Withered (Michaeng) ✔️

Chapter 45: The Root 🥀

We took a look.
We saw a nook.
On his head,
he had a hook.
On his hook,
he had a book.
On his book,
was "How To Cook"

We saw him sit,
and try to cook.
He took a look, 
at the book on the hook.

But a nook can't read,
so a nook can't cook.
SO....
what good to a nook,
is a hook cook book?

Chaeyoung stops reading and peek to the girl who lay down on the bed, "Nook sounds like someone. Do you know who?" He asks jokingly as Mina responds with a death glare. The guy laughs before he leans down towards Mina's bump then covers his mouth secretively as he whispers something to their baby.

"I know how to read and she can't hear you" Mina roll her eyes playfully as she caresses her stomach.

"But you don't know how to cook and.. not really, the baby will start to hear between 23 weeks and 27 weeks" He defends as he pulls away to fix his position, getting down off the chair and sits cross-legged on the floor to makes it easy for him not to bend down each time he wanted to have any connection with the baby.

"Well, then she can't understand you"

Chaeyoung looks up and scrunches his nose "Bitter" He mutters then back again with the whispering thingy leaving Mina out of the conversation. It bothers her as he keeps glancing while nodding and laughing. Though the act looks stupid yet cute, it makes her feels like an outsider. She pouts and clicks her tongue while crossing her arms against her chest, sulking.

Mina's breath suddenly hitched when she feels a twitch in her stomach. She quickly gazes down and witnesses Chaeyoung's shocked expression. The guy shifts his eyes to her and back to her stomach before he breaks into laughter.

"Even she agreed with me! Look at her kicking" He laughs.

She affords him a deadpan look and a crack of sarcasm. "Yeah, yeah whatever. Don't tell the baby lies!" She complains in a rising whine.

"I'm not" He chuckles as he pulls away, picking up the book and turn to the next pages. Chaeyoung clears his throat and starts reading again to create a positive bond between him and their child as well as providing a wind-down before bedtime. It's a point that he has a poetic voice---a well-pitched, good rhythm---that sounds just perfect and pleasant to hear.

The moon was out.
and we saw some sheep,
We saw some sheep.
take a walk in their sleep,

By the light of the moon.
by the light of a star,
they walked all night,
from near to far,

I would never walk.
I would take a car.

A giggling sound is heard and Chaeyoung knows to well the reason for it. "And...that sounds like someone. I wonder who?" She mocks and now it is him shooting daggers at her.

"I've stopped sleepwalking okay. Only when we were kids" He explains which only earn a smirk from her. Mina shrugs and tilts her head to the side. "I'm just saying. But who is that boy that freaks out when he realized he just transported from his bedroom to the yard?" A grin creeps across her face. She uses her arms as a pillow and turns her body to the side while maintaining eye contact with him.

"Do you like gardening that much?" Mina snickers asking something that equally in the middle of a joke and real question.

Chaeyoung arcs his brows and lets out a scoff of disbelief "Gardening is an instrument of grace. It teaches patience, careful watchfulness and above it all, it teaches entire trust. Plus, it is about the joy to see them grow and bloom and it makes life more colourful and brighter. So, don't judge" He states while shaking his head, "What would a bookworm knows about gardening?" He unknowingly vocalizes his thought and Mina doesn't fail to catch his words.