AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart
Chapter 182
written by LoveCR2 -- 2005
edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018
"I promise to do everything I can to see that you're happy. You have to be happy, Sun-Mi, even without me." -- Yoon Hyung-Chul
MUN-YUNG HOSPITAL, SEOUL ...
"Senior... is it... you? ..."
Sun-Mi speaks haltingly, her quiet voice hoarse from a parched throat...
Listening from the doorway, breathless from his frantic rush, Hyung-Chul recognizes those words as her last to him, before she passed into unconsciousness...
Kui-Sung, standing by the bedside, unaware of that Hyung-Chul has arrived, answers, "No... it's me, Sun-Mi."
With half-open eyes, looking through a mental fog, Sun-Mi peers at the blurry form hovering over her...
"Daddy?" she says uncertainly, then cognition kicks in, and sudden anxiety... "What happened? Where am I?"
"You're safe now, in a hospital, with me," he replies, patting her trembling hand comfortingly. "Don't be afraid. I'll protect you."
His soothing tome has the desired effect, calming Sun-Mi.
"You must be thirsty. Have something to drink," he suggests.
Kui-Sung helps his daughter to sit up in the bed, and holds a half-filled glass to her mouth. "Careful, now... slowly..."
Sun-Mi takes a small sip of water, closing her eyes as she swallows.
"Better?"
"Thanks. I'm fine now."
Seeing Sun-Mi's lips -- which he'd just kissed in the ridiculous effort to awaken her -- curving into a grateful smile, Hyung-Chul's anxiety melts away, too.
When Sun-Mi opens her eyes again, she is looking into two concerned faces...
"Senior?!" she exclaims. "When did you come?"
"Umm... Just now," Hyung-Chul fibs, deciding to leave unmentioned his earlier time with her. "It's a relief to see that you're all right."
"Really?" Sun-Mi, sensing he is holding something back, concludes it must be about her condition. "Then why am I in the hospital?"
"You don't remember what happened?" Kui-Sung asks, concerned about her mental state. "The wedding?"
"That man... who came into the church," she replies hazily, glancing at Hyung-Chul with a troubled expression.
"Bae In-Soo," Kui-Sung supplies the name for her.
Her brow knits as she concentrates. "He had a knife," she recalls tensely. "There was blood on Young-Mi's wedding dress... "
She holds up her hands...
"On my hands, too," she adds, voicing the confusion from that moment. "Why?"
Kui-Sung takes Sun-Mi's hands in his, holding them securely, "When you went to help Young-Mi, Bae stabbed you, too," he recounts the incident for her, then repeats his previous assurances. "But I won't let anyone harm you again."
Instead of showing relief, a flicker of distress crosses Sun-Mi's face...
"Young-Mi... is she all right? The baby? ... Bae In-Soo threatened to kill them!" she recalls.
"Because of your help, they're both doing fine," Kui-Sung touches on her involvement, without telling the complete story.
"Thank God," Sun-Mi sighs, her worry dissipating. "When can I see Young-Mi? I have something to tell her."
Kui-Sung looks to Hyung-Chul...
"Young-Mi was arrested with Bae In-Soo," Hyung-Chul informs her. "She entered a formal guilty plea three weeks ago and is in detention, awaiting sentencing."
"Three weeks?" Sun-Mi is puzzled.
"You've been in a coma for over a month," Kui-Sung explains.
It takes Sun-Mi a few seconds to absorb the news...
"You almost died after Bae's attack, but the doctors here saved your life," he informs her.
She sighs penitently... "I'm sorry, Daddy... For being such a burden. It must have been hard on you and Mom."
"Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault," he reassures her. "All that matters is that I have my precious daughter back again... We were so afraid that we'd lost you."
For a long moment, Sun-Mi reflects, then says, "I WAS lost..."
"It was a dream, I suppose, except I recall wondering at the time if I was dreaming, or it was really happening," she shares her confusion. "I was in a thick mist, wandering blindly, trying to find my way to..."
She pauses, trying to remember.
"To where?" Kui-Sung prompts...
She shakes her head, giving up. "To just... somewhere... I don't know anymore."
"Go on," he urges, "it doesn't matter."
"Then the mist cleared," Sun-Mi continues, "and I was high up on our hiking mountain, at the special place I used to go as a child with Woo-Jin. He was waiting there for me, and said we could go together if I wanted, and fly like the eagles, soaring up in the clouds..."
She looks at her father earnestly. "It seemed so wonderful, that I was about to go with him, when I heard a voice faintly call my name. I looked around, to see who it might be... and when I turned back, Woo-Jin had gone..."
"He flew off?" Kui-Sung guesses.
"No. just vanished," she replies. "Then I heard the voice again, louder, and I felt my heart urging me to follow and search for it. Somehow I knew that when I found it, everything would be all right again..."
"Then I opened my eyes, and saw you, calling my name," she ends her story.
"Did you recognize the voice?" Kui-Sung is curious. "Do you know whose it was?"
Sun-Mi smiles... "Only you were here with me, Daddy. Whose else could it be?" she reasons.
"Is that so?" He is gratified to be a part of his daughter's dream. "Maybe you heard me, because I missed you so much!"
His words bring back comforting, familiar memories for Sun-Mi...
With tears in her eyes, she asks wistfully, "How much did you miss me, Daddy?"
He spreads his arms wide...
"As high as the sky... and as... as deep as the oceans," Kui-Sung recites the familiar words, his voice breaking with emotion.
Taking Sun-Mi's hand again, he tells her, "Every day I missed you so much. And now, having you back, today, of all days..."
"What's special about today?" she asks.
Kui-Sung smiles as he answers, "Happy Valentine's Day, Sun-Mi."
She looks at him in surprise, amazed at the coincidence, then smiles, too...
"Daddy, this is the best Valentine's Day ever!" Sun-Mi exclaims gleefully, throwing her arms around his neck excitedly.
They embrace affectionately... happiness overflowing with their tears.
While father and daughter are absorbed in the joy of being reunited, Hyung-Chul quietly slips out the door.
Walking away, he reflects on the special bond they shared, one that he cannot fathom, and which clearly, by Sun-Mi's own words, doesn't extend to him now, if it ever did...
... 'Like a meteorite from heaven and a pearl from the sea, being so different, can we ever truly come to understanding?' ...
... 'It will be the best, for both of us, Senior, if you put me out of your heart and mind forever' ...
... 'We both have a new life, a different destiny to fulfill... with someone else. So let's accept this fate, and find a way to be happy' ...
... 'I know now, without a doubt in my heart, that I can be happy... always... without you' ...
Hyung-Chul arrives at the elevator lobby, where just minutes before he'd been summoned back to watch a miracle happen. He presses the call button, and the doors of one of the lifts open.
Stepping into the car, he thinks of how he'd watched as Sun-Mi wished the love of her life happiness with someone else. She had asked him to remember for her so she could forget it, and now, he contemplates each second of that scene...
He pushes the button for ML, and as the doors slide together, he ponders her words and her motivations.
The enclosed lift car is nothing like the picturesque bridge overlooking the lake at sunset, but it has one advantage, privacy...
Suppressing his initial instinct of self-consciousness, Hyung-Chul puts his hands up to his mouth, and shouts at the top of his voice...
"Hey, Jin Sun-Mi! ... Do you really think we can be happy like this? ... How can I be happy, if I can't forget you? ..."
He puts his hands down, feeling a bit foolish... and instead focuses his mind, concentrating on sending one last telepathic message...
... I promise to do everything I can to see that you're happy. You have to be happy, Sun-Mi, even without me ...