AAE -- Wishes Of The Heart

Chapter 233

written by LoveCR2 -- 2005

edited by All-About-AAE -- 2019

 

"This is not the time to stay back in fear, Young-Mi, but to step out in faith." -- Mother Superior

 

 

RURAL KANGWON-DO...

 

"The last time we met, I told you I didn't like to lose..."

 

Min-Cho addresses the solitary figure standing by the railing overlooking the lake, as he steps out onto the hospital's terrace.

 

The mid-morning sun, now well above the surrounding hills, blazes in a clear sky, reflecting in bright sparkles from the choppy surface of the wind-blown waves. The terrace, though, shaded by the tall trees lining it's perimeter, remains a cool respite from the building heat

 

Young-Mi turns from the lake view to face Min-Cho...

 

"That day, we were both playing roles in a game of deceit that had permanent consequences, Mr. Atwater," she replies. "Or may I call you Min-Cho, seeing as we are more than casual acquaintances?"

 

"Life is too short to waste playing games, Young-Mi," he repeats his words to her at the MBS Gala. "Believe me, I had nothing against you personally. I was acting on what I thought best for a friend."

 

"You're not a very good liar, then or now," she contends. "Sun-Mi is more to you than a friend."

 

"True," he acknowledges tersely. "But I didn't come all the way out here to talk about Sun-Mi. I wanted to see, first hand, the results of DORIS on your rehabilitation."

 

"For that, I'm grateful," she replies, "speaking for both myself, and the children DORIS has helped."

 

"Be grateful to Sun-Mi," he deflects her praise. "She persuaded me to help you. Yet you repay her by taking Ha-Eun away."

 

"My intention was not to hurt Sun-Mi," Young-Mi insists. "I regret that happened, but something more important is at stake."

 

"To me, Sun-Mi's happiness IS important," he counters, "But let's leave the past in the past, and move on. I have a proposal for you to consider."

 

"What kind of proposal?" she questions him warily.

 

"Like DORIS restored your voice, how would you like to have your face restored, to what it was before?"

 

"All the doctors say that is impossible," she casts her doubts. "They say it can't be done, it would take a true miracle."

 

"I don't believe much in God or miracles, but I'm a firm believer in 'can', not 'can't' ..." he states resolutely.

 

"The last time you said that, it came with the temptation of big plans that I could be part of," she recalls.

 

"These are big plans, too," he assures her. "To revolutionize the process of physiological recovery after serious injury or trauma."

 

"But why me? What do you want from me?"

 

"Your face was one of the most well-known and admired in Korea and East Asia. With a successful recovery, and your endorsement as a celebrity back in the limelight, it could be the breakthrough needed to force the medical world to take notice of my research."

 

Young-Mi turns back to gaze out at the lake thoughtfully...

 

"Even if it were possible, I can't accept," she refuses. "I've struggled hard -- with myself, and with God -- to come to terms with myself as I am. And I've found a place here, where I'm safe, and can do the Lord's work."

 

"But think of all the good it could do, like with DORIS?"

 

"Sometimes the good is the enemy of the best," she reasons. "What you're offering is a temptation that could open the door back to who I was before... to return to the evil I did... The Lord Jesus himself spoke about this, as a warning ... "

 

... 'It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell' ...

 

 

But Min-Cho had come prepared for that rationalization...

 

"Someone also wrote -- 'what good is it to say you have faith, if you don't act on that faith? It is as good as dead' -- Living in fear is denying that your faith is real, and alive," he admonishes her.

 

 

"Mr. Atwater is right," the Mother Superior agrees, stepping out of the doorway, where she has been listening to their debate.

 

"Reverend Mother..." Young-Mi turns toward the elderly nun and bowing to greet her. "I need your advice."

 

"Come here child," the elderly nun invites. "What is it?"

 

Young-Mi steps closer and kneels. "I am young and inexperienced in my walk with the Lord. What if my faith isn't strong enough?"

 

"You came here, searching for answers, to find the Way and the Truth for your life. You found that way in Jesus and repented of your past, and put your faith in Him," the Mother Superior reminds her.

 

"I know that, Mother. But this is different," Young-Mi worries. "Here I am safe, with the community of faith to help me up when I fall, but in the world I'll be alone, facing the temptations of that life in my weakness."

 

"When you found God, you found your true self in Him, the person He made you to be, and the purpose," the Mother Superior offers encouragement. "It is not by your strength, but the Lord's this happened... Hiding here in seclusion, behind that veil, is like the prophet Jonah hiding from God rather than going forward, trusting, to obey His will."

 

"But, Mother..."

 

The nun reaches down and take Young-Mi's hand, bidding her to stand up...

 

"The convent will always be your home, and the Sisters your family. We will always hold you up in prayer before the Lord. You are not alone -- the Lord will surround with His angels. This is not the time to stay back in fear, Young-Mi, but to step out in faith..."