บท 40: Remorse

In front of the entrance of the Court's main building, a girl with dark hair and brown eyes was shouting at the top of her lungs, "What do you mean I cannot enter the Court unless I show my ID?"

She fisted both of her hands on her waist and continued arrogantly, "I will not show my ID to you unless you show me yours first."

The guard in the black suit tried to reason with her, "Ma'am, I'm just doing my job. This is just a precautionary security check. Please try to cooperate."

The girl was not in a mood to listen to the private guards, "You are not even a Police Officer so I know this is not your job. Just let me through. You don't have any right to ask for my ID."

The guard who was now irritated by the behavior of this teenage girl tried to answer as calmly as he could, "Ma'am, I'm going to repeat this one more time. This is just a security protocol. And I cannot let you in unless I know who you are. Everyone else is quietly showing their ID, so what is the problem with you?"

The girl straightened her back and neck in order to look intimidating. "My problem is you and your behavior Mr. Black Suit." The girl shot a satire on the guard, with a tinge of arrogance in her voice.

The guard has had enough. He growled at the girl in a stern voice, "Look Ms. Arrogant, if you don't want to show your ID then please, kindly step aside. You are obstructing the government workers and delaying the proceedings of the Area Court by quarreling here."

The girl pretended to take a step to the side and stayed silent for a while. But when the guards were busy checking the IDs of other people, she tried to make a dash inside the Court.

But she was unsuccessful in doing so as one of the guards immediately blocked her and scorned, "Show your ID or go back home." This guard was not as polite as the other one because he was observing this arrogant brat fighting with the other guard, and didn't want to entertain her by being courteous.

The girl was standing on the steps, contemplating whether to take out her ID or not. She didn't want to take out her ID and look defeated after putting up a fight for so long. But she really needed to get inside as she was already running late.

Right at that moment an expensive looking car hovered in front of the court. The car was matt black in color with peculiar designs. And the interesting thing about this car was that it was built from the same metal as the main building of the Area Court, Astrostial.

Some of the guards who were standing in the court's vicinity ran forward towards the car and stood around the car in a very attentive position. Some of them were armed while some were not. But all of the guards looked well-trained and ready for battle.

After the car settled on the ground, a man who was in his late forties came out of the car. He was Maurice Fortin. He was well suited in expensive clothes and his face emitted confidence. Maurice quickly walked inside the court's main building.

Five of his guards followed him, protecting their boss from all sides. Two of the guards walked on Mr. Fortin's right side while two of them walked on his left. And the tallest and muscular guard of all walked at the back.

After a few seconds, another expensive looking car arrived. Judy got off from that car and started to walk towards the entrance of the Court. But she stopped beside the girl with black hair, who was giving a cold stare to Judy.

Judy looked at the guard who was close by and ordered, "I know this girl. Let her through."

On hearing this from Judy, Natalia scoffed and asked, "And who are you to give them orders?"

But the guard had answered instead, "As you wish, Miss Judy." Then he gestured his hand inside the building and let both Judy and Natalia through.

Judy and Natalia were now walking side by side. Natalia was trying to out-walk Judy but she was finding it to be difficult. Judy was taller than Natalia and had longer legs as well. Thus, she was able to catch up to Natalia easily.

As they were walking, Judy broke the silence and asked a question to Natalia, "Aren't you a friend of Alexis?"

Natalia immediately gave a furious look and became aggressive while answering to the person she hated, "Yeah, why? Do you want to get another beating for assaulting my friend?"

Judy smiled at Natalia and said, "You must be a really good friend of Alexis, you are even ready to fight for her."

Without wasting another breath Natalia immediately gave a reply, "I'm her best friend. And yes, I can put my life on line and fight for her; unlike you, who was ready to beat her to death."

Judy felt a pinch in her heart. Not because she was hurt by the words of Natalia but because what she said was true. A vivid memory of Alexis almost dying before her eyes came to her mind.

Natalia continued to verbally attack Judy when she had the chance, "And Alexis said that you were her best friend once." She scoffed and continued, "But I don't believe that. How can her best friend bully her, so much so that she almost died?"

Judy's expression changed to a sad one. She murmured in a remorseful voice, "She remembers that I was her best friend…"

"Not until you beat her to death!" Natalia exclaimed as she could not hold her anger in any longer. If she had met Judy at any other place, she would have already used violence to make her pay for what she did to Alexis.

Judy was quick to pick up what Natalia had said. "What do you mean by that?"

"She had no memory of her childhood. She recovered her memories only recently, after you beat her again. I can't tell you all the detail but it was purposefully blocked by someone." Natalia immediately regretted having a loose tongue.

"Why am I telling everything to this crazy girl?" Natalia bit her tongue and scolded herself in her mind.

Judy paused for a few second to take in what she just heard.

All kinds of thoughts were now hunting Judy. "She didn't forget me… someone else made her forget everything, including me. And I bullied her for so long just because she didn't remember me? I could have just started a fresh friendship with her. Why did I do so many horrible things to her??"

Judy caught up to Natalia again and said in a guilt-ridden voice, "I wanted to apologize for the way I treated Alexis. I wanted to say it directly to Alexis but I don't think that I will be able to face her, not after I repeatedly bullied her. Will you please tell her that I am sorry for everything that I did to her?"

Natalia was quite surprised to hear those words from Judy. She peeked at Judy's face to make sure that she was not being sarcastic. But she saw that Judy was actually showing deep remorse for her actions. However Natalia didn't want to believe her eyes. "I see that you're also a good actress. I was almost fooled by that pathetic look on your face."

"I'm not trying to fool you, or anyone. If I wanted to, I could have easily used my dad's influence and gotten out of this hearing just like I did from the Police Custody. But when Alexis almost died because of me, I realized how wrong my actions were. And I really want to repent for my crimes."

After saying this Judy walked faster and took the stairs instead of the lift.

Natalia took the lift. "What was that all about? I hope that all of it wasn't some act and she really meant what she said."

Alexis and Melissa were sitting in the front row of the Court. On the other side of the Court, Maurice and his secretary were seated. The lawyers of both plaintiff and defendant had also already taken their respective seats.

Few of Maurice's guards were scattered inside the Court room. Mina and Nora were already brought to the Court by the Police and they were also sitting on the other side of the Court.

There was pin-drop silence in the room. Everyone was patiently waiting for the Chief Justice to arrive.

Natalia entered the Court room before Judy. She saw Alexis and Melissa in the front row and quickly moved her steps towards them. Then she quietly sat beside Alexis and gave her a smile.

Alexis smiled back at Natalia and whispered to her, "Hi! You made it. What took you so long?"

Natalia leaned in closer to Alexis and whispered back, "Those crazy guards were not letting me in. I had to fight my way in."

Alexis recalled Mr. Johnson mentioning something about a crazy girl fighting with the guards. And she couldn't help but giggle.

Natalia scrunched her brows and demanded to know why she was laughing, "What's so funny?"

Alexis just shook her head and kept on giggling. But soon her gaze fell on Judy who had quietly entered the Court room and now was sitting on the next row.

Alexis's smile turned into a serious gaze at the sight of Judy. And she whispered to Natalia, "Remind me not to get angry."

Natalia took a deep breath and mumbled, "I'll try."