Neil and Ryu sat together on one side,waiting for the judge to arrive.Judge Baek was known to conduct her cases differently.Soon a court official would come and take away Ru.After which the judge would enter,listen to the opening statements of both parties and then take a break.During this break,the judge usually talked to the child,after which she usually gave her decision immediately.
Leona Knight was aware that her plan of having Ru brain washed had failed when his nanny had been sacked last week.But still from that woman"s report she was pretty sure it had made a difference and Ru must be a littlebscared.She was confident that she would be able to win Ru"s custody with some tears and sympathy from the judge.
Ryu,was also worried about losing custody.He was aware that Leona was a pro at acting.He couldn"t be sure that she would not try something today to make him look bad.
Soon, a woman in grey suit with the court"s I.D around her neck came to fetch Ru.She introduced herself as Secretary Wen and spoke to Ru,"Little Master Ru,we have a playroom with lots of toys for boys your age.Would you like to come and play there?"
Ru turned towards Alicia and asked ,"Mother,may I go?"
Alicia smiled at his manners and said "you may if you want to.But be careful."
However,Alicia was not aware that the secretary"s eyes had sharpened at Ru"s address and she was much more alert now.This woman was no simple secretary,she was a child psychologist who generally volunteered to help children of broken homes adjust to their new circ.u.mstances.Ru happily held Secretary Wen"s outstretched hand and went to play.
Secretary Wen took Ru to the playroom inside the judge"s chamber and went inside to report her findings.Judge Baek was a woman of old thinking.She firmly believed that a child needed both parents to blossom.But in the present many relations.h.i.+ps were breaking and it was not always ideal to live with constantly bickering parents.But what these parents forgot was that making a child choose his parent was akin to torturing a child.She usually preferred that parents retain joint custody with the mother being the chief care taker.n.o.body could take a mother"s place in a child"s heart.
Today"s case was complicated though.Firstly,the child had been abandoned by his mother early.Secondly because of the celebrity status of both parents,keeping the case out of the media was going to be difficult.Thirdly,the father had already won a custody case once for his siblings only when he was a teenager..so in the eyes of court he was already a fit guardian.And now another layer had been added..a new mother...To get a better understanding of these people she had been observing them through the cctv cameras.She had seen a few things which would help her in deciding soon.Judge Baek rubbed her forehead and got up to enter the courtroom.Regardless of all the complications she would do her best to be fair towards the child.
The Judge entered the courtrooms and sat down on her chair.A droll voice soon announced,"The court is now in session."