AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 166

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018

 

"I don't hate you, Young-Mi ... It's my mistakes that made things this way. All I want now, is for Senior to be happy." -- Jin Sun-Mi

"If you truly love Hyung-Chul, if you truly want him to be happy, then first you have to stop existing in his heart." -- Huh Young-Mi

 

 

ORPHANAGE CHURCH, KANGWON-DO ...

 

"These pearls are so beautiful..."

 

Joo-Hee exclaims over the double strand of Mikimoto pearls as she fastens the necklace around Young-Mi's neck.

 

Young-Mi smiles with pride, turning her head side-to-side to view the matching solitary pearl studs adorning her earlobes. "They're my wedding gift from Hyung-Chul," she boasts.

 

"Did Hyung-Chul choose this dress for you, too?" Joo-Hee finally asks the question that's piqued her curiosity since she's been helping Young-Mi get ready for the wedding.

 

"Actually, it was my decision," Young-Mi states. "But Oppa made it easy... this was the one he couldn't stop staring at."

 

 

Regarding the Vera Wang gown's open back and plunging V-neckline that daringly bares Young-Mi's decolletage, Joo-Hee understands why....

 

"Director Yoon must be loosening up his attitude these days," she remarks with a twinge of envy, recalling the consistently conservative choices he'd always made for her at Madame Kim's boutique.

 

Young-Mi slides her palms down the shiny silk taffeta bodice that hugs her figure above the layered tulle ball gown skirt sprinkled with sewn-on seed pearls and Swarovski crystals.

 

"Do I show too much?" she frets, scrutinizing her image in the full-length mirror.

 

 

Joo-Hee compares Young-Mi's still surprisingly svelte shape to the bowling ball in her own bulging belly...

 

"Don't worry, I doubt anyone will notice," she wryly predicts, eying the exposed cleavage of Young-Mi's swelling bosom.

 

 

"Sorry, I'm having a bad case of the jitters," Young-Mi admits to her nervousness.

 

"Actually, all that matters is the vows," Joo-Hee reassures her. "Trust me, I was worried sick, too, but everything went fine."

 

 

Joo-Hee opens a box on the table and takes out a pair of Badgley Mischka crystal embellished, white lace peep-toe platform pumps.

 

"So pretty," she admires the shoes as she places them on the floor.

 

Young-Mi lifts her skirt and steps into the shoes. With the 125mm heels and 25mm platforms, her hem now barely brushes the floor.

 

"Perfect!" Joo-Hee approves. "All that's left is the veil..."

 

 

A cursory knock sounds on the door...

 

"Come in..." Joo-Hee allows.

 

 

The door opens, and Sun-Mi enters the room...

 

"Guests will be arriving soon... Mom is worried everything won't be ready in time," she delivers the message directly to Joo-Hee, ignoring Young-Mi's presence.

 

"We're almost finished," Joo-Hee states as she goes over to Sun-Mi and greets her with a warm hug. "You just arrived?"

 

"My flight was delayed, and I had to stop at the apartment first to change," Sun-Mi explains her tardiness.

 

"I love your outfit! It's so chic," Joo-Hee exclaims over Sun-Mi's attire -- a two-piece champagne Armani Collezioni silk shantung suit with a wide portrait collar and knee-length pencil skirt slit to mid-thigh, Wolford translucent matte nude stockings, and Manolo Blanik metallic champagne slingback pumps embellished with crystal brooches on the vamp.

 

"Thanks... Your gown is lovely, too," Sun-Mi returns the compliment regarding Joo-Hee's Empire-waist, dark forest green, tea-length Emilio Pucci pleated dress that discreetly drapes her near-term pregnancy.

 

"How's the baby doing? You're eight months now, right?"

 

"Yes... I can't wait until I hold her in my arms," Joo-Hee enthuses.

 

Sun-Mi's eyes light up. "You know it's a girl?"

 

"From the ultrasound," Joo-Hee shares the source of her information. "But don't tell my hubby, I want to surprise him."

 

"Of course, my lips are sealed," Sun-Mi promises with a laugh. "I can't wait to see her, too."

 

"Come visit us in the hospital," Joo-Hee extends the invitation.

 

"I certainly will, if I'm in Seoul then," Sun-Mi hedges, not sure of what the future will bring...

 

Joo-Hee recalls what she'd heard from Sun-Dal. "That's right, aren't you're on a sailing cruise right now?"

 

"Umm..." Sun-Mi signals she prefers not to discuss her personal life in front of Young-Mi.

 

Joo-Hee picks up immediately. "Whatever... You're always welcome, Sun-Mi. Don't be a stranger."

 

"Thanks," Sun-Mi flashes a smile. "I appreciate that."

 

 

"Ahem..." Young-Mi clears her throat to get their attention without seeming peevish at being ignored... "My veil?"

 

"Oh, yes..." Joo-Hee remembers, a bit embarrassed.

 

"I'll get it for you, Senior," Sun-Mi offers quickly.

 

Her 95mm heels, sensuously-curved with flared tips in Manolo Blahnik's signature style, tap lightly on the hard tiled floor as she hurries to where the floor-length veil hangs from a hook on the wall, and carefully carries it back to Joo-Hee.

 

While Sun-Mi spreads the length of lace-trimmed, gossamer fabric out behind Young-Mi, Joo-Hee pins the crystal studded band into Young-Mi's sculpted updo.

 

After adjusting the blusher over Young-Mi's face, Joo-Hee declares, "All done!"

 

 

She stands back to take in the overall effect, looking at Young-Mi wistfully, entertaining a moment's regret that it is Young-Mi, and not herself in this dress today, before she shunts the feelings to the back of her mind.

 

"Thank you, again, Senior, for your help," Young-Mi says gratefully.

 

"You're a lovely bride," Joo-Hee replies admiringly. "Isn't she, Sun-Mi?"

 

 

Since entering the room, Sun-Mi hasn't spoken a word to Young-Mi, and deliberately avoided eye contact...

 

But now her gaze lingers on Young-Mi, resplendent in the dress that Sun-Mi was wearing when Hyung-Chul walked into the boutique fitting room... The feelings she'd had at that moment, when his eyes froze on her, flood back, filling her with resentment...

 

... of all the tricks Young-Mi had played on her, this was the most despicable ...

 

"Mmm..." her noncommittal response leaves what she is thinking unspoken, but her face communicates clearly.

 

 

Aware of the building tension, Joo-Hee decides to excuse herself and leave the sisters to work it out...

 

"I'm feeling a bit tired," she announces with a wave of her hand before her face. "I'll leave first. Good luck..."

 

 

After Joo-Hee slips out, Young-Mi speaks up. "Now that we're alone, you don't have to fake it. Go ahead, this is your chance to say what you really think..."

 

"Does what I think matter?" Sun-Mi answers stiffly." You never were interested before."

 

"Tsst... is that all you have to say?" Young-Mi taunts caustically. "I know you're envious, so just admit it."

 

"Envy?" Sun-Mi dismisses the accusation with a sniff. "It's pity I feel for you, not envy," she ridicules Young-Mi, knowing exactly where her sore spots lay, turning up the screws... "I pity you, like everyone does..."

 

Young-Mi's face darkens, glowering at Sun-Mi... but she holds her tongue...

 

"Aren't you embarrassed, needing to use your 'circumstances' to get a man to accept you?" Sun-Mi taunts mercilessly. "Is this your idea of a new Cinderella story? ... Oh, should I even call you a Cinderella? ... You're no better than a weed, a common whore working the girly clubs!"

 

"Jin Sun-Mi!" Young-Mi replies sharply, fuming that Sun-Mi had brought up her sordid past against her, a reminder to tarnish what should be one of the happiest days of her life...

 

They lock eyes, neither in the mood to back down or give way... until Sun-Mi remembers her father's wish when she first met Young-Mi...

 

... 'I want you two to be friends, very good friends' ...

 

"You're right, that was too harsh," Sun-Mi concedes, now regretting losing her temper. "I went too far... I'm sorry."

 

 

But the humiliating accusation still stings, and Young-Mi is not so forgiving...

 

"I don't know why you even came, if you carry such hard feelings," she rejects the apology.

 

"Because Daddy insisted," Sun-Mi sighs. With her ire spent, her natural filial instinct is returning.

 

"He wants harmony in the family, for us to get along. Whether we like each other, or not, we have to try for his sake," she pleads.

 

 

But Young-Mi scoffs, "How can that ever happen, while you hate my guts for stealing the man you love? For winning over you?"

 

"I don't hate you, Young-Mi," Sun-Mi denies the charge. "And you didn't win outright -- it's my mistakes that made things this way. All I want now, is for Senior to be happy... even if it is with you..."

 

 

Young-Mi looks straight into her rival's eyes, and coldly demands, "If you really mean that, then just disappear... right now...."

 

Sun-Mi is stunned. "What?"

 

"When I walk down the aisle, I don't want to see you there," Young-Mi insists. "Go away, never show your face to me, or to Oppa, again..."

 

"What right do you have, to say that to me?" Sun-Mi argues, not about to give up so easily.

 

"How about the right of possession?" Young-Mi retorts. "The right to have a husband and father to my child, not a hollow man who is living somewhere else in his dreams of another woman? That will never change as long as you're here, in front of him."

 

 

"But... how is that MY fault?" Sun-Mi counters. "Why do I have to give up everything? ... My home, my family, my career?"

 

 

Young-Mi steps closer, facing off with Sun-Mi, a sneer on her lips...

 

"Because that's what True Love does, right? Surely the 'Goddess of Love' knows something as basic as that..."

 

Her mocking words stab painfully, like a knife shoved deeply and twisted in Sun-Mi's gut...

 

"If you truly love Hyung-Chul, if you truly want him to be happy, then first you have to stop existing in his heart..."