Burden of Proof

Chapter 3

Sooyoung looked up from the pile of envelopes on her desk to see the approaching Lisa. She sealed the envelope in her hand and put it in a box under her desk.

"What are you doing?" Lisa came to a stop in front of the desk; her hands casually tucked in her pockets. She looked at the pile with head slightly tilted.

"Invitations to the annual gathering, Unnie."

Lisa lifted her eyebrows.

"I'm rechecking all names and addresses. There was a printing mistake in one of them so I had to double check the rest just to be sure."

Lisa chuckled. "You're too obsessive."

"You know how important this is. We can't look unprofessional in front of our clients."

Lisa shrugged. "You know best, Sooyoung-ah." She then shifted a bit to try to peek inside the large room behind the young assistant. "Is Jisoo in a meeting?"

"No. Go right ahead. Can you try to make her smile somehow? She has been quite high-strung lately."

Lisa nodded and walked past the messy desk. She knocked on the door lightly before pushing it to peek inside.

Jisoo looked up from the papers she was scrutinizing. "Come on in." She put them down and massaged her forehead.

"Got a court date yet?" Lisa leaned on the table in the middle of the room, facing her friend.

"Yep. Next week's the first hearing."

"Your motion was denied?"

Jisoo nodded. "Apparently the judge thinks that the time gaps between the incidents are too far apart to see it as intentional negligence. So far they're all just rare and accidental occurrences." She sighed. "Sometimes I wonder how much innocent lives would it cost these huge corporations before they realize that even one is more than plenty." She leaned back in her chair.

"How's your client doing?"

"Hanging in there."

Lisa observed her tired friend. "Don't be too hard on yourself."

"I'll live." She dismissed Lisa. "So, I heard it didn't really go well with the jerk?"

"I've upgraded him to 'ass' now."

Jisoo grinned. "What's next then?"

"I'm waiting to hear from his attorneys. In the mean time, I'm off to visit some of his previous mistresses."

Jisoo nodded. "Good. Please try to prevent it from getting messier as much as you can. I don't care about him, I just don't want my friend to become the center of mass pity or to have her personal issues increasing sales of every sleazy tabloid out there."

"You can count on me."

"I know." Jisoo smiled. "Thanks, Lis."

"Stop thanking me. Instead, start thinking of something nice to reward me with once this is all over." Lisa grinned and pushed herself off the wooden edge. "Call me if you need help with your case."

"Sure thing. Good luck."

"You too."

Lisa left the room to see Yeri chatting happily with Sooyoung at the latter's desk.

She grabbed the hood of the girl's hoodie and pulled.

Yeri yelped as she was dragged away forcefully – and somewhat embarrassingly – by the much taller girl. "I'll be back to help later!" She shouted at the laughing Sooyoung. Yeri then turned to yank her clothes out of Lisa's hand. "Yah! Unnie! Why do you always have to disrespect me so much?"