AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 5

by LoveCR2

edited by All-About-AAE

 

"One never knows... at the top of a mountain, anything is possible, right?" -- Yoon Hyung-Chul

 

 

By the time Sun-Mi comes down, dressed and freshly made-up, a delicious aroma permeates the air. The table is set, and Hyung-Chul is at the stove, cooking breakfast.

 

Surprised, she blurts out, "What...?"

 

"Director Yoon volunteered, " her father explains.

 

"You?" She looks at him incredulously.

 

"I live alone, right?" Hyung-Chul replies with a boyish grin. "Someone has to do the cooking if I'm going to survive."

 

"Let's sit down," Kui-Sung declares. "You two can carry on while we eat."

 

 

They are all hungry and dig in voraciously.

 

"Senior, this is really good," Sun-Mi remarks, amazed at his cooking skills, even as she unfavorably compares her own limited ability, thinking... Is there nothing this man isn't accomplished at? What could I ever do for him that he can't do better for himself? ...

 

"I agree, Director," Kui-Sung praises Hyung-Chul. "Eat hearty, we'll all need a lot of energy today for the hike."

 

"Hike?" Sun-Mi is curious.

 

"Auntie and I agreed to go next time the weather was nice," Kui-Sung elaborates. "The forecast is for a gorgeous autumn day, so we're going, the four of us."

 

Sun-Mi's mouth drops. "FOUR?"

 

"Your father was kind enough to include me," Hyung-Chul clarifies off-handedly. "Since it's my day off, I had no excuse."

 

"A robust hike is good for the constitution!" Kui-Sung enthuses. "And for building harmonious relations in the family too, right Director?

 

"An apt observation, Sir," Hyung-Chul replies respectfully, exchanging a grin with Kui-Sung, as with a secret shared.

 

But Sun-Mi is livid over their insinuations, as she had been the night before. "Enjoy the hike, Director," she fumes. "I have other plans."

 

"On a Sunday?" Kui-Sung challenges his daughter. "What can be so important to miss a family outing? Besides, I'm leaving now to pick up Auntie, and Director Yoon needs someone to give directions after he goes home to change. He can't hike in that suit."

 

Seeing that she is outmaneuvered, Sun-Mi surrenders. "Okay, Daddy." But she gives Hyung-Chul the evil eye.

 

Kui-Sung gets up from the table and grabs a bag waiting by the door. "See you two later," he calls back as he hurries out.

 

Hyung-Chul looks at Sun-Mi, seeing she is still upset. "If you don't want me to come, I'll just send you and make an excuse," he offers.

 

Sun-Mi shakes her head, and accepts the situation reluctantly. "Daddy will know it's because of me. You can come."

 

 

AN HOUR LATER...

 

Kui-Sung and Song Jin-Suk are traveling together in his five-year-old Land Rover Discovery, as they near the hiking trailhead, when her mobile rings.

 

"Hello, Sun-Mi?" she answers happily after checking the caller ID. "No need to hurry. We'll be in the car park, waiting…. Bye."

 

She put her phone down. "Sun-Mi says they're about a half-hour away," she relates the message to Kui-Sung.

 

"There's plenty of time," he answers, "We still can make the top by noon."

 

"I can't remember the last time you wanted to go hiking," Jin-Suk comments. "Wasn't it before the kids went to college? Why the sudden interest? And why invite that Director Yoon to come along?"

 

"THAT Director Yoon?" Kui-Sung objects to her tone. "What do you have against the man?"

 

"I think he's a player!" Jin-Suk sniffs: "I met him once, in the hospital. Young-Mi was shamefully flirting with him, right in front of Woo-Jin, and he did nothing to put her in her place."

 

"Yeah, you told me about that," Kui-Sung recalls. "So what?"

 

"A man like that leaves a trail of broken hearts. Don't you worry about him dating Sun-Mi?"

 

"Dating?" Kui-Sung laughs. "It's far more serious! This morning Director Yoon asked my permission to marry Sun-Mi."

 

"He what?" Jin-Suk exclaims. "You told him ‘no' under any circumstances, right?"

 

"Actually, I told him it's Sun-Mi's decision. But I wanted to know if he was serious, and realized what a marriage to her would be like."

 

"What did he say?"

 

"That after five years, he thought he knew Sun-Mi pretty well; and that he wasn't expecting ‘happily-ever-after' like some fairytale."

 

"At least he's not blind," Jin-Suk admits, "but does he know that's what Sun-Mi expects? That girl... her head is still stuck in those romantic novels she's always going on about. True Love?... Who could ever believe in that? Love is plain hard work..."

 

She sighs and shakes her head. "I'm afraid that Sun-Mi will be in for a rude awakening, when the time comes."

 

"I suspect that time will be sooner rather than later. Director Yoon showed me the ring he bought," Kui-Sung reveals.

 

"He did?" she is curious. "How big a rock?"

 

"Does it matter?" he retorts. "All I care about is that he treats my precious daughter well."

 

"So you planned this ‘hike' for only one reason?"

 

"Right," Kui-Sung laughs. "What could be more romantic than a mountaintop proposal?"

 

 

MEANWHILE, ABOUT 30 MINUTES AWAY...

 

As Hyung-Chul's new dark blue BMW 728iL tools smoothly along the two-lane highway, the day is proving to meet the positive forecast. The sky, partly overcast by a low cloudbank at daybreak, has mostly cleared to a clear robin's-egg blue. The fresh autumn colors dazzle in the sparkling sunlight.

 

But inside the car, the forecast remains uncertain. Hyung-Chul concentrates on the road, glancing over at Sun-Mi every few seconds, to see if the weather is improving over time. For her part, Sun-Mi keeps her face turned away, purportedly to watch the scenery pass out the side window, with the same tight set to her mouth since they'd started off from her home.

 

"Okay, I'll just drop you off and go, if that'll make you feel better," he repeats his earlier offer. "I'll tell your Dad something came up."

 

"There's no need to lie, Senior. I already told you that."

 

"Then are you really upset, or just acting that way?"

 

"Acting what way?" she snaps. "Did I cause this? Was I the one to make light of something serious?"

 

"Perhaps you might enlighten me on what is so serious to you, but so trite to me," he responds.

 

"You really don't know?" she grumbles, sounding hurt. "Then we really don't have that kind of relationship do we?"

 

Hyung-Chul recalls their conversation one night outside her gate, when Sun-Mi had dropped a hint... "You know, they say telepathy only works if two people truly care for each other..."

 

"That idea about telepathy is only the stuff of bad TV dramas," he remarks.

 

"I know," Sun-Mi replies longingly. "But still... if it were only true..." She looks directly at him for the first time since they got in the car. "I'm just being temperamental this morning, that's all. I didn't sleep well last night."

 

"Now that, I could get telepathically," he cracks the joke and laughs, then adds in a more serious vein: "What's on your mind?"

 

"When I said I might not go to England, I expected that you'd be happy to hear it," she broaches one of her complaints.

 

"I am. But I don't want to make you stay because of me, if it's that important to you."

 

"It is, but I'm not sure why," she muses. "Is it because of Young-Mi? Or Woo-Jin?"

 

"Do we have to go there again?" he asks tiredly.

 

"Sorry... am I being too obsessive?"

 

"Should I answer that?"

 

She laughs. "You just did... Tell you what, let's just forget about all that, and enjoy the hike today, okay?"

 

"I agree to that, it's beautiful day."

 

"Still, I wonder," Sun-Mi contemplates, "what got into Daddy this morning. We haven't hiked in years. What's so important about today?"

 

"One never knows," Hyung-Chul comments wryly, showing a slight smile. "At the top of a mountain, anything is possible, right?"