AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 159
written by LoveCR2 -- 2005
edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018
"Where would Dorothy be, without Toto close beside her?" -- Min-Cho Atwater
WOO-JIN'S FORMER STUDIO, MAPO-GU ... SEVERAL DAYS LATER ...
"I told you, I haven't made up my mind yet, so don't push," Sun-Mi argues on her mobile, frowning with irritation at Min-Cho's insistence...
She sets her mobile on the sink counter, switching to speaker mode, and wraps a bath towel around herself. tucking the loose end in securely.
Peering into a bathroom mirror foggy from the steam of a hot shower, Sun-Mi scrutinizes her face for any blemishes in her glowing complexion. On noticing the appearance of fine wrinkles around her mouth and brow, where none had been before, her frown deepens.
"I know... but I'd rather just forget, put it all behind me..."
"If you could, you would have already," he stresses the point. "You KNOW it's the right thing to do..."
"Just give me more time... I'll think about it," she promises.
"Okay, we'll discuss this later, at dinner tonight," he accedes, knowing it's the best he'll get at the moment.
"You haven't told me where we're going yet," she hints for information.
"It's a surprise," he declines to reveal his plans.
"Still, I'd like to know..."
"Why?"
"Because 'where' determines what I decide to wear, and that determines how much time I need," she patiently informs his ignorance, as she checks the watch set conspicuously on the sink counter. "I want to dress appropriately if I'm going out on New Year's Eve."
"You could be fresh out of the shower, in just a bath towel, without a lick of makeup, hair sopping wet, and still look absolutely gorgeous," he jokingly compliments her.
"You're making fun of me," she grumbles. "I can cancel our dinner anytime I want, you know!"
With that threat, Min-Cho apologizes tongue-in-cheek, "Okay, I went too far... about the wet hair, that is. But the towel, though... In fact, I'm seeing a very interesting mental picture right now."
"All right, just stop! That's it... we're done," she flatly declares their date off, pretending to be upset while smiling at his cheekiness...
"Be that way..." he retorts, feigning offense. "I'm hanging up now..."
"Wait.. " she speaks quickly, before he cuts off the call.
"What?"
"Actually... Thank you again, Min-Cho, for not giving up on me," she says appreciatively, handing him an olive leaf. "I didn't realize how much I missed you."
"Where would Dorothy be, without Toto close beside her?" he confirms similar feelings.
"Mmmm..." she agrees, relishing the warm bonds of close companionship.
"Then dinner's back on?"
"Only if you tell me where you're taking me," she qualifies her consent, still determined to get her way.
"Okay... It's someplace appropriate for a chic bath towel," he cracks.
"You jerk!" she protests, her eyes sparking to his amused laughter... "Wait 'til you get here, I'll...
Then Sun-Mi hears a muted noise outside in the studio, sounding like the distinctive 'click' of her door latch opening...
"Wait a minute... you're not here right now, are you?" she asks suspiciously, recalling his penchant for pranks -- and wondering if this is how he knew she was just out of the shower.
"No, I'm still in my apartment," he says. "Why?"
"I think I heard something... just a minute, while I check it out..."
Sun-Mi snugs the towel tighter and steps over to the bathroom door, first listening ...
Hearing nothing, she slowly turns the handle and pushes the door open soundlessly, peering out through the crack into the studio. To her relief, the apartment door is still closed, no one is there ...
... is she just being jumpy, because of what In-Soo said? ...
"Sun-Mi? What's going on?" she hears Min-Cho's anxious voice from the phone.
She turns back into the bathroom, leaving the door ajar. She is reaching to pick up her phone again, when the unmistakable sound of a footstep alerts her.
Turning to look, in her peripheral vision Sun-Mi sees a blur of motion behind her. But before she can react, a black-gloved hand covers her mouth, stifling her cry for help.
"Don't make a sound," the man whispers, backing up his warning by what feels to Sun-Mi like a knife pressing against her right side through the plush Turkish terrycloth.
Her heart is suddenly pounding, her chest too tight to breathe ... She immediately nods her compliance.
The pressure on her side eases. Removing his hand from her mouth, the man shoves Sun-Mi forward, into the opposite wall, as he snaps the knife closed with one hand and reaches for her phone with the other. He removes the battery and tosses the two parts separately out into the studio.
Turning to look at her assailant, Sun-Mi gasps, "You? How did you get in?"
... It is the same man who accosted her in the dark alley with Young-Mi, and later confronted her in Hyung-Chul's hospital room ...
"Long time no see, Correspondent Jin," he smirks at her astonishment, removing a lock picking tool from his pocket briefly to show her.
"What do you want?" she demands, trying to sound confident with a show of false bravado.
Instead of answering, roves his eyes over Sun-Mi, leering as intensely -- in her estimation -- as if she was sans towel.
Uncertain of his exact intentions, backed against the wall, Sun-Mi squeezes into the corner, arms crossed in front of herself protectively.
He moves closer to his cornered prey, reaching out to loosen the towel wrapping her head. When he pulls it off, rumpled locks of damp hair fall loose over her face.
"W-why are you h-here?" she demands again, her voice shaky with the expectation of the bath towel being next. Clutching it tighter, she prepares to resist as long as she can to forestall the inevitable.
Again he declines to answer, instead sliding rough fingertips along her cheek, feeling its smooth softness, making her skin crawl in reaction to his touch. Carefully, he moves her hair back, so he can see her face unencumbered.
She glares at him, trying for a show of defiance.
But the salacious glint in his hungry eyes, the wide grin showing teeth as if he's ready to devour her, and the utter air of contempt in his face at her helplessness, melts her last vestiges of courage as she recalls his unfulfilled threat ...
... 'Let's go somewhere alone and have some fun' ...