AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 226

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"Who is the real Jin Sun-Mi? ... Does anyone want to know?" -- Jin Sun-Mi

 

SUN-MI'S HOME, SUBURBAN SEOUL...

 

 

"Hello? ... Anyone home? ...

 

Kui-Sung calls out loudly as he steps in from the vestibule...

 

"Sun-Mi? Are you here?"

 

 

Hyung-Chul stirs, then opens his eyes, letting the fog of abrupt awakening clear, before he sits up and makes his presence known...

 

"Oh... Chairman Yoon?" Kui-Sung expresses surprise at seeing him on the couch with rumpled clothes and a day-old stubble.

 

 

Hyung-Chul quickly clarifies the situation before misunderstanding sets in. "We came back late, and Sun-Mi invited me to stay overnight. She's upstairs, in her room."

 

"Oh... okay," Kui-Sung nods.

 

Jin-Suk comes in with the baby carrier, covered by a blanket.

 

"Where is Sun-Mi?" she asks her husband impatiently as she sets the carrier on the floor.

 

"Right here," Sun-Mi replies from the stairway.

 

 

She comes down the last few steps, with a smile on her face that belies the events of the previous night. Her hair and makeup are done, and she is wearing a black and white polka dot Ann Taylor front-tie T-shirt dress, with a small, black Fendi purse slung over her shoulder, and carrying a new pair of matching polka dot slingback heels, as if planning to go out.

 

Sun-Mi glances briefly in Hyung-Chul's direction, her expression giving no indication of where he stands with her, then turns to her parents...

 

"Daddy, Mom... I have something to tell you," she announces.

 

"We have something to tell you, too," her father replies, suggesting, "Maybe we should all sit down at the table."

 

"First, I want to see Ha-Eun," Sun-Mi says excitedly, placing her purse and shoes by the door and reaching for the baby carrier. "It was only one day, but I'm missing her so much!"

 

"Sun-Mi, wait..." Jin-Suk interjects, just as she lifts the blanket.

 

 

She lifts the blanket and is stunned... "W-where is Ha-Eun?" she stammers, bewildered.

 

Glaring at Jin-Suk, she seethes, "What did you do with my baby?!"

 

Kui-Sung quickly steps between the two women as he provides the answer, "We left Ha-Eun at the orphanage..."

 

"What? Why did you do that!" Sun-Mi explodes.

 

"Come and sit, and I'll explain," he tries to preempt the portending tempest. "Chairman Yoon, will you excuse us, this is a family matter."

 

"Please, stay, Senior," Sun-Mi contradicts her father, wanting someone on her side for the pending confrontation. "He can hear what we have to say, Daddy... Then I'm leaving, to bring my baby back."

 

 

They assemble at the kitchen table, Sun-Mi seated across from her father, with Jin-Suk and Hyung-Chul at opposite ends. Kui-Sung begins with the previous day's happenings...

 

"We met with the convent's Mother Superior first. She confirmed Young-Mi had decided not to go into cloister, and wanted to see her daughter again. When Young-Mi came in she couldn't stop crying, she was so overjoyed. She held Ha-Eun in her arms and wouldn't give her up, even for a minute, during the entire time."

 

"Young-Mi has changed her mind, regretting what she did by Ha-Eun," Jin-Suk elaborates. "She wants to be involved in her child's life now."

 

"I can understand that, but why leave Ha-Eun there?" Sun-Mi is still perplexed. "I'm her mother now, not Young-Mi."

 

"That's not so certain... The six-month probationary period is still open, so Young-Mi has a right to take the child back at any time, without cause," Kui-Sung gives her the bad news bluntly. "She asked us to leave Ha-Eun with her, so we had no choice."

 

The color drains from Sun-Mi's face. "She wants to have Ha-Eun back? Take her away from me?"

 

"Nothing's decided yet," Kui-Sung tries to comfort his daughter. "But in the meantime, you can't go to bring her back. Ha-Eun will stay with Young-Mi."

 

"Anyway, it's for the better," Jin-Suk speaks up. "We've disowned Young-Mi as a daughter; and I want nothing to do with her anymore. Keeping the child now would only lead to harder feelings, and more trouble than it's worth."

 

"Shouldn't I be the judge of that?" Sun-Mi is furious. "Who gave you the right?!"

 

"I understand your feelings, Sun-Mi, but you must be practical," Jin-Suk warns. "A child with that background will never be accepted in proper society... I mean, with a promiscuous whore and a gangster for parents, no good can come of such a weed! ... We couldn't stand by and let you make such a critical mistake."

 

Sun-Mi looks for her father's support. "Daddy, do you think that way, too?"

 

Kui-Sung, wedged between his wife and daughter, takes the diplomatic route. "I just want what is best for everyone."

 

 

Sun-Mi is quiet for a moment, then asks, "If it were me, if I was such a 'weed', would you disown me, too?"

 

"Stop talking nonsense!" Jin-Suk admonishes, affirming, "You're our precious daughter!"

 

"Yes, that's what I've always heard... How Mother left MBS training school, choosing me over her career," Sun-Mi repeats the sacrificial story she grew up with. "But that's not what really happened, is it, Daddy? I've read Mother's employment and medical records, and they show a different story. Do you want to tell it, or shall I?"

 

Reluctantly, Kui-Sung answers with a sigh, "Let me..."

 

"Ji-Eun and I fell in love while she was still in university. Her parents were opposed to our relationship at her age, so we waited," he recounts their troubled history. "After graduation, she was ready to marry and settle into a traditional life as a wife and mother, but I encouraged Ji-Eun to wait and instead follow her dream of being a TV news anchor..."

 

He stops to address Sun-Mi directly, his eyes tearing up...

 

"Your mother was so talented and beautiful, at the time I considered it a waste that she not use her abilities to the fullest. But afterward, I wondered, what if I hadn't pushed her into it... how life would be different..."

 

"You can't blame yourself, Daddy, thinking that way," Sun-Mi comforts him.

 

He nods, and continues on...

 

"Ji-Eun was accepted into the MBS training program and, on completion, assigned to co-anchor the Seven PM News. As the youngest announcer to ever achieve that post, Ji-Eun determined to do well. She worked diligently, staying late to study and practice..."

 

He pauses to steel himself before continuing...

 

"It happened the night before her debut, when she was alone in the News studio... A man attacked and raped her, and when he finished, brutally beat her senseless, deliberately smashing her in the face. The next morning Ji-Eun was found, unconscious and left for dead. She was unable to remember what had happened or to identify the man, although it was certainly someone employed at MBS. Since this was before DNA testing, and MBS wanted to avoid scandal and bury the matter, a police case was never filed.

 

Listening, Hyung-Chul is incensed...

 

"I've never heard any of this before," he declares angrily. "I promise, whatever I can to do set things right, I will!"

 

"MBS paid a substantial compensation, and covered medical expenses," Kui-Sung assures him. "Since the incident happened after your grandfather had resigned as President, and before your father took over, I hold no ill will toward you, or your family, Chairman Yoon."

 

"Nonetheless, it is a discredit on MBS to have treated your wife like that," Hyung-Chul maintains.

 

"She needed weeks to heal, but with her face damaged so severely, her lifelong hopes of a broadcasting career were ended," Kui-Sung continues. "Ji-Eun was inconsolable, deeply depressed. Even seeing a picture of herself was too much to bear, so I destroyed them all, and never photographed her again."

 

"That's why there's no pictures of Mother, or of the three of us together?" Sun-Mi interjects, finally understanding.

 

"Yes, she was so despondent, I feared for her life," Kui-Sung relates the fraught situation. "But learning she was carrying our child changed everything. She clung to you, Sun-Mi, as her only reason to live. We married, and she seemed so happy. I thought that everything was fine, that the worst was behind us... But I was wrong," he sadly concludes.

 

He looks at Sun-Mi with regret filling his eyes...

 

"I probably should have told you before, but your mother made us promise to never say what happened, not to anyone," he explains the decision for secrecy.

 

"I think I can understand her feelings, Daddy, about why she would keep that a secret," Sun-Mi empathizes. "But it always puzzled me, if Mother was happy and loved me so much, that she would suddenly turn and kill herself..."

 

"Something very serious must have occurred, to send Mother back into depression," she surmises. "Do you have any idea of what that is, Daddy?"

 

"Ji-Eun didn't leave a note, we can only speculate," he replies. "It's pointless to discuss that now."

 

But Jin-Suk suspects something. "What is it, Sun-Mi? What do you know?"

 

 

"In Mother's diary, she wrote about how she longed for a second child, but couldn't conceive," Sun-Mi repeats what she learned. "So she underwent fertility tests..."

 

She looks at her father for confirmation. "You both had tests, right, Daddy? What were the results?"

 

"Those are personal matters," he declines to answer. "Anyway what does it matter?"

 

"Mother's medical records showed that her test results were normal," Sun-Mi reveals, "but a few days later, she ends her life. Why?"

 

 

The sound of the front door opening indicates that someone is coming in, diverting everyone's attention from the question.

 

Sun-Mi gets up and is heading for the door, as if expecting someone, when Min-Cho enters the living room from the vestibule, dragging a wheeled carryon.

 

"What happened? I got your message, but your phone was turned off," he says as soon as he sees her. "I caught the first flight, to get here as soon as I could."

 

"It's okay. But there's been a change of plans," Sun-Mi replies, without explaining. "Did you bring it?"

 

'Yes." He takes an envelope from the inner pocket of his suit jacket, and hands it to her.

 

 

Then Min-Cho notices the group seated at the kitchen table, and asks, "Sorry, am I interrupting something?"

 

"Come and join us," she invites him. "You should hear this, too."

 

He follows Sun-Mi back to the table and takes the chair at her left, between her and Hyung-Chul. The atmosphere at the table is grim, so greetings are dispensed with...

 

 

"I think I know why Mother killed herself," Sun-Mi picks up where she left off.

 

She places the envelope on the table, so everyone can see it...

 

"So I had a DNA test done. The results are in this envelope. I gave it to Min-Cho for safekeeping, because I hadn't decided if I should open it... or not..."

 

 

Kui-Sung slams his fist down on the table. "Balderdash!" he bellows, "You've been my daughter since the first day we learned your mother was pregnant, and nothing in that envelope can change that fact! ... I'm your father, and that will never change. I'll always love you!"

 

"I know your feelings, Daddy," Sun-Mi warmly reassures him. "I love you, too, and I'll always be your daughter."

 

Then her voice turns hard, "But not everyone feels that way. Who a person's father and mother are, that's more important than what qualities or potential that person has... the shame of one's existence is stronger than love..."

 

Sun-Mi is so tense, she is trembling... "Because that's the kind of society we live in, right?"

 

 

Reaching under the table, Min-Cho squeezes Sun-Mi's hand, lending his support.

 

She looks around the table, locking momentarily with each pair of eyes ... Hyung-Chul's ... Kui-Sung's ... Jin-Suk's ...

 

"What should I do?" she asks pointedly. "Does anyone want to know ... who is the real Jin Sun-Mi?"