Inhye’s night is full of nightmares. Not only of getting caught and put in prison - that’s not even counted as a nightmare compared to her other dreams. That the murderer - Lee Taeyong - finds out that she isn’t a real lawyer; that she’s only a bluff. It’s when his strong, hard eyes darken that she wakes up - covered in sweat. As soon as she closes her eyes again, Lee Taeyong’s face is once again glowing in the dark. She’s scared. She is literally scared to death.

Because of this, she’s awake early. With shaky spaghetti legs, she tiptoes down the stairs to their living room. As she gets into the kitchen; Inseong is already sitting there, eating his toast whilst reading the newspaper. When he sees her; his eyebrows flies up.

”Good morning?” It’s more like a question than a greeting. ”It’s unusual that you’re up before lunch on a Sunday?”

Inhye takes the seat in front of her brother, burying her head into her hands. ”I know, and it’s thanks to you. I’ve had nightmares the whole night.
Inseong takes a sip from his coffee. ”What for? It’s not like you’re doing anything wrong.”

”I am! I am faking my identity and my age and I’m risking getting into jail and getting murdered by-”

”You’re not doing anything wrong,” Inseong repeats, the same calm tone as before. ”Seriously. You’re saving lives by putting him behind bars.”

Inhye sighs, loudly. ”Why can’t a real lawyer do that? Tell me the truth, Inseong.”

Inseong puts down his cup of coffee, giving her one of his rare, stronger gazes. He leans forwards on the table. Inhye automatically leans back into her seat. ”He is too dangerous; he has manipulated lawyers before and will do it again so I’m entrusting you with him. I trust that you won’t change just because he threatens you. Because there’s no one I trust more than you.”

Inseong may be lying, but Inhye wouldn’t be able to tell. The two of them are both too great at lying to notice when the other is lying, even though they’re great at noticing when someone else is lying. Inseong is way better at lying than Inhye. Being the oldest and only son made him lie a lot to their parents as a kid. Lying is a part of his personality now. 

”Do you trust me too?” Inseong finally asks, waking Inhye up from her deep dreams.

Their eyes meet, Inhye look into his dark eyes for a while. Her brother is all grown up now, but even as a kid his eyes were big; long eyelashes framing the big orbs.

Another sigh leaves Inhye’s lips. ”Do I have a choice?.”

•  •  •

She did say that. In all reality, she is trusting her brother. Really, she does, she trusts him more than anyone else on this planet; but that didn’t stop her hands from shaking when she was seated at the cafe she and Taeyong had agreed to meet at - with said male seated in front of her. 

He almost looks the same as the picture in his case file; strong facial structures and a little skinny, but the picture didn’t show how lean he was in real life - and how indescribably soft his hair looked as it framed his big eyes. 

He still looked incredibly dangerous. 

And as much as Inhye had examined Taeyong; he does the same back. He looks somewhat sceptical. Disappointed.

”Is there a problem?” Inhye finally asks. The atmosphere, tension, is no good. Their first meeting isn’t good. There’s a burden from both sides hanging in the air. 

”Are you sure you’re a lawyer?” Taeyong is quick to answer, as if the question was hanging on his tongue already. His eyes snaps from her body to her eyes; the eye contact making her uncomfortable.

Inhye shrinks into her seat. Has he already seen through her lie? Some way, Inhye manages to regain her confidence. ”I am. You’re my first case, though.”

He snorts rudely. ”Great. They gave me a newbie.”

”Are you doubting me because of my age?” Inhye was about to say that he is in no position to do that but takes it back. She didn’t want to fight, but he is making it too tempting. Even though he is actually a criminal. This is typical of her pride.

Taeyong leans forward, his eyes locking with hers. Her heart actually stopped for a moment, she’s sure of it. ”I never said I’m doubting you because of your age, don’t put words into my mouth,” he almost whispers. ”I’m doubting you because of your experience, and also knowledge. You do know that they put you in the hands of a murderer, hm?”

Inhye had been holding her breath as he spoke, but the last sentence made something ring in her head. Not the fact that he just clarified himself as a murderer, but still the fact that he just did. When he said it, he said it with no passion. As if it was just a title, a name.  ”You don’t look like a murderer.”

Taeyong leans back into his chair, raising his eyebrows at Inhye’s sentence, sipping from the tea he bought. ”Why would I reveal myself like that?”

Again. It’s like he is mocking the title as a murderer. Somewhere inside of Inhye, she gets the feeling that he isn’t a murderer. But at the same time, her brother told her to make sure to put him behind bars. He must be a murderer. Why else would Inseong put down so much effort?

Inhye just sighs, searches for his case file in her bag. ”Here’s your crime,” Inhye puts the file on the table, slides it over to Taeyong’s side. ”You have no witnesses on your side and no one can clarify you as innocent so-”

”Oh!” Taeyong interrupts her, picking up the file with both hands. ”Finally! I haven’t read this for ages, you see. I’m curious to see what’s written this once.”

Inhye doesn’t know how to react, what to answer, as she watches Taeyong scan through the texts. He nods a little from time to time. 

”Witnesses anonymous,” he mumbles. ”Those bastards decided to open their big mouths but didn’t want to stand for it. ing cowards.” He puts down the papers, gives Inhye a smile - a smile without feeling that gave her goose bumps. ”Good luck with this one, newbie. How does it feel to get enlisted a hopelessly false murderer case as your first case?”

Inhye grits teeth. ”Sorry but,” she slowly speaks in a tone much lower than before, watches as Taeyong’s eyes glimmers in curiousness. ”How does it feel to be so broke that you only can afford a newbie? How does it feel to have so little people having faith in your innocent that you’re given a newbie? Honestly, why are you blaming me for being a newbie; when you should blame yourself that you can’t get anything better than a newbie?”

The words didn’t stop. Inhye wanted to stop them but her pride wouldn’t let her. He had offended her. Even if she wasn’t a real lawyer no; she had confidence in her abilities as a lawyer and Taeyong - a goddamn high school murderer who had spent his last two years in prison - just offended her.

Taeyong doesn’t speak, he gives her a gaze that she can’t interpret. She looks down onto her watch, stands up from her seat.

”Sorry, but even though I’m a newbie I’m a busy such. We’ll keep in touch, let’s meet again to discuss this further and speak about your case. Is that okay?”

Taeyong shrugs. ”I don’t know, you’re the lawyer. Do as you like.”

”Good,” Inhye puts back the case file into her bag. ”Then let’s text and make a date for our next meeting. Alright?”

”Sure,” Taeyong answers, taking another sip from his now probably cold tea. ”As I said before, you’re the lawyer. I am in your hands.”

Inhye knows that he isn’t only referring to the date, but also to his freedom. He looks worried when he says the last part, as wrinkles show up between his eyebrows. He’s quick to wash them away, though. 
”Then, for now; good bye,” Inhye leaves before Taeyong gets the chance to answer. 

Her heart is still beating against her chest. She had to leave. She couldn’t sit there for any longer. How is she going to defend a murderer, and also not defend him since that was the plan? How is she supposed to not get killed after proving him guilty?

•  •  •

”Inseong!” Haeryung scream from the other side of the telephone, making Inseong flinch and put the telephone a little further away from his ear.

”God, what is it?” Inseong sighs and puts the telephone between his ear and shoulder, continues high-lighting his text.

”Taeyong called the law firm!”

The phone drops. And not only because Inseong almost got tinnitus because of Haeryung’s voice. He picks up the phone again. ”What? What did he say?”

”He just asked about Inhye and God we’re lucky that my brother was the one answering because our plan would’ve gotten crushed after a day only!”
”, bless him,” Inseong wipes his sweat from his forehead. 
”What should we do? We’re not going to be lucky like this every time...”

”I’ll try to make Inhye get closer to him and stick to him more ofter to prevent him from contacting people”. Speaking of which, the door to the hall just slammed, signalling that someone just got home. Since everyone except Inhye is home, Inseong guess it’s her. ”She just got home, I’ll go and speak with her. Good that you called.”

”Bye.”

As soon as Haeryung hangs up, Inseong runs downstairs to meet his sister again. She’s kneeling down in front of their dog, petting it. She looks worn out already. Inside of Inseong, it’s hurting a bit. He really didn’t want to expose her for Taeyong, but he had no choice.

”How was it?” Inseong asks, leaning against the wall.

”Horrible,” Inhye answers without thinking about it. As if it was something crystal clear. ”I honestly wished that he’d kill me the whole meeting. That would make me less miserable.”

Inseong nods, while trying to build a decent sentence in his mind for what he’s about to ask her. ”Do you know what would make this a lot easier for the both of us?”

”What?” Inhye asks, just giving up.

”If you could get close to him.”

Inhye glares at him. ”Excuse me? Do you want me to put him behind bars or get laid? Honestly.”
Inseong’s gaze harden. ”Don’t. Don’t ever fall for him, don’t let him touch you. Got it? Just try to find his weaknesses, prevent him from doing anything until he’s fined for murder again. If we can prove him guilty this once I’m sure he will be put in prison for another few years for false information.”

Just like me, Inhye thinks. If anyone is giving false information, if anyone is going to get put behind bars; it’s her. 

First of all I want to thank jaekooks sooo so much for the cover picture! It's really pretty and I will definitely use it as the cover! I really appreciated it!

Second, I wish that you all enjoyed reading the chapter and hopefully will leave comments, upvote or subscribe! :)