AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 195

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2018

 

"It's a big step up for someone like you, Sun-Mi, to marry a chaebol heir. If I were the Chairman, I'd be suspicious, too." -- Jo Cho-Jeh

 

 

PYONGCHANG-DONG, SEOUL...

 

"Why does Chairman Yoon want to meet you, alone? ..."

 

Jo Cho-Jeh's voice carries her concern through the car's mobile phone speaker ...

 

 

Sun-Mi slows her company-issued black sapphire BWM 740i and turns off Pyeongchangmunhwa-ro, heading up into the hilly streets of Pyongchang-dong.

 

... she has the same question herself ...

 

"He didn't say. I just hope that Senior didn't tell his father that we're getting married."

 

"Really? You're getting married?" Cho-Jeh is surprised at the news. "Have you set a date yet?"

 

"Stop putting the cart before the horse!" Sun-Mi immediately quashes Cho-Jeh's flight into fancy. "We just started dating again, and haven't even talked about it yet."

 

"Then do you think the Chairman is trying to intervene now, because he thinks you're not good enough?" Cho-Jeh speculates. "It's a big step up for someone like you, Sun-Mi, to marry a chaebol heir. If I were the Chairman, I'd be suspicious, too."

 

"That has crossed my mind," Sun-Mi admits. "But he didn't seem to object when Senior introduced me at the Anniversary Celebration."

 

"It was a public place," Cho-Jeh points out. "What could he do then, throw you out in front of everyone?"

 

Sun-Mi rolls her eyes as she humors her friend, "I suppose not..."

 

"Maybe the Chairman intends to pay you off today, with a briefcase full of money and a ticket back to London!" Cho-Jeh muses eagerly.

 

"Enough!" Sun-Mi objects. "This isn't some TV drama..."

 

"Says Cinderella..."

 

"You're driving me nuts with this nonsense!" Sun-Mi gives up in frustration. "I'm hanging up, now..."

 

"But... Sun-Mi..."

 

Ignoring her friend's appeal, Sun-Mi cuts off the call. "Bye!"

 

 

A few minutes later, arriving at her destination, she turns off the lane, going through the open gate in the stone-faced wall encircling the property. Past the gate, she drives into a compact courtyard where a dark blue Mercedes-Benz E-Class is parked near the foot of a stone stairway. She pulls up parallel, on the left of the Mercedes, and stops.

 

Seeing no one about, and being a few minutes early for her appointment, Sun-Mi takes the opportunity to check her makeup and hair in the rearview mirror. After adjusting a few wayward locks of her fresh 'do, and a touch-up of her deep crimson lips, she deems herself presentable.

 

... now, if she could deal as easily with these pesky butterflies fluttering in her stomach ...

 

 

Grabbing her dark red Loewe Amazona handbag from the front passenger seat, she opens the car door and swings her legs out, planting her bone white Casadei slingback pumps firmly on the smooth paving stones.

 

Only after she alights does Sun-Mi see the young man in a security guard's uniform, standing between her car and the Mercedes, watching her.

 

Startled by his unheralded appearance, she realizes that she was probably under camera surveillance since arriving... so besides providing a show for her immediate audience, there's probably a security camera tape somewhere of her primping, too ...

 

If the guard notices her self-consciousness, his expression doesn't reveal it. He bows, addressing her with an air of professionally detached courtesy, "Welcome, Chairwoman Jin."

 

"Hi," she replies casually, with a friendly smile, then adds -- unnecessarily -- as he must already know the purpose of her visit, "I'm here to see Chairman Yoon."

 

"Of course. Please go right on up, ma'am," he directs her toward the stairway.

 

"Thank you."

 

Sun-Mi quickly but cautiously mounts the limestone steps, her progress accentuated by the steady clicks of her 110mm pin heels, now carrying the vague feeling of being watched. At the top, she looks back, but the guard has gone.

 

 

The imposing two-story covered entrance of the post-modern structure is a short distance from the stairway. Passing between a pair of carved marble Haeatae guardian lion statues flanking the walkway, she approaches the door.

 

A glass sidelight beside the dark wooden door greets her with her own reflection, and Sun-Mi notes -- as Madam Kim had during the fitting -- how the V-neck, asymmetrical buttoned jacket of her pale cream Yohji Yamamoto suit flatters her figure while exuding a thoroughly professional look.

 

But the tapered pencil skirt, fashionably hemmed at mid-thigh, and seeming so chic in the boutique, feels overtly flirtatious here. Sun-Mi wishes now that she'd dropped the skirt to break just above her knees...

 

Sunlight catches on the Swarovski crystal four-leaf-clover brooch pinned to the left breast of her jacket, making it sparkle like the diamond studs affixed to her earlobes, bringing up another thought...

 

... her 'lucky' brooch had worked before, hopefully it do the same again today ...

 

 

Stopping in front of the door, Sun-Mi takes a deep breath first, to calm her racing heart, before she reaches for the doorbell...

 

 

But as if anticipating her move, the door opens...

 

Inside, a tall, austere man in a black tuxedo-style suit, sporting a thin mustache on his upper lip, greets her with a deep baritone voice, "Welcome, Chairwoman Jin.... Please wait here. I'll inform the Chairman of your arrival."

 

As the man speaks, Jong-Ki arrives at the foyer. Casually dressed in an Eton light blue chambray shirt open at the collar, and Burberry beige khakis, the rubber soles of his Nike athletic walking shoes squeak slightly on the polished tile floor.

 

Having always seen the Chairman impeccably attired in suit and tie at business functions, Sun-Mi now feels overdressed. But setting those qualms aside for the moment, she takes Jong-Ki's extended hand and greets him respectfully...

 

"Chairman Yoon..."

 

Jong-Ki responds in kind, "Chairwoman Jin."

 

"Let's not stand on ceremony, Sir," she requests with a smile. "It's Sun-Mi."

 

"Please come with me, Sun-Mi," he immediately adopts her preferred moniker. "The day is so nice, I thought we'd lunch on the terrace while we talk."

 

 

He leads her on a circuitous route, giving an impromptu tour through a series of rooms on the main floor of the mansion -- including a music room with a full-size grand piano -- before they take a hydraulic elevator to the lower level.

 

"I heard you enjoy both swimming and tennis," Jong-Ki remarks as they stroll along a corridor with observation windows on both sides that look into a fully outfitted exercise gym and an indoor/outdoor 50-meter lap pool divided by a movable glass wall.

 

"Those are some things I picked up while in London," she confirms, wondering how he knows.

 

"You're being modest," he declares, "My son tells me you have a killer serve and a substantial forehand slam, that solidly whipped him."

 

... so they have talked about her ...

 

"Do you swim, or play tennis, Sir?" Sun-Mi diverts the attention away from herself.

 

"Swim? Yes," he confirms. "But despite significant effort in my younger days, I never got the knack of keeping a tennis ball inside the court boundaries," he jokes at his own expense.

 

 

At the end of the corridor, they exit through a pair of French doors, stepping out onto a wide, multilevel terrace overlooking an expansive yard, including the tennis court he'd just mentioned. To their right and up a few steps, a square table has places for two set on bleached white linen, shaded by a black-and-white striped patio umbrella.

 

Taking the steps up, Sun-Mi's eye is immediately drawn to the vista beyond the terrace, a Japanese-style garden with meandering paths circling a koi pond dotted with lily pads, leading to a tea house on the far side.

 

"Something to drink?" Jong-Ki offers. "Cocktail?"

 

"A Pimm's Cup, with ginger ale, please," she requests, and at his quizzical expression, explains, "Another taste I acquired while in London."

 

Jong-Ki motions to one of the two wait staff hovering nearby, who disappears into the house.

 

 

While they wait for the cocktails, Sun-Mi turns her attention back to the tea house...

 

"The style reminds me of the Iho-an cha-sitsu at Kodai-ji Temple," she remarks.

 

"An astute observation," he compliments her grasp of traditional Asian architecture. "My first wife -- Hyung-Chul's mother -- saw the original in Kyoto and insisted on having an authentic reconstruction in an appropriate garden setting. So she had this built by Japanese artisans, using imported materials and plants..."

 

"It's quite an accomplishment," Sun-Mi concurs.

 

He smiles wistfully, recalling a time long past... "My wife was accomplished in many things, including the nuances of the tea ceremony. But honestly, that was something I never learned to appreciate, despite numerous opportunities."

 

The waiter returns, carrying a silver tray with the drinks. He offers Sun-Mi a highball glass with her Pimm's Cup first, then delivers a Tom Collins to Jong-Ki, before retreating back into the house with the empty tray.

 

Sun-Mi sips the citrusy gin-based potation, waiting uneasily for the proverbial 'shoe to drop' once her host continues their conversation...

 

"Shall we sit?" he suggests. "Lunch will be served soon."

 

They walk over to the table. Jong-Ki stands by his chair, as the second waiter seats Sun-Mi, then seats himself across from her.

 

 

"What do you think of the property?" he asks unexpectedly. "Your honest opinion..."

 

"It's impressive. You have a very nice home, Sir," she answers diplomatically, wary of where this is headed...

 

Jong-Ki smiles. "But not to your personal liking, if I read correctly between the lines," he elaborates on what she didn't say.

 

"It's just that it is so... overwhelming," she admits, stating her bias, "Honestly? I prefer a simpler, cozier home."

 

"Don't worry, you're not offending me," he replies. "Actually, I'm just a tenant here, myself."

 

Seeing her confusion, he explains, "This property was in my first wife's family, and now belongs to Hyung-Chul. When my second son leaves to attend Oxford next term, my thinking is exactly like yours, that this place will be much too large and rambling for an old man living alone...

 

He takes a sip of his Tom Collins, and sets the glass down before continuing...`

 

"Being retired, with no regular obligations here in Seoul, I'm planning to move out to the family estate in rural Gyeonggi-do. It's more rustic, with a quiet, traditional charm about it, and fronts on a small lake with good fishing. I think you'd prefer that place, too, from what you just said..."

 

"Oh... do you fish?" she asks, intent on directing the conversation back onto him.

 

"Since I was a boy, when my grandfather taught me the proper way to bait a hook," he affirms, then adds with a grin, "I hope to spend a lot of time at that lake someday, with my own grandchildren..."

 

Sun-Mi's mental antennae perk up, interpreting the seemingly offhanded remark as a direct hint...

 

"Then, what about this house?" she cautiously probes.

 

"This is where Hyung-Chul grew up with his maternal grandparents and mother, after we separated," Jong-Ki replies with no apparent trace of regret. "I expect that once he marries, he'll want a more suitable house that befits his position in society and is 'home' to raise his own family..."

 

 

Sun-Mi's internal warning system moves from 'yellow warning' to 'red alert' as she anticipates what is coming next...

 

"Which brings me to why I wanted to speak with you today, in private, without Hyung-Chul present," Jong-Ki segues, confirming her suspicions...

 

"I think it's finally time that we have a frank discussion about your relationship with my son, and any intentions you may have..."