Chapter 15

The next morning, Yu Jin woke up as someone started to bang on his door. This time, he wasn’t having a hangover like the other day, so he went to answer the door even though he knew for sure who it was.

“What? Didn’t I tell you not to-“ he thought it was going to be his brother Jun Ho but to his greatest surprise. He gaped as he opened his eyes wide to see the girl. “Wha…?” it took him a few moments to remember who she was but then he immediately scowled and shut the door close.

“No please! Wait!” she stopped the frame with her palms, “Listen to what I have to tell you first!” her voice was hoarse as she uttered these words and he found himself sighing, leaving the door and going to sit in his sofa after muttering the words “come in” and to which she bowed.

He crossed his arms and legs, leaning back in his sitting position and eyed her nonchalantly. She gulped and kept her head dropped.

“I came here to…” she began but he cut her mid-sentence, “No, first, tell me, was that blabbermouth the one who told you about this place? Huh?” he sounded so pissed-off, his look turned into a cold glare.

“N-No! He didn’t!” she stammered, “Truth is… I…” she swallowed, “I overheard his conversation with my younger sister yesterday…”

“That rascal…” he clenched his teeth as he snickered, rubbing his jaw, “Then, what brought you here? I must admit that you have guts for showing up in front of my face, after all what you’ve done…” he stood up, his fixed gaze never wavering and she was trembling in fear.

“I sincerely apologize for what I and my mother did!” she retorted, with a loud torn voice, as she bowed deeply at him. “I really… mean it!” she kept her head down, and he spotted tears dripping from her face to the floor. He tilted his head, clicking his tongue. “You know, it’s too late, your apology is no longer valid.” He snorted.

“But I need you to believe me! Please! I really…”

“If you came here only for that, then..” he pulled the door open and aimed his finger toward it, “You may leave and forget about this place.” He said so firmly.

Yet, instead of raising her body up from that bow, she fell to her knees, shoulders slumped and she went as far as to bow with her forehead sticking to the floor. He really was taken aback by her deed, because no matter what, he would not go as low as to allow a female to bow at him like that, he squatted before her and yelled: “Dang it, get up! Ms. Cha!” she raised her face and her makeup was all ruined due to the tears she shed. “Please help me! Please stop her from doing this to my mother!” she clasped his hand in her both palms as she sobbed, “Please Mr. Lee… have mercy upon her, she’s now an ill person, she wouldn’t take all that pressure!”

“Wha..t are you talking about?” he raised a brow at her, finally showing some interest in what she said.

"My mother got taken away this morning by the police!” she was crying as she said it all, “We’re already done… the company, the house, everything is falling into the hands of the beneficial owners and loan sharks! Even my mother’s health deteriorated… nothing’s left… everything’s lost!” she was in a hysterical state and for a split second, he felt that something within him got stirred, he figured that he has never lost his humanity after all and yet…

“You reaped what you sowed…” he pulled her up to her feet by the shoulders, and she looked at him adjust her messed bangs, wearing a small smirk on his face that didn’t go with the petty look he had in his eyes. “I’m sorry but, even I don’t have that sort of power so… I can’t help you with anything.” He shook his head.

“You don’t understand!” she gripped her head, “The police… was sent by the court…” she explained, “They said that mom is sued by Jang Mi! And that the trial is taking place today…”  He froze to what he heard, his lips parted in a gape and his mind went blank.

“That’s why, you should find Jang Mi and persuade her to take back the lawsuit!”

Knowing that Jang Mi came back to Seoul after spending months looking for her in the whole country without finding a trace of hers, his heartbeat quickened and he stared fixedly at the ground, lost in thoughts until he felt a hand squeezing his sleeve and dragged him back to reality. I’ll do anything! Please help me, you’re the only one who can do it..” she was desperate.

He inhaled deeply and bit his lip, then covered his face and said: “I can’t give you any promises now… first I need to find her, and then I’ll see what I can do.” He cleared his throat. Her eyes lighted and she smiled, bowing at him several times and thanking him before taking her leave. He was grateful for the fact that she came and told him about Jang Mi’s return, unlike Jun Ho who probably heard of the whole thing from his girlfriend.

“Wait until I find you… Jang Mi” he gritted his teeth and squeezed his fingers into tight fists.  

***

Jang Mi left her room at exactly 9:16 am and headed toward the elevator, she had a purse in her hand and she was gripping her phone and talking with someone. Yu Jin as well got changed and decided to meet up with a private detective whom he assigned to look for Jang Mi and indeed, he his phone after that Yoon Song left and found few missed calls from him yesterday. So he asked him to come and meet him in the hotel, with only himself to blame for turning off his mobile all this time. He saw a few people standing in front of the elevator and he had a cap and glasses on to conceal his face. He wouldn’t risk getting spotted and recognized by anyone. He went in the elevator with a few other guests among them, Jang Mi as well and she was busy with her call. People were getting down as the elevator stopped a few times in several other levels and now he was alone with that young woman who kept talking in her phone the whole time, he had his earphones anyways and couldn’t hear anything:

“I know, I know, I’ll stop by your office first Mr. Ko.” She nodded as she heard his excited voice on the other end. He told her that the probability of her winning the trial was over 96%. “Huh? I thought you said it was 100 last time you called!” she feigned surprise. “Oh, the other 4% always depends on the capabilities of the opponent's attorney, even for a professional like myself.” He scoffed. She never felt this confident and satisfied in her whole life and she knew that nothing could stop in her way now, and in few hours, the woman who killed her parents and tortured her as a child is going to get the punishment she deserves.

The elevator stopped at the first floor, and its door opened. Jang Mi was stepping out of it when she suddenly got flooded by a sea of shutters and camera flashes, she halted in shock and dropped her phone. Yu Jin couldn’t believe his sight, he cursed and pulled down his cap and dropped his head, not paying attention, he stepped on something that turned out to be some mobile phone. He cursed once more as he bent to pick it up, noticing that the reporters weren’t targeting him unlike what he believed but someone else. He span around and looked behind him but he only saw the crowd of reporters closing on someone and forming a circle, whoever that person they caught was, he thought that they were very unlucky.

“Tsk…” he checked the device and its screen was shattered, he took off his earphones to get surprised to hear the voice of some man coming out of the device. “No way.” He discovered that the person who dropped it didn’t have the time to hang up on their call. Which only meant that..

He glanced at the crowd of the reporter and heard many of their voices, but he reached the phone to his ear and hummed, eyes still focused on them:

“Hmm, the person you were talking to just now is in biiig trouble.” He emphasized the last two words. He heard the gasp of shock followed by a rain of questions and he had to cover his other ear to be able to hear them:

“What? When?! …How?!!”

He sighed, “Yeah, they dropped their phone and I picked it up by chance.. you see?"

“And you’re just standing there when a weak girl like her is facing such situation?!” the man started to scold Yu Jin, “She never faced such situations! It must’ve happened because of the lawsuit, oh God, I should’ve predicted this!” he was in a state of utter panic. Yu Jin hang up on him and hid the device in his pocket then heaved a heavy sigh.

Jang Mi was shielding her face with her arms, not comprehending what was going on, she just backed off. The rain of questions was so intense:

“Miss! Miss! Can you tell us about your relationship to the Cha group?”

“Miss! Please look this way!”

“Miss, is it true that you were abused by Mrs. Cha Hyu Ri?”

“Can you tell us more about yourself? We only heard that you are the person who filed complaints against the leader of the Cha for Constructions’ company!”

“Is it true that you had evidences proving that president Cha committed murder twice?!”

She dropped her head and covered her ears, not bearing the pressure that she was put through and started to call for help involuntarily, realizing that she had nowhere to run to with only the wall behind her. They literally cornered her.

All of a sudden, and just when she was about to collapse due to the strong headache she had, she felt a solid pair of arms enveloping her body tightly in and her face was against someone’s chest.

“Yes, yes, good work everyone, but I’m afraid the show is over.” Yu Jin uttered and the reporters fell into abrupt silence for a split moment before he pulled the girl closer to him and pulled his phone out, immediately called the hotel’s security guards who rushed in and dragged the reporters out, confiscating their cameras and phones. He exhaled with relief, then pulled the other device that kept buzzing in his other pocket out and picked up:

“I saved her! Don’t worry, she’s fine from what I…” he dropped his gaze down at her and she was still clinging to his clothes. He laughed, “Yeah, what? A lawyer?”

Jang Mi’s eyes widened as she heard that voice, the warmth that she felt in those arms was very familiar and so was that manly odor. She found her lips trembling as she gripped the tips of his jacket. Her eyes became tearful as she raised her face slowly and timidly to look at his features but he pulled himself away from the hug, “Me? You want to know who I am?” he asked still on the phone with a snort and pressed his palm on her eyes as he slipped the phone in her white coat’s pocket. “I’m sorry for you mobile’s screen, I’ll contact you later and pay you back. I got to go now.” He spun her around and swiftly pulled his hand away from her eyes, then took off running.

She stood in that same spot, spotted no trace of him, her tears rolled along her cheeks and she sniffled, raising her hand and looking at her ring:

“He didn’t recognize me..” she sniffled, tried to swallow her sobs, but then broke into a laughter, “He’s here..” she covered , “He’s staying in this hotel.. as well” she looked around her, a smile crept into her lips. She got out her phone and she saw that he saved his number in the notepad. She clutched the device firmly and brought it to her chest.

***

Yu Jin entered the lounge and spotted the detective who gestured at him. He went to sit across from him and leaned in. The detective quickly started to take out of his case many pictures showing a woman in the airport together with a man. Yu Jin took off his sunglasses and looked at the pictures,

“November 23^rd 2015, at exactly 11:30 pm Ms. Jang Mi came back from Japan and there was this man, he’s Ko Byun Su, one of Seoul’s best attorneys..” Yu Jin pushed his chair back with a loud sound, still gazing at the picture he had in hands, he clenched his teeth and shut his eyes close, remembering clearly that he saw that Byun Su guy somewhere..

He then got stunned to recall him meeting up with someone called Jang Mi. His brain could no longer think clearly, and the next thing he knew was him hurrying back to his room.

I can’t believe that she was here all the time…

He couldn’t wait for the elevator, and used the stairs instead, went up 2 floors and then caught the elevator of the 3^rd. He was heading to the 25^th floor getting impatient and pressing his hands on his cap. Reaching his destination after a few minutes he went to the room across from his and stopped in front of its door, cleared his throat and span around, his impatience was mixed with awkwardness and nervousness. He hesitated before he finally mustered his composure and reached his hand to knock on the door, to hear suddenly some voices coming from behind it, he hesitated, thought that he might have mistook the room. He had an inner conflict, didn’t want to believe what the situation suggested and in the end he decided to go for it and see for himself.

The door was pulled open and that young lawyer appeared before him and to his best surprise, he was half way into buttoning his blouse. 

** To be continued **