AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 84

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"What is it with you men, and your love affairs with cars?" -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

THISTLE TOWER HOTEL, LONDON...

 

At five minutes after nine, Hyung-Chul comes down to the hotel lobby, expecting to find Sun-Mi waiting, but she is nowhere to be seen. He exits through the doors to check on the entrance drive, but she isn't there, either.

 

An hour earlier Sun-Mi had called and suggested a change in plans, to stop first for tennis at her club before going on to Cambridge. Dressed in his exercise duds and athletic shoes, carrying a small canvas duffle containing a showering kit and change of clothes, Hyung-Chul stands out from the business-suited men and women with briefcases and leather office totes, hurrying out for their morning meetings, taking either one of the waiting line of cabs, or wait impatiently for the valets to deliver their cars.

 

Unusually warm and sunny for late Spring, the day is perfect for a road trip. He puts on his sunglasses and crosses the drive, walking over to the riverside terrace to wait. But he has barely begun to take in the view of the majestic Tower Bridge, when he hears a familiar voice call to him...

 

"Senior! I'm here!"

 

When Hyung-Chul turns to the right and looks, he immediately sees the stunning beauty on the hotel drive... Caressing her drop-dead, sensuous curves with appreciative eyes, he imagines opening her wide, balls-to-the-walls, feeling her throb under him as he drives her hard and fast, pushing her to the limits...

 

"Senior! What are you staring at?" Sun-Mi's exclamation rouses him from his reverie...

 

Turning away from the gleaming dark blue Jaguar E-Type Series 1 convertible, Hyung-Chul sees Sun-Mi approaching, dressed in a white tennis skirt and sleeveless top.

 

"That's a mint condition '67 4.2-litre classic," he points to the Jaguar, "she has a top speed of 241 kilometers per hour, and can do 0 to 97 in under 7 seconds," he recites the car's critical statistics from memory, as if anyone should understand his sense of awe.

 

"What is it with you men, and your love affairs with cars?" Sun-Mi remarks critically, dismissive of his adulation.

 

"I might ask the same about you women, with your shoes," he offers a counterpoint, then sees her knitted brow... "But I won't."

 

"Are you ready to go?" she asks, deliberately changing the subject to something less volatile.

 

"My car is in the hotel parking," he tells her, "I'll have the valet bring it.

 

"No need," she smiles and show him the car keys in her hand.

 

He looks at her dubiously, thinking back at how she'd never shown any interest in driving, and asks, "You learned?"

 

"I've learned a lot of things since I came here, just to survive," she answers proudly.

 

Glancing over the other cars in the drive, he sees they all are attended. Suspecting she might just be fooling with him, he calls her bluff, "So... which one is yours?"

 

To answer his question, Sun-Mi just walks to the Jaguar and opens the driver's door.

 

Hyung-Chul is amazed. "This Jag is... yours?"

 

"What did you think?" she confirms smugly, and then explains, "Actually, it's Min-Cho's -- that friend I mentioned? I'm helping him out while he's away, by regularly driving his cars."

 

Hyung-Chul still isn't convinced. "Can you really handle a car like this?"

 

"You don't think so?" she scoffs lightly, then holds out the keys as if to toss them to him. "Want to drive then?"

 

"Yeah, of course!" he replies enthusiastically, his eyes brightening as he prepares for the catch.

 

But Sun-Mi just pretends to throw the keys, smiling as she teases, "Maybe, on the way back, if I'm feeling generous."

 

Disappointed, Hyung-Chul walks to the passenger door, but hesitates, hoping she might reconsider.

 

"Why don't we make a wager?" he proposes. "If I take three out of five sets, I get to drive this beauty."

 

Sun-Mi looks at him with a confident smile. "All right, but let's double-down," she agrees, raising the stakes. "Loser also has to pay for prime sirloin and lobster at Brown's tonight!"

 

"It's a bet," he replies enthusiastically, and anticipating a sure victory, boasts. "Why not just give me the keys now?"

 

But Sun-Mi slips into the driver's seat, puts on her Fendi sunglasses and a pair of driving gloves, and looks over at him impatiently. "Come on, what are you waiting for?" she orders. "Let's go for a spin..."

 

 

 

RURAL KANGWON-DO...

 

"Thirty minutes late!... Where is that bitch?"

 

Drumming his fingers impatiently on the steering wheel, Bae In-Soo grouses to himself as the LED clock advances to 11:30.

 

The dark green panel van idles quietly with its lights off at their pre-arranged rendezvous point on the lightly-travelled side lane. He peers out into the pitch black of a moonless night, trying to distinguish among the shadows, when one separates from the others and approaches down the center of the lane.

 

He lowers the passenger side power window and grumbles, "It's about time."

 

"That old bat, Sister Martha, watches the convent doors like a hawk," Young-Mi carps as she opens the rear side door of the van. "It's like breaking out of a god-dammed prison."

 

He chuckles. "Aren't you taking a big risk by doing this?"

 

"I just had to get out, even if for a few hours," she stresses her desperation, "That place is so stifling -- everything is 'God-this' or 'Jesus-that' -- It's driving me nuts, cooped up in there!"

 

"Now you have an idea of what you put me through," In-Soo reminds Young-Mi of her betrayal that led to his own confinement.

 

"Tssst!" she responds, irritated that he would even make such a comparison. "You got someone killed..."

 

 

She climbs into the back and sits on an inflatable mattress that fills almost half of the van's rear compartment.

 

"What, you sleep in this crate? I thought you were done living like a street rat," she taunts him derisively.

 

"Like I told you, I was in that lockup waaay too long," he hints at his intention for the mattress. "Want to go for a spin?"

 

"Shut up and drive," she orders with a disgusted sniff. "I'm not THAT desperate!"

 

Sullenly, he turns on the headlights and starts the van rolling forward.

 

"You brought everything?" she queries impatiently, looking around in the dim light cast from the van's instrument panel.

 

"In those shopping bags behind the driver's seat," he instructs her where to look.

 

Young-Mi eagerly digs into one of the bags and takes out a shiny black, pointed-toe stiletto pump.

 

"It feels like years since I last saw these," she purrs with delight, holding the shoe up to inspect for any damage due to careless handling on his part.

 

"Aren't you glad that I insisted on taking your stuff for safekeeping?" he looks for her approval.

 

"All right, I owe you one," she admits reluctantly, taking the shoe's partner from the bag and placing them together on the mattress.

 

"Here, I got you a gift, for tonight."

 

He passes an unwrapped white box back to her. She removes the lid and takes out a sheer red bra and thong, trimmed in lace, and nylon stayups.

 

"You went to a lot of trouble for nothing, if you thought I'd wear these for you!" she mocks him and tosses the lingerie back in the box.

 

He scowls at her out-of-hand rejection. "You beg me to come all the way up here out of my good heart, and then give me that shit?"

 

"All right, I owe you another," she concedes, but smiles to herself as she looks at the lingerie.

 

 

She starts to change, first removing her headscarf, and then unbuttoning her postulant's simple habit...

 

"That's better," he smiles, keeping one eye in the rearview mirror, the other on the road as he slows on the main highway approach.

 

Turning her back toward him before she undresses any further, Young-Mi gripes, "Why don't you watch where you're driving!"

 

"You think that since you dress like a nun, anything has really changed?" he remarks at her unusual display of modesty. "Even if a leopard could change its spots, it's still a leopard," he argues his point.

 

"Once a slut, always a slut, isn't that what you mean?" she snaps back acidly.

 

"Your words, not mine... Where are we going, anyway?" he changes the subject, turning his full attention to the vehicles speeding past, watching for an opening.

 

"Any place I can get a good, stiff drink, and dance up a storm," she stipulates.

 

"Out here in the sticks, you can't be too choosey, it's not like in Seoul," he observes as he accelerates and merges with the traffic flow. "The closest place is in Chuncheon, about thirty minutes away."

 

 

When In-Soo looks again, he sees that the lingerie box is empty, and Young-Mi, with her back still turned to him, is putting on the nylons. She is wearing the short, slinky party frock he'd brought, one he'd bought her to wear at his club, years ago.

 

Young-Mi moves to the front passenger seat, places a small travelling makeup kit on the dash, and slips into her heels. Then she opens the kit, takes out a brush, and goes to work on her hair.

 

"This is starting to look more like real you," he notes appreciatively, grinning with approval.

 

"Yeah, it's not every day you can see a woman transforming from 'saint' to 'slut' right in front of your eyes," she remarks derisively on his attitude. "Don't drool on the seat..."