AAE -- For Better For Worse

Chapter 20

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

As a child, Sun-Mi had often frequented the playground of this small neighborhood park. Growing up, it was her sanctuary to escape the confines of home and center her mind and emotions. She recalled the last time they had come there, also late one night when Hyung-Chul had appeared without notice at her gate, forcibly dragging her out despite her protests.

 

"I'm going to do things my way now. I'm not going to listen to what you say. You're going to listen to me," he had demanded, telling her, "I won't ever say we should break up again. I promise."

 

 

But even the best intentions fail when pressed by the harsh reality of life, Sun-Mi reminds herself as they step onto the bricked walkway leading into the leafy park. The man she loves with all her heart now has no choice but to leave her and take his fated place beside another woman. Last night she had thought it over and made up her mind. She would let him go, as she had let Woo-Jin go, and wish her love a happier life without her.

 

The park is empty and silent except for the occasional chirping cricket.

 

"What is it you wanted to talk about?" Hyung-Chul finally asks.

 

"I confirmed with the London Bureau manager early this morning," she informs him. "I'm leaving next week."

 

"That's great ..." he replies, trying to sound positive. "Let me know if there is anything you need, and I'll do it for you."

 

 

Sun-Mi takes a deep breath to settle her nerves before she broaches the real topic she wants to discuss. "Joo-Hee told me that she broke up with Sun-Dal and called off her wedding."

 

"I'd heard that, too," Hyung-Chul nodded. "Sun-Dal is taking it all pretty hard."

 

"Do you know why Joo-Hee would do such a thing?"

 

"I suppose she had her reasons," he answers vaguely, not wanting to open the issue if Sun-Mi didn't already know.

 

"I thought she'd want the correspondent position back, but she said I should still go, that she had something more important to do here. Do you have any idea what that could that be?" Sun-Mi persists.

 

"No," he lies, shaking his head. "You'll have to get it from her."

 

 

Sun-Mi stops walking, drops his arm, and turns to face Hyung-Chul. "What do you think of a person who deliberately withholds something important, and leads another person to believe something that wasn't true?" she asks. "Like Joo-Hee did, with Sun-Dal."

 

"I would say that the first person doesn't fully trust the second person," Hyung-Chul answers thoughtfully. "Why do you ask?"

 

"Because ... there's something you aren't telling me. I can sense it."

 

"Okay," he relents, "I'm not exactly happy about you going to London, if that's what you mean."

 

Sun-Mi is disappointed that he still won't confirm or deny what Joo-Hee had told her. "That's it? Nothing more?"

 

"Were you expecting something else?"

 

"Because I'd heard ..." she pauses to rephrase her words before continuing, hoping to provide an easy exit ramp for him. "When I go to England, I might be away for three years, or more. I don't feel that it's right for me to keep you waiting any longer. I can understand if you decided to move on with your life."

 

"I made a promise," he reminds her staunchly. "I'm willing to wait, as long as it takes."

 

 

So much for trying to let him down easy... So Sun-Mi launches her rehearsed breakup speech...

 

"The last time I went to England, I left behind circumstances that I didn't know how to deal with, divided about my feelings. That time it was Woo-Jin and my refusal to stop clinging to him. I won't repeat the same mistake again."

 

Hyung-Chul starts to feel uneasy. "What are you saying?"

 

"This time I want to make a new life for myself, have new experiences, meet new people, and become a different person ... on my own," she spells out her intentions. "I won't hang onto the past like before. The painful memories are too hard..."

 

"I understand your feelings about Kim Woo-Jin," he sympathizes, "how hard it must be that he is gone."

 

"This isn't about Woo-Jin," Sun-Mi rebuts the faulty assumption. "It's about you, and me, and what has to happen if we are both going to move forward ..."

 

The uneasiness now churning in his gut, warns Hyung-Chul of what is about to come.

 

"I don't want anything, or anyone, to hold me back," she declares, "but that's not possible in these circumstances."

 

 

Sun-Mi pauses to take a breath, reminding herself that this is necessary, and resolves to finish strong.

 

"Senior, I want you to be happy. You have to be happy, without me," she states the rehearsed words firmly and unemotionally, although they cut through her own heart as she speaks them.

 

"So ... let's ... break ... up ..."