My lawyer {BBANGSAZ}

Chapter 15

Mr Pham

I look up from the book I was reading, peeking over my rimmed glasses as I process the words Park just gave to me. I get up, dumping the book onto the oak desk, crossing my arms with a sinister smirk dancing on my lips.

Oh, this is going to be fun. I've spent majority of the time torturing her from afar, but now I get to do it personally to her. I crack my knuckles and pat Park on the shoulder, forgiving him immediately for the mishap with the alcohol that day. He really knows how to suck up. 

I kick open my office door and march to the hidden trap door in the floor near the door. Opening it, I climb down on the wooden ladder, my heart beating ecstatically, excitement coursing through my veins. Oh my dear, I'm going to make you regret carrying my blood.

Minji

The drive is annoyingly long and I can feel my eyes begging to close as I navigate the car through the endless night. The moon's glow is the only comfort I have as Jake, Ni-ki , Sunoo and Heeseung are all asleep in the back seat, their soft snores seemingly deafening in my ears. Exhaustion can do a lot of things to you I guess. 

Jungwon is still awake in the passenger seat with me, keeping an eye on our surroundings and the GPS, guiding me occasionally and keeping me grounded. Where the fuck is this place? We're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. For miles and miles I can see nothing but empty roads and trees swaying in the night's breeze. 

"Minji we're here," Jungwon announces, his eyes reflecting my confusion as they're glued to the GPS screen. 

I look up and we're right in front of a forest. The trees are as all as giraffes (well obviously they have to be, but I'm too sleepy to even think of a good simile right now), towering over, threatening to engulf us into darkness. The lush green leaves look like a murky pond in the night's glow, giving an eerie vibe to it. 

The GPS screen shows our location in red, and the location we're going to in blue. I notice that the blinking red dot still has some ways to go, why is Jungwon stopping me here?

"I think we can go further Won," I say, my hands reaching for the steering wheel.

"We shouldn't make it obvious we're here, leaving the car here gives us more of a chance to lose them if they chase after us, we might be able to use the forest to our advantage," Jungwon explains, already unbuckling his seat belt and turning to wake the other boys up.

Damn, usually that would be something I'd think of with ease, but now it seems like a mission impossible sort of thing. I sigh internally, scolding myself for not thinking this through properly. This is no video game, Hanni is in danger and my life is on the line. I can't afford to be careless. 

I get out of the car, the night breeze blowing in my hair as everyone else gets out beside me. The forest looks intimidating and I'm guaranteed to get lost. I turn on my phone's flashlight, leading the group. Jungwon and Heeseung insist to go in front of me, Sunoo and Ni-ki at the back and Jake at my side, forming some kind of makeshift shield. Well, that technically means I'm not longer leading. 

We make our way through the forest, all sorts of eerie sounds invading my ears. The sound of owls hooting, the wind whispering and the occasional breaking of a twig or crunching of dead leaves beneath our feet. 

I stumble back when Jungwon and Heeseung suddenly stop in front of me, they're tense and they have their hand tightly gripping their guns. I hear rustling in the bushes and my heart skips a beat. I expect Mr Park or something to leap out of there, but instead it's just a cute fluffy rabbit. For a moment I almost hear Dani squealing with joy as she cradles the bunny in her arms. 

"Let's keep going," Jungwon mumbles, moving out of the way of the bunny and continues on. It feels like forever by the time we emerge to a clearing. It's steep grassy hill and below it is a small town. The hospital building stands out to me the most, the only building that towers above the rest, lights still illuminating the windows even at night. 

We struggle to get down the hill, and there are many times where I wanted to give up and just roll down the hill, but it's a risky choice if I were to do so. When we finally got down, I took out my phone, scanning the GPS. We're not far from the location. 

I gesture for the boys to follow me and I continue trying to find where the blue dot is. Once my red blinking dot is in front of the blue one, I look up, only to find an alleyway. Huh? My heart is screaming in my ears, my breath coming in short gasps from the journey and nerves. And this isn't helping. I walk into the alleyway, Jungwon right on my tail. Rotating around, I stop when I'm facing a particular wall. My phone buzzes with a 'you've arrived at your destination message'.

"Damn, I'm trying to help! Press at the brick right in front of you!" a woman's voice suddenly cuts in through the silence and I whip around. A woman in a nurse's uniform is being held back by Jake and Sunoo. I furrow my brows and I do as she said. To my surprise, the brick turns into a screen, my handprint being displayed in a glowing red. I wonder what that means, but I have no time to think when the bricks suddenly start arranging themselves to make a doorway. Damn, I just stepped into Diagon alley. 

I turned to the nurse and she nodded. 

"Let her go," I requested. Jake and Sunoo looked hesitant but they let her go anyway. 

"Good luck, I've been curious about that man, I thought he was dead and his daughter's an enigma as well," the nurse smiles at me.

"His daughter?" I ask. I thought Mr Park only had a son, Sunghoon.

"Yeah, Pham Hanni,"

Hanni

I'm quite literally just a shell of myself now. I don't even have the energy to whimper in pain as he keeps hitting me. My own father. The father who I thought was dead. It reminds me of when Zurg reveals to Buzzlightyear that he's his father, but this situation is nothing like that as well.

Dad only smirks at me, leaning in close to my bloodied face and gripping my jaw tightly. I can only stare back at him, a shadow of sadness and betrayal flickering in my empty blue eyes. He still hasn't explained himself, and I guess he doesn't feel the need to. Mr Park simply stands there, playing with his phone as though this scene is a mere movie he has no interest in.

"Why?" I finally speak as my gag has been removed.

"What do you mean Han?" dad replies in his sweet and warm tone that I missed so much. But now it just stabs me in the heart. He lied to me in the worst possible way. I spent years blaming myself for his death, when he was alive all this time, and he never bothered to look for me. 

"Why are you doing this to me? I missed you so much," I sob out, tears streaming down my cheeks. I flinch as the salty liquid stings my wounds. Dad reaches out and wipes them away with his thumb like he used to do whenever I had a nightmare. His smile almost seems mocking despite being warm and familiar. 

He retracts his hand and gets up, not answering my question. I follow his retreating figure with my eyes as he grabs a bag and rummages around in it. Confusion brings me into its arms as he comes back with a small metal box. He places it in front of me, pressing the engraved blue button on the top of the shiny metal.

A bright blue light blinds me and I close my eyes to shield them from the assault. When I blink them open again, I find myself in our car again. The same scene replaying in front of me. The over turned car, the broken glass, the smell of gasoline. I'm in front of the hospital again, the grand white building towering over me, making me feel so small and helpless. This is just like the accident back then. 

Wait...this seems too familiar....