AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 36
written by LoveCR2 -- 2005
edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017
"I decided I needed a new look for a new life. It's time I stopped holding back." -- Jin Sun-Mi
THISTLE TOWER HOTEL, LONDON, 4 DAYS AFTER SUN-MI LEAVES SEOUL...
"Just a minute, Cho-Jeh, I can't get a good connection in here..."
Sun-Mi exits the hotel lobby through the entrance doors. Outside, the signal is better, but the noise of cars coming and leaving, echoing under the overhead weather canopy, doesn't help matters. She moves to the edge of the canopy, away from the worst of the traffic.
"Okay, I can hear better now," she tells Cho-Jeh. "What were you saying?"
"London must be soooo exciting!" Cho-Jeh's voice drips envy. "What have you been doing?"
Sun-Mi quickly recounts her mundane activities since arriving: "First, I had a bad case of jetlag, so all I did was stay in the hotel for a day, sleeping and watching the BBC. Then yesterday I went out to look around a bit, visit my aunt at her restaurant, and do some shopping. Today, I went shopping again this morning, got a mani-pedi, and had my hair restyled. Tonight, I'm having dinner with my new boss, and I've been waiting for over half an hour for the ride."
"Wait a minute, back up a bit... You changed your hair?!" Cho-Jeh enthuses.
"Yep, I decided I needed a new look for a new life. It's time I stopped holding back," Sun-Mi declares.
"Good for you! It's about time," Cho-Jeh encourages her.
"Actually, it was Madame Kim -- you know, the boutique owner?" Sun-Mi admits to the impetus behind her decision. "She said I should go for a looser, fresher look, and update my wardrobe, too, while I was at it."
"I wish I had your pay scale," Cho-Jen remarks jealously. "You just bought a ton of new stuff here, and now you're buying more?"
"Actually, as an announcer I don't have much choice," Sun-Mi complains. "Unless we wear the latest styles, we're criticized by the audiences. Anyway, the styles here are a bit different than in Seoul. And women in broadcasting dress less conservatively, so I needed shorter skirts, too."
"YOU? In short skirts? Miss 'old-fashioned' conservative? " Cho-Jeh laughs. "This I gotta see! So how short are you talkin..."
A deep-throated, rumbling growl drowns out Cho-Jeh's last words. Sun-Mi looks up as a dark green convertible roadster pulls in and brakes to a stop on the other side of the entrance drive.
The driver is a young man with wind-blown hair and Asian features that are partially obscured behind dark sunglasses. His fitted rugby jersey shows off well-muscled arms, broad shoulders, and a lean, athletic torso. Waving at Sun-Mi, he flashes a jaunty grin...
Sun-Mi's instant impression is that the guy is a player. One of the consequences of her recent popularity was having to fend off men like him, constantly approaching her trying for a hook-up. So she shoots back a well-practiced, ice-cold, 'not interested in jerks like you' dart with her eyes and turns her back on him.
"...Apparently short enough to attract wolves," she grumbles, in answer to Cho-Jeh's earlier query.
"Wolves?" Cho-Jeh repeats, confused.
"Never mind," Sun-Mi dispenses with the matter rather than explain the situation.
"MBS Announcer Jin Sun-Mi?!" the man calls out to her, loudly, in English.
"I gotta go, Cho-Jeh," Sun-Mi ends the phone conversation abruptly. "There's something I have to deal with here."
"Hey! I didn't even get a chance to tell you what that jerk Jin-Soo said the other..."
"Sorry," Sun-Mi cuts her off. "Call you back later... Bye."
As she is putting the phone into her bag, Sun-Mi hears a loud, sharp whistle, immediately followed by the same voice calling again: "Hey! Announcer Jin Sun-Mi!"
Sun-Mi turns to see the man she'd just dismissed approaching with that same jaunty grin plastered on his face -- a rather handsome face too, she notices, now that he is closer with his sunglasses off.
"Look, I don't know how you know my name, but I don't answer to men who whistle pick-ups at me. So just move on," she brusquely preempts him, speaking harshly in her heavily-accented English.
"Sorry for that. I thought you hadn't seen or heard me," the man apologizes in perfect Seoul dialect Korean. "I'm Michael Atwater," he introduces himself, extending his hand. "Bureau Chief Kim sent me to collect you for dinner."
Sun-Mi catches her mouth before it drops, but she can't keep her face from burning a bright blush-pink.
"Er... pleased to meet you, Mr. Atwater," she greets him using formal Korean, dipping her head politely, on the assumption he is older.
"We're practically the same age, Ms. Jin, and this is England," he replies warmly, with a twinkle in his dark brown eyes that conveys a casual attitude matching his mannerisms. "You needn't be so formal. Michael is fine..."
A welcoming smile softens his angular jaw line, as his large hand envelopes hers with a firm but gentle squeeze.
"... or, rather... Min-Cho... to good friends," he suggests.
"Min-Cho," she chooses, accepting the implications that come with the choice, "and Sun-Mi is fine, too."
"So then, we're fine to go now?"
Sun-Mi smiles at Min-Cho, intent on making a reset. "Look, I'm sorry for having a bad attitude when we first met," she apologizes. "I suppose I didn't give a very good first impression."
"Apology accepted... But it's the second impression that needs work," he points out. "Before you opened those luscious lips of yours to scare me off, the first impression was actually very... appealing, in a particularly feminine way, I'd put it," he says jokingly, adding a wink that reminds Sun-Mi of why she'd had her first impression of him.
Irked at Min-Cho's blatant flirting, she changes the subject away from herself, at the same time attempting to justify her failure to immediately realize who he was...
"Actually, I was expecting a company car," she remarks disdainfully, "Not this.. ehm..."
"It's a '63 Austin Healy Sprite," he informs her. "I'm in the middle of putting it back into good order."
Scrutinizing the car more closely, Sun-Mi sees that calling it 'green' is a misnomer. Much of the body is either rusty or spotted with daubs of a dark gray paint. She recalls Hyung-Chul's new, spotless, silver BMW Z3 convertible, comparing this car unfavorably.
... The two vehicles, and their drivers, could hardly be more different...
She asks dubiously, "Is it really safe to drive in?"
"I suppose that depends on the driver," he cracks a self-deprecating joke. "But a more pertinent question is, will it get us there? English roadsters aren't known for their reliability, and have a tendency to break down at quite inconvenient times and places..."
He delivers another wink. "Just to warn you."
... The car is questionable, the driver even more so! Still, she just told Cho-Jeh that she wouldn't hold back anymore...
"I'm willing to take my chances," she accepts his challenge, eyeing him resolutely to send the message that, although she was willing to go with him, that was as far as she was willing to go. To reinforce her stance, she takes the lead assertively: "What are we waiting for? Let's go for a spin then."
Min-Cho checks the time on his watch. "We're already fifteen minutes late," he informs her. "No time for a scenic drive; we'll have to make good time as it is..."
They walk the few steps to the car, and Min-Cho opens the passenger-side door for Sun-Mi. But with one glance at the cockpit seat, so low-slung it seems almost touching the pavement, Sun-Mi wonders how she can seat herself with any modicum of grace... or modesty.
Min-Cho doesn't wait for her to figure it out; he just takes her hand. With his assistance, she accomplishes both goals, relatively successfully.
"Thanks," Sun-Mi says gratefully. She looks up, beaming a brilliant smile that she hopes will distract him while she tugs her short skirt down.
"All part of a driver's job," Min-Cho quips as he closes the car door and tests the latch to be sure it is tightly secured.
Then, almost as an afterthought, he adds, "Oh... by the way, Sun-Mi, in case you thought I hadn't noticed... Nice legs!"