[Double Update. Go back one chapter if you haven't read it already.]

"Do you, Hwang Eun Ah, swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so held you God?"

Eun Ah placed her palm on the bible and gulped while holding her other hand up in the air in oath.

"I do."

1 week flew by too quickly filled with meetings and legal jargon. She was prepped beyond belief and the only thing running through her head was her perfectly memorized statement.

And now she was seated at the stand, being sworn in as a witness.

"We may proceed."

Eun Ah placed her hands on her lap and glanced around the room. The courtroom was jam packed with unfamiliar faces and reporters except for the two rows at the back.

Halmoni, Himchan. Jongup, Daehyun, Yongmi, Jongup, Youngjae and Woon were seated together, giving her supportive smiles, but she could barley find it in herself to curl her lips up.

She was terrified.

Ryu was seated beside his lawyer, his arms and wrists cuffed together as  he stared at her. There were police officers, guarding him. His hands were placed on the table and she was positive he was doing it so that she could see his missing fingers.

"Ms. Hwang Eun Ah."

She looked up at the defence attorney as he casually strode up to her. "Y-Yes?"

"You and the defendant seem to have a very long and complicated past, correct?"

Eun Ah leaned towards the microphone, "That is correct."

"Please tell the courtroom about this past and please…don't spare the details."

Eun Ah twisted the hem of her dress in her hands. It wasn't even her dress. The prosecution attorney, Mrs. Yang gave it to her, saying that it was enough to make her look like an adult yet innocent at the same time.

Apparently the dress made her look non-threatening.

She felt dry up as she tried to open , but nothing came out. Everyone's piercing stares and the sheer overwhelming feeling of not knowing where to star.

Her past with Ryu?

She didn't know where to begin.

And even though she had already prepared for this answer, she wasn't sure what to say. One wrong word or wrong tone of voice could tear her and her statement apart if it was wrongly interpreted.

She hated to admit it but she was scared.

"Ms. Hwang? I asked you a question."

Eun Ah felt her hands start to shake as she stared at the attorney. Then suddenly, from the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the back doors creep open.

Her eyes widened a fraction when a familiar form slid into the courtroom undetected. The court room was so packed that no one noticed him walking in.

Yongguk.

Her lips parted when he slipped into the last row, across the room for the others and kept his head low. He was dressed in black from head to toe with a black baseball hat over his hair, blocking out his eyes.

She felt her heart race when he looked up and locked eyes with her. He gave her a smile and suddenly felt like every fear melted away.

She hadn't realized how much she wanted him there until he was sitting a hundred feet away.

He was there with her.

She could do this.

She looked up at Ryu, meeting his eye.

"My past with Devlin Ryu started long before I was born. It started the minute my father met my mother."

-----

There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

When Eun Ah finished telling her story, barely keeping it together, everyone else was sniffling, pulling tissues out from pockets and purses to wipe away the tears. She went into intense detail of everything he had ever done and after each situation, the prosecutor would present evidence to back up her claims.

They had bank records showing that Ryu was paying the dead member of the Red Phoenix to kidnap her all those years ago and even had proof of him killing her parents and Min Jung.

Even if the recording was not accepted into evidence, it brought enough reasonable doubt for the police department to gather enough incriminating evidence.   

The only people that remained emotionless were the lawyers and Ryu, who seemed to be getting off on the fact that Eun Ah had to relive the worst moments of her life in front of him.

She could tell that his lawyer was expecting the type of reaction from the crowd either. His plan had backfired.

"Ms. Hwang, you have a fiancé, correct?"

Eun Ah stiffened and glanced at Attorney Yang in panic. Yongguk felt his body lock up and he could feel Yongmi and Himchan glancing in his direction from across the room.

The woman stood up with a scowl on her face.

"Objection. Your Honour, her fiancée isn't the one on trial here, we don't even know his name or who he is.  What relevance does this have to Ryu?"

"This better be going somewhere." The judge warned the defence.

Ryu's lawyer just smiled, "I assure you it is." He turned back to Eun Ah, "What does you fiancée say about your whole situation with Ryu?"

"I don't see the point in answering that." Eun Ah said firmly.

The lawyer smirked, "Answer the question, Ms. Hwang. You're under oath, you must answer it."

Eun Ah locked her jaw and glanced at Attorney Yang who could only nod. She looked over at Yongguk, who was staring at her from under his hat. She rolled her shoulders and faced the lawyer with a steady eye.    

"My fiancé was never a part of this. Ryu only wanted me and was willing to destroy everything and every relationship I ever had. What I have with my fiancée is almost identical to what my parents had with each other and Ryu hated that. Yet, even though he knew that being with me would put a target on his back and only put him in danger, he never left me."

She looked over at Yongguk whose eyes were still pinned on hers and spoke directly to him, "I knew that it would be easier if he just left me. Easier for the both of us. He wouldn't have to risk his life for me and I wouldn't have to live with the guilt if something were to ever happen. And I'm sure that I told him that it would be better if he did, but he would never listen to me. He stayed by my side through every attack, every taunt and every threat. He was one of the reasons that I stayed sane all this time."

The defence didn't miss a beat, unmoved by her genuine words, "Did you fiancé persuade you to go after Ryu? Did he convince you that the only way the two of you could stay together would be in  you killed Ryu?"

"No." Her words came out with a little more force than she intended, causing the lawyer to raise a brow.

"How are you so sure? It must be safe to assume that Ryu's presence put a strain on your relationship, maybe instead of self-defence as everyone claims, your intent to kill Ryu hid behind trying to salvage your relationship."

"Object--"

"That's not true." Eun Ah said, "He was the one who stopped me from ending that man's life. I would've killed Ryu if it wasn't for my fiancé. He had no idea what I was going to do. I lied to him so that he was kept out of it."

"So if he cared about you so much, why didn't he try to stop Ryu himself? Why would  a man let his wife go through all that emotional strain and not try to take matters into his own hands."

"Objection! None of these question relate to Ryu's charges. That's why we are here your Honour, to put Ryu on trial, not her husband. This trial isn't about her actions against Ryu, it's about Ryu's actions against her and everyone else." Attorney Yang boomed.

"Sustained. Change your method of questioning, Hong."

Hong.

That was the first time Eun Ah had even properly heard Ryu's lawyer's name.

"My apologies." He didn't look sorry at all. "Hwang Eun Ah."

She hated when he said her full name like that.

"Let's talk about your recording."

Eun Ah's palms started to feel sweaty.

"I've been listening to the recording all night, and there's one thing that's been bothering me. Do you know what that is?"

Eun Ah shook her head. She was positive that he would tell her anyways.

"The fact that you blamed my client for Mina Wong's death."

"I blamed him and he confessed." She fired back without hesitation. 

Hong chuckled, "I wouldn't put too much weight on a confession drawn from a man fearing for his life, but I digress. My concern was over why you would think Ryu would responsible for her death. You see, to a certain extent, I can allow my imagination to understand the other deaths you blamed him for. They were all based on revenge. Min Jung, Ah Min and Hae Young were because of 'jealousy and pride.' and Alice Wong, Mina's sister, was based on a power struggle between two gangs, but Mina seems a little out of nowhere."

"Does it?" Eun Ah asked mockingly, not letting him finish his question. "Ryu killed her sister and made it look like an accident. And Mina knew that. She knew that he was responsible and he wanted to shut her up for good."

Ryu stiffened up in his seat, his eyes suddenly narrowing and his body suddenly hunching over predatorily.

"That might be true, bu--"

"And if Ryu didn't kill her, then how was he able to get access to her dead body?"

Hong looked bewildered at the information and looked back at Ryu whose teeth were gleaming in a snarl. Yang stood up with a smug aura and walked to the front while holding out a file.

"I would like to enter into the police records of Mina Wong's case into evidence." She strutted up to Hong and gave him a smile.

"Mina Wong's corpse was found, bound to a chair at 492 Kyung Wang Do. Ryu's fingerprints were found on her clothes and the material used to bind her. The bullet wound in Mina's head is approximately the same size as one of the many weapons in Ryu's possession."

Hong scanned the document and turned to Ryu whose face was red with rage, "I had no role in her death."   

"Don't." His lawyer barked.

He closed the file and turned to Eun Ah. She almost found it amusing how his harsh confident demeanour changed.

"The defence rests."

-----

It went on like that for hours.

Even after Eun Ah left the stand, she sat with the others and watched the proceeding of the trials. Her gaze would consistently flicker to Yongguk who was seated across the room and she would be filled with the urge to go over to him, but she stayed in her seat and focused on the information presented.

Piles of evidence that she didn't even know existed were presented as witnesses from the police department took the stand one after the other, recounting their statements, exper