AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 146

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018

 

"I'm a believer in 'can', not 'can't' ... What can happen is only limited by the will to make it happen" -- Min-Cho Atwater

 

 

MBS CHARITY GALA, GRAND BALLROOM GALLERY, MUN-YUNG DIAMOND HOTEL...

 

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

 

Gazing out the gallery window, Young-Mi admires the view.

 

"Exquisite," Min-Cho agrees, his gaze fixed on a different object of admiration...

 

Turning away from the window, Young-Mi gives him a smile acknowledging the compliment. "It's nice to finally get a breath of fresh air," she remarks. "Thanks for rescuing me."

 

After exchanging dance partners with Hyung-Chul, Min-Cho had suggested that they escape to someplace quieter to talk ...

 

Adjacent to the ballroom, from which muted band music filters through closed doors, the long, narrow gallery has a full wall of windows overlooking the scenic Han River. With intimate seating spaces screened by strategically positioned planters, it is perfect for a private t�te-�-t�te, out of the view of passersby...

 

 

"I felt the same. too," he discloses. "Hobnobbing with society bluebloods is not high on the list of my favorite things to do."

 

"Tell me about it," Young-Mi answers with a roll of her eyes. "But I don't have a choice, when my fianc�e is the head fundraiser..."

 

"Destined for a life among the 'noblisse riche'?... You could do worse," he points out, lightly sarcastic.

 

"Yeah," she agrees with a chuckle. "Not bad for a backwater orphan of an alcoholic day-laborer, huh?"

 

"You've achieved a lot," he commends her. "I admire that kind of fortitude and tenacity."

 

"I don't think that's all you've been admiring," she notes, opening the door...

 

 

Min-Cho smiles as he confirms her observation, "In the diamond business, you learn how to recognize -- and appreciate -- a rare gem when you find one..."

 

In a show of modesty, Young-Mi deflects his praise. "You're just flattering me..."

 

"Is it flattery, if it's true?" he raises the rhetorical question.

 

"I hardly consider anything about me is so rare as to attract undue attention," she maintains her unassuming stance. "I'm just an ordinary person..."

 

"Ordinary?" Min-Cho questions her assumption as he reaches out, touching her cheek with his fingers, raising her face so their eyes connect...

 

"You're a very beautiful woman," he states, scrutinizing her.

 

Young-Mi smiles with her rejoinder, "And you're a very direct man..."

 

"Life is too short to waste playing games," he asserts, "When I like what I see, I don't hold back."

 

"You must be mistaken," she replies, retreating a step, away from his touch.

 

"True," he answers, closing the space between them again. "My mistake was not waiting until I met the other sister."

 

 

Young-Mi looks away to conceal the gleam in her eyes, pleased that her scheme is working out so easily...

 

"Please... you're making me uncomfortable," she feigns distress, intending to draw him in farther...

 

"Is it me, or your own desires, that you're resisting?" he challenges her statement.

 

"I... I can't say," she declines to answer.

 

 

"Then let me say something... You and I have a mutual problem that needs resolving. Being with the wrong person, for the wrong reasons."

 

"Even if I were to agree, there's nothing that can be done to change that," she points out their situation realistically.

 

"I'm a believer in 'can', not 'can't' ", he contends. "What can happen is only limited by the will to make it happen..."

 

Young-Mi faces him, asking, "Tell me, what can possibly happen now?"

 

"Better, I'll show you," he replies with a roguish grin...

 

 

Moving quickly, Min-Cho clamps his hands on her shoulders and kisses Young-Mi on the lips... Surprised, she initially tries to pull back, but he holds her firmly in place. Then dropping her pretense of resistance, she engages him fully in the kiss, and they linger in a passionate embrace.

 

Relishing the carnal pleasure, Young-Mi exults in her triumph over Sun-Mi, who only a few hours previously had vowed a challenge...

 

... 'this time, your schemes won't work... before, I was na�ve, but I'm wiser now, and better than you. This time, I'll beat you' ...

 

 

When Min-Cho ends the kiss, Young-Mi gazes languidly up into his eyes, confidently calculating the next step in her conquest...

 

"So was this your solution?" she scoffs as if the kiss had meant nothing to her.

 

"This is just the beginning," he huskily promises. "I have big plans, and want you to be part of them..."

 

 

His unexpected offer intrigues Young-Mi. "How?"

 

"I came to Seoul to take back what was stolen from my family, and is rightfully mine... MBS," he reveals.

 

"Why have I never hear of this before?" she asks dubiously.

 

"It's ancient history now, something no one speaks of anymore... Director Yoon's mother's father swindled my mother's father out of the first commercial radio license in Seoul, and used that to build a media empire," he divulges more to whet her curiosity. "It's a long time coming, but finally, that wrong will be made right..."

 

Young-Mi is still not convinced. "Aren't you concerned I'll reveal your plans to my fianc�e?"

 

"At this point, the die is cast, it's too late to make any difference," he proclaims confidently. "I'll have my revenge... Yoon Hyung-Chul and anyone associated with him will be finished...

 

His certainty persuades her of the real possibility. "But why are you telling me this?" Young-Mi asks warily.

 

"To give you the chance to avoid being collateral damage... and join the winning side."

 

"Do you really think that I'd so quickly betray my fianc�e ?"

 

"Is it betrayal where there was never any real allegiance?" he counters, taking a flyer...

 

 

Keeping her cards close, Young-Mi declines to answer directly, and instead probes further... "What about Sun-Mi? How does she fit into your plans?"

 

"Originally, I'd intended on using Sun-Mi as bait to dangle in front of Director Yoon, in exchange for his entire stake in MBS," he explains. "But the circumstances here had progressed farther than I realized."

 

"Was Sun-Mi aware of all this?"

 

"That na�ve idiot?" he scoffs. "I have her totally convinced that I'm here to help her fight against you."

 

His disparagement of Sun-Mi's intelligence brings a smile to Young-Mi's lips. "Sun-Mi was an idiot from the beginning," she agrees, then prompts for more, "So what are your plans now?

 

"Actually, the situation is more satisfying than before," he confides. "With Sun-Mi as the unwitting pawn in my revenge, I can inflict maximum pain on my adversary, before the coup de gras..." Min-Cho pauses there, intentionally leaving the rest undisclosed.

 

Young-Mi moves closer, her lips enticingly pursed... but when he reacts to take up her implied offer, she places her palms on his chest, holding him back.

 

"And what are your intentions for my 'dear' sister?" she asks, her cruel, cold smile revealing a callous attitude.

 

"After I take everything I want from Sun-Mi, she's just a liability to discard, as soon as possible," he replies contemptuously.

 

"So you have no personal interest in Sun-Mi now?" Young-Mi probes for certainty. "Have you ever?"

 

He chuckles. "Do I look like a man who would settle for cheap wine, when I can afford the best vintage?"

 

"No..." Young-Mi replies, smug with herself, "you look like a man who knows what he wants, and how to get it... my type of man."

 

Min-Cho grins with satisfaction. "Then we have an agreement?"

 

"Mmm..."� she hedges, holding up her hand so he can see her engagement ring, and hints, "I happened to notice Sun-Mi's ring tonight. It's stunning."

 

He gets the drift, and suggests, "There's another twice the size, and ten times the value, waiting for a more worthy hand."

 

Hearing this, Young-Mi's eyes sparkle excitedly, but she plays it cool, "I'll have to see about that... First, I'd like to hear more..."

 

 

Instead, Min-Cho says apologetically, "It's near the midnight hour, when little Cinderella must leave the ball..."

 

Young-Mi smiles at his choice of words. "Yes, we'll have to meet again... someplace more private," she flicks her eyes seductively to hint at what she has in mind at that meeting.

 

"There's this discreet place in Sinsa, not far from my building," Min-Cho suggests, touching her hair with his right hand. "Let's meet up there. Sun-Mi has a late meeting with Director Yoon, so we'll both be free to pursue whatever interests us..."

 

He moves his fingers lightly down her neck and across her shoulder, leaving a trail of sparks tingling on her skin...

 

"Then it's a date," she confirms.

 

Min-Cho offers his arm. "They're probably wondering what became of us..."

 

 

 

As Young-Mi and Min-Cho leave, two heads poke up from behind some nearby planters, wide eyed...

 

"Oh... My... God..." Cho-Jeh sputters as she smooths her disheveled hair back with her fingers. "We have to tell Sun-Mi right away!"

 

"We can't, not while she's with Atwater," Jin-Soo quashes the idea. "You'll have to catch up with her at the office tomorrow."

 

Cho-Jeh frowns. "But I'll be worrying all night."

 

"Worry is useless," he advises the obvious. "It's better to try and keep your mind distracted..."

 

"How can I do that?" she frets. "This is serious!"

 

"So is this," Jin-Soo declares, kissing her fervently on the lips...

 

"How can you even think about doing that, at a time like this!" she complains, then looks at him with smoldering eyes and coos, "Except that it actually works..."