Arrange Marriage

CHAP 36

Chapter 36: Calm and Chaos
As Mingyu's due date drew closer, a noticeable shift occurred in the Jeon household. Mingyu, despite the impending arrival of their little one, remained calm and relaxed, as if he had all the time and patience in the world. Wonwoo, on the other hand, was a bundle of nerves, his usual composed demeanor unraveling bit by bit.
"Mingyu, are you sure you're okay?" Wonwoo asked for the tenth time that morning, hovering over his husband as Mingyu calmly sipped his tea at the kitchen table.
"I'm fine, Wonwoo," Mingyu replied, his tone light but tinged with amusement. "You don’t need to ask every five minutes."
"But what if—"
"Wonwoo," Mingyu interrupted, setting his cup down and looking up at his husband with a fond smile. "The baby isn’t going to pop out just because I bent down to pick up a spoon."
Wonwoo frowned, clearly unconvinced. “I don’t think you should be bending down at all. What if it puts pressure on your back? Or what if—”
“Wonwoo,” Mingyu said firmly, though his smile softened the reprimand. “I’m pregnant, not made of glass. Relax.”
Relaxing was the last thing Wonwoo was capable of. He had installed extra baby monitors around the house, stocked up on enough diapers and baby wipes to last years, and had their hospital bag packed, checked, and repacked at least three times.
Mingyu found the entire thing endearing.
One afternoon, as he sat on the couch flipping through a baby book, Wonwoo hovered nearby with a notepad, jotting down everything from emergency phone numbers to optimal routes to the hospital.
“Wonwoo,” Mingyu called out, without looking up from his book.
“Hmm?”
“You’re stressing me out with all your stressing.”
Wonwoo blinked, clearly caught off guard. “But I’m just preparing!”
“You’ve prepared enough to handle the arrival of five babies at once,” Mingyu teased, patting the space beside him. “Come sit down and breathe for a minute.”
Reluctantly, Wonwoo joined Mingyu on the couch. The moment he sat, Mingyu shifted closer, resting his head on Wonwoo’s shoulder.
“I know you’re worried,” Mingyu said gently. “And I appreciate how much you care. But you’re going to burn yourself out before the baby even gets here. Trust me, everything is going to be fine.”
Wonwoo sighed, wrapping an arm around Mingyu and pulling him close. “I just want to make sure you’re safe, Gyu. Both of you.”
“And we are,” Mingyu assured him, tilting his head to press a kiss to Wonwoo’s jaw. “You’ve already done more than enough. Now let me enjoy these last few weeks of peace before the chaos begins.”
As the days went by, Wonwoo tried—tried—to ease up. But his overprotective nature still shone through in small ways, like insisting on carrying Mingyu’s water bottle even if they were just walking from one room to another, or triple-checking the nursery’s temperature every evening.
Mingyu, in turn, continued to tease him gently, calling him “Papa Bear” whenever he got too worked up.
But in those quiet moments, when Wonwoo sat beside Mingyu and placed his hand on the bump to feel their baby’s kicks, Mingyu could see just how deeply Wonwoo loved them both.
And as much as Mingyu enjoyed his laid-back approach to the situation, he wouldn’t trade Wonwoo’s doting and protective care for anything in the world.