Grace just stands at the doorway, looking into the living room area. Jamie sits there and doesn’t look at Grace. She drops her things at the door and closes it. As Jamie gets up from the sofa, Grace runs to him in relief.
Grace: Jamie! Oh my god, thank god you’re home and safe I–
Jamie doesn’t hug Grace back. She looks up at him and gasps. Jamie’s face is bruised and cut up, and his hair is tassled in different directions. Grace steps back in shock.
Grace: Are you hurt?! What happened?!
Jamie doesn’t answer; he walks past Grace and goes into the cabinet for a wine glass.
Grace: Jamie? *walks up to him* Jamie–
Jamie: *annoyed* I’m fine.
Grace: *defensive* Clearly you’re not. Your face is busted up and you called me asking for help! What the fuck happened to you tonight?!
Jamie finally turns around to face Grace.
Jamie: Why should I tell you anything?
Grace: *confused* Where the hell is this coming from?
Jamie: I don’t want to talk about it…
As Jamie walks away, Grace grabs a hold of his arm to turn him around. He looks at her intently; same goes for Grace.
Grace: I looked all over the city for you. I came from Yonkers to come all the way back into the city in hopes to find you and see if you were okay. I nearly cried myself sick at Ari’s because I felt like it was my fault that something happened to you. Now that you’re here, clearly hurt, you’re not going to talk about what happened?
Jamie: I went to Harlem to learn more about the defendant.
Grace: Without any backup?
Jamie: No.
Grace finally lets Jamie’s arm go, visibly annoyed and freaked out about the situation at hand.
Grace: Are you out of your mind, Jamie?! You are working a criminal case dealing with one of the top gang leaders in the city, and you’re just going to show up on his turf to learn more about him? What the fuck were you thinking, Jamie?
Jamie: Look, I was following an order!
Grace: Then you say no and try to do in the safest way possible! You’re a rookie at the firm, they are going to put all those tasks on you because you don’t know any better, especially since this is your first case with them.
Jamie takes a moment to gather everything that’s happening. He visibly looks confused, and folds his arms across his chest.
Jamie: How do you know about the case? We never discussed about it.
Grace’s face instantly turns pale, she’s somewhat speechless.
Grace: The case was going around right before I went on vacation…
Jamie turns his head towards the direction near the closet door. Grace follows his gaze and notices a box near the closet door.
Grace: What’s in the box?
Jamie doesn’t say anything. He simply walks over to it and takes the cover of it off. He takes one thing out of the box. He holds up a name tag: “Grace Ashmore, Lawyer”. Grace widens her eyes in disbelief.
Grace: Wh-what’s that doing here?
Jamie: *annoyed; tosses the name tag back in the box* jinjja…
Grace doesn’t say anything.
Jamie: Were you not going to say something?
Grace: What?
Jamie: I had to find out from Ari that you left the firm?
Grace eye’s widen and stays silent. She honestly doesn’t know what to say.
Grace: I was going to tell you.
Jamie: When, Grace? When?! When were you finally going to tell me that you left the firm? Did it ever occur to you to tell me when I asked you countless of times when were you coming back to work?
Grace: *defensive* I wasn’t ready.
Jamie huffs and walks towards the room. Grace runs after him.
She swings open the door.
Grace: Jamie–
Jamie: I trusted you. I would’ve supported your decision and stood by your side, but instead you kept this from me–
Grace: You kept the case from me and nearly got yourself killed!
Jamie: So we both messed up. I kept it from you because it was work related and it’s been taking up so much of my time. Why did you keep this from me? When did you decide you didn’t want to be in the firm anymore?
Grace visibly feels uncomfortable as she’s in question.
Grace: Before you came back.
Jamie: So the position–
Grace: It was mine.
Jamie shakes his head in disbelief.
Jamie: I wouldn’t have took the job if I knew it was yours…
Grace: That’s why I didn’t tell you! How was I going to bring up the fact that the position that was opened was mine and that I left the firm?
Jamie: The exact way you just said it, Grace!
Grace tries to exit out of the room while Jamie gets a hold of her. She flails her arm in protest and accidentally hits Jamie in the face. He winces in pain and Grace immediately regrets it.
Grace: Fuck! Jamie, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to I–
Grace immediately starts to cry. The words start to just come out without her realizing it.
Grace: It’s my fault that this happened to you, it’s my fault that you’re on this case and that you got hurt tonight; I should’ve been there, I should’ve helped you, I should’ve been there sooner but I wasn’t and I’m a complete failure I–
Grace heaves everything out once again as Jamie holds her.
Jamie: Jagiya~
Grace: I’m so sorry…
Jamie: Ya…
Grace doesn’t listen, she continues to cry her frustrations out in Jamie’s lap. He just sits there, holding her in his arms.
……
The bathroom light turns on; Jamie walks straight to the mirror and looks at himself. He touches his blonde hair that has leftover blood from earlier that night. He closes his eyes.
He recalls walking into the hospital, beaten up and covered in blood, asking her assistance. The nurse behind the front desk grabbed him by his arms as his knees began to buckle and get weak. He doesn’t remember much after that.
He opens his eyes; tiredness wears on his face. He just wants to sleep, but he knows he has to go into work tomorrow morning. He knows this case is already too deep for him to back out of it, and he can’t let his client down. She deserves justice. She is someone’s daughter. Sister. Mother. That could’ve easily been one of his own sisters back in Korea. That could’ve easily been Grace. That could’ve been Willow when she got older. He winces at the pain as he cleans up his wounds.
Grace wakes up on Jamie’s side of the bed. At first, she’s confused until she looks at the clock on the nightstand; it is 3 o’clock in the morning. She looks to the empty side of her bed; Jamie isn’t there. Grace reaches at the nightstand to grab her glasses, but instead grabs a card on top of a leather wallet. She squints as she reads the card: “Kim Jae Hyung”. Grace looks at the picture of Jamie on his ID card.
Grace looks startled when she hears a man’s low voice.
Jamie: Gracie?
Letters From Liz. 