14

      Sitting in her office, she let out a sigh while looking at the clock – pass 7 in the evening, wanting to release the heavy energy along with the deep release of air as she let her back touch the backrest of her chair. She then stared at the ceiling and memories of yesterday ran a little through her mind…

“I hope I helped, Ahn Yujin.”

She can’t help the latter anymore by physically going with her in everything she needs to do, such as investigating for more, or looking for more evidences. What she did yesterday is the best thing she can let out not only for the younger, but also for her wife who’s still in prison. The only way she can help more, is only to take down more notes.

While having a thought of the two younger ones and the current events, she can’t help but to feel regretful despite being just a friend.

The two have good souls, both are hard working, both are surely caring and loving…

Yet one was blinded by her career and future while the other one chose to be blind about her needs and to keep quiet upon thinking of the other’s happiness.

Both are wrong, and it doesn’t matter anymore who they should blame more, but of course, they need to know where it started, she needed to know. Sakura knows, she’s someone out of the line to tell Yujin her fault in the beginning, but… she also knows that if she won’t say anything about it to the younger lawyer, things will go wrong for her, for Chaewon’s justice and for Minjoo.

She shook her head a little in disbelief before closing her eyes, and realized, “But right, even the best can be the worst, even the best people, even with their best efforts and best deeds, still… can experience the worst in life.”

“But I am quite fascinated with how you’re still the kindest and the most patient… Kim Minjoo.”

“Because I can’t… wait that long.”

“Eun~” She called, while the person is busy studying for their exams.

“Hm?”

“Are you not going to take a rest?” It has been hours since the woman started to flip the pages of their books and Sakura wondered why the prior is still not taking a rest when she, herself, has abandoned their study place for an hour already.

Without looking, the woman answered, “Just a little more.”

She waited, Sakura always did. Sitting on the corner of her bed, she just watched Eunbi finish her works, she always… can only watch and wait. It’s a good scenery. Very pretty, the woman is, being all focused on her books and notes, highlighting the important terms and definitions and silently pronouncing things as she memorizes them. She admires this side of the woman, but she loves it more whenever…

“Done.” The attention is finally hers.

Sakura opened her arms wide, motioning the woman to give her an embrace. Now is the time of the day they can bond properly. It’s like a routine… between a client and a professional cuddle buddy, they have a specific time to be together, even…

Without holding a label at all.

“Let’s take a rest?” Sakura invited and the woman nodded with a warm smile while half-ly closing her eyes.

They both settled in one bed.

Eunbi snuggled closer to her cuddle buddy’s neck, succumbing the warmth of her supposed to be, girlfriend, letting herself be scooped by the arms and body of the woman as she closes her eyes. A moment of feeling more comfortable, she then felt Sakura her hair gently, but what did made her open her eyes…

Was when she felt a peck on her forehead, a peck that even without any words given, felt so loving with full of sincerity and respect. The woman, Eunbi, can’t help but to look up to the eyes of her cuddle buddy.

Which was immediately noticed by Sakura, “Hm?”

Eyes are locked, gazing at each other, one is unbothered while the other one is in deep thoughts.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

Eunbi can’t decipher the words coming out of the other woman’s lips as what she just knows from that moment, was to devour the pleasure of the moment of having each other.

“Eun?”

Eunbi, unknowingly, lifted her hand and… traced her index finger on Sakura’s lips, touching the soft, pinkish flesh she loves to claim with hers.

“Is it okay?”

The future prosecutor chuckled, “When did I reject such a good offer?”

Cheesy, but that confirmation is always off to something more than a sweet action.

Because right, when did she reject her? When did she?

She never did. Not, at least until the last straw.

Palms cupped her neck as Eunbi herself, pulled her to occupy the space between them. Her eyes instantly closed upon feeling the woman’s lips brushing against her, softly, smoothly, like a feather - like a moistened, sweetly flavored flesh.

Feels so right…

Their bodies pressed against each other deeper as Sakura instinctively tightened her embrace, feeling that jinjja nice body [I know, I broke your heart in the previous chapter so let me give you a little consolation for that HAHAHA.]. It feels so good to have it like this, they both feel complete with each other holding one another, but…

It feels so wrong…

Doing these things without any label, without any certificate that ensures their relationship, with neither of them can conclude what they actually have, and it is suffocating, sadly… Eunbi still can breathe, while Sakura is unconsciously, slowly dying.

“Right…”

“Because even the best moments can be the worst memories.”

“Please, take the seat across Attorney Ahn.” The guard was more polite than before, but Minjoo didn’t bother to even feel confused about it, as he instructed her to take the seat across her… soon to be ex-wife?

She entered the interrogation room, again, wearing that dark blue coverall uniform with her hands locked together, and with her whole appearance far from what she looked several days ago. Even if it sends displeasure, what can she do? She’s a criminal anyway. Criminals don’t deserve to even look good, right? Or is it because she had sinned?

She sat on the vacant steel chair, can’t lift her head up, can’t bring her eyes up or can’t even take a quick glance towards her wife – more when she can see through the blurry upper view of her vision that her wife is looking at her.

It took a few moments for Yujin to see her face, and it felt… beyond disheartening, to be real, when she saw another set of fresh wounds on the accused’s face.

Frustrated, “What happened?” she asked.

Appalled, but still gripped on her tough mask, Minjoo, “Hm, nothing.” Answered without any other emotion being expressed on her, still, pretty, innocent looking face.

That was when Yujin’s fists clenched above the table, livid, or more possibly… guilty.

She can remember a bunch of inmates almost doing the same thing on her the days she was locked in the prison for being accused of manslaughter, and she knows, Minjoo can’t fight the same way she did, and so the results are these.

Yujin, concerned, stood and went straight to where Minjoo is, to check if there are any more wounds, bruises or evidence of physical abuse inside their cell.

“Minjoo, stand up.” Not willing to argue, the inmate obeyed. She… heavily and lazily stood in front of the lawyer.

Knowing that the doctor won’t say anything, she just went and checked her alone, without asking for permission. Yujin lifted her wife’s face, tucking the messy locks of the woman’s hair behind her ears, scanning from forehead down to…

Even her neck has a bruise, and Yujin felt like fuming.

She grabbed the woman’s arms, pulled her sleeves up and saw some marks there too.

Her mind is getting clouded, she wants to know who these people are, she wants to go there inside and-…

“Can we go on now? I want to finish early…” Hoarse, very hoarse, Minjoo’s voice is. Her voice felt like it’s scratching Yujin’s ear walls and she can’t seem to answer till Minjoo gave her that expressionless look.

Her thoughts on meeting the inmates abusing her died right when their eyes met, which she doesn’t know by that moment whether should she feel sorry or guilty for.

“Take your seat.” Soft, gentle, she instructed her wife to and…

“Are you not aware of the deeds of your inmates?” turned to the guards, emitting anger as she questioned them.

“This has been up for a week, I didn’t say anything the first time I went here and now there are new scratches and marks on her body. Are you not guarding well? You know I can file a case against you because of this, right?”

“Negligence of job, it is.”

Minjoo should feel safe at that moment, she should feel protected hearing Yujin is using her authority and rights to protect her from being physically harassed again, but why does it give her more guilty feeling? Like it’s even wrong for her defense lawyer to do this in accordance with her duty.

The doctor didn’t say anything, she kept herself mummed and just waited for Yujin to finish reminding, or more like, threatening the guards with laws and possible consequences of their carelessness.

It took about a minute and a half, and now, “Okay, I won’t take long, I just have a few questions…”

“Questions for what? About what?” The lawyer felt drying for the first time in her career, “About the same case, I just want to clarify new evidences I found.”

“You found new things? That’s good, that’ll make it easier than my words, won’t it?”

“Minj-…”

“I told you, I killed her, why do you even need to clarify some new things you found, Yujin?”

Why are you so cold now? Yujin internally asked, appalled by how, all of a sudden, so tough Minjoo is.

“No, I…”

“I want to ask why did you need to use two syringes?” Yujin played along, acting like she believes the words of the inmate, that he killed the victim.

Well, yes, she believed, the day she broke down and unprofessionally confronted her the other day, she believed when Minjoo said she killed Chaewon. All the evidences are pointing at her and she had the courage and energy to say it was her, so she did…

But the talk with the prosecutor, the former Vice President of the Supreme Student Council, made her realize a lot of things, not only about this case, but also about them.

Minjoo sighed, feeling like the question is nonsensical, “One syringe can only be used once, it’s disposable.”

“Hm, but is it necessary to use two? I mean, your purpose was to kill her, why would you even bother to change syringes?”

Yujin, without removing her eyes off of the prisoner, questioned. And that question made a hole in Minjoo’s pretentious state.

“It just… doesn’t make sense to me. I know you’re smart, you’re a doctor, Minjoo, you’ve been practicing different procedures… and killing Chaewon was preplanned, so why? Why did you even use two syringes? I thought, you should’ve thought about this, like, you’re about to kill her anyway, it’ll be just a waste to use the other syringe.”

“Along with autopsy, you should’ve just beaten her till death rather than injecting chemicals?”

Yujin placed down her notes and let herself gaze on her wife, deeply examining each movement and expression she makes. While Minjoo is taking her time to think, the defense lawyer exhaled a huge amount of air silently, easing herself.

There is no answer forming in Minjoo’s mind, and it’s even more strange for Yujin to ask about the two syringes as if it’ll help them with anything. Well, who really knows…

“I just did.” The doctor answered, “I did, right? You don’t have to be bothered about anything else because I just did, already did.” Minjoo took all the bravery she can muster to look at her wife this time, to make sure that she looks confident, that her words are all convincing, but…

“You’re so stubborn.” Was what Yujin thinks.

Yujin wants to scold her, force her to tell the truth, squeeze her and let it all out but looking at her wife now, at the inmate – it doesn’t look so easy, just visualizing how she can make Minjoo say the truth is already hard.

The defense lawyer had to shut her eyes for a moment and take another deep breathe, preventing more pressure and stress to embrace her being. She gulped, flushed the dryness forming in , and finally took another set of paper to speak about what she really found…

“I asked for your phone from the investigators and we were successful to redeem all the deleted data, I found that it’s Chaewon who texted you first hours after our call ended that night. Now, I just want you to tell me with full of honestly…”

Both of them are not stupid of course, and Minjoo can sense that she’ll lose if ever she’ll make an excuse about this one. She already knew, Yujin is still up to find who it is rather than believing her words from the previous day they met, and that the defense lawyer’s theory by now is stated as, ‘Kim Minjoo is not guilty of murder’.

“Did you really kill her?”

“This is a murder case, Minjoo, the events were planned beforehand, so the conversation between the two of you should’ve started with-…”

“I just took the chance, Yujin…”

Yujin eyes went up to stare at the doctor’s for how many times today, “I just took the chance when you finally left. She’s unconscious and that’s all