Chapter 40

Eyes pursuit around as Junsu’s last words were said. Yuri looked clearly at Junsu & then turned her stare to Jaejoong. As if he noticed that she was looking at him, he averted his head to meet her beautiful face. His eyes glittered. She shuddered inwardly. That was what he meant. No wonder she was confused on his words at first.

‘I’m sure that the things I uses against you in the first place of how we got here, Yuri, I can use it again’.

His words rang in her ear. She blinked uneasily. He knew Taehyun wasn’t here & he was using that against her. She should had known & brought Taehyun along. Now, everyone of them was going to think wrong & think the right of Mr. Kim.

“Ms. Kwon.” Judge Bak said, breaking her thought. She looked up at him as if lost or was lost, “Is the son of yours & Mr. Kim here?” He asked.

Yuri parted her red lips to say something but stopped midway. She tried again, & finally, she got her words out, “No, your honor, he isn’t here.”

He sighed & cleared his throat, “As this case is dealt with your & Mr. Kim’s son, we should expect to see him here.”

“I’m sorry, your honor.”

He took in a deep breath, “Enough. Now, the son should be shown on monday morning of the schedule case. If he doesn’t show up, the jury will show difference in you.”

“I understand, your honor.” She said defenselessly.

He beckoned a hand at Junsu, “Proceed on, Mr. Kim, since the witness you call isn’t available at the time.” Junsu nodded. He rose his chin, “I call Ms. Kwon to the stand again.” He said, his brown, almond-shaped eyes never leaving hers. She stood up & walked up to the stand. As her brief walk ended & as she sat down, Junsu turned to look at her again, & said, “You said earlier, Ms. Kwon, that you can’t live with a man who doesn’t love you anymore. Now, tell me, do you still have a heart for him? Do you still think about him now or those awful four years you spent alone?” He walked closer, “Do you still love your ex-husband?”

She deliberately shook her head, “No, I don’t love him anymore. What woman could when a beast had broken her heart?” Yuri glared at Jaejoong. She swore she could see the guilt he was trying to hide behind his cute face but a man like that wouldn’t have any guilt. Not even for the woman that he had once loved. To her, he was still the man of cheat.

“Would you give him a second chance if he begs for your forgiveness & love?”

“I’m not a woman who gives second chance at love or to a man that has broken my heart.” Yuri replied simply, but she felt as if Junsu was asking her needless questions or maybe he is.

“Then why did you came back here to Korea for? You can’t just say that your mother is sick. There has to be something lying behind that pretty face of yours. You must had came back because of your ex-husband’s well done money or even because of revenge.” He turned around & pointed to Mr. Ok, “Your lawyer was wrong about my client. Mr. Kim doesn’t want any green dollar bills because he took you into such cases like this. Nor does he want any revenge. You are the one, Ms. Kwon. You came back not just because of your mother but because you want everything that Mr. Kim has. You show up with Hyunnie & showed him off to Mr. Kim to make him angry just to take you to court & then your plan is to make…”

“Hold up.” Mr. Ok spoke suddenly & vehemently, as best as he could to jump out of his seat, “Your honor. Mr. Kim just can’t make things up that are unbelievable. He doesn’t have any proof. He’s trying to make my client lose confident in herself.”

“Your honor. He is interrupting my talk with his client.” Junsu fluttered his hands about, “I need some peace & quiet.”

“Mr. Ok, have your seat.” He averted to Junsu, “Proceed.”

Junsu smiled thinly. He swear he will kill his friend for doing this to him. He shouldn’t have agreed at first. He was just doing his part right now as a righteous lawyer & win this case for Jaejoong as his client, not Jaejoong as his friend.

“You brought Hyunnie here to destroy Mr. Kim’s wedding with his fiance, Jessica Jung Sooyeon.” Junsu finished it off easily in words but hardly in opening his mouth.

Yuri shook her head with aplomb, “That’s not true, Mr. Kim. Why would I want to come here & destroy their wedding with my son? It’s not revenge. I’m just going to say it, Mr. Kim, that I came here to look after my mother. If she weren’t like this, I wouldn’t be here now. Not that I mind her being sick but I do mind being here without no good reason.”

“The reason is Hyunnie.” He said, emphasizing the word is.

“Yes, but that isn’t any good reason I’m here now. The real reason why I’m here is because of that man that wants my baby. It is about Hyunnie but he wants my son. Why should he get my son when all he did those four years were loved & played with his fiance?”

“You should had told him about Hyunnie then.”

She swayed her head from side to side, “What would make the discrepancy? We would still be here for four years fighting for my son’s custody if I would had told him. Isn’t it right, Mr. Kim? Four long, awful years?” She asked.

By the sound of her voice, Jaejoong knew that she was tired. He knows she wasn’t ready to cry, maybe never in court & in front of him.

Junsu hesitated but nodded, agreeing with Yuri, “Ms. Kwon, the name of your son, I see here, is in initial but his real name is Taehyun signed on the certificate. Can you tell me why you named him that?”

Yuri couldn’t help but her lips. She saw Jaejoong changed position. He leaned against the table & rubbed his knuckles against his chin as if he was growing a beard.

“Ms. Kwon?” Junsu interrupted her thoughts, “Can you answer my question?”

She looked down at her hand, “My ex-husband.” She said, after a while, “Had told me that if we ever had a son, he will name him that or Yohan.”

Junsu rose his brows. He walked back & forth, trying to think, “So, Ms. Kwon, that means that you still have some of those feelings left for your ex-husband?”

“Can a woman not name her son after the name that her ex-husband likes? I don’t see that written in the law.” Yuri defended herself.

“True. Very true but I don’t understand why you did that after what you had told us of how much you hated a man like Mr. Kim. I’m lost all around your feelings, Ms Kwon.” Junsu smiled as he heard Yuri’s lawyer curse silently. He turned to past Judge Bak a look, “That’s all, your honor.” He turned around, not taking a last look at Yuri. As he sat down, Mr. Ok stood on the point when the judge called him.

“Your honor, I would like to call up Mr. Kim Jaejoong to the stand, the said biological father of Taehyun Kwon.”

Everyone turned to look at Jaejoong, except Yuri. She got off the stand & straightened her black maggy london illusion yoke crepe sheath dress. Looking up & was about to walk to her seat, she suddenly saw him looking at her, not one foot away. So close he was. She grimaced at him & walked pass, ignoring his look.

Mr. Ok smiled as he turned to face Jaejoong but maybe it was more of a smirk, “Mr. Kim.” His old voice was intentionally bored, “What was your first intention & reaction when you found out that your new best friend was your son? Vile? Frantic? Violent?”

“I’m sure the words I said are too literally to be use in court.” Jaejoong said sarcastically. The congregation chuckled. He smiled outwardly but inside, he grimaced at his great sarcasm. He was use to making things more interesting in court & not to make the congregation bored to death but to himself, his causticity was hurtful, “Very funny, Mr. Kim.” Mr. Ok said, shooting back his sarcasm, “& your first intention was to do what?”

“Go give my ex-wife a lovely visit.” A sarcasm again. He threw Yuri his most malicious look. She stared at him unchangeable. Junsu chuckled at his friend. Jaejoong didn’t need any help to deal with this. He had always been great with this, “& take custody of my son.”

“That fast?”

“Of course. What kind of man would I be leaving my son unknown of his father when I, the father, wasn’t known of him either until now? My son would have been searching for me all over the world.”

“But what kind of man are you to cheat on your wife then later come & want to steal her son away from her? Do you know why women hate most about us man?” He asked, but continued before Jaejoong had another chance to make a fool of him, “Because they will never know when we would cheat on them or how we would change after years of marriage. We are heartless, all of us men, even the best of us have something to hide & you are one of the men that cheats on your wife & changed after your one year of marriage only. Why, eh?” Mr. Ok walked back & forth, “We would never know. We can even have too many reason & don’t know that we do.” He cleared his throat, “& now you want your son back. What a waste of your time, Mr. Kim. You had had a happy life after your ex-wife left you, why not continue it? You are going to get marry in about only a month. Don’t waste your time on getting your son.” He seemed to smirk, “You forgot, Mr. Kim, that in the laws of child custody, remarrying is a problem. There’s limited laws to getting custody of Taehyun when you are to get married in a month with another woman.”

Jaejoong shook his head, “I’m a lawyer. I don’t forget such things.” Does the old man really think that he would forget such important thing when he was asking for custody of the kid? He came prepared & he will leave prepared in the way he had came from only to win what the jury will decide.

“I see.” Mr. Ok crossed his arms over his chest. He then mumbled something under his breath. The young man really has a brain but he, as an old man, will make his client win the case. He hadn’t had this much fun since years, “Make believe that you have two choices, Mr. Kim. Forget that you are here right now in court then whom would you choose? Your fiance or your son?”

Jaejoong blinked & glanced down at his hands. To admit it, the day his dad had lectured him, he hadn’t even made a choice but this was court. Looking up from his hands, he looked towards his father who had sat on the front row the whole time. Mr. Kim silently looked back at his son but then averted his head, inclined to let his son make his own choice. Rather it was Jessica or Taehyun; at least it will make his son happy.

“Mr. Kim.” Said Mr. Ok. He cleared his throat, “Your answer?”

He sidetracked his gaze to Yuri & ignored the lawyer. She was staring at him the whole time, studying him. He searched for her eyes & finally, his eyes went inside of hers. They looked at each other, eyes to eyes. One blinked only to see if this was true; the other blinked only to look at the person again. One fidgeted only to make the answer; the other fidgeted only to wait for the answer. One cried inwardly because of the decision; the other one cried inwardly because of the decision that will be made but their eyes were on each other the whole time. A throat cleared, “Mr. Kim. I will ask you one last time. What is your answer?”

“My son.” Jaejoong said. Voice broke out from the congregation. People turned their head to speak to their neighbors. He didn’t want to admit it when he saw a glint shined in Yuri’s eyes. Guilt gripped his pumping heart. He saw his father glance at Yuri. His mother grimace, either of him wanting Taehyun or her going to lose another daughter-in-law. He looked down at his hands.

He may love Jessica but he loves his son more. Nothing will separate them, he swears, after the woman he had divorce four years ago had already stolen his son. Even though he knew Yuri’s heart aches, he couldn’t help himself. He was sorry, he really was even though he was doing this to her. He understands her feelings through everything that he had done or will be doing but he wants to love the son he had never had. He really does, “Order! I call this court to order!” The judge shouted, & banged the mallet through the cacophony of the people. The room went quiet. Judge Bak let out a huge breath after his shout, “I’m hoping to proceed this without anymore interruption please.” He searched around with his eyes, “Continue Mr. Ok.”

The old man wanted to chuckle but his opponent answered the question unlike the way he wanted him, too. He started to pace back & forth with his fingers playing with his chin, “Mr. Kim. Your answer shocked me but it didn’t either. You don’t get what I mean, do you?” He then chuckled, “Why choose your son when your future wife can give you more children then you can count? Is it because you just wanted to hurt your ex-wife again?” Jaejoong grimaced, “Of course not.”

“Then why?”

“Due to the cause that he’s my son. I’m not a man to leave my blood alone, Mr. Ok.”

“But leaving your fiance for your son? Are you trying to tell the court you love your son more then the woman you are going to be marrying in a month?”

Jaejoong nodded, “Maybe so.”

Whispers went over the congregation but quieted down soon enough before the judge can bang his mallet onto the wooden block, “On the results, you & your fiance had known each other for four years. If so, how do you think your fiance will react towards your answer to my question seconds ago?”

Jaejoong seemed to think before he answered the question, “My fiance had seen me before with Hyunnie & surely, I know she will understand my solution. She will be mirthless with me but she doesn’t have the heart to keep me away from the son that I love.”

“Have you told her about this yet? Or does she even know? The finding out of your son? The court? Everything based on this?” Yuri’s lawyer asked, fluttering his arms here & there.

Jaejoong peeped down at his hands & then looked back up at the lawyer, “As a matter of fact, no.”

“& for what reason is that? Don’t tell the court you are hiding this from her.”

“Of course not. I intend to tell her after this is over.”

“Wherefore? Are you sure that you will win this case against my client?” He pointed to Yuri, “I don’t think so, Mr. Kim.”

“The outcome, we don’t know. Your client can win or I can win. Or Mr. Ok, the aftermath can be that your client & I will have to share custodian. So, don’t push your hopes up too high. I know a lot of lawyers that pushed over the limit before the case is even over.”

Mr. Ok grunted, feeling offended.

Jaejoong continued, “Her father is sick. She went back to San Francisco. Therefore, I was intending to tell her later. Does that hurt to know?”

“Mr. Kim.” The judge warned him, at his unapproved of asking the lawyer a question without permission, especially when asking a question of offence.

“I’m sorry, your honor.” Said Jaejoong, without any consolation in his voice.

“But Mr. Kim, again, we have no results in here that you had ever had any experience with children. We don’t know how good of a father you would be. As for Ms. Kwon, she has the complete experience. How will you know how to change your son’s diapers? How will…”

“Hyunnie is three years old. He doesn’t wear any type of diapers.” Jaejoong interrupted, & then added, “Unlike you.”

The congregation chuckled along with the jury & judge. It seems like the jury will have another look over their account. Jaejoong smiled & looked towards Yuri. She seemed the opposite. Mr. Ok averted to look at Yuri. She nodded her head, indicating that their opponent was correct. He again, looked back at Jaejoong & made guttural sound.

“Very well, Mr. Kim.” He said, after a while, “I’m done here, your honor.”

A/N: i will be updating one more chap. before i end the night since its already 12:06 am here :)