My First Love Is Pregnant
The first love I grew up with like a real sibling just told me she was pregnant. And she has no idea who the father is?
I stared at the message on my phone screen for what felt like an eternity. The chat bubble from Seoyeon sat there, deceptively simple, as if it hadn't just flipped my entire world upside down.
Hey, can we talk? I'm pregnant. And... I don't know who the dad is.
My thumb hovered over the keyboard. What the hell was I supposed to say to that? Congratulations? Sorry? How did this even happen? The questions piled up so fast my head started to spin. Seoyeon had always been careful. Or at least, that's what I'd thought. We'd known each other since we were kids—practically family. Our parents had been close friends, and after her mom passed away early, she'd practically lived at our house. She was the girl I'd shared everything with. My first love. The one who'd quietly slipped away from me somewhere along the way while I was busy screwing around with whoever caught my eye.
I swallowed hard and typed back with shaking fingers.
Where are you right now?
The reply came almost instantly.
I didn't even bother changing out of my sweats. I grabbed my keys and wallet and practically ran out the door. The summer heat in Seoul pressed down on me like a wet blanket, but I barely felt it. All I could think about was Seoyeon sitting there alone, probably scared out of her mind. Pregnant. With no clue who the father was. The words kept echoing in my head like some bad joke I couldn't laugh at.
When I pushed open the café door, the little bell above it jingled just like it had a hundred times before. The place hadn't changed much—same worn wooden tables, same smell of fresh bread and coffee. Seoyeon was sitting in the corner booth we always claimed as kids. Her long hair was tied back in a messy ponytail, and she wore an oversized hoodie that swallowed her small frame. She looked... small. Vulnerable. Nothing like the confident, bright girl I'd grown up beside.
She lifted her head when she heard me approach. Our eyes met, and for a second, neither of us said anything. Her lips trembled slightly before she forced a weak smile.
"You came fast," she said softly. Her voice was hoarse, like she'd been crying.
I slid into the seat across from her. "Of course I did. What the hell, Seoyeon? Pregnant?"
She flinched at my bluntness but didn't look away. That was one thing about her—she never ran from the hard stuff. Not even now.
"I took three tests. All positive." She reached into her bag and pulled out the little plastic sticks, laying them on the table like evidence in a trial. Two lines. Clear as day on all of them. "I went to the clinic this morning. They said I'm about six weeks along."
Six weeks. My brain did the math automatically. That put it right around the time she'd started going out with that guy from her university club. The one she'd mentioned in passing a few times. But she'd broken up with him over a month ago. So what the hell?
"Do you... have any idea who it could be?" I hated how my voice cracked on the question. It wasn't jealousy. Not exactly. It was more like this sick, protective rage bubbling up inside me. Someone had gotten her pregnant and then what? Left her to deal with it alone?
Seoyeon stared down at her hands, twisting the hem of her hoodie. "I don't know. I really don't. After I broke up with Minjae, I... I went out a few times. Drank too much. There were a couple of nights I don't remember clearly." Her cheeks flushed with shame. "God, Taejung. I feel so stupid. I was just trying to get over him, to forget everything, and now..."
She pressed a hand to her still-flat stomach, and something in my chest twisted painfully. This was Seoyeon. My Seoyeon. The girl who'd bandaged my scraped knees when we were seven. The one who'd stayed up all night helping me study for college entrance exams even though she had her own tests the next day. The one I'd secretly been in love with since I was old enough to understand what love was.
And now she was pregnant by some guy whose face she couldn't even remember.
"What are you going to do?" I asked quietly.
"I don't know." Her eyes filled with tears. "I thought about... not keeping it. But I couldn't. I just couldn't. This is my baby, Taejung. Even if I don't know who the father is, it's mine."
The tears spilled over then, tracking silently down her cheeks. Without thinking, I reached across the table and took her hand. Her fingers were ice cold despite the summer heat.
"Hey. Look at me." When she finally met my gaze, I squeezed her hand tighter. "You're not alone in this. Okay? Whatever you decide, whatever you need—I'm here. We'll figure it out together. Just like we always have."
She let out a shaky laugh that sounded more like a sob. "Even though I messed up this badly? Even though I don't even know whose kid this is?"
"Even then." I meant it with every fiber of my being. Because this was Seoyeon. My first love. The girl who'd held my heart since before I even knew I had one. And if she was going to have a baby—any baby—I was going to be there for both of them. No matter what it took.
She wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand. "My parents are going to kill me. Your mom too. God, what am I going to tell them?"
"We'll tell them together. When you're ready." I glanced at the pregnancy tests still sitting on the table between us. "For now, let's just... breathe. Eat something. You probably haven't eaten all day, have you?"
A tiny smile tugged at her lips—the first real one I'd seen since I arrived. "You always know. Ham and cheese sandwich? Like old times?"
"With extra pickles," I added, remembering her weird pregnancy craving jokes from years ago when we'd watched too many dramas together. The irony wasn't lost on either of us.
As I stood up to order at the counter, I caught her watching me with an expression I couldn't quite read. Something soft and wondering, mixed with a sadness that made my chest ache. When I returned with our food and two cups of decaf tea (no caffeine for pregnant women, right?), she was touching her stomach again. Almost unconsciously.
"Taejung," she said quietly as I sat back down. "Why are you being so good to me? After everything... after the way I pulled away from you these past few years. After all the stupid mistakes I've made."
I took a slow breath, considering my words carefully. The café was quiet around us, the afternoon light filtering through the windows and catching in her hair like a halo. For a moment, it felt like we were the only two people in the world.
"Because you're you," I finally said. "Because you've always been the most important person in my life, even when I was too dumb to show it properly. And because..." I hesitated, then decided she deserved the truth. All of it. "Because I never stopped loving you, Seoyeon. Not for a single day."
Her eyes widened, the cup of tea freezing halfway to her lips. For a long moment, she just stared at me. Then, slowly, her expression crumpled—not with sadness this time, but with something that looked a lot like relief.
"You idiot," she whispered, but there was no heat in it. "Saying something like that now... when I'm like this..."
"Timing's never been my strong suit," I admitted with a crooked smile. "But it's the truth. And if you'll let me, I want to be here for you. For both of you. Not as some childhood friend or almost-brother. As someone who loves you. Who wants to take care of you."
She was crying again, but this time she was smiling through the tears. It was the most beautiful thing I'd seen in years.
"I don't deserve you," she said, voice breaking.
"Too bad. You're stuck with me anyway."
I reached out and gently brushed a tear from her cheek with my thumb. Her skin was so soft under my touch. For the first time since I'd read that message, the knot of panic in my chest began to loosen. This wasn't how I'd imagined our story going. Not even close. But as I looked at her—really looked at her, carrying a life she hadn't planned for but already loved—I realized something important.
This was our chance. Maybe not the fairytale beginning most people got. But ours. Messy and complicated and real. And I wasn't going to waste a single second of it.
"Eat your sandwich before it gets cold," I said, trying to lighten the mood. "Then we'll go buy some prenatal vitamins. And maybe some of those weird sour candies pregnant women always crave in the movies."
She laughed—a real laugh this time—and picked up her sandwich. "You're really going to do this with me? All of it?"
"Every single step." I picked up my own food, though I wasn't sure I could actually eat with how full my heart felt. "Starting now."
As we ate in comfortable silence, the weight of her pregnancy settled between us like a new presence at the table. Unknown father or not, this baby was already changing everything. And for the first time in a long time, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
Next to the woman I'd loved my whole life, ready to face whatever came next. Together.