RUTH❌

49. the inked

"..But it's necessary, Tae. We need your cross-examination to be quick. None of us want you to freeze up and waste half an hour like Jennie did. And FYI, remember to talk to her after this. I think she still has...problems."

"Jennie's doing fine off the stand, alright? Not everyone can handle being put on the spot."

"And you know the judge doesn't give a crap? That's the point of what we're doing."

"I'm already positive about what I'm going to say, but if you insist so bad, go ahead and ask."

"Okay. Well... When I took a peek at her notes, Wheein [the prosecutor] continued to focus on the romantic aspect of Ruth and your relationship. Be completely honest. Wheein may further the cross-examination like this: There were rumors that you and Ruth were also sexually involved, are they true?"

"No. I never did anything inappropriate with her."

"But Ruth said you did, correct?"

"She did, to get back at my girlfriend at the time, Irene. They had issues with each other, but Ruth wasn't the one who started the rumors. Irene is the one who started the rumors. She confessed in May of last year, but I guessed way earlier than that..."

Jennie had caved into her curiosities. She kept her ear pressed against the wall, overhearing Taehyung speaking to someone on the other side of it. She sensed it was their female defense attorney due to the mirrored voice.

About an hour ago, the judge had ordered a lunch break for the court. The attorney used this time to keep running through scenarios of how Taehyung should answer questions in order to keep him in the clear with the jury [Jennie was not sure if this was legal or not]. Him and Jisoo were among the remaining people left to take the stand.

"No one except Joy knew I was dating her, so she told everyone that her boyfriend cheated on her with Ruth, and that she heard I cheated on my 'secret freshman girlfriend' with Ruth as well, even going as far to tell some people I gave both of them crabs. Ruth denied the ridiculous STD part, but she didn't really deny sleeping with me."

"And what did you do in the situation?"

"The situation was dumb and it wasn't true, so I didn't care enough to deny it either. I didn't care to call Irene out and tell her what she saw was a misunderstanding. I just took that as her way of breaking up with me, so I kept my distance. That was the only bad incident I ever had with Ruth, and I was barely a part of it..."

Jennie closed her eyes and let out a nervous breath. She decided she had heard enough—turned away her mind and body and kept her fingers on her chest, divided between split amounts of paranoia.

Some of what Taehyung was saying was news to her. Concluding his story as a solid one—as he was retelling the main details exactly like he told Jennie—she was not ready to overhear a new detail she would not like.

She was paranoid about their relationship. Whatever really went on between Taehyung and Ruth was sketchy to Jennie (and rightfully so). However, she wanted to be over it.

She had absolutely no stomach for it.

Wending her way through the halls, Jennie's attention became hung on the back door and what it led to. Beyond the handful of scarce people was a beautiful water fountain in the distance. She wanted to check it out for calming purposes.

One by one, Jennie turned over her wrists, remembering some instructional words from her tattoo artist. He had encouraged her to protect the ink with sunscreen before heading out in the sun.

She slathered the lotion-like substance over both wrists; over the 'Seulrene' inked black in perfect cursive on the left wrist, and massaged the sunscreen into the similarly written 'Chaelisa' on the right wrist.