While Jihu was out spending time learning how each of the women in his life wanted to be loved, his first wife via Paradise traditions and his first legal wife sat together in Jihu's apartment on Earth, sharing tea.
Or in other words, Hannah sat down together with Flone to discuss their man.
"So." Flone slid a cup of vanilla cinnamon tea over to Hannah. "Our Jihu is running around properly settling things with the women who love him now, is he?"
Hannah took the tea with a grateful smile and said, "It seems so." She chuckled and said, "Jinhee was ranting about how cool her Oppa was now since he finally was manning up... although." She took a sip and said, "It might be a distraction from her. The ranting, that is. That girl is quite sly... almost as much as me."
Flone poured herself a cup of tea as well and sat down beside Hannah. "Mmhm! But she loves her Oppa, that's for sure at least."
Hannah nodded. "Mm... sometimes a bit 'too' much. If I wasn't certain that Jihu wouldn't cross that line, I'd be concerned. The way Jinhee acts around him sometime..."
Flone giggled and said, "Don't worry. Despite everything, they won't do that. Jinhee isn't the sort of girl to do that, and Jihu is too terrified to risk hurting her in any way. Also, since he's properly resolving his karma, women should stop flocking into his life now."
"Ah." Hannah set her cup down. "So it WAS something like that. I was wondering about it... Jihu just seemed to have too much luck with women."
No matter what Hannah's husband did, he always seemed to run into beautiful women who were indebted to him in one way or another... And it seemed that 'debt' came back with interest. "Mm... Is it because of his innate abilities?"
"That, and his natural instincts." Flone sipped on her tea and said, "Jihu is the type to treat goodwill with goodwill... and most girls will give him goodwill since he had a bad habit of not being able to avoid women in trouble."
Hannah snorted. "Tell me about it... If our husband was anything like Sung Shihyun, the women in his life would have swelled to hundreds by now."
Flone giggled. "Well... That's because Jihu doesn't seem us as 'his women' but as 'persons who love him.' It's a bit different."
Hannah paused. Then a warm smile crossed her face as she subconsciously placed her hand on her belly. "...Yes. I suppose that's why I allowed this."
It wasn't an accident.
Hannah wasn't stupid after all. If she wanted to reduce the risk of a child to zero, she would have.
But...
Although she didn't ACTIVELY want a child didn't mean she DIDN'T want one.
She just let fate have its say.
And CLEARLY fate had its say by now.
Flone let out a warm smile as well and said, "I'm happy for you. Though, Jihu must have been shocked."
Hannah laughed and said, "That guy's been so preoccupied that it apparently slipped his mind that, yes, sex DOES result in babies if you finish inside a woman and she's not on birth control."
Flone giggled. "True! Though." She puffed her cheeks. "It must be since you've helped Jihu so much. I had his first time but I'm still not pregnant... And I know I can have babies! I asked the gods!"
Hannah smiled and said, "Give it time. People forget, but it CAN actually be hard to conceive. But maybe it's karma for having Rose already."
Flone huffed. "Rose... She's our daughter, but she's not really MY daughter. You know? I treat her like one, but she's definitely adopted."
"Huh?" Hannah blinked. "You mean Rose isn't some magic baby that you and Jihu made?"
"Of course not!" Flone crossed her arms and said, "You think that I'd let Jihu get away with that? I want a baby properly!"
Hannah laughed. "Of course... Though." She nervously rubbed her belly. "...I've heard some horror stories. Hopefully it'll go smoothly, but..."
Flone took a sip from her tea and said, "It'll be fine! The real question is... do you think it'll be a boy or a girl?"
Hannah let out a breath. "Yes... it should be fine. And I hope it's a girl. If only to give that bastard a headache when she grows up."
Flone giggled. "Me too! I hope that Jihu has nothing but daughters so he gets to be on the other side of things."
"Right?" Hannah smiled.
Flone smiled right back at her and then leaned against Hannah's side, humming.
Hannah sipped on her tea and said, "...I never thanked you properly, Flone."
"Hm? For what?"
"For letting me share Jihu." Hannah glanced over, still a bit guilty in her heart. "...You didn't have to. You could have been selfish... he WAS yours first. I saw how you two were together."
Flone hummed. "That's true. But then it wouldn't have been Jihu."
"Hm?" Hannah blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Do you know what it means to be loved, Hannah?"
Hannah blinked. "...You mean 'in' love?"
"No. To BE loved." Flone smiled. "There's a big difference, you know? To be 'in' love means all the nice, fuzzy, and wonderful emotions. But those come and go. To BE loved... it's the certainty that someone cares for you unconditionally. That they'll go out of the way to make you a part of their life and walk with you. That they CHOOSE you... no matter what."
Hannah was quiet.
Flone set her cup down and said, "If I had made Jihu choose me... then he wouldn't have loved me the way I wanted to be loved. That sort of thing... it would have been possessive. Wanting to keep him for myself. But I didn't want that."
"...You wanted him to choose you. Even though he could walk away."
"Mmhm!" Flone smiled. "But even if he did, I would have loved him anyway. Because true love is unconditional. You hope that it's reciprocated, but you never force it. Because a forced love isn't really love. It's just lust with extra steps, isn't it?"
"That's..." Hannah pursed her lips.
"Oh!" Flone laughed. "Don't worry, Hannah. This is just what love means to me. It's different for everyone, you know?"
"...You say that. But..." Hannah sighed. "...I think you're right. Loving someone without condition, hoping they'll reciprocate but knowing they could choose to walk away..." She let out a wry smile. "I never did that for Jihu, did I?"
Flone giggled. "It's fiiine. You know that Jihu likes being tied up by you anyway. You're like his anchor. You keep him grounded."
Hannah snorted. "You say that, but he's the one who keeps tying me up, the bastard..."
"That's because you're kinky like that~"
Hannah turned a bright red but didn't deny it. Instead, she said, "So... where IS Rose right now then?"
"Oh, she's staying with Jihu's parents." Flone smiled. "They've been looking forward to grandkids forever and Rose loves being spoiled. She's a precocious child, but she never had a chance to relax really."
"Ah." Hannah nodded. "I can relate to that. My parents were always too strict on me and my sister-" Hannah's eyes widened. "...My younger sister. Nope. Absolutely not. We are NEVER letting her and Jihu stay together in a room."
Flone's eyes widened too. Then she paused. "...How old is your sister?"
"21. And she's been asking about her brother-in-law..." Hannah pursed her lips.
Flone nodded. "Okay. New plan! We matchmake your younger sister as soon as possible. What's her type?"
"That's the thing. I don't know... But I DO know that Jihu WOULD be her type..."
Flone rolled her eyes. "Jihu is EVERY woman's type. Rich, handsome, doting to a fault, and muscular."
"That's the problem."
Flone hummed. "Does she like older men? No, she does, right?"
"...I guess? Are you thinking we set her up with someone we know? Definitely not Hugo..."
"...Well, you never know? Hugo IS muscular. His face is... well. Some girls like that...?"
"Ouch. But true." Hannah laughed. "Alright... I guess Kazuki would be a choice then too, right?"
"Mmhm! After that... Well, Ian is still single. And he is handsome in the gentleman type of way."
"...I disagree. But at this point, we should throw everything and the kitchen sink..."
"...Hm. If she likes younger guys, Sungjin is pretty cute too, isn't he?"
Hannah frowned. "...Isn't Seol-Ah's younger brother still a teenager? He's 16, right?"
"Huh?" Flone blinked. "Is that a problem?"
"...Right. Different world, different standards." Hannah paused. "...But Sungjin WOULD be good for her. My younger sister is a little wild, so a grounded person like him would help. And the age gap isn't TOO bad. Well, if it was the other way around, it would, but double standards and all..."
"Right? So..."
Hannah brainstormed a bit more with Flone and then sent some pictures and a brief bio of Hugo, Ian, Kazuki, and Sungjin over to her younger sister.
After that, a soft *ding* echoed.
Flone clapped her hands and said, "Oh! The cookies are done!"
Hannah watched Flone walk over to the kitchen and said, "Cookies?"
"Mmhm!" Flone walked back with a plate of freshly baked peanutbutter chocolate chip caramel cookies. "Ta-dah~! I figured you'd want some since you're pregnant!"
"...That's a stereotype. There's no way that- Hn~?" Hannah's eyes widened after she took a bite. "...Why do these taste like heaven?"
Flone giggled. "I knew it'd be good!"
"...I hate how you know this, but GOD this is amazing." Hannah kept eating, happily humming to herself.
Flone smiled and said, "Hey, Hannah?"
"Hm?" Hannah looked over at Flone. "What is it, Flone?"
"What do YOU think it means to be loved?"
Hannah slowly finished her cookie. Then she let out a warm smile, placing a hand over her belly. "Isn't it obvious? For me, it's proof. And... well." Hannah laughed and gestured towards her wedding band and then herself. "...The ring on my finger. The last name I took. Our child in my belly... isn't that plenty?"
Flone giggled. "Mmhm! I guess so. Then... you're okay?"
Hannah blinked. "Of course I'm okay. I'm not the clingy type to start with." She paused. "Well, okay. Not the PHYSICALLY clingy type. But once something is mine, I want to be sure it's mine. And I know now." She let out a genuinely warm smile. "Jihu loves me. And even if he doesn't show it often, the proof of that love is all over my life now. So it's more than fine. It's all I asked for and more. Besides." She laughed. "Have you SEEN how ridiculous our Jihu is? If I had to deal with him 24/7 we would LITERALLY try and kill each other. Or at least I'd try to kill him."
Flone burst out laughing. "That's true! It's like a safe dose of Jihu for you. Any more and it becomes poison."
"Mmhm. ...And god these cookies are good. You aren't going to abandon me after making me addicted to these, are you?"
"Of course not! We're the only real wives anyway~"
"Pft." Hannah waved a cookie at Flone. "Careful. Say those words near the others and you'll start a war."
"It's true though~" Flone giggled. "*My* marriage was sanctified by the gods and witnessed by my grandpa! And *your* marriage was legalized with an officiant. Seora and Seohui just bought a flimsy piece of paper. Then the other girls don't actually want to be wives, they just want to love Jihu."
Hannah paused. Then her eyes widened. "You're... absolutely right."
"Mmhm!"
Hannah laughed. "...You sly woman. You planned this."
"Yep~!" Flone leaned against Hannah and said, "Praise me more~"
Hannah rolled her eyes. "You spent too much time around Jihu..." Even so, she reached out and patted Flone's head.
"Heehee~"