AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 75

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"Is it possible for a man and a woman to live together platonically, especially when feelings for more are in the mix?" -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

PLAZA ON THE RIVER, VAUXHALL, CENTRAL LONDON...

 

In the apartment entryway, Sun-Mi slips into the Giuseppe Zanotti sandals she'd just unpacked that afternoon, pulling the heel straps snugly into place as she eyes her Tadashi Shoji cocktail sheath appreciatively in the full-length mirror.

 

A sensuous cherry-red, ruched chiffon, embellished with a spray of glittering silver sequins, the dress is an eye-stopper. It skims her trim frame closely, with a v-neckline cut low to reveal the cleft of her petite décolletage, and the tapered knee-length skirt slit high to showcase the shapely form of her toned legs.

 

She had seen the dress on display soon after arriving in London, and was captivated by its siren song, lured into a spendthrift spur-of-the-moment decision, on the tenuous rationale that someday, a suitable occasion -- one more representative of her idle daydreams than her day-to-day reality -- might somehow happen by. It had languished in the back of her overstuffed closet, a poignant reminder of her proclivity toward unnecessary extravagance, until the move today, when it again caught her eye, enticed her imagination to the possibilities, and convinced her that finally, serendipitously, the perfect occasion had come...

 

Or not...

 

Sun-Mi sighs, addressing her reflection critically ... the dress is awesomely perfect... but realistically, who is she kidding, thinking she has what it takes to be seen out in public, sporting a daring frock like this? ...

 

She steps over to the entry table and picks up her silver Prada clutch to check out the completed look, but after another perusal in the mirror, with the same disparaging result, she sets it back down, ready to go back to her dressing room and try again.

 

... why is she so edgy? ... this isn't a date, they're just friends ... but if not a date, who is she trying to impress? ... and why is she acting so oddly with Min-Cho now ...is Auntie right, does it make a difference now that she knows he's incredibly wealthy? ...

 

 

"Sun-Mi, are you ready? It's getting late," Min-Cho's voice comes from the balcony overlooking the Thames.

 

"Er...almost," she replies hesitantly, reluctantly dropping her plans for a wardrobe re-do.

 

"Come out here..."

 

She sighs halfheartedly, deciding to go ahead as she is. ... what does she have to lose anyway ... it's just dinner ...

 

Leaving her clutch on the table, Sun-Mi crosses the tiled entry to the sliding glass door opening onto the balcony. In the light spilling out from the door, she sees Min-Cho on her left...

 

He is standing by the stainless steel railing, looking handsomely dapper in a gray pin-striped Burberry suit and gleaming black wingtips. Eschewing a tie, his white collared shirt is open at the neck, characteristic of the jaunty, audacious man she is familiar with. In contrast, gold French cufflinks gleam on his wrists, indicative of the suave, ridiculously wealthy man she is still in the process of understanding.

 

Hearing her footstep at the door, he turns his head to look. She notes the initial flicker of surprise in his face, then the quick sweep of his eyes and the inquisitive -- or perhaps judgmental -- raised brow that follows.

 

"Umm... something wrong with how I look?" she asks apprehensively, doubts blossoming as profusely as the color heating her cheeks.

 

His smile is reassuring. "Not at all. I was just wondering... what you're trying to reveal tonight," he alludes to her earlier discourse regarding clothes. "Stay right as you are, and give me a moment..."

 

He takes that moment, and several more, to drink in every detail... her smoky lidded eyes and red-glossed lips, the bright sparkle of her dangling Swarovski crystal earrings, the shimmer and complex layering of her curve-clinging sheath, the glittering bands of her elegant 'barely-there' sandals, the gloss-matched spots of color freshly painted on her toes... scrutinizing each in turn before reassembling the whole back into the captivating vision of feminine enchantment appearing before him.

 

Twisting in the wind as she waits for his assessment, Sun-Mi anticipates some cutting joke made at her expense. But his concise conclusion... "How does 'alluring angel' sound?" ... replaces those doubts with confidence.

 

Eyes sparkling like her earrings, she impishly banters back, "Does that make you a 'debonair devil' then?"

 

"Aren't I always?" Min-Cho grins raffishly.

 

"Tsst..." she hisses at his conceit.

 

She walks over to stand by the railing, keeping a 'reasonable' distance between them, and look out on the Thames. He turns to join Sun-Mi in her quiet observation of the scenic view, leaning casually on the railing.

 

"By the way, speaking of the devil..." she finally speaks up, segueing to their unfinished business from the afternoon.

 

"That... sorry about what I said," he apologizes for his remarks in the bathroom. "And for leaving you with the bug."

 

"Actually...it's me who needs to apologize. I was acting the drama queen again," she refers to her overwrought behavior.

 

"And about that little bug, once I saw it was more afraid of me than I was of it, I trapped it in the waste bin, to release outside later," she fills in the rest of the story.

 

 

Then Min-Cho broaches a question he'd wanted to ask earlier. "You've had something on your mind all day. Want to share it?"

 

"It's my interview tomorrow, with Director Kim," she discloses the reason behind her prickly state. "I suppose I'm feeling a little like that bug probably did... caught in circumstances not of its choosing, and acting out in response."

 

"I thought you asked for the transfer into the joint venture."

 

"Not exactly, but it's a big move forward in my career," she replies, but her indifferent tone belies her words.

 

"You don't sound very convincing," he disputes her reasoning.

 

"When you said you were fine staying just friends, you didn't sound very convincing, either," she turns the spotlight onto him.

 

"So... I'm like that bug, too?"

 

"Why else all this?... A beautiful, luxurious place; a London view to die for; a handsome, charming man, who can afford anything he wants. What woman, in her right mind, wouldn't be impressed?" she concludes, adding a touch of cynicism to her tone.

 

"Are you implying you're not?"

 

"Let's just say, I'm grateful for your friendship," Sun-Mi avoids answering his question. "So I felt betrayed you weren't honest with me, and stupid for not figuring it all out, and foolish for being the last to know."

 

"Sorry, that wasn't my intention," he apologizes.

 

"No need, I know that now," she acknowledges, "Auntie Jin set me straight..."

 

"Your aunt has a way of doing that with me, too," Min-Cho recalls. "What did she have to say?"

 

"That what a person shares about their life, or holds back, is their choice... and that she asked you to help me out," Sun-Mi summarizes the conversation. "You risked revealing something about yourself, but instead of being thankful that you'd trusted me more, I was hurt you hadn't trusted me to the level I thought I was due..."

 

She leans on the railing and sighs. "Sometimes I make things all about Jin Sun-Mi, when they're not. I'm sorry."

 

"I don't blame you," he nods. "When you've been betrayed by one person, it's easy to question the motives of others, too."

 

"I'm still trying to get my head around the idea that you're this sophisticated, world-travelling tycoon," Sun-Mi admits. "Then there's me.. you... us... Is it possible for a man and a woman to live together platonically, when feelings for more are in the mix?"

 

"That's why I wanted you to move in," he replies with a grin. "Since you're so old-fashioned, I knew there's no chance of anything happening between us."

 

"Are you making fun of me again?" she grouses.

 

"Just pointing out the facts. You wanted complete honesty, right?"

 

"What if I decide to not be so old-fashioned anymore? " she replies suggestively, moving closer and seductively fluttering her eyelids. "Anything is possible, my Auntie always said..."

 

She looks up at him, puckers her mouth enticingly, then slowly closes her eyes to wait...

 

But instead of the kiss she intends to provoke, Min-Cho presses his index finger onto her lips for a moment, startling her. "Who's kidding whom now?" he chuckles.

 

Sun-Mi briefly pokes her tongue out at him in response. "How did you know?" she complains.

 

"An angel may play a different harp from day to day, but she always has that shining halo hovering overhead, showing her true nature," he wisecracks, drawing a circle in the air above Sun-Mi with his finger.

 

"And a devil might change his pitchfork, but he always has... has..." she stops and thinks for a moment, then gives up on the analogy, grumbling irately, "Anyway, you know what I mean!"

 

"What I know is that it's time we put something in that empty stomach of yours, before you bite my head off!" he quips.

 

This time Sun-Mi smiles at his joke, well-aware of her moodiness when she's hungry.

 

"So... where are we going for dinner? Le Pont De La Tour?" she enthusiastically suggests the elegant -- and pricy -- French restaurant, situated on the Thames with a striking view of Tower Bridge.

 

Min-Cho shakes his head.

 

"Umm... OXO Tower?" she lowers her hopes and guesses the place they'd gone for her 'graduation' dinner.

 

"Nope."

 

"Then where?" she complains. "No more guessing!"

 

 

"There," he answers with a sweep of his hand, directing her attention to the far end of the balcony, behind her.

 

Sun-Mi looks over her shoulder, to see that the wrought iron, glass topped bistro table is set for two with lighted tapers, white porcelain, polished silver, and hand-cut crystal on a deep blue cloth.

 

"What's this?" she wonders suspiciously. "I thought you said we were going out."

 

"We are... 'out' side, right?" he makes a play on the words.

 

"Ha, ha, very funny," she huffs. "If I knew we were staying in, I certainly wouldn't have gone to all this trouble dressing up!"

 

"I know, that's why it was a secret," he smiles cunningly. "Tonight I wanted to dine in style, with only the most beautiful woman in London to distract me," he justifies his decision, while hoping to mollify her with compliments. "I have a front-row seat to the best view in London, right here, on our own balcony."

 

Trying to hold in a smile, while pretending to ignore his flattery, she grumbles, "I didn't see anything in the kitchen. Did you order carryout?"

 

"I took the liberty of calling for Italian," he informs her. "Do you mind?"

 

Disappointed at having her expectations of a five-star dining experience dashed, Sun-Mi recalls their usual fare after English tutoring sessions, and guesses unhappily, "So... warmed over pizza, again?"

 

He replies, "Hardly. A friend of mine, the former chef at a Michelin 2-star restaurant in Tuscany, will be arriving soon. He's bringing the aperitivi, antipasti, and dolci, and will prepare the rest of the meal here, in our kitchen."

 

"A private chef? Just like that?" she snaps her fingers, suspecting another attempt to tease her. "Are you kidding, or not?"

 

"I wouldn't dare joke about something so important as tiramisu, lest I be struck with lightning from heaven," he avers, keeping his face deadly serious. "Even a devil has the fear of God's angels in him."

 

Sun-Mi tightens her lips, glowering at him. Then she laughs ... pure music to his ears ...

 

"Okay, you win," she concedes. "Now I'm definitely impressed!"

 

 

Acting magnanimous in victory, Min-Cho offers his arm to Sun-Mi, asking, "Shall we go to dinner now, m'lady?"

 

She acquiesces, taking his arm, and they step together over to where a champagne bottle is cooling in an ice bucket on a stand.

 

Popping the cork, he fills the two crystal flutes positioned there, and hands one to Sun-Mi.

 

"What to toast?" she asks, looking out over the Thames, to the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye in the distance for inspiration.

 

"How about... to secrets," he proposes.

 

She smiles and raises her glass. "Yes, to secrets..."