Weeks passed on just as usual; the trials got held back for a while with the elections of the supreme court, and for that few weeks, life returned to normal again. He ended work on time, then met up with Dong Woo and sometimes Hyerim joined in so that they could look into finding more evidence again. There was very little to go by, as most things have changed in that eight years of a gap, and some of the evidence that they did have had become inadmissible. The trials were pushed back by two weeks, and it was around in the third week that Judge Ryu did make it to the supreme court against their dismay. That day was akin to a day that someone died, in Sung Gyu little circle. Minister Baek was livid and she cursed him and everyone around them multiple times until he had to step in and calm her down, and that evening, his sister called that his entire family was coming over. 

Sung Gyu did not like that idea, he did not like it at all. His sister and mother had come over a few times, sometimes with the kids and Hyerim had been around some of those days and they’ve been absolutely fine with her. What worried him, however, was his father. He had always been the biggest conservative he had known; anything that was out of their social norms were deemed as erroneous in his mind, and that included divorce, that included having a second girlfriend who almost lived with him without wedlock. Hyerim had been a secret kept from him all this time for this reason, and since his noona and mother seemed to like Hyerim very much, Jieun made it a point and informed him in prior.

“Maybe it's time that he knew” Jieun suggested over the phone. He was on his way home after work that day, a day so exhausting and of so many bad things that his father’s visit had only added up to the frustration.

“Maybe he should never know” Sung Gyu returned. “He would never approve of Hyerim, and frankly I don’t care if he did”

His father would try to faults in Hyerim that she didn’t even have. He’d criticise her boldness, he’d looked down upon her occupation, her strength, her appearance, her family background of being an orphan, all of which that Sung Gyu loved her for, his father would definitely despise.

“Sung Gyu, I know he wouldn’t be very nice about it, but whenever he says, it wouldn't change your mind, would it?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t have to hear what he has to say. I might not care, but she would”

Jieun let out a heavy sigh on the other end. “Sung Gyu, you do realise that she has to meet him, one way or the other?”

Sung Gyu looked out the shutter at the street. The autumn rain had started crashing by then, a heavy cloudburst every other day, flooding the roads. 

“We have the choice not to,” he replied.

“But how do you think she would feel about being a secret kept from your father?” Jieun carried on. “And she’s a wonderful girl. I don't think there’s anything dad wouldn’t like about her”

Sung Gyu couldn’t help the snort that escaped his lips. “You clearly don’t know our father enough” He informed her. “Besides, she would feel a lot better about being kept a secret from a man who’d otherwise tell her all the many reasons why she shouldn’t date her son”

“You’re exaggerating”  Jieun returned tiredly. “Anyway, I don’t see a point trying to convince you-,”

“Good-,”

“-So do what you do” Jieun continued on an endnote. “Hide her away or whatever, your choice. We’ll be around by dinner”

He was sure he had pissed her off, which he could tell by the way she cut off the line without even saying goodbye. But nothing she could say was about to change his mind. Sung Gyu knew how his father would be like, and he also knew how Hyerim was like as well; she would let herself  get hurt but she would never speak a word about it, smile and shrug it off while in reality, he knew that she hid all of that very well, keeping them festering in her heart. She already had too many things to worry about; the case, their lives, their continuously suppressed desires of family and a child. The last thing she needed right now was his unkind father coming and making their insecurities even worse. 

So after returning home that evening, as it was too early for Hyerim to be home yet, Sung Gyu washed up and cleaned up the house. He had to do all the dishes piled up in the sink in record time, vacuum and hoover and wipe out the dust, straighten up the living room, clean the bathroom and clean Momo’s litter, then make arrangements to make dinner for later. He dropped Hyerim a message, just something vague, asking her at what time she left work; and fortunately for him, she had planned on coming in early, thinking that he would need it after the whole Judge Ryu in supreme court debacle.

Half an hour later, the doorbell rang. He had imagined it was Hyerim in the beginning. But it was not. It was his family, the whole lot of them; his parents, his sister, his baby nephew and niece. With a heavy heart, he opened the door for them. He realised that he wouldn’t be able to see Hyerim after all. 

“I thought you’d be down by dinner” Sung Gyu said, not trying to hide his surprise. Yooah walked right into his arms, whom he naturally picked up and closed the door once they were all in.

“Mum said we should go in early because you’re hopeless in cooking anything” Jieun merely replied. She gave him a knowing look; he shook his head. She would have expected for Hyerim to come over and help him cook for them, but he wouldn’t have allowed that.

“I...um, I put the rice to cook” He informed them.

“At least that you can do” Said his mother, approached him and took his face in her hands. “How are you, sweetheart? I heard what happened with that nasty man”

“He got what he worked for” His father groaned as he curiously examined the house. Sung Gyu feigned ignorance and responded to his mother as he set the little girl down on the floor.

“Well, I expected it would happen,” He said. 

“How about the trial, how is it going?”

Somewhere during the past few weeks of the trial, his mother and sister stopped attending them, which was a relief for him.

“The same old. It got pushed back because of the supreme court thing” He shrugged.

“Well, that’s good. At least you got a break for a while” Said his mother.

“Gyu!” His sister called at some point, and she emerged, carrying her crying baby in her arms. “Do you mind if I used your room for a bit? Yoonho’s having an emergency”

“Sure” he replied. Jieun gave him a close look, and he let out a heavy sigh. “Do you need any help?” He asked her, because Sung Gyu knew that look very well. 

“If you can?” She returned, so he excused himself from his mother and followed her to his room.

“It smells really nice in here” Jieun commented as she set the baby down on the bed. “Smells like girls’ perfume”

All of Hyerim’s things were lying about in the room, along with his own; her piles of unfolded clothes along with his own lying on the stool of Yeri’s old dressing table, her perfume and cologne and beauty products, the bathroom smelling sweetly of her shampoo since she last used it that morning. Her presence was there all over the house, and she’d effortlessly become a part of it. Sung Gyu didn’t say anything in response but sat down on the bed, watching his sister meticulously cleaning up the baby.

“How is she now?” Jieun wanted to know. “Did she get her job back?”

It was a while after their first encounter that Sung Gyu got to learn that Hyerim and his sister had spoken a lot. One of the many things that she knew was the perks of her job.

“Yeah” Sung Gyu sighed. “So she’s working late, as usual”

“Caught up in a case or something?”

Hyerim had mentioned to him only vaguely about it, he only knew that she was working on a case about an arson that had killed an older woman a while back.

“She is” he replied, not going into the details.

“And you’re fine with it?”

Sung Gyu shrugged. He was proud of her, if anything. He wouldn’t have had the courage to chase after someone who had the capability to burn someone’s house down like she did. “It’s her job” he merely replied.

There was a moment of silence as Jieun went into the bathroom to wash the baby in warm water. He proceeded to retrieve his flannel towel and a fresh new diapers while she was at it. Jieun returned, wiped up the child and put him back into his clothes. Sung Gyu naturally took him over after that and kept him in his lap while Jieun cleaned up the rest.

“Have you two...talked about things?” Jieun asked him after a while. Sung Gyu was watching his baby nephew in his arms, making baby sounds as he tried to put Sung Gyu’s hand in his mouth, when he answered. 

“Talked about what?”

Sung Gyu felt Jieun’s eyes on him. “You know...marriage and babies and stuff”

He fell quiet at that, unable to respond.

Since the last time they talked about babies so long ago, they never really brought it up again. As soon as the news about Judge Ryu getting his seat at the supreme court reached them, all other concerns didn’t even matter. The fact that they were fighting a powerful force now made everything uncertain again, and Sung Gyu’s impression that he wouldn’t serve jail completely changed once more. After that, they were hell bent on finding evidence, convincing the witnesses, getting journalists to do scoops on Judge Ryu even (Hyerim’s idea) and trying to convince Doyeon again, which made little difference in how things already were. Sung Gyu assumed that, by then, both of them have come to a mutual understanding that children and family and life had to wait until all of this settled, which would be a while.

“I think that you should talk about it with her,” Jieun told him. “I’ve asked her about children...in the passing, and she’s very fond of them, it seems. And I told her that you loved kids too…”

Sung Gyu let out a heavy sigh. “I don’t see how it's even necessary,” He said.

“It probably wasn’t” Jieun agreed. “Because anyone can see it, Sung Gyu. She would have seen it in the way that you care for mine-,”

“But we’re not ready” Sung Gyu reasoned out to her. “We’ve dated for barely two months now, and-and with this whole thing happening-,”

“It doesn’t have to be right now” Jieun interrupted his rambling. “But it's always good to plan ahead, to know what each of you want” She reached out then, and gently took her son from his hands. “Besides, I don’t think any parents are ever ready for what their children would have in store for them, Sung Gyu, no matter how ready you think you are….now-,”

She laid the baby down on the bed and climbed in, herself. “Yoonho needs his feeding so you can go play with mum or whatever...I’ll come out in a while, okay?”

Sung Gyu walked back into the kitchen, feeling like his head was about to burst.  His family coming over was the very last thing he needed on that day. He'd rather have a drink with Hyerim on the rooftop, get back home wine drunk and drift off to sleep under the covers with her in his arms. But that seemed impossible when both his parents were in the kitchen, arguing about his life.

“This is going to drag for another two months in the least” his father was saying in his usual disgruntled voice. “The best way is to plead guilty and pay the compensation and get done with it”

“While that horrendous man is in the supreme court?” His mother exclaimed in disapproval. “It’s not about our Gyu, now, the law of the country can’t be taken as a joke!”

“It’s not the first time that someone like him made it to the supreme court” His father replied, not noticing him standing by the doorway, watching their exchange. “It will happen again, there’s no stopping that. The more Sung Gyu’s side fight back, the longer it will drag on, and it’s going to take good portion of his life”

“Our Gyu is not a quitter” Replied his mother, making his heart feel warm. She had been defending him in every chance possible. She had her back to him that she wasn’t seeing him behind them at the doorway as she cut vegetables in perfect precision. “Besides, the lawyer and the investigator working on the case are talented young people, they would send that man to jail for sure”

“You sound very sure about it” His father retaliated, still deeply focused on his phone. “These young lads have no idea how the world works...it’s how it had always been”

Sung Gyu thought it was the time that he stepped in. For one, his father had blindly assumed that everyone involved in the case were men, and two, he was all wrong about thinking that they were young naive individuals thrown into the world of politics out of the blue. Sung Gyu knew how things worked, and he knew that they had to change too, starting from people who thought in the likes of how his father did. 

“I beg to differ,” Sung Gyu said as he made himself present in the kitchen conversations. He was by the doorway, his arms folded on his chest, leaning against the frame, listening in on their conversation, and his mother appeared shocked to find him there, his father not so much as if he’d felt his presence all the while. Sung gyu walked into the kitchen and leaned against one of the cabinets next to his mother.

“The whole reason why judges like Ryu Wonho exist is that they have enablers who let them walk away with it. It is true, nothing’s fair in politics, not here, nor anywhere else, but if I go and plead guilty for something that I didn’t even do, I become an enabler myself”

His father didn’t even meet his eyes as he responded. “You already were, when you agreed to his no-goodness schemes”

Sung Gyu pursed his lips into a thin line. It was something that he’d given a lot of thought on, and he realised that it wasn’t only the pressure coming from his social circle, but also his position as a left seat judge that made him do what he did. He didn’t have the power to reject and walk away; he was under his influence, he was being manipulated into it. When Ryu had put a hand on his shoulder and asked ‘Are you nervous?’ it changed a lot of things. 

“When you are a subordinate to someone more powerful than you, your hands are tied” Sung Gyu merely replied.

“Was it that your hands were tied? Or were you trying to impress that girl of yours?” His father hit back. If it was another time, if it was nearly two months ago, this statement would have angered him. But now he could effortlessly take it with a grain of salt. “It may have been both of them,” He replied nonchalantly. “But the point is, I am not being accused of the crime that I committed. I facilitated the acquittal, yes, I took part in it. if they investigated that, it wouldn’t have been a bigger crime. There won’t be court hearings, I would admit to my doing, testify against Ryu, I would be just like any other judge who was in that room that day. The problem is that I was an easy target seeing the public outcry it would make, and he took advantage of it. So there is no chance that I will go and admit to a crime that I never did, dad. You should know better than that”

Both his parents seemed shocked that he was able to so coolly respond to his claim, unlike the Sung Gyu they would have previously known, one who would get angry and walk away. Sung Gyu was calm and composed even then, even at the face of his father who appeared irate by Sung Gyu disagreeing with him. It was one of the many things that he would never tolerate, for his father believed that he was always right.

“You shouldn’t have done it in the first place” his father said in the end, quite shaken by his response. “Held your moral grounds or whatever”

“I’m perfectly aware” He let out a sigh. “And I also know that even if I didn’t take part in it, this would have happened anyway. It was actually better that I did, because I am definitely going to see an end to this, and the end would be Ryu serving the jail sentence that he should serve and that poor girl finally getting served justice. That’s how it should have been from the beginning”

His father only grunted in response, being on the losing end for the first time. “You’re just awfully idealist, Sung Gyu” he pointed out to him.

“So are you” He reiterated with a smile. “We’re just the two sides of the same blade, dad”

Sung Gyu had never before admitted to being similar to his father, for he had found it to be insulting. He didn’t want to be heartless and cruel like him, treat all humans and animals in the same level, putting everyone down and standing above them all. But now he’d slowly come to understand that there would come a point where he would have to stop resenting him, for it wouldn’t make him any different than his father himself. They weren’t a lot different from each other in the first place; they had similar ideologies, similar outlooks at many political and non-political things in life. Although his mother had always claimed that he was more like herself, there were indeed many parts of his father embedded inside him as well. Perhaps it was time that he accepted this. Perhaps it's time that he took a stand and showed it to his father that the son he had always hated was nothing but a reflection of himself. 

His mother appeared even more shocked by his reaction. She stopped whatever she was doing, looked over at Sung Gyu and, much to his surprise, she laughed. She shook her head, unfettered by his father’s unimpressed expression as he stared ahead.

“What is this cold environment in this kitchen?” His sister called as she emerged from the doorway, Momo following behind her. Sung Gyu picked up the cat and rubbed her neck, who made a happy sound of affection.

“Your father just got completely owned by your brother, Jieun” His mother informed her in the likes of a news reporter. Jieun made a face and did a quick analysis of the thick air around them. “Well, would have happened sooner or later”

His father groaned grumpily and turned away. He was sure he was thinking of more comebacks, more things to hate him about, but the fact that he was literally told they were more or less the same seemed to have surprised him more than making him upset.

Jieun moved across the kitchen, opened the rice cooker and fluffed up the rice, her face buried in the warm steam. “Don’t you think our Sung Gyu has changed a lot, mom?” She asked conversationally, and he could only keep quiet, knowing what she was implying. His sister was a lot more like his father than anybody else. She wouldn’t give up until she’d had her ways, and this time she was aiming towards him admitting to his new relationship.

“Hm?” His mother looked over at him and he shrugged. “Well, of course, look at his face. He’d gotten  prettier, I wouldn’t have imagined him to be stuck with a trial or anything”

His sister laughed in response. “It looks almost as if he’d been well fed the whole time”

“And kept happy” His mother chimed in. “Besides, the house is much cleaner now”

“Mum” He sighed.

“Why?” She glanced at him yet again. “We’re just observing the good things about you”

He shook his head. “You know what I mean” 

He’d just had a not so intense argument with his father, and getting to know that he was in another relationship on top of that would make him angrier. It wasn’t that it would change the way that Sung Gyu felt. It was only that he didn’t want his father to be saying any bad about the woman he loved...not again. He didn’t want Hyerim to hear or know any of that, he didn’t want her to keep them bottled up inside her, stewing and festering like she always did.

“What are you two on about?” Asked his father, climbing up on his feet. “Sung Gyu, is there anywhere I can get a smoke in?”

He gestured at the kitchen window. “You can open it and puff it out”

His father wordlessly walked to the window, stuck his head out and dragged a few breathers of his marlboro before he let it drop seven floors below to the ground. Sung Gyu had picked his bad habits from his father, certainly. One of them being smoking, which he had been clean of for the past two months now.

“You know, Sung Gyu. You should consider getting married again” Jieun perked up all of a sudden, and Sung Gyu looked at her, throwing daggers in her direction. “You’re still young, and people can hardly see your age”

He decided to play it lightly without appearing too suspicious. “I didn’t think age and looks were the only two factors considered for marriage” He said. His father passed by him, smelling strongly of cigarettes, back to his place at the dining table. 

“Well, not only that” Jieun went on. “It can be your jobs and how funny you are and-,”

“Someone that you can depend on” His mother suddenly put in. “Someone that you know you can rely on”

“People like that don’t exist” Said his father even more grumpily. 

“They do” Argued his sister. “Dad, you married one”

He fell quiet at that. Sung Gyu was quiet too, for he knew whom his mother was talking about. She’d been rather fond of Hyerim ever since they met each other. She’d told him that they talked for a while, and all she’d told his mother was how worried she was about him and how much she had wanted to take care of him. His mother went on to say that she hadn’t seen that side to Yeri. In her eyes, Sung Gyu and Yeri were never interdependent. They were just two separate individuals living in the same house who never saw the ability to rely on each other. Hyerim was different, she said. Hyerim wanted to be relied on, that’s how she’d rely on him in return. Her only comfort was ensuring that her loved ones were protected, and as of now, her only loved one was him.

The conversation dropped at that point, and after Yooah walked into the kitchen, carrying her school work, they talked about nothing else. His sister and mother chatted and laughed amongst themselves, Sung Gyu was talking to Yooah about her day while his father drifted in and out of sleep while watching the others around him. They were setting the table, Sung Gyu helping Yooah to collect her things when the familiar beep of the front door came. Sung Gyu jumped into action soon, remembering that Hyerim would walk straight in without hesitation, and he hadn’t been able to inform her of his parents being around. He’d thought they would be there around dinner time, which meant after Hyerim had come home. But things had certainly gone the other way around.

The door opened, and although Sung Gyu had made it to the front, Hyerim had already stepped in. She was in her work clothes, her hair a mess. But there was a massive bouquet of red roses in her hand, in the other, in a grocery bag, his favorite type of makgeolli. She must have planned on a nice cozy dinner for them after the judge Ryu debacle today, and he couldn’t help the guilt eating him inside.

“Hi,” She greeted, and didn’t even see the audience in the kitchen as she went straight into his arms. He stayed frozen when she kissed him on his cheek. “ judge Ryu” She said. “We’ll drink it off today, send him to jail tomorrow”

“Um, of course, sweetheart” He muttered awkwardly so only she can hear. “But we’ve got some...er….visitors today”

Hyerim’s smile plastered across her face as she glanced at the kitchen and did a double take. It was ironic how she’d done this far too many times in her visits to his place; once when his sister came over, the other when it was his mother and his sister, and the third time when his father was around. Sung Gyu could barely look at him now, not because he was embarrassed. He was afraid of what his reaction would be.

“Oh, um...it’s-it’s Sung Gyu-Ssi’s mum and sister and...dad” She muttered, glanced over at Sung Gyu with an awkward laughter. He could read the look in her eyes; something between confusion and annoyance. She greeted them, regardless, and then gave them a deep bow. “I’m sorry I didn’t see you there and I didn’t know you’d be here”

“It’s alright, darling, would you join us for dinner?” His mother cheerfully replied. Sung Gyu looked at his mother, then at Hyerim. Hyerim looked at him, he raised his brows, and she gave his mother the biggest, brightest smile. “Well, I’d like that” 

“Come, come then” Said his mother hurriedly, gesturing towards her. Hyerim stood there awkwardly, perhaps a little upset that he never told her about this. He moved closer to her and wrapped his hand around hers which held the roses. “Mum, can we have a second to talk, first?” He called.

“Yeah just don’t send her home” She called back, and Sung Gyu ignored her as he ushered Hyerim into his bedroom. He closed the door behind them. Hyerim looked over at baby Yoonho who was sleeping on their bed, and up at him.

“I’m not mad at you for not telling me, but I actually also am mad at you” Hyerim informed him.

“I thought they would come after you did” He told her. “They just came in early”

“Not at excuse to the fact that you didn’t tell me” Hyerim went on with a pout. “When you dropped a message I thought you were upset about the judge Ryu thing...I even bought you these roses-!”

Sung Gyu’s heart skipped a beat. He had actually thought she must have received it at work or something. Sometimes police officers did get flowers for their hard work in certain cases, so he hadn’t questioned it in his mind. But now-,

“You-you got roses? For me?” He asked in a small voice. He didn’t know that the knowledge of getting flowers from a woman would make him so happy in the way it did right then. 

“Yes, you said you liked red roses and I thought you’d be upset and I-,”

He realised, right at that moment, that Hyerim had set everything straight. He wanted to love her as long as his life lasted, he wanted to be with her, marry her, build a life with her. He would show her to the entire world, not only as the woman who had stolen his heart but as his strength, as his pillar, as the one who’d kept him grounded, pushing forward despite all difficulties, the one that had been with him to the end. 

Sung Gyu didn’t have words to respond with that he cupped her face in both his hands and kissed her. It was soft, gentle and unhurried; a kiss of gratitude, a kiss of promise. When he pulled away from her and when she smiled at him, this shy little smile, Sung Gyu knew what he had to do. He would protect her from all riptides like she would protect him. They were in this together, they had always been, and the world had to know. 

“So does it mean that you like them?” Hyerim asked him quietly. 

“I love them,” He replied. “And I love you”

Hyerim looked surprised for a moment. Then she laughed and buried her face in his shoulder. He put an arm around her waist and kissed her head, breathing in that sweet fruity scent of her. She was a bigger part of his life now. Perhaps the biggest and the most significant. And in his journey of healing and moving forward, he realised, she was also the biggest leap he made. Things might not have been quite so certain up until that point. But right now, they were clear as ever.

“Come on” He told her and took her hand. Gingerly so, he took the bunch of roses in the other. 

“Are you going to throw me out?” Hyerim asked him, sounding amused. 

“What, no!” He snorted, shaking his head. “But if we don’t get out there sooner, mum would think that I had”

By the time they approached the kitchen, hand in hand, his mother and sister had already set up the dining table for dinner. There was an array of food and side dishes laid out, their aroma wafting in the air around them. Sung Gyu could feel his father’s eyes on them, on her, on their entangled hands, but for a moment he didn’t care what he would feel about them. In fact, Sung Gyu wanted him to see them, he wanted him to see how happy Hyerim made him although she wasn’t someone his father wouldn’t think was right for him to choose.

“There you are” His mother called, giving them an odd smile. She laid the pot of stew upon the table, bubbling away, and wiped her hands on her apron. “That’s a lovely bunch of roses, Hyerimmie, did you get it at work?”

“No, she got it for me, actually” Sung Gyu returned, albeit proudly as he let go of her hand and carried it into the kitchen. Hyerim followed after him and helped his sister out in distributing the bowls of rice while he found an old glass jar, filled it with water and placed the bouquet in it. 

“For you?” Jieun made a face. “I didn’t think you were a flower person”

“He apparently is,” Hyerim replied in his stead as his ears went warm. “He is a flowers person and a cat person; you learn something new everyday”

Jieun laughed in response. “Life must be tough for you”

Although Hyerim nodded, that wasn’t without the fond smile donning her lips. “You won’t believe me”

“How is work treating you now?” His mother asked her conversationally. Sung Gyu took the last two bowls of rice from her and instructed Hyerim to take a seat. She followed as he asked, and he gingerly placed the bowl in front of his father. He looked solemn, he was quiet, and it was driving him insane, not knowing what he was thinking.

“I’m working on a case of arsoning, actually. It's devastating. The son had burned the house with his mother in it to claim her wealth”

Sung Gyu raised his head and gave her a knowing look. “Were you even supposed to say all of that?”

There were only a few things that changed about Jung Hyerim; but her impulsiveness to blurt out everything she was working on hadn’t ceased to exist. Hyerim gave him a cheeky smile in response, and he wasn’t sure what about that made his heart skip a beat.

“Yeobbo, did I tell you that Hyerimmie is an NIS officer? She is the one working on our Gyu’s case actually” His mother told his father, taking the seat next to him on the dining table. There was a moment of silence as Sung gyu looked up and glanced over at his father. His face was unreadable, his eyes distant, a closed up expression that was hard to interpret.

“I was, ommonim” Hyerim corrected her. “Before I got suspended”

As expected, it was the word ‘Suspended’ that caught his attention. He wasn’t sure what had happened in their absence a few minutes ago, but judging by the fact that his mother spoke to Hyerim rather casually, he imagined that she’d broken the news to his father before he could. 

“Suspended?” He asked.

“She was too deep in the case,” Sung Gyu answered for her. “And they didn’t want her to be”

“Those high officials would do anything to keep their slates clean” Jieun put in after him. “You get so close to cracking a case, they get rid of you”

They continued to talk about the case and politics for a while as they dined, rather chilled and hearty conversations that Sung Gyu hadn’t the chance to have with them for a long time. His father was of minimal words, and it was certain that he certainly did not approve of Hyerim, seeing how confident and conversational she was, even answering to his vague and narrow questions politely and in detail. They had their usual political arguments which Hyerim too chipped in then and there. Sung Gyu held her hand under the table all the while, all until they heard Yoonho’s crying from his bedroom.

His sister was a slow eater, helping Yooah eat at the same time, that she wasn’t able to fetch the baby at that time. Sung Gyu moved to get him, but Hyerim stopped him with a hand laid on his arm. 

“Let me,” She said.

“Can you?” He asked, slowly sitting back in his chair.

“I am a natural at this” She replied, giving him a knowing look, yet again rendering him speechless, He was certain that his cheeks took up a shade of pink, and he couldn’t say anything else as she pushed her chair back and disappeared out of the kitchen.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Jieun leaned over and grabbed his hand.

“I think dad loves her” She said.

“I’m more concerned that she picked you” Said his father in response.

“Means you like her” Jieun pointed out to him, at which point he said nothing in return.

“Sung Gyu-ah she’s perfect...have you thought about marriage yet?” Asked his mother. She had brought up marriage more often than not, although Sung Gyu’s answer had been the same every time. He wasn’t ready, they weren’t ready, they had just started off, until the end of the case. No matter how many times he’d repeated the same response, she didn’t seem to understand.

So even at that time, he found himself saying the same. “Mum, it’s too soon, we’ve been together for barely two months now”

“Well, you seem happier than you ever did in the nine years of your relationship with Yeri,” Jieun told him. “It's not about how long, it's about how happy you are with each other”

Sung Gyu let out a heavy sigh and reached out to wipe Yooah’s chin with a paper napkin. “We’re both busy with our work and the case and all of that; once we’ve gotten them out of the way, maybe…”

“Sung gyu she bought you roses!” Jieun went on, hissing under her breath. “I’ve never met a girl who’d do that. She’s a keep”

Every time he would remember the roses, his cheeks warmed up. He hadn’t thought it was possible to feel that way about getting a bunch of roses; the warmth, the fluttering butterflies in the pit of his stomach. He’d never received anything with a sentimental value like that, the amount of it a bunch of roses carried. Hyerim understood him and valued him in a way that no woman nor his whole family had done in his entire life. It was in the subtlest things she did, like the roses, like greeting him at the door every day, like comforting him on the days that the trials didn’t go well, like her silly conversations with his cats, all the compliments she would give him and how nothing ever stopped her from doing that. She was a keep. She was his everything at this point. But what worried him was would he ever add up to everything that she’d been for him?

“Has she been married before?” His father posed the important question. “Yeobbo…” called his mother quietly, reaching out for his father’s hand. He knew that he would come to this point somehow. In his eyes, Sung Gyu finding happiness after a failed marriage was wrong and improper.

“It doesn’t matter if they’re happy” Said his sister, not meeting Sung Gyu’s eyes.

“He might be, but it's wrong to do that to her'' Said his father. “She must be blinded by something, otherwise no woman in her right mind would choose a married man-,”

“Dad” Jieun called out, harshly this time, and Sung Gyu couldn’t find his strength to respond. He was worried that his father would attack any point of insecurity that Hyerim had to herself, but it was evident that nobody could see any. She was beautiful, talented, confident, strong and hardworking. Sung gyu had always thought he was undeserving of her, undeserving of her care, undeserving of her love. Him, a formerly married man who couldn’t keep a woman who had loved him dearly but pushed her away. What if he failed this time as well? What if he ended up doing the same to Jung Hyerim?

“Why can’t you be happy for him, just once?” Jieun pushed on, spite in her voice. “Whatever happened, happened. If he wants to start from the beginning, and if he wants to do so with her, dad, you don’t get to say anything. You just be happy for him”

“And sit back and watch him do the same thing to another woman?” His father returned. “This is not the first time and would probably not be the last-,”

“Dad” 

During the whole exchange, Sung Gyu had his head lowered, just listening. He could just stand up and leave now, just like he’d always done. Or he could stand up to himself instead. Even if he did, however, he had nothing to say for himself. Sung Gyu indeed had done it so many times; not staying committed to one woman, had several girlfriends and married the last just to prove to his parents that he could commit; given that he couldn’t keep it from crumbling apart as well, he couldn’t say anything in return. Sung Gyu was certain of Hyerim. He had never been more certain about anyone else. But what if he was right? What if Hyerim did deserve someone better than him?

But as always, Hyerim stepped in and came to save him again.

“Yoonho and I had quite a conversation just now” Hyerim’s cheery voice cut into the tense air in the room. “He believes he can put in all the things he finds in his mouth, don’t you Yoonho?”

There was absolute quietness for a second, and Hyerim was able to grasp it so well; she knew how his relationship with his family was like, how things were with his father. They will be on good terms for a while; a few hours perhaps, a day, but then his father would strike back and they would decline again.

His mother stood up and took the baby from Hyerim, who occupied the seat next to, Sung Gyu. Her hand slipped in his, he looked up and gave her a smile. Hyerim responded with an awkward laughter.

“What is this...atmosphere? Is-is everybody alright?”

His father would never directly address Hyerim, not in a moment like this. He never spoke to Yeri, never spoke to her family. To him, everyone in Sung Gyu’s circle outside of his immediate family was non-existent unless they mattered to him in any way. 

So Jieun did that for him. 

“Hyerim-Ssi” She called, and Sung Gyu’s hand tightened upon hers. She looked over at his sister. “How...do you feel about my brother?” She asked her.

There was a moment of expectant silence. She’d never been put into this place before, although all the girls that he’d dated earlier had been, only to be later implied that he had commitment issues. Sung Gyu waited, expecting her answer, watching her.

“Well” hyerim tucked her hair behind her ear. “I-I think...I think he’s amazing. I think he’s the best thing that ever happened to me”

Something about the way that his mother watched their exchange changed. 

“Have you, like...thought about what happens next?” Jieun pushed on.

Hyerim glanced at him, then at his mother before she turned back to Jieun.

“You don’t have to answer that,” Sung Gyu told her quietly, but she shook her head in response. “We have,” She replied. “And I think...he has a lot of insecurities about it. That he was-he was not able to love anyone or-or that he was maybe...undeserving of me-,”

“Hyerim…” He called her, feeling a thick knot forming in his throat.

“-but I would take none of that” Hyerim continued, looked at him and gave him the most heart-fluttering smile. “I’ve liked him for a long time...even when he was having trouble in his marriage, which I’m not ashamed to say. I’d still liked him. I thought he was the kind of person who needed to be protected and reassured and...and I’m the kind of person who can protect him and give him reassurance that he would be fine…” 

His fingers slid through hers, and he fought the urge to lean over and kiss her. Hyerim smiled gently and turned back to his sister. “People would have a lot of things to say about him, with what is happening and with what has happened. But for me, none of it really matters? In him, I see a friend and a partner and maybe...maybe my future too. So I think I would hold on to that”

“You didn’t have to say all of that” Sung Gyu told her, but in his heart what he felt was otherwise. He could see Hyerim’s sincerity reflected in her eyes, embedded in her smile, in the way that her fingers rubbed his own and gazed at him as if she could see nobody else in the world. Maybe that’s what it was like to find someone whom you can suffer and struggle and be happy with. She’d chosen her struggle, she said, and her struggle had been him.

“Was it too cheesy? Was I too cheesy? No?” Hyerim asked him in a low voice.

“Very cheesy, ugh” answered his sister in his stead, and soon the atmosphere became lighter again.

“Was I that bad?” She asked him.

“It was terrible,” He replied, laughing.

“No you did fine, sweetheart” Called his mother in the end. “And I think it calls for some warm tea”

Then his father stood up, claiming he needed a smoke, and Yooah announced that she’d like to do Hyerim’s hair, to which Hyerim wholeheartedly agreed. “Did you bring those ‘Frozen’ hair pins?” She asked her as they moved to the living room and Sung Gyu followed behind, telling her that it was ‘Elsa’. The next few minutes, until it was time for them to leave, Hyerim and Sung Gyu and the kids occupied the living room, Sung Gyu taking care of Yoonho while Yooah and Hyerim did his hair. His parents and Jieun were in the kitchen, obviously talking about them. But for that one moment, he couldn’t care less; for it was his life, he too had chosen his struggle to fight; and it was her. 

Later that night, Sung Gyu carried the makeshift vase, which was a glass jar he had lying around, along with his roses into their bedroom. It already was scented sweetly of Hyerim’s shampoo as she had just come out of a bath. She sat on his bed, prepared to sleep, responding to the last of her texts from work. Sung Gyu set the jar on his side table and climbed into the bed behind her. Then he reached over, put one hand around her waist, moved her hair aside and placed butterfly kisses down the curve of her neck.

“Mm, I thought you wanted to sleep” Hyerim said sleepily, one hand raised to reach behind her and held his face. 

“I was going to” Sung Gyu mumbled against her skin. “But now I can’t”

She laughed and turned around to face him. Although it’s been weeks since they got together, it still seemed surreal to him, to have her here, with him, in his arms, to be able to hold her and kiss her and love her like this. Hyerim moved back as Sung Gyu tugged her hair behind her ear. Then he leaned in, their eyes fluttered shut. When he kissed her, softly, tenderly, lovingly, she hummed upon his lips, moving backwards even further and he soon had her laying beneath him. She looked beautiful, a striking contrast to the white of his sheets. Her hand reached out and caressed his cheek as he hovered above her, unable to find more words to say.

“Everything that I said today…” Hyerim started after a while. “They’re true...all of it”

Sung Gyu bit his lower lip, yet he smiled, for he knew they were all true; the stars in her eyes never lied. 

“Even the bit...about the future?” He asked her, remembering her exact words.

“Even the bit about the future” She nodded in response.

Sung Gyu took a sharp breath. “The way things are going, I don’t know if I can promise you that”

“A future?”

He nodded. “And a lot of things”

Hyerim lifted herself up by her elbows. “You’re overthinking again”

He shook his head. “I’m just scared of things going wrong”

“They wouldn't,” She said determinedly and cupped his face again. “We have to turn this around somehow, and we will...we will find a way”

“But Hyerim, would we?” he asked, finally allowing his insecurities to come to the surface again. Judge Ryu getting his place at the supreme court would change a lot of things. It was halted because of the background investigation that was being done upon him, which was what brought the belle vie acquittal to light. He had effortlessly walked out of it, laying the blame upon him. Now he was fighting not someone who was trying to get the position but somehow who had it and would do anything that his powers allowed him to, to keep it. Sung Gyu would be at a bigger disadvantage now, so whatever the evidence he would find, it had to be stronger. 

“We will do everything we can, everything” Hyerim replied to him, moved forward and laid a chaste kiss on his lips. “I did tell you, didn’t I? I would never let them take you away from me”

Upon this, Sung Gyu moved in and kissed her again. He kissed her, and as he kissed her he laid her down among the covers again. His fingers daintily pushed off the straps of her camisole, and she pulled his sweater over his head. He peppered small wet kisses all over her; her face, her neck, her s, the valley between them, down her torso, everywhere that pleased her and everywhere that she wanted him to reach. At some point he plucked a rose from the bouquet, and she watched him, fascinated, as he traced her skin with it. The petals were as soft as her skin, maybe a little colder, yet supple just the same. He slid it across her chest, down her arm, against her waist and watched as gooseflesh raised. Then he snapped off its stem, the thorns grazing his skin, and he tucked it in her hair. The crimson of it appeared breathtaking against her skin.

He made love to her after that, in all the perfect ways he knew. There was only so much he could express to her in words, all of which he could make her feel with his lips, with his touch, with his gaze; that happiness, that gratitude, that comfort he felt in her presence. He wished there were better ways to love her, better ways to show her that he did. His slow kisses and tentative touches seemed to do no justice, and didn't seem to carry the meaning that he wished to deliver. Later that day, when all was done and when she lay warmly in his arms, he hugged her from the back, buried his face in her shoulder and asked her; “Would you like a Yooah first, or a Yoonho?”

Hyerim was quiet for a second, then she turned in his arms to face him. He met her eyes, saw the cluster of stars in them, blinking in wonder. “What made you suddenly think of that?”

“Because you said I was your future…” He replied. “Would that include the...possibility?”

Hyerim smiled at this, quite brilliantly so, and she kissed him on his lips. “So we can make a football team?”

“That’s far too many,” He laughed.

Hyerim looked at him contemplatively. “I don’t have a preference, actually” She told him in the end. “Whoever comes first”

“What else does your future entail?” He pushed on after she turned around to face him. The rose was still in her slightly damp hair, the petals a little crushed but still intact. He fixed her hair again, tucked it behind her ear and gently ran his hand through it.

“Moving in together. Getting another cat...maybe move to a house with a garden?” She shrugged. “There’s a lot, actually”

“And you want to do all of this with me” He returned, raising his brows.

“There’s nobody else that I’d rather do anything with” She replied, slid her hand around his neck and caressed the back of his head. “When all of this is over, let's look at our future together”

Sung gyu’s heart, as always, blossomed with warmth. “Is that what you want to do?”

“More than anything else” Hyerim smiled.

Sung Gyu thought their future would come a long time after their present had passed. Everything was uncertain as of now as he struggled with a case that only weighed on the negative direction. He struggled, Dong Woo struggled, and although Hyerim wouldn’t let on much in the beginning, she indeed showed that she was struggling as well, as she started to become easily irritant than she usually was. It was evident that the stress was taking a toll on her just as much as it did on him. She would often return home late, and when he asked if she’d like dinner or even coffee or a snack before bed, she’d vaguely respond that she’d rather hit bed, and she does, and she would drift off to sleep a lot sooner than she usually would. She slept in late, and he allowed her to as it looked like she needed it more than anything else. There were days that she would sleep for too long and he hadn’t had the heart to wake her up. Those would be the worst as she would wake up late for work which made her even more irritant, and Sung Gyu learned that Hyerim didn’t yell and scream when she was pissed. She would stay quiet, which felt lethal more than anything else. So he opted to wake her up when she slept late, which would anger her just the same.

At some point Sung Gyu suggested that she relaxed and let Dong Woo handle the case on his own. Howon as the prosecution was trying his best to serve justice on his end despite the pressure he probably got from Ryu’s side, so Sung Gyu was still hopeful. But Hyerim wouldn’t take none of that. The Jung Hyerim who’d otherwise tell him that she’d do anything to keep him from going to jail, that day, lost her patience completely. For the first time ever, she raised her voice, and for the first time ever, she exclaimed; “So you want to go to jail? Fine, then be it”

It was the moment that he realised that she wasn’t being herself. Something was awfully wrong, yet he just couldn’t tell what.

Two weeks after Judge Ryu’s supreme court appointment, yet another hearing took place. The witnesses were presented at that time, whom Sung Gyu was seeing for the first time in his life. He still couldn’t recognise a single one of them as he’d only seen them vaguely at the court eight years ago. But the way that they seemed to recognise him to the point that their eyes could effortlessly locate him was quite concerning. He supposed that Ryu and his people had planned everything out quite well.

The witnesses were questioned one by one, and disdainfully so, they were all consistent with their testimony. He had apparently met them, he had convinced them all in varying times of the said two days. When a testimony was so consistent and deliberate, there were two possibilities; one was that it was so immaculately planned so their tales were well matched, or that it had actually happened. Sung Gyu was pretty sure that it was the former, he could vouch his whole life on that, but the problem was, it was difficult to prove. Hyerim kind of messed up by doing an individual investigation on the documents that she found in his flat that her reports were inadmissible in court, and it was unlikely that they would be produced as evidence from Howon’s end as well. So he had to get Hyerim and Howon to gather the reports that were done on the documents yet again. But that alone wouldn’t prove Judge Ryu’s involvement. With ‘K’ and Gangnam police’s involvement, it was too far and too long. They needed something stronger. 

Hyerim didn’t even attend the court hearing that day as she had to be present as an expert witness on the case she was working on. Somehow, unexpectedly so, Yeri was there, and he could only catch a glimpse of her before she left the court. He was uncertain of her reasons behind her presence at the court in the beginning. That evening, after he’d returned home, she gave him the answers. 

He had only returned home at that time, to an empty flat where only the cat was around as if she was the queen of the empire. Sung Gyu expected Hyerim to come home, tired and irritant again, so he cleaned up the house a bit, dusted and hoovered, and was getting on with making dinner for them when he heard the front bell ring. In the beginning, he’d thought it was Hyerim, because sometimes she just rang the bell if her hands were full. Then he thought it was his sister. When he did open the door, however, he was surprised to find Yeri instead. 

“Um, hi,” He greeted awkwardly, opening the door wider for her. Since her last visit which didn’t go very well, it’s been so long since she came here.

“Hi, um, I’m sorry if I’m intruding or something”

“Not at all, come on in-,” He gestured, and she gingerly stepped inside. “Is there...anything the matter?” He asked her, for there couldn’t have been any other reason for her to visit him unless it was urgent.

“It’s something important, come” She said, and Sung Gyu furrowed his brows, confused. He followed after her to the kitchen, nevertheless, and she sat down, opened her bag, took out a manila file and then spread its content across the table. there were four sheets in total. It took a moment for SungGyu to realise it, they were her old credit card bills. Unlike him, Yeri was rather organised with her finances. She didn’t earn back then, her expenses were upon her parents’ trust fund therefore, for her, it was imperative that she kept a record of her finances. What he didn’t realise was that she would keep those of hers from eight years ago.

“I was looking for something that could give you an alibi for 11th and 12th July, as us not remembering those two days have become a huge factor, so I randomly went and checked all our credit card bills”

She reached out and picked up the one dated for the month of July. “I have no recollection of what happened on the 11th or the 12th, but when I checked our bills, here” She pointed at the date, which also indicated the time and place where she had used her credit card at. Since Sung Gyu was the only one working out of the two, and since Yeri had her own fund from her family, Sung Gyu spent on the important things like utility bills and insurance and medical bills while Yeri spent on the occasional miscellaneous things that involved them. On the bill, dated for 11th July 2011 was payment made for train tickets from Seoul central station, and then a payment that they’ve made at a restaurant in Jeonju, his hometown. There was yet another payment made, on the same day for a taxi company. Moving on to the 12th there were three more payments made to different places and occasions, all within Jeonju. He was unsure, even after then, but it could have been that he and Yeri had visited his parents' place in Jeonju between those two days.

“This…” He muttered and looked up at her. “Yeri this could change a lot of things”

“If none of the witnesses are from Jeonju, this gives you the perfect alibi”

Sung gyu nodded and looked back at the bill again. “Yeah...it does”

“That’s not all” Yeri put in and reached out to the bill of another month, of which a single payment she had highlighted. “I don’t know if this would ring a bell, but look at this” 

He did. It was a payment made to a popular florist, one of those that Yeri knew and was owned by one of her friends which made custom-made bouquets and plants and even hand made greeting cards. Sung Gyu remembered them well because he had met this lady a few times and she also did the flower arrangements for his and Yeri’s wedding reception.

But why he had bought flower arrangements on that particular day was beyond him.

“Did I...buy you flowers?” Sung Gyu asked her, which was ridiculous in itself as it was billed under her name.

It made her smile. “No, Sung Gyu, not for me” She said, shaking her head. “You bought flowers for her, the victim of the ual assault” 

Sung gyu had little to no recollection of this incident. In fact, he could hardly remember if anything like that even happened, no matter how many times he tried to recall it.

Yeri took a step towards him quite impatiently. “Don’t you remember? You were depressed and feeling guilty about that girl losing her job and was moping around for a week, then I told you that you can apologise to her, and you thought that you should, but didn’t know how to. It was me who suggested sending her flowers and a card...Sung Gyu you insisted on writing the card yourself and delivering the flowers yourself because you felt too guilty not to”

He did remember, somehow, how the eventuality of the case had left him unreeling. He hadn’t expected an acquittal although it had been their primary goal. He had expected a minimum sentence and a verdict which had benefit for the victim as well; a monetary compensation, perhaps? Cancelling her dismissal? When none of it happened and when the criminal walked free, leaving her dismissed from her job and hopeless, Sung Gyu couldn’t help the guilt consuming him. That hadn’t been what he wanted, it was not his plan. He remembered returning home that night, feeling like absolute trash. He didn’t remember much after that day; and apparently, what had happened was that he had delivered to her custom made flowers. He wouldn’t have believed it himself, but the bill showed the price of a custom made flower arrangement, no delivery charges applied, which meant that he had indeed personally delivered it to her.

“Do you remember it?” Yeri asked him quietly. Sung Gyu could only look up and shake his head. He couldn’t. Not as much as she did.

“How do you remember?” Sung Gyu asked her, as it didn’t come off as something one would remember in such detail.

“It did skip my mind for a while…But then I saw the bills and it suddenly came to my mind...you know, how you raked your brain to write that letter for her”

Sung Gyu looked at her with widened eyes. “There was a letter?”

“Not a long one, but I’m sure there was...we can call the shop and check their old records as well”

Sung Gyu agreed, and Yeri proceeded to search for the number of the store as Sung Gyu patiently waited, staring down at the bill. If it all turned out to be true, and if there was indeed a letter, and if there was anything important and genuine expressed in the letter, it could be a strong factor that could turn things around. If he had manipulated the evidence, he wouldn’t have done anything that could have proven him guilty of the crime. He wouldn’t have tried to apologise to her. He would have stayed low and allowed the issue to hide in the dust of their past. So the letter, if any, would be a strong evidence to prove his innocence. It became imperative that they talked to Kim Doyeon now.

Yeri had only ended the call and was telling him about informing Dong Woo to check their old records, when his front door opened. Both he and Yeri looked over only to find a weary, exhausted Jung Hyerim entering the threshold of the house, not even noticing their presence in the kitchen. Sung Gyu was uncertain if Yeri ever did get to hear about his new...arrangement, or whether it even concerned her now. But he did glance at her; she smiled, nodded her head. She knew.

Sung Gyu stepped out of the kitchen and walked towards her. “Hyerim-ah”

She looked up tiredly. “Hm? You’re home” 

He peered into her face. It wasn’t the first time that she returned home looking so tired like this. She had been involved in various different cases before, and he had seen her returning home after work plenty of times, but she had never seen her returning home appearing so weary and pale before. Since recently, however, it seemed to happen far too often.It was beginning to concern him. 

“Hyerim, are you okay?”

“Yeah...just a little tired”. She looked at him and tried to smile. “What are you up to?”

“Yeri’s here, actually” He informed her, gesturing at the kitchen. “Looks like she has found some important evidence that could turn things around”

He felt terrible to ramble to her so excitedly, especially when she looked like she was hardly following him. But he thought the new findings would excite her just as much as he was. Yet she merely glanced at Yeri and shrugged. “What did you find?”

“Come on,” Sung Gyu led her into the kitchen by her arm. “You’d love this”

As quickly as he could, he showed her the bills and explained what they were able to find; about Jeonju, about the flowers, a possible letter that he had written which, if it was still in Doyeon’s position, could free him from the accusation. At the end of it all, however, Hyerim had a cold, unreadable expression, one that seemed to say that she definitely wasn’t impressed. 

“So what will you do now?” Hyerim asked him.

“I think we have a better reason to contact Doyeon now, you have a better reason to tell her”

Hyerim threw a sharp look at him which left him perplexed. “Me? Why me? I wasn’t the one who found it”

There was a moment of silence and Yeri and he shared a concerned glance. “What...is that supposed to mean?” He asked her.

“Meaning that I don’t want to do it” Hyerim simply replied, looked up and met his eyes. “Do you have any idea how many times I had to go down to Daegu? Chase her and talk to her? The first time I had to come back without anything, the next time she didn’t even want to see me. So you’re telling me she didn’t want to talk because I didn’t have the right reason to talk to her? Do you think it would change now if I go down  there again with the reason you have now?”

It was the first time, after all these days, that she was completely honest about it. Sung Gyu knew that she was somehow taking badly to how the case was going, and she had indeed, myriad times, attempted to contact Doyeon again, which had gone down to naught. Maybe he should have worded it differently, maybe he shouldn’t have said it at all.

“I didn’t mean it like that?” Sung Gyu replied with a sigh. “I know that it was tough to get to talk to her, but I thought with this, it might make it easier”

Hyerim stepped away from him and tossed the bills back onto the table. “Well, if it's so easy for you, why don’t you talk to her yourself?” She said, her voice an octave higher, somehow cracking, and left the room at that. The sound of her feet was hard and heavy as she traversed the hallway to their room. He had thought she would straight up leave the flat and return to her own, but thankfully it was just to their bedroom and the sound of the crashing door echoed loudly in the quietness of the house.

It was after a while that Yeri’s voice addressed him again. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that”

Sung Gyu turned to face her, still baffled by what just happened. He blinked. “What, no, it was-it was great help”

“No” She shook her head. “I should have gone to Dong Woo or her without coming to you…” She sighed and looked down at the bills haphazardly thrown on the table. “She must have worked hard for you all this time...and it must have irked her that I found the evidence to help you when she couldn’t...after all of that trying”

It made perfect sense to him, somehow. Hyerim worked twice as hard as he did. not only was she busy with her own job, she helped Dong Woo with his case whenever possible, be it going to places and meeting people, all of which Sung Gyu or Dong Woo couldn’t have done on their own. Then to have found the exact evidence that she was desperately looking for, and that having come through Sung Gyu who had been informed by his ex-wife, it must have certainly come off as wrong to her.

“I...I will talk to her” He muttered and ran a hand through her hair.

“I should have gone to her straight away” Yeri went on. “Now that you two are together...I shouldn’t have been brazen like this”

“No, that’s fine” He replied distractedly, his hand still in his hair. Then he glanced up at her. Yeri sounded like she’d known it for a while. “Did Howon tell you?”

“He said that it looked like there was something between you and her from the beginning” Yeri said, not meeting his eyes. “But then I saw you two...you know, at the court”

“Oh” Sung Gyu said, and he could say nothing else.

“Anyway, I’m happy for you…” Yeri went on in a small voice. “Hyerim-Ssi...she’s a very strong, amazing woman. I’m glad that you found someone who deserves you”

When Sung gyu, yet again, couldn’t say anything else in return, Yeri proceeded to collect the bills and placed them in the manila folder. She carefully set it back on the table and moved away. “Well then, it’s my cue to leave...I guess. I hope you’d find them useful and...and call me if you need anything”

It was only then that he could find the strength to talk again. Hyerim’s outburst had left him unreeling that the initial shock of it was yet to wear off. But he still had enough sense to see respond to the other, see her to the door.

“Thank you so much, thank you for coming all the way here, and thank you for...finding them” He told her. Yeri gave him her usual warm smile. “It's the least of what I can do to help you” She replied with a shrug. “I can only hope it would turn out for the best”

Sung Gyu opened the door for her, Yeri stepped out, and he rested a hand on the door frame, leaning against it as he saw her off.

“It did drag on for too long”

She nodded. “Hopefully you would see an end to it soon”

He only nodded in return. He waited until she left then, watching her disappear upon the turn towards the lift. After she left, he went back in, determined to set things straight with the most important woman of his life. 

Sung Gyu found Hyerim in their bedroom, sitting on his bed still in her work clothes, her head buried in her hands. She wasn’t someone who would easily lose her composure, and she rarely ever did; thus whenever she did so, Hyerim wouldn’t take it so well. She would feel ashamed, embarrassed to have let herself lose, feeling like she had shown the weaker, vulnerable side of herself. She wouldn’t want to talk about it afterwards, get even angrier, so Sung Gyu had to thread through it carefully, cautiously as not to annoy her even further.

He stepped inside, closed the door behind her and sat on the bed beside her. Hyerim didn’t move, nor did she acknowledge him. But when he moved in and pulled her into his embrace, she didn’t fight back either. She let him hold her, warmly in his embrace. She let him kiss her on her forehead and caress her hair.

“I’m sorry…” Sung Gyu told her, not holding back. He knew that it was where he had to start. “I’m sorry for not realising that it was tough for you, and if I made you feel like I didn’t appreciate you enough…”

Hyerim sobbed a little. She never cried. Not like this. He kissed her on her head once more. “In fact, I think you’ve done the most for me...you’ve done everything and I couldn’t possibly be more thankful for you, Hyerim”

“But I couldn’t even find anything,” Hyerim finally replied, looked up, and her tear rimmed eyes broke his heart. “I couldn’t even help you. And you’re right…” She laughed bitterly, looking away. “I just went and chased her around like a mad woman, I didn’t even know what I was trying to find”

“None of us knew, did we?” Sung Gyu replied gently. And it was the truth. He knew they had to get her to testify. But about what? What were they expecting of her? “It wasn’t your fault, and you did your very best. And you did more than enough for me, Hyerim”

She gave yet another bitter laugh. “I only made it worse; the reports became inadmissible, and I couldn’t make the right call at the right time-,”

“But you kept me going, despite all of that” Sung Gyu interrupted her. “Whenever I felt like it was the end and wanted to stop trying, you were there to pick me up again” He cupped her face in both his hands and lifted her to meet her eyes. “I wouldn’t have come this far without you. If anything, I’d have just pleaded guilty and gone to jail just to get this over with”

This, somehow, made her smile. 

“Besides,” He pushed on “You saved me from tricky situations, you passed illegal information, honestly I think you carried the whole thing on your own, Hyerim”

She snorted and turned away, although her cheeks took up a deep chase of pink. One thing he’d found fascinating about her was that, no matter how well she could compliment him at every occasion possible, whenever he said something good about her, which he was very rarely able to express, Hyerim would become shy and wouldn’t take it very well.

“You’re just exaggerating now,” She told him.

“I’m telling the truth” He deadpanned.

She smiled, albeit shily and buried her face in his shoulder. He put his arms around her, and kissed her on her head. “Now, sweetheart, I will run a warm bath for you, and while you’re at it, I’ll make something to eat”

Hyerim lifted her head. She no longer appeared tired now; the dark creases around her eyes had disappeared for a while, and she was certainly a little brighter than before. “Can you make your ramen? You know, the one that you always make? I’m suddenly craving it”

He gave her a bright smile. “It’s odd that you’re craving that of all the things”

“I’ve been thinking about it the whole day,” She said. Sung Gyu gave her a closer look, traced the distinct changes in her eyes and finally moved away. “Okay then…” He said and kissed her on her cheek. “I’ll run you a bath fast, and take all your time”

He stood up, proceeded to move away, but her calling for him stopped him on his tracks.

“Hm?”

“Is there-is there your mum’s Kimchi left?” She asked him quite shily again. 

“I think?” He replied, still a little perplexed.

“I’d like that too,” Hyerim sighed. “They go so well together”

He nodded, tried not to think too much of the oddity of their exchange, but that was also how Sung Gyu missed Hyerim’s first signs.