Some days pa.s.sed in peace with no news of the custody suit..Ru had been spending tine with his Uncle Matt and living there..This arrangement had been done especially to prevent Aunty Su from gaining access to Ru and trying to brainwash him to choose his mother...

On early Friday morning,Neil received a message from the sources that the case had been accepted and a judge a.s.signed..

After receiving the details,he immediately called Ryu and said.."Let's meet up for breakfast..I have a couple of good and bad news.

To Alicia,he messaged, "Breakfast at The Breakfast Cafe at 8.30 am..Have news.See you."

When Alicia reached the cafe,it was already 8.35 and Ryu and Neil were sitting at a table with somber expressions on their faces.

"Hey....why the long face,Mr Long and Mr Long?"Cracking up at her own silly joke,she made Ryu smile a little.Neil,who was a little tensed did jot respond and just sat there with a worried expression.

As Alicia sat down,she looked at the menu and seeing her favorites ordered them immediately.

Food order out of the way,Ryu looked at Neil waiting for Neil to state the news.

Looking at his brother and Al waiting patiently,Neil took a deep breath amd started,"Ryu,you will mostly receive your summons today regarding the case.The good thing about it is that the judge is pretty strict so she will not be swayed by public opinion and the first thing she will prohibit is talking to the media so atleast Ru will be safe from being exposed to these elements and also the fact that you are engaged and Ru loves Al is in our favor .The bad news is that this judge is also traditionally biased,in most of her previous cases the custody was awarded to the mother or jointly so that can make things difficult.Ryu,chances are that even with the engagement we may not be able to retain sole custody..we may have to use the medical records in spite of everything..look she is using the fact that you are hiding that so she can do anything freely..once the medical records and her psychological evaluations are exposed,she will automatically be declared an unfit parent...Ryu,please be prepared to either submit those doc.u.ments or to share custody."

"Also,I think that woman has pulled some strings to get this judge..This judge is honest but biased....so even if she can't be bribed still naturally everything can be in her favor..another reason I think that strings were pulled is because of Aunty Su.Judge Baek is known to interview the children in most custody cases so even if we were able to prove that you were not neglecting Ru,if he chose his mom as Aunty Su has been teaching him..then the custody would go to her...."

"There is no way I am going even share custody and neither am I revealing those things..If worse comes to worst,me and Ru will move abroad.."

"Ryu,moving abroad would make you a kidnapper if you don't follow the court orders.Even if for any genuine reason Ru is not presented in court that day then the ruling can go against you."

Before the furious discussion could get blown into an argument,Alicia interrupted,"How did you retain custody last time?"

"I threatened her..",Ryu answered her.

Alicia looked at Ryu and asked softly,"How?"

Ryu rubbed a hand across his face and said,"She was orphaned at a very young age and her only support system was my mentor whonwas also her G.o.d father..He had just pa.s.sed away and so she wasn't emotionally stable..Heck I straight away told her that I was having her inst.i.tutionalized if she did not sign the papers..either way I would get the divorce that I wanted but she would have to suffer..She signed the divorce papers..but ran away before the courts could make a decision on custody..but because of her abandonment I was handed custody by default..This is why she was able to re apply now...She is claiming emotional instability and lack of empathy on my part forced her to flee.Her lawyer is claiming since I am a cold businessman I do not have the emotional intellect or the time needed to invest in a relations.h.i.+p.."

Alicia's hands had tightened in her lap..Ryu's threats had reminded her of her past..She was feeling suffocated suddenly...Wasn't that what her ex had planned?To claim that she was mentally unstable and get rid of her after acquiring her money which had been left to her by her dead parents.For a moment she was unable to differentiate between Alan and Ryu..They seemed the same..getting what they wanted ...She was suddenly shaken out of her stupor by a sweet voice calling her "Mother!!!" and she was caught in a hug by Ru..and as she hugged him she remembered..the difference between the two men..one had threatened his already s.a.d.i.s.t wife to protect his child from harm..while the other had harmed to profit from others' misfortune..She shuddered to think back that he had also almost succeeded.If not for that instance..she would have been inst.i.tutionalized wrongfully...The threats were the same but the reasons varied.....