AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 97

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"If something is right for a lifetime, it's just as right tomorrow as today." -- Min-Cho Atwater

 

 

QUEEN'S WALK, LONDON, LATE AFTERNOON...

 

"So nice..."

 

Sun-Mi sighs as she gazes out on the River Thames from the bench she is sharing with Min-Cho. Legs crossed, she idly swings a dangling, stocking-clad foot.

 

"Feet sore?" Min-Cho asks, then remarks on her empty pointed-toe Chanel high heels, that she'd taken off and parked on the pavement between them as soon as they sat down, "Those wouldn't be my choice for a hike."

 

"We walked farther than I expected," she admits her choice wasn't the most practical. "But I wanted to look my best for the pictures.

 

He hefts his new Nikon D1X she'd asked him to bring along for the day's outing, raising it to snap another photo of Sun-Mi's profile with the nearby Tower Bridge in the background...

 

"I'd swear I was shooting a travelogue," he quips, remarking on their circuitous odyssey from the Arirang, "You didn't tell me it was going to be a full sight-seeing tour today."

 

"I wanted to see all my favorite places in London with you, before I leave tomorrow," she explains.

 

"Tomorrow? But we made plans for dinner," he expresses his disappointment.

 

"I'm sorry, but my plans changed. I'm leaving a day early," she apologizes.

 

"I was looking forward to celebrating your birthday," he replies unhappily. "And for your answer..."

 

Sun-Mi averts her eyes guiltily. "I know I promised, before I left for New York," she acknowledges. '"But..."

 

She takes another bite of kimbap, relishing the flavor as she chews...

 

"I'm not trying to pressure you," he quickly assures her.

 

She nods and swallows the remaining bit of kimbap, smacks her lips, and says cheerfully, "All done, shall we go back?"

 

"Sure..." he gets up, disappointed in the outcome.

 

Sun-Mi closes the lunchbox and puts it into her canvas bag. She steps into her shoes and slings her purse over her shoulder, he grabs the bag with the lunchbox, and they start walking toward where he'd left his car parked.

 

 

After a few steps, she slips her hand around his arm.

 

"It feels strange, thinking about leaving. Although it's less than a year, London is almost like home," she contemplates on her experience. "I'll never forget what happened here... I learned so much, because of you."

 

"I wasn't just teaching, I learned a lot, too, by being with you," he concurs.

 

"I wonder what it will be like in New York, " she muses, "who I will meet, what new things I'll experience, what different kind of person I'll become..."

 

"Someone once said, 'No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves,' he quotes the bit of wisdom.

 

"Is that Haruki Murakami?" she guesses the Japanese writer.

 

Min-Cho nods. "I think he's commenting on the desire people have to be something they're not intended to be, trying to achieve some kind of perfection in their minds, when all they need to know is who they are."

 

"From childhood I wanted to be an announcer who presented happy news to a world that has too much sad news," she shares her dream. "But right now, I'm wondering if that's impossible... if there is enough good news to counter the bad."

 

"Something's happened," he suspects, "You're not sounding like your usual self."

 

"Am I that obvious?" she chuckles. "I thought I was doing a bang-up job of putting on my happy face."

 

"If this is about your answer to me, I'd rather have it straight," he professes.

 

Sun-Mi nods, and begins, "I've thought about that; thought a lot. But as much as I like you -- as much as I have feelings for you -- there is someone else my heart can't let go of..."

 

"Yoon Hyung-Chul?" he deduces.

 

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Min-Cho."

 

"Actually, I was wondering myself about this," he confesses. "Su-Ji spoke to me..."

 

"I wasn't trying to hide anything, I just wanted to talk to you in person," she tells him. "Senior... he proposed to me that night."

 

"That's what I suspected," he admits.

 

"And the reason I'm leaving a day early, is to fly to Seoul before I go to New York. There's something there I have to do first," she reveals her plans.

 

Even though he doesn't want to think about the possibility, he has to ask, "Are you going to marry him?"

 

"Marry? Senior and I... it seems our fate is to be one in heart, but never to be together," she answers resignedly.

 

 

"Hearing this, Min-Cho is perplexed, "Then, if not him, why not me?"

 

Sun-Mi looks away. "Could you be happy with me, knowing my heart is with someone else? I'm not a person that anyone should love, because it will only lead to disappointment..."

 

She sighs, and wryly remarks, "That sounds like a bad line from a sappy melodrama, doesn't it?"

 

"Rather, it sounds like a sincere heart in conflict," he reflects thoughtfully. "But don't underestimate your ability to love; your heart is big enough to let in more than one person, if you'd allow it."

 

"Is it right to receive a whole heart, while giving only part of one in return?" she argues. "Who could bear that imbalance for long? How can I be so shameless, to ask you to do that?"

 

 

Min-Cho stops and turns to face her...

 

"Having a part of your heart is better than having nothing ... My love, and my proposal, are still yours to accept," he vows.

 

Sun-Mi looks up, tears rolling in her eyes. "Why are you so good to me?" she croaks hoarsely over the lump in her throat.

 

"Because you're so good for me," he shares his feelings unambiguously.

 

"Surely someone else deserves your love more than me," she replies. "Someone who won't keep you waiting by her indecision."

 

"The only person I want is the one with me now. I can wait... If something is right for a lifetime, it's just as right tomorrow as today," he affirms his stance. "It is for you to decide."

 

"Then, you don't mind if I go to him?"

 

"Go and do what you have to do," he encourages her. "And then, if possible, come back to me."

 

"I can't explain how, but I feel Senior's fate is in the balance... perhaps my fate, too," she raises the reality of an unfavorable outcome, not wanting to encourage his hopes unduly. "It's possible I may never come back."

 

"Whatever happens, whatever you do, it doesn't matter. But until I know there is no hope for us, I'll wait," he promises.

 

"I won't forget that," she replies with gratitude, "And if I return... if you can forgive me, and still feel the same, then ask me again..."