AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 180

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018

 

"If I'd done the right thing in the first place, not selfishly put Sun-Mi before Young-Mi, everything would be different now." -- Jin Kui-Sung

 

 

MUN-YUNG HOSPITAL, SEOUL ...

 

"This is my fault, I accept full responsibility..."

 

Hyung-Chul is down on his knees outside the hospital room doorway, pleading with Kui-Sung...

 

"I'm willing to take any punishment... Please, allow me to see Sun-Mi again."

 

The older man looks on Hyung-Chul with a stern expression, but instead of the whaling that Hyung-Chul expects from his fists, offers an open hand...

 

"Get up, Director Yoon, and come in," he replies, "Sun-Mi wouldn't approve that we hold any grudges between us."

 

 

When Hyung-Chul is on his feet, Kui-Sung leads him into the room.

 

"I regret my harshness toward you before," he apologizes in turn. "In fact, I owe you my gratitude. It was because of your quick action that Sun-Mi survived that day. I'm in your debt..."

 

The two men approach the bedside. Except for the thin, transparent oxygen tube, and the IV and sensor wires attached to her arm, Sun-Mi appears to be peacefully asleep.

 

"How is she?" Hyung-Chul asks quietly.

 

"Unchanged," Kui-Sung answers. "After this long, her doctor says there is little chance for a good recovery."

 

"We have to think positively, for Sun-Mi's sake," Hyung-Chul replies encouragingly.

 

"Yes," Kui-Sung nods,. "Whatever happens, hold onto hope, because this isn't the end, life goes on... My wife said those words to me before she slipped into unconsciousness for the last time."

 

"You must miss her dearly," Hyung-Chul extends his sympathy.

 

"Every day, for all these years... But Sun-Mi has so much of her mother in her, that in some ways it's as if my wife is still with us," Kui-Sung reminisces with tear-rimmed eyes.

 

"Sun-Mi has the same lively sparkle, that sunny optimism and passion for the world to be a better place," he shares his feelings about his daughter. "And her smile..."

 

He pauses to wipe his eyes...

 

"Anyway, that's the biased opinion of an overly doting father," he confesses. "I know I indulged Sun-Mi too much, spoiling her even... guilty that she had to grow up without a mother."

 

"Sir, you gave all your heart in caring for Sun-Mi," Hyung-Chul differs. "You have nothing to be guilty about."

 

 

Hearing this, Kui-Sung turns to him, with a grim expression clouding his face...

 

"You wouldn't say that so chivalrously, if you knew everything," he says solemnly. "They say in the end our sins return to punish us... but why did it have to be Sun-Mi who suffered that fate? Why not me?

 

Seeing Hyung-Chul's puzzled expression, he explains, "It goes back years ago, to Huh Young-Mi's father..."

 

"Young-Mi told me her father died in a construction accident," Hyung-Chul recalls.

 

"That's true, but it was an avoidable accident," Kui-Sung confides. "Required safety procedures weren't followed, negligence by my site supervisor, who'd just run off with the month's payroll..."

 

"I should have disclosed the truth. But I didn't, because I was afraid of being charged with the liability," he explains. "By being present that day, technically it became my personal responsibility, even though I'd done nothing wrong..."

 

He sighs with the burden he's carried in secret for years.

 

"I would have lost everything... the business, the house, all my savings, my reputation... Sun-Mi heart was set on being a news announcer, and I couldn't deny her that dream..."

 

"It's understandable, you acted as any caring father would," Hyung-Chul rationalizes.

 

"I made a fateful choice, and now reaping the consequences," Kui-Sung doesn't mince the impact of his deed. "The workman's comp paid only a fraction of what Young-Mi would've received otherwise. Instead of having the means for college and a comfortable life, she got barely enough for one year's tuition. Shamed, I brought her back with me to Seoul and supported her, made her part of our lives..."

 

 

He shakes his head with regret...

 

"But if I'd done the right thing in the first place, not selfishly put Sun-Mi before Young-Mi, everything would be different now..."

 

"Would it? You made what you thought was the best choice at the time," Hyung-Chul replies.

 

"I'm not so sure," Kui-Sung considers the outcome gloomily. "Now Woo-Jin is dead, Young-Mi is in prison, and Sun-Mi..."

 

He looks down again at Sun-Mi again... "By my wanting to give her everything, instead everything was taken away from her."

 

 

Fresh tears of deep remorse stream from his eyes...

 

Hyung-Chul pats his hand comfortingly on Kui-Sung's shoulder...

 

"Take a rest and get something to eat, to keep up your strength," he suggests, offering. "I'll stay with Sun-Mi."

 

Kui-Sung agrees as he regains his composure... "Yes, I could use a break," he admits.

 

At the door, he stops and looks back to say, "Watch over her carefully, Director... Hold on to her for me..."

 

 

After Kui-Sung leaves the room, Hyung-Chul takes his place on the chair beside the bed. He reaches out and takes Sun-Mi's hand gently in his, holding on as he waits...

 

The room is still except for the quiet hiss of the respirator. The image tracks on the monitoring screen scroll on with the steady rhythm of her heartbeat and breathing. As far as he can tell, she is oblivious of his presence.

 

Hyung-Chul watches Sun-Mi intently, focusing on each slight breath that she takes, anticipating the possibility, however slight, that with her next breath she will awaken...

 

After several minutes of inactivity, his anxious, harried thoughts dissipate into a contemplative state. He turns to the memories of Sun-Mi he has stored up, opening them with his mental eyes, reliving the moments when they were most connected...

 

Gradually, his breathing slows to mirror the slight rise and fall of the covers over Sun-Mi's chest. His pulse synchronizes to the beat of Sun-Mi's on the monitor.

 

... See? It's two hearts, entwined together ...

 

 

 

SAPPHIRE VILLA, SEOUL HOTEL ...

 

"I admit, I'd never expected things to work out so well for us..."

 

Kim Eun-Ki gloats as he fills two tall flutes with Krug Clos de Mesnil 1990, then returns the bottle to the ice bucket on the table.

 

"With the alliance between Atwater and the Yoons on the ropes, the lawsuits withdrawn, Bae In-Soo put away for life, Huh Young-Mi exposed, and Jin Sun-Mi indisposed," he enumerates their victories, "I'd say we have a pretty clean sweep..."

 

"I'll drink to that," Eun-Hee calls from her dressing room, where she has been since yielding the bathroom to him.

 

 

Fresh out of the shower he'd taken after dining with Eun-Hee at the hotel's renowned Casablanca Moroccan-themed restaurant, his graying hair still damp, Eun-Ki pulls the belt of his silk dressing gown tighter before he picks up the matching Waterford crystal flutes, carries them across the room, and sets them on the bedside stand...

 

He sits down on the edge of the king-sized bed, to wait for Eun-Hee's appearance...

 

"All that's left to do is clinch the vote at the Board meeting, and we have everything," he continues talking to her. "Then it's only a matter of time before Yoon relents under the pressure, and we can reclaim our son."

 

"Now that's a cause for real celebration," she replies from the dressing room door...

 

 

Eun-Ki turns to look as Eun-Hee effects a runway strut on the sky-high, nail-thin heels of her black, patent leather, pointed toe, lace-up pumps. A sable satin negligee, swishing about her hips, and sheer black silk stockings, stretched smooth by slim suspenders, show off her shapely stems...

 

"What's this?" he asks, pleasantly surprised.

 

"When you called earlier, you said you wanted to celebrate," she reminds him, sporting a naughty smile. "So I did some last-minute shopping for some 'celebratory' attire."

 

"You've certainly gotten my attention," he remarks appreciatively, handing her one of the flutes.

 

She touches her glass to his, with the clear resonance of fine leaded glass, and they both sip the vintage bubbly...

 

"I've waited so long... all those wasted years... I can't believe this is really happening," she says exuberantly.

 

"We couldn't have done it, without each other," he acknowledges with a self-congratulatory smirk. "We do make a damn good team, don't we?"

 

 

Eun-Hee puts down her half-empty glass on the bedside stand as she agrees, "A perfect match, I'd say..."

 

He takes the hint and puts his glass down, too, wondering what else she has prepared for their 'celebration'.

 

"Close your eyes," she orders.

 

With his eyes shut, he hears the swish of fabric, then her voice, "You can look now."

 

 

Opening his eyes, Eun-Ki is even more pleasantly surprised...

 

"What do you think?" Eun-Hee asks.

 

"I didn't know leather was among your fashion staples," he remarks, caressing her form with his eyes as she wriggles her hips and spins a slow 360...

 

"I thought you might appreciate the change-up," she cracks self-confidently, stepping closer.

 

 

He moves his hands along the sides of her tightly sheathed torso, indulging his imagination greedily with the possibilities she presents.

 

"You look amazing," he says in awe of her transformation, "but am I right to suppose that this is not the only surprise you have for our celebration tonight?"

 

"That's a very good guess," she purrs seductively. "We're just getting warmed up..."

 

With a deft move, she closes the remaining distance between them, aggressively seizing his mouth with hers as they lock in a carnal embrace, until their passion bursts in an explosion of ecstatic flames...

 

Her eyes smoldering suggestively at Eun-Ki, Eun-Hee warns of her intentions with a wicked grin...

 

"This, my dear, is only the beginning... tonight will be an adventure that you won't soon forget..."