"I'd set the world on fire, including myself, if it meant saving her."
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Power. It is a word easy to spell, but hard to master. It is humanity's biggest desire, and everyone wants to know what it feels like to be the most powerful person in the...
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The courtroom was swallowed by a deafening silence that felt more like a weight than a lack of sound. This was a private hearing, a closed door session for one of the most notorious figures in modern history.
A man whose reach had stretched across the European and Asian continents. Now, the time had finally come for the scales of justice to weigh the gravity of his sins.
On opposite sides of the aisle, lawyers for the defense and the prosecution spoke in hushed, urgent tones, the low murmur of their voices filling the tense gap before the session began. Suhani sat in the very first row, her frame appearing smaller than usual between Jisoo and Seulgi.
They had all touched down from Sicily only that afternoon, rushing back for this moment. The rest of the team had stayed behind, the strict limits of this private hearing allowed no room for a larger crowd.
In the rows behind them, several hand picked reporters and paparazzi sat with their laptops flipped open, fingers hovering over keys, ready to broadcast the fall of an empire to the world. Suhani's head hung low, her gaze lost in the dark abyss of the floorboards.
She seemed entirely oblivious to the lenses secretly clicking in her direction, as the media worked to capture any shred of her grief to spice up their headlines.
Jisoo leaned in, her hand finding Suhani's in a firm, grounding grip that pulled her back from the edge of her thoughts. Suhani sniffled, her movements mechanical as she secretly wiped a stray tear before meeting Jisoo's eyes.
Jisoo- Natalie had messaged me. She brought the kids here. She's asking if she can bring them inside?
Suhani- No... tell her to wait in the car with them. It isn't safe out here.
Jisoo nodded, her hand moving to Suhani's back, rubbing in slow, consoling circles. Beside them, Seulgi leaned forward, tapping Suhani's shoulder to draw her attention toward the back of the room. Suhani followed the gaze and froze. There, sitting in the back row, were her siblings. Evelyn, Mark, and Ella.
A wave of emotion washed over her. It had been months since she had faced them. After the last incident, where Jimin had faked her death to protect her, she had assumed they would be consumed by anger.
Yet, seeing them there, showing up despite the months of silence and broken connections told her everything she needed to know. They were there to catch her if she fell.
Her eyes drifted further, landing on Jay and Syria. Jay's face was a raw map of conflicting emotions. As Jimin's younger brother, his presence was a painful necessity, despite the fractures in the family, he wouldn't let his brother be alone.
