Contract Marriage 18+ [A Hopekook Fanfiction] ✓

9.1🥀

That day signaled a turning point in their rocky relationship, the peace remained and along with it a mutual, ever-deepening respect blossomed between them. Jeon consulted her on some of his business decisions, seeming to value her opinions and take her advice and, taking her cue from him, Hobie started asking for his opinions on some of her designs and developed a keen admiration for the eye he seemed to have for quality jewelry. With his encouragement she started attempting more difficult pieces using new mediums and she was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Life was better but by no means perfect, they still slept apart at Hobie's insistence, and even though he still accompanied her to all of her doctor's appointments and was even her coach at the natural childbirth classes she had started attending, Hobie hardly ever talked to him about the baby and did her utmost to discourage any discussion he may want to have about it. Soobin was meant to be her coach but her cousin had her hands full with Chaebin and promised to be there for the birth but could not put in the time commitment at the classes. That, of course, meant that Jeon was nothing more than a temporary replacement which she knew grated on his ego. Jungha still loomed large between them and even though Hobie was careful never to mention the other woman's name; she was never far from Hobie's mind.

Jeon had gone to Japan a couple of times during the past three months and after compulsively checking the Internet for any news about him while he was away, she had finally found pictures of the two of them together, attending some glamorous function in Milan. She couldn't read the japanese article but it had been an extensive four page spread on the event and Jeon and Jungha, as the captions had identified her, had been two of the most beautiful people there, so there had been at least a dozen pictures of them smiling, dancing and drinking. Jeon had looked so relaxed and happy with the statuesque, gorgeous brunette on his arm, that Hobie had been unable to stop staring at the pictures. That was how he should have looked on their wedding day, carefree and in love. Instead his face had looked like it would crack wide open if he so much as tilted his lips at the corners. It had physically hurt her to see those pictures but the one that had torn her apart had been of him, bending down to drop a kiss onto his Jungha's full, pouting red lips. Never had she seen two more evenly matched people.
Hobie sighed and shook herself slightly, as she found herself thinking of that picture again. It had been more than a month since she'd seen it and she hadn't mentioned it to Jeon, knowing that it would achieve little, especially with their separation looming less than three months away. She ran a gentle hand over the football sized mound of her stomach, trying to ease the restlessly moving baby beneath her touch. She had no right to be jealous... even though they had a much better relationship now than they'd had during the first year and a half of marriage, they were married in name only and would separate as soon as the baby was born.

She had started decorating the nursery and Jeon, who had thrown a fit one day when he'd returned from the office early to find her perched on a ladder attempting to paint the walls, had done the painting. She spent a great deal of time in the nursery, adding little touches here and there, often going out and shopping for furniture and toys. There really was very little left to do but she still kept adding little stuffed toys and tiny infant sized clothes. The colour scheme was cream and pale lilac. She had started out with blue but had come home from visiting Soobin one day to find that Jeon had changed to colour to something more "gender neutral" as he'd put it. She hadn't protested it too much because she had found the new colour scheme soothing and prettier than the blue on white she'd had planned. She also found Jeon's touches elsewhere in the nursery... he bought toys, girls' toys. Stuffed dolls, teddy bears, toy ponies, anything a little girl's heart could possibly desire. Hobie chose not to acknowledge them in any way and every time she came across one, usually insiyouusly hidden amongst the toys she had bought, she would relegate it to the corner furthest from the beautiful crib that they had selected together. There was a quite a collection forming in the area which she had dubbed Toy Siberia. She did not know why he kept buying those things and she refused to ask. He never mentioned the heap of toys that she had stowed in the corner, just kept doggedly adding more and more to the nursery.

Their two hours three times a week had branched out into a few hours every day. There was no longer a time limit on the amount of time they spent together because Hobie had stopped enforcing it once it became clear that Jeon was going to sneak a little time every day and it just became easier to pretend not to notice it. Hobie's health continued to fluctuate, her pregnancy being a lot more difficult than she, Jeon or the doctor had ever anticipated. She had been diagnosed with pre-eclampsia the month before, Jeon had turned into a paranoid old woman about what she could and could not do. He had even stopped going into the office, working from home and hovering twenty-four/seven. She didn't know how she would get through the final two months of her pregnancy without resorting to some form of violence because the man was driving her completely crazy.