If The Moon Smiled, She Would Resemble You. You Leave The Same Impression Of Something Beautiful, But

If the moon smiled, she would resemble you. You leave the same impression of something beautiful, but annihilating.

Sylvia Plath, Ariel

Weverse Update // 240406

[Evelyn 🌟 240406] 12:00am KST

➙ happy birthday mingoo ~~ i love you

➙ ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Mingyu’s Reply 🌟 240406] 12:37am KST

➙ ilyy 😘❤️

eunbyeol

pairing :: eden x evelyn

word count :: 3.8k

synopsis :: eden's sister goes into labor

time :: december 19-20, 2023

warnings :: angst, mentions of pregnancies, giving birth, medicine, etc

a/n :: i apologize if this is not 100% medically accurate. i have never given birth myself and am going off what i’ve researched and have witnessed 🫡

taglist :: @cafemilk-tea @cixrosie @moonlight-additions @cosmicwintr @astraw-astro @ateezjuliet @fromfreesia @succulentmom @kimhyejin3108 @enhacolor @multiplums @alixnsuperstxr @meginthebuilding2727 @kang-ulzzang @hybesunstone @allthings-fandoms @itzy-eve @choihaneul @strmiu @angie-x3 @Kaitieskidmore1 @evaalopezzzz

Eden stares at her dark under eyes in the mirror as she brushes her teeth. She sees her phone budging slightly on the counter before hearing it vibrating. When she sees who’s calling her is Noah, her heart immediately sinks to the pits of her stomach.

Noah is not the type to just call Eden. So when he does call, it is usually something serious and necessary that is not fit to be told over text.

She quickly answers. “Hold on,” Her jaw juts forward to hold in her toothpaste as she slurs her words before spitting it out into the sink. She wipes her mouth with a towel before speaking. “Noah? Is everything okay?”

“Eden, well uhh,” He hesitates as if the words he’s trying to say are all scrambled out of order and he needs to put them back in place. “Evelyn’s water kind of broke.”

“Oh shit. Just now? What does ‘kind of’ mean?” Her body acts on its own, speed walking to her closet and pulling out a bag.

“Not kind of. Sorry. Her water has definitely broken. All over the kitchen floor an hour ago.” His words are protruding and Eden knows he is freaking out. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you sooner–”

“Hey, don’t apologize, it’s fine. This is your first child, it’s okay to be a little nervous. You’re at the hospital now?”

“Yeah, we just got settled in our room. Well, not really settled but she is all hooked up and stuff, so I stepped out to call you. I guess she’s been wanting me to call you ever since we left the house but if I’m being honest, I can’t remember anything from the last hour. Not even dinner. I must have blacked out.”

“That’s okay, you’re there now. Is it alright for me to come?” Eden wouldn’t know what to say or do if Noah had told her no.

“Absolutely. She needs and wants you here more than anybody. I want you here too, even if it’s for my own sanity.”

Despite her heart beating out of her chest and the hairs on her head prickling her scalp, it’s endearing to hear him say that. She can tell by the way he’s speaking that he needs someone to lean on right now.

“I know. I’m packing a bag and then I’ll be on my way. Can I do anything for you? Do you need coffee?”

“Oh yeah, coffee would be fantastic. Thank you, Eden.”

“No problem. See you soon. And Noah?”

He pauses for a moment before answering her. “Yeah?”

“Everything is gonna be okay. Take a second to catch your breath because Ev cannot do this without you here in the present.”

There’s another moment of silence as he takes in everything she just said. He exhales and Eden can hear how shakey his breathing is.“Okay. Thank you, Eden.”

She almost wants to stay on the phone with him while she’s on her way to the hospital but she knows he needs to let what she said to him sit for a while. She packs essentials that she’ll need for a few days since Noah and her will be the only family supporting Evelyn until after the holidays. Their parents wanted to visit around her due date but plans fell through and they could only come after New Years.

It had been a few years since Eden had been back in a hospital. It was difficult trying to navigate the building, finding the right elevators and whatnot. She thought she would feel sick but the maternity ward feels oddly cozy to her. That is until Noah comes into view. He’s kneeled in front of Evelyn’s room, his back against the wall as he rotates the wedding band on his finger.

“Noah!” Eden calls out and he shoots to his feet. Her heart aches when she can finally see him up close. He is pale, sweaty, and in obvious distress. No one would be surprised if he came out of this experience with forehead wrinkles.

“Hey.” His voice trembles and before he has time to process it, Eden is wrapping him into a big hug. He is tense and shaking, which makes her tighten her grip. He hesitates before hugging her back. It’s the last thing he thought he would ever need.

“Are you doing okay?”

“Well, I… not really.” Eden lets go of him to get a good look at him.

“What’s wrong?” She frowns with her eyebrows drawing together.

“I am so scared. She didn’t want the epidural, and she says she’s fine and wants nature to take its course, but god, she’s in so much pain. I know she is.” His voice breaks and she starts to feel tears well in her eyes. “For as long as I’ve known her, I’ve never seen her in this much physical pain. She’s trying to hide it but I know. I feel so helpless.”

“I know. For months she’s been telling me that she’s been debating on getting an epidural. Evelyn is a very strong woman. Even without the epidural, she will come out of this perfectly fine. You’re doing great, Noah. It’s going to be alright. Is this all that’s bothering you?”

He sighs, rubbing his face with his palms. “It’s never just one thing. I’m scared seeing her in pain, knowing I can do absolutely nothing about it or to take it away from her. I’m scared that watching her writhing in agony is gonna haunt my dreams for the rest of my life. I am so scared to be a father. I’m scared there’s gonna be more complications than the doctor is letting on. I am so scared that she will resent me for this.”

“Noah, look at me.” Eden snaps her fingers, crossing her arms and looking up at him intently. He complies, pressing his fingers into his palms. “We both know how stubborn she is. She wants nothing more in this life than to start a family, and with you. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her complain once. She’s seen the beauty in all of this, even the parts that most women would hate. She could never resent you, especially not for this. You’ve given her the one thing she’s wanted her entire life. She picked you to build the rest of her life with. This will be the hardest part but I know she’s excited to finally meet the joy you’ve created together. We just have to be there for her and try our best to make it easier for her, okay?”

She looks up at him, waiting for him to nod before patting him on the back. “Let’s go in then.”

Noah pulls the door open for her and she’s met with a spacious room. A nurse is charting, blocking her view of her sister until she steps closer. Evelyn is gripping the hospital bed, her face contorted in pain with her eyes shut. She’s trying to act like she’s fine but she is fooling no one. She’s making her best effort not to make any noise, even forgetting to breathe while she’s at it. She is so tense, completely unaware of the fact that Noah had stepped back in and Eden stands before her.

Noah was right. Eden has never seen her in this kind of distress ever. Not even the times she doubled over in pain from period cramps or trying to make sense of her body’s inability to make a child.

“Evelyn?” Eden rests her hand over her sister’s white knuckles. When she opens her eyes, she manages to force a smile.

“Eden, you’re here.”

“Of course I’m here.” Eden leans down, wrapping one of her arms around her sister and doing her best to be gentle. “How are you doing?”

“Never been better.” Lie.

“I can see that.” She raises her eyebrows. She feels Noah tap on her shoulder, letting her know he pulled a chair up next to the bed. “Are you ready?”

Evelyn rolls her eyes and they both know that her answer is no. 

They spend the next hour catching up, trying to distract Evelyn from her pain for just a little while. They make light of her water soaking the entire kitchen floor, no matter how embarrassing it is. Her sister eventually zones out of their conversation, leaving Eden and Noah to talk about things that have been happening recently. She doesn’t tell them, but she is thankful that they can provide her a little distraction to keep her here in the present.

But as the hours progress into the night, Evelyn’s pain intensifies. It’s becoming extremely difficult for Eden, Noah, especially her nurses to watch. But she is still insistent on no epidural. Even when her nurses tell her their own experience with epidurals and how much it helps, her sister cannot be convinced.

Eden decides to keep quiet for the sake of her sister, no matter how much it hurts to see her in pain. She can see how overwhelming it would be from her point of view to be talked into something she swore she wouldn’t get. She knows that Evelyn wants that sense of normalcy and authenticity for her birth. She can’t tell if she’s doing this to hang on to her independence or her pride, maybe even both.

A nurse asks Evelyn one more time before she excuses herself from the room, saying she’ll be back to check in. Eden waits till the door latches to get up from her chair, approaching the bedside to brush her fingers through her sister's hair. She leans down, kissing her forehead and paying no mind to the layer of sweat.

“Ev…” She smiles down at her, masking her own uneasiness from watching her.

“Eden.”

“You know, It’s okay if you want the epidural. No one's gonna shame you for getting it.” She pushes the hair stuck to her forehead back, tears forming in her eyes.

Eden feels terrible once Evelyn turns her head from her, her chest shaking as she begins to cry. She worries that she might’ve said the wrong thing. Noah quickly drags the swivel chair to her bedside, sitting down and grabbing his wife’s hand. He kisses the back of her hand before bringing it to his cheek, his own eyes becoming glassy.

Eden wipes her sister's tears away, her hand falling to rub her shoulder. “Why don’t you want it? It’s hard for us to see you like this.”

Evelyn does her best to collect herself so her words can be heard clearly. “I..I don’t know, I just—there’s so many pros and cons—I’m just so scared. I thought i was ready but I am so fucking scared, Eden. I don’t know if I can do this–”

“No, hey hey,” Noah envelops her hand in both of his palms, trying to stay strong. “You’re doing amazing. I’ve never been more proud of someone than I am of you right now.”

Eden smiles, quickly swiping her own tears away so her sister can’t see. “See? The fact that you’ve been doing all of this unmedicated for hours is mind-blowing.”

Evelyn squeezes her eyes shut, her crying only making her pain worse. “I don’t want to take the easy way out. I want to be brave.”

“Oh, Evelyn.” Eden drags a chair up to the bed, sitting down and holding her other hand. “You’re the bravest person we know. Look at everything you’ve been through from the day you were born. You are everything I aspire to be. All the trial and errors you both have been through to get to this moment is unthinkable. Getting an epidural does not discredit you from all you’ve had to endure up to this point. I think you deserve that much. This will be the hardest and greatest thing you go through, medicated or unmedicated. I will support whatever you choose to do because once this is all over, you will have gone through all the obstacles to give birth to a beautiful child that you both worked so hard to create, and you will be the best mother ever.”

The three share tears and Evelyn squeezes both their hands with all she has left in her. She cries harder after Eden has finished talking, only adding fuel to her pain. She takes two minutes to calm herself down, and another three for the words to sit and digest in her mind. When she’s finally ready, she opens her eyes and nods her head at both of them.

“Do you want it?” Noah’s eyes are red and her cheeks are stained from tears, but anyone can see the look of hopefulness in his features.

Evelyn can only nod. She watches her husband and sister release some of the tension in their bodies as she confirms it.

“It’s all gonna be okay, Ev.” Eden stands to her feet, leaning forward to kiss her temple. “I’m glad you said yes because this is the worst I’ve seen Noah ever. If you waited any longer, I was afraid he’d be hospitalized as well.”

Evelyn tries her best to keep from laughing but it’s no use. She snorts, covering her mouth and clutching her bump. Her face turns sour as she tries to minimize her laughing. “She’s right, honey. You look terrible.”

“Hey!” He lays his head flat on the bed, covering his face.

“He’s gonna be the type to pass out when you start to push.” Eden jokes.

Noah huffs, kissing Evelyn’s knuckles despite how embarrassed he is. “I’ll go tell the nurse.”

He leaves to hunt down the nurse, leaving Eden and Evelyn by themselves. They look at each other as soon as the door shuts and start laughing.

“Please don’t make me laugh. It hurts!” Evelyn inhales and exhales with her eyes closed to calm herself down.

“Sorry, sorry.” She makes her best efforts to stop laughing. When they both are back to normal, Eden can feel her heart ache from how much she cherishes her family. “I love you, I’m so proud of you.”

She began to grow worried as nurses and the doctor kept coming in and out of Evelyn’s room. She took no offense when her sister kicked her out of the room when it was time for her to push. She wanted to preserve the little bit of modesty she had left.

Noah hadn’t peeked his head out once to give her an update. She wasn’t sure why she was hoping for one when she knew that they were both on edge for the birth of their first child. So she roamed.

She went down to the lobby, coming across the gift shop that was just opening up.

“We’re opening, you can come on in!” The young woman smiled at Eden, gesturing inside. She didn’t realize she was staring into the window.

“Sorry, thank you.”

She only went in to look and managed to come out of the gift shop with two bags of items. She set her things down at a vacant table, taking a seat and staring off again. She felt pressure in her chest and she knew if she didn’t hear anything in the next hour, she would start freaking out. She set her purse on the surface, laying it out and pressing her cheek against the leather. She intended to count her breaths, but instead dozed off for 30 minutes.

Eden finally heard her phone ring, feeling the vibrations from inside her purse. She shuddered awake fast enough to give her a headache before searching her bag for her phone and answering.

“Hello?”

Noah sighed through the phone. “Hey, Eden. Sorry, I didn’t mean to leave–”

“It’s okay. It’s alright. How is she? Is everything okay?”

“Everything is perfect. She’s good. A little low on oxygen right now but she did it. I came out to grab you but you were gone. Are you ready?”

She grabbed her things, trying her best to walk as fast as she could without running, in fear that a hospital staff would scold her for rushing. “I was just in the lobby. I’m on my way.”

When she made it back to the maternity ward, Noah made it easier on her behalf when she saw him waiting at the elevators for her. He had a little bit of color to his face again, but he looked more drained this time.

He ushered her to her sister’s room. He took a deep breath before pushing and holding the door open for her. When she stepped in, she swore her heart stopped beating for a moment. She walked forward until Evelyn came into view, holding her newborn.

She gasped, dropping her bags carefully to the floor. The baby started cooing and Eden quickly covered her mouth with both hands, not realizing how loud her gasp actually was. Evelyn looked up with a smile on her face and that’s when Eden could feel the tears start to form.

“Evelyn, oh my god.” She whispered against her hands, slowly approaching the hospital bed.

“I know.” Her sister looked down at her child, running her thumb across the baby’s cheek.

Eden held her breath, holding her hair to one side as she leaned forward to get a closer look.

“Park Eunbyeol.”

Her eyes widened more, looking at her sister as the tears finally fell down her cheeks. “A girl?”

“Eunbyeol Evangeline Park. Born at 7:14am. Six pounds.” She tapped her fingers along the blanket that was swaddled around her.

“I-i don’t know what to say.” Eden’s lips quivered, pressing a kiss to Evelyn’s temple. “I mean, you look fucking–”

She stopped herself, sealing her lips shut once she realized she cursed.

“It’s fine. You should’ve heard all the profanities I was saying earlier.” Evelyn chuckled, causing Eunbyeol to stir in her arms. “Do you want to hold her?”

In her mind, the answer was already yes. She thought that it was maybe too soon for her to hold her yet. “Ev, I…”

“Come on, she wants her aunt to hold her.”

“I can’t possibly–”

“Eden, there is nothing I want more right now than to see my baby sister holding her little baby niece. Hold her before Noah snatches her away and neither of us can get her back.” She held Eden’s attention with a stern expression.

“Hey…” Noah pouted from behind Eden.

“I don’t know how… to hold a baby. What if I drop her?” She felt her hands start to sweat, her eyebrows sinking to a frown.

“You’re not going to drop her. Hold her like I am. See?” Evelyn nudged her head down, patting her hand against the baby blanket. Eden looked back at Noah, hoping he would show any objection, but he raised his eyebrows to encourage her.

She was so ready to be an aunt, she was counting down the days to Evelyn’s due date. Now that the time has finally come, she feels scared. She’s not afraid of Eunbyeol. She is more fearful that the second she holds her niece, she will begin to cry. She’s terrified it will shatter her trust in herself and ultimately establish her compatibility with children.

Eden pursed her lips, reaching her arms out to slip underneath Eunbyeol’s blanket. She is so careful with the baby, like she is the most fragile person on the face of the earth.

Eunbyeol coos from feeling the loss of her mother, but easing back into her peaceful state in seconds. Eden mimics the way her sister was holding her a moment ago. To her surprise, she fits in her arms just perfectly.

Eden studies her niece’s features, starting with the soft cotton of her hat. Her cheeks are flushed pink and she takes on Noah’s warm toned skin. She has the cutest nose and lips, shaped just like her mother’s. She sees the tiniest bit of hair sticking out from her hat.

She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until Eunbyeol opened her eyes, babbling as her tongue stuck out to press against her lips. That single noise alone was enough to bring her emotions to the surface. She couldn’t believe how calm she was for being held by a new person. Eden’s muscles relaxed and she clearly felt how tense she was in the moment. She pouted her lips, holding back her cries as more tears welled up in her eyes.

“Oh my god.” She whispered to herself, adjusting the blanket so she could see more of her face. “Ev, she’s perfect.”

“That’s all I’ve been saying since I met her.” She smiled, picking up her cup of ice chips while her hands were free. “She likes you.”

She looked back at her, feeling a little more hopeful. “You think?”

“I know. Call it mother’s intuition.”

Eden turned back to Eunbyeol, holding her in her arms and studying her mannerisms. “She’s so sweet. I just want to pinch her cheeks.”

Noah snickered, taking a seat beside the bed and beginning to massage Evelyn’s legs. She yawned, the exhaustion catching up to her from giving birth.

“Honey, why don’t you get us all some breakfast before I go into hibernation?” She tugged a stray strand of his hair. She pouted her lips into a frown, knowing he couldn’t resist her requests when she made that specific face.

“Are you two gonna be okay by yourselves?”

“Of course! Please, I’m starving.”

They all agreed on a food, leaving Eden and Evelyn together with Eunbyeol.

“It’s too bad he doesn’t get to have his N name legacy.” Eden joked, slowly rocking the girl in her arms.

“I think he completely forgot about it. All he wants is for both of his girls to be happy and healthy.” Evelyn tried to turn her body towards her sister. “It was so hectic. I thought he was going to pass out at one point.”

Eden pursed her lips, trying not to laugh too hard to disturb the baby. Her lips curled upwards as she traced imaginary lines of Eunbyeol with her eyes. “She’s so beautiful. I think I could watch her like this for hours.”

“Wait till you have a baby of your own.” She spoke softly with a smile.

Her mind wandered for a second, daydreaming about what having her own child would be like. She is positive that she’ll be immensely attached to them. She’s having a hard time even beginning to fathom what her sister feels when she looks at her daughter. She imagines it’s what Eden is feeling right now, but times an infinity.

She thought she had the tears at bay, but she could feel them escape once again.

“What’s wrong?” Evelyn reached out to stroke her head.

“I’m just… so happy for you. For the both of you. I know how difficult it’s been. No one deserves this more than you. She’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

“Trust me, I know. She pouted, swiping her tears away before they could fall down her face. “You’re gonna make me cry.”

“Sorry. Being sleep deprived makes me emotional.”

“You can try taking a nap on Noah’s bed.” She pointed towards the pull out bed. It looked anything but comfortable.

“Yeah…I’ll pass.”

I’ve Always Loved You

pairing :: jenn x youngjae

word count :: 3.0k

synopsis :: jenn and youngjae’s first time

time :: october 2021

warnings :: 🔞smut! with a dash of angst. read at your own risk!

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