SolHi’s eyes filled with tears the moment she heard the sound of a message received by someone on his phone, a melody whose words „I love you! I miss you! Watch me!” made her feel so overwhelmed. A feeling that told her to run away as soon as possible. Something that didn’t happen in the end, and this was because of DooSan, who entered the elevator behind her. Then, taking a few steps, DooSan stopped right behind her, not taking his eyes from SolHi, who was staying with her back on him, trying to hide her tears while looking at a blind spot in the mirror, completely taken over by memories.

***

SIX YEARS AGO. COURT OF JUSTICE. COURTROOM.

SolHi heard, like in a dream, from the dock, the words of the judge, who said, „The defendant, Ian SolHi, will be released immediately as the plaintiff couldn’t bring the necessary evidence that could confirm her guilt.” Words that were random for her because she heard only the important, „Released… immediately!” Then, somewhere in the Courtroom, SolHi heard Mina’s whisper, „Finally, we made it!” a whisper that made SolHi finally look at her friend.

Yet, even if she was looking at Mina, SolHi wasn’t seeing her friend but Yun Marie, who was leaving. At the same time, she was seeing DooSan, staring at her with the eyes of a devil: ready to break her into pieces, if possible only with his glance, there, right in the Courtroom, no matter the consequences. A desire SolHi didn’t care about anymore because she was declared innocent and this was all that mattered for her.

Understanding this, SolHi smiled and her eyes filled with tears again. Yet, those were tears of happiness this time, tears she didn’t shed a long year while that nightmare was hunting her, a nightmare that splashed her with mud, sinking her into a world of darkness where it was cold everywhere.

After that, when she felt those tears running down her cheek and neck and cooling her soul, she murmured, „No more cold cells from now on.” A whisper that made her shake because of a sudden cry that took over her. Thus, through tears, she saw those who were leaving already, witnesses of the plaintiff, disappointed with the result. Yet, she didn’t care about this because those weren’t her witnesses, just as she didn’t care that nobody approached her to congratulate her for winning that case.

The only thing she cared about was that she was free to live her life. Yes, to live it as she wanted. And, for the first time since she was born, SolHi started to want something badly: to live.

Eventually, she winced the moment she heard to her left, „Congratulations, Miss Ian, you’re free now! And… I hope you won’t ever return here again.” Looking at the one who told her these words, SolHi saw Kan’s hand stretched toward her. Yet, she didn’t look at his hand but at his eyes, those that weren’t reflecting hatred or disappointment. What reflected the detective’s eyes was compassion because he also knew well what suffering meant. For this, SolHi started to appreciate him.

Then, when she finally could control her emotions, SolHi murmured, „Thank you, detective! Thank you very much!” After that, wiping her tears, she grabbed the detective’s hand with wet palms, shaking it. While doing this, SolHi felt so happy because, even if she thought that it didn’t matter to her that nobody congratulated her for being set free, it still mattered and Kan was the first person to do this, after a long and overwhelming trial.

Eventually, when she noticed that her palms were wet because of the wiped tears, SolHi hid her hands behind her back, murmuring, ashamed this time, „I’m sorry, detective! I just…”

„It’s nothing,” said Kan, kindly smiling. „Only tears and… they can be wiped.” After that, he smiled again because he didn’t know what else he could do at that moment.

Actually, Kan wasn’t sure why he was still there. What he still remembered was that he’d been called to this trial as a witness. And, even if he’d been to trials before, he witnessed only against criminals, real bastards of society, while it was so different this time when he witnessed for the defendant and not for the plaintiff. Kan did that against all the warnings he received from his colleagues, who told him that if he did that, then he’d be against the General Attorney, whose son SolHi was supposed to have been killed. Nevertheless, Kan didn’t listen to any of those warnings because he felt that at least once in his life he had to do the right thing.

In the end, understanding that it was time to go, Kan smiled again and said, „Well, I think it’s time to say goodbye to each other, Miss Ian. And… once again, congratulations and I hope to never see you here again.” After that, saying nothing more, Kan turned his back to her, heading toward the exit door. He stopped eventually when he heard SolHi saying:

„Won’t you ever regret having done this, detective? I mean, that you witnessed in my favor.”

Kan hesitated in giving her an answer. In the end, understanding that keeping silent didn’t bring anything good for any of them, he said, „Honestly, I don’t know the answer to your question, Miss Ian! Nevertheless, I hope not to regret this one day! I hope so.”

Hearing those words, SolHi slowly bowed in front of Kan, who turned his back to her eventually and moved away. Even so, even if those words resounded so coldly, there’d been a kind of encouragement for SolHi. That’s why she kept looking behind him while Kan was leaving. And she did that even after Mina approached and hugged her, happily telling her, „Friend, I’m so happy for you! So happy!” A happiness SolHi wasn’t ready for, neither her mind nor her soul. Moreover, she understood that her happiness was gone and maybe forever the moment she saw DooSan’s killing glance, who left the Courtroom right after Kan.

***

What happened in Court was nothing compared to the madness that was waiting for SolHi outside of the building. Something terrifying for her, what she wanted to avoid, but which eventually happened: she’d been forced to face alone that crowd of hungry wolves that were waiting for her… the journalists. And, right after seeing them, SolHi started to regret her decision of not waiting for Mina to witness in another case she’d been called there. At the same time, SolHi started to regret her freedom when the flashes of the paparazzi’s cameras started to blind her while those crows surrounded her, yelling at her their questions, most of them being insults.

That madness made SolHi close her eyes for a few seconds, feeling that the light of the cameras was bothering her. A light that was insufferable after months of staying closed in a cell or the solitary confinement of the main Jail for Women, where she had a lot of silence and had been surrounded by darkness. That’s why all that attention and light scared her a little.

Yet, what scared her more than the noise and the light were the journalists’questions: „Did you have a relationship with the victim?” Many of them asked her. „Have you been lovers?” Other journalists asked. And, after each question, they were staring at her, with their hungry-for-news eyes, for bombshell news that would have been able to catapult them into the spotlight. Journalists that SolHi got not to see anymore the moment she spotted DooSan not that far from them. He was right behind that crowd, staring at her with the glare of a criminal that was silently waiting for her, eager to see her trampled underfoot. If not, if this hadn’t happened because of others, he was more than ready to finish what he started at the Intensive Care where he tried to kill her that day.

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Eventually, hearing right into her right ear, „Why did you kill him, Miss Ian? Did you try to hide something by doing this?” SolHi winced. Then, looking at the journalist that asked that question, SolHi looked as though she didn’t see him. She didn’t even answer him for the simple reason that she didn’t know the answer. Yes, she didn’t remember that night. That’s why she wasn’t able to defend herself with teeth and nails, just because she didn’t remember. A truth deeply hidden in her head that made her a liar in front of those that didn’t believe that she suffered from amnesia.

Even so, she’d been able to be set free. She'd been able to defeat those who wanted her behind bars. Yes, she did that, against all the evidence that they brought to the Court to condemn her. Nevertheless, she’d been lucky because the judge considered that evidence too weak to send her to jail, just as everybody wanted.

Yes, she’d been set free that day, despite the fact that she still remained a suspect. Why? Because nobody could prove, not even her lawyer that SolHi was only a victim and not someone involved in the crime. Thus, until the real criminal was found, SolHi was still the criminal in the eyes of everybody and in front of Justice. A free assassin as everybody shouted that day when the Court has rendered the verdict, but still a free woman.

Eventually, DooSan approached her, passing between the journalists, and stopped right in front of her. He looked at her with hatred as though he was a hawk and she was a bunny about to be killed. Thus, he gave the chance to the journalists to start to take photos of them again, sure that a new scandal was about to begin, the most effective way to kill someone socially. Then, when he felt that he could control his emotions, DooSan asked her, „Are you happy now?! That you’ve been set free. More than that, did you really think that you’re innocent just because a judge set you free?”

SolHi smiled, proudly looking into his eyes, and said, „I don’t really care what you think about me, Han DooSan! I’m free now! Thus, I won’t ever accept an offense from you.”

Her answer managed to enrage DooSan even more than he already was. Thus, in a fit of anger, he grabbed her arm and hardly squeezed it, hissing through his teeth, „How can you be so proud even after all you’ve done, bitch? You aren’t more than a damn criminal. One that doesn’t have the right to think that’s over. No, this isn’t the end, but the beginning, Ian SolHi, because I’ll be your Karma, working against you and hunting you until your last breath. Did you hear me? I’ll do everything to make you regret your freedom, you, jerk!” After that, hardly pushing her away from him, he turned his back to her not paying attention to the fact that by pushing her so hard he made her lose her balance and fall.

Those who paid attention to the fact that she fell were the hyenas with the sophisticated name „journalist” on their ID. Hyenas, who continued to attack and surround her, taking photos of her „on her knees,” as they wanted to write about her. A pleasure they didn’t have in the end just because SolHi didn’t give them that freedom to trample her under their feet again: she, feeling powerful again and all this thanks to her pride and anger, stood up and, descending the stairs in a run, she followed Han DooSan.

***

Running on the sidewalk… pushing the passerby from in front of her… SolHi looked for someone with her glance. Yet, even if she looked everywhere, she didn’t see DooSan until she got to the crossroad. She saw him waiting there for the green light, forced to stay in place, as though the Universe had worked against him, but for SolHi, to keep him there waiting for her, in a place that he felt was asphyxiating him and which he started to hate.

Then, suddenly, DooSan felt someone grabbing his arm right when he saw the green light and took a step in front to cross the street. Thus, surprised, because he didn’t expect anyone to do this, he looked behind him where he saw SolHi, staring at him like a pitbull thirsty for his blood. A dare that managed to drive DooSan crazy because he forgot about what he was doing and grabbed her by the arm too, shaking her in his desperate attempt to make her release him. Something that he didn’t get in the end… his freedom. Instead, he heard her question, „Do you consider yourself a God?”

„What? A God? What the hell do you…?”

„I’m talking about you, Han DooSan, and about your shame to call me „assassin,” „miserable.” Something you don’t have the right… to call me so… once you haven’t been there that night when it is supposed that I killed your brother. Only because of this, you don’t have the right to call me so.”

„Of course, I have this right. Why? Because the one who you killed was my brother. A reason that won’t stop me from hunting you all your life… to break you into pieces if necessary because…”

„Then… dream about it. I… I won’t do that! I won’t dream like you do, but I’ll do it. I’ll break you into pieces if you keep disturbing me. If you keep insulting me, I swear… I’m ready for anything, idiot. Why? Because I’m free now. A freedom that I’ve fought for all these months. That’s why you don’t have the right to accuse me of anything when others believed me.”

„Yeah, you are free, but not for long. Only until I find the evidence to send you to jail. Then…”

„Then… look for that evidence! Find it first! And, if you’re able to prove that I’m guilty after finding the evidence, then… I swear I’ll stay on my knees and I’ll ask you for mercy and for forgiveness. Something you won’t have without proving that I’m guilty. That’s why until you find the evidence, you don’t have the right to call me „assassin.”

„Evidence,” said DooSan, ironically grinning. „Something I won’t find if you do the same as always… entering others’bed and…” A slap over his face made him keep silent. Then, before DooSan could compose himself, SolHi crossed the street even if it was red at the traffic light already, at all bothered by the horns of the cars that were about to crush her.

She didn’t even look back to see what she left behind her… an astonished Han DooSan that didn’t move even a centimeter from the place where she left him. He… he was definitely confused, thunderstruck, and nervous because, for the first time since they met each other, he felt something deep inside him… something for her, even if he didn’t know what that feeling could be called.

***

PRESENT

„Should I turn? For a better view, I mean,” said SolHi when she spotted DooSan looking at her round and appetizing butt.

Swallowing hard and looking elsewhere, DooSan mumbled, „No necessary! It was only a gaze.” Yet, even if he tried to seem confident, he felt weird, like a teenager whom his parents caught red-handed, and all this because he looked at her… attributes. That’s why he started to scold himself at one moment, in his head only, „Damn, does she see through space or what?” He did that by staring at a blind spot on the elevator’s wall.

Eventually, when SolHi said, smiling, „It can’t be only a gaze,” he looked at her, more confused than before. Moreover, when she winked at him and said, „You know, someone’s eyes can reveal a lot of things, like… hatred, love, disappointment… Interesting, what your eyes are revealing right now, Han DooSan, desire to hunt… young deer?”

„Was it sarcasm?”

„Call it as you wish. Yet, if I were you, I’d have done something more than gazing at that… attribute. I would have slapped it. Or, don’t tell me, did this thought also cross your mind?”

„Yeah,” DooSan shouted. „Who the hell do you think I am? A damn psycho? I’m not that desperate to slap… someone’s butt in an elevator.”

SolHi burst into laughter. „It means you saw „Fifty Shades of Grey!" Something inspiring, I must accept that, but still, something that you won’t try today, Prosecutor Han because… I don’t wear sexy underwear today. Red, right?! Your favorite color, I mean.”

Her sarcasm made DooSan see red in front of him and badly want to pounce on her, breaking her into pieces. Something he had to leave for later when the elevator stopped, the doors opened, and a lady about 60 entered. Then, looking at them while pressing 10 to climb, the woman said, smiling, „Newlyweds, right?! So beautiful to be young and in love.” Then, smiling, the woman looked in front, not paying attention to DooSan’s owl eyes, who was more than astonished by the woman’s commentary.

Unlike him, who was astonished by that commentary, SolHi smiled. She didn’t stop smiling even when DooSan stared at her, furious, letting her know not to cross the line if not… her head could fall off her shoulders. He even made, discreetly, the sign of a cut head. Something that didn’t bother SolHi at all because she even dared to whisper into his ear, trying to drive him crazy even more than he already was, „We have a witness now. The perfect moment to repeat that scene. That’s why, next time you want to stare at my butt, tell me about this… I can offer you a better view for sure… with a purple eye you can definitely see better what… you tried to see behind my back…” After that, when the elevator stopped on the ninth floor, SolHi exited right away when the doors opened.

Following her, still spitting fire through his nostrils and ears, DooSan mumbled, „Sarcasm, huh?! Damn witch! How can she see everything? Does she have eyes in the back of her head or what? If yes, just tell me: I can buy you a broom! Thus, you’ll definitely be able to fly.”