It had taken you a week to get her meeting with Kang Daesung, though by Mr. Im’s raised brows you supposed that was actually quite a quick appointment. And so once again you found yourself travelling to the outskirts of the city where he was being held, stashing your motorbike in the parking lot, and submitting yourself to a pat down. Only to hit a snag.

               “You can’t bring those in here.”

               The guards face was stern, but you were bewildered. You were holding two coffees, bought from the convenience store across the street.

               “It’s coffee.”

               “You can dispose of them in the trash behind you.”

               You held his eyes for a moment longer before sighing, turning and dropping the wonderful steaming hot drinks into the trash. What a waste.

               “Any reason in particular?” You asked, but they didn’t answer you. You shook your head and walked through the door as they buzzed it open for you. You followed your to the same meeting room as last time, and thanked the woman at the door.

               And then, there you were. In a room with a man cuffed to the table. He was sat at an angle, almost sideways to the table. He was gazing off into the corner, his eyes were hard, but Chen’s had been hard once too.

               “Good afternoon.” You said, seating yourself opposite. “My name is Kang Eunji.”

               He said nothing.

               “Do you mind if I record our chat?” You asked, pulling the recorder out of the clear plastic bag they’d given you to put your belongings in, those that they’d allowed you to take with you.

               He raised a brow, “lady, there’s camera’s watching me take a in here. You really think I care about your little recorder?”

               “I wouldn’t use it without your consent.” You said, but you placed it on the table in front of you, blinking light down so as not to distract him. “Would you like to tell me your name?”

               “You know my name.”

               “And is that the name you’d like me to use with you, Mr. Kang?” This one was your client, not your subject.

               He rolled his eyes, “Daesung is fine.”

               “Daesung,” you said, testing the name in your mouth, “it’s nice to meet you.”

               He was silent.

               “Do you know what I do for a living, Daesung?”

               “Annoy people who’d rather be left alone?”

               “Do you, want to be left alone?” He met your gaze then, almost curious behind those dull hardened eyes. “I don’t think anyone wants to be left alone.” He turned his gaze away. “I am a restorative justice caseworker.” You said, “I want to get you out of jail as soon as possible.”

               He rolled his eyes, “this should be fun.”

               “To do so, you and I have to work together to see what kind of life you want when you get out of here. What do you want to be? Do you have anyone you can rely on out there?”

               “What makes you think I’ll work with you? Maybe I want to be in here.”

               “Whether you want to be in here is not my concern.” You said, and finally he looked at you properly, not just a side gaze, but full, his eyes met yours. You continued, “it’s whether you deserve to be in here. And based on your charges you do not. So, Daesung, you can confess your sins, let me know that this is where you belong and I can be on my way. Or, you can work with me, we’ll figure out a way to keep you on the straight and narrow once your out, and then I’ll be on my way all the same.”

               There was a smile almost pulling on his lips, you were almost there. “what if I just don’t say anything?”

               You grinned, spreading your arms out on the table in front of you, “I get paid either way.”

               He laughed then, and you knew you had him.

               Despite his laughter, Daesung had said nothing of consequence for the next hour. Still, when the door beeped open and your stood waiting to deliver you back to the entrance, he gave you a small wave. It was barely a twitch, you wouldn’t have noticed if not for the clink of the manacles.

               “Can I not see him without him being restrained?”

               “He’s a dangerous criminal ma’am, it’s for your own safety.”

               But you’d known he would be a hard nut to crack. Working with Chen had taught you that at least. You had to learn about him, a feat that would be much harder with all of the prison surveillance. Lawyers were granted un-supervised meeting rooms, you were not.

               But you had pulled off the introduction. Now you just had to build a rapport. It would be easier, of course, if you were able to do it over a coffee, but this was a new world you were entering. You had to make him actually believe that you were on his side. And once he did, you could start understanding what was holding him back from your offer, what he was afraid to leave behind, what he could dare to dream was in front of him.                 

               Hei-Ran and Yun-Hee were already at your apartment when you arrived home. Yun-Hee gave a scathing glance at your hair, which was flat from being under your motorbike helmet, and sat you down to brush through it.

               “What are we doing?” You asked, watching Hei-Ran rifle through your closet.

               Yun-Hee rolled her eyes, “It’s Friday, we’re going dancing obviously.”

               Was it Friday already? How had the week gone by so quickly, you had been so immersed in your work that you hadn’t even thought about the weekend.

               “How about these?” Hei Ran held up a pair of boots, “Did you like wearing them?”

               Memories of Paris flashed through your mind. You’d worn those boots every day, you’d watched someone kneel at your feet to pull down the zipper and slip them off, you’d wrapped them around his hips as he pressed you against a wall and kissed the daylights out of you.

               You swallowed, “yeah, I love those boots.”

               Hei-Ran clapped her hands and set them on your bed, continuing on to find the rest of your outfit. Yun-Hee however, seemed to have picked up on something in your voice, she gently pulled on your hair until you were looking straight up at her. There was a furrow between her brows, as if she knew you were hiding something, but wasn’t about to push you for it. But she knew. And she wanted you to know it.

               A few pre-drinks later, that furrowed brow was gone. She had her arms around you, blowing kisses into the mirror and fixing one of the pins on your hair. She hadn’t done much, but somehow it was smooth and silky again, tumbling around your shoulders in an effortless way. Hei-Ran had given you a scandalously short hemline to match the tallness of the boots, the majority of your thighs exposed to the chilled night air.

               But then, it wasn’t chilled for long. Again Hei-Ran just had to flash her ID to a doorman and you were all bumped to the front of the line. It had always been the way, you’d never questioned it but you’d taken full advantage.

               And Hei-Ran and Yun-Hee had disappeared on the dance floor. You’d promised to join them after you’d grabbed another drink, but instead you’d found yourself walking to the upper balcony. The last time you’d been dancing you’d punched that guy in the face for being too handsy, but minutes before that you remembered how wrong it had felt. To be pressed up against someone other than Chen… maybe that was just something that would take some time?

               Or maybe you just had to rip off the bandage? Get it over with? Your gaze roamed the dancefloor, landing on a tall guy with broad shoulders. Maybe you should go down and introduce yourself? It was probably the logical thing to do. After all, your hang-up on Chen was just that. You lived in different worlds, you needed to find a guy who worked a regular job and a regular life.

               A guy who wasn’t on the run from the law.

               A guy who wouldn’t mind that you had a baby on the way soon.

               You took a deep drink.

               Still, you didn’t move from your seat.

               You knew you would have to go down to the dancefloor eventually, or Hei-Ran or Yun-Hee would come looking for you, then they would know for sure that something was wrong. Not that you were trying to hide it from them…

               But why weren’t you telling them? 

               You’d told them the bare bones about the Chen you’d known while you’d been his interviewer. You hadn’t told them about going to his house, you hadn’t told them about the following night when he’d shown up on your doorstep and stayed until morning.

               You hadn’t told them about Paris.

               God, at this point how much did they even know about the deal you’d made with the Park’s to take Ha-Youngs baby in? You couldn’t tell them that singular piece without telling them the rest, and to admit how you just kept falling for Chen over and over again…

               You took another drink.

               Once you got your head on straight, a couple more weeks of work, when you hadn’t seen Chen when your heart stopped thudding at the thought of him… then you would tell them.

               Your gaze landed on the tall guy again, who had been joined by three other guys and were all laughing with one another in the corner of the room.

               Perhaps there was an easier way to get through to Daesung…? He’d been arrested alone, but surely he had a family out there? A version of Baekhyun and Suho and Xiumin? All you needed to do was find them.

               Finishing the last of your drink you went back down to the main floor, weaving through bodies to where your girls were cheering at your arrival. You had a plan of action now, a way forward. All you had to do was stick to it.