A sigh stirs Haru out of her reverie. Shifting her eyes upward, they meet Youngjae’s. 

“Haru, why do I see you sitting in that seat again?” He questions while leaning back into his own chair. 

If Youngjae wasn’t happy, someone else was – Officer Sungwon, the obnoxious idiot that arrested her. She wanted to ignore the fact that he was just getting his petty revenge but every time she looked at him, she would catch that smirk on his face and it would stir this irritation that no squishy blue ball would remedy at this point.

“It’s not like I want to be here.” She retorts before someone else comes to join the party. 

“I got here as fast as I could –“ He pauses the moment he recognizes her. “Lee Haru, tell me I’m not here because of you.” It was only about two weeks ago that she was a client of his. 

“Why is he here?” Haru didn’t understand why his presence was needed at all.

“I called Himchan.” Youngjae responds casually. “I didn’t know if it was your fault or not this time.”

“You obviously thought it was my fault.” Unable to hide her disbelief, she protested loudly. 

Confused by the informality between Haru, the detective, and now the public defender, Junhong silently continues to observe from the seat beside her.

Himchan pulls up a chair and lays his eyes on her. “So?”

“Really, thanks for listening to my side of the story before making assumptions.” She sarcastically says before quickly adding – “It wasn’t my fault this time.” She emphasized in the case they may have misheard her due to their own bias. 

Youngjae’s eyes move from Haneul to the tall boy beside her, anticipating his explanation. The bruises and the cuts on his face appearing more prominent under the lighting in the station.

“She was defending me.” He still couldn’t believe his words even after actually seeing it. 

Looking past them, Youngjae eyes the three boys standing in the back holding and massaging the spots that Haru had done damage on earlier. Noticing the uniforms both Junhong and Haru sported, he could assume they were coworkers.

“Why were they beating you up?” The detective questions next.

Junhong hesitates to answer and Haru waits for him patiently – or somewhat. She fought back the urge to nudge him to quickly reply. 

“There was a misunderstanding – they thought I was talking to one of their ex-girlfriends and got angry about it.” He mumbled quietly from his seat. 

“Haru, do you have anything to add?”

She snorts. “Of course – those jerks have been waiting for their chance. Today wasn’t the first time I saw them – “

“And you just beat them up?” He asks.

“I warned them properly when I asked them to leave but they didn’t want to – they started it.” So, was it her fault that she ended it? 

“What if they tell me a different story?”

“Look – does it make sense that the fight happened right outside the shop we both work at?” She questioned Youngjae instead. “Or does it make sense that Junhong and I would pick a fight against three boys their size?” Basically, what she wanted to say was – “No matter what excuses they make, it won’t add up.”

“Haru, that’s not proof.” Himchan points out.

Was common sense not enough as proof? “What kind of bull – “

“The shop set up a camera at the side door where the fight occurred.” Junhong volunteers his own argument. “I also have threatening messages sent to my phone that I can give to you.”

At Junhong’s addition, Haru notices that her anger was slowly diminishing. In place of it, she was now bewildered by his timing. He couldn’t have said so earlier?

Digging into his pocket, the boy hands over his phone so the detective could see it for himself. “I didn’t delete any of it.”

Silently, Youngjae goes through the messages with Himchan and for the longest time, the two didn’t say a word. How many messages could they possibly be reading?

“You let it go on for this long?” Haru whispered in Junhong’s direction. He possessed a whole boatload of patience but she was far from admiring it. 

“What did you want me to do?” 

“Teach them a lesson.” 

“I don’t want to go to jail, Haru.”

“Look at where we’re at anyways, Junhong.” They were merely three feet away from a cell.

“Do you want to press charges?” 

The question urges the two to focus back on the detective. In