At lawyer Khuong's office, Giai Moc Vi frantically flipped through old case files.
Most of them were processed with pseudonyms due to privacy reasons.
She skimmed through the court interrogation procedures to understand what a lawyer needed to investigate and prepare before trial.
After reading nearly all of them, she discovered that Khuong Tich Yen had never lost a single case.
Some lawyers, in order to maintain their accumulated points and win rate, would reject difficult cases that were likely to be lost.
But Khuong Tich Yen was different. Except for cases where the verdict was already predetermined, she accepted everything even highly disadvantageous ones.
Most of them were civil, criminal, and corporate economic disputes.
Her winning rate was absolute.
Giai Moc Vi closed the file in her hand, finally understanding why she had chosen to intern under Khuong Tich Yen before losing her memory.
Learning from someone with such an overwhelming win rate surely she herself would become an excellent lawyer, too!
The desk in front of Giai Moc Vi was filled with stacks of case documents retrieved from the database.
Dam Uyen Chi arrived with a cup of tea. Seeing the mountain of documents, she exclaimed:
"Oh my god, Moc Vi, you already finished reading all this?"
Giai Moc Vi stood up, tidying the papers.
"Yeah. It's strange… why can I remember all these things after reading just once, but I can't recall anything about my past?"
These professional concepts seemed deeply ingrained in her mind she only needed to glance at them once to remember.
Perhaps she had stayed up late studying in the past.
But it was good she didn't need to waste time relearning everything. In misfortune, there was still some luck.
Though many concepts were still vague, so she had to reread everything to ensure accuracy.
Dam Uyen Chi comforted her:
"It's hard to explain. After all, you don't even remember how you used to chase after Officer Ve."
Even though Giai Moc Vi had heard many people mention this, she still wanted confirmation.
"Uyen Chi… was I really the one who actively pursued Officer Ve? Could it have been a misunderstanding? Maybe the way I said 'like' was different from how you interpreted it…"
Something like that?
She held onto a tiny bit of hope…
She wanted proof she wasn't that boy-crazy.
Dam Uyen Chi laughed behind her hand.
"Misunderstanding? Absolutely not. You clearly said that you liked Officer Ve very, very much, hoped to marry him, and dreamed of becoming an excellent full-time housewife."
"You even seriously bought advanced cooking books, studied his food preferences, tried to learn his break times so you could bring him lunch."
"You even risked your life to follow him when he was investigating a bomber case! Honestly, even I didn't think you'd go that far. If I were Officer Ve, I'd be touched too!"
"Stop. That's enough."
Giai Moc Vi was mortified.
Why did she even ask?!
Marriage… housewife… disgusting!
What kind of embarrassing, obsessive behavior was that?!
"So humiliating…" she held her forehead.
"Chasing love requires courage! Nothing to be ashamed of. Even after Officer Ve gently rejected you once, you still didn't give up… Uh? Why does your face look like that…"
Giai Moc Vi's eyes widened like she had been electrocuted.
"He… he rejected me?"
Dam Uyen Chi quickly explained:
"Not exactly. You confessed right when he was on duty, so he didn't answer and just told you to leave the scene quickly."
"I think he was worried about your safety. And today, he even brought you to the law office. Plus, he was really protective of you in front of those gangsters… doesn't that sound like mutual affection?"
Giai Moc Vi froze.
So that lying policeman wasn't bluffing.
She really did pursue him…
And she was even obsessively attached to him?!
She remembered how confidently she had said earlier:
"How could I be obsessed with you? Even if we used to be in a relationship, it must have been you chasing me, not the other way around."
"You chasing me…"
Dam Uyen Chi stared at the pen in Giai Moc Vi's hand being crushed into an "S" shape.
"M–Moc Vi… are you okay…"
"I want to kill someone," Giai Moc Vi said coldly.
Kill kill kill!
Kill everyone who witnessed her ridiculous pursuit of that man!
…
A while later, the source of her humiliation arrived precisely at 7 p.m., as arranged.
Ve Dinh Tieu twirled his car key skillfully between his fingers.
The metallic clinking sounded like fuel being thrown onto her burning anger.
She pushed open the office door, rolled her eyes, and headed downstairs.
"Let's go."
Giai Moc Vi stood up, face dark. Ve Dinh Tieu smirked:
"What's wrong? Read too much and got dizzy?"
She was about to retort when she noticed a poker card drop from his pocket.
It landed near her foot face up.
The Diamond Ace.
She stared at it, heart pounding.
In the car, she asked, "Where did this come from?"
He clicked his seatbelt.
"When interrogating the kidnappers, they said Dieu Tinh Phong's nickname in his gang is 'Diamond'. Trac Uan had a deck of cards, so I took one."
"'Diamond'?" she murmured. "Did they say anything else?"
Ve Dinh Tieu smiled.
"Civilians can't just ask about police secrets."
Then why did you bring it up?!
"But this part is common knowledge. Besides the nickname, they said nothing. Looks like they're loyal to Dieu Tinh Phong. This Poker group is interesting."
He had checked their transaction history nothing suspicious.
Except for a violent debt-collection case recently, they seemed normal.
Too normal.
Which made them abnormal.
Even their finances didn't match the scale needed to support dangerous gangsters.
And Dieu Tinh Phong casually offering 7 million yen for a settlement…
Poker was definitely hiding something.
…
They passed her neighborhood and drove toward a crowded area.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"The doctor said visiting familiar places might help you regain memories."
She fell silent.
Everything Uyen Chi said earlier had exceeded her tolerance.
It wasn't that Officer Ve was bad it was that her past behavior was too childish, clingy, and embarrassing.
She could feel it.
Her pursuit tactics had been… shameless.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became.
Ve Dinh Tieu glanced at her.
"Relax. You're going to tear the seatbelt apart."
She loosened her grip and looked outside.
Night lights.
Crowds leaving and entering the subway station.
The car stopped at the entrance of subway line 1.
Ve lit a cigarette.
"This is the place."
"What?"
"You discovered your wallet was stolen here."
He explained the case, then added:
"You said you smelled disinfectant on the thief. I looked into the three people who bumped into you one was a swimming coach, one a mall janitor, and one a surgeon."
Giai Moc Vi blinked.
"So… who was it?"
Ve Dinh Tieu smiled.
"Who do you think?"
"…I don't know!"