Burden of Proof

Chapter 20

The night after their heartbreaking trip to Jeolado was spent in silence. The house felt empty and quiet without the sound of little footsteps running down the hall or the random fights between the two children.

Heeryung went straight to her room and locked herself in, not even coming out for dinner, which worried Lisa and Jennie.

They thought they heard sobs but since the girl didn't cry all day, they assumed that she was finally letting it all out so they let her be.

They had nothing to say to each other so Jennie spent her time in Inho's room while Lisa tried to distract herself by catching up with the work she had abandoned for two whole weeks.

Lisa tried to focus on the laptop and papers strewn before her on the dining table but her eyes kept going to the phone lying quietly next to the folders.

She wanted to text or call Aesook and asked how Inho was doing but she knew she couldn't. She must give the boy some time to calm down and adjust no matter how difficult and painful it was for her and for him.

After more than two hours of failing to get any work done, she decided to just try to sleep it off.

Lisa gathered her papers and shut down her laptop.

She turned off the kitchen and living room lights and went upstairs.

She headed to the girl's room first, listening quietly for any sound and when she heard none, she checked the small crack underneath the door. It was dark.

She must've cried herself to sleep.

Lisa then moved to the other door across the hall and stepped inside the dark room.

The light from the hallway highlighted a part of the small bed where Jennie was still lying on, clutching the sheets and pillows.

Lisa sighed and lay down next to Jennie.

"Nini..." She reached out to hug her.

Jennie didn't move nor did she reply.

Lisa quietly watched the closed eyelids. She brushed the disheveled hair away and tears seeped out from under the eyelashes at Lisa's touch.

Lisa pulled Jennie closer and kissed her forehead. She had run out of comforting words to say.

Jennie let go of the sheets and clutched Lisa's shirt instead. "Did we make the wrong decision?"

"It wasn't ours to make."

"But we could've appealed..."

"What good would it do? Prolong the inevitable?" Lisa sighed. "It would be different if Aesook's totally unreliable or incompetent in taking care of Inho... but unfortunately..." Lisa couldn't continue. As a lawyer she knew that their chance of winning was practically zero.

Jennie wiped her cheeks and they lay quietly in the small bed.

"How's Heeryung?" Jennie asked.

"I think she's fallen asleep."

They quieted down.

"I wonder how he's doing..." Jennie sniffed.

"I don't know. I wanted to call but..." Lisa sighed. "Maybe tomorrow morning."

"I just hope he had stopped crying." The memory of the boy's painful cries made Jennie cry again.

Lisa couldn't do anything but wipe the steady flow of tears. "We'll go see him next weekend."

"Will he hate us?"

"I don't know." Lisa gulped. "I hope not." She tightened her hold. "Let's go to bed. It's been a long day." Lisa tried to get up but Jennie didn't want to move, her hands still clutching Lisa's shirt.