Passion and Power

Chapter 82

"Um, hey Boss. Speaking of honeymoon. Your wife is calling."

Minji froze, finding herself torn between the excitement of hearing Haerin call Hanni her wife, and the concern that there might be something seriously wrong.

"Minji!" Jihyo nearly yelled. "We need to talk about this. NOW."

Minji grabbed the phone from Haerin's outstretched hand and marched out of the office without another word to the Board.

"Hanni!" She said, trying to slow her heart rate. She knew that Hanni wouldn't disturb her during the meeting unless it was serious. "Are you OK?"

"Yes! I mean...yes. I'm sorry to call but I..."

"It's OK. I'm glad you did.' Minji plopped down on the small couch just outside the office. "It's the perfect time to step away and let the board members attack each other."

"Yikes. Sounds like it's not going so well."

"It's going perfectly, all according to plan." Minji said, sighing deeply and reminded herself that it didn't really matter what happened in there. "More importantly, what's going on there?"

"Oh. Well. Danielle is here. We went swimming, and had lunch and it was delicious and..." Hanni forced herself to stop rambling. "And...none of that is why I called."

Obviously. Minji thought to herself but stayed quiet, anxious to hear why she'd called.

"It's just that, well, I need to take the after pill. I mean, I'm near the end of the time since...well, I need to take it now for maximum effectiveness."

Minji made herself stay quiet to let Hanni say what was on her mind.

"I just...I really, um." Hanni took a deep breath to steel herself. "I really don't want to take it."

"Oh!" Minji gasped before being able to catch herself. She didn't see that coming. "Oh, I mean, well, I'm so glad you called me."

"I'm sorry, I know you're in the middle of..."

"Nothing that's more important than you." Minji cut her off.

"Thanks." Hanni said wistfully. "Do I sound insane? I mean, what can I be thinking of?"

"Well, I assume you're thinking you want to get pregnant. Or at least allow yourself the chance of getting pregnant." Minji balked at the way that sounded. "I mean...I mean allow the chance of us getting pregnant."

"Oh god..." Hanni moaned. The way Minji said 'us' caused her whole body to clench with longing.

"Hanni." Minji gasped. Hanni's moan had a similar effect. She bit down hard on her lip to keep from making any more sounds.

"Yeah. I mean...I guess that's what it is."

"Do you think, well. Could this be your hormones driving these feelings?"

"I don't know. Maybe. But I haven't felt this way about taking the pill before. Never. It was always clearly the right thing to do." Hanni said. "But I was never..."

"Mated before." Minji said after Hanni stayed silent.

"Yeah."

"Well, we have talked about this a few times."

"We have?"

"Of course. We've talked about the idea of having a family. About how you've always wanted one. About how I never thought of having one, because of my own family. But since we've been together...it's been easier to imagine. The thought of having a small Hanni running around...well...how could I not want that?"