Chapter 1
"So it turns out that the witness did not appear to testify" the chatter from the jury echoes thru the hall.
Seulgi and Jaeyi felt defeated as they wasted all morning following Jaeyi's mom only to taunt Seulgi's past when they arrived at the orphanage. The fleeting helplessness lingers in the air as they both stare through the wall.
"Let's go" said by Seulgi's stepmom.
Jaeyi tries to bring comfort to the other girl followed through as they make to the parking lot caught Seulgi by her hand squeezing it as she try to convey her feelings. That no matter what happens, she's there if ever she needed someone to listen, if ever she needed a shoulder to cry on.
"Yoo Jaeyi, you should go home too". Yoo Taejoon interrupted the two with his command to her daughter.
Annoyed by his presence, Seulgi froze on her trance for a second before switching her appearance with indifference. Her reaction was too quick for anyone to notice, but Jaeyi felt her hand tremble in anger.
"I'll call you later" assuring her one more time before following her dad was enough to soften Seulgi's gaze to Jaeyi.
***
The silence during the ride to someplace Jaeyi didn't know was deafening and was not helping her growing anxiety.
"Where are we going now?"
"Didn't you say you wanted to know where your sister is?"
Jaeyi stared at his dad with disbelief as she realized they were right all along. That his dad was hiding her sister and is still alive. But would you be able to call it a living if you were captured against your will, being hidden from the world just to cover up something so disgusting as crime of murder?
Yoo Taejoon glances at her, reached for his phone from his blazer and handing it over to Jaeyi. Knowing how cunning his father is, she assumed that he wanted her to see something from it. Without hesitation, she opened it only to be greeted with a live feedback of someone's dashboard.
"But why would Jena be at the operating room? He could have just handed her the answer key after he operates him instead" Seulgi's stepmom tries to find reason behind her husband's sudden death.
"Because Jaeyi's dad is a strange man"
Jaeyi realized that this is not just someone's dashcam. It was from the car that is currently carrying Seulgi home. Panic starts to creep in her chest as she watches the feed. Despite the blasting aircon of their car, sweat starts to form on her back, hands turning cold and trembling not because of the aircon but because of the feeling from the impending doom for Seulgi.
The next thing she heard after the brief conversation from the phone was a loud screeching sound accompanying by panic scream of Seulgi. The car from the feed lost it's control but the driver tries to recover from the sudden pop of tires swerving to the opposite lane only to collide with an upcoming truck. The feed still live caught how the car stumbled from the impact.
The step mother's voice was heard as she try to call out for her daughter. With a fractured arm, she looked for Seulgi on her passenger seat. The next thing Jaeyi heard from the feed was scream of the lady from the horror of severity of their accident.
The paramedics brought Seulgi out of the wreckage was seen on the feed. Bloodied and unconscious.
Jaeyi witnessing what scares her the most dropped the phone of her dad. Tears streaming down her face, she covers her mouth to supress her uncontrolled sobs.
"Jaeyi, I told you not to play games with dad".