realised that in the making of this fic i lost my originality in writing, the kinda style i had when i wrote our last summer?? idk?? i tried to write in that style again?
mark was sat behind the stand, heart beating at a pace that felt just slightly too quick to be safe.
his two fingers rubbed the side of his neck, feeling the quickened beats as he tried to contain his nerves.
it was impossible.
he flicked his eyes to where yugyeom sat, having only left the boy in his cell about half an hour ago. the trial had started almost as soon as their talk was over, with mark being the first called to the stand, yugyeom had arrived some time later, flanked by two burly police officers.
but he didn't know what he was meant to say, how he was supposed to make yugyeom look innocent enough to not get sent to prison.
he looked to park, the younger had told him to lie about what happened and say that jaebeom had shot himself, but he wasn't sure he had it in him to lie. sure, youngjae had screamed at him once, tears running down his face, upset about mark's "lying addiction" and sure, he was never exactly honest, but he still felt bad sentencing a man to prison. even if it was jaebeom.
then again, he didn't want yugyeom to end up there either.
the lawyer in front of him wore a slightly oversized suit, it's drab brown sleeves hanging some way over his palms, making him look swamped by the jacket. mark almost laughed, but then he saw the scowl on the man's face and thought otherwise. it was enough to make his heart rate increase ten fold, to a point at which mark thought it physically couldn't go any quicker.
the contempt that settled on the lawyer's face was unsettling, how he glared at mark with such disdain that it made him shift nervously in his seat.
but of course, the man stood in front of him saw him as an accomplice to a potential murderer (yugyeom). as far as the court knew, jaebeom was innocent.
and it was partially mark's job to change that.
he swallowed, tense, watching as the lawyer made his way right up to where he sat. the man clutched a huge blue ringbinder in his arms and just like his suit, it made him look tiny.
"mr tuan.." he spoke, in a voice that was so nasally and irritating that mark never wanted to hear it again, "you say you witnessed the crime, correct?"
mark nodded, though really he had only seen the aftermath. from where park sat in the audience, he shot mark a quick thumbs up and mouthed, "tell him yugyeom didn't do it on purpose"
mark almost acknowledged what park had said, before quickly realising that he was in front of a whole crowd of people and keeping his mouth firmly shut.
the lawyer continued, "would you please explain briefly what happened for the jury?"
a deep breath.
this is it mark
time to save yugyeom.
"i came into the warehouse.. and um.. jaebeom and yugyeom were there, yugyeom holding the gun.."
he paused, unsure of how to make yugyeom seem innocent. park had told him that whatever mark said, the others would just go along with it. yugyeom's freedom was reliant on the story mark made up.
and mark had no idea how to make a believable lie, youngjae had always picked up on them back when he lived in america.
the lawyer cleared his throat and cast his eyes disapprovingly to the jury, "go on mr tuan."
"right yes.. i..." mark started to panic, "i.. i heard jaebeom say 'shoot me if you want, the gun is loaded with blanks'".
the lie seemed to slip out of his mouth by accident, but once the words had passed his lips, he knew there was no going back.
he had lied in court, yet somehow, it might've worked. the courthouse ruffled with murmurs, from both jury and audience alike. they looked liked they believed it and mark silently breathed a sigh of relief. some of the tensions he had been holding were dissipating- he had gotten past the first hurdle, he had told the first lie. jaebeom, however, stood up indignantly, "objection! i never said that!"
the person sat next to him, who mark believed to be another lawyer, dragged him back down as the judge, in his old gravelly voice said, "denied, let mr tuan continue."
jaebeom did not look happy, but mark had to continue.
the lawyer looked confused, and nervous, his angry glare suddenly wiped from his face. the case was getting more complex, even if it was all lies, and things were suddenly starting to not go his way. mark was sure that before he had started speaking, the arrogant man was sure that the case would be an easy win. now, not so much.
"are you sure this is what mr lim said?" he asked, and mark could hear the angry surprise in his voice.
"positive. it was clear as day.. he.. he was taunting yugyeom? telling him.. telling him to shoot him,"
"and why on earth would you think mr lim would be saying that?"
mark shrugged, "i.. don't know. jaebeom is kind of insane it's be impossible to understand his emotions."
his friends seemed pleased with that response, it would for sure make some of the jury come onto yugyeom's side. mark too, was quite proud of himself for having the idea to mention jaebeom's insanity. it made him unlikeable.
he continued with no intervention from the lawyer, "we all live.. y'know like on the same estate.. and he's sort of known as like.. a pyschopath? honestly, there must be some police files on him, he's getting arrested all the time,"
"as far as i know there are none." this rebuttal came with a satisfied, almost smug look from the lawyer, "meaning what you're saying has no grounds,"
of course jaebeom had found a way to delete his cases from the system, and was now sat behind his bench in the courthouse looking rather pleased with himself.
"no!" mark said exasperatedly, "ask anyone from wingate. we were in that warehouse because.. because he had kidnapped bambam and jackson... he's insane!"
park motioned for him to tone it down, and he did, taking a deep breath.
"what i'm saying is, bambam has a cut on his face and a hole in his leg from jaebeom.. jackson has his whole head bandaged because jaebeom knocked him unconscious." he paused before remembering something, "yugyeom told me he watched him murder someone called park jimin. he's done really bad things,"
"i don't see how this is relevant to the case mr tuan, shall we continue talking about what mr lim said?"
the frustration that came with this obvious dismissal of a serious matter pissed mark off, he had told the whole world how bad jaebeom was and was ignored. trust the korean law system to be shit, or any law system for that matter.
even the judge looked unfazed.
mark sagged and continued to lie, "sure.. that was all he said, just.. i dunno, taunting yugyeom.. and then, yugyeom couldn't take it anymore and shot him, aimed at the leg. i mean.. he um.. he y'know, thought it was full of blanks,"
the lie continued.
"are you sure he knew that?"
"yes. like i said, jaebeom told him,"
the lawyer said nothing, just thought in stony silence. mark knew from this alone that he had done something right, the man looked stumped.
the judge groaned, "can we keep this moving please? we have lots of other witnesses to get through."
"fine fine," the lawyer waved his hand with an air of annoyance, "can i call park jinyoung to the stand?"
it was still weird hearing park's first name, it felt wrong somehow, like he was so one dimensional he didn't even have a first name. but then again, mark had been seeing the better side of him for a week.
even just seeing the gentle fear in the older's eyes caused mark's heart to soar with pity and something he might've called love if he hadn't have been so scarred by youngjae.
park made his way up to the stand, trading places with mark with an awkward flair of nerves. mark could relax, but park's anxiety filled time on the stand was only just beginning.
with gritted teeth, mark slotted into his seat next to jackson and bambam and watched with crossed fingers as the lawyer began to speak again.
jackson leaned over and whispered in his ear, "good job. the jury looked like they believed the lie, we'll just have to survive jaebeom's statement,"
"and park's," mark replied, suddenly remembering how they had gotten into this situation in the first place.
because park was on jaebeom's side.
jackson nodded, but only slightly, due to the gash in the back of his head, "i have faith in him,"
but that faith would prove to be completely ungrounded, because in the space of only about a minute, park betrayed them all once again.
things were going well, with park explaining to the lawyer how he had found out where the warehouse was, from some girl called nayeon, and how he and yugyeom had run over to go get bambam and jackson.
mark smiled slightly, park really was staying true to his promise to help yugyeom.
but then, park's eyes glazed over, and even from where mark was sat, he knew exactly what park was looking at.
jaebeom.
he whipped his head around, and saw jaebeom smiling a little at park, his eyes full of a sort of pleading that looked so entirely fake, mark was sure park would see through it and continue with his lie.
but then those words slipped from park's lips, those words that mark would hear for days afterwards.
"everything mark tuan said was a lie."
and mark knew they would never be able to steal park back from jaebeom.
never.
so um, i also lied.. the cute markjin thing will happen next chapter ;)