AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 138

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018

 

"Jin Sun-Mi is an idiot who can't hold a candle to me when it comes to getting a man, any man I want." -- Huh Young-Mi

 

 

SEOCHO-GU, SEOUL ...

 

"You jerk!! ... How could you do this to me?!"

 

Min-Cho looks up, to see Sun-Mi glowering angrily at him.

 

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sun-Mi continues her -- seemingly to him -- unprovoked rant, "Why am I always the last one to find out?"

 

 

Immersed in the current issue of The Economist, he had paid scant attention upon Sun-Mi's return and immediate sequester into her dressing room.

 

Already simmering with indignation as she started to change, Sun-Mi had just hung up her suit when the pot boiled over. Impulsively, she'd thrown on a satin silk Old Shanghai kimono robe and stormed out to confront Min-Cho ...

 

Her sudden reappearance in the short teal wrap, hand-painted with cherry blossoms, and sheer thigh-high stayups -- strikingly as sexy as she is angry -- immediately seizes his undivided attention ...

 

"It might help if you'd tell me what it was you found out," he suggests calmly, attempting to defuse her ire. "Sit down ... I'll listen ..."

 

 

Sun-Mi sinks into the chair across from him, anger unabated ...

 

"When Director Kim Sun-Dal told me, I couldn't believe it!" she relates her shock. "That you're now a major shareholder in MBS, and control a seat on the Board of Directors."

 

"Since when is it a crime to be an investor?" he defends his secretive move.

 

"The 'crime' is not in the action , but the appearance," she charges heatedly. "Who would accept that I got this job on my own merits? Even I wouldn't believe it! ... 'Oh, her wealthy boyfriend is backing her, that's why' ... How can I get any respect like this?"

 

"I wasn't the one who insisted on our present public relationship," he reminds her. "It's hardly my fault."

 

"What? Are you blaming me now, for something I knew nothing about?" she retorts, her eyes flashing with fury.

 

"You're demanding I include you in my personal business matters?" he is incredulous. "Why should I do that?"

 

"When it's my life that's affected, isn't that reason enough?" she argues. "So shouldn't I have some say, too?"

 

"Did I get a say, when it was YOUR personal business affecting MY life?" he debates her point. "If I let you do what you want, why can't you do me same for me?"

 

"Because it's not the same thing!" she protests loudly, exasperated by his opposition. "You just don't understand what it's like, living in this society! Having people accuse you unfairly, spreading rumors about things you have no knowledge or control over!"

 

"Didn't you boast you're the Queen of Scandals?" he disputes the seriousness of her objection. "Why let this bother you so much?"

 

"Because it's not just the rumors, it's the uncertainty that every time I think I know who you are, I get another surprise!" she claims stridently. "All I can think is, what will be next? What more is he hiding from me? I find myself wondering, if I can trust you anymore ..."

 

 

A sound at the door to the rooftop garden terrace catches her attention, and a familiar voice speaks up behind Sun-Mi, jokingly, "Engaged just a few days, and already you two are bickering like an old married couple?"

 

"Daddy? What are YOU doing here?" Sun-Mi gasps, turning to stare at him, red-faced at both her state of undress, and that he may have overheard them arguing.

 

"Assuring myself that my new son-in-law is treating my precious daughter as she deserves," he explains his presence.

 

"So what do you think of the terrace, Father?" Min-Cho uses the relational term purposefully.

 

"It's first class construction," he replies admiringly. "And you have a great view, too!"

 

"Now that Sun-Mi's back, why not stay for drinks?" Min-Cho proposes.

 

"Thanks, but I have something to do," Kui-Sung declines, "I'll let you two lovebirds 'feather your own nest' tonight ..."

 

Her cheeks flushing pink as the blossoms on her kimono, Sun-Mi shoots a dark glance when a smirk appears on Min-Cho's face.

 

 

Kui-Sung pulls the sliding door closed, stopping Hyung-Chul as he moves to stand. "No need. I can see myself out."

 

He heads for the entry foyer, leaving Min-Cho and Sun-Mi looking at each other awkwardly -- silent until the door opens and closes -- and then Sun-Mi resumes her tirade ...

 

 

"You could have said something, to tell me that Daddy was here!" she stiffly adds another point to her list of grievances. "What is he going to think now?"

 

"That you were acting your part as an aggrieved fiancée," Min-Cho surmises. "But it doesn't matter, because he's already guessed our 'engagement' was a fake."

 

Sun-Mi is aghast. "But ... how did Daddy find out?"

 

" I think he knows his own daughter, and what she is capable of."

 

Wondering what she'd done to give her plan away, she asks, "What did he say?"

 

"How you've competed with Young-Mi from the beginning ... That, still being sensitive about Director Yoon, you wanted to 'one up' Young-Mi and make her jealous, to show you're better than she is ... That you did this before, with Director Yoon, after Young-Mi was engaged with Kim Woo-Jin," Min-Cho recounts parts of their conversation.

 

"Is everything I do so transparent?" Sun-Mi frets about her scheme being exposed. "What if he told Mom? Or Young-Mi?"

 

"I got the impression that your little charade fooled no one," Min-Cho gives her the bad news.

 

"This has all become such a mess! Why am I so stupid?" she chastises herself, sighing, "What am I going to do now?"

 

"First ... just calm down," Min-Cho suggests. "You and I need to talk ..."

 

 

 

MEANWHILE, IN MAPO-GU, SEOUL ...

 

 

"What's so important that you had to see me tonight?"

 

Young-Mi grumbles to Bae In-Soo as she climbs the last flight of stairs to the photography studio, where he waits after arriving early, so they wouldn't be seen together.

 

"I'm missing you terribly," he answers, eagerly putting his arms around her waist.

 

He tries to kiss her on the lips, to incite a spark of the passion of their prior time in this place, but she turns her face to the side, protesting, "Not now."

 

Upset at being rejected, he mutters back unhappily, "It's nice to see you, too."

 

 

Young-Mi pulls away and unlocks the door. In-Soo follows her inside, shoving the door closed. He approaches Young-Mi again, but she pushes him back, repeating her objection, "I said, not now!"

 

"It's been over a month," he responds, disappointed. "A guy has needs, you know."

 

"Then take your 'needs' to Five-Eight-Eight," she says scornfully, "and stop bothering me."

 

In-Soo eyes her warily, wondering at her cold demeanor. "What's got into you?"

 

"I'm exhausted ..." she complains, sitting down at the table and immediately kicking her heels off, "and these shoes are killing my feet."

 

In-Soo, looking down, notices that her feet and ankles are swollen. "Hey, is something wrong?" he asks, concerned.

 

"It's ... nothing," she replies, not wanting to apprise him of her condition.

 

 

" I have some good news, about the DNA tests," In-Soo tries to entice her interest. "Just as you guessed, they're one happy family, the three of 'em."

 

"Hmm ..." she replies absentmindedly, distracted by the photographs of herself mounted on the walls.

 

"Hey, I went to a lot of trouble to do that for you," he complains, "can't you show a little appreciation?"

 

"Actually, it may not matter anymore," she dismisses his efforts.

 

Her blasé attitude bothers him. "But what about your plans for Director Yoon? That fortune you spoke of us getting out of him?"

 

"Those plans may be changing."

 

"Those plans are our future together," he reminds her. "Shouldn't I have some say in this, too?"

 

"Why? What can you do about it, anyway?" she refuses his request.

 

"At least tell me what's going on," he persists.

 

"Fine," she accedes. "He's Min-Cho Atwater, a British billionaire, and my sister's so-called fiancée."

 

"Why do you say, 'so-called'?"

 

"Jin Sun-Mi claims they're engaged, but it smells fishy to me," she shares her suspicions. "He stared at me the whole time we were together, and hardly glanced her way. I know where a man's mind is when I see that."

 

In-Soo disagrees. "Why risk a foolproof plan, for a flyer?"

 

"You just don't understand, do you?" she argues.

 

In-Soo chuckles, ridiculing her, "You're jealous, so you're planning to steal her man, again?"

 

"You think I can't?" Young-Mi bristles, boasting, "I've already done it twice before. Jin Sun-Mi is an idiot who can't hold a candle to me when it comes to getting a man, any man I want ..."

 

 

At that, In-Soo's face darkens, "Are you saying, I'm just like any other man to you?"

 

"I'm saying that -- right now -- you're getting in my way," she replies testily. "Back off! ... I'll call you when I want you."

 

"Don't tell me what to do," he objects angrily, his eyes narrowing. "You belong to me, remember?"

 

"If you keep up that attitude, you can get off!" she retorts, smirking at him. "What do I need you for, anyway?"

 

Incensed, In-Soo suddenly puts his hands on Young-Mi's throat, "I ought to kill you," he threatens, his voice cold.

 

"Go ahead," she challenges him derisively. "Kill me, and you'll get nothing for your efforts, except an angry chaebol who is out to avenge his dead fiancée and family heir. You'll rot in prison for life."

 

Frustrated, he backs down, releasing her throat.

 

"Men like you are all bluster," she mocks him. "Such fools ..."

 

"But ... you can't just push me aside like this," he protests, trying persuasion where force failed. "You and me.. What we have together ..."

 

"I don't want to hear anymore! Just get out," she orders, exasperated. "Leave me alone!"

 

Furious, In-Soo storms out of the studio, barely holding his frustration to under-the-breath muttering ... "g-damned bitch!"

 

 

Left alone, Young-Mi takes a deep breath and puts her face down into her hands as she waits for her trembling to cease. She can still feel the pressure of In-Soo's hands tightening on her throat, threatening to choke the life out of her, and the fearful sensation of being powerless to stop him ...

 

After a few minutes, calmer now, Young-Mi looks around the studio, contemplating the photos Woo-Jin had taken of her, reminding her of another time -- a better time -- in her life.

 

"Kim Woo-Jin, you were a fool to believe I could be a better person, if only you loved me more," she says wistfully, as if speaking to him in person, "a total idiot..."

 

Tears wend their way down her cheeks as she longs for Woo-Jin to hold her in his arms again, comforting her ...

 

"Why did you have to love me? Why didn't you listen? Didn't you know who I am?" she scolds him in absentia. "Anyone who loves me, I'll destroy them ... Just like I destroyed you, Woo-Jin ... the only person I ever loved ..."