The Marrying Type || Jensoo & Chaelisa

Chapter 18

Going to court was just about the most terrifying thing Jisoo had ever done in her life. They had arrived at the courthouse with plenty of time to spare, but neither of the two had been in any condition to speak; Jennie looked positively ill, and Jisoo was sure she did too. The nerves churning in her stomach felt like someone had stuck their hand into her bowel and were just tossing it around, and she wanted to vomit. But she didn't, no - she stood beside Jennie, waiting for Daesung, watching the hand on the clock come closer and closer to quarter past. When she saw Jennie's parents walking down the hallway with the public lawyer, she heard Jennie let out a tiny whimper of disappointment. Jisoo gave her a gentle kiss to her cheek before she begrudgingly made her way to stand with the only two people in the world that she wanted to kill.

Lisa and Chaeyoung were waiting at the hotel, and so Jisoo's only company was Daesung. He was not particularly talkative, and so they spent the remaining five minutes before the hearing standing in silence, watching Jennie squirm as her parents spoke to her quietly.

Jennie had to force herself to listen to all that her parents were saying.

"You were drunk, you're ill, it will be overruled and we will all go home."

But she said nothing, not now when she was so nervous and scared she could barely stand. She was not afraid of her parents, not one single bit – were they anywhere else, she would have gladly delivered a good hard punch to their faces. But they were in a courthouse, their territory and domain, and she felt out of place.

She was scared for her and Jisoo's sake, and the cause of her fear was not her parents but what they had set in motion. If they succeeded, she would have no reason to live anymore - what life was it anyway, being the playtoy of one's parents with no personal freedom whatsoever?

They entered the courtroom and took their seats, Jisoo on one side and Jennie on another. Just that setup pained Jennie more than anything; she didn't want to be sitting beside her mother, opposite to Jisoo, on the other side than Jisoo – she hated the fact that she was technically fighting Jisoo with this. She was powerless now, and all she could do was bite her tongue and pray Daesung's plan worked.

"All stand for Judge Lee."

There was shuffling when the few people in the courtroom stood up, and Jennie watched the judge walk in and take his seat. He was tall and lanky, with pale white skin and snowy white hair, and a simultaneously sly and kind look in his eye.

Jennie knew then that this was not going to be easy.

"So, Miss Ruby Jane Kwon, you have petitioned for an annulment of your marriage to Miss Jisoo Kim, which occurred on the 17th of February of this year in Las Vegas, Nevada. Because you are at the moment legally incapacitated, the legal proceedings will be managed by your parents, and I will thus address them directly. The court will now hear the Petitioner's opening statement."

The public attorney stood up and looked at Jennie expectantly. Begrudgingly as she could, she stood up as well, taking time to smooth out her uncomfortably tight pencil skirt before raising her eyes to face the judge. His eyes were fixed on her, and she knew he was studying her and trying to figure out just why she was incapacitated.

I'm not crazy, I'm just gay.

But that wasn't exactly what she could say. In truth, she couldn't say a thing. So instead, she stood up straight and pushed her anger and fear to the bottom, and forced herself to listen to the woman to her right.

"Your Honor, the Petitioner is asking for her marriage to be annulled because of two reasons; at the time, she was severely incapacitated, not only due to high levels of intoxication but also due to her mental status. The Respondent also failed to inform my client of her severe monetary troubles, which of course lead us to believe that the Respondent took advantage of my client's incapacity to fend for herself to benefit from her significant wealth and status; we claim that this was an attempt at fraud, which would of course give claim to the annulment. My client is in a very fragile state, and the fact that the Respondent took such advantage of her state should be downright illegal – however, my clients agree that we will settle for an annulment and press no further charges."