My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend is Too Pretty - Chapter 111

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ My Platinum-Blonde Childhood Friend Is Too Pretty ◈

Chapter 111: 41. My Platinum-Blonde Girlfriend Who Wants a Baby -4

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Just from looking at Elli's face, I could tell this wasn't something she was tossing out as a joke.

Watching my girlfriend say she wanted a baby, I felt more curious than flustered.

She'd been nudging toward unprotected sex and getting pregnant for a while now, but I'd never actually dug into the real reason behind it.

Elli herself hadn't pushed it with that much genuine seriousness before, either.

But this time was different.

She really seemed to want it, and that meant I had to ask.

"Elli, do you want to have a baby?"

"We're going to."

"Can I ask why you want one?"

"Why do you need a reason? Are you saying you won't have a baby with me?"

She said it with a stubborn edge. I didn't laugh it off or scold her. I asked again, gently, like I was coaxing her.

"Of course I'd love to have a pretty baby that looks like you. But having a child right now probably wouldn't be just the two of us anymore, which is exactly why I'm asking. So won't you tell me?"

"......"

Not quite a firm refusal, but not agreement either.

Something about me asking calmly, the same as always, got Elli to ease down from the heat of the moment.

After a brief pause, she chose her words and spoke.

"...You're going to the army next year, right?"

"The army? Next year is the standard timing, but... if you want, I could push it back a little."

"Whether you go then or push it back, it's still at least a year and a half either way."

"That's true. I'll probably get rated Class 1 once I do the physical examination soon."

There was no reason I wouldn't be Class 1, so this was essentially a given. And even if it turned out otherwise, Class 2 or 3 would still mean active duty, so nothing would really change.

Everyone else had to go, and I couldn't be the only one who didn't. That was just how it was.

That was what I'd thought.

"If we have a baby."

Elli apparently thought differently.

"You wouldn't have to go on active duty. If you're on active reserve service, you can commute from home."

"...Is that right?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. I didn't know that."

I'd heard of active reserve before, but I knew nothing about exactly how it worked or how people got selected for it.

I vaguely remembered hearing something about being eligible if you had a child, but I'd figured it had nothing to do with me and forgotten it pretty quickly.

I'd noticed her constantly searching things on her phone lately and wondered what it was. Turns out she'd been looking all this up in detail.

"So with active reserve, you commute to a nearby base?"

"It could be a base, or it could be a public facility. Either way, it's a daily commute."

"You still have to do training center, though?"

"That part's the same as everyone else."

"Hmm... and having a baby is the condition for getting selected?"

"There are other conditions too. Some people get picked just by luck, apparently, but I'm not sure about that. And even with a baby, if you fail the other requirements it won't work. But for you, having a baby right now would make it automatic."

"You really looked into this."

"What, did you think I wouldn't? They want to drag my man off and make him a soldier?"

She was looking down at me with a resolved expression. I gently took her hand. It meant a lot that she'd thought about this as if it were her own problem and put so much effort into it.

"So starting today, have sex with me without a condom. We're having a baby."

Of course.

"We're not doing that."

I wasn't about to let her get pregnant just yet. I'd only asked out of genuine curiosity about something I hadn't known before.

"......"

Elli's eyes went wide. My flat refusal seemed to catch her off guard.

Come to think of it, this was probably the first time I'd said no to something Elli wanted this firmly. The condom thing I'd always handled lightly, just let it slide.

Maybe that was why she looked genuinely startled. But then.

-Bang!

"...Why, why not? Do you want to be apart from me? Do you actually want to die?"

She pounced on me, planting both hands hard on either side of my face, her expression crumpling.

It wasn't just sulking. The anger came through clear in her voice.

"She's so pretty."

Even now, in the middle of all this, I was sitting here thinking how pretty my girlfriend looked.

Her beautiful platinum hair falling over me, those blue eyes holding nothing but me.

Honestly, I didn't want to be separated from a girlfriend this pretty and go off to something like the army either.

Missing her after just one night away at Freshman orientation camp had hit that hard, and in the army I wouldn't be able to see her face for at least a month or two at a stretch.

But even so, having a baby right now wasn't something we could do.

There were several reasons, but first of all.

"It'd be way too much to put on our families. Not just the help with childcare, but the financial side too, we'd have to ask for all of it."

Elli earned quite a lot from her work every month. My occasional modeling gigs and illustration commissions added up to a decent contribution as well.

So neither of us took an allowance anymore, and technically we could manage our living expenses on our own.

That was exactly it, though. Only that much.

The reality was that we still needed our parents' help for the rent on our place and for university tuition.

On top of that, if Elli got pregnant it would affect her modeling work, and most of our income would disappear almost overnight.

All of that would end up falling on our parents.

That was why I'd brought up our parents as the first reason, but.

"Then we get permission."

"......"

"Get dressed. It's the weekend so Dad and your father will both be home. Let's go talk to them."

"Alright. Let's go talk."

Getting our parents on board wasn't the end of it, but... well, it was the biggest hurdle. They'd talk some sense into her on their own.

Probably.

* * *

At Elli's call to order, both families gathered under one roof.

The moment everyone was assembled, Elli skipped straight to the point without any preamble.

"I'm going to have Lee Do-yoon's baby."

"......"

A bold declaration that froze the entire room in an instant.

Our parents opposed it, naturally.

"Have you lost your mind?! What are a couple of kids doing talking about having kids!"

"Even if you love Do-yoon that much, you have to do things in order~"

My mom kicked things off with a sharp scolding, and Auntie Ye-rin added her own word. Dad and Uncle Mark seemed unable to bring themselves to get angry at Elli directly, so they just nodded along in agreement.

Anyone could see nothing was getting through. But as if to say the important thing was an unbreakable spirit, Elli began working through them one by one.

"Look at this. Last year alone, there were this many accidents in the army..."

"That's exactly what's wrong with this country. They call them our children when they take them, and other people's children when something goes wrong. But what is this?"

"If we have a baby, he can do active reserve service. That means after training center he'd just commute from home, so..."

"...Hold on. Commute from home?"

"And since he'd likely be assigned to a nearby public facility, it wouldn't be that hard, and the risk of anything dangerous happening would be so much lower..."

"Hmm..."

She'd explained it all to me before, but now she went into even more detail, even bringing up specific incidents and accidents from the army last year. Elli started with my mom as her first target.

Mom, who had been the loudest about the baby talk, started visibly wavering as Elli spoke.

My mom already doted on me to begin with, and it seemed like she was getting won over by the reality of the army, where incidents happened more often than people expected and compensation when things went wrong was rarely adequate.

"I know that having a baby would cause more trouble for the family than anyone else. People around us would say things, and we'd need so much help right away... I just can't bear to send Do-yoon off. I'm that worried about him."

"Even so, a baby already is too much. Do-yoon just started university..."

"I will absolutely have a son who looks just like Do-yoon."

"...A grandson who looks like Do-yoon?"

"Do-yoon is adorable now, but he was incredibly cute as a little kid too. You remember, don't you? Mom... I mean, Mother?"

"Of course I do. Whether it was on TV or out anywhere, no child was cuter than my son..."

"I'll bring the baby to visit often. Or you can come see the baby whenever you want. We're close by."

"......"

"To see a sweet, adorable grandchild who looks just like Do-yoon."

The scolding fell away from Mom's lips.

Maybe she couldn't bring herself to say no, with the image of a grandchild's face flickering before her eyes, even if she couldn't quite say yes.

Watching it happen, I was genuinely impressed.

She'd prepared a tailored persuasion plan for each person.

Apparently deciding that was enough for Mom, Elli moved on and stepped closer to Auntie Ye-rin.

"Mom said you've been bored lately. Ever since I moved out with Do-yoon."

"Mm~ That's true. It does get a bit lonely..."

"So what do you think about a grandchild who looks like Do-yoon?"

"If the baby takes after Do-yoon... it'd be such a gentle, sweet child~ Well-behaved too, so it wouldn't be too much work. Mom would love to see that~"

"So you'll say yes?"

"Hehe... Go convince the others. If everyone's on board, Mom will give her blessing."

"Deal."

Auntie Ye-rin's reaction was a little hard to read. It seemed like she was against it, but also like she wasn't. During their conversation she kept sneaking glances at me with a smile I couldn't quite interpret. I genuinely couldn't tell where she stood.

Anyway, next after Auntie Ye-rin was Uncle Mark's turn.

Arms crossed like a guardian deity, his face set in stone as if daring anyone to try talking him out of it. From the outside, he was a wall.

Built too, solid muscle all over, the kind of person who'd make anyone else instinctively stand a little straighter.

Not Elli, though.

Elli, who usually snapped at Uncle Mark like a prickly teenager, stuck right by his side today and worked to bring him around.

"Dad."

"It's too early for a baby."

"Dad."

"Nej."

"Think about it carefully."

"No."

"It might be a son who looks like Do-yoon, but it could also be a daughter who looks like me."

"......barnbarn?"

"You want a granddaughter. You want to see a little granddaughter toddling over to you calling you grandfather and climbing into your arms."

"grandfather..."

"I'm going to teach the baby Swedish, and wouldn't it be even better if you taught her? I'd leave that part to you. You're a good teacher. Do-yoon learned from you and he's pretty decent at it even now."

"I am a good Swedish teacher..."

"If you really say no, I'll give up. We'd need so much help from you and Do-yoon's father. Still... part of it is that I'm worried about Do-yoon, but I also just want to have a beautiful baby and raise them."

"Elli..."

"I know how much you and Mom loved me growing up. I want to love my child the same way."

"......"

"Please, Dad."

"...Convince everyone else first. Then we'll talk again."

"I love you, Dad!"

"Ahem."

Elli, with an earnestness that didn't quite seem like herself, had appealed straight to his heart, and Uncle Mark folded in no time at all.

Honestly, even I don't think I could have held out against a daughter like Elli looking up at me like that.

He'd already allowed us to live together, after all.

Our marriage, having children, these were things that were going to happen eventually, and he must have known it. The question was only whether it was sooner or later.

And so, the final hurdle.

Dad, who had always said publicly he'd do anything for his future daughter-in-law, sat across from Elli as she composed herself. She was nervous, but with the faint air of someone who figured this one would be easy, and she opened her mouth.

"Father-in-law. I..."

"Elli. Before you start, I want to say that I'm against it."

But before Elli could even begin her pitch, Dad stated his objection.

Same as always, warm but firm.

Elli looked genuinely shocked, biting her lip softly.

She must have figured that if Uncle Mark had a soft spot for Elli, and Mom had one for me, then Dad's weakness for his future daughter-in-law had both of those beat by a wide margin. She must have thought this one would be the easiest.

And that calculation had just fallen apart.

It wasn't entirely surprising, when I thought about it.

Dad had always come across as gentle with everyone, but he'd always been strict about the line between what should be done and what shouldn't, between the personal and the principled.

Within the family that wasn't always the case, but this was something that touched our lives in a serious way.

So no matter how much he adored his future daughter-in-law, he wasn't going to nod along easily.

He walked Elli through his thoughts, patient and measured.

"It's true that various incidents happen in the army, but it's also a place where the vast majority of people come back without any real problems. There's no need to worry that much."

"......"

"Of course I know you care deeply about Do-yoon and that's why you're doing this. Even so, having a baby for that reason, I don't think that's the right call."

"Th, that's... I also just want a baby..."

"Right. If you two had a child, I'm sure it would be adorable. I'd want to see it too, and if it happened we'd obviously help out. You've both been earning your own money for a while now, which has kept things manageable on our end, so financially we're fine."

"Then...!"

"But."

"Ugh..."

"That's a conversation for if a child came along unavoidably. If that's not the case, it's still too early. This is both of your baby, so wouldn't it be better to have one when you and Do-yoon have the foundation to take care of a child yourselves? I think that would be much better for both of you and for the child who'd be born."

"......"

"What do you think?"

"......You're right..."

Something in Elli's voice drained away at Dad's calm words. Her shoulders dropped, and her body trembled just slightly, like she might start crying any second.

It hurt to watch her like that, shoulders slumped. Still, I was glad Dad hadn't given in and had said what needed to be said.

Or so I thought.

"...That said."

Hm?

"If our daughter-in-law manages to convince Do-yoon, and they both want to, then I could help out. Well. Just think of it as the two of them making a happy accident..."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. The adults have said their piece, so now you two talk it over again."

Dad suddenly turned everything around and tossed the whole thing to me.

He glanced away just slightly, and it was clear that even he couldn't stay cold-faced with Elli on the verge of tears in front of him.

Thanks to that, Elli's face lit up as she turned to look at me.

But my answer was already decided.

"Elli."

Not now.

"...Who do you think you are."

The way I said her name made it obvious I was going to refuse again, and she seemed to sense it instantly.

She was on her feet at once, glaring at me, voice sharp.

"All the parents said yes, so it's fine. What's the problem!"

"Let's go home and talk about this..."

"What is there to talk about? Why do you keep saying no? Why won't you have a baby with me? Do you not want our child? Do you want to leave me behind?"

"El..."

"Fine. Do whatever you want. Go to the army then!"

Eyes brimming, tears right at the edge from all the hurt building up inside her, Elli walked straight out of the house.

Left behind in that room with both sets of parents.

"I'm sorry for my daughter making a fuss~"

Auntie Ye-rin apologized on Elli's behalf, something gentle and almost amused in her voice.

I smiled and shook my head.

"It's alright. She's being cute."

"Oh my~ Is she?"

"She just wants to be with me every day. I'll go talk to her properly."

"Hehe... I always knew I could count on our son-in-law~ Please keep taking good care of our daughter."

Honestly, she just looked adorable to me.