AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 103

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"Shouldn't dreams be grand? The greater the dream, the greater meaning it has. I won't dream anything less." -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

CENTRAL PARK WEST, NEW YORK CITY...

 

"Why not get a cab?" Jin-Woo asks Sun-Mi as they cross the street together after leaving the party.

 

"It's not far, just across the park," Sun-Mi points out. She is still dressed from work, with her office tote slung over her shoulder, wearing an ecru Moschino pantsuit, white button-up shirt open at the collar, and nude Stuart Weitzman almond-toe wedges with practical 65mm heels. "I can walk."

 

"Then I'll escort you home," he offers. "It's late, and you're new to the city..."

 

"You don't have to bother," she demurs as they come to the W 90th Street entrance. "I know the way. I've run it every morning."

 

"Really, it's no trouble. I know it's not dangerous like years ago, but why go alone and take chances?" he reasons. "Besides, I'd enjoy spending the time with you."

 

Sun-Mi smiles at his persistence. "When you put it that way, why not?" she accepts.

 

 

A minute later, they come to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, and head north on the Schuman Running Path bordering it. The weather is clear with a slight breeze that ripples the water. Other than a few people some distance ahead, the path, busy in daytime, is quiet now.

 

"Actually, another reason is that I wanted the chance to apologize," Jin-Woo tells her.

 

"For what?"

 

"Causing you embarrassment at the party," he answers. "I didn't realize that all along you thought I was Won-Jae's father."

 

"I just assumed a boy traveling with a man is his son. I should have asked," she brushes off his concern. "Anyway, it gave everyone a reason to laugh."

 

"You're being gracious," he thanks her.

 

"I should thank you for inviting me, I had a good time," she replies warmly, and then jokes, "And I got my own airplane, too!" referring to the small toy that Won-Jae had given her.

 

 

"How's the new job?" Jin-Woo asks, curious about the work situation she'd mentioned on the flight.

 

"Exhausting! I have so much to learn... You'd think broadcasting is the same everywhere, but there's local office procedures, different equipment and software to understand, and of course getting to know all the people and their working relationships..."

 

"Having trouble fitting in with the office politics?" he guesses.

 

"TV stations are rife with egos and personalities to deal with. It helps to have a thick skin," she affirms. "A new person can't just expect to waltz in and get the plum assignments. I need to develop my own leads and stories to report on, and it takes time to get those inside connections."

 

"You should take up my brother-in-law's offer to interview his company's VP," Jin-Woo encourages her. "He can introduce you some key players in the investment and trading businesses here."

 

"When the time is right, I'll do that, " she agrees. "But right now I have plenty to do just keeping my head above water. Like today, I was with a remote team since morning, doing location shoots on the streets. "

 

"That sounds better than sitting in a cramped office, glued to a computer. Nothing beats personal experience to get to know a new place," he opines. "So what do you think of New York after your first week?"

 

"Actually, this is my second week here -- previously I came in February for Fashion Week -- but honestly, all I've done is work, and until this evening, haven't had a free moment to even think..."

 

Then she reflects to herself, and adds with a quiet sigh, "But maybe, that's for the better..."

 

Jin-Woo catches the inflection in her voice. "Pardon if I'm prying, but I looked you up on the internet news, and see that you're going through some rough times recently."

 

"It's public knowledge, you don't need to apologize," she gives him a wan smile. "It seems everything about my life is fodder for gossip."

 

"The person I met on the plane, the one in front of me right now... is nothing like the person I read about," he says encouragingly, and empathizes, "Even with a thick skin, it must be hard."

 

"It can be..." she admits, then continues optimistically, "But life isn't easy for anyone. Overall, I feel blessed, and very lucky."

 

Her positive attitude intrigues him to ask, "Why do you think you have good luck?"

 

"Wherever I go, I seem to meet exactly the right person," she observes. "For example... like you..."

 

Hearing this, Jin-Woo is surprised. "Me?"

 

"Yes, just from a chance spill of wine... I got my own airplane," she answers humorously. "Don't you call that good luck?"

 

"I see your point," he agrees with a chuckle. "It was good luck for me, too, meeting a very interesting and wonderful person."

 

"If you actually knew me better, you'd take back the 'wonderful' part," she remarks, deliberately trying to discourage any interest on his part.

 

"Actually, I was going to ask if we could see each other again," Jin-Woo replies glumly.

 

"Then you don't have a girlfriend?"

 

"Just friends," he discloses. "No one who ever got too close. I don't usually open to people quickly, and am not the kind of guy women would be interested in anyway. Accountants are by nature pretty bland, good with numbers, but not with people, right?"

 

"Don't put yourself down, you were good to me," Sun-Mi offers her support. "You've just not met the right person yet."

 

"Thanks for the positive thought," he replies, "but how do people know when they've met that right person?"

 

 

They walk on for a while, Sun-Mi considering his question, before she answers. "Actually, I'm still trying to figure that out myself," she confesses.

 

"What about your boyfriend?"

 

"When I left London, I told him I may never come back," she confides, "and not to wait for me, since I loved another man more than him... a man who I've since realized I'll never be together with in this life, if ever..."

 

"Your love life sounds pretty confusing to me," Jin-Woo remarks sympathetically.

 

"I feel the same way myself," she says lightly with a self-disparaging chuckle. "It's because my head and my heart always move in different directions, debating with each other interminably, until I end up going in circles, with more confusion than clarity."

 

"Now that's understandable, since you're a Gemini," he advises. "Being a 'twin' you instinctively look at both sides of every situation."

 

"I don't believe in astrology, that one's personality and life is destined by the stars and planets," she disputes his contention. "Life is more personal than that."

 

 

Jin-Woo stops and turns to face Sun-Mi...

 

"Then do you believe it's destined by love?" he asks frankly. "That love at first sight, like in the stories, is a possibility?"

 

It's a leading question, and Sun-Mi searches Jin-Woo's face for some hint as to his purpose in asking as she ponders it...

 

"There was a time when I believed in True Love, and I wanted other people to believe as much as I did," she answers honestly. "I thought it could overcome any obstacle, and if I only believed hard enough and sincerely enough, that it could even work miracles..."

 

She sighs and smiles sadly as she turns away, gazing across the lake, towards the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan...

 

"But in the end I learned that True Love is a myth that always leads to disappointment, and I decided I don't believe in that anymore," she declares resolutely. "I was a fool, but I won't be a fool any longer."

 

"If you don't believe in love, then what?" Jin-Woo questions further, "Don�t we need to believe in something... or someone?"

 

Sun-Mi readily agrees, "Yes I do believe in something... in dreams, my dreams..."

 

"You mean, what you said about flying like a bird, up in the clouds?" he recalls what she'd told Won-Jae.

 

"That was a child's dream," she counters. "But I have another, much bigger, dream now. It's why I became a news reporter; why I came to New York... I want to bring good news to as many people as possible, all over the world. To give them hope that tomorrow can be a better day..."

 

"But practically, isn't most news negative by nature? That for many, their lives will never get better?" Jin-Woo states the reality. "In those circumstances, what do they have to hope for, except the next life?"

 

"All the more reason to give them hope for today," she insists. "Not in a romantic fantasy, or some future life in heaven or on earth, but in themselves, in this life... in the possibility to carry on and rise above their circumstances, to do good for others who are also struggling in this world."

 

"Isn't that a pipe dream?" he challenges her ideals. "Do you really see life like a pollyanna?"

 

She looks intently at Jin-Woo to convey her sincerity. "If hope isn't possible in this life, then what meaning does our existence have? And what benefit is the next life?"

 

"Are you saying you don't believe in God?"

 

"For a long time I had doubts if God existed at all, and still I wonder if God really exists for me," she admits. "But I just saw a miracle, in answer to prayer offered up by a better person than I am," she relates her experience thoughtfully. "So I have reason to believe now. And isn't the purpose of belief to give us hope amidst hopelessness? That's my dream, to be a part of that purpose..."

 

"Isn't that dream a bit too grand?" he casts doubt on her possibility of succeeding.

 

"Shouldn't dreams be grand?" she declares boldly, "The greater the dream, the greater meaning it has. I won't dream anything less..."

 

 

With that, Sun-Mi gives Jin-Woo a self-assured smile, and turns to start off on the path again...

 

"I have a grand dream, too," he quickly speaks up.

 

"Oh? What is it?" she turns back, curious that he chose to mention it now.

 

"That you and I become good friends," he states with firm expectation, offering his arm. "What do you think?"

 

Sun-Mi tilts her head and looks up at him as she considers the possibility. "Isn't that dream a bit too grand?" she muses drolly, her eyes sparkling with mirth as she curls her hand around his arm.

 

Stepping forward with Sun-Mi at his side, Jin-Woo answers confidently, "I won't dream anything less..."