Next time, Inhye and Taeyong are seated at the cafe; the case file once again on the table. Inhye thinks that today, she won’t see him smile. Because today, they have to discuss the matter that brought them together. 

”Lee Taeyong,” Inhye speaks, putting down her cop of the usual hot chocolate. ”I am your lawyer, and if you want me to help you, you need to be honest with me.”

Taeyong nods, Inhye is surprised that he isn’t protesting or anything. ”I have to know what really happened. That you out of nowhere went to the roof, by coincidence saw Min Dabin - your biggest bullying victim - fall from it; that sounds highly unlikely, doesn’t it?” Inhye saw Taeyong gulp nervously, his fingers intertwined so hard that his knuckles are turning white. ”Tell me the truth. I won’t judge you.”

Taeyong scans her, looking like he’s actually considering telling the whole truth right then and there. He’s afraid of something, Inhye doesn’t know what. Based on her feelings, even Taeyong isn’t fully aware of what he’s so afraid of.

”I did horrible things as young,” is how Taeyong starts his sentence, looking down onto his hands; his pale knuckles with his thumb. ”I regret it, and when I got into prison; I thought ‘maybe I deserved this’. But I don’t deserve the title as a murderer. If I got into prison for bullying, being an ; awful human, then yes I’d accept it. But now I’m taking for something I didn’t do?”

He looks up, gets eye contact. Inhye feels like her stomach is turning inside out. Without her own intend; she reaches out for his hands and untangles them. His hands are cold. So cold that Inhye bit back a gasp. 

”You really wanna' put all this behind you, don’t you?”

Taeyong nods, retreating his hands and putting them on his lap, his gaze following them. Then he speaks. ”If I lose this case, I will get into prison again. I really... Don’t want that.”

He’s only 20, Inhye reminds herself. He’s only 20 but can’t live as a 20 years old because of how scared he is of society, being judged for his past mistakes. As a 18-years old, he had been in court. He was her age when that happened, the sue. People in her age are meant to make mistakes. People two years older than her are not meant to be pondering about what to do to not get into prison. 

”I won’t let that happen,” suddenly slips Inhye’s lips. Again, without her knowing. ”You won’t get put behind bars again, don’t worry too much. Just, be completely honest with me. Tell me everything that you know.”

Inhye hates it when Taeyong looks completely vulnerable, raw and alone. Making a promise that breaks her promise to her brother is a double backstabbing, but what can she do; when Lee Taeyong looks like that? 

Inhye continues. ”Min Dabin. You said you didn’t kill her, but where there when she fell.”

Taeyong shakes his head. ”I told you, she was killed. She didn’t just fall.”

”But not by you?” Taeyong shakes his head again, a little harder. ”Then why didn’t you sue those who killed her immediately?”

”You know the proverb; the one who asks ‘who farted?’ is the one who did it?”

Inhye nods, but it takes a while to connect the proverb to the case. ”So... You think those who sued you killed her?”

Taeyong nods, then he scoffs, some kind of attempt to laugh. ”I mean, why else would they be anonymous?”

•  •  •

Because Inseong told Inhye to not let Taeyong out of sight for even a millisecond, Inhye suggests a walk in the park after the meeting at the cafe, even though it’s late. Taeyong accepts it, thinking it’s way better than being home alone; reading article after article about how horrible he is. 

Taeyong picks up her phone for a few seconds to check either the battery or the time, but when he does Inhye catches the glimpse of a telephone accessory. A strap with the text ‘Ruby’ on it.

”Who’s Ruby?” Inhye asks, seeing how strongly Taeyong reacts to the name.

”The prettiest girl I know.”

Inhye recognises that. She smiles. ”Must be your dog?”

Taeyong looks genuinely surprised by how she managed to catch that up. ”How...?”

Inhye takes up her phone, shows Taeyong the lock screen. A picture of their lovely family dog. ”Prettiest boy I know.”

”What’s his name?”

”Milou.”

Taeyong seems to be thinking. ”I need some time to consider if he’s good enough for my Ruby or not.”

”Who said I’ll let your dog marry my precious son?” Inhye almost looks offended.

Taeyong smiles. ”Ruby is currently living with my parents. I’m thinking of taking her back, but they haven’t called me. I don’t know if they want anything to do with me.”

Inhye can’t smile. Because he looks completely hurt. Inhye and Taeyong meet often, as said, and almost every time they meet Inhye could hear gossiping. She pretends she didn’t hear, for Taeyong sake, but she knows that he also heard. It must hurt. Because of the late hour now, no one is out to judge him, which probably makes him feel much more at ease. Inhye knows it. She can feel it.

”If you want to... I could take Milou with me to our walk some time?” Inhye suggest.

A look of happiness spreads on Taeyong’s face, but he doesn’t get the chance to answer as a car almost violently pulled up next to them. Both of them get startled, almost getting panicked, and out of instinct Taeyong puts out an arm in front of Inhye to back her away from the car.

The door opens, and out comes an extremely tall man. Inhye was about to get afraid, but Taeyong lowers his arm. Just then, the man smiles, throws his arms in opposite directions.

”If it isn’t my favourite Korean boy!” he exclaims.

Taeyong scratches the back of his head. ”Johnny-hyung... Did you really have to make such an exaggerated entrance?”

Johnny walks around the car towards them, pulls Taeyong into a hug. Inhye is surprised. Honestly, she is so surprised that she doesn’t know how to react.

”What about you, you ? Ten told me you’d call, but what happened to that? And you’re discharged after two years in prison and don’t pull a party? What’s with you, man.”

Taeyong laughs, then they pull away from the hug. He scans the car. ”Wow, look at that? The last time I met you, you said you were going for a Lamborghini. To think that you got a KIA.”

Johnny smiles, pats the head of his car. ”Yeah, fortunately I could already drive from my American experience. Even back then in Busan, remember? I drove us all to the beach near Hansol’s house.”

”And almost drove all the way into the water, yes I remember that.”

Johnny smiles, then he glances down at his watch. ”Sorry to cut this short, but I’m already late. I was supposed to pick Ten up from his work. He finished early tonight. But I’ll keep in touch. Make sure to call, Lee Taeyong.” Then he looks at Inhye. ”Oh, how rude of me. I’m Johnny. Seo Johnny.”

He pulls out his hand and Inhye shakes it. ”Kim Inhye, Lee Taeyong’s lawyer.”

”I see,” Johnny scans her from head to toe quickly, before shooting Taeyong a look. ”Well, good luck. See ya’ later!”

Johnny hurries to the driver’s seat, starts the engine and then drives off. Taeyong sighs, pulls a hand through his hair.

”God, he’s super energetic. How the heck did I survive Busan for three months with him? And Ten, double up.” He’s speaking with himself.

”How do you know him?” Inhye asks, blinking at him.

”Through common friends,” Taeyong answers with a shrug.

”How did you meet?” Inhye can’t stop her curiousness.

”How we met is a long story,” he says and scratches the back of his head. 

”I’ve got time,” Inhye answers, satisfied as she sees the irritated look in Taeyong’s eyes. It’s obvious that he’s a little iffy about the meeting with the older male.

It takes a while for Taeyong to speak; thinking of his words carefully. Whether to lie or not. Finally, he takes a final breath and stuffs his hands into his pockets, kicks away an innocent stone. 

”I think I was around 16, 17 years, maybe? Either way, my parents ... Kinda thought I was being a little too troublesome. They decided to send me to my mother’s childhood friend who is some kind of farmer or some in Busan, I was supposed to spend my summer there you see, since I was causing too much trouble in Seoul. Her son was a year older than me, Ji Hansol. Really odd fella, somehow expected me to drive the tractor and almost had us both sent to the hospital. And yeah, their neighbour house was the summer cottage thing for this super touchy ’I-don’t-know-what-personal-space-is’ thai boy nicknamed Ten; because hell that I even tried to pronounce his real name, who is apparently best friends or ing lovers or something I don’t even care with this Johnny dude who also joined or squad. The four of us had a crazy summer, harvesting sweet potatoes and sleeping under the same roof every night. Really. I loved getting 2 hours of sleep every night because Ten and Johnny couldn’t shut the up and Hansol woke up 6 AM every day to feed the hens and cows and .”

”Is he living here? Johnny, I mean; he was from America, right?” Inhye is caught up in their summer, curious about his friends there and his fun pranks. Seeing the serious, kinda suppressed and mature Taeyong all the time makes her wonder how he was in his youth; when he didn’t have to worry about the law, what he did wrong in the past and what’s about to happen in the future.

When he could just be a kid; like he should’ve been - making mistakes and doing things to regret but laugh at in the future. Like everyone did. No one is flawless.

”Yeah, he’s in Seoul. Ten is a year younger than me, and as soon as he graduated, they got a ty apartment together somewhere in Seoul. Ten is a bartender so he sleeps a lot during the day to have energy the whole night; so fortunately for me, I seldom see those two. Hell, I still have nightmares about the summer in Busan.”

Inhye smiles at the face of pure disgust. Taeyong seldom spoke about his past, it makes her feel special. It makes her feel like Lee Taeyong is also human, he isn’t the horrible person her brother told her that he was. He is pure. ”Where there much illegal drinking involved?”

”You bet, that was Johnny’s and Ten’s favourite thing to do”.

”Those two seem to be tight?” Inhye ask, almost teasingly to make Taeyong think about it some more.

To her own pleasure, he shudders. ”If you ever meet them; you’d think they were a couple.”

Inhye laughs, not really because of what he said, but more because of Taeyong. How disgusted in his friends he are, how he closes his eyes and gently shakes his head when he thinks of things from that summer that he wants to forget.

”Why did he move here?” Inhye finally asks.

Taeyong shrugs, again. ”I’d guess it’s because of Ten, to be honest. In America; he was viewed as a foreigner. In Korea he was a foreigner as well, but so was Ten. Ten was even more of a foreigner than him. He must’ve felt like before, like he wasn’t anything. That he didn’t belong anywhere. Meeting Ten, he must’ve felt like a human again and not some kind of monster or ... alien.”

Inhye somehow feels like he’s able to relate, or that he’s speaking about himself. She smiles, a mild smile. ”Great that he found someone that doesn’t care about those facts then.”

Taeyong glances at her, a smile slowly curving on his lips as he watches the girl next to him. He feels at ease, as if he could say anything without the fright of her running away from him. ”Yeah, indeed.”

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