Mr and Mrs Sim ⋆ s.jake

Chapter 3

As a reminder, I was stuck in the same room as a criminal. After our indefinable exchange, it took me about twenty minutes to read the case file. Long minutes during which his eyes followed my every move, he seemed to be analyzing me.

I was used to people looking at me; whether it was my husband, my colleagues, his colleagues, criminals, or magistrates, all eyes were on me at least once a day. However, the way Evan detailed me was singular, as if he hadn't seen a woman in years. In other words, I was the last woman on earth in his dystopian universe.

"Mr Lee, I read that the police interrogations were useless because you didn't confess anything." My remark suddenly aroused his interest, his motives would soon be revealed to me and he knew it.

"C'mon. They treated me like shit, I just used my right to remain silent." I nodded to give him the impression that I understood him, that I was on his side.

"Fine, now tell me why you tried to kill Shin Yuna, without lying."

All his pride and insolence were dead at that exact second. Every lawyer has his own opinion of a client; it's legitimate. Mine was that Evan was a violent, almost mysoginous man who took pleasure in torturing women but I realized I was wrong.

For the next two hours he told me about the hell his ex-girlfriend had put him through, and the revenge he had planned. As a lawyer, I couldn't be sensitive to it, but I knew he'd gone into a tailspin after suffering abuse. During the past year, he had been the favorite victim of the extreme crisis of a woman who, on the surface, was an angel. Only God knew that justice wasn't kind to everyone, but Evan had really been dragged through hell and back before ending up in my office.

No one wanted to believe that, before being the culprit, he was also a victim. Even if 'abuse' wasn't in the literal sense of the word here, the fact remains the same: every victim deserves to be recognized as such. No one, not even the law, had the right to question it, that's the idea I defended with all my dedication.

So when I heard that, among other things, Yuna took pleasure in burning her lover's skin as a fantasy, forced him to consume alcohol to 'make him forget', ignored obvious signs of depression, violently hit him with any kind of object when any woman approached the one she claimed to love I felt like throwing up.

My professionalism forced me to keep a poker face even though I wanted to reassure him. I needed to tell him how strong he was, but far beyond the forbidden it was him. His aura, his dark irises, his cherry-red hair and his head tilted back revealing his Adam's apple: each of his features intimidated me, and I didn't dare utter a word.

"I'm here as a criminal, treat me like one." He broke the silence. I shook my head as he straightened up in his chair to get closer.

"Sorry but what do you mean by that?" I asked suddenly feeling the tip of my heel against his knee. My backward movement made him smirked.

"I know you see me as a victim..." My eyes widened, my compassion was obvious? I felt exposed and as usual my nervousness led me to play with my pearl necklace.
"I'm not. I'd been planning to kill her for months, don't look for a shred of innocence."

I had to face reality: he really wanted to see her suffer. On the other hand, his attitude was not compatible with the plea. What if in court he pleads only guilty without mentioning the abuses, he will get life imprisonment. In this criminal case, I was risking a lot and I didn't realize it. Men hurting women is a daily occurrence nowadays, definitely not the government's first concern, except when the 'victim' is a Governor's daughter.

The media would seize on the case and I'd be in the spotlight. If I misrepresented Evan, my reputation would suffer, but if I defended him too well, I'd be in trouble with the politics of an entire country.

Without thinking I sighed, which made him laugh. I slammed my pencil against my desk just to make sure he wouldn't be distracted again. He feigned his fear in such an ironic way that I was offended.

"Do you have any evidence of her violence?" His eyes darkened at my question. His head, so high before, was lowered and he seemed to be reconsidering all his confessions.

"The most obvious one is under my shirt." I wondered if it was a clumsy flirting technique or just a reality, except that if I wanted to find out, I had to take the risk.

I stood up and approached Evan, with a shake of his head he pointed to his right hip. I swore to God that if it was a lie, he was going to lose his little smile. I lifted his shirt to reveal a twenty centimetre scar, probably caused by a knife. It was healed but still looked painful, I winced. How can one human being do this to another?

"It doesn't hurt anymore." He had read my silent thoughts.

I should have asked him hundreds of questions, but my first instinct was to run my fingertips over it. He didn't flinch when I did it. The simple contact of the fresh air and my warm fingers on his skin made him shiver. I've always been curious, sometimes a little too much like there but I needed to touch his scar, somehow it intrigued me.

When the realization hit me that I was closer to sin than to professionalism, I regained my seriousness as I sat down. Evan seemed even more criminal now that I'd discovered his flaw. I didn't know what was in his head that allowed me to touch him like that, but he was definitely not indifferent to me.

"I guess you need an explanation." It was pretty impolite, but now that he mentioned it.
"We were at home, my boss had just sent me messages asking me to work the next day. As she wasn't a man, Yuna made sure I couldn't meet her."

I'd never understood the concept of sickly jealousy since Jaeyun's appealed to me and made me love him more. I could only imagine the pain of being stabbed and the difficulty of removing bloodstains. I also noticed out of the corner of my eye that Evan had bitten his lips when he saw me writing, was it really sexy to watch a lawyer doing her job? For Lee Evan yes definitely.

That was just one of the many legal consultations — in other words, meetings — we had together, and I could tell I wasn't ready for the next ones...

nayeollyn