parallel lines
Minjeong sits in the toilet of her apartment, clammy hands grasping the little pink stick. her period's late. she stares at the messenger of her fate. wavering eyes barely hold the sight of parallel lines, etched upon the test
she's pregnant.
her life up until now had encompassed around working as a lawyer, a vocation she dearly loved, waking up early to go to the gym, and meeting up with her best friend, jimin. oh jimin... how was she going to explain herself? her best friend was the pillar of her life, the same steadfastness and stubbornness that once thoroughly comforted her in times of need was so terribly frightful in this very moment. the only possibility for who the father was is her ex-boyfriend, jisung, who moved to america around a month ago. sitting on her porcelain toilet bowl, she gradually felt as her breathing shallowed. she decided to go shower and then contemplate her future. one of the many benefits of being a lawyer who witnesses many horrendous acts is the ability to compartmentalise certain thoughts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
taking a seat on her couch, a towel strewn across the back to protect it from her still damp hair from ruining the leather, she took out a moleskin notebook and pen. she would need to be rational about what she was about to do from here on out. there seems to be so much to do, with so little time. minjeong had already decided that she wanted to keep the baby, although she agrees that abortion is a right, it is one that she does not personally want for herself. she had thoughts of being a mother but only after a certain point in her career. she knew she was doing well as a 27-year old junior partner in a large law firm in Seoul, but she always had problems with time management and she wanted to be a present mother for her child.
she needed to tell jisung, as well as jimin. jisung deserved to know his child and she intended to keep him within the loop at least if he wanted to.
on the topic of jimin, she really had no idea what she was supposed to do. jimin had always been the more emotional and volatile of the two. there were only 3 ways she imagined her reaction. one being pure mortification, followed by a holding of minjeong's funeral. the second being shipping herself across the world from her software engineering job in london, just to properly hand out justice against minjeong. and thirdly, would be a swift cutting of the phone line after a barrage of curse words pummel minjeong.
fortunately for minjeong, one of the sliver linings of having dead parents was that she didn't need to go through the humiliating process of admitting that she had a child out of wedlock. but admitting the same thing to jimin is honestly 3 times worse. she had no other friends nor close coworkers she could confide in, being a lone wolf in the firm, keeping her distance from other colleagues. a prerequisite in minjeong's mind to achieving a successful career.
after a few seconds pass by, minjeong decides to inform jisung first. there was no way she would risk having jimin kill her before she even meets the kid.
belatedly, minjeong briefly questions her finances and then quickly reminds herself that another benefit of her parents being dead was that she inherited everything in their will. she would of course not need any more space as it was in her penthouse, but she would need to set up a meeting with her doctor soon.
picking up her phone and going to jisung's contact number, she presses the call button.
"hey"
"minjeong? why are you calling me now? isn't it midnight in seoul?"
she glances at her clock, the hands pointing to 2:14AM. she should be asleep, but something tells her there are more urgent matters to attend to. contrary to popular belief (to jimin), minjeong and her ex actually did not break up in flames. he just ended up being gay, and moving to pursue his dreams of being a chef. there were no hard feelings and he remains in her close friend group (which is just him and jimin).
after a beat of silence minjeong hears something on the line again.
"hey, are you ok? i can hear you breathing but you're not saying anything. did i leave something back in your apartment? do you need any help from me?"
belatedly, minjeong realises her heart-rate is out of control. with shallow breathes of air, she gulps and decides to take the leap of faith.
"im pregnant"
"..."
"im pretty sure you're the father"
"minjeong... im the in states right now, i don't have any idea how im supposed to take care of a child. i.. just... are you considering abortion?"
"i've decided to keep the baby already, i just want to know if you want to be involved, im being considerate here."
"fuck...i can't take care of the kid, i'll be there for you at some point, but what about all of the doctor's appointments, and the taking care of you'll be needing, what about... im drawing blanks here but like what about... everything, minjeong. this is another human here we're talking about."
"honestly... i don't know. i'll figure something out, but i only know im going to keep the child."
"what about jimin?"
"what about her?"
" minjeong... you and i both know the real reason we broke up. and don't spew nonsense about me being gay. im bisexual. its you who is gay."
"ughh... you're being too free here, you just knocked me up and you're judging me for my love life?"
"sorry, im still in shock about the whole thing, you know... being a dad. but like, have you told her?"
"...no"
"im dead. there is no way im going to be alive by the end of this. we're so screwed, jimin's going to kill us."
"... she's not not going to kill us, but... i want to believe she'll spare me for being pregnant"
" more like because you're the love of her life, or should be. but you're right, she would have elbow slammed your stomach if you werent doubling your horsepower as of now. minjeong... i still want to be present the child's life, even if im hundreds of miles away. you're still one of my best friends."
"of course. you are too, thanks jisung"
" for what?"
"you know, anyways theres still a lot we need to discuss..."
after hours of contemplation, minjeong decided to go to sleep after which she would go and call jimin. in jisung's words she "can't keep avoiding her". if only she knew how that phone call would end up changing her life.