Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
After the lunch break, everyone shifted into the courtroom. The next person to be on the witness stand was Joey Lai. His laywer was the first to ask the questions "Mr. Lai. After sitting through three different witnesses, what would you say about Ms. Ng's accusation?"
He looked calmly around the room "She is definitely lying."
"Why would you say that?" the attorney asked further.
He had a small smile on his face "She wanted me." he said with much arrogance. The crowd again blew up with whispers and the Judge again had to silence them. Joey snickered as he continued "She was just upset that someone caught us. It was her idea to have me come in the restaurant and put on a big show. She told me that her boss had a huge crush on her and he would not let her off work, therefore she had to work everyday. So she came up with this scheme to get herself out. I was the victim in this." he said to the jury.
Attorney Leung nodded "I see. I'm sorry you had to go through that."
"Oh please!" Josie muttered loud enough for the judge to hear. He gave her a warning look as she covered her mouth. "Sorry, sir." she said politely.
All eyes returned to the witness "Now, Mr. Lai. You are saying that Ms Ng came up with this plan so you two would meet alone?"
"Yes. That is correct." he nodded firmly looking poise and confident.
"What do you think her actions were?" The Attorney chose his words wisely.
Joey shrugged "What else would a woman and a man do?" he snickered "She wanted sex. I have to say, I didn't mind. But that was before I knew she would turn on me."
"Now how did she turn on you?" Attorney Leung asked sympathetically.
"She said that I attacked her, well she was the one that practically attacked me. Pinning me on the couch and kissing me..." he let his words slip away and stared at Allie long enough to make her squirm with disgust "She acted like she hasn't done it for ages."
"Objection! Your honor, what does this detail have to do with anything? He is obviously lying!" Attorney Chan argued.
The Judge leered his eyes at Joey "Objection sustained, Witness please leave your details to yourself."
"Yes sir." Joey smiled sweetly.
The defending attorney began pacing the room "What would you say about your brother's relationship with his girlfriend, Ms. Ng?"
"Not good. She told me herself, the night I met her at the family dinner. He had to take a call and she confided in me that he was always so busy with his work, he never had any time for her. She said she needed affection from a male. I felt sorry for her...and I admit, we almost kissed that very minute."
Allie could not stand it anymore as she stood up and yelled. "YOU LIE!!!"
"Order in this court!" The Judge pounded his palet.
"He's lying!!" Allie pointed to Joey. Josie and Sunny tried to contain her but she was practically hysterical.
"Ms Ng, you will be asked to leave if you do not quiet down. You will respect this courtroom." the Judge ordered.
Sunny wrapped his arms around her as he led her outside. Josh stared helplessly as he and Josie exchanged worried glances. "Allie, you need to calm down." he coaxed.
"HOw could I be calm?? He's making up his own story." she cried openly. "I don't even care about my reputation, I just don't want him to roam free of something he has done before and probably will do again. And just because he's rich, he's going to get away with it?" she sobbed in his arms as he patted her on the back.
"Allie...shh...don't cry. I'm sure the jury is smart enough to see through him." he rocked her back and forth while she trembled in his arms. "You want to know a surprise?"
She calmed herself as she pulled away "What?" she felt there was no hope left in this case.
"I found the girl he was flirting with that he thought was you." he said with a huge grin.
"HOW?" she asked eagerly, her tears quickly disappearing.
"Well, I talked to the officer that asked you the questions that night, she told me about this Midnight club and I went there...sure enough there was a girl that looked a bit like you. She even remembered clearly what he looked like and what he said to her. She works as an escort but he called her a hooker, she was insulted so she denied his request to sleep with him." Sunny explained.
Allie was feeling better after he told her "Really? You did all that work?" he nodded modestly "Thank you so much. Let's get back inside." she said quickly, not wanting to miss the good part.
He laughed with his head shaking "Someone's happy now."
She smiled "Come on." she pulled him back in the courtroom just in time for Attorney Chan to work his magic.
"Mr. Lai, you said that you met Ms. Ng at a nightclub about a year ago?" he started off slowly.
"Yes." Joey answered shortly.
"How can you assume that it was her you saw? After a whole year? Unless you have super human memory that we don't know about? How is it possible to remember a person you met for at most an hour and see them again a year later and totally recognize them?" he said in wonder, making Joey sound like a liar.
"I have a photographic memory. I remember faces real well. Anyways, it's hard to forget a beautiful girl." he added smoothly.
Attorney Chan nodded "Okay, let's assume that the person you saw a year ago is Ms. Ng. What do you recall from that first time you met?" he crossed his arms daring him to complete the lie.
"She was wearing a red dress, her hair was curled and she looked hot." he smiled at the Attorney. "We had a few drinks and we got to talking. Everything was going smoothly."
"A few drinks? So would you say your vision was altered?" he asked slyly.
Joey fell straight into the trap "I guess, alcohol can do that to a person."
The attorney smiled "I'm glad you agreed with me. So why do you say she turned you down?"
"Because I was rich and my name is Joey Lai. I'm sure everyone's read a rumor about me one time or another. They are not true and I tried to explain to her, but she didn't listen. I was upset because my reputation was at stake."
"Okay, let me change the scene for a minute." the attorney clapse his hands together "Were you drunk on the night of the family dinner? Because I did find out, you were at a bar not too long ago before you returned home. The bartender said he fixed you about 5 shots of Tequila?"
Joey flushed as he began feeling hot in the face "I guess, I did have a few drinks."
"So is it possible that you thought you saw the same girl? Thinking that Ms. Ng was the girl you met a year ago, you hit on her eventhough you knew it was your brother's girlfriend at that very moment?! Am I right?!" he accused.
"Objection, your honor. Attorney Chan-"
"Your Honor, I can prove that the girl Mr. Lai saw the night at the club is indeed not Ms. Ng! I have a witness that can testify if needed." he pointed a young girl that had a bit of resemblance to Allie sitting in the far back of the room.
The Judge looked at the girl and nodded at Attorney Chan "Objection overruled. You may continue."
The Attorney smiled with a nod "Thank you. Now, Mr. Lai. You said that Ms Ng hit on you? How did she do that?"
"She was crying while she told me what a bad boyfriend my brother was being." Joey lied through his teeth.
"And during that time, was anyone present to prove that she was crying and flirting with you?" he pressed.
"No one was around." Joey said firmly.
"Mr. Lai, what do you do for fun? Besides going to bars and getting drunk?" he quickly rephrased it before the Defending Attorney stood up "I mean getting a drink or two?"
"I travel, play golf and collect cars." Joey answered.
"You do not work?" the attorney asked with surprise "I mean, your brother works his butt off. He even goes to the harbor himself and picks up the shipping. Shouldn't that be a job for the little people?"
Joey shrugged "I am not interested in my dad's company."
"That wasn't my question." Attorney Chan said roughly.
After a moment, Joey answered curtly "No, I don't work."
"Ahh, I see. So you don't work and you spend most of your time doing useless things that you find fun while your brother works like he was a minimum paying employee? Why, I find that absolutely unfair don't you think?" he asked with shock in his voice.
Joey shrugged carelessly "That's his choice." he snorted. Attorney Chan had touched a heartless part of Joey's life, his brother.
"That's a bit harsh to say don't you think? Afterall, he is your brother." the equally sly man pointed out.
"I don't care." he said with much fierce. He disliked his brother witha vengeance and couldn't care much for him. Yet he had no idea that he was being set up for the downfall.
"So you don't care about your brother? Would it be wrong to say that you dislike him so much that you want his life to be miserable? So you wanted to hit on his girlfriend to ruin him? But in return she rejected you and you are a man, afterall no one likes to be rejected, especially a person that felt he was rejected twice?" he paced to the jury "A man that has so much reputation on his hands that he is willing to risk everything to get his ego up?" he turned to Joey "Did you or did you not attempt to rape Ms. Ng to destroy your brother's reputation once and for all?!!!"
"NO!! She wanted me!!" he cried like a spoiled rich kid as he stood up and pointed to Allie.
Attorney Chan smiled "Mr. Lai, must I remind you are under oath. I do have another witness waiting over there." he leaned in closer to Joey's face as he nodded towards the girl sitting in the back of the row "Do you think it's possible that you mistook Ms. Ng for her?" Joey looked away towards Attorney Leung for help. "Don't look away, look at that beautiful girl over there...you see? If you squint your eyes, she does look a lot like Ms. Ng, but only from the vision...am I right?" he asked with his eyes burning through Joey's.
"They don't look that much alike." Joey said weakly.
"But you agree that they look alike?" the man pressed further.
"I guess..." Joey stuttered. The crowd began to whisper again.
"I am done questioning, your honor." Attorney Chan nodded to the front of the room, looking determined to win the case.
The Judge let out a long sigh "This has been a tedious case for it is only one person's words against another. It will be up to the Jury to decide if the prosecutor is guilty or not. You will be called when the verdict is announced." he stood up and everyone in the room stood up in unison.
The room was emptied and outside stood hundreds of reporters snapping pictures at everyone there was. A few ran to Allie and asked her random questions. She continued to walk, while Sunny, Josie and Josh tried hard to ignore the other reporters. They made it safely into a holding room where Attorney Chan waited for them.