AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 231

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"There's a way through almost every obstacle, if you're willing to take the risk and move forward." -- Min-Cho Atwater

 

 

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

 

Sun-Mi stares at Min-Cho, wide-eyed...

 

Even with the buzz in her head dulling her mind, she can't believe what she just heard...

 

"You want me to marry you? ... Are you joking?"

 

"I'm serious, Sun-Mi," he assures her. "It's no joke..."

 

"But... why?"

 

"If you're not marrying Hyung-Chul under any circumstances, then why not?" he presents his reasoning, "Your background isn't an issue with me, and it's not as if we haven't considered the possibility before."

 

"How can you ask me to marry you, after I told you what happened?" she argues sharply. "That I'm not the kind of person anyone should..."

 

She stops, choked up by the sob she suppresses, wiping at the tears in her eyes...

 

"I'm sorry, for reacting like this," she apologizes. "But I'm having a difficult time right now. I didn't mean to be rude."

 

 

Min-Cho grasps her hand comfortingly...

 

"What if I have a solution to that problem, too?" he suggests. "Will you give me a chance?"

 

"What can you do about it?" she questions the possibility. "You can't go into another person's mind and change things."

 

"Actually, I have," he reminds her. "That's what DORIS does, when modifying speech patterns."

 

"But how a person speaks is one thing," Sun-Mi questions the relevance. "This is about another... what I think, and why."

 

"Still, it's the same principle," he stresses the connection. "Since I developed DORIS, I've continued my research to address other physiological issues. It's all theoretical yet, without data to calibrate the algorithms, but I think it might work for you."

 

"How? You can't go back in time and change what happened, or how it affected me," she points out the obvious.

 

"That's not necessary. Remember with DORIS, all you had to do was talk to make it work? Then gradually, DORIS generated the subconscious physiological responses to effect change, little by little, over time."

 

Sun-Mi is incredulous. "You're saying, what I have to do is 'make out' repeatedly with someone, over weeks or months even, for this to work?"

 

"More or less," he accepts her blunt description of the process, then jokes lightheartedly, "It beats talking into a headset, right?"

 

 

Aghast, Sun-Mi pulls her hand out from his, and moves away...

 

"Min-Cho Atwater! ... Sharing intimacy is serious, not some kind of science experiment, or game to play!" she scolds him vociferously as she envisions what he is suggesting. "I'll have nothing to do with that!"

 

Chastened, he drops his grin... "Sorry... I didn't mean to sound frivolous. For the process to work, it has to happen in an environment of complete trust, that can only exist with someone who deeply cares about you, willing to stick through both good and tough times..."

 

... 'when just being friends is not enough, why not try, for better and for worse' ...

 

"Is that why you offered to marry me? Because you think you can 'fix' me? " she charges, still upset. "I don't need your pity, or your help."

 

"It's not pity, it's concern," he maintains. "Eight years ago, I fell in love with a vision -- the girl of my dreams -- and the reality turned out better than I imagined... You don't have to love me, you don't have to marry me. Just let me help you with this, and that will be enough."

 

 

Grateful tears spring into Sun-Mi's eyes...

 

"You'd do that for me? With no promise for a future together?"

 

"Yes, because it's you..."

 

"Why are you so nice to me?" she complains. "It makes me feel shameful, taking your help like this again."

 

"Meong-meong," he barks, a reminder of his assigned role. "No need to apologize. I know where your true heart lies. But I'll always be standing next in line, just in case."

 

"Idiot!" she scolds him as the tears fall, wetting her cheeks. "Stop barking and do something useful instead..."

 

"Like this?" he guesses, moving closer and slipping his arm behind her back to hold her.

 

"Do you have to ask?" she answers, leaning on his shoulder, comfortable in his embrace...

 

"Thank you, Min-Cho, for staying by my side and giving me hope again."

 

 

"There's a way through almost every obstacle, if you're willing to take the risk and move forward," he encourages her. "And I'm ready to help you."

 

"How much time will it take?"

 

"I'd like it to take a lifetime," he replies in jest, "but a few days should be enough for the algorithm adjustments. Hopefully we'll begin to see positive effects within the first week."

 

"And after that?"

 

"It's up to you, to decide where you want to go from there," he assures her. "But unless we marry, that's where I stop."

 

"I understand," she replies.

 

"So, tell me, what do you want to do?"

 

 

Sun-Mi smiles, as she answers with no equivocation...

 

"I'm usually not that kind of girl who lets a man take her to bed when she's drunk, but tonight, I'll make an exception..."