2

Sohyun yawned and she dozed off on her desk.
Yesterday was such a disaster. She spent the whole night at Kris house studying the case, and the worse thing was she couldn't even hitch a ride on Kris car. Instead she had to take the bus to the law firm.

Kris nudged her, but she didn't move.

He frowned and whacked her head with the file, causing her to stir awake, as she shot up and looked around, wincing in pain as she massaged her head and looked up at Kris. "Come to my room now," he ordered and walked off, while she immediately followed behind him. Sohyun imagined hurling fists in his direction and wrinkled her nose at him, then stick her tongue out without him noticing, and she closed the door shut.

"Why are you looking for me?" she asked, shifting her weight from the back of her feet to the front. "To discuss the case of course. I need you print out the article and submit to court," Kris said, and handed out the document for her. She took it from him, placing it to her chest. "Anything else?" 

Kris shook his head. "Ah yes one more thing, I'll be going out later to meet a client, you don't need to follow me."

She went to the printing room, and sat down on the chair, as she sighed and stared into space while she waited for the files to be printed. Tao passed by the printing room, and slowly crept up to her, then patted her back. "Hey."

Sohyun turned, and smiled, while he smiled back. "What’s wrong?" he asked, pulling a chair and sat down, facing her while she sighed. "I don't know why. The presence of him makes me shudder," she said and looked around before leaning forward. “Within a day I already made three mistakes,” she whispered.

Tao quirked his lips and pondered for a moment. "Well Kris is just demanding. Once you get to know him, he'll be quite nice," he said and laughed. "Don't think about it too hard." He patted her shoulder then thought of an idea.

"Wait a second. You want to prove to Kris?" Tao asked wriggling his eyebrows mischievously, leaning forward.

She hesitated and leaned backwards, frowning. "Prove what?" she asked, confused, while Tao's grin became wider and the more he thought about it, the more excited he was.

Sohyun slowly scooted away from him and laughed nervously. “You don’t look like you really have a good idea..”

"I've received intel that the defendant would usually come to this beach almost every day, but I wonder if we could bump into someone we know," Tao said, as they walk along the beach, looking around.

"But are we allowed to have contact with the defendant?" she asked with a puzzled face as she took out her shoes, walking barefoot on the white sand, with Tao’s blazer on her shoulder.

"We're here not to meet the defendant, but collect evidence from here. We can play and also work here, awesome isn't it?" Tao laughed at his brilliant idea as he looked around, and found the shop. "It's here, let's go." he pulled her as she stumbled forward, catching up with him.

"Boss, two soda, thanks," Tao ordered, tapping the table as he waited. Sohyun looked around the area, then tugged on Tao's shirt. "Why are we here?" Tao placed his fingers to his lips, while the owner came back with two sodas in his hands.

Tao smiled at the owner, and slurped on his soda, looking around the area. "Hmm, it seems like you don't really have a lot of business, do you?" Tao asked, striking up a conversation.

The owner shook his head and laughed. "Well at first there wasn't. But after a big client called Seo Jongsuk came, business was booming. He lives in the villa behind the beach." The boss pointed towards the end of the beach, where a whole row of villas were situated.

Sohyun's ears perked up, as she slammed the table when her instincts took over, then quickly apologized. "You mean a fat plump man that does engineering business, and usually buys insurance policies?"

The owner nodded. "He would always patronize my stall, with at least five women clinging onto him, and would always boasts about how he would buy insurance policies for himself just to see the woman who sold insurance policies to him. Sometimes he would be quite arrogant and annoying, but I don't really care about it as long as he brings business to my stall."

Sohyun and Tao exchanged looks, and smiled widely, going back to the beach.

"At least it's a good trip," Sohyun commented, kicking some water as she stepped on the wet sand, with the seawater flowing beside her.

Kris smiled, as he shook hands with the client, then placed the document into his briefcase, walking out of the beach, when he spotted Sohyun and Tao together, walking at the side of the beach and he frowned, squinting his eyes.

"We better get back, before lunch time is over, or else mentor would scold me again," Sohyun joked, while Tao agreed.

Just then, a beach ball flew past, and it hit Sohyun's head, then it fell into the sea. Sohyun winced in pain, as she rubbed her head then looking at the boy who was apologizing.

"Sorry can you get my ball for me?" the boy exclaimed, as he waved his hand in the air, while Sohyun just smiled and nodded. She rolled her pants up to her thigh, and her sleeves and attempted to get it but was stopped by Tao. "It's kind of deep, do you know how to swim?" She shook her head and smiled."It's alright, it's not that deep actually," she said and slowly walked in.

Her feet submerged into the cool water and she slowly moved forward until the water level was already up to knee, and the ball was just a few centimetres away from her grasp, reaching out for it. When she got it, the water current suddenly became stronger, and Sohyun unsteadily balanced between her toes, then stumbled forward, fully submerging into the water.

Both Kris and Tao's eyes rounded in surprise, and Kris quickly ran towards the beach.

She coughed as she was being swept away by the current, and she struggled to keep herself floating but no use, she didn't know how to swim. "Help..Help!" she exclaimed between gasps.

Tao looked around, and he saw Kris. "Kris?"

Kris immediately took out his jacket. "Where are the lifeguards when we need them," he mutterd under his breath and dived into the water.

Tao gawked at Kris and he silently applauded. "I have no idea how he mustered up so much courage to dive in just like this."

He swam and reached for Sohyun, her head bobbing up and down, gulping down the salty water as her arms flailed everywhere, and even smacked Kris. "Aish can you stop fidgeting!" Kris shouted as he tilted Sohyun's chin up to take in the oxygen, and he swam back, holding onto her.

He dragged her to the sand, and kneeled beside her, gently shaking her, but she didn't respond. Her eyes were closed and she didn't budge.

He muttered incoherently, frowning and he opened , then placed his ear near .

He placed both hands, one on top of the other, and pressed her chest, pumping blood through her heart. When Sohyun showed no signs of response, he took in a deep breath and his mouth entered hers, making a seal between their mouths, passing air into her body. 

He came up, and took another deep breath, before doing mouth to mouth resuscitation again. Water droplets dropped from his wet hair. He bit his lip and did it again. Sohyun coughed out sea water and began to stir. She slowly opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was Kris and Tao, peering down at her worriedly.

She slowly sat up and coughed a bit more. "Am I in hell?" she asked, while Kris heaved a sigh of relief. 
"When we reach the firm, you are really going to be in hell."

"Are you crazy?" Kris shouted, as he threw the document on the table, and Sohyun flinched, trembling as she wrapped herself in a thick towel. Kris saw how cold and terrified she was, and he turned off the air conditioning in his room, then slammed the table.

He himself was also wrapped in a towel, but wasn't as bad Sohyun. Both of their hair were wet and they were still in their wet clothes that stuck to their skin.

"Do you know what are you doing? You're actually harassing the defendant!" Kris shouted at her and she jumped again. "Do you know that if the defense counsel knows, you'll be in deep trouble? They can actually press charges against you if the defendant were there,” he chided and glanced at Tao. "Do you want to get disbarred?" Kris asked, raising his tone of speech, while Sohyun lowered her head. 

"Sorry, I didn't mean to,” she squeaked, and Kris swore he saw Tao stifling his laugh.

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "You're excused. I need to talk to Tao for a moment," he growled and Tao gulped, his smile disappeared. She nodded her head and gently closed the door shut, but quickly poked her head again. "I was just asking, did the boy get his beach ball back?" she asked and his eyes widened in surprise.

Tao stifled a laugh and Kris immediately shot her a look before glaring at Tao. She immediately gulped and nodded her head. "I understand," she squeaked and quickly shut the door.

He turned his attention towards Tao and sighed. "And you Tao. You know it can be considered as harrassing the witness if he really went there, and yet you brought her along? She's a newbie but you've been in this line for a few years, you ought to know that they can press charges," he snapped and lowered his gaze to the table.

Tao pressed his lips into a firm line, as he sat down. "Sorry, I know you've always been teaching me when we grow up together, but the way you teach Sohyun. Don't you think it's a bit harsh? I know you want to teach her properly, but she's still a girl, and a newbie too. She can’t feel that.. concern you have for her. She feels alienated.” Tao said. “Besides, just treat it as I’m curious of the defendant and Sohyun tried stopping me but to no avail and she was being dragged-“

“That’s even worse,” Kris cut him off while Tao shrugged. Kris looked down at the document and sighed. 
“Anyway, I’ll try.”

Tao smiled and nodded his head, before going out to see Sohyun eavesdropping outside. "Sorry, I just wanted to give this tea to Mentor. Maybe you should give it to him," she said and passed this to Tao, who just rejected and pushed it back to her. "Mentor and disciple relationship will never change. He won't be mad at you. Just go."

Sohyun nodded, and slowly went in, while Kris looked up at her, stopping what he was doing. "You're here for what now?" Kris growled, and immediately regretted it. He didn’t know his voice was actually that harsh. 
Sohyun lowered her head. "Sorry mentor, I know you saved me that's why you were wet too, so drink it while it's hot. It keeps you warm," she said and cautiously placed it on his desk, and his gaze followed.

"If there's nothing, I'll get going first," Sohyun said and sneezed, then walked out, while Kris looked at the cup and took it, then softly smiled, drinking it. "Silly girl.” As he swallowed the tea, he immediatelyspat it out and blew his tongue, breathing in and out as he fanned his burned tongue. “That girl just can’t get anything right,” he grumbled.

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