Conceal

20. Sorry

There was still one more thing Jooheon wanted to do. He wasn't sure how helpful this would be, but he did know that this was going to get him information, and if that piece of information was going to prove his assumptions to be correct, then he would be able to start doing something useful. And that something, was going to be impactful enough to alter the reality, even if it was just by a little.

He was going to find Dawon.

Jooheon barely got any sleep. He would've made this visit as soon as possible, but no matter how desperate he was, he had to follow the rules and make his visit during the visiting hours.

So now he was sitting on a very uncomfortable chair, blinking rapidly as an attempt to not doze off.

He had seen this setting numerous times on TV, but it was very different being here in person. In front of him was an empty wooden desk that wasn't really a desk since it spans along the whole width of the room, connecting to the walls on either side of him. Halfway through the desk, a thick piece of glass separates him from the other half of the room. The glass was completely transparent, and it extends sideways and upwards, all the way to the ceiling and the two walls. It created a barrier between the two halves of the room. The only sort of marking on the glass was a few holes in the bottom center, which allowed the people on either half of the room to communicate and hear each other.

Jooheon thought visiting a prisoner would be same as visiting a patient in the hospital - inevitably saddening but nothing too hard to cope with. But this was different. And it was something no one would understand until they tried it for real.

Sitting here, separated from the other side, was lonely. Even though Jooheon was the visitor and the prisoner had yet to come, even though he wasn't exactly friends with the convict, he felt awful knowing that someone was going to enter the other half of the room - in handcuffs - and feel incredibly isolated as they see the outside world separated merely by one piece of glass. Freedom was one step away. So close, yet so far.

Just like how Jooheon could end this misery and make the lives of the people around him much more easier by simply opening his mouth and saying the truth.

So close, yet so far.

After 2 more minutes, the door on the opposite wall opened and Dawon came in, a guard following closely behind.

Dawon was looking at the floor when he stepped through the doorway. He almost seemed afraid to see who the visitor was, but he looked up after walking two small steps forward. He was wearing a blue collared jacket with matching blue pants, too thin for the cold weather. There were number tags on his uniform, one on his chest and the other on the side of his sleeve. 3610 were printed on both of them, neatly, in a bold font.

Dawon locked eyes with Jooheon and froze immediately. But the shock didn't last long. Jooheon could see the anger and disgust in the prisoner's eyes as Dawon began to turn away.

Jooheon knew this was going to happen, had expected that Dawon would remember him, even after all these years. So he was prepared, and knew what needed to be said.

"I'm sorry," Jooheon said, just loudly enough to be heard through the thick glass.

The prisoner was turning away from Jooheon, but stopped halfway when he heard the two words. Jooheon couldn't help but smile. He had bet on the sole assumption that Dawon, having lived a wronged life, wanted nothing more than a sincere apology from the person who had ruined his life, directly and indirectly.

And Jooheon was right.

Dawon turned back and walked towards the window. He stayed standing. "What do you want?"