AAE -- For Better For Worse

Part 3 -- Chapter 05

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

 

The new charges brought against her father stun Sun-Mi...

 

"Daddy?" she gasps, "A murderer? It can't be!"

 

Eyes wide, she stares blankly at Hyung-Chul, mouth agape, her face going white.

 

Fearing she is about to faint, he puts the phone on mute and rushes to the kitchen, returning with a glass of water.

 

"Drink this."

 

Supporting Sun-Mi with one arm behind her back, he holds the glass to her lips and helps her take a swallow, then another, watching worriedly for the color to return to her cheeks.

 

 

"Sun-Mi?" Jin-Suk voice over the speaker phone is puzzled at the lengthy silence. "Are you still there?"

 

Hyung-Chul takes the phone off mute.

 

"Yes, Ms. Song," he confirms, answering for Sun-Mi, "It's just such a shock to hear this."

 

 

"I know, it was to me, too," Jin-Suk replies. "I don't know what to think. I'm sure he'll be proved innocent in the end, but..."

 

"Can you tell us more?" Hyung-Chul requests. "Who did they say was murdered?"

 

"Huh Young-Mi's father. Supposedly he had learned of the erroneous accounts and threatened to go to the authorities, just before he died in that construction accident," she details the charges. "Now the District Attorney is calling it a suspicious death, and indicted your father as the prime suspect. The police were about to arrest him when he collapsed."

 

 

"I'll have my lawyer in Seoul hire the best defense attorneys in the country," Hyung-Chul promises. "I'll also see if he can be moved to Mun-Young Hospital. They have Korea's top cardiac recovery department. Don't worry. Everything will turn out all right."

 

"Thank you, Director. It's so hard, with Woo-Jin gone, being alone, and now this! I'm just overwhelmed," she shares her distress. "I apologize for asking, yet I'd feel so much better if Sun-Mi were here. But I know how important her job is to her."

 

 

Meanwhile, Sun-Mi has recovered her wits. "Auntie, you don't need to worry. I'll come and stay with you and Daddy, as long as it takes."

 

"Ms. Song, Sun-Mi and I will be on the first flight back," Hyung-Chul assures her. "We'll ring off now, but call us again if there's any new developments."

 

"Sun-Mi, I'm sorry, bringing you such bad news," Jin-Suk frets.

 

"Please rest and take care of yourself," Sun-Mi advises her aunt. "We'll see you soon."

 

"Goodbye, then."

 

"Goodbye."

 

 

With the call ended, Hyung-Chul and Sun-Mi just sit, processing the sudden turn of events.

 

Sun-Mi finally breaks the silence. "When you told me they might attack Daddy if we married, I didn't think it could come to this."

 

"We don't know, for a fact, that it is related," Hyung-Chul cautions. "Maybe it's just a coincidence."

 

"You know it's not!" Sun-Mi responds vehemently. "It only happened, because of what I chose! I knew Daddy's concerns, but I went ahead, anyway, and now I've ruined everyone's lives, by selfishly seeking my own happiness first!"

 

"But, Sun-Mi..."

 

"Don't say any more!" she shouts, cutting him off. "Because of me, Daddy is in the hospital, and might die! Because of me and my foolishness!"

 

Hyung-Chul, not knowing how to respond to her self-directed fury, watches as Sun-Mi breaks down, crying. Hiding her face, she rushes to their bedroom and slams the door. Following Sun-Mi, he hears her bawling inside, wracked by deep, choking sobs.

 

"Sun-Mi?" he ventures reaching out. "May I come in?"

 

"Go away! I never want to see you again!" she rejects his overture, shouting through the closed door.

 

" You're just upset, you don't mean that," he tries rationalizing her anger at him. "You're not acting like yourself."

 

"What is acting like myself?! Did I make this happen on my own?! It's because of you, that I was so shameless! " she lashes out bitterly, "You made me like this!"

 

The accusation stings, even more so since he had only intended to comfort Sun-Mi. "If that's how you feel, fine! You can have your wish! Go back to your father, without me!" he angrily threatens in response. "I don't care if you never come back!"

 

"Then I won't!" she retaliates, mindless in her fury, "I hate you! I wish I'd never met you -- you bastard!"

 

 

Hyung-Chul flinches as if Sun-Mi had slapped him in the face.

 

"Why you ...!" he seethes, lost for words, then storms off down the hallway, to his office, and slams the door.

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

A few hours later, Hyung-Chul, after listening through their bedroom door and hearing nothing, cautiously enters. Sun-Mi is lying on the bed, asleep. He tries to approach her silently, but as he nears, she senses his presence and opens her eyes, still red and swollen from weeping.

 

Sitting on the bed next to Sun-Mi, he takes her hand in his. At his urging, she sits up, and he envelopes her in his embrace.

 

 

"Senior, I'm sorry, spouting my anger at myself out onto you," she rues her outburst, "Rejecting you, when you just wanted to help me."

 

"I'm sorry, too, for being so harsh," he apologizes, "I knew how much you were hurting, but I only thought about my own feelings."

 

"You said those things, only because I egged you on with such hateful words," she takes the full blame on herself. "But, honestly, I didn't mean them. You have to believe me!

 

"I've already forgotten them," he assures her.

 

"Still, you're my husband. I made a promise to stay together, for better or worse," she recalls her vows, "and with the first bit of trouble, I turned against you. You must be so discouraged with me."

 

"Nonsense! You said that you believed God brought us together. That means you're the best wife he could have chosen for me."

 

His avowal brings tears of happiness to her eyes.

 

"I don't know about that, but I know you're the best husband God chose for me!" she gushes, eagerly throwing her arms around his neck, overjoyed that their row was behind them. ""You're always so good to me, when I don't deserve it!"

 

 

Her mind put at ease again, Sun-Mi moves on to the next issue that pops up to trouble her. "But what are we going to do? When Daddy sees me, like this, he'll have another heart attack!"

 

Hyung-Chul can't help but to smile at his wife's constant fretting.

 

"Don't think about that. We'll deal with it, when we have to. You need to go to your father. I already booked our flight out of Heathrow tomorrow night," he updates her on the status of their travel plans. "You'll be home, with your father and Ms. Song, soon."

 

"No. My home is here, with you, my husband," she corrects, bringing her lips to his, backing her words with action.

 

 

From that lingering kiss, gradually their passion spreads, consuming every other thought and worry into oblivion, rising in intensity until their love surpasses the hate of their falling-out, sweeping them along in its ecstatic surge that carries them to the cusp of carnal oneness.

 

"Be careful of the baby," Sun-Mi whispers a reminder into Hyung-Chul's ear, just before the fireworks explode and engulf them in a blaze of rapturous bliss...

 

 

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

In the middle of the night, Hyung-Chul is roughly awakened by Sun-Mi's insistent hand shaking his shoulder. Still woozy, he opens bleary eyes to make out '3:00 AM' on his bed stand alarm clock.

 

"What is it, Sun-Mi?" he grumbles, still barely awake.

 

"Something's wrong, Senior! It hurts so much!" she gasps frantically, just as a shudder elicits a deep groan from her throat.

 

He is suddenly alert. "Where?"

 

"Here." She guides his hand to her swollen belly.

 

 

Hurriedly, Hyung-Chul turns on the bedside light. Sun-Mi is wide-eyed with anxiety, brow beaded with sweat, breathing rapidly in short harsh gasps.

 

"Uhhhhh..." she moans again, squeezing her eyes shut, her face contorting from the pain.

 

 

His hand on her forehead confirms Sun-Mi is burning with fever. Hyung-Chul throws back the covers, hoping to help cool her off. The bed sheet underneath her is soaking wet.

 

"We need to get you to the hospital," he insists worriedly, thinking her water has broken.

 

But as she tries to sit up, Sun-Mi cries out from the sharp pain that results.

 

"Don't move. I'll call an ambulance," Hyung-Chul quickly decides instead.

 

 

He starts to move, to get to a phone, but Sun-Mi clings tenaciously to his hand. "Senior, I'm so scared!" she panics, terror-stricken, "What's happening to me?"

 

"Don't worry, everything will be all right," he tries to calm her with assurances, even as his own fears are rising.

 

Then he sees, horrified, the bright red blood staining the sheet between her legs...