Stuck Between Love & War
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At the hospital, the young man raced through the hallway, trying to find room one forty-three. His heart raced with him as he approached the thirties, even more, the forties, until he saw the room he was looking for and rushed inside. He was out of breath when he saw her. She looked at him, confused, but was relieved to see him there. Her brother looked at them both and knew it was his cue to leave the room.

"Ara, I-I'm so sorry," Jimin said as he approached the hospital bed. "I shouldn't have let you do it. I was too greedy, and I wanted her gone, but I got you hurt."

Ara shook her head. She felt fine. Matter of fact, she felt happy. She had bruises all over her face, but she was happy. He couldn't understand how. She looked at him and smiled as she reached out for his hand.

"She can't hurt us any longer," she said, with a tint of sadness leaving her words. Jimin leaned down to her and pecked her forehead gently. Ara's eyes trailed to his uneven tie and messy hair. He had abandoned everything just to see her. All he heard was that she was in the hospital, and those words made him completely weak. He left work for her.

All Ara wanted was for Eunha to get what she deserved. All she needed was justice. If not, vengeance. Whatever she could achieve through any means possible.

Yoongi had arrested Eunha immediately when he walked into the room. The video of her assaulting Ara was solid proof—and better yet, it contained a crucial piece of information. Eunha was not expecting her plans to fail. However, everything in her perfect world started crumbling into pieces right in front of her eyes. Her arrest was just the beginning, and at the end of the day, it had nothing to do with the mysterious Byun 'lawsuit'.

"Ms. Kang, you're here under charges of assault and battery," Yoongi said as he placed a few pictures on the table in front of Eunha. "These pictures are from a video provided by the victim in which you are seen assaulting Ms. Byun. Is this you in the picture?"

Eunha didn't respond.

Yoongi looked at her and scoffed. He knew she wouldn't be an easy one. The proof was right in front of her, and she wouldn't admit to it. She didn't want to talk. She didn't even request a lawyer. Eunha just sat there in silence. She was still full of anger after seeing Ara's face in her lovely home. She still recalled how Ara smiled and laughed with each punch. It made her furious.

"Ms. Kang, did you know there was a search this morning for your arrest?" Yoongi asked, and Eunha immediately turned to face him, confused. "You're handling two cases here. Assault on Ms. Byun and civil conspiracy with Ms. Yoon while she worked under Mr. Park. That's very interesting."

Eunha sat up on the chair and smashed her cuffed hands on the table in pure anger. She looked at Yoongi as he looked directly at her with no fear. He didn't succumb to her demonstrations of power. He didn't even flinch.

"What is your connection to Ms. Yoon?" he asked. "Deleted messages were traced to your phone number from Yoon Hana's."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said. She leaned back in the chair and remained silent once again. Yoongi knew there was no use. He stood up and walked towards the door, but as soon as he was about to leave, Eunha mumbled, "I want to request bail."

+

"Kang & Co. CEO Kang Eunha was arrested this morning for allegedly assaulting another young woman in her fiancé's home. This same week, an arrest warrant was issued to arrest Ms. Kang for civil conspiracy dealing with the earlier reported case leak from the Park & Byun Corporations. This leaves the public questioning if the case leak was actually real or not, as all parties had denied its authenticity. Kang & Co. has yet to respond and provide a statement on this matter," Seokjin read as he sat in front of Hoseok's desk in his office. Hoseok, on the other side of the desk, focused on his paperwork as he listened to Seokjin's words. Multi-tasking was his ability.

"Read the updated news. That one is from yesterday," Hoseok said. "I read she requested bail, and it was approved. She just can't get near the victim, and she's wearing an ankle monitor. She's already out. Yoongi is monitoring her every move. There will be a set court date soon for the civil conspiracy charges. Hana is also being sued for breach of contract."

He scrolled through his phone and ended up finding something new. He read it and scoffed as he turned to Seokjin and handed him the phone.

"Kang & Co.'s shares have plummeted to the ground following CEO Kang Eunha's recent arrest. She was seen leaving the police station after paying a thirty thousand dollar bail under the conditions that (A) she is prohibited from approaching the victim and (B) she must wear an ankle monitor. Eunha has stated she is 'very sorry for the current situation' and that 'everything will be explained soon'."

"And you know what's crazy? She's trying to highlight the civil conspiracy case on top of the assault case," Hoseok said. "Apparently, the company has been trying to get rid of all the news about the assault allegations, and they're only talking about the lawsuit. I'm scared of that company."

"Kang & Co. also released a statement saying, 'Following recent rumors and reports from the police station, CEO Kang Eunha confirms that what happened was a mistake. According to Kang, she overheard that her fiancé, Mr. Park Jimin, had a surprise for their wedding, and she was curious to know what it was. This led her to send a friend who worked there to find their wedding documents in his office and send them to her. However, the friend—who identified as Yoon Hana—found other papers that had information about the Byun lawsuit against Kang & Co. and sent them to Ms. Kang, at the same time, leaking the papers herself without Ms. Kang's knowledge."

"Isn't it so funny how badly she wants to make up fake stories to defend herself?" Hoseok chuckled. "Didn't Jimin say Hana joined the company recently? None of this makes sense. Eunha even threw her so-called 'friend' under the bus."

Seokjin nodded as he kept scrolling, trying to find other news, when he realized something. "Hoseok, the assault case is a criminal case, right?"

Hoseok nodded, directing his focus back to the paperwork on his desk as he answered, "The government brings the charges against the person through a prosecutor—wait a minute—Seokjin, are you insinuating that I prosecute Eunha? You're asking me to be the prosecutor?"

Seokjin smirked and nodded his head slowly as Hoseok glared at him. "Well, yeah. You're a prosecutor, aren't you? You represent the interest of the people, and as far as I know, the people hate Eunha right now."

Hoseok kept glaring at Seokjin without saying a word until he focused back on his paperwork and said, "I have a lot of work to do. Trust me, I hate Eunha as much as Jimin, but I have a huge load of paperwork. Everybody wants to commit a crime nowadays."

At that moment, Seokjin rushed to the other side of the desk and kneeled in front of Hoseok. Hoseok turned to him in absolute shock as Seokjin said, "Can you please think about it? Just give it a little thought. If we help Ara, we help the Byun Corporation. If we help Ara, we help the Park Corporation. You know Jimin likes her, right?"

Hoseok widened his eyes at the news and yelled, "Ain't no fucking way! Jimin and Ara? After Namjoon and Ara? Ain't no way."

"Yes way," Seokjin said as he grabbed Hoseok's arm and pulled him closer. "Not just that. We could use all the help we can get. I'm helping Jimin with the Byun Haneul case, and he's also working with the current CEO of the Byun Corporation, but we need a prosecutor to help us. That's a huge criminal case. I'm sure you can gain so much with it. Fame, support, money, whatever you want. What do you say?"

Hoseok chuckled, hearing Seokjin's words, and finally said, "Fine, I'll do it. Just get up from the floor and stop touching me!"

Seokjin smiled and immediately rose from the floor. Right as he thanked Hoseok, his phone started ringing. It was Yeri. When he answered, she was the first to talk as she said, "I need you to help me."

As soon as Seokjin heard those words, he knew something was definitely bothering Yeri. He stood up and walked out of the room in a rush, leaving Hoseok confused. That same day, he met up with her, worried that something might have happened between her and Dr. Choi.

"Did Dr. Choi—"

"I have the original report," she blurted out. Seokjin froze as he stayed confused about what she meant. Instead of rephrasing her words, she slid a file over the table to Seokjin's side. He looked at it and then looked back at her. He then grabbed the file and opened it, just to see something he thought did not exist.

"B-Byun Haneul's autopsy report?" he asked, and she nodded. He skimmed through the documents, and his eyes widened as he said, "This is different. I remember the other one clearly. This is something else—something very different. Why do you have this, Yeri? I thought there was only one?"

"I've been hiding it for years, Jin," she said as she leaned closer to the table. "I kept it with me ever since it was done. One day, Dr. Choi asked me to get rid of the report because he had made a mistake. I thought it was weird since he never made mistakes. He said he would make a new one, so he told me to throw it away, but I kept it just in case he ever needed it again. That same day, I heard him talking on the phone and telling someone the evidence had been destroyed. I became worried, so I hid it in my office. Then you called me after years. I had forgotten all about it until you called. This report shows the truth. He couldn't have made a mistake. He wanted to hide it."

Seokjin looked at it and saw the apparent difference between both reports. The unspecified levels of potassium chloride were now reported as very high. There was extrinsic evidence, too—skin cells and hair follicles.

"We made a DNA profile based on this information. However, we couldn't find anyone with it," Yeri continued. "It wasn't in any record."

Seokjin stayed silent. He couldn't believe such important documents were now in his hands. All the information could now be of such great use. It could help the investigation so much. It could ruin Dr. Choi's career for good.

"Why didn't you tell me earlier?" he asked. Yeri looked down and laid back in the chair.

"I'm afraid of losing my job," she said. "I love it because I love what I do. However, I'm afraid that if Dr. Choi finds out what I've done, he'll take legal action against me. I'm scared, but I'm willing to help if you promise nothing will happen to me."

That same night, Seokjin promised Yeri that nothing would happen to her. He vowed to keep her safe. He contacted Yoongi and Hoseok and told them that with Yeri's help and the original report, there could be enough evidence to make a case against Dr. Choi.

+

It had been a week since the assault at Jimin's house, and Ara was resting at home. Minji took care of her that week until Ara decided it was finally time to return to campus. She had missed her classes with the excuse that someone very dear to her had passed away.

One day, as she was about to walk to her university, she saw a car pull up in the driveway. She knew it was Jimin's car, so she went to it as he got out. He walked over to her and smiled as he signaled to get in.

"I'll take you," he said. "Let me make it all up to you."

His contagious smile allowed Ara to finally smile again with pure joy. She got in the car, and Jimin made his way to the driver's seat. Before starting the car, he turned to Ara and smiled again. She looked better than before. She looked healthier than the last time he had seen her at the hospital. Minji had been taking excellent care of her—as directed by Jimin himself.

Before he could speak, Ara looked at him and said, "Before we go, I just want you to know I won't play with your feelings any longer. I've decided, and I want to answer your confession now."

She had made her mind up. She didn't want to cry for anyone else. Her father's death, Jiyong's death. She didn't want to continue drowning herself with suffering when she just wanted to enjoy her life. She wanted to be free and to love. To love someone who craved to feel loved. Someone who wanted a genuine love. Someone who was there for her day and night when she was at her lowest. She knew Jimin had been there every single day, listening to her cries from outside her room—her cries for another man. She knew Jimin had asked Minji to take good care of her in his place. All because she wanted space, and he knew that. The man who had run to the hospital during work hours because he was worried sick about her. His actions spoke louder than his confession. His love for her was genuine, and only now she had realized.

He looked at her, confused, but all she did was lean in closer to him. In the blink of an eye, her lips touched his. He couldn't process what was happening until he closed his eyes and gave in. He had been craving for her lips again and wasn't willing to question why she kissed him at that moment. All he wanted to do was kiss her back. When she felt his lips moving in sync with hers, she pulled him closer by his collar as he cupped her cheek and tilted his head to deepen the kiss. He was hungry for her lips, but kissed her with such passion that his lust was secondary for the moment. He wanted her so badly. For weeks, he craved to have her with every inch of his body. All he could do was succumb to a simple kiss.

His tongue entered her mouth and reached for hers. When she felt it, she felt a strange new feeling throughout her body that she wanted to feel so much more. She wanted to know what he could do with it—even if she already knew. She wanted to feel it again. It made her want to relive that night at the masquerade. She wanted to have his tongue reach every place unimaginable in her body. So she kissed him even more aggressively this time. In a swift motion, she moved over to the other side of the car and straddled him without breaking the romantic kiss. Now their bodies were finally facing each other, knowing they had been craving each other's touch for the longest time. His hands knew it very well, so they took action and slid down from her cheek to her back, pulling her even closer.

Suddenly, she moaned in the middle of the kiss, feeling something poking her pants from beneath her. It made her feel so good, even if it was just through the pants. Once again, the scenario from the masquerade roamed freely through her head. He was all she could focus on.

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