BIRDCAGE

TWENTY FOUR

twenty four.

LUNA

"The person who kidnapped her is... Lee Felix."

No,

Why was he saying that? He's not throwing all of the blame to Felix, isn't he? My feet grew cold as I realized if this trial continues on, if Kai's testimony continues then Felix would be the one to take the fall all alone.

"Who is this Lee Felix and why did he kidnapped her? For what reason?" The prosecutor seemed to have bought this lie and was more curious.

"He's a mafia from south korea who does killing as his hobby. It seems that he has taken a liking to my wife and kidnapped her."

"How do you know he's a mafia? You didn't illegally investigate him, did you?"

"Objection, Your Honor! Calls for speculation."

"Sustained. Counsel, next question."

I couldn't focus on the trial as I just kept on glaring at Kai. This...? This was his plan!? No wonder I felt uneasy of it right from the start. Kai, you sly fox!

The opposing side concluded his questions and returned to his seat right next to the wife of La Rosa who seemed to be very weak because she was on a wheelchair and kept on coughing.

Kai's attorney finally started his questions on Kai. "Mr. Diego at the night of your wife's disappearance she wasn't acting weird, was she?"

"Well, we did face-time before she went to La Rosa's and she was the same old woman I've loved so no, she was not acting strange. I remember that she told me when I get back from my trip, she would cook my favorite food for me so that's why I didn't conclude her disappearance to be a runaway." Kai explained, not sounding suspicious at all.

"And this Lee Felix... did you see him any near La Rosa's place that could lead to the possibility of him having kidnapped your wife?"

"Yes. I saw through using one of the cctv my private investigator acquired. It was a road cctv that captured the entrance of La Rosa's estate."

The cctv was presented as evidence and it showed Felix there, the same cctv I saw back at Elite. How dirty of you to use this, Kai.

"I can assure you that the owner of this cctv footage gave me permission to use it. I'll even give you the name of the owner to confirm it." Kai added. "I... also have another cctv footage where it showed that my wife had been shot in the shoulder by Lee Felix's men in his command after she was trying to escape."

This is... going too far. After another series of questions another witness was called in to testify and it was no other than Jooyeon.

The prosecutor of the opposing side stood up to question Jooyeon, the witness, and could also become an accomplice of the crime. "How do you know the respondent?"

"She's my sister."

What? This is getting ridiculous!

"So, Jooyeon, when the police investigated on the earpiece they found, the other pair of the earpiece was found out to be owned by you. Why was it that your sister had the other pair of the ear piece on the day La Rosa died?"

"Well, the earpiece isn't just mine... uh... it's ours to be exact. That earpiece is a use of communication. Like a walkie talkie but instead of a walkie talkie me and my sister decided an earpiece is much more convenient than a walkie talkie. My sister... at the age of 15 was diagnosed with separation anxiety ever since the divorce of our parents and the death of our mother so I decided to get her an earpiece to put in her ear every time so that even when I'm far away I can contact her any time I want even without any internet. That's... the purpose of the earpiece that's why she always have it in her ear except when she's sleeping because I told her it's unhealthy."

Wow, so now Jooyeon knows how to act and lie as if it's the truth. His lying skills have improved, I admit that. Kai probably went on his way to get him to work on his lying skills.

After all, Kai is an expert at lying.

Separation anxiety disorder huh? How ridiculous. This isn't a courtroom anymore but a whole circus.

There were even evidences to prove that I was really diagnosed with separation anxiety disorder but of course the name was fabricated. The paper was real but it was replaced by my name.

At the end of the trial, we seemed to have the upper hand and all the speculations are leading to Felix. Even the witnesses on the petitioner's side seemed to have been paid by Kai to lie.

It's as if the whole courtroom was owned by Kai, the people in it, everything. It seemed like a game. Kai had the witnesses all wrapped around his arm and it's playing out just like what he wanted.

I didn't like that one bit.

In the next trial Felix would be called to testify, he is considered to be a suspect too.

I grabbed Kai's arm abruptly, "What do you think you're doing, Kai?" I clenched my jaw, showing him how angry I was at his plan to break me out of this problem.

"Helping you?"

"By passing all the blame to someone who didn't do anything wrong!?" I shouted. Fortunately we were alone in where we were staying at the moment. Kai's face darkened as he put his hand over to my hand which was gripping on his arm.

He took it off and furrowed his eyebrows at me, "He's not someone who didn't do anything wrong. He's someone who's killed a lot while his stay here in italy."

"I've killed people too! I'm far from not being guilty!"

"Stop it, Luna. I'm already risking a lot just to get you out of the mess you created yourself, all you have to do is to just do what I want you to do, can't you even do that?" If he was trying to guilt trip me then it was definitely working.

He's right. This was all my fault to begin with.

It is my fault.

So why was he the one who gets to take the fall for my fault?

💌 : hello! yeah, a double update but no Felix to be seen lol. Anyways, I got a lot of time to update since there's no school atm — kidding, classes will be in august and i really need to keep up with my schedule updates because it's a mess i tell ya, A MESS 😭 whenever I open this book I just go blank on what I want to type or want to happen next. I have a severe issue of writer's block and idk how to get rid of it */ded