Look At Us | Hwang Hyunjin

Eighteen

|| BOREUM ||

"The jury finds the defendant guilty of second-degree murder."

Tears. Tears leave my eyes. Tears out of joy.

A scream leaves his mouth. The typical "You got the wrong person" and all the other bullshit a convict yells for one last chance of freedom. The police in the courtroom grab Hyukjae by the wrists and drag him away, never to be seen again.

I catch a glimpse of The Hwang's faces. Mr. Hwang bites down on his lip and Mrs. Hwang bursts into an array of cries. I look deep into Hwang Kitae's eyes. I know what I see on his expression, disappointment.

My father curses under his breath beside me. Hwang Hyukjae, the heartthrob handsome wealthy man, was suddenly put behind bars for a life sentence. 25 years, said the judge, which made everyone enraged not because Hyukjae was being thrown into jail, but because this was going to forever tarnish the companies reputation.

Not so much of the golden child anymore, huh?

In the front of the room, far from where I was sitting, I see him slowly turn around. Beside him was his mother weeping hysterically, but all he did was wink at me. Briefly, in a way where no one else would notice except for me.

I felt my heartbeat start to quicken, just like it did when we first met that very first feast. And over those delightful months, I went through hell and shit and maybe even something I might describe as love with him.

Now it felt like everything was accomplished. Hyukjae was out of the way for good. That changed everything for the better.

The people start to pour out of the courtroom one by one, including my family and me. Outside the courtroom was where I disbarred from my mother and father, walking through the several paparazzi and to Hyunjin, who was standing by himself in the back of the crowd.

He flashes a smile at me, pulling me into his arms. He skims around the room to make sure no one was looking before planting a gentle peck onto my lips. "God, I missed your touch so much."

We tried to avoid contact after the past few months while the trial was in case because basically, the entire country was watching our family. But now it was done, and now we can kiss as much as we want. Maybe even more than that, once we get to that point.

"You know what this means, right?" I tease, causing a chuckle to leave his lips. "It feels unreal, right? But honestly, I'm glad that it finally happened. My father took me aside yesterday and told me that he's going to retire by the beginning of the new year and I'll become the CEO."

I smile for him. "Too bad for Hyukjae..." I say, looking back to the courtroom. "Oh well. What's done is done."

He ruffles my hair. "What about Bitna?" He asks me. My grin instantly evaporates. Bitna had completely shut out our family since the day of the rehearsal dinner. She even had the audacity to accuse me of framing Hyukjae for Chul's murder.

Please, I would never do that. Do I look like a murderer to you? Whatever, they all thought of her as crazy. Innocent and perfect little Ryu Boreum would never commit such a thing!

The odd part was that she didn't even show up to the final court session today. Nobody could find her in the morning, and we just assumed that she went out to get some fresh air. But it's been a few hours and still no sign of her. Not that I could care.

Hyunjin and I slowly start to follow after the mob that was slowly walking outside. The cameras focused all on the CEOs, not on us. But for once, I sort of enjoyed it. A little bit of privacy in the midst of chaos.

A buzz is heard from my purse where I pull out my mother's phone, the one that she told me to hold while we were in court for her. Me being me, I open the phone and look at the message that she had gotten.

A gasp leaves my mouth. It was a picture of a high bridge, underneath were the deep waters. It was from Bitna.

'I'm sorry mother, I cannot live another day like this any longer. I am at the Mapo Bridge and I'm thinking of ending things.'

I look back at my mother, who was hurrying into the car. I gulp down some saliva before deleting the message from my mother's phone and putting it back into my phone as if nothing ever happened.

Like I said before, one of the fundamentals of business is you got to do what you got to do to be on the top. Even if that means murder, or betraying the people you know the most. Because the truth is, there is no such thing as family or friends in the real world. There are only enemies and occasional allies.

"I think everything is going to work out for me after all, Hyunjin." I slowly start to beam, staring at the big blue sky before us. The birds chirped above us and the winds hustled, a flawless day.

He looks at me confusingly. I continue. "It's been obvious since day one, and I've said it before; they don't look at us, they look at them..." I grip onto his hand tightly, giving it a squeeze. I turn to face his beautiful noir eyes.

"...But today and tomorrow, they will start to look at us."