Sunwoo thought about it, Kang Jin-tae had indeed said something like that, asking if his traits had changed. At the time, he had assumed it was just a probing comment, but now it seemed that wasn’t the case.

"No, more likely, he just wants to be sure you're a Beta."

So that after the contract ended, things would go as Chairman Kang wanted. Sunwoo furrowed his brows.

It was fine if it was just the fact that he was an Omega being known. The real issue was the pregnancy.

"Don’t worry. I told you, it won’t leak out."

"Right, they wouldn’t disclose a patient’s personal information at the hospital."

Kang Jinwook couldn’t respond positively to that. Sunwoo had forgotten that, in the past, his medical records from the previous hospital had already been shared with Kang Jinwook.

But this time was different. From the beginning, Kang Jinwook had purposely sent Sunwoo to that hospital.

Of course, Sunwoo didn’t need to know this, and Kang Jinwook had no intention of telling him either.

"Well, I guess you handled it well. Since we’re on the subject, let me ask you something. Kang Jin-tae said he felt a sense of crisis about me. What did he mean by that?"

When Sunwoo asked this, Kang Jinwook raised an eyebrow.

"A sense of crisis?"

"I don’t know. He said something like I hadn’t noticed what was going on with you."

Kang Jinwook looked at Sunwoo’s face. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He had already received a report from Butler Baek about what Kang Jin-tae had said.

But Butler Baek had said that despite watching Sunwoo all day, he never asked any questions related to this. So Kang Jinwook thought Sunwoo wasn’t paying attention, but now, asking about it directly... It was unexpected, but it wasn’t a bad thing. It meant Sunwoo wasn’t hiding his curiosity.

"He probably thought it was about the test you had at the hospital," Kang Jinwook answered.

"Is that so..."

I guess that could be it. Since he had casually mentioned something about genetic traits, it made sense that his comment about a sense of crisis had the same meaning.

Once again, Sunwoo realized that asking the questions was the right move. And with that, his curiosity was somewhat satisfied. Kang Jinwook kept watching Sunwoo for a while before looking away. Their eyes met, and Butler Baek lowered his head.

She had been assisting Kang Jinwook for a long time in the house. But since she hadn’t noticed what Sunwoo was thinking, she seemed to have apologized for it.

"Taking a break?"

Sunwoo asked as he watched Kang Jinwook get up from the sofa.

"Yeah, you must be tired after your visit to the hospital. You should sleep early."

"Yeah, I should."

Sunwoo had been waiting for Kang Jinwook to arrive, so he immediately stood up as well. The two walked side by side down the hallway. Kang Jinwook’s room was further inside.

"See you tomorrow."

Sunwoo said his goodbyes at the door, feeling like he was bidding farewell to a friend on the way home from school.

"Yeah, rest well."

Kang Jinwook, perhaps thinking the same, gave a faint smile—an expression that didn’t quite match the situation. Feeling awkward, Sunwoo hurried into his room.

As two months passed since Sunwoo started living in Kang Jinwook’s house, some changes began to occur. His morning sickness had subsided, and although it wasn’t very noticeable yet, his belly had slightly started to swell.

Time had passed, and Sunwoo was now in his 17th week of pregnancy.

As he gently stroked his growing belly in the moving car, Sunwoo could feel the physical changes in his body, which were becoming more apparent.

Today, he was on his way back from the hospital. Leaning against the seat, Sunwoo took out a photo he had kept in his pocket. The photo showed the fetus, which had now taken on a recognizable human form.

Although it wasn’t entirely clear yet, Sunwoo could make out the mouth, nose, and eyes, which seemed magical to him.

"Ah. Wait a minute. Please pull over."

As he was looking at the photo, Sunwoo suddenly looked up and shouted. Before Butler Baek could say anything, the driver quickly pulled over near the curb.

"Please wait a moment."

"Sunwoo!"

Butler Baek screamed as he saw Sunwoo suddenly get out of the car. But he soon saw where Sunwoo was heading and was surprised.

Sunwoo’s steps were directed toward a pretty ice cream shop decorated in pink. A smile spread across Butler Baek’s face.

Just a week ago, Sunwoo hadn’t been able to eat much. The only thing he could stomach was fruit, so Kang Jinwook had been delivering strawberries, bananas, oranges, and Hallabong fruits every day on his way home.

Even though Butler Baek could have done it, Kang Jinwook always insisted on bringing them himself, sharing them with Sunwoo at dinner.

Every time Sunwoo ate, Butler Baek couldn’t help but smile inside. The other house staff also wore proud expressions.

Unaware of how Butler Baek viewed him, Sunwoo happily browsed the ice creams on display in the shop.

As soon as he saw the shop, the sudden urge to eat ice cream hit him, and before he realized it, he had asked the driver to stop.

"I’ve always liked sweets, but this much...?"

Feeling slightly embarrassed, Sunwoo muttered to himself. But his gaze remained fixed on the colorful ice creams on display.

After carefully considering, he chose six flavors: strawberry, melon, vanilla, and a few others.

"Thank you. Take care."

Sunwoo walked out of the shop, holding a large tub of ice cream, his face beaming with satisfaction.

"If you wanted something like this, you could’ve told me," Butler Baek said, holding out his hand as he walked toward Sunwoo.

"I suddenly wanted it."

Sunwoo shook his head, signaling that he wanted to carry it himself, and then got into the car. As the cold from the tub spread to his knees, he rested the container on his lap.

The car started moving again, and Sunwoo’s gaze drifted out the window. It was getting closer to lunchtime, and a number of office workers in suits were walking by. Without thinking, Sunwoo watched them, only to soon spot some familiar faces.

Im Haewon. And to his surprise... Kang Jinwook. Though there were a few others, Sunwoo only clearly saw those two.

The car happened to stop at a traffic light, giving Sunwoo more time to watch them. He could see Im Haewon’s lips moving as he spoke.

Im Haewon’s face had a gentle smile, and despite the closed windows, Sunwoo could almost smell the sweet floral scent he had encountered before.

"Sunwoo, you’re out for the first time in a while. Would you like to have lunch?"

Butler Baek, sitting in the front seat, didn’t notice Kang Jinwook outside. He only heard that Sunwoo had bought ice cream and passed the message to Kang Jinwook, who had instructed him to feed Sunwoo something delicious.

"Yeah, maybe I will."

Sunwoo replied without taking his eyes off the two men. What were they talking about? The atmosphere between them didn’t seem bad.

Im Haewon kept smiling, which made it seem like things were going well between them.

That wasn’t close to Taesung Construction either. Maybe they had an external meeting. If there was a well-known restaurant nearby, they might have eaten there.

Watching Im Haewon smile at Kang Jinwook, Sunwoo suddenly remembered what Kang Jin-tae had said at the hospital.

A sense of crisis. A hint.

As if Kang Jinwook had started to look elsewhere and was getting distracted.

"Figures."

Kang Jin-tae wouldn’t have said that for no reason. Perhaps he had noticed that the atmosphere between Kang Jinwook and Im Haewon was unusual.

Suddenly, Sunwoo felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He winced and gently rubbed his stomach while turning his head away.