AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 108

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2017

 

"I'm really not that kind of girl... who lets a man take her to bed when she's drunk... But I'll make an exception, for you." -- Jin Sun-Mi

"Everyone has their own reasons for remembering, or forgetting. I'm not questioning yours." -- Ha Jin-Woo

 

 

SUN-MI'S APARTMENT ... LATER THAT NIGHT ...

 

"... Look at me! I'm flying like an eagle, soaring over the clouds! ..."

 

Sun-Mi, extending her arms like bird wings, calls to Jin-Woo as she weaves unsteadily down the corridor from the elevator toward her apartment.

 

Jin-Woo catches up to her at the apartment door, where she is grappling with the clasp of her purse. He finds her keys and opens the door, flicking on the lights. Sun-Mi enters first and picks up where she'd left off...

 

"See, I can fly wherever I want! There's nothing to hold me back..." she declares gaily as she swoops around the living room, circles the couch, then goes into a wide, wobbly pirouette. "Wheee! ... I'm free... I'm..."

 

 

Jin-Woo catches Sun-Mi as she stumbles dizzily...

 

Surprised, she peers at him giddily, wondering aloud, "Oh? Who invited you in?" Then she smiles. "Never mind, I'll get us some drinks from the bar to celebrate."

 

"I have a better idea," he recommends, sweeping Sun-Mi off her feet, cradling her in his arms.

 

"You don't need to carry me," she tells him sweetly, "I can walk there by myself."

 

"Forget the drinks. I'm taking you to bed, NOW," he says in no uncertain terms.

 

She gazes at him, trying to deduce his possible intentions, and decides he must be joking... So she circles her arms loosely around his neck and objects facetiously, "But Mr. Ha Jin-Woo, you do know, that I'm really not that kind of girl..."

 

"And what kind is that?" he inquires as he starts for the bedroom.

 

"The kind who lets a man take her to bed when she's drunk," she murmurs teasingly into his ear, resting her head on his shoulder, "But I'll make an exception... for you..."

 

"Good, since there's nothing you can do about it, anyway," he states resolutely, bumping the light switch with his elbow to bring up the dimmable lights as he enters, and delivering Sun-Mi straight to her bed.

 

She sits passively on the edge of the mattress, allowing Jin-Woo to slip off her blazer and set it aside. With half-closed eyes, she watches, silent and unmoving, as he removes her Manolos, one at a time, placing them together on the floor beside the bed.

 

Then with one arm around Sun-Mi's shoulders, and the other under her knees, Jin-Woo raises her legs, turning and lying her down flat on top of the covers, with her head on the pillow.

 

Certain of what is to come next, Sun-Mi closes her eyes and waits, anticipating ... after all, she'd opened the door... practically inviting this outcome ...

 

 

Jin-Woo sits down beside her, takes her right hand and gives it a warm squeeze, and tells her, "Get some rest. I'll be going now..."

 

As he stands and turns to leave, he hears a quiet, "Don�t go..."

 

Jin-Woo looks back. Sun-Mi is gazing up at him through heavily lidded eyes.

 

"Can't you stay with me, just for tonight?" she whispers breathily.

 

"I don't think that's a good idea," he declines. "Not after that..."

 

"Oh..." she looks away as she recalls her spontaneous kiss at the bar.

 

"I know... one kiss, is just a kiss... it doesn't need to mean anything else," he clarifies their situation for her.

 

"I'm sorry I ruined your evening," she apologizes, concerned she'd offended him, "acting as I did... so recklessly..."

 

"I already forgot everything," he lies to reassure her, though in truth he still retains the lingering sensation of her lips fervently locked with his.

 

"I don't believe that," Sun-Mi grumbles skeptically. "You're just being nice."

 

"What does it matter?" he maintains. "Everyone has their own reasons for remembering, or forgetting. I'm not questioning yours..."

 

"I didn't want you to remember me like this, seeing only my foolish side," she regrets. "But this was a very bad day... somewhere in the midst of it, I got lost... until I found you..."

 

"Sun-Mi, what do you want from me?" he probes to learn if her feelings are attuned with his.

 

"I just need... to be close to someone right now," she answers, "and honestly, I don't want to wake up to an empty apartment."

 

"Tell you what I can do... I'll stay here until you fall asleep," he offers a compromise. "And tomorrow, I'll come back and make you the best breakfast you've had in New York. How's that?"

 

"She smiles appreciatively, "I'd like that." Then her smile fades. "But I feel guilty, using you like this."

 

"Isn't that what good friends are for?" he assures her. "Anytime you need a shoulder to lean on, I'm a just a call away."

 

 

Grateful tears rim her eyes...

 

"That day, remember I said that I thought I was lucky?" she reminds him of their conversation in Central Park.

 

"Yes, that even spilled wine was fortunate for you," he recalls.

 

She reaches out and rests her right hand on his forearm, murmuring thankfully, "I didn't realize how truly lucky... just knowing you..."

 

He takes her hand with his, holding it comfortingly. "Shhh... Sleep now."

 

Sun-Mi squeezes his hand tightly in response. She closes her eyes, and less than a minute later, her grip softens...

 

 

Jin-Woo looks down at her face, now in peaceful repose, reflecting on the long-lashed, dark-lidded eyes, the alcohol-enhanced blush of her cheeks, and the full, red, luscious lips, that in a single move of uninhibited ardor, had proved to him definitively, despite what he'd claimed, that sometimes a kiss is most certainly NOT just a kiss...

 

He gets up and takes a folded blanket from the foot of the bed, spreading it over her.

 

"Jin Sun-Mi, why did you have to do that?" he talks to her although she can't hear him, "Things were going so well, between you and me, but now," ... he sighs regretfully ... "Now, I don't know what to do..."