„613. You have visitors! Follow me!” The guardian shouted, entering the dining room.

Hearing her number shouted, SolHi looked in amazement at her left hand in which she was squeezing the spoon and which started to shake. Then, swallowing hard, she looked to her right at Ha Rin, who touched her arm to make her react. Something that happened only when Ha Rin whispered, „She’s calling your number! Won’t you go?”

„Mmm, I go!” Murmured SolHi eventually. Then, standing up, she took the tray with the food she didn’t touch and went to take it to the usual place to be taken by the cook later. There, even if she was ready, she didn’t quicken her pace to follow the guardian. She did that because she felt that she had to stay there. Nevertheless, she moved from her place eventually when the guardian, enraged seeing her delaying things, hit the bars of the door with the truncheon, a signal that SolHi should quicken her pace. Otherwise, she would have been locked in solitary confinement for sure. It wouldn’t have been the first time being there because, since she entered prison, she’d been locked up so many times there that she didn’t remember the number. Yet, there wasn’t a place she would have liked to return.

Later, while advancing on the corridor, she felt her heart madly beating in her chest and her head heavy, with no thought spinning in her mind. Only a single question stuck in her throat, making her feel a lot of pain. That’s why she tried to swallow it and chase the pressure away, but she couldn’t. She felt more pain when she did this, and that stubborn question suddenly came out of her throat and stopped on the top of her tongue, stubbing her as though she wanted to ask at any cost, „Who? Who came?”

To ask these questions loudly, SolHi didn’t dare. She only smiled, feeling a pleasant warmth in her heart, thinking that someone dear to her could have come to see her. At the same time, she was so afraid of that moment. She was afraid to see him, even though she wanted this so badly, even if she’d been the one who chased him away so many times before and didn’t agree to see him after entering jail. By doing this, not only did DooSan suffer, but she too. Maybe she suffered more than he did, but she couldn’t do things differently because she was afraid to see him and explain things to him. She was afraid to look into his eyes because… how could she look into the eyes of the one she got to love so much, but to whom she didn’t dare to tell what she was feeling for him?! What she did instead was to hurt him so much, accepting a crime she said so many times she didn’t do, a crime about which she told him that she didn’t remember, when so many times before she said that if she had found out that she killed that man, she would have taken her life too. However, she didn’t die but had been locked inside a cage. Yes, she did that, trampling DooSan’s soul and hers under her feet. That’s why SolHi didn’t dare to see him and look into his eyes.

She didn’t want this until that day when she felt that something was different. What exactly? SolHi just didn’t know. She, as always, didn’t ask, „Who came?” or said, „I didn’t want to see him.” SolHi only followed the guardian: at a slow step, with fear in her soul, but with hope in her heart at the same time that she would see him for the last time and, after that, she could die. Only once did she want to see him again. That’s all. She wasn’t asking too much, even if she knew that she didn’t deserve to see that man.

Eventually, she stopped next to the door and waited for the guardian to open it. At the same time, her mind seemed to have stopped too because she couldn’t think about anything at that moment. Only her heart was madly beating in her chest while waiting for that reunion. Yes, it was so close: to see disappointment and pain in the eyes of the man she loved. Or maybe she will see love? No, it was too much. It had to be a disappointment because…

It had been a disappointment eventually seen in SolHi’s eyes and not in DooSan’s because, entering the Visiting Room, she saw a stranger instead of Han DooSan. She swallowed hard when she saw the back of that stranger, who was sitting in a wheelchair, looking in the distance through the small windows with bars of the Visiting Room.

SolHi said nothing, nor said the stranger, who didn’t even look at her. Only the guardian said, „You have half an hour.” After that, she noisily closed the door behind her.

Minutes passed after this in a hurry, but the two women said nothing. None of them reacted: they only kept looking at the target they chose: the stranger - at the window grating while SolHi looked at the stranger’s back. A Deja vu in fact. Why did SolHi feel this? She couldn’t figure it out yet.

Eventually, she winced when she remembered the dream she had a few nights ago: that dream when she saw the back of that man who was lying not that far from her, of the stranger who was wearing a gray suit. Just like the stranger that she saw in front of her at that moment, who was wearing a dark gray vestment, almost black. „Is she in mourning?” SolHi wondered. Right away she chased that thought away and closed her eyes for a few moments.

Hearing noise in front of her, SolHi winced again. Then, when she opened her eyes, SolHi saw the face of the stranger. What caught her eyes? The deep black glance of the young woman who was insistently looking at her. More than that, SolHi saw the long black hair of that young woman, grabbed at her back with a hairpin. Only two strands of hair were grabbed at the back of the stranger’s head while the rest of it was falling on her shoulders and breasts, up to her waist.

This made SolHi feel envious because the stranger had beautiful black hair. Yes, she was envious of that woman because, since she entered the jail, SolHi lost her hair because of the other prisoners who cut it unevenly. That’s why, unwillingly, SolHi touched her hair, something that made the stranger look at SolHi’s weird haircut, which made her look different and ugly. Thus, seeing the young woman’s glance focused on her haircut, SolHi felt ashamed. She felt so insignificant in front of a woman who seemed to have everything: confidence, beauty, youth, something SolHi seemed to have lost a long time ago.

„Take a seat,” the stranger told SolHi in the end, touching the wheels and pushing the wheelchair toward the table. Yet, SolHi didn’t move from her place, not even when the stranger stopped next to the table. A reaction of the prisoner that didn’t impress or enraged the stranger or made her feel offended. She only smiled: weirdly, coldly, just as only a stranger could smile at another one.

Eventually, she strengthened her heart and, raising her glance, she smoothed her hair, which was so rebellious, and focused her glance on the stranger. What SolHi looked at was the small black bow the stranger wore on her hair, on the right side of her head, something that made SolHi understand that „She lost someone she loved. But… whom?”

Right away, feeling her blood freezing in her veins, SolHi shuddered. „It can’t be!” She thought. „That bastard didn’t have sisters. A daughter? No, it also can’t be! He was too young to have a daughter like this girl. Then? Who is she? I can’t remember. I don’t know anyone who can have such a big daughter and…”

„You probably wonder who I am,” the stranger said in a stern tone. Then… she smiled.

„Mmm, that’s right,” murmured SolHi. After that, she sat on the chair in front of the stranger. Her eyes were still fixed on the stranger’s face, not to intimidate her, but because it seemed to her that that stranger’s face reminded her about someone she knew, someone she met before, but who she couldn’t remember at that moment.

„Lee SoRan,” said the stranger, two words that made SolHi wince again. Then, SolHi swallowed hard, but… that name didn’t tell her too much. She didn’t hear it before. Maybe the surname was known to her? Lee? Well, it’s a too-spread surname in South Korea. That’s why it would have been a stupid idea to think she knew the stranger only because she found out her name. „You are actually right,” said SoRan this time, as though reading SolHi’s thoughts. „It’s a stupid thing to think you know me. We… have never met before.”

Only then, SolHi deeply breathed in and, supporting her arms on the table, she fixed her glance into SoRan’s. After that, SolHi felt comfortable again. She felt that she was again the old SolHi, the one who for three years caught criminals and sent them to jail. A confidence she had lost after entering the prison. Nevertheless, SolHi knew that it wasn’t the right time for such stupid ideas as she got to call them lately. What was important at that moment was to find out who the stranger was and why she came there to see her. More than that, SolHi was interested to find out why that girl came there at that moment. Why after a year after entering jail? That’s why she finally asked, „Why now?”

„Because… dead the Captain, anyone can take his place. Even a simple soldier.”

„Dead the Captain? What the hell are you talking…?” Again! SolHi felt again her blood freezing in her veins when she remembered who sent her to jail. „Is Captain Lee dead?”

„Mmm, he has been blown up. A few days ago. Now… only his name is still known on earth.”

Listening to such words, SolHi looked into the young girl’s eyes again. She saw no trace of remorse in them, no pain, even if something told her that that young woman was someone close to the Captain. „Lee. Lee SoRan,” murmured SolHi. „Are you…?”

„Yes, I’m Captain Lee Do Hun’s daughter. The one who sent you to jail a year ago.”

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SolHi swallowed hard again. Yes, she again swallowed bitter pills of saliva when she remembered the day she entered the jail for a stupid idea. Better said, she accepted to enter the jail because of someone’s promise. A promise, which got to kill her inside… slowly-slowly. Nevertheless, even if Captain Lee was dead, SolHi couldn’t betray the deal they had a year ago. That’s why, eventually, supporting her back against the back of the chair, she crossed her arms over her chest and, seriously, looked into SoRan’s eyes.

Seeing SolHi’s serious glance fixed on hers, SoRan smiled. „You still trust him,” she said and SolHi could feel the irony in her voice. Or… was the stranger playing a prank on her? It might have been. That’s why she also got to smile eventually.

„If you want to think this, it’s up to you. Now, tell me: why are you here?”

„To offer you a deal,” said SoRan confidently.

„A deal? To me?” Asked SolHi in disbelief. Yet, even though she wanted to seem not interested in what the stranger wanted to say, her voice betrayed her somehow and SoRan understood the message SolHi tried to send to her through those words, „To me? The one locked in a cage?”

„Yes, to you,” said SoRan, confidently. „Why? Because only this way I can end my father’s madness while you can get out of here.”

Only then did SolHi understand the stranger’s game: she tested her. Why? She wasn’t sure. Yet, something in Lee SoRan’s behavior made SolHi attentive. But… why? She didn’t know. What she knew was that she couldn’t betray that deal. That’s why she bent over the table again, on which she supported her elbows, and, staring into SoRan’s eyes, SolHi hissed through her teeth, „Listen to me, young girl: I have no idea why you decided to play this game and neither I’m interested in finding it out. That’s why I tell you to stop playing with me because such pranks don’t work with me! You’ll waste your time only because I’ve seen a lot of people like you in my life. You, however, never met someone like me. That’s why, I suggest you not enter a dangerous game that you have never played before. Just… live your life, feel sorrow for your father who died so suddenly, and… find your path in this life! Only this way you’ll be able to forget what you’ve lived and… at the same time, forget about me!”

After saying such words, SolHi stood up and headed toward the door. She stopped, however, when she heard SoRan bursting into laughter. That’s why she slowly turned toward her and insistently looked at her. Yet, instead of seeing the face of a mad woman who was laughing, SolHi was amazed seeing that SoRan was naturally laughing, even though she forced herself to do that. At the same time, SolHi couldn’t understand why SoRan was laughing because she didn’t remember having said something funny. More than that, she was confused by that weird sparkle seen in SoRan’s eyes, something that reminded SolHi about savage people. She wasn’t wrong in thinking so because, soon after this, SoRan took a pile of photos she had hidden under her dress, photos she had tied to her leg with an elastic band to make sure the guardians wouldn’t find them, which she threw eventually at SolHi’s feet.

„First, look at the pictures! After that, if you still consider me crazy and that I don’t know what I am talking about, you can go! I promise that I won’t bother you after this. Something I doubt that won’t be necessary because I’m sure you won’t let me go.” After that, pushing the wheels, she approached SolHi more. She stopped about 2 meters from SolHi and the photos, at which she insistently looked in the end.

The same did SolHi: she also insistently looked at those photos, which were weirdly shining in the weak light of the room. Because of this, she couldn’t clearly see whose photos they were. That’s why she bent eventually and took a few of them in her hands, photos she looked at one by one. Looking at them, SolHi’s face didn’t reveal anything. Not even a muscle moved on her face, something that amazed SoRan a lot, who was insistently looking at SolHi this time, waiting for a reaction, however small, to continue her thought. SolHi, instead, kept silent.

Eventually, SolHi threw the photos on the floor and looked at SoRan. Their eyes looked so cold at that moment, as though two enemies were facing each other and not two strangers who didn’t know each other until minutes ago. Strangers that still had something in common, something that SolHi seemed not interested in finding out because she turned her back on SoRan in the end and knocked on the door.

Nobody approached the door after the knock and this was weird. „She has connections,” thought SolHi about SoRan, sketching a smile, a weird one born from disappointment because she never had such influence before. Not the same happened to the stranger who, for the simple fact that was the Captain’s daughter, managed to pass the guards without being checked and then the guards let them talk alone even though they used to listen to the prisoners’talk before. It actually happened each time a prisoner had visitors. Thus, the guards were finding out secrets, which they were using against the prisoners after that to get money or favors from them. At that moment, however, when they could get so many benefits, none of them were there. That’s why SolHi started to hate herself at that moment and wanted to have had a father like the Captain. If she had had such a father, she was sure she wouldn’t have suffered so much. She would have been free for sure and, maybe, far away from Korea. Somewhere, safe!

Not the same thought SoRan had. To her, the guardians’absence meant the chance to continue her thought and bring SolHi back to her senses, chasing the remorse and the hidden desires away from her soul when she said, „Ten years ago, I’ve been the victim of a rape.”

SolHi shuddered and swallowed hard again. Yet, she didn’t look at SoRan, who added, „The same method, the same violence used to hurt my body, the same strange voice while using a voice modifier, and the same reason - revenge.” Not even this way, she got to force SolHi to watch her. „That’s why you are here,” whispered SoRan in a low voice. „Because he wanted to make justice for me. The same you’ve seen in the pictures, but you preferred to ignore.”

Only then, SolHi looked at the stranger again. Her fists were squeezed and her eyes focused on SoRan’s face, who was staring at one picture: of two men that were shaking hands. It wasn’t clear who the men in the picture were. At least SolHi couldn’t see clearly who they were.

Nevertheless, even though they couldn’t see the faces of those men, they both knew the pact they made. Well, at least SoRan seemed to know this well. SolHi - she could only imagine this because her mind didn’t work at that moment. It was seen from the slow shaking of her lips while a thought was spinning in her head, „Did they use me?”

She winced eventually when SoRan said, „I don’t need an answer right now. You can think about this and, if you want, I can take you out of here.”

SolHi would have wished to tell SoRan then, „As though you can. Even if you are Captain’s Lee daughter, it’s not as easy as it seems to take me out of here.” Yet, even if she decided to ask this loudly, she didn’t have time because the door opened and the guardian entered.

Entering the room, the guardian didn’t see the photos. This happened because of SoRan, who let the blanket fall off her knees. Even so, it made the guardian attentive, more when she spotted SolHi’s eyes focused on that blanket. That’s why the woman, about forty, also looked over there but saw nothing. It was a very well-guarded secret, just like the conversation the two strangers had, who met for the first time in a cold visit room in the prison, a secret related to a similar attack, one that mutilated their bodies and souls.

Eventually, SoRan said, making SolHi react, „I’ll stop by here once again. Then, I wait for a favorable answer, Ian SolHi. Otherwise, you won’t ever leave this place.” After that, the door closed behind the guardian, who pushed SolHi to get out of the room.

Behind them, SoRan turned toward the other door and said, „Detective Kan, you can come in now!” Words after which the door opened and Kan entered the room. He stopped after a few steps and looked at the other door, through which SolHi and the guard exited, for he had listened to the young women’s conversation, being behind that second door. Kan also saw SolHi, looking through the small window with bars, and felt pain. For SolHi, of course, and for him too. He felt sorrow for not being able to protect her and not being capable of making her accept seeing him that year because he would have liked to tell her that she wasn’t alone in that war. At the same time, Kan felt sorrow seeing her so skinny, seeing her eyes so pale and with visible purple marks under them, to see her veins so visible on her arms, and that weird haircut when, before entering the jail, the hair was SolHi’s pride, even if it wasn’t too long and neither it looked rich. Yet, it was so beautiful, of a bright brown almost blond when it was bathed by the sunlight.

„The photos,” said SoRan confidently, bringing Kan back to reality. Thus, smiling, Kan looked at her. He said nothing eventually. The detective only approached the pictures, took the blanket and put it on the girl’s legs, put the pictures into his pocket, and, pushing the wheelchair, they headed toward the exit door.

Behind the other door, which led toward the entrails of the prison, SolHi was slowly walking behind the guardian. She walked so slowly not because she didn’t want to walk faster, but because she couldn’t do that while thoughts took over her, just as the feeling started to control her because it had been too much for her to see someone else than the prisoners, who he saw only, in the last year.

That day, she saw a stranger. She saw Lee SoRan, who told her that she entered the jail to make it possible for someone else to get revenge, paying for old sins and not because she had to do that, paying for something that was a secret for the entire world, but not for SolHi. A secret she must keep, a big secret that sent her to jail a year ago, a secret that could save lives. That’s why she couldn’t afford to tell someone else about this because she couldn’t take that risk, for someone to die instead of her again.

„What did you and Lee SoRan talk about?” The guard asked SolHi, right after stepping in front of her and forcing her to stop. Yet, even though the guard was waiting for an answer to satisfy her ego, SolHi kept silent, a silence that irritated the guardian. Nevertheless, she didn’t insist on finding out that secret. It was useless. Why? Because if she had insisted, she could have had problems with Captain Lee Do Hun’s daughter, the one who helped her so much before and thanks to whom she got to work there, having a good salary and also other… favors which helped her to increase her wealth. Yet, this wasn’t the only reason the guard didn’t want Lee SoRan as an enemy: she was sure that the young woman would stop by there again. Thus, she would gain more than she gained before because, that day, SoRan gave her 500 bucks. Amount of money that seemed so little for her lately, but still money she couldn’t refuse. Yes, she couldn’t because it helped her to save her son, who was ill. That’s why she only shook her head eventually and told SolHi, „Forget about it! Just… let’s go!”

SolHi followed her after that command because it was all that she could do at that moment. Nevertheless, she left her soul and mind in that Visiting Room, just as she left there her hope of seeing Han DooSan again one day. Yes, seeing DooSan remained a dream because, after that day, she was sure that he wouldn’t have come to see her ever, for… she didn’t have that right. She didn’t have the right to see the one to whom she killed his soul. Yes, she didn’t have it, that’s why her eyes filled with tears again…