Dear Lawyer | Jikook ff

36 - Reporters (v)

The last twenty-five minutes of their meeting felt as long as an age, yet as short as a twinkling for Chen Zhang.

When the recording was being played, his eyes didn't even blink. It was as if he had turned into stone, maintaining the same posture throughout. His bloodshot eyes were clouded with a shimmering watery sheen for a while, which gradually faded away due to how wide he was opening his eyes.

It alternated back and forth like this many times, but not a drop escaped from his eyes.

The recording ended with the nurse's disgruntled complaint about him, as well as his mother's repetitive explanation, "It's not that he's not coming, he's just too busy. He'll come when he's done..."

To Chen Zhang, this explanation was more heart-wrenching than anything else. Jimin saw his eyelids twitch slightly, the watery sheen contained in his eyes flashing—

"Oy, time's up!" The warden opened the door right on the dot, reminding the two of them that the visitation time was over with a little urgency in his voice.

While the warden was talking, Jimin no longer looked at Chen Zhang; Chen Zhang quickly wiped his face with his sleeve and silently looked up again, his teeth clenched together.

The warden's gaze was bewildered and curious. However, Chen Zhang didn't respond, standing up obediently and stiffly with his head down, ready to follow the warden out of the visiting room.

Jimin made good on his word, not asking him a single question. He simply kept the recording pen with a blank expression, dropping a familiar sentence to Chen Zhang. "I will still be here for tomorrow's meeting."

This time, Chen Zhang stayed silent for a long time before finally giving a low reply. "Yeah."

Then he turned his head and followed the warden out.

Chen Zhang's rare cooperative response was promising. But perhaps Jimin was affected by the contents of the recording earlier; his expression was still curiously blank when he came out of the detention centre.

He usually wore a smile on his face, even when being a terror or being sarcastic to others. But once he kept aside his smile, cold detachment would emanate from all of him. It always made people worry that he was unhappy, yet also daring not to ask, only watch him from afar.

It was with this cold expression that he walked to the intersection, not even looking around before dropping his gaze to the screen of his smart device to book a taxi.

The booking was just about to be sent when his smart device suddenly vibrated.

A new message had slid in right then.

Jimin minimised the taxi booking interface for now, clicking in to take a look.

From : Petty Jeon

Message: [Lift your head.]

Jimin, "???"

He unconsciously lifted his head.

At the open-air seating of the cafe across, a certain lawyer that was supposedly 'on a business trip' was now seated in a rattan chair, the gaze he directed over as frigid as ever, unhurriedly taking a sip of his coffee.

Jimin started minutely, then smiled.

However, with the barest movement of his eye, he realised that Lawyer Jeon wasn't sitting there alone. Two others were sharing the table, and it was even two... acquaintances.

It was the two from Honeycomb Media; the so-called reporters, Bens and Hersey.

The young reporter named Hersey left a passable impression on Jimin. At this moment, like he had done something humiliating and underhanded, he only glanced over once, then silently lowered his head, covering his forehead. As for the one called Bens, he was awkwardly smiling at him.