8

        Eunbi took the files out of the brown envelope and lifted it for everyone to see before giving it to the jury with full of confidence and pride, holding tight to her belief and findings.

“The pathologists were quick to find out that Yujin’s beating has nothing to do with Chaewon’s death.”  Eunbi faced the witness and she saw how surprised the former Supreme Student Council Secretary is, she can’t even blink an eye, and that expression right on Minjoo's face is what she is exactly expecting to see.

“In fact…”

“Chaewon only had physical injuries, but has no signs of internal bleedings, which may be a valid reason for her sudden death.”

“I just wonder how… you, Minjoo-ssi, a doctor, were able to conclude everything just like that? I mean…”

“The autopsy said that she died the following day, but Yujin came to my house at around pass eleven in the evening and the approximate time to drive from your house to mine is just about thirty minutes, so Chaewon should still be breathing during that moment and you should still be there. Didn’t you… check her vitals, Doctor?”

Everyone is in shock, Chaewon’s relatives, their friends, Sakura, Yujin, even the judge himself, are surprised by the unanticipated revelation.

The autopsy came late due to how the dead’s family refused to get her body examined, saying that they should respect the victim’s body at the very least, and also, because Yujin surrendered herself anyway, so why do they need the autopsy. But Eunbi is persistent, and convinced them that it is for the best.

“Miss Kim, please.”  Eunbi begged as she reached for Chaewon’s mother.

“You’re ridiculous! Your client is the suspect and you have the audacity to ask for me to agree to do an autopsy with my daughter's body!?”  Tears are flowing out from the grieving mother while her husband is looking at Eunbi with disgrace and disbelief.

“We’ve been friends, all of us are friends, you know that, Miss Kim. And I know Yujin won’t be able to do it. There’s something else.”

“But she beat my daughter till she’s knocked out! How can you tell there’s something else?”

“I just know, I’ve studied each side of the case, Miss Kim. When I checked her, there are wounds and bruises, but I caught a mark of needle prick on her arm."

"And autopsy will tell me everything, it is the only thing left I need to prove who killed your daughter. Miss Kim… don’t you want to know who really killed your daughter?”

“We can give her the rightful justice if we would find it out.”

“I also wonder where you went that night? It is only Yujin who came to my house.”  Sakura didn’t know this part of the story, she is clueless. Minjoo came to her in the middle of her sleep, around three or four, and even her, doesn't know what happened before that as she only heard from Minjoo that Yujin killed Chaewon unintentionally.

The prosecutor can already feel that they will lose this case, but that’s not the issue here anymore.

“Why don’t you answer any of my questions, Minjoo-ssi? Or Doctor?”

Yujin looked at her wife, there’s an expression painted on the prior's face that she couldn’t decipher, an expression she never had seen before. And it is more complicated with what Eunbi is trying to deduce with everything she’s doing and saying now. She’s a lawyer herself, she knows how lawyers work, she knows it very well, what it is Eunbi is trying to pick out of the box and show to everyone.

Minjoo, cheating on her… isn’t something she’s worried about anymore at this moment, because…

“Was it you?”

“I didn’t…”  Minjoo composed herself and answered.

“I didn’t check her vitals. The moment I saw Yujin standing by the room’s door, I already knew what was going to happen, so all I have in mind is to push her away from Chaewon, that’s all. I… I was afraid.”  Yujin felt the fear Minjoo is referring to, even now, it is till visible, and that made her bow her head for a moment as she let out a faint and dry chuckle.

“Basing on the difference in size, I got afraid that she would actually kill her, so I just drove her away.”

“No, Minjoo. Your answer is irreleva-…”

“So? You’re still a doctor, you should act like one, shouldn’t you?”

“But I was afraid. I cheated, and she caught us on act, how am I supposed to think properly and in accordance with my profession?”

“No, Minjoo, don’t answer like that.”

“Years of studying, years of practice and years of working with a license. How won’t you be able to act properly? You’re a surgeon, how would fear invade your academic mind?”  Right, Minjoo is not just a doctor, but a cardiothoraxic surgeon. Doctors are trained to act with alertness, attentiveness, even if it is outside a hospital, it should be a part of their instinct to work as a professional when someone is in need of medical help.

“It is something out of my profession!”  Minjoo can’t take it, she’s not dense, she knows Eunbi is pointing the gun to her and it is choking her.

“Imagine cheating on your wife, getting caught and saw her insanely sending punches to the other person, I was afraid of what’s going on that night not only because she evidently can kill her by that moment, but also because it is my fault. I told you, all I’m thinking that moment is to push her away to save Chaewon, but it was already late when I was able to check Chaewon.”

“So you were still there?”  Full of uncertainty.

Minjoo’s tears fell, and sobs had started to get harder, but she managed to speak,  “I came back. I planned on going to Sakura-unnie first, but I came back to check her.”

Yujin can sense more, but the tears rolling on her wife’s cheeks and the sobs coming out of her are screaming something else than what they are hearing, than what Eunbi is trying to show.

“You went back and checked her? I mean, that’s…”  But Eunbi…

“Probably the time she died, isn’t it?”

“When you came back?”

Sakura stood from her seat, her fists clenched, but she did her best to prevent herself from defending the witness as she really can’t get a grasp of everything.

“The time she died is the following day of the night of the incident…”

Eunbi faced the crowd, and gave Sakura a glance and said,  “I guess, each and every professional here knows what lethal injection is?”

Yujin’s brows furrowed and the others flinched upon hearing the mentioned act.

“There are three chemical compounds being used in lethal injection. Doctor… why don’t you enumerate them all?”

Eunbi has that smug look on her face, the smile on her lips is terrifying enough to make anyone shake in fear. This is it, the frightening side of the former Supreme Student Council President, the one who is usually soft and touchy, the bubbly Unnie of all…

“I’m not really familiar with how to pronounce each so, maybe just help me a little bit?”

“Minjoo...”

Yujin, one of the most known lawyer, knows how Eunbi can just show the truth to everyone in a single trial. She’s known for being straight and direct with everything, not really wanting to take two or three trials with the same client and filed cases. She also can make the suspect say more just by asking simple yet will dig a deeper hole quetions.

“Tell us, Doctor…”

Minjoo decided to answer, she thinks she should, she thought she wouldn't lose anything if she will,  “Potassium Chloride…”

But the witness quivered a little harder as words came out of her lips, it suddenly feels odd that she’s answering the question.

“Stop, Minjoo.”   Sakura mumbled under her breath. As a prosecutor, she can sense how answering Eunbi’s questions will just drag her down from being a witness, might pull her to the position where Yujin is sitting.

“Pancuronium Bromide and Midazolam.”

“Okay, so apparently,”  Eunbi faced the crowd, “I mentioned that there’s o