AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 218

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"I vowed to myself, that I would never contact you again... and after today, I may still do that." -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

 

OUTSIDE CREAM CAKE HOUSE, GANGNAM ...

 

"Sun-Mi... Wait! ..."

 

Calling after her, Hyung-Chul races down the stairs, jumping the railing on the last few steps in his haste to catch up. Reaching out, he grasps her wrist and spins her around...

 

"What's wrong?" he pleads for an explanation. "Is it something I said?"

 

 

Sun-Mi glowers back at him, irate, "This... this is just so upsetting!"

 

"What?"

 

"Tsst! .... You call this a great dream?' she scoffs skeptically. "Performing for tips at a third-rate club? Where is the future in that? What's happened to you, Senior?"

 

"It's something I've wanted to pursue since I was a boy playing air guitar in front of the tele, mimicking the performers on stage," he explains his aspirations. "Surely you can understand that?"

 

From her expression, it is clear she doesn't...

 

 

Some people are coming down the steps, so Hyung-Chul starts walking, pulling Sun-Mi along with him...

 

"I'm doing what I want to do," he claims, trying to convince her. "Enjoying my life again. Like I did in London."

 

"That's not what your father thinks," Sun-Mi counters. "Or Lee Soo-Hee... they're worried about you."

 

"You spoke with them? ... Anyone else?"

 

"Just Yoo Joo-Hee and Uncle," she reveals the extent of her investigation.

 

"So, I'm the last one to know?" he complains again at being excluded. "If you wanted to know, why not contact me directly?"

 

 

Sun-Mi's expression is pensive as she considers how to answer...

 

"Because I vowed to myself, that I would never contact you again," she confesses. "And after today, I may still do that."

 

Her disclosure shakes him...

 

"Then you really meant what you said about moving on?"

 

"Yes. I wanted a clean break... a fresh start," she explains. "I knew that if we met again, that wouldn't happen."

 

"Yet, here we are, despite your vow," he observes, then repeats his father's observation, "It seems that Fate can't be cheated, after all."

 

"Senior, you really believe this is Fate? Our meeting today?"

 

"What else? Since the first day we met, Fate keeps bringing us back together," he affirms. "It can't be random coincidence."

 

"You're correct, our meeting today wasn't coincidence," she agrees with a wry smile. "But it's not due to Fate either."

 

Her expression raises Hyung-Chul's curiosity. "Then what?"

 

 

"The people around you, who care about you," she answers. "They felt something had to be done, before things got out of hand. They persuaded me to see you again, and try to bring you back to your senses."

 

"You're saying, this was some sort of intervention?" he deduces.

 

"It's supposed to be a secret," she says forthrightly, "but I feel it's better if you know. Anyway, I've messed up the plan by getting upset."

 

Hyung-Chul considers her efforts, then asks, "Do you really think I'm not being responsible?"

 

"It's obvious!" Sun-Mi declares definitively. "Excessive drinking, fixation on the past, nights without sleep, days doing nothing alternating with spurts of hyperactivity... Can you honestly tell me this is normal behavior of a responsible person?"

 

 

He wants to argue back, but then -- knowing she is right -- says nothing.

 

"When I left Seoul, I thought you'd be all right, that you could be happy without me, like you claimed," she recalls their parting words. "I never expected this to happen!"

 

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this is not your fault," he corrects her supposition. "My happiness, and my success, is mine to create."

 

"Then do it!" she admonishes him. "Work harder and become a celebrity, if that is truly your dream. Why be satisfied with mediocrity?"

 

He recalls his words to her, years ago...

 

... 'Why don't you try harder and become a celebrity? Why involve yourself with mediocre people?' ...

 

"You're copying me now, right?" he complains.

 

"Good advice is good for everyone," she points to the plain facts. "But also remember, Senior, you have a responsibility to keep, a legacy to honor. Others are depending on you doing the right thing, so don't disappoint them."

 

The criticism bites...

 

"Why are you so hard on me, when you let Min-Cho off the hook so easily? Why aren't you demanding that he take responsibility, especially with a child involved? " Hyung-Chul argues his earlier point again in his defense.

 

 

Sun-Mi stops and turns on her heels, her eyes sparking...

 

"Why do you insist on making this a contest?" she retorts heatedly. "Anyway, when did I say my child is Min-Cho's responsibility!"

 

... the possibility that it could be someone else hadn't crossed his mind...

 

 

She starts walking again. Hyung-Chul stays beside her, pondering the new puzzle that twists in his thoughts...

 

... if not Min-Cho, then who could it be? ...

 

 

Finally a possibility clicks in his mind... the night she stayed over at his villa... and the first thoughts he'd had upon waking ...

 

... was it just a wonderful dream, that she'd shared his bed, and made passionate love to him in his arms? ...

 

 

The longer he ponders it, the stronger the feeling in his gut becomes...

 

"When you said that I have a responsibility to keep, what were you talking about?" he asks.

 

"What do you think?" she returns the question.

 

"That you have more than one reason for meeting me today," he answers.

 

 

She looks up at him, waiting to hear what more he has to say, but her eyes give no hint to her thoughts.

 

 

"Sun-Mi, promise that you'll answer with the truth..."

 

"Of course," she replies, mystified as to where he is going.

 

"This isn't a joke. I'm serious," he warns.

 

"What do you want to ask, Senior?"

 

 

Hyung-Chul pauses to take a breath, almost reconsiders, then plunges in...

 

"Sun-Mi... look at me..."

 

... the way he says her name... It makes her heart beat faster than when she ran down the steps ...

 

Slowly, she raises her eyes to meet his...

 

 

His piercing gaze -- intended to ascertain the truth of her answer -- holds her fast, until she feels like he is looking into her thoughts. She steels herself to stand firm under his spell, but the fires he is igniting are quickly softening that steel into putty...

 

She forces her eyes to break away, so she can breathe again...

 

"Senior ... you're confusing me," she says, feeling her face flushing with the heat rising inside her. "What is it?"

 

 

"Tell me," he replies, his voice soft but demanding, "Is it me? Am I ... the father of your child?"