chapter XVII 흔들리지 않는 [unshakable]

"i've been fighting all my life; it's all i've ever known to do"

        "One more thing before I go." Yongguk exhaled, his anxious hands causing the phone to nearly drop out of his hand.

"Yeah?" Daehyun responded, curious and anticipating.

Yongguk was silent for a moment, gathering whatever courage he had. "...I love you."

Daehyun's response was only a second later. "I love you, too." He whispered. But Yongguk could hear the smile in his breathe and although he couldn't see him, he knew that Daehyun's cheeks was a light shade of red; he always one to get flustered quite easily, especially when it came to Yongguk.

Yongguk was too blind to take the hint as the biggest sign of Daehyun's feelings until recently.

He hung up a second later, smile so wide it was hurting his cheeks. Yongguk put the phone back and turned around, letting the guard cuff him once again before he was being led back to his cell. On his way back, he happened to glance up and noticed a small group of guards approaching from the opposite end of the hall. Curious, Yongguk lightly leaned his head and instantly made eye contact with Zelo. At the mere sight of him, Yongguk's blood boiled but he couldn't help but smirk at the sight of Zelo's busted lip, black eye, and broken nose.

"Courtesy of Daehyun, huh?" Yongguk mocked as they got closer. Zelo's expression hardened and he stepped forward to charge at Yongguk but was stopped quickly by the guards surrounding him, the guard guiding Yongguk pulling his tazer out as a precaution.

" you." Zelo hissed angrily.

"Ew, no thanks." Yongguk scrunched his nose in disgust. "They weren't kidding when they told me he ed up your face. You gotta admit though; you had it coming."

Zelo growled a little. "Rot in hell, Yongguk."

"Oh, look at you trying to be all tough and mighty." Yongguk rolled his eyes and lightly rolled his shoulders. "I'm not intimidated, Zelo. And if you continue trying to charge at me, they might taze you." Zelo's glare hardened but he slowly stopped struggling. "Oh, and one more thing; I already rotted in hell when you took Daehyun away from me." Yongguk growled, taking a step forward and it caused his guard to extend his arm out infront of him. "But you, however; have a fun time in the afterlife you miserable piece of ."

"You do know that once the court finds out that Daehyun beat a prisoner during an interrogation, he could get fined!" Zelo shouted as Yongguk allowed the guard to continue guiding him to his cell.

"I don't think Daehyun cares about that. Plus, I'm pretty sure the judge will agree with the fact that you deserved it." Yongguk scoffed. The guard unlocked the cell door and took off Yongguk's cuffs before closing the door behind Yongguk once he entered the cell. Yongguk exhaled and slipped his arms through the cell bars, nearing his face near the cool metal to peek down the hall to the best of his ability; watching the group of guards easily drag a now cussing Zelo down the hall.

"I take it today's the last hearing." Himchan hummed from across the hall, laying on his bed while throwing a small basketball plushie up into the air and catching it each time.

Yongguk sighed and leaned away from the bars. "I guess so."

"He'll be fine." Jongup reassured from the top bunk, since he shared a cell with Himchan. He was peeking over the edge over at Yongguk. Yongguk already knew who he was talking about but he still couldn't help but feel worried.

"He's going against his best friend, though." Yongguk shook his head, running his fingers through his hair. "A friend of all of ours; someone we've known for many years."

Himchan caught the toy and perked an eyebrow at Yongguk. "It'd be a different story if he was forced to face Youngjae in the court, Guk. Youngjae and Daehyun were much more closer to each other than any of us were to each other. They were like brothers. I'm sure Daehyun would be more shaken up if he had to be faced with the sole man that not only him, but joined a different gang and told them to do countless other bull to him. As far as we know, Zelo didn't harm him; he just helped Youngjae perform his plan without any suspicion."

"Suspicion? Did you forget that Daehyun suspected Zelo from the first second Youngjae had 'went missing'?" Yongguk groaned irritably and plopped down face first on to his bed. "But we just didn't listen to him. He always was the one who sensed things before we could and he always ended up right in the end."

"But we just...I guess we just didn't want to accept it this time around." Jongup exhaled, laying down on his back. "I mean, it was the first time that there was betrayal in our squad; of course we didn't want to believe it. But now that I think about it, I bet Daehyun tried to convince himself that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. However, Daehyun was always the one to listen to his gut whenever it spoke to him." Y

ongguk nodded a little and turned his head to look at the wall, his eyes lingering on one of the pinned pictures of Daehyun there. "I just hope everything goes well...Zelo has a nasty habit of getting himself out of trouble."

---

"Are you ready?" Jaebum asked softly, watching Daehyun run his fingers through his newly dyed hair. It was a tone of grey with bits of pink and blue here and there but it matched so well to the tone of his skin and his brown eyes.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Daehyun nodded and fixed his tie before grabbing the suit jacket and following Jaebum out.

"When they were escorting Zelo out, I guess they ran into Yongguk on the way out."

Daehyun chuckled. "I can only imagine what went on."

"Well, Yongguk didn't charge at him; he just threw a lot of shade while Zelo seemed to the 'no bark but trying to bite' concept." Jaebum chuckled in amusement, holding the door open for Daehyun, who snorted a little before they entered the courtroom.

"Daehyun, Jaebum." Judge Kwon greeted with a bow of his head as he got to his feet. Once they passed by the small gate, both boys bowed to the judge. "Thank you for attending the last hearing. Please take your seats." Daehyun glanced at Jaebum, who squeezed his shoulder before standing off to the side with the rest of his team as Daehyun sat down next to his lawyer. "Thank you all for coming." Judge Kwon turned towards the jury. "It is quite hot outside but hopefully the air conditioning has met everyone's expectations." There was a couple chuckles coming from behind Daehyun. The entire room was filled with reports and just reporters. Except to his right, sat a cuffed Zelo and his lawyer. Since all of the hearings as been semi-private with no family members or friends allowed to attend the hearing, it was just the reporters clicking their cameras or recording the hearing, writing on their notepads, or typing away on their laptops. It was a little nerve-wrecking; Daehyun always felt like whenever he walked into the courtroom, he just interrupted a giant flock of vultures eating their dinner.

"As all of you know, today is the final hearing." Judge Kwon grabbed a thick stack of papers and lightly smacked them on the desk to straighten them up. "We'll just get right to the point and get this over with; I'm sure Daehyun has went through enough and doesn't want to relive any of this. So, Lawyer Kim." Daehyun looked over at Zelo's lawyer as he got to his feet, his brown eyes eyeing Daehyun like a hawk.

"I'd like to call Daehyun to the stand."

"Objection!" Daehyun's lawyer cried out. "He's already been up to the stand, your honor."

"Over-ruled. Daehyun, please take the stand." Judge Kwon ordered, gesturing to the stand. Daehyun exhaled and set the jacket on to the back of his chair before he began approaching the security guard, who made him put his hand on a bible and swear his oath before sitting down at the stand. Lawyer Kim straightened his suit jacket as he slowly approached Daehyun.

"Do you see his injuries?" He started off easy but Daehyun knew this was coming, so he already prepared for it. So he looked the lawyer dead in the eye.

"If this is what you called me up to the stand for, then it seems you really got nothing to fire at me." His tone was monotone but it seemed to irk the lawyer anyways. "But fine, I'll humor you. Yes, I inflicted those wounds to him. No, I do not regret it. Yes, I am aware of the consequences. But you, all of you must understand one little detail; he was my best friend. He was someone I held close not just in my arms, but in my heart. I put every ounce of faith and trust and loyalty into him. Zelo not only broke Yongguk's heart in the most ugliest way possible but he shattered the entire group apart. He took a part in a heinous--"

"Objection!" Judge Kim yelled, pointing a finger to Daehyun. "Is that all he has against my victim?!" Judge Kwon gave the lawyer a warning look.

"Over-ruled. Lawyer Kim, watch your tongue. Let him speak." He warned before turning to Daehyun. "Continue." Daehyun bowed his head at the judge and exhaled.

"He helped Youngjae build a plan that in which included in trying to kill me just because he was jealous that I didn't return his feelings. It was a selfish act that could have easily been resolved but with the interrogation, we found out that it wasn't Youngjae's plan to kill me." Daehyun shifted his gaze over to Zelo, who glared at him. "It was yours." The lawyer looked confused and he immediately turned to look over at Zelo as if for confirmation.

"I..." The lawyer gaped before exhaling. "No more questions, your honor." The judge nodded at Daehyun and let him exit the stand and make his way back to his lawyer. His lawyer then stood up and grabbed a file before approaching the judge.

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