AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 31

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"You might be leaving this place, Sun-Mi, but you're not going alone, because all our hearts go with you." -- Yoo Joo-Hee

 

 

ANNOUNCER 1 TEAM OFFICE, MBS HQ AND STUDIOS ...

 

"I remember the first day you came in here, Sun-Mi..."

 

Lee Kyung-Hee is watching Sun-Mi clean out her desk as she reminisces, "You were just a raw, rookie-in-training, fresh out of university. But your attitude was always so upbeat and encouraging, whatever happened."

 

"Yes," Sun-Mi reflects, "I really was quite naive, in every way, wasn't I?"

 

"Still you never gave up, and now you have the rewards for all your hard work," Sports Announcer Shin Ki-Jong praises her.

 

"Thanks, but it's only because of all of you. " Sun-Mi accepts their compliments graciously. "You always believed in me, even when others were critical. Thanks to you I could live out my dream of becoming an announcer."

 

"I'm sorry we couldn't have a party," Jin-Soo apologizes regretfully. "There wasn't time to get everyone together with such short notice."

 

"It's my fault," Sun-Mi blames herself. "Always making decisions at the last moment..."

 

"He's right, this isn't much of a sendoff," Lee Kyung-Hee remarks, "with just the three of us here."

 

Sun-Mi smiles and replies, "It's enough for me..."

 

"You're sure you won't join us for a drink later?" Ki-Jong suggests.

 

"Thanks, but I have a zillion things to do before my flight leaves tomorrow afternoon," Sun-Mi excuses herself.

 

"We could have been the best news co-hosts in MBS history," Jin-Soo boasts. "But I know you'll do great without me, too."

 

Ki-Jong laughs. "She'll do MUCH better without you, idiot!"

 

Jin-Soo makes a face at Ki-Jong, and holds out his hand to Sun-Mi.

 

"Thanks, Jin-Soo," she replies, shaking his hand. "You'll do well, too. And please, work things out with Cho-Jeh."

 

"Speaking of, I'm leaving first," Jin-Soo announces, "or she'll kill me for standing her up!"

 

He glances over at Ki-Jong and Kyung-Hee. "See you guys later at the..."

 

"Good luck in London," Ki-Jong loudly interrupts Jin-Soo, shoving him off toward the door, as he approaches Sun-Mi to shake her hand. "The office won't be the same without you, Sun-Mi," he sighs. "Who will organize all our lunches now?"

 

"Maybe this way, you'll eat less, fatty," Lee Kyung-Hee jokes as she comes up to Sun-Mi and gives her a hug.

 

Ki-Jong glares at his fianc�e as Kyung-Hee encourages Sun-Mi: "Take care of yourself, and call us often, okay?"

 

Sun-Mi nods. "Yes, I will," she promises.

 

With the farewells over, Ki-Jong and Kyung-Hee follow Jin-Soo out the door, but Kyung-Hee turns back to say, "Be sure to stop by the News Center on your way out, okay? Yoo Joo-Hee wants to see you before you go."

 

"Sure. Thanks," Sun-Mi smiles.

 

After they leave the Announcer 1 Team office, Sun-Mi carefully places the last of the personal things from her desk into a shopping bag. Taking the handles of the bag, she bends down to pick up her office tote from the floor and walks to the doorway. There, she takes one last look around the unoccupied office, thinking again about each of her colleagues, and how they are special to her...

 

�Good bye, everyone... I�ll miss you all...� she bids them farewell in absentia.

 

Turning off the lights, Sun-Mi slowly walks down the empty corridor, passing the canteen, to the elevators. Taking a circuitous route through the mostly deserted building, indulging her feelings of nostalgia with each familiar place she visits, her final stop is the auditorium. Opening the door, she steps into the muffled quiet of the cavernous space, where she had often come to hide and comfort herself as she cried her disappointments away.

 

But alone in the dark silence, with the reminder of all the tears previously shed here, the emotions she has held tightly in her heart all day surge up. Sun-Mi puts down her bags, finds her favorite step, unbuttons the blazer of her baby blue Prada pantsuit, and sits down to let her tears run freely ...

 

... she is really leaving all this behind, maybe for good... and for what? Because she can't face reality, and has to run away again?

 

After drying her eyes, Sun-Mi checks the time. The nine o'clock hour is nearing, so she hurries to the News Center, the heels of her black pointed-toe Gucci slingbacks clicking rapidly in her rush to beat the clock. Besides Joo-Hee, she intends to greet the set crew and control room team, and take a last look at the news desk from an anchor's perspective -- after today she'll see it only from the front like any other TV audience.

 

She arrives amid the bustle of preparations for the News At Nine. At first she tries to greet some crew as they pass, but they're too busy to stop and talk, and no one else seems to notice her...

 

Leaving her bags by the studio door, Sun-Mi walks up behind the news desk. The tangle of piled wiring and cables under the desk is a poignant reminder of the frantic moments she'd desperately searched, down on hand and knees, for her ringing cell phone, with her co-anchor and boss Kim Sun-Dal looking on in disbelief, and PD Shin shouting angry queries into her earpiece...

 

"Remembering the good old times, Sun-Mi?" a voice interrupts her thoughts.

 

Sun-Mi turns to see Joo-Hee, now the acting News Director after Sun-Dal's promotion. She knows Joo-Hee is thinking about the same thing as she is...

 

"That night was a disaster," Sun-Mi replies with a pained chuckle. "I thought my career was ruined, too, along with the newscast."

 

"Sometimes, it takes a disaster to bring the best out of us," Joo-Hee observes thoughtfully, "to find that golden lining in the dark cloud."

 

"Yes," Sun-Mi agrees. "Being relegated to radio as a consequence, I had the opportunity, and the inspiration, for 'Musical Postcards'. I really can't complain."

 

"It was your hard work through that time that made it a success, and earned my respect for your abilities as an announcer," Joo-Hee tells her, "and your intuitive sense for connecting with the audience."

 

"Thanks for the encouragement, Senior, but it was you who taught me everything I know; you were always my role model," Sun-Mi humbly returns the credit to her mentor.

 

"Nonsense! -- I wasn't voted 'Most Popular New Announcer' right out of my rookie year," Joo-Hee puts the credit back firmly where it is due. "And I didn't host one of MBS' most successful cultural programs my second year, either."

 

She rests a hand on Sun-Mi's shoulder and predicts: "They say, 'the student will be greater than the teacher'. You were my best student, Sun-Mi. I'm proud of you, and I know you'll do great in London."

 

Joo-Hee pats the back of the co-anchor chair. "Why not try it, one more time?"

 

Sun-Mi nods gratefully and sits down. She runs her hands over the top of the desk, recalling the feeling of accomplishment she had the first time she sat in this chair.

 

"Feels good, right?" Joo-Hee says with a smile. "Maybe you'll sit here again when you come back."

 

Sun-Mi looks down and replies modestly, "If you think so, Senior..."

 

PD Shin, watching from the control room, turns on the studio loudspeakers and announces: "Attention on the set! We have a celebrity visitor, the next MBS Top Special Correspondent... Announcer Jin Sun-Mi!"

 

Caught by surprise, Sun-Mi looks up with astonishment at Joo-Hee, to see her smiling back and nodding.

 

The set crew stops work and gathers around. PD Shin leads the control room team out into the studio. Jin-Soo, Cho-Jeh, Kyung-Hee, and Ki-Jong appear at the studio door and come in, followed by the rest of Announcer 1 Team, Sun-Mi's radio producers, her Art Club staff, and a stream of other colleagues she's worked with -- the cameramen and videographers, PDs, writers and reporters, makeup artistes, tape editors, and more crowding in -- all people whose lives she had touched with her sincere spirit, encouraging words, and bright, engaging smile.

 

Someone turns down the house lights and cuts in the desk spots to illuminate Sun-Mi in a glowing circle of light.

 

With the festive sounds of poppers going off, resounding applause and cheers for Sun-Mi ring loudly in the studio.

 

Bathed in the love and appreciation of her colleagues, Sun-Mi is overwhelmed. Tears of joy well up, threatening to spill over and embarrass her. Wiping them away, she quickly stands to acknowledge the applause with a bow...

 

PD Shin, still wearing his headset, calls over the speakers for silence: "Let Sun-Mi speak..."

 

"Thank you... thanks...all of you," Sun-Mi croaks, trying to eke a few words past the lump in her throat.

 

"I think I speak for everyone here," Joo-Hee says as she comes up and embraces Sun-Mi, allowing Sun-Mi the chance to hide her face as the tears overflow.

 

"You might be leaving this place, Sun-Mi, but you're not going alone," Joo-Hee reminds her. "Because all our hearts go with you..."