Let's Make a Baby Together (2)
Backstage, in the waiting room, while the play was in full swing.
Yeji sat in a glittering one-piece dress, receiving a heavy layer of makeup from the makeup assistant.
"...There. All done. Don't wash your hands until you go onstage, okay? Fighting!"
"F-fighting… ehehe…"
Yeji exchanged goodbyes with the makeup noona, wearing that uniquely awkward, sticky smile of hers. Afterward she checked her makeup in the mirror, let out a long breath, and fidgeted with her phone.
"...I can do this… I can do this…"
Even with her eyes closed, repeating the words over and over, the anxiety refused to fade.
Today was the day Yeji would perform her first lead role in a major theater company. After the bitter failure half a year ago, she had refused to give up, working without rest until she finally reached this place. And yet even here, the fear and unease remained.
...What if I ruin everything again like last time… Then the damages… They still haven't paid the contract fee—when are they going to… The rent… Yein's academy fees…
Aaaah! Stop thinking like that. Right now I just focus on the acting. Yeah… Memorize the lines. The lines…
Yeji took deep breaths and tried to pour every scrap of her mind into reciting her dialogue. But within minutes the anxiety came creeping back, and she could not stop it. In the end, right up until the moment she had to step onstage, she never fully shook the tension free.
"Hoo… hoo… hoooo…"
As Yeji trembled and kept drawing those huge, shaky breaths, the other lead actor beside her spoke up with concern.
"Are you all right, Yeji-ssi? You look pale. If it's too much, should we have the next-slot cast take over?"
"I-I'm fine. I can do it…"
She could not lose a chance this hard-won to another stupid mistake. Yeji clenched her fists and steeled herself.
And at last, her turn came to take the stage and act.
Yeji sprang up onto the boards exactly as she had prepared and launched into her performance with a strong, ringing voice.
"...That's what I told you! This isn't a forest—it's a kingdom that fell long ago, and I am its…"
...Nice. First line was perfect… Just keep this flow going! Yes!!
Yeji cheered inwardly and pressed on with the scene. She was deep in her passionate performance, right around the middle of the play, when something she had never imagined suddenly happened.
Her scene partner's zipper was open. She noticed it late—while they were breathing together through the dialogue—and her eyes snagged on it.
"...Huk…"
She sucked in a breath without meaning to, and the sound reached him. Mid-line, the male actor flicked a glance at her that asked, What is it? Yeji quickly shook her head as if it were nothing. Fortunately he never caught on and continued the scene smoothly.
The problem was Yeji. Once the open zipper lodged in her mind, her entire focus tilted toward it.
Ah… no! I have to remember the next line—and the one after that… Where am I supposed to go from here? Right, into those bushes… Aaah, my part is coming up any second!
Yeji stood behind the foliage, fidgeting like someone visibly in full panic. It still wasn't her cue, so the audience's attention wasn't locked on her—but a few people had clearly noticed something was off. The thought made her heart hammer and her nerves spike all over again.
Ah, no… I thought I'd overcome this… It's over. I'm completely done for…
To make matters worse, she suddenly needed to pee so badly she felt she might wet herself any second. Her vision warped as if she were looking up from underwater, and her mind went blank white. Yet her cue kept drawing closer without mercy; in a few seconds it would begin.
...I'm fucked… I'm fucked… I'm fucked…!!
Her head was so full of that single thought that even the lines would not come—and right then:
"Cough, cough! Ugh!"
From the audience came a thunderous fit of coughing and a bizarre yelp. Cast and crowd alike jumped and turned toward the sound. Yeji, startled, looked too.
In the back rows, a male spectator was coughing so violently he looked ready to die on the spot.
"Cough! Cough! Cougggh!! Ueeek…"
The audience murmured; some scowled in anger, others watched with worry. The actors paused their performance and looked toward him with concern. Yeji stared at the man and thought:
...Good lord, how rude can you be… Does he have no manners at all? Even if you need to cough, go outside—you've completely broken the flow of the scene…
But something strange happened. She ought to have been furious at the rude spectator—yet somehow her heart grew calm. Probably because the brief interruption had lifted the panic of having to deliver her lines that very second.
Yeji seized the moment, took a few quick deep breaths to settle her nerves, and calmly recalled the next dialogue. Soon the man left the seats at a security guard's request, and the disturbance quieted.
And at last, it was Yeji's turn again to burst from the wings and speak. She closed her eyes, drew one final breath, then leapt out of the bushes and delivered her line with full force.
"...Wait! Where do you think you're going, leaving me behind…"
…After she finished the performance successfully, Yeji sprawled in a chair in the waiting room as if she had melted into it.
"...Haa…"
Then the actor she had just shared the scene with came over, tapped her shoulder, and gave her a thumbs-up.
"First lead role today, right? You did great! Not a single thing to pick at."
"...Ah, th-thank you… heh-heh…"
The male actor scratched his head with a laugh, then put on a sly look and asked carefully:
"...So, um—if you're free tonight, maybe dinner or something…"
Yeji's face went awkward as she scrambled for a way to refuse—when, through the open waiting-room door, someone flashed past outside.
…That's the man who caused the commotion in the audience…
She watched him walk away in a daze, then suddenly shot to her feet. Her co-star looked startled and asked carefully:
"Um, are you all right, Yeji-ssi? So about tonight's dinner…"
"I'm sorry—I have something to take care of. Excuse me."
Leaving the co-star staring blankly after her, Yeji grabbed her skirt and bolted out of the waiting room.
"Excuse me! Wait a moment…!"
It was probably the first time in her life she had raised her voice that loud when she wasn't acting. Just before he stepped through the exit toward the outside of the theater, the man heard her and turned.
He was a tall, solidly built college student. Yeji planted her hands on her knees in front of him, catching her breath in gasps, then mumbled with a face flushed bright red.
"...I-I'm sorry—I startled you…"
He looked at her with a brief smile, then gently shook his head.
"Not at all. I'm the one who should apologize. I feel like I interrupted your performance earlier…"
"Ah… about that! To tell you the truth, I almost feel like you saved me—like you're my benefactor, in a way… ahaha… s-sorry…"
Yeji fidgeted with her fingers, her voice shrinking into a mumble. The man gazed at her for a moment with quiet warmth—then suddenly reached out and gently smoothed her mussed hair.
"Yeji-ssi."
"....Uh, uhh…"
While she stammered with her face burning red, he smiled and spoke softly.
"...Thank you—for not giving up on your dream."
With that, he slowly turned again and walked toward the exit. Yeji stared blankly at his back—then, as if struck by lightning, a name flashed through her mind.
"...Jihoon-ssi."
When she murmured it quietly, the man stopped dead. Jihoon slowly turned his head, eyes wide as he met hers, and Yeji said it again in a trembling voice.
"Jihoon-ssi."
"...Yes, Yeji-ssi."
At last Jihoon broke into a bright smile, strode forward, and pulled her into a fierce, full embrace. Yeji laughed through tears as she sank into his arms.
"...It's been a long time."
"It really has."
"Why did you only come now? I've been waiting all this time."
"I'm sorry. I won't leave you again. Never again…"
They held each other so tightly, for so long, that they could feel each other's heartbeats. Then Yeji's hands, which had been wrapped around his back, slid down to his ass; she pulled him hard against her and whispered lewdly:
"...I've got a new dream, Jihoon-ssi. Can I tell you?"
Jihoon grinned and nodded.
"Of course. What is it?"
Yeji squeezed his ass and breathed the sweet words into his ear.
"I want to have your baby, Jihoon-ssi. Let's make a baby together. Right now."
"Y-yes…? Right now…? But there are so many people watching…"
"Since when did that ever stop you? Heh heh… Come here. You ready to pay for making me wait six whole months?"
Yeji laughed obscenely, took his hand, and dragged him straight toward the nearest women's restroom.
That night I fucked Yeji-ssi's hole raw until it was wrecked, pounding her again and again until dawn while whispering love to her countless times—so that every drop of love I poured into her would soak all the way to her womb and let a new dream be born.
That day remains one of the happiest of my life.
