AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 200

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"I'm sorry, Senior... Sorry that you've become like this because of me. I never wanted things to turn out this way." -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

GYEONGBU EXPRESSWAY, YONGIN ...

 

"Are you certain this is what you want to do, Sun-Mi? ..."

 

The concerned tone in Jin-Woo's voice comes clearly through the car's mobile...

 

 

"I thought it over carefully for some time, and made up my mind," she confirms her decision. "I know it's short notice, making things harder for you..."

 

"No problem. If it's what you want, I'll see that it happens," he declares his full support. "Don't worry, I'll take care of everything."

 

"I'm always dumping my burdens on you, but you never complain," she notes gratefully. "I owe you so much... Thank you."

 

"It's nothing, if it's for you," he asserts his dedication. "When do you want to make the official announcement?"

 

"After I talk to Senior first, of course," she answers.

 

"What if he doesn't agree?" Jin-Woo brings up the possibility. "Will that change your plans?"

 

"I don't know why he wouldn't," Sun-Mi reasons. "It's what he's wanted, too, for a long time."

 

"Okay, so I'll get things rolling here in the meantime," he complies with her request for immediate action.

 

"Thanks again, Jin-Woo. Bye."

 

 

After hanging up, she checks her voice mail...

 

"You have 17 unanswered calls," the pleasant female voice informs her.

 

Looking at the list, Sun-Mi sees they're all from Hyung-Chul, made after she'd sent her text cancelling their date. Wondering what can be so urgent, she calls him back immediately...

 

"Finally," he answers tersely, his irritation plain.

 

"Sorry. I was on the phone with Ha Jin-Woo," she explains candidly.

 

"He's at your side all week in the office. What's so important that you have to spend so much time with him on your day off, too?" Hyung-Chul makes his complaint clear.

 

"It's something we're working on together," she answers, declining to provide the details.

 

"And what might that 'something' be, which requires such secrecy?"

 

Unhappy at being questioned under suspicion, she snaps back, "That's my business!"

 

 

Silence ensues for long seconds, before Hyung-Chul replies...

 

"You're right, it's your business who you choose to see or meet," he states testily. "But if you're going to dump me, do it to my face..."

 

Sun-Mi is flabbergasted by the unexpected charge... "Whatever are you talking about?"

 

"You think I didn't notice, that day I came to your office? Your lipstick on Ha Jin-Woo's cheek?" he accuses her sharply.

 

"You've got it all wrong!" she defends herself emphatically from what she considers an unjustified allegation.

 

"If you prefer Ha Jin-Woo to me, that's your right. Just be honest about it, instead of two-timing me."

 

"I can't understand a word you're saying!" she challenges his presumptions. "You must be drunk!"

 

"So what if I am?" he retorts. "You do what you want to do, I drink what I want to drink."

 

"Senior! This isn't like you!" she responds, exasperated by his obstreperousness.

 

"What isn't like me?" he contends irately. "That I'm tired of being made the fool by women, treated worse than a doormat? First Park So-Won, then Huh Young-Mi, and now you, too?"

 

"That's enough, Director Yoon!" Sun-Mi demands, switching from their personal to business relationship to pull rank. "Where are you?"

 

"The Odyssey, in Seongnam, Chairwoman," he answers deferentially to her authority.

 

"Don't go anywhere. That's an order!" she commands. "I'm on my way..."

 

 

 

HYUNG-CHUL'S VILLA, AN HOUR LATER ...

 

"Be careful, Senior! ... Watch your step ..."

 

Sun-Mi warns Hyung-Chul as she pushes open the door to his villa. Staggering under his weight bearing heavily on her shoulders, she struggles to keep her footing in her high heels as she helps him navigate into the entry.

 

Safely inside, she leaves Hyung-Chul leaning against the wall while she closes and locks the door first, then steps out of her shoes into a pair of slippers positioned by the door.

 

"Come on, I'll help you go in," she tells him, slipping his arm over her shoulders again.

 

But he pushes her away... "I can go by myself," he asserts pridefully. "I'm not so drunk that I can't walk in my own house."

 

 

Extending an arm to the wall for balance, he slowly weaves his way forward as she hovers protectively in case he stumbles.

 

Passing the kitchen, he stops in the living room.

 

"Why not get a drink, and have that talk right now?" he suggests, recalling the reason he was waiting for her at the Odyssey.

 

"We'll talk another time, when you're sober," she counter suggests. "Why don't I get you into bed instead, Senior?"

 

Hyung-Chul grins and gives her a suggestive wink. "Why not? It's not every day that a woman takes me to bed," he jokes. "Lead the way!"

 

 

Ignoring his drunken pass, Sun-Mi precedes him to the bed, pulling back the duvet, and he sits heavily on the sheeted mattress.

 

Kneeling, she starts to untie his shoes.

 

"No need. I can do that myself," he protests her assistance again.

 

"It's already done," she replies, pulling off his shoes and socks, setting them aside.

 

She stands up and holding the lapels of his jacket, starts to ease it off his shoulders...

 

Hyung-Chul looks up at her and apologizes, "I'm sorry for acting like a jerk earlier... I went over the line, accusing you like that."

 

"It's the alcohol," she excuses his obnoxious behavior, "Next time, don't drink so much."

 

 

He sits silently as Sun-Mi folds his suit jacket and drapes it over the back of the nearby loveseat, then unknots and pulls his tie from his collar.

 

But when she starts unbuttoning his shirt, he stops her, objecting, "What are you doing?"

 

"If you're more comfortable, you'll rest better," she explains, as if undressing inebriated men was something she's accustomed to doing.

 

"No need," he refuses her help once more, then requests, "But could you get me a glass of water?"

 

"Sure."

 

She goes to the kitchen and fills a glass from a pitcher in the 'frig.

 

 

When she returns, Hyung-Chul is lying flat on his back, eyes closed, with the duvet pulled up only to his waist.

 

She sets the glass down on the bedside stand, and picks up his discarded clothes from the floor -- shirt, pants, and boxers. While folding them to place with his suit jacket, her gaze is drawn to his handsome face, watching the slow, rhythmic rise and fall of his muscular chest as he breathes, thinking how that, under the duvet, he is totally naked.

 

The admonition of her Auntie Song cautions...

 

... 'When a man and a woman are alone together, you can't be too careful ... anything could happen' ...

 

 

Finished with his clothes, she sits down on the edge of the bed next to Hyung-Chul.

 

"I'm sorry too, Senior," she speaks to him quietly, not wanting to wake him. "Sorry that you've become like this because of me. I never wanted things to turn out this way..."

 

She brushes her fingers lightly over his brow, pushing back his tousled hair...

 

"Sleep well, Senior... Sweet dreams."

 

Leaning down, Sun-Mi places a kiss on his forehead. But as she moves to stand up, Hyung-Chul opens his eyes and reaches out to grasp her arm...

 

"Don't go," he pleads, his voice barely above a whisper, "Stay with me tonight."

 

"Senior... I can't..." she refuses, turning away to avoid his eyes. "I shouldn't..."

 

"Sun-Mi, look at me," he demands.

 

... don't look at him... she warns herself ... anything could happen ... whatever you do, you mustn't look at him! ...

 

"Look at me," he repeats his demand. "Say you don't love me, and I'll let you go..."

 

Slowly, despite the warning bells vigorously clanging, as if drawn by an irresistible magnetic force, Sun-Mi turns back to look.

 

"I... can't say that," she tells him.

 

 

Hyung-Chul places his hands on her nape, pulling her down again, her face closer to his, until all they can see are the depths of each other's eyes. He stares into her limpid, black pools, trying to convey the sincerity of the love and desire he'd had to hold back for so long, but now can release unhindered...

 

"I love you, Sun-Mi," he murmurs, "My heart aches for you..."

 

Caught up in his mesmerizing gaze, Sun-Mi feels her determination melting. ... she aches for him, too ...

 

With her heart hammering madly in her chest, her breath coming faster and sharper, she waits... wondering what will happen next.

 

 

Hyung-Chul caresses her hair, then gently runs the tips of his fingers down, along her jaw line to her chin, the electricity of his touch igniting fireworks...

 

"Senior... I... I..." she stammers breathlessly, before the rest of her words are smothered when his mouth covers hers.

 

But he stops with that single touch, hesitating, then separating, when he senses Sun-Mi's confusion...

 

... this isn�t what she'd intended when she brought him back home ... or was it? ..

 

 

"I'm sorry, if I presumed wrong," he backs off from his impulsive advance.

 

Sun-Mi recalls her declaration when she'd started a new phase of life and career in London... 'I decided I needed a new attitude for a new life. It's time I stopped holding back' ...

 

She had left Woo-Jin's grave today with a decision to begin another phase of her life -- to be true to herself first -- and this could be her first step in that life. A test to see if she has the determination to take the harder steps to come ...

 

She smiles down at Hyung-Chul, to let him know she has resolved her internal quandary... and as she'd done on the Pont des Arts in Paris, having made up her mind, she immediately takes the initiative...

 

"You presumed right, Senior," she answers. "So if you will indulge me this once..."

 

Without further pronouncement, Sun-Mi presses her lips on his, initiating a fervent, aggressive kiss, boldly declaring that from this moment on, anything could happen...