I Need You

Court pt 2

I quickly made my way back to my seat and sat next to Chan, immediately leaning into him. He rubbed my shoulder comfortingly.

"It's ok, you did great."

"Chan, what the hell is going on?"

"I-"

"Next witness, Kim Yong-sun."

"Who is that?"

"I'm here!" I turned to see Solar running through the door.

"You're late, Miss Kim," the judge warned.

"I know, I'm sorry." She rushed to the stand. Once she had sworn on the same book I had, the first lawyer approached her. Miss Kim, how do you know Chae-sul?"

"We met at school the year she moved to the high school building. There was a girl who was bullying her, I stood up to the girl. We've been best friends ever since."

"Since you've known Chae-sul, did she ever tell you that Mr. Park had physically hurt her?"

"Never directly, but I noticed that her behaviors were off. She was pretty open during school, but a few times I went by her house to ask if she wanted to hang out. She would barely open the door and give some excuse. Sometimes I would notice bruises, but she always told me she had run into something or fell."

"What about recreational time? Did you ever see each other outside of school?"

"No. She wasn't allowed out after dinner, and couldn't go out during the weekend unless she was with Mr. Park. And when he didn't drag her into town, she told me he wanted quality time with her, although I've come to understand she was taking care of him while he was drunk."

"No further questions." Jin-young's father approached the stand.

"Have you ever personally met Mr. Park?"

"Yes. I had the misfortune of bringing files to his house while I was office assistant my freshman year." She paused for a moment, looking down. "He asked me to come inside and... pleasure him." This time, the court room was completely silent as everyone was shocked at what they had just heard, including me. Again, the lawyer sighed, defeated.

"No further questions." He sat next to Jin-young, who immediately started whisper shouting at him. Solar rushed from the stand and sat next to me.

"Next witness, Lee Soo-A." An older lady made her way from her seat in the back of the room to the witness stand. I immediately recognized her as the elementary building secretary, Mrs. Lee. She used to babysit me before I was old enough to start school.

"Mrs. Lee, how do you know Chae-sul?"

"Oh, little Chae-sul wasn't old enough to go to school when Mr. Park adopted her, so I would watch her when Mr. Park was busy."

"And did Mr. Park ever tell you what he was doing when he needed you to watch Chae-sul?"

"Well, he usually said he had school things to catch up on. Though sometimes I would have to keep her overnight."

"And did Mr. Park ever tell you when he needed you to watch her overnight?"

"No, he just simply wouldn't come to pick her up until morning. Sometimes he wouldn't even show up until days later."

"No further questions." The judge looked toward Jin-young's lawyer.

"No questions." He seemed really bad at his job.

"Next witness, Christopher Bang."

Bang Chan's POV

I walked up to the stand and sat down, shooting Chae-sul a hopeful look.

"Christopher, how did you meet Ms. Ahn?"

"I was leaving the airport after getting back from home. I had gone back to Australia because my mother was sick. Ara caught my eye because she looked just like an older version of Chae-sul. We talked for a while, and she had told me her daughter had gone missing seventeen years ago. The more we talked, the suspicious I became. Too many dots were connecting and leading to the same conclusion."

"When did you know for sure that you needed to go to the police?"

"I asked Chae-sul if she knew the name Jihya, and she said it seemed familiar. Then I showed her the picture on the flyer Ara had given me and she said that girl looked very familiar, too. Then Ara showed me a picture from when she was our age, and it looked just like Chae-sul. That's when I knew."

"Even before meeting Mrs. Ahn, you had some suspicions, correct?"

"Yes. There were so many things that just didn't make sense. Chae-sul said Mr. Park had taken her in, but that he didn't really care about her. And then I came over one day and she told me I couldn't come to her house. The next day she had a huge bruise on her face."

"A few weeks after this incident, you ended up taking Chae-sul to a hospital, correct?"

"Yes."

"And why was that?"

"I don't know the whole story, but she didn't show up to dinner one day, which was very unusual because she never missed meals. I started looking for her, and found her locked in a closet. Her face was busted and bruised, and she was holding her shoulder. She was absolutely terrified."

"And this is what led you to take action against Mr. Park's abuse?"

"Yes. I couldn't let him hurt her anymore."

"No further questions." The other lawyer approached the stand.

"How did you first meet Chae-sul?"

"She was the one who gave met tour of the school. She let me sit with her at meals because I didn't know anyone. We've been friends since then."

"And have you made other friends since you transferred?"

"Yes."

"And even though you have other friends, you were worried about Chae-sul the most?"

"Well yeah. She was in a situation in which she really needed help. Anyone would help, no matter how many friends they had."

"Yes, but most friends would simply file a police report, launch an investigation. However, you chose to help her run away."

"It was the easiest thing to do at the time. I had taken her to the hospital, so we were already out of the school. Besides, I knew a police report would mean she'd still have to stay with Mr. Park."

"Is it possible that you took these actions because you feel more towards Chae-sul than friendship?" My heart dropped to my stomach.

"Um, I'm pretty sure my feelings have nothing to do with this case."

"Let's say they do." He leaned against the stand casually. "Humor me."

"Objection!" Ara's lawyer shouted. "Irrelevance."

"Withdrawn. No further questions."