Catch Me | Jin x Reader

Ch 4 | Ignorance

Y/N's POV:

"Are you doing okay?" Ana asks as tears run down her face. Her beautiful eyes are flooded with sadness and grief, and her normally round cheeks are sunken in from all the stress.

"I'm surviving," you smile weakly, pressing your palm against the clear glass between you two.

"Barely," she chokes out. "Love, what did they do to your face?"

As you can imagine, jail for a foreigner in South Korea is not a fun time. Every day so far someone has tried attacking you, whether it's with fists, feet, or weapons. You haven't been officially convicted legally, but you've already been convicted by the public. You're currently being held in a county jailhouse about an hour outside Seoul, waiting for your court hearing date coming up in a few weeks.

You're not hopeful though. You were given a shitty lawyer who's only defending you because he has to. Foreigners have a very low survival rate in the Korean prison systems, so you've been coasting on autopilot, knowing what's going to happen to you when you lose.

You tried seeing if you could be tried by the American justice system but since you hold dual citizenship you have to be tried where the incident occurred.

Ana is managing to keep your restaurant alive but no one's visiting. She had to withdraw money from your savings to pay the rent. Apparently everyone quit besides Chaewon and a few of the cooks, and you made sure Ana paid them their salary even if they're just sitting around the restaurant doing nothing.

In the media you're now known as "The Foreigner from Hell." Some people were hoping you'd get tried by the American system just so you could receive the death penalty.

"I'm fine," you say again, feeling your lip cracking back open. You currently have a busted lip and a black eye from yesterday's assault. There's probably a few cracked ribs too but you don't even stop by the medical clinic anymore. There seems to be only one prison guard that actually gives a damn about your safety. When that person isn't on duty, your hell resumes.

"Did you hear from Ji-Ho?" you ask softly, not really wanting to hear her answer.

"I did," she nods, averting your gaze.

If you weren't so broken and numb your heart would probably be sinking. But it's been a few weeks since you last felt any emotion other than fear.

"I went to his house and he told me to leave," she glares at the desk her arms are resting on. "That pussy really thinks you stabbed Jin. I mean he knew you just as well as I did. How could he think you'd do something like that?"

You shrug and lean back in your chair, unable to feel anything besides the crater in your chest, but at least that's switched from a sharp stabbing pain to a heavy, dull ache. "You and Chaewon seem to be the only ones who believe me."

"Jin will wake up eventually," Ana says as more tears roll down her cheeks. "He'll clear your name."

"I'm not gonna hold my breath," you smile weakly, shattering Ana's heart. "There's also a chance he lost his memory so even if he does wake up, it might not matter."

"We can't be pessimistic," Ana glares, leaning forward in her seat. "You are innocent and we'll get you out of there."

"Thanks, love," you grin, but there's no happiness behind your eyes.

The system has broken you. Of course you were hopeful the first week or two, fully believing Jin would wake up and all of this would disappear. But each day you woke up to no news. Each day the hope was beaten out of you, both mentally and physically. Each day you get closer to wishing you'd never been born.