"I'm just saying it's my first grandchild, you literally have no right of stopping me," the old woman shrugged nonchalantly.

      Nara could no longer contain her fury; her teeth clattered against each other as her jaws tensed. Her nails were starting to imprint shapes into her palms. She stopped herself and heaved out a sigh before displaying a forced smile.

     "You are right," Nara spoke making both her mother-in-law and her husband surprised, "you definitely should have the right to be there at the delivery room..."

     "Oh," the old woman let out caught off guard by the sudden agreement.

     "When your son is the one giving birth!" Nara spat out as she pushed her chair back and turned to leave. The old woman scoffed in absolute disbelief while trying to maintain her fragile pride.

     "Hey! Nara, wait!" She could hear Hongjoong yell behind her back, but she did not give a single damn. She grabbed her purse from the country and walked to the entrance to grab her shoes. She threw them on the floor, but then she stood there with a sigh. 

     Nara couldn't bend down to put them on. 

     She groaned loudly, even considering going out barefoot to the car before Hongjoong stopped her.

     "Nara, listen," he tried.

     "I'm not listening to this garbage, Hongjoong! There is no way in hell she will be in the delivery room with me, and that's fucking final!" Nara yelled out heatedly before shutting her eyes tightly feeling a headache brewing at the back of her head.

     "I know, I know," the man spoke as he reached out to grab her hand but she immediately pulled away as she massaged her nose bridge to ease the pain.

     "If you know, then tell her that, not me," Nara gritted out from behind shut teeth.

     "I will, and I already did. She is only saying this to pressure you into it, but there is nothing she can do to enter without your permission," Hongjoong reminded as he put a hand on her shoulder. She sighed in defeat realizing she let her anger get the best of her twice in one day. She rubbed her face.

     "You're right, I'm sorry," she exhaled before he pulled her into a gentle hug, cautious of her protruding belly.

     When he pulled away, she looked at him with a sheepish smile, "shoes?"

     "Huh?" he took a second to understand, but once he did, he immediately guided her to sit at a chair by the foyer before he kneeled to put on her shoes for her.

     "Tsk," they heard the old woman before they saw her figure at the end of the room. "She can't even put her own shoes on by herself! You are telling me she won't need help later?"

     "No, mother-in-law," Nara spoke with a fake happy tone, "I'm the one who is telling you I won't need extra help. There are already enough people in there."

     "Is her mother going to be there?" the old woman asked, and the couple knew where she was getting at. Again, talking as if Nara wasn't in the room.

     "Uh," Hongjoong started before Nara cut him off.

     "Yes," she said in an almost prideful tone, "yes, she will be there."

      "Oh, so she gets to be there, but I don't?!" the mother yelled out furiously.

      "Yes," Nara replied calmly, "yes, exactly. I'm glad we are finally seeing eye to eye."

      "Hongjoong!" the mother yelled.

      "Yes, mother," he replied as he stood up and straightened his back. She gave him a sign to help her out to which he just sighed. "Mom, please. She already told you why she can't have you there a million times! We are leaving."

      "Huh," the old woman scoffed, "so you are siding with her?!"

      "What? No, what the hell, this isn't a fight, so there are no sides to pick. You wanted to be there, she told you no, what more do you want out of this fruitless conversation we are having right now?" Hongjoong asked his face contouring in distaste at the absurdity of the situation.

      "Oh, couples these days," she lamented, "everything is 'personal', huh?"

      There she goes again...

      "Literally, yes," Nara replied.

      "Oh, really!" the old woman yelled, "you know nothing of true marriage! You think you have a say in everything! Never have I ever seen a woman deny her mother-in-law from being there at delivery! It was always an unspoken rule, and I can't believe that even when I went out of my way to ask you for it nicely, you still said no! Never have I ever seen such a rude, ungrateful woman! I gave you my son, and this is how you repay me?!  You are giving birth to a Kim, not a Shin, remember that! Tsk, the audacity of young women these days!"

      The couple was stunned and speechless for a few seconds before Nara stood up and walked closer to the raging woman. She put a hand on her shoulder.

     "You gave birth to a Kim, not a Lee, too," Nara simply reminded, "I am so sorry you were never given the option to deny your in-laws being with you at delivery. Just because you didn't get to have an option, doesn't mean that everybody else should suffer to make up for you. I don't want you at delivery because I can hardly accept my own mother and husband being there at a time when I would be most vulnerable, it doesn't mean I hate you, it doesn't mean I am gatekeeping your grandchild from you, it doesn't mean anything more than me simply looking out for my wellbeing. It might be hard because you aren't used to it, but I hope you respect that." Nara's words did not have the malicious tone the mother had tried to bring out of her, instead, they sounded sincere and sympathetic. Not even pity could be sensed in Nara's tone.

     It was clear that the mother had no idea what hit her, as she remained there with her mouth slightly ajar absorbing the words she just heard.

     Nara walked back to the entrance, looking at Hongjoong who was equally astounded, "let's go," she said.  She tilted her head towards the door before she left quietly as her husband followed her.

     As she walked to the car, Nara was surprised to find odd wetness against her cheeks. Why was she crying?

     Hongjoong jogged up to her as he put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from entering the car just yet.

      "Are you alright?" he asked, and she quickly wiped away her tears with the back of her hands before rubbing her hands against her skirt. She turned to him.

     "Y-yeah, I am," she spoke but unintentionally a few tears slipped down her face.

     "You're crying?" Hongjoong asked in surprise, "w-why are you crying?" he attempted to sound more concerned than shocked. At that, Nara just wrapped her arms around his neck and cried harder. "What's wrong?" Hongjoong asked in pure concern as he patted her back awkwardly.

      "I-I," she tried to explain, "I don't know," Nara gave up. "I'm reliving things I don't want to."

      Hongjoong knew Nara since high school, he knew exactly what this was about.

     "Hey, it's not your responsibility to solve her or anyone's problems," Hongjoong spoke.

      "I-it isn't that, really," she wiped at her tears as she tried to voice out her bubbling emotions, "I-I know what happened to my mother is not the standard situation, and that I shouldn't project that on all women, but I can't help but think that at the end of the day, it's kind of true," Nara spoke before correcting herself, "It is true," she looked down at her now wet palms, "I am giving birth to a Kim, not a Shin, " she continued quickly before he could cut her off, "–I know it's just a name, but the idea behind it is more than that."

     "She just said that to get at you," Hongjoong tried to comfort her.

      "N-no!" Nara looked into his eyes, "no," she breathed out, "she said that because she was hurting; because that was what happened to her. Her possessiveness is all an act to convince herself of something she was taught not to believe. She was only the instrument to bring you to life, but you were never hers; at least she couldn't let herself believe so, the consequences for that are way too grim and painful." Nara caught herself bringing her own weight to the table, she immediately pulled away slightly. "I-I just mean–it isn't what—"

      "You are right," Hongjoong breathed out, feeling his own eyes fill up with tears, "there always was this gap between us, and I–I often blamed her for it. I didn't see it in another way– I didn't–" he halted. "It never occurred to me," he rephrased, "and I wonder why it didn't when it was obvious, I guess I was too concerned with myself to see it from her side." He frowned.

      "No," Nara sighed, "it was never your job as a child to excuse her shortcomings, it wasn't your fault." When Nara spoke, Hongjoong could tell this came from her heart; from her wounds. They both looked into each other's eyes before Hongjoong's misty eyes fell to her swollen stomach. She breathed out softly, "he'll be fine." Nara patted her bump, but her hitching voice didn't give off the comfort her words were meant to give.

     "He'll be born a Kim," Hongjoong muttered bitterly.

      "And I was born a Shin, that's how things are," Nara replied.

     "But that doesn't mean that's how it should be," he sighed as he place his hand on her bump.

     "But that is how it will be, and that wouldn't change a thing. It is just a name; it will only build bridges if we let it," Nara muttered as she placed her hand over his.

     "Right," he sighed before pulling away. "Let's go home." He opened the car's door for her and made sure she got in before shutting it. He got in the driver's seat with a sigh.

     "Was I too rude?" Nara asked as she put on her seat belt.

     "Rude?" Hongjoong snickered, "that was surprisingly the nicest thing I've ever seen you do!"

     "Hey!" Nara exclaimed, offended, "I have never once been mean to anyone..."

     "Hmm?" he edged her on.

     "Without a good reason!" she finished off proudly.

     "That's more like it," he laughed as he started the engine.

     "Well, too bad you're stuck with me, hubby," Nara spoke out smugly.

      "Too bad," he chuckled before holding her hand and driving away.