AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 59

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"I realized that if I can trust a person with my life, why can't I trust that person with my heart, too?" -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

ATHLETIC CLUB, SUBURBAN LONDON ...

 

"... Are you completely crazy? You could have drowned!"

 

With a mix of concern and frustration, Min-Cho criticizes Sun-Mi as he kneels next to her on the pool deck. She sits with knees up, arms clasped around her legs and eyes lowered, as he dries her dripping hair with a towel.

 

"I'm not crazy!" she insists in a level voice, taking the towel from him to finish the job more effectively. "Although I don't know how to swim, I do know how to hold my breath. I wasn't close to drowning."

 

She was right, Min-Cho knew. She hadn't panicked, or swallowed any water, before he got her head above the surface again.

 

"But why do it?"

 

"Did you offer me a choice?" she reasonably points out his role in what happened. "I only did what you demanded!"

 

"If you'd told me the truth from the beginning, I wouldn't have said that," he argues.

 

"If I'd told the truth, you'd have looked at me like I was some kind of dummy, and spouted off another one of those ‘solutions' for my ‘problems' like you always do," she argues back, airing one of her long-held beefs. "I'm tired of feeling like an idiot in front of you. I just never thought you'd go so far!"

 

"Maybe I went too far, but what you did... is too much!"

 

"But Min-Cho..."

 

He irately cuts her off to end their argument -- for now. "I've had enough! ... Get dressed; I'll take you home..."

 

 

LATER...

 

Min-Cho slows the Sprite as he approaches Sun-Mi's aunt's house, and eases to a stop in the car park, but leaves the engine running.

 

"We're here..." he announces curtly to Sun-Mi.

 

Sun-Mi releases her seatbelt and turns toward him to say, "You haven't said a word since we left the club."

 

"What is there to say?" he replies, avoiding the issue between them. "It's late; better go in now..."

 

 

But Sun-Mi doesn't get out; she just waits with her office tote resting on her lap, watching Min-Cho, like she is expecting him to do something.

 

"What is it now?" he grumbles.

 

"Aren't you going to help me down?"

 

"I thought you didn't need me to do that anymore."

 

"It's not that I need it," she confirms, "but just that I'd like if you did it..."

 

"All right," he agrees reluctantly, and turns off the engine.

 

Min-Cho gets out, circles around to the passenger side, and opens her door. Offering his hand, he helps Sun-Mi up and then retrieves her swim bag from the back seat.

 

But instead of taking the bag from him, she asks, "Could you see me to the door with that?"

 

"Sure," he mumbles with a shrug.

 

 

Sun-Mi slips her hand around his arm, and they walk the short distance to her front door together. She unlocks the latch and takes her bag from Min-Cho.

 

"Tomorrow is my day off," she reminds him. "No lessons."

 

"I know," he answers tersely.

 

"Then I'll see you Monday, as usual?"

 

"Does it matter?" He snaps, as if that was the last thing he preferred to do.

 

Sun-Mi tries again to engage him. "You really have nothing to say?"

 

"Just this," he answers as he turns away: "Good night, Sun-Mi."

 

 

But she refuses to leave the matter between them unresolved, and calls to him, "Wait... can't we discuss this, like two adults?"

 

"Not until one of us starts to actually act like an adult, and think about the consequences of her actions first, " he dissents bitingly, keeping his back to her.

 

"All right, I acted without thinking," Sun-Mi accepts his criticism. "But that's because I didn't have to think... I knew without a doubt that I could trust my life in your hands... that you'd be there for me."

 

"Still, what if I hadn't gotten there in time? When you went under, all I could think of is that I might lose you, because of some stupid thing I'd said," Min-Cho divulges his feelings, his voice raw with anguish.

 

"I was so afraid, and felt so guilty... and then you just acted as if nothing serious had happened, like it was just a trick played to get attention ... When if anything had happened to you, I'd never be able to live with myself..."

 

 

He turns around to face her... in the light from the door lamps she sees his eyes are damp.

 

Sun-Mi has never seen this side of Min-Cho before; he had always seemed so strong and brash and self-confident... and she hadn't realized the effect on him of what she'd done...

 

"Min-Cho... I'm sorry," she expresses regret belatedly. "It was presumptuous of me, to put that burden on you... I'm truly sorry."

 

Sun-Mi sets down her bags and puts her arms around Min-Cho for a hug as she encourages him, "That's for being a person I can trust."

 

Then quickly stretching up, she surprises him with a kiss on the cheek. "And that's for saving my life," she says seriously, but with her eyes shining mirthfully, as she releases him.

 

Surprised by her brash move, and unsure from her mixed signals as to her intent, Min-Cho just stares at Sun-Mi.

 

 

"You still have nothing to say?" she asks with a teasing lilt. "Didn't I tell you before that from now on, I don't want to hold back?"

 

"Yes," he chuckles, then jokes, "But next time, just give me some notice before you jump in over your head again."

 

"I just did," she asserts, her eyes twinkling as if she'd revealed a secret.

 

He ponders her words for a few moments, then looks at her questioningly, concluding, "Are you saying that you... now..."

 

Sun-Mi nods. "As we drove here, I realized that if I can trust a person with my life, why can't I trust that person with my heart, too?" she relates her thinking firmly.

 

Still, uncertain of his response, she asks diffidently, "Do you know of any good reasons why I shouldn't?"

 

Min-Cho takes Sun-Mi in his arms, and as he holds her close, dispels any doubts she may have, "Frankly, I can't think of a single one..."