I dropped a bag of chips and she yelped. "Oh! Are you okay?!"

I picked up the chips after a moment, eyes wide. "Y-Yeah, um...w-what..." I had no idea what to say. This was Hui's aunt? What do I do?! Do I just walk away?! Do I talk to her?! 

"I just wanted to know if he was okay," she said. I stared at her. I mean... what the hell do I do?! 

"He's... getting there." 

She nodded slowly. "Has he said anything about me or his uncle?" 

I kept scanning the groceries as my heart pounded in my ears. "Not that I recall, no." 

"Oh... okay." 

I couldn't tell if this woman felt bad or not. Did she care about Hui? What was the motive? "I'm gonna get going... before I get more attention drawn to me..." I almost forgot to pay, but I jumped when I remembered. I grabbed my debit card and paid as the woman kept talking. 

"If you talk to Hoetaek tonight... could you tell him I was here? Could you say something to him?" 

I blinked as I entered my pin. "I don't know if that's good for him. I mean... I don't know." 

"I'm his aunt!" She gasped. "W-Why wouldn't he want to hear about me?!" 

I turned toward her. "Because I don't know his past, and I don't know how you affected him. He could have negative feelings toward you, but really, I don't know. I'll have to see, maybe I will. I'm not trying to be rude." 

She seemed offended. "Well he wasn't so easy to deal with. He had a long itinerary of things that made him pretty...difficult." 

I clenched my jaw as I yanked my debit card back with enough force to almost snap it in half. 

"Excuse me, ma'am. Your nephew has been locked away for six years, and one of the first things to come out of your mouth is 'he was difficult'? He was tortured for six years. You're lucky he even made it out of there. He's strong and deserves the best." 

She stared at me with wide eyes. I put my wallet away and started rolling the cart toward the automatic doors. 

"Have a good evening, ma'am." 

She said nothing as I walked away. 

On the car ride back, I started to stress out. What should I do? Should I tell Hui about this? What if he gets upset or even has a panic attack? But what if he would want me to tell him? 

It was scary. 

I walked inside with the five or so bags on my arms and jumped when Hongseok was already up and helping me. "Let me take that, m'lady." 

I let him take the bags, but I looked at him in shock. "Hongseok, you didn't have to do that-"

"I know, but I wanted to." He grinned. 

I grinned back. 

A freshly showered Hui walked up, giving me a quick, not-suspicious but still made me self aware side hug. I smiled at him. 

"What did you get?" Hui asked as he pulled away, his hand lingering on the small of my back for a moment. 

"Just some snacks and a few games," I replied. I turned to him, taking a deep breath. This could be a horrible decision, but I'd rather him know then me keeping it from him. "Hui... I need to talk to you." 

He made eye contact with me for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, of course." 

I led him to the session room, closing the door behind him. 

"What's wrong?" Hui asked, wrapping his arms around my waist. I sighed, shaking my head. 

"I... if someone from your past talked to me... would you want to know?" 

His expression dropped and his loving expression turned to concern. "W-What? Did someone come up to you?" 

I pushed a stray strand of hair behind his ear as I nodded. "Hui... I don't want to induce a panic attack or anything... but... someone you knew approached me at the store." 

"Was it my aunt? My uncle?" 

"Your aunt..." 

Hui backed up a little bit and let go of me, covering his mouth with his hand. "Oh... wow..." 

I hugged myself awkwardly. "Hui, I am so sorry... I don't know what happened with her, but I'm sorry." 

"Oh... it's okay..." Hui sat down on the edge of my desk and stared off into space. "Um... my aunt and uncle and I... didn't have the best relationship." 

I walked toward him slowly. "I'm sorry... are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," he said. "Really, I'm fine." 

I sighed and walked up to him completely. He pulled me to him, smiling softly. "How are you now? Are you...?" I shrugged, unsure what I was trying to ask. 

"Was she... well what did she say? Was she mad? Guilty?"

He seemed to really want her to feel guilty.

"She was... asking about you. She asked if you were okay. But other than that... she just... that's about it." 

"Jane. You're holding something back." 

He rubbed my sides as I avoided his gaze. "I don't think you'll like it." 

I felt him gently press his fingers to my jaw and he turned my head so I could make eye contact with him. "Believe me, I've heard and been through worse." 

I gulped. "She just said you were difficult..." 

He laughed. I blinked as he suddenly burst out laughing, louder than I had ever heard him. I put my hands on his shoulders and stared at him. 

"Oh wow," he said as he calmed down. "Oh wow, she's just a bitch, isn't she?" 

I blinked. "Hui? Are you sure you're okay?" 

He nodded. "I'm perfect. I'm just great. I mean, never mind the fact that she treated me horribly for years, but I was difficult. It's fine. I'm fine." 

His smile seemed a tad forced. 

I ran my hand through his wet hair, then lightly caressed his cheek. "I told her off, if that makes you feel any better." 

He chuckled. 

"That's my girl," he said, smiling as he leaned in and kissed me. I kissed back gently. He definitely made me feel better. 

"Am I really your girl?" I asked him, smiling. 

He blinked. "Of course you are! I mean who else would be?" 

"I don't know... some random girl...Hongseok maybe." 

Hui laughed. "No. You're my girl. My only girl."

I beamed. "Good." 

He kissed me once more. "Okay, let's see what games you got!" 

We left the room a moment later. I felt a bit better, but I didn't think Hui took it as well as he let on. 

I just wanted to get through all of this as quickly as possible. 

**************

There was a knock on the door at about eleven in the morning. Hui and Yeo One were doing dishes, and the others were getting dressed.

I opened the door and blinked.

A beautiful, dark skinned woman with pretty curls and curves smiled at me. "Hello. Are you Jane Whittaker?"

"Yes, and you're the lawyer, Miss..."

"Lewis, Mariana Lewis. You can call me Mari."

"Awesome." I smiled and gestured for her to come in. She shook my hand before looking around.

"Wow, this place is so nice!"

"It really is," I agreed. She noticed the two guys and looked at me.

"Oh, is this two of them?"

Hui and Yeo One turned and walked toward us.

"Yes, this is Yeo One," I said, gesturing to Yeo One on the left. "And this is Hui." I gestured to Hui on the right. 

"Hello guys." They both shook her hand. 

"I'm aware that one of the patients does not like physical touch. Which one is that again?" She asked me. 

"Kino," I replied.

"Okay, good to know..." 

Wooseok and Shinwon came out and shook her hand. "What can we call you?" Wooseok asked nervously. 

"Just call me Mari," she replied. "Or Miss Lewis, but I prefer Mari." 

Wooseok smiled at her. "Okay Mari."

"Oh, who's this?" Mari asked. She walked into the living room, where Yuto was sitting with his foot up on the table. He gave her a small, awkward wave. 

"I'm Yuto, it's nice to meet you," he said. 

"You too," Mari said, shaking his hand. 

Jinho and Hongseok came out of their rooms, and lastly Kino. He waved to her sweetly before sitting down in a chair, a little away from everyone. 

"Okay, everyone sit in the living room, if that's okay with you," I said, the last part intended for Mari. She nodded. 

"Of course! Get comfy! I don't want to take forever, but we do have a lot to discuss for the next week," she said as she smiled. 

I pulled up two of the dining room chairs so Mari and I could sit down. A few of the guys were on the floor--Hongseok, Jinho, and Shinwon-- and the rest were on the couch and in the chairs. 

"Thank you," she said, sitting down. 

"Of course."

Mari smiled at everyone. "Okay, hi guys. I'm Mari. It is so nice to meet all of you. I have been following your story since the NIS called me. You guys are all survivors and you're probably some of the strongest people like, ever." 

She was young, maybe a few years older than me. Her eyes were very kind, and she seemed pretty laid back. 

Was this a good or bad thing?

"Are you from Korea?" Wooseok suddenly asked. 

Mari smiled. "I am originally from America, but I moved to China when I was nineteen. I learned mandarin and Korean, and eventually took up law school in Seoul. My Korean is fluent, but I am much more comfortable in English and Chinese."

I understood that completely. I was fluent as well, but English was my first language.

But she seemed interesting. 

"So why did they give you our case?" Hui asked, putting his feet up on the coffee table and crossing them. 

"I worked a pretty famous case a while back, with busting an abusive orphanage. It wasn't supposed to be a big case, because we were only prosecuting one of the parents that abused the kids, but they told us about the orphanage and the case blew up." 

"Oh yeah!" I gasped. "I actually remember that! You got ten major higher-ups locked away!" 

The guys were clueless, because they had missed that while in the Institution. 

"Well, anyway, enough about me guys," Mari said, pushing her black curls back a little. "We have a lot to talk about!" 

They all settled in as she got out a big folder. "I have your files right here, your files from the Institution I mean. I've read through them." She looked at me. "Are they going to be okay to tell me what happened?" 

I gulped and looked at them. "Guys. You're going to have to explain what happened at the Institution. If you begin to get nervous or you don't want to talk, we can come back to you tomorrow of in a few days. But it's going to help. It'll strengthen the case and possibly make you guys feel better." 

Mari listened to me before looking at all of the guys, waiting for their response. 

"I would like to start." 

We all looked at Yuto. He was sitting forward, clenching his jaw, hands folded. 

I smiled at him and turned to Mari. "Can Yuto start us off?" 

"Of course," Mari said. She got out a tape recorder. "I am going to record you because there is so much to go through. I checked with the NIS, they said it's okay, and it won't be played in court in front of everyone. This is merely to get our case together, and I will be using some details." 

Those would be amazing to use in court, but I'm not the lawyer, I thought to myself.

She turned on the recording. 

"Okay, let's begin."