Chapter 81 - Chicken & Beer

SD slumped on the couch, dead tired from the day's events. He poured himself a glass of bourbon and reached out for the remote control to light up the electric chimney next to the couch. A comfortable heat spread throughout the room and he slouched against the soft pillow, ready to relax. 

The trial would start in two days and he was keen on seeing the outcome. Once Shin Hyun was inside the prison, his actual plan would begin.

"So much work!" he complained. "I really don't like to use my brain this much. It's tiring!"

But then, he would get to see his little vixen in action at court. That would be interesting to watch. Only hindrance in his way was…

"Lee Jonghyun," he muttered out loud. "You haven't changed, dear brother."

Both of them were born on the same day with the same name to two sisters who happened to be the wives of the Emperor. One was the legitimate Empress while the other was a secret concubine. Like every other Emperor before him, Gwangjoo had also continued the tradition of having two heirs who would fight it out amongst themselves for the throne. SD was aware that Jonghyun was still coveting the throne but he would not be able to legally claim it without the will of the Emperor.

For the first time in centuries, an Emperor had legally named a successor. It was an unlikely move which had changed the politics within the palace. The Empress' faction had objected while the Concubine's faction had supported the Emperor. No one knew who was named the successor because before the Emperor could declare it, he was killed off in the coup alongside the whole family.

Or rather, only the two Kim San's had survived. The Prime Minister assumed the other one was dead so he took in one of the boys and named him Jonghyun. They had searched for the other one for days but finally concluded that he had died with the family. If the PM's faction wanted, they could have named Jonghyun the heir.

But the existence of the will posed a problem for them. If the Emperor had named the other Kim San as the heir, it would mean that the throne would stay empty until the rightful ruler had returned. And since the other Kim San's body was never found, they could not proclaim him to be dead. There was always a chance that the real one would turn up and claim the throne. A simple DNA test could undo the government's efforts.

If the will had named Jonghyun as the heir, then the government would be at relief. But where was the will?

DING!

The doorbell rang. SD frowned and glimpsed as Orea's room. It was locked which meant she was home. No one else knew the location of his home either and they never got visitors. Who could it be at that hour?

He slowly reached out for a drawer at the coffee table and took out a gun. Walking quietly towards the door, he peeked through the peephole and was surprised.

Sunye?

Putting the gun back into his pocket, he opened the door. Sunye stood there, carrying a large bucket of chicken.

"You're meeting me for the second time in a day!" he gasped in shock. "Am I dreaming?"

"You're not," Sunye said, handing him the bucket. "I was craving for chicken and beer but I didn't want to drink alone."

"Ah yes!" SD exclaimed, letting her step in. "I am a good partner for a drink. But if anything happened between us after that, don't blame me for it."

Sunye rolled her eyes and took off her shoes before entering the house. She settled on one of his large couches, laying her head on the headrest while SD went to the kitchen and brought out two bottles of beer. He put the chicken on a large plate and took the food to the living room where Sunye was lazing around.

The smell of the chicken made her stomach growl but she waited for SD to sit down next to her.

"You look troubled," he noted as he handed her a plate. Sunye did not reply but took a piece of chicken and began to chew on it.

"I guess the case is overwhelming me," she simply said.

"Liar."

Sunye looked at him and groaned. How he caught on to her lies, she would never know.

"It's weird," she muttered.

"What's so weird?" SD questioned her as he chowed down on a leg piece.

"Us," Sunye admitted. "We're weird."

SD waited for her to elaborate despite knowing what she meant. He just wanted her to say it out loud.

"We're not friends," Sunye began. "Your methods clash with mine. Every time you enter my life, something is bound to go wrong and I end up getting tangled in your hairbrained and strangely ingenious schemes. I mean, last time on the cruise, I nearly died. At the poker game, I was almost assaulted and I ended up hiding secrets about you from the government! And somehow, you manage to rectify it all. Albeit in a completely bizarre and possible illegal way. But you do."

"What do I say?" SD said smugly. "I am good at my job."

"A little too good," Sunye scoffed. She paused before adding, "Yet, in these eight years, you're the only one who stayed. Or rather, whenever I tried to throw you out of my life, you just clawed your way back in until I just gave up."

Even though their association began with a lie, he popped up during her most important cases. After convicting that murderous wife, Sunye had hit several roadblocks in many cases but her ex-boss had advised her to take SD's help whenever she could. He paid for SD's counsel but it was Sunye who had to deal with him. She reluctantly let the information broker do his job but he always brought the authentic data for her. This continued until one day, Sunye simply got used to his presence.

She took a long sip of the beer and looked at him. He did not meet her eyes but kept on staring ahead, lost in his own thoughts.

"Do you want me gone?" SD joked. "I can leave your life without a single trace and you can pretend that I never existed."

He finally turned to look at her and winked. "Just think of me as a nightmare you would never see again," he offered.

Sunye frowned a little. "I don't think of you as a nightmare," she confessed. "Not now, at least."

"Then what do you think of me?" 

He leaned closer, resting his head on his arm, lazily smirking at her.

"Annoying," Sunye began to list. "Evil, manipulative, conniving, sometimes unreadable and most of the time a masochist. But not a nightmare."

"Don't tell me that you actually have fun with me," SD scoffed as he took another sip from his beer.

"I do."

He froze in his actions. Sunye was now looking down, feeling shy and embarrassed. Was it the beer or was it the events of the day, the filter on her mouth was gone much to her chagrin. She did not even know why she ended up coming to his place. After leaving Jonghyun, she went back to her apartment to keep the file before taking off again to wander aimlessly. Suddenly, on an impulse she bought the chicken bucket and ended up at SD's doorsteps.

As soon as those words escaped her mouth, her heart began to beat so fast that she was afraid he could hear it. Everytime he was around, her composure fell and she acted like a schoolgirl. This was not her. She was supposed to be calm and collected Han Sunye, a famed Prosecutor in the country.

Then why did this man have such a hold on her?

"You're playing with fire, Han Sunye," SD said in a quiet tone. "You should go home now."

There was a line which he could not cross. He knew that she was inching closer to him but she was being the moth to his flame. If she came any closer, he would end up burning her. He could only use her help to send the perpetrators of the coup to jail but that was it. The playful banter and their undeniable chemistry could not go any further than that. He was no longer the Kim San she once knew. 

But Sunye was now a little drunk and she barely heard his words. Her mind was only replaying what Jonghyun had told her that afternoon.

SD was about to get up but she held his hand and pleaded with him with her large round eyes.

"Stay here for a while," she said, her voice almost tearful. "I know that one day, you'll go away. Far away to a place where I'll never find you again. You'll leave me just like he did. But for now, please stay…"

Sunye was now slurring and her eyes drooped in sleep. Swaying lightly, she fell on his shoulders, asleep. SD let out a loud sigh.

She never was a good drinker and still wandered into the lion's den with a beer. "You attract too much trouble, Han Sunye," he chuckled.

But he did not move from that spot and let her rest on his shoulder. He noticed that tears fell from her eyes as she slept but he did not wipe them away. 

Instead, he let her cry it all out. 

"Don't go…" she murmured, hugging his arm tightly. "Kim...San…"

SD did not know what to reply to that. He simply watched over her, not moving nor wincing.

He was simply letting her fall into a peaceful sleep.