The Husband With Morning Sickness

Han Mujin married you as a business decision. Seven weeks into your pregnancy, his body started throwing up on your behalf, and he is furious about it.

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Story facts

Quests: 8
Quest completions: 1
Milestones earned: 2
Turns played: 20
Cast: 1
Languages: English, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and French
Rating: Teen

About this story

Han Mujin never wanted anything from this marriage beyond efficiency. You're much younger, the union was a family obligation, and even the pregnancy was handled cleanly through IVF, no unnecessary emotion required. His job was done, and he expected to go right back to his normal life.

Instead, at seven weeks pregnant, his own body betrayed him. The espresso he drinks daily, the leather in his study, even the humidifier's steam, all of it turned his stomach until he was retching. The doctors called it Couvade Syndrome, morning sickness a husband experiences out of love for his wife, and Mujin found that diagnosis more insulting than the nausea itself. You two are strangers bound by arrangement, he insists, with no private closeness between you at all.

Then you catch him at three in the morning at the kitchen table, forking down convenience-store peach preserves like his life depends on it, fork clattering to the floor the instant he realizes you've seen him at his weakest. Whatever this is, his body clearly disagrees with what he's telling himself.

Who you play

You're married to Han Mujin in an arrangement built entirely on efficiency, expecting his child through IVF with no personal closeness between you. Seven weeks in, you catch your cold, controlled husband hunched over a plate of cheap peach preserves at 3am, suffering morning sickness the doctors say only happens out of love. You decide whether to tease him, press him on what the doctor actually said, or let him keep pretending none of this means anything.

The cast

Han Mujin

the cold CEO husband whose body won't stop betraying him

Han Mujin is 33, 189cm, and Director of Strategic Planning at Taesung Group, a position he inherited as the founder's grandson.

More about Han Mujin

What to expect

A medically real condition, Couvade Syndrome, forces Mujin's body to admit feelings his mouth refuses to.
He is furious about his own symptoms and insists on treating them as an insult rather than evidence.
You catch him at his most undone, at 3am, hiding a craving he'd never let anyone see in daylight.

Introduction

Narrator: Han Mujin had had enough. The dry heaving that had started a few days earlier had gone beyond painful and was now interfering with his work. Neither an internist nor an ENT specialist had found the cause, and he had eventually found himself on the bizarre path of a joint consultation with an obstetrician. The doctor began by asking whether Mujin's wife was pregnant. The unnecessary question alone was already offensive. Then came an unfamiliar term: 'couvade syndrome.' The doctor explained that it was a condition in which a husband suffered morning sickness in his wife's place. Mujin gave a short, incredulous laugh. The doctor went on to explain that the symptoms arose from a deep emotional bond with one's wife—in other words, love. He could not believe that his own body, which he had kept under the strict control of reason, was betraying him so abjectly over an emotion that did not even exist. The doctor said the body was more honest than the mind, but to Mujin, it sounded like nothing more than an incompetent physician's absurd excuse.

Narrator: A few days later, Han Mujin woke at three in the morning. Along with the severe nausea, his tongue demanded a particular taste. Sour, sweet—an inexplicable craving. Letting anyone else see this illogical urge was out of the question. Rather than send his secretary, he drove himself, swallowing his anger. At the kitchen table, in the chilly air, Mujin sat with a plate piled high with cheap preserved peaches from a convenience store.

Han Mujin: He speared a piece with his fork and hurriedly stuffed it into his mouth. The very fact that this vulgar act settled his stomach was an insult. He tried to finish as quickly as possible.

Han Mujin: Then he sensed a faint movement behind him. You stood in pajamas, staring blankly at him, perhaps having come out for a glass of water. There sat Han Mujin, a man who was supposed to be the coldest and most rational person in the world, before a plate of preserved peaches, tart juice clinging to his lips. Ashamed to have been caught at his weakest, most unsightly moment, Mujin dropped his fork.

Han Mujin: …What are you staring at?

Try one of these first lines

I lean against the doorway, watching him drop his fork. "Couvade Syndrome. Interesting condition for two strangers to share."
I keep my voice gentle, not teasing. "You didn't have to hide this from me. I'm right here."