AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 207

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"I have a new dream, and you were the first person I thought of, to help me accomplish it." -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

KOS HARBOR, KOS ISLAND, GREECE ... SEVERAL WEEKS LATER ...

 

"Captain, we have a visitor on the dock..." VIONA's warm voice sounds the warning.

 

Min-Cho, busy in the Priceless Pearl II's galley and irritated at being interrupted from his culinary task, grumbles back, "Eh? Who is it?"

 

 

"Permission to come aboard, Captain!" a familiar feminine voice calls brightly from outside.

 

Min-Cho can't believe his ears... "Sun-Mi?"

 

He practically flies up the companionway, to see for sure. Topside, he finds Sun-Mi, wearing a white Miguelina coverup with an embroidered lace floral pattern, waiting on the finger dock with a large canvas duffle at her feet.

 

She waves as she sees him appear from below.

 

"Is it really you?" he asks, incredulous to see her in person, appearing from nowhere out of the blue.

 

"Were you expecting someone else?" she returns a question, her lush, coral red lips curved into a smile.

 

"Of course not," he replies, his attention unconsciously fixating on her slender shape like a thirsty man urgently imbibes the vision of a lush, green oasis in the parched desert.

 

"Why are you staring at me?" she complains, pushing back the wind-blown, auburn-tinted curls framing her face and lowering her dark-lashed eyes self-consciously. "Is something wrong with how I look?"

 

"No... It's the opposite, you look terrific!" he enthuses.

 

She looks up, her eyes sparkling at his praise...

 

"You look pretty good yourself," she returns the compliment, admiring his ruggedly handsome face, broad shoulders and six-pack abs.

 

In the warmth below deck, Min-Cho had stripped down to his black Speedo trunks and Sperrys. The muscles of his lean, sculpted physique, tanned from exposure to the Mediterranean sun, ripple as he climbs over the gunwale and steps down onto the dock to assist her.

 

"Welcome aboard!" he says enthusiastically. "Let me help you up."

 

"Thanks, but I can board by myself," she habitually declines the offer.

 

 

But Min-Cho overrules her. The yacht is riding high, and he isn't about to risk a slip and possible injury.

 

"Sorry, Captain's orders.."

 

He places one foot securely on the gunwale, straddling the gap between boat and dock. With his hands on Sun-Mi's willowy waist, he effortlessly lifts her up over the taffrail, setting her pineapple yellow, beaded Kate Spade flat sandals onto the padded cockpit seat.

 

"You've lost weight; and you're so thin now," he notes as he lends a steadying hand while she steps down into the well. "It must've been hard. Are you all right?"

 

"Thank you, I'm fine," she answers, smiling widely to assure him. "It's nothing that a few weeks of warm weather, extended rest, and ..." she sniffs at the appealing aroma wafting from the cabin "... delicious food can't cure."

 

"Captain was just about to eat lunch," VIONA chimes in.

 

"The day's catch, fried up in olive oil, Greek salad, and a bottle of Eastern Macedonian sauvignon blanc to wash it down," Min-Cho spells out the menu. "Care to indulge with me?"

 

"I'm absolutely famished," she is already savoring the taste.

 

 

While Min-Cho is clambering back onboard the Priceless Pearl II, Sun-Mi slips off her coverup, revealing an eye-popping, celeste aqua blue Kenneth Cole bandeau cutout monokini, with bow-tied lacings spanning the open hips and back.

 

When he steps down into the cockpit, she immediately throws her arms around his neck, leaning into his solid frame.

 

"I've missed you sooo much!" she declares happily.

 

"Me, too," he agrees, enveloping her soft curves in his embrace. "I was wondering if I'd ever see you again."

 

"But here I am."

 

"I'm curious, though, how did you find me?"

 

 

She releases his neck, the signal for him to loosen his arms, too, so she can lean back to look up at him as they talk.

 

 

"It wasn't easy. I had to persuade Su-Ji it was life-and-death before she'd surrender your secrets," Sun-Mi exposes her mole.

 

"That sounds serious. I should have remained by your side, in Seoul," he chastises himself for leaving her.

 

"If anything, it's my fault," she absolves him of his self-incrimination. "My indecisive nature, leaving you hanging..."

 

... 'When I come back, I'll be more certain. Then we can take that next step forward, together' ... They both recall her promise on parting in Jeju, before the wedding and following tumultuous events...

 

"I heard you resigned as Chairwoman, and put Director Yoon in charge."

 

"It's something I needed to do, for myself," she vaguely gives a reason for moving on.

 

 

But Min-Cho wants to know more...

 

"Then what brings you here, if I may ask?"

 

"Last time I was cooped up in your villa. Now I want to see the entire Mediterranean," she enthuses over her plans, then pleads doe-eyed, "That is, assuming I can hitchhike aboard all the way to Gibraltar."

 

"Then you're staying a while?" VIONA concludes, her voice edgy...

 

"If it's not imposing too much, that is," Sun-Mi begs forbearance.

 

" 'Too much' is a matter of opinion," VIONA contends, "It all depends..."

 

 

Min-Cho quickly steps in to settle the matter before it becomes contentious...

 

"Mi casa su casa. (Make yourself at home) Let's go below, then," he declares, reaching down to grab the duffle.

 

"Thanks for accommodating me without notice," Sun-Mi says gratefully.

 

"Isn't that what friends do?" Min-Cho replies with a quick grin. "Right VIONA?"

 

"Yes," VIONA concedes grudgingly.

 

"Still, I know I'm taking advantage, once again," Sun-Mi acknowledges her impudence. "But this is very important to me."

 

 

Min-Cho stops at the top of the companionway and looks back at her...

 

"Then you're not here to just to sightsee," he surmises.

 

"I have a new dream," Sun-Mi states candidly, "and you were the first person I thought of, to help me accomplish it..."