You Should Hurry Up and Have a Baby

"You crazy bastard. This is what you call work?"

Taesoo flung the ledger down carelessly. Taemin, who had been nervously watching his older brother's face, gathered up the accounting books in a scramble.

"What on earth have you even been doing?"

"I did my best, okay? I swapped out the tenant brands, ran promotions left and right—and when none of it works, what am I supposed to do? It's not like anyone these days is lining up to buy stuff at duty-free shops anyway."

"Oh, just shut your mouth. Is the duty-free store the only problem right now? By your logic, then what about the outlets? The outlets!"

Taesoo roared.

While Royoung Department Store had reclaimed the industry's top spot and was riding high, the outlets and duty-free shops were struggling to keep their heads above water, let alone dream of first place.

"If this is how it's going to be, hand it over. Wash your hands of it and go run a cultural foundation or something instead."

"Ugh, seriously, what's your problem? I'm the second son of Royoung, whatever you may think of me."

At Taemin's idiotic remark, Taemin's face flushed an angry red. Salvaging the situation would not be easy. Driving up sales in the short term would be even harder. If things stayed like this, Moon Taejun stood to take over the duty-free shops and the outlets—the entire distribution arm, lock, stock, and barrel. And the problem didn't stop at distribution.

Logistics could slip through his fingers next. If that happened, he and Taemin would have handed over every last golden egg among the domestic affiliates. That was dangerous. It had to be stopped, no matter what.

And if, on top of all this, Moon Taejun were to have a child...

"You. Go have a baby, and fast. That's your ticket to survival."

Taemin was anxious too. His only experience with birth control had been before the wedding. And somehow, no matter what, pregnancy simply refused to happen.

"Ah, damn it. You think that's something I can just will into existence?"

"What's stopping you?"

"What about you, then?"

"Hey. Are you and me the same? I'm sitting in this seat on my own merit. Got it?"

The retort came back sharp as a blade, but Taesoo had plenty of worries of his own weighing on him. After miscarrying their first child, his wife had struggled to conceive, and their second pregnancy had ended in a missed miscarriage.

Which was why Taesoo was now seriously considering IVF.

"Have your wife get tested again. To make sure there's really nothing wrong. You're not using protection—if pregnancy itself just isn't happening, then something's wrong."

But that test had already been done—by Jang Hyun-ah. And the doctor's verdict had come back: no abnormalities whatsoever. In that instant, a flicker of unease passed through Taemin that he couldn't quite explain.

Ah, forget it, damn it. Useless thoughts.

There was no way. A woman he'd dated before marriage had gotten pregnant once.

Should I not have gotten rid of it back then?

But if his wife really was the problem, Taemin had already made up his mind to have a child with another woman—his wife or not. No one would dare say a word about it.

"Don't worry. Within this year, come hell or high water, I'll put a baby in someone. Just keep Taejun from getting transferred in."

Having delivered this grand declaration, Taemin rose from his seat and strode straight out of Taesoo's office.

Taejun had been planning to bring in a duty-free store ever since the department store expansion first broke ground.

That was the very reason the renewal had grown to such a massive scale. Taejun checked the list of incoming tenant brands as he turned his steps toward a stretch of space that still sat empty.

Secretary Lee, walking beside him, had been quietly puzzled as to why such an enormous space was being left vacant.

Taejun intended to turn this street into a luxury boulevard. The established luxury houses already in residence, the newcomers joining the renewal, and the brands slated for the duty-free hall—together they would make this the largest hub of luxury brands in the country.

Even if the economy soured, people with money barely felt the pinch. And it was precisely their spending that correlated most strongly with sales.

"Why is this section being left empty?"

Secretary Lee ventured carefully.

"Get me the list of brands currently in domestic duty-free shops. I'll need last year's sales rankings as well."

"Understood, sir."

"And look into which brands post the strongest sales at overseas duty-free locations, too."

"Yes, sir."

"Also check for luxury brands that aren't in any Asian duty-free shop yet. Watches or jewelry would be fine. High-end, if at all possible."

"Understood, sir."

In Switzerland, entire streets were given over to luxury. Accessories at one end, then clothing, shoes, bags, and cosmetics all the way down the line.

Taejun meant to build a street like that himself.

A place where shoppers hunting for luxury goods could find something truly satisfying without having to run all over town. And to do that, he needed Moon Daeshik's approval.

He already knew the fastest route. But Taejun had no intention of taking it.

He had to accomplish this on his own strength, come what may. He refused, absolutely, to heap even a shred of burden onto Chaeyoon.

If they were to have a child someday, it would only ever be when the two of them genuinely wanted it. Nothing else.

Chaeyoon had spent the entire day unable to sit still.

'Sleep?'

Obviously, she had not been sleeping. And yet she hadn't opened her eyes until the very end, either.

How was she supposed to answer that? The moment she said no, it felt like something would happen right there.

She had already felt it—how swollen his body was.

Somehow, Taejun's excessive eagerness left her feeling flustered and strangely off balance.

Is this what a sweet, loving husband is supposed to be like?

The day and the night in that house could not have been more different.

The daytime hours, when Taejun was gone, were stiflingly dull and uncomfortable—enough to make it hard to breathe.

It had gotten so bad that she'd taken to keeping a stash of bottled water upstairs in her room, just so she wouldn't have to come down.

She wanted no part of running into Jang Hyun-ah or her daughters-in-law.

Just yesterday she'd gone downstairs for a moment and crossed paths with Jiyoung, and it had left a sour taste in her mouth for nothing.

And yet, strangely, everything changed the moment night fell.

From the instant Taejun came home, she kept finding herself on edge, her heart racing over the most trivial little remark.

However suffocating the house felt by day, at night somehow everything turned upside down.

She caught herself waiting for Taejun without even meaning to.

Something was definitely wrong. On the flight back to Korea, Chaeyoon had resolved to end her marriage once and for all when she saw Taejun. She was sorry to her parents, but she refused to waste any more of her life.

And now here she was, inextricably tangled up in Taejun's unexpected memory loss.

She was wavering. It was a feeling a little different from the one that had first made her fall for him.

Back then, the longing to see him had been overwhelming. As long as she could be with Taejun, it hadn't mattered where in the world they were.

But now, her heart was pounding.

Just having him draw near stole her breath, and the slightest touch of his hand sent her heart clamoring wildly in her chest.

As if what she'd felt before hadn't been love at all.

"That can't be true."

Chaeyoon murmured the words under her breath, as if denying her own thoughts. There had never been a single moment when she hadn't loved Taejun. Even in the very instant she'd demanded a divorce, her love for him had never gone out.

And yet now she felt like a woman falling in love for the first time. Part of her resented it.

She had liked him for ages already—so why was she only now feeling like this?

And at the same time, it frightened her. If she fell any deeper for the Taejun of today, she had a feeling she would truly never be able to run from this man again.

"I don't even know what's happening to me anymore."

Her thoughts had grown tangled. Her heart was a mess. The resolve she had hardened into stone was trembling.

It was as though cracks had already spread through it, her feelings seeping out from every fissure.

That was when Chaeyoon's phone rang. It was Taejun.

"Yes?"

She picked up without a second's hesitation.

Chaeyoon couldn't answer. Her heart had begun to pound.

His voice sank deeper, burrowing into her.

"I'm listening."

"You're still working, aren't you?"

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me—just work."

Chaeyoon barely managed the reply. Her throat burned as if a fire had been lit inside it.

She said nothing.

He's insane.

"Now?"

How was she supposed to say no to that? It was so sweet she thought her heart might melt clean through.