AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 88

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"Hear me out, and if you still think I should end my relationship with Min-Cho, I'll do exactly as you like." -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

PLAZA ON THE RIVER, CENTRAL LONDON...

 

"Take your time, I've nothing to hide," Sun-Mi calls out from the kitchen as she prepares the coffee.

 

Su-Ji reenters the living room from her self-guided tour of the expansive apartment, having satisfied her curiosity regarding Sun-Mi's living arrangements with Min-Cho.

 

"Separate bedrooms doesn't prove anything," Su-Ji replies, maintaining her oppositional stance. "It's not possible for a man and woman to live together, without something going on between them!"

 

"My Auntie Song back in Seoul always said the same thing," Sun-Mi concurs. "So you think Min-Cho is that kind of person?"

 

The question has it's intended effect. "I didn't say that!" Su-Ji backpedals her accusation.

 

"I only agreed to this arrangement, because I trust Min-Cho completely, too," Sun-Mi asserts.

 

Su-Ji is still skeptical. "You mean this was Min-Cho's idea?"

 

"Together with my Auntie Jin," Sun-Mi relates the facts directly. "Go ahead, call Min-Cho, and ask him yourself."

 

Giving up the argument, Su-Ji plops down on the Italian leather couch and surveys the room with a sense of awe. "When Min-Cho discussed the paintings he liked, I didn't realize he was talking about the ones he owned," she marvels at the collection on display. "I suppose... I may not know everything as well as I thought," she finally admits.

 

 

In the kitchen, Sun-Mi smiles to herself ... she has won the first round, and opened the door between them ... "Two sugars, no cream, right?" she asks as she pours steaming hot coffee into two cups.

 

Su-Ji looks up surprised, her eyes narrowing. "How did you know?"

 

"Min-Cho talks a lot about you," Sun-Mi answers as she walks over and places one cup on the coffee table in front of the sullen girl, and settles down on the loveseat placed at a right angle to the couch.

 

Su-Ji looks suspiciously at her cup, as if Sun-Mi had put poison in it. "You know nothing about me, so stop acting like you do," she grumbles sharply.

 

"I know your Mum died when you were ten," Sun-Mi repeats what Min-Cho had told her. "Mine died when I was four, so I know how it is, to grow up without a mother..."

 

"You think that makes us the same?" Su-Ji scoffs. "I'm nothing like you!"

 

"I'm sure you're right," Sun-Mi doesn't argue the point, then continues with her story...

 

"I thought my Mother had gone away because I was naughty, so I tried to be the perfect daughter, terrified my Daddy would leave, too. Then, when I was old enough to understand, I learned she'd committed suicide from postpartum depression. Believing that my birth was the cause of her death. It was a long time before I didn't feel guilty over that."

 

"If you're looking for sympathy, you're speaking to the wrong person," Su-Ji snaps coldly.

 

"Not sympathy, just recognition that I'm human, too," Sun-Mi insists.

 

"That only makes it worse, then," Su-Ji argues. "Any person with a shred of humanity wouldn't be such a hypocrite."

 

"Once I accused someone of being a hypocrite, too, but in fact I didn't understand the real circumstances," Sun-Mi reflects on the attitude that started her 'Cold War' with Hyung-Chul. "By doing that, I caused a lot of pain."

 

"I know what I saw," Su-Ji is unbending. "Anything you say won't change those facts!"

 

"Let's make a deal," Sun-Mi offers. "Hear me out, and if you still think I should end my relationship with Min-Cho, I'll do exactly as you like."

 

"Why would you do that?" Su-Ji doubts Sun-Mi's promise. "Why should I trust a person like you to keep her word?"

 

"What do you have to lose?" Sun-Mi suggests with a smile. "It will only cost an hour of your life to find out."

 

Su-Ji sees the logic in that, yet warns, "Okay, but don't expect me to change my mind!"

 

"I'll take my chances," Sun-Mi gambles, "as I have little to lose, too, and a lot to gain."

 

"What do you mean?" Su-Ji asks warily.

 

"I've met many people, but few who stand by their convictions of loyalty and integrity," Sun-Mi explains. "Whether or not I'll continue my relationship Min-Cho I don't know, but I do know that I won't easily give up the opportunity to have a person like you as a friend."

 

"Don't count on it," Su-Ji stiffly rejects the overture. "Just say what you have to say. I don't have all night!"

 

Sun-Mi takes a sip of her coffee, and suggests, "It's a long story, so please, do have some coffee..."