AAE -- For Better For Worse

Part 2 -- Chapter 05

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

That afternoon, the extended Yoon and Yoo clans came together in the Diamond ballroom of the five star Mun Yung Millennium Seoul Hotel. Expectations were running high for the culmination of a decades-long plan to meld two prominent families and consolidate control of one of Korea's greatest chaebols.

 

Joo-Hee, stunning in a custom designed Vera Wang gown, waited in a small side room. This was a bittersweet day of mixed emotions for her. Feelings of personal loss, of sacrificing her hopes for love in exchange for something greater than herself, a destiny thrust upon her.

 

Yet over it all hung the specter of her first engagement, being jilted on the appointed day when Hyung-Chul instead flew off to England.

 

She had started this day expecting a different result, ironically, because of his love for another woman. Yet as the final hours counted off, Joo-Hee's anxiety began to rise. Her repeated calls to Hyung-Chul had gone straight to his phone voicemail service, and he had not called her back, setting off fresh worries of a reprised ending.

 

Then, an hour before they were to go before their assembled families, Joo-Hee had received shocking news: Hyung-Chul's BMW was spotted parked outside the Jin home. Now she was counting the minutes, pacing the room, frantic with worry over another betrayal and embarrassment.

 

 

At five minutes until two o'clock, the door opens, and Hyung-Chul appears. Relieved, Joo-Hee rushes to embrace him.

 

"I knew you'd come!" she greets him happily.

 

But her smile freezes when she sees that Hyung-Chul is casually dressed and his expression grim.

 

"I'm sorry, Joo-Hee," he tells her flatly, "but my answer is the same: I won't marry you."

 

 

Furious, Joo-Hee lashes out, slapping Hyung-Chul with full force across the cheek. "How could you do this to me ... again!" she rages at him.

 

Touching a hand to his stinging cheek, he defends his decision, "We could never be happy together, placing business before love."

 

"Do you think you'll be happy when everything you've worked for, are destined for, is taken away?!" she retorts.

 

"Happy or not, at least I'll have my integrity," he counters. "Standing for what I believe in, instead of selling out."

 

"For integrity you'd risk the well-being of the woman you profess to love?"

 

"I told Sun-Mi everything, and she still is choosing to stand by me," Hyung-Chul asserts confidently.

 

"That naive girl!" Joo-Hee replies scornfully. "All starry-eyed about True Love, she doesn't realize the consequences she's unleashing!"

 

"Sun-Mi is not involved in what happens between you and me and our families," he disagrees. "And the outcome is not determined. Your family is not the only one with influence in the Assistant Prosecutor's office."

 

 

Rebuffed, Joo-Hee makes a final appeal. "You really don't care at all about me, do you?"

 

"You're wrong. I do care, Joo-Hee," he assures her. "Even without Sun-Mi, I would do this, take the complete blame for your sake. This way you'll have the freedom to live as you choose."

 

"If living without you is freedom, I'd rather be chained together," she beseeches him. "You're the only man I've ever truly loved."

 

"Joo-Hee, you've never loved me, only what I represented in your romantic dreams," he disputes her contention. "I'd never be the man you wanted me to be. And when you finally realized that, you'd resent me, and this day, for the rest of your life."

 

"Let me be the judge of that!" she argues, tears sprouting in her eyes, "It's not too late for us, Hyung-Chul ... please ..."

 

 

Concerned by the non-show of the engaged couple, Director Yoo and Chairman Yoon enter the room together.

 

"What's going on?" Director Yoo demands angrily as he goes immediately to comfort his tearful daughter.

 

"I've decided not to marry Joo-Hee," Hyung-Chul answers bluntly.

 

 

Upset at his son's apparently last-minute change of heart, Chairman Yoon declares, "Either walk through that door with Yoo Joo-Hee, or you're no son of mine!"

 

Hyung-Chul glares back unapologetically at his father. "Go ahead, disown me! But I won't change my decision. My heart belongs to someone else, and I won't betray her."

 

"I'll see that you pay!" Director Yoo threatens. "You'll regret treating my daughter like this! You and your entire family!"

 

Joo-Hee, defending the man she still hopes to marry, pleads, "Daddy, this is between me and Hyung-Chul. Don't take it any farther than that!"

 

"Even if he would beg me now, this engagement is cancelled," Director Yoo snarls, ignoring her, "I've had enough of you Yoon's and your scandalous behavior!"

 

"Who are you calling scandalous?" Chairman Yoon growls back. "Why should my son marry a pitiful woman like your daughter?"

 

"Father, don't disparage Joo-Hee like that!" Hyung-Chul rebukes him. "She's not to blame, it's totally my decision."

 

 

But the two men, disregarding their children's wishes, square off for a rumble.

 

"Pitiful?" Director Yoo roars. "It's not my daughter who's at fault! Your son is a despicable jerk who doesn't care who he scandalizes!"

 

"Those are strong words! Are you prepared to back them up?!" the Chairman makes the challenge, brandishing a fist in the Director's face.

 

"You think I can't take you out, Old Yoon?" Director Yoo sneers back, raising his fist to the other man's.

 

 

Horrified that the situation is spiraling out of control, Joo-Hee and Hyung-Chul look at each other for support in what to do. Then they both step forward to intervene physically between their fathers.

 

Their pending brawl thwarted, the two elders drop their fists and back off, postponing their conflict to a later time.

 

 

"I'll make the announcement," Hyung-Chul offers. "After all, it is because of me that things have come to this."

 

"I'll go with you," Joo-Hee insists. "There's no hiding from the truth, so I might as well face the consequences now."

 

"There's no need. What are you going to say?"

 

"That although I don't agree, I won't hold on to you," she replies firmly, keeping her emotions in check.

 

 

They leave the room together, to deliver the unexpected news to their waiting families. Their fathers glare at each other, but for the moment set aside their differences, and follow Joo-Hee and Hyung-Chul in.