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Rising from her seat, Hyomin saw Yoon Seokhoon starting to leave from across the courtroom.
Burning with questions, Hyomin rushed to follow him out.
--
In the hall, Hyomins heels clacked aginst the marble floors as she lapsed into the step with her former supervisor.
"Did you really have to say all that? It's almost like you wanted it to hurt."
This was a dance they often went through, Hyomin questioning Seokhoon's stoicism in the face of emotional cases, and Seokhoon retaliating by pointing out how Hyomin's unwavering ability to empathise with all sides of a situation was often a weakness.
"Did you really need to salt the wound?"
Seokhoon walked with his head forward, seemingly unfazed by Hyomin's arguments.
"Yes, now he knows it. He's been living under the delusion of being a good father, but in reality, he was only using his son as a way to fill her own emptiness."
Hyomin's tensed at his unflappable response.
"The child's father loves his son more than he loves himself, this was his way of showing his devotion to him. Yes, it was a little excessive, but to suggest he's a bad father to his face...I find that unreasonable."
Seokhoon had now stopped walking, and Hyomin had the slightest feeling she had accidentally pushed him too far this time.
"People are selfish, even towards the ones they love. As a lawyer, it's important to keep that in mind when handling a case like this, sometimes the wrong people become parents. Refrain from jumping to the conclusion they everyone has purely good intentions, Ms. Kang."
Each word was laced with a frustration she'd never seen from him before, with a clear undercurrent of vulnerability. Was he speaking from experience? She wondered.
But she wasn't satisfied with that response.
"That may be true. But if you continue to use the truth as poison, it will only ever be poison,
Attorney Yoon."
As soon as the statement left her mouth, she regretted it. It was clear this case was personal to Seokhoon, the situation with his ex wife flashed through her mind and she braced for his reaction.
Yoon Seokhoon stiffened and turned to her slowly, his dark eyes meeting her own.
"You're out of line, Ms. Kang."
The words hit her like a ton of bricks. All she wanted was answers, yet she was always left feeling like Yoon Seokhoon didn't want her to understand, didn't want her to level with him.
He turned and calmly retreated down the hall toward the buildings exit, Hyomin left standing still in his wake.
Then was out of reach again, like always.
--
Yumin cracked her shoulders as she stood and waited for the elevator, it was 6pm and she was more than ready to go home.
She couldn't wait to sit down and debrief with her housemates, as today's case and Seokhoon's words still weighed heavily on her shoulders, lingering within her mind like an itch she couldn't scratch.
They had been working together for almost 2 years now, and yet he still managed to get on her last nerve when it came to these sorts of cases.
It was a paradox, sometimes they were like fire and ice and other times they worked pretty well together.
If she was being honest with herself, the times they spent together discussing eachothers cases in the breakroom over the past two years had been some of the most intellectually stimulating conversations she'd ever had.
It was exilerating, like playing a sport almost.
Something akin to adrenaline coursed through her each time she pointed out a gap in his reasoning, each time she looked up from her tea to catch a glimpse of how that wry smile reached his eyes as he-
"Ms. Kang?"
She flinched embarrassingly, because there he was.
Yoon Seokhoon next to her, briefcase in hand.
Returning the greeting, she felt the back of her neck heat up, irrationally worrying that he could sense what she had been thinking about, like his sharp eyes could somehow read her thoughts.
They waited for the elevator in deafening, tension-filled silence, until the doors eventually slid open.
--
*BOOM*
Hyomin started as she heard a distant thump, the elevator coming to a halt on its descent to the ground floor.
Before she could express her confusion, three of the four lights in the elevator flicked off, only one remained on, significantly dimming the small space.
This is just great, Hyomin thought wryly.
"I think the elevator might be stuck" Hyomin whispered.
"I suppose you're right" Seokhoon replied, unfazed.
Hyomin felt herself start to panic, she was always slightly afraid of being stuck in small spaces.
Almost as if he knew this, Seokhoon reassured her.
"Don't panic, the elevator is most likely in emergency stop mode, it’s not going to fall. This has happened before, and it's most likely a jam or computer error that triggered the stop."
Hyomin felt her heartbeat slow at his words, reminding herself to not assume the worst.
"I'll call for help," Mr Yoon said, swiping at his phone, "They'll most likely take around 20 minutes."
Okay, so maybe this was kind of the worst.
20 minutes. In an elevator. Alone. With the one man she felt like she couldn't even breathe around today. Just typical.
After Seokhoon had called for help, they fell into a less-than-comfortable silence once more, each of them on opposite sides of the elevator.
"Ms. Kang"
Hyomin's head snapped up, at the sound of her name on his lips. He almost sounded...apologetic?
"Yes?" She responded tentatively.
"Earlier today, I was also out of line. I'm sure you know how it feels to be emotionally...attached to a case."
Hyomin nodded, even though gh the elevator was pretty dark, she could just about make out his eyes from across the threshold, boring into her in a way that made her feel endlessly vuneeable as he spoke.
"I've been a lawyer for years, but it's easy to get swept up, I must admit."
Hyomin smiled at his honesty, "It's alright Attorney Yoon, I apologise for-"
"No. I apologise." He said gruffly.
Hyomin quirked an eyebrow, struck at his expression of regret.
He walked forward towards her slowly, "My anger wasn't directed at you."
Suddenly his cologne was all she could smell and all she could do was look up at him, the energy between them pulsating with a different kind of tension.
"I hope we can continue to work well together, Attorney Kang." He said in a low voice, a small smile on his face.
He called her Attorney.
Hyomin straightened, "I feel the same Attorney Yoon."
The words came out more sincere than she intended, instead sounding like she was responding to some sort of confession.
Yet if it wasn't a confession, why did it feel like one? Why did the sound of her name on his lips sound like a forbidden thing, why did the space left between them feel so maddening?
These were questions that had more than once crossed her mind over the years, thoughts she repressed to the best of her ability.
Howeverr, in momnets like these, she couldn't help but feel as if these thoughts were written all over her face.
"Ms. Kang..." He whispered into the silence, a plea. His liquid black eyes were swimming with an emotion she couldn't quite bring herself to name.
His face was so close, so were his lips. It was like some kind of external force was propelling her to close the distance, because if not now...when?
"I'm sorry..." She whispered once more, before capturing his lips in a seathing kiss.
His own mouth moved against hers instantly, as if they were made to do this together, as if it had all been building up to this from the beginning.
He backed her up into the wall, arms enclosing her body, grabbing onto the rail.
Her hands rose up the tangle in his hair, his collar, anything to gain some sort of balance. It felt like her legs were practically melting out from under her.
She opened her mouth beneath his and it just felt right, despite all it's wrongness.
Hyomin's mind raced through all the reasons why this shouldn't be happening, yet her body kept on responding to his.
We should stop. We should forget this ever happened. We should-
He took her bottom lip between his teeth and she involuntarily let out a sound from the back of her throat. This spurred him on, raw passion laced into his every move.
"Hello? Anyone in there?" A voice called.
The untangled from each-other immediately at the sound of the voice from outside, the maintenance people had arrived.
Hyomin faced away from Seokhoon, smoothing down her hair, face on fire.
What had she just done?
The silence resumed once more, as if both of them had been snapped put of a trance.
The doors opened after that, and Hyomin scurried to leave, thanking the maintinece people hurriedly.
As she walked away she swore heard, Seokhoon's voice from behind her, "See you tomorrow, Ms. Kang."
Politeness be damned, she couldn't even turn around to return the kind words, she wouldn't be able to look that man in the eyes again!
--
However, that night, Hyomin found it surprisingly hard to nod off to sleep, flashes of Seokhoon's eyes, his hands, his kiss, slipping in and out of her mind incessantly.