AAE -- For Better For Worse

Part 2 -- Chapter 01

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

A heavy shower started falling, but the couple embracing in the middle of the street paid no attention, having eyes only for each other. Passing smoothly on both sides, traffic adjusted to the pair as more an object of curiosity than a safety hazard. With nothing more to see, gradually the crowd gawking from the sidewalks dispersed to seek cover.

 

Eventually, the downpour could no longer be ignored, and Sun-Mi and Hyung-Chul, soaked to the skin, hand-in-hand and laughing at their foolishness, made a mad dash for his car.

 

 

Mindful of the previous time Sun-Mi had been soaked in the rain, Hyung-Chul doesn't want to waste a moment before getting her warm and dry.

 

"Let's go to your house, it's closer," he decides as the dark blue BMW starts moving.

 

"Ever since that day with all the roses, the neighborhood busybodies have been watching like hawks," Sun-Mi warns, overruling him. "So we'll have to go to your place instead."

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

Once Sun-Mi was in the shower, Hyung-Chul sent out their suits, soiled by water splashed up from the street, to a 24-hour cleaner. Aware that she had eaten little at the restaurant, he busied himself with preparing something to eat.

 

Meanwhile, after drying off, Sun-Mi donned Hyung-Chul's dress shirt she had borrowed to wear until her suit was returned. Looking in the mirror, she smiled with amusement at how the oversized garment draped her petite frame, shirttails hanging almost to her knees and long sleeves rolled up to the elbow.

 

Towel-drying her hair, the sparkle of the diamond on her finger draws her attention, reminding Sun-Mi of Joo-Hee's admonitions ...

 

"You really are naive. Didn't you wonder why one of Seoul's most eligible bachelors never married, despite a long line of hopefuls?" ... "You're a Cinderella waiting for a Prince who will never bring the glass slipper back to you. Any ideas you hold are a fairy tale dream."

 

Yet the naive, clumsy, Cinderella had succeeded where all others, including beautiful, intelligent Huh Young-Mi and sophisticated, high-class Yoo Joo-Hee, had failed. She had won the heart of the Prince, and her unlikely fairytale story had come true.

 

Then, as earlier on the street, excitement and happiness flood her heart to overflowing as she recalls Hyung-Chul's proposal ...

"Will you marry me? ... Don't go to London -- without me! ... I love you."

 

"True Love is for real, and True Hearts possible!" she exults, justified in her beliefs.

 

 

Coming out of the bathroom, still flushed from the hot shower and radiant in her felicity, Sun-Mi is an entrancing sight for Hyung-Chul.

 

"Why are you gaping at me like that?" she asks, self-conscious under his rapt stare.

 

"You look so ... so ..." he stumbles in his words, unable to express his bursting feelings.

 

Smiling widely, Sun-Mi coyly offers some options, "Dazzling? Stunning? Exquisite?"

 

"All of those, and more," he concurs, taking her into his arms, until a muted growl from Sun-Mi's stomach interrupts their embrace.

 

 

Hyung-Chul had prepared the only food readily available in the house, ramen and eggs, with kimchi on the side. He opens a bottle of semi-sweet Riesling, and after a toast to their engagement, Hyung-Chul watches as Sun-Mi satisfies her hunger pangs.

 

When the last noodles are slurped down and her bowl and glass are empty, Sun-Mi sighs contentedly.

 

 

"Thank you, Senior. It was delicious," she commends him, a bit chagrined that she had not cooked their first meal together herself.

 

"I've chilled champagne, to celebrate properly later," he informs her, intending to keep Sun-Mi as long as possible before sending her home. "By then, your suit should be back from the cleaners."

 

"Senior, there's something I'd like to know," she broaches the subject of her curiosity since his proposal. "You said you'd go to London with me. How is that possible?"

 

"I plan to take a leave of absence from MBS for now," he shares his plans. "I'm investigating the options for a new job in London, long term. Why?"

 

"Oh ... nothing," she replies, not wanting to discuss the matter further, instead offering, "While you shower, I'll clean up here."

 

 

The few dishes are quickly washed and dried while Hyung-Chul is in the bathroom. With nothing else but to wait, Sun-Mi sits at the table, thinking over the consequences of his answer.

 

"Then it's true! Senior is willing to give up MBS -- for me!" the realization of what Joo-Hee had said startling her.

 

"If GM Kim takes over, the fate of our Company, and the jobs of thousands, may be in serious jeopardy." Joo-Hee's dire warning resonates with Sun-Mi's concerns for others. But marrying Hyung-Chul would not only threaten the well-being of her friends and colleagues, it would sever his family relationships, particularly with his father. Treasuring a close relationship with her own father, how can she deny the same to him?

 

Sun-Mi gazes wistfully at the ring on her finger, which until a few moments ago had filled her heart with elation. Now, the sparkle of the diamond has lost its luster. How can she selfishly put her happiness above the welfare of so many others?

 

"If there was only another way," she wishes mournfully that somehow they could be together AND he could retain his position at MBS and with his family. But Joo-Hee was painfully correct ... "There's no place for you in Hyung-Chul's future."

 

She sighs despondently, despair dragging her euphoric happiness down to earth. Again, she will have to give up the man she loves to another woman. With Woo-Jin, her heartbreak was over an unrequited love, and time could ease that sting, but now ... this is her True Love. How can she bear it?!

 

Eying the bottle of Riesling, Sun-Mi pours herself a full glass and quaffs it down, following with another, intent on easing the tightening knot wringing her inside-out, a hurt becoming so intense she can't breathe ...

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

 

Later, when Hyung-Chul emerges from the bathroom, garbed in a short terrycloth robe, he finds Sun-Mi at the table, head resting on her folded arms, fast asleep. Noting the empty bottle, he surmises the situation with a knowing smile and a shake of his head.

 

Going over to his bed, he draws the covers back. Grabbing a pillow and another blanket, he next makes up a bed for himself on the couch. Then, carefully picking Sun-Mi up so she doesn't awaken, Hyung-Chul ferries her to the bed and lays her down, head on the pillow. She stirs slightly, then lies still except for the slight rise and fall of her chest from shallow breaths.

 

He pauses to take a picture with his eyes -- Sun-Mi in peaceful slumber, cheeks flushed pink from the wine, full lips parted invitingly. A real-life, enchanting Sleeping Beauty, waiting for a magical kiss! For a moment Hyung-Chul is tempted to steal that kiss and indulge himself once more. But restraint wins out, and instead he contents himself with sending her a telepathic message.

 

 

As he starts to straighten up, Sun-Mi's long dark lashes flutter, signaling her gradual return to consciousness.

 

"Stay with me," she murmurs drowsily. "I don't want to let you go."

 

"You needn't worry. I'll be in the living room if you need me," he guarantees his nearby presence.

 

 

But Sun-Mi raises her arms and circles his neck, pulling him closer. "I've something to tell you first," she hints.

 

Gazing down, Hyung-Chul is captivated in the dark, placid pools of her eyes. "What is it?"

 

"I received your telepathic message," she informs him teasingly.

 

Hyung-Chul recalls what Sun-Mi had told him one night at her gate, after he had sent a telepathic message hoping to call her out... "You know, they say telepathy only works if two people truly care for each other."

 

"Then, it really does work?" he expresses his surprise.

 

"Of course!" Sun-Mi chides, as she flashes an alluring smile to entice his response, "So what are you waiting for?"