CI 2.14

Anyway, Son Yeo-il had no intention of stopping him. The screws in his heart seemed to have already come loose. Since it was his first court appearance and first out-of-town trial, he was already feeling nervous, but if he could meet Won Hee-yeon afterward, it seemed like it would take the pressure off of him.

It’s a Friday trial and then the weekend after, it’s over…Would it feel like a trip if we stayed a bit longer? Is it too early for a trip? No, if I want to go, I should go. It’s fun being with Won Hee-yeon, and…

Thinking of Won Hee-yeon looking at him with a syrupy sweet expression on his face, Son Yeo-il swallowed hard, causing him to stay awake late into the night despite his fatigue.

And so, Friday morning arrived with him in an excited mood. Won Hee-yeon, as if it were only natural, drove Son Yeo-il to the train station. Sitting on the back seat of Won Hee-yeon’s car, which Son Yeo-il had found himself in during one of those nights when he was too tired to ride in the passenger seat, there was now a luggage bag that was impossible to pretend not to notice.

“…Where are you going today, by the way?”

When they arrived at the station parking lot, Son Yeo-il asked slyly, though he knew Won Hee-yeon’s intentions. Won Hee-yeon also feigned innocence and deflected.

“Oh, don’t worry about that. Isn’t it almost time for your train? I’m so sad you’re going far away. Y-You should give me a kiss before you go, don’t you think?”

Thinking that Won Hee-yeon would say anything in a public place, Son Yeo-il smacked Won Hee-yeon’s protruding lips with an audible ‘thwacking’ sound. Just as Won Hee-yeon was laughing happily despite being hit…

Son Yeo-il’s work phone rang. He naturally assumed it would be Representative Bae, whom he was supposed to meet at the train station, but the number on the screen belonged to someone else. It turned out to be Deaconess Kang Young-hee. She was a client in a divorce lawsuit.

It couldn’t be a good sign for a client to call first thing in the morning.

“This is Attorney Son Yeo-il,” he answered politely, his eyes wavering with an ominous premonition. Sure enough, Son Yeo-il’s client’s voice was panicked and frightened.

“What…? Your husband, right now?”

“Yes. He’s absolutely furious, and it looks like he’s about to storm into the house right at this moment. What should I do?”

Son Yeo-il had thoroughly scraped the accounts used by the client’s husband and his mistress, applied for an attachment with the court, and had just completed notification to financial institutions after receiving the attachment decision the day before yesterday. The client’s husband was now in a situation where it was difficult to conduct account transactions at almost any bank.

It was a thorough preparation to recover the money, but such thoroughness also seemed to have side effects.

Her husband, who had left the house this morning to conduct bank business, seemed to have gone crazy when he found out his accounts were blocked. He had called the client, yelling at the top of his lungs, then hung up after warning her that she would see what was coming.

“I think there’s going to be trouble…Should I run away somewhere? Or if this guy comes and hits me, would that also be evidence?”

Just as she had collected evidence for divorce while enduring for decades, the bold and clever client was still calculating about the divorce lawsuit even in this type of situation. Son Yeo-il was alarmed and tried to talk her out of it.

“No, you need to avoid him. Something serious could happen. How long until your husband gets home? Do you have somewhere to go? A safe place…”

In fact, she had wanted to leave the house and move to her parents’ home in Yongju City since filing for the attachment. However, she had maintained cohabitation, accepting Son Yeo-il’s opinion that the other side might attack using “desertion” as grounds for misconduct.

The thought that his client might get hurt because of his advice made Son Yeo-il’s vision go dark. In his panic, even his normally sharp mind wasn’t working well.

What should I do? If she were in Yongju City, I could at least go check on her. Oh, but my train time is almost here. Does it take about an hour and a half by bus from here to the client’s house? If I go there and come back, I’ll be late for court. What should I…?

While Son Yeo-il was panicking no less than his client, Won Hee-yeon, who seemed to have grasped the situation, reached out his hand toward Son Yeo-il.

“Attorney Son. Let me see that phone.”

Taking the phone from Son Yeo-il, Won Hee-yeon told the client that he would come soon and that she should head to a crowded café nearby in the meantime.

It was a reassuring suggestion. If she were in a place with many witnesses, the worst situation could be prevented, and moreover, if Won Hee-yeon went there, he would likely handle the situation well.

“Won Hee-yeon, thank you. This should be my responsibility…”

Son Yeo-il lowered his eyebrows as he took back his phone. He felt sorry for passing such a troublesome matter to Won Hee-yeon, and was also upset that their anticipated meeting at the business trip destination would likely fall through.

Though Won Hee-yeon must have felt much more disappointed than Son Yeo-il, having waited eagerly for nearly a week for Son Yeo-il to have some free time, he acted casual and joked around.

“Oh, it’s nothing. Your wife will take care of the dirty work, and you should go do your important business. Go on now. Isn’t the train coming soon?”

Son Yeo-il needed to catch his train on time, and Won Hee-yeon needed to hurry to where Deaconess Kang was. Though they knew it was time to part, Son Yeo-il hesitated momentarily and turned his head to check that there was no one in the station parking lot.

Son Yeo-il wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed impulsive actions. But he didn’t want to leave like this, and he wanted to let Won Hee-yeon know that he, too, was feeling regretful about the situation.

Son Yeo-il unbuckled his seatbelt, firmly gripped his briefcase, and quickly leaned toward the driver’s seat. Not having expected Son Yeo-il’s movement at all, Won Hee-yeon was completely defenseless. A cheerful “chu” sound rang out as Son Yeo-il’s lips touched Won Hee-yeon’s cheek.

“I’ll call you!”

Son Yeo-il hurriedly got out of the car like someone who had committed theft. Because his flushed face wouldn’t cool down,when Representative Bae met him at the station a few minutes later, he immediately asked, “Oh my. Attorney Son. Your face is red. You’re not coming down with a cold, are you? This got me thinking that you’ve been pushing yourself especially hard lately.”

“Ah, no, sir. It’s just a bit hot out.”

Son Yeo-il hastily waved his hands as if he’d been caught in kissing Won Hee-yeon, and Representative Bae responded, seemingly relieved, “Is that so? Well, summer is almost here. Speaking of the heat, when I was a rookie judge working in Daegu, there was an interesting incident…”

Having started like that, Representative Bae recited the big and small achievements from his 30 years of legal career throughout the three-hour journey to their destination and continued through lunch near the courthouse.

Son Yeo-il regretted not coming up with the excuse that he had caught a cold. While nodding and reacting without much enthusiasm, his mind was full of worries about his client and Won Hee-yeon, who might have confronted the angry husband by now.

If the situation had been resolved, Won Hee-yeon would have let me know…Since there’s no response, could something have happened?

Son Yeo-il’s message asking “How’s it going? Are you okay?” was still marked as “unread.” Just as his anxiety was about to spike, finally his phone rang. He had expected Won Hee-yeon to contact him first, but surprisingly, it was his client calling.

“Deaconess Kang, are you okay? Nothing happened to you, right?”

Since her safety was the most important thing, Son Yeo-il hurriedly answered the phone. Fortunately, her voice was bright and energetic.

“There was a bit of a commotion, but I’m completely fine. It’s all thanks to President Won, of course.”

The story she told with a slightly excited demeanor was quite dramatic. Following Won Hee-yeon’s suggestion, she had avoided her husband’s calls and hidden in a corner of a crowded café, only revealing her location to her husband after Won Hee-yeon had arrived.

Her husband rushed to the café and immediately started pointing fingers accusingly. When an employee approached to intervene due to the hostile atmosphere, he even overturned a café chair. Then, just as he raised his hand high as if to hit her, Won Hee-yeon’s “brothers” appeared and separated her husband from her.

“Someone must have called the police because they eventually showed up too. They arrested my husband for assault, obstruction of business, or something like that. I’ve never seen anything like it at all, my goodness. Anyway, I wasn’t hit, he just grabbed my wrist, but President Won told me to get a medical certificate anyway. Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“It’s good to have whatever documentation you can. Since the other side resorted to physical force, I think you can now move out of the house and live separately without your husband finding fault with it.”

“Exactly! I’m glad I followed President Won’s advice. If I had stayed home, I would have been beaten up alone and he would have made excuses again, but now it’s all caught on the CCTV there. Oh my, I don’t know how President Won can be so dependable!”

At her words, Son Yeo-il felt pleased as if he himself had been praised. He almost responded with “Right? Won Hee-yeon is really amazing, isn’t he?” but kept his mouth shut thinking it might sound strange coming from him.

Beyond being conscious of others’ perceptions, Son Yeo-il himself was unsure whether he should be happy to hear praise of Won Hee-yeon, or whether he should be proud of Won Hee-yeon in front of others.

Is it okay? Because that person and I are…well…

Just as the clichéd question ‘What kind of relationship do we have?’ crossed his mind, Son Yeo-il’s eyes met Representative Bae’s. The gaze of his employer, curious about the situation, snapped him back to reality. After hanging up and reporting the progress to Representative Bae, it was time to enter the courtroom.

Unlike his nervousness, his first participation in a court hearing ended without much trouble. He even made a significant contribution. When the judge pointed out a question about an issue, Representative Bae tried to muddle through with words, but Son Yeo-il immediately found the problematic part in the record and answered accurately.

“Wow, Attorney Son. You did really well. You saved us.”

“It was nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing! It was your first time, and you showed no signs of nervousness. You also spoke clearly and well. You’re a born attorney, I tell you.”

Son Yeo-il was very pleased with Representative Bae’s praise. Representative Bae tended to give Son Yeo-il autonomy, fully praise him when things went well, and not blame the novice Son Yeo-il even when things went wrong.

While he was indifferent to office affairs and delegating unreasonable tasks to apprentice attorneys was a major issue, he was a reasonably good supervisor to Son Yeo-il, who could handle work quickly and accurately on his own.

“Let’s see. I need to head to the airport from here. Are you heading back to the train station right now, Attorney Son?”

After lavishing praise on Son Yeo-il, Representative Bae coolly prepared to go on his own way. Son Yeo-il hesitated a bit before answering.

“Ah…Yes, sir. Please go ahead. I’ll see you next week.”

After Representative Bae left, Son Yeo-il checked his phone screen. There was less than an hour until the return train that the office had booked for him. Since it wasn’t a frequently traveled route, missing it would be problematic, so there was obviously no time to dilly-dally. Yet instead of heading straight to the station, Son Yeo-il lingered in place for some reason.

He felt ambivalent. Until this morning, he had thought he might meet Won Hee-yeon after the trial was over, but there was still no contact from him.

Is something wrong? Is he still tied up with the Deaconess Kang situation?

If the police had been called, the situation probably wasn’t going to be easily resolved. Furthermore, since Won Hee-yeon had gone to help with Son Yeo-il’s work, it was difficult to complain. But still.

He could at least contact me.

Son Yeo-il, pouting to himself, was about to call a taxi to go to the station when, out of some lingering attachment, he scrolled through his contacts. He found the number now saved as “Won Hee-yeon” and pressed the call button.

“My goodness, I was just about to call you. How is it that even this timing matches so perfectly?”

Despite having no contact all afternoon, Won Hee-yeon joked as soon as he answered the phone. Although Son Yeo-il felt annoyed, his mood was half-lifted the moment he heard Won Hee-yeon’s voice, and he replied in a tone that barely concealed his delight.

“I was worried something might have happened since there was no contact from you all day. You’re really okay?”

“Of course. Has my husband finished his trial now?”

“Yes. I was about to go to the station to catch the train…Where are you?”

“I’m behind you right now, my sweetheart.”

Son Yeo-il was about to laugh it off, thinking it was just another strange comment, but when he listened carefully, he could faintly hear Won Hee-yeon’s voice coming not from the receiver but from the opposite direction.

“What…?”

“I can see you over there. How is even my sweetheart’s back view so beautiful?”

Startled, Son Yeo-il turned his head and saw a man with a back as broad as a door getting out of a car parked across the street.

“Oh, Won Hee-yeon…?”

“Why are you so surprised? You’re acting like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

Indeed, Son Yeo-il was genuinely surprised. Deaconess Kang’s commotion had been resolved around lunchtime today. From that area to here was a three-hour train journey, and even longer by car due to poor road conditions.

“H-How did you get here so quickly? When did you leave?”

While Son Yeo-il was fumbling over his words, Won Hee-yeon strode over, cupped Son Yeo-il’s cheeks with both hands, and smiled broadly.

“Attorney Son. Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. Although I’m a law-abiding citizen who blushes at the slightest breeze in the leaves, given the circumstances today, I might have exceeded the speed limit a little.”

It seemed like more than a “little” violation given how quickly he had arrived, but Son Yeo-il had no time to point that out. He was too happy at Won Hee-yeon’s sudden appearance and was focusing all his energy on not making a foolish expression.

Won Hee-yeon kneaded Son Yeo-il’s face for a moment as the corners of his mouth and cheekbones twitched, then grabbed Son Yeo-il’s wrist and led him toward his car.

“Come on, let’s go.”

“Go? Now?”

“Yes. It’s almost check-in time now.”

At Won Hee-yeon’s response, Son Yeo-il’s eyes widened and his heart began to pound in his chest.

Check-in? Where are we going?

Honestly, ever since last night when Won Hee-yeon had said he would follow Son Yeo-il to the out-of-town trial, he had imagined such a situation. After all, the trial was on Friday and they only needed to return to Yongju City by Monday morning. The season was currently the fresh month of June, and both Won Hee-yeon and Son Yeo-il had been waiting for a day like this.

But, already? While it’s still so bright out?

He felt perplexed at first. After all, it was the first time he’d faced such a situation in a clear-headed state—neither drunk nor emotionally drained from an hour of sobbing his eyes out.