The expressions on Ricardo Rong and Rafaela Rou when they showed up in court were priceless. They were extremely pale and in shock, as if they still hadn't digested what had just happened.
Even before they walked through the doors to the court, they were already bombarded by journalists who ambushed them outside the building.
"How do you feel about getting countersued after suing?"
"Why did you sue the victim? Why did you decide to push all the blame onto the victims? Is it because you think you can do anything when you are rich and powerful?"
What kind of stupid questions were those? I was 100% sure those were not professional journalists. Even the most amateur tabloid reporters weren't stupid enough to ask blatant questions like that. It sounded more like something that an immature writer of a trashy CEO story who never did her research on journalism would make up for her story, to make the antagonists "lose face" or something like that. No professional journalist would ask that in real life. Seriously.
"…what?"
The lady who asked that stupid question found herself being stared at. All the other magazine writers and tabloid reporters were staring at her as if she was insane. Then they ignored her and asked more pertinent questions.
"What do you think the result of the court session will be today? Do you have the evidence to back up your claims?"
"Do you have any comments about the evidence that the prosecution provided? That your son was the true target of the assassination attempt, and everyone else just got dragged into it?"
"If you are asked to pay compensation, how much are you willing to pay?"
"What is the chance that you will decide to settle this out of court instead?"
Those sounded like more sensible questions, as opposed as the ridiculous, blatant "why did you blame the victims" and "is it because you are rich and powerful" nonsense that most CEO novels would have you believe about the way tabloid reporters conducted their interviews. Seriously, that was a breach of protocol and you would be fired by your editor, and the interviewed party would most probably sue you for slander.
Ricardo Rong and Rafaela Rou ducked and hid behind their posse of bodyguards, almost rushing into the courthouse while doing their best to maintain what little dignity they had. According to William Wang, they had become a laughing stock on the Internet after the debacle. Most netizens suspected that they just wanted to make use of the tragedy to grab money from other people and mocked them for shoving the blame to the victims.
I mean, they literally not only didn't apologize to the victims for their son getting them involved in the assassination attempt on his life – not that we needed an apology for that because Riley Rong was undoubtedly a victim in this as well, and I did feel sorry for him, especially since he lost his life – but they tried to sue the victims too. And for the most stupid reasons too. I mean, suing Lily Ling for seducing him? How was that even something you could sue her over?
Worse, they did it despite the fact that Riley Rong had been publicly stalking and harassing her both in the open and online, which made them even more of a laughing stock than they were already. It sort of reminded me of Avilo from a century ago, after he stalked Atira and other girls online, even going to Canada just to look for her. Jesus Christ, that guy was disturbing. Even more so than Riley Rong, now that I thought about it. There were a few similarities here and there, such as Riley Rong demanding to be Lily's master and going ballistic whenever she brought up another guy (like me), as well as spam her on social medial and direct messages, but at least he didn't go as far as to threaten to kill himself if she didn't accompany him. However, Riley Rong still tried to guilt-trip her and turn her into a "pet" or his "woman" through mental and emotional abuse.
But you see, that was the problem. Avilo – or David Blowe (his real name) – wasn't a rich and handsome guy, so he got banned from Twitch, the Starcraft 2 community hated him and ostracized him, and he got what he deserved. On the other hand, Riley Rong got away with everything he did, including stalking, harassing and mental abuse, and wasn't labeled a creep (at least not by his large community of fangirls) because…he was a rich and handsome CEO. What the fuck? The social media platforms didn't even ban him from harassing Lily because…well, quite frankly, he owned those social media websites or was a large shareholder in them. He could simply buy them out and continue harassing Lily online as the owner of the social media sites.
In the end, she deleted her accounts, but…yeah. Apparently being rich and handsome gave you a pass. The world was unfair. If you were poor and plain, you were a creep. If you were rich and handsome, you were romantic, despite doing the exact same thing.
Just look at those girls simping for Satan in Full Marks Hidden Marriage: Pick up a son, get a free husband. It didn't matter that the bastard tried to kidnap and rape Ning Xi. You had rabid fangirls squealing over how handsome he was, and how they couldn't wait for him to meet Ning Xi again. As if they wanted her to get abducted and raped. But it was fine! After all, Satan was so handsome, hot and rich! They enjoyed being pursued by such a slick guy, and fantasized over a rich and handsome underworld leader going to the extremes to attain the one girl he "loved."
Obsessed was more like it.
Well, Riley Rong was dead, though, so…yeah. Most of his fangirls were killed in the cruise missile strike along with him, which meant that there weren't many people left to defend him. Instead, the Internet was filled with netizens (mostly males) mocking and deriding him these days. I didn't join in because I felt that it was disrespectful to the dead (and my beef was with his parents, not him) and also because I didn't want to waste too much time on social media.
I watched patiently as the Rong couple were ushered into court. They looked at me and tensed. Then Ricardo Rong took a deep breath and came over. My hand immediately went to my jacket, but I then remembered that I had surrendered my plasma pistol to the police earlier. We weren't allowed to bring weapons into the court, after all.
"Can I help you?" I asked politely. I wasn't going to be baited into losing my temper and behaving like a jerk. I was going to be the better man.
"My wife and I have discussed this…and we wonder if you are willing to settle this out of court."
For a moment, I paused, raising an eyebrow and watching him in disbelief. In other words, the Rong family had admitted that they were in the wrong. It would be a lot cheaper to settle this out of court, at least for them. It would also save a lot of time too.
Even though they chose an odd time to suggest this compromise, it did make sense because usually court sessions were held multiple times. It was possible that it would take several court sessions (this being the first of a few) before the judge would finally come to a decision. Settling this out of court now would save a lot of time and money, despite this current session turning into a fiasco.
Pushing up my glasses, I considered for a moment before I turned to Lily. "What do you think? This has more to do with you because you're the biggest victim of this debacle. You should be the one who decides."
"I have no problem with that." Lily nodded. She regarded Ricardo Rong sternly. "Then we will settle this out of court."
"Thank you very much." Ricardo Rong bowed very deeply. I watched him, trying not to smirk and maintaining a calm, impassive expression.
"I am curious, though. If our positions were reversed, would you have accepted our request for a settlement out of court?"
"Yes." Ricardo Rong did not hesitate in replying. I could tell that he was being honest. It was common sense, after all. Nobody liked dragging these things out through multiple court sessions. It was a total waste of time and money.
There might be some readers who would be screaming at us for not suing the Rong family's asses into oblivion or some nonsense like that. These primarily consisted of ignorant people who had no idea how the law worked. Apparently they thought along the lines of making the Rong family "lose face" or some nonsense like that. Unfortunately, that was not how reality worked.
First, if you were talking about money, settlement out of court was something discussed and negotiated between both parties. If you insisted on suing them and having the judge resolve it, then the judge would be the one who decided the amount to be compensated. There would be no negotiations involved. Generally, it might mean you would receive a lower sum of compensation (though not necessarily). But settlement out of court was more flexible.
Second, if you were talking about "face" – which was a foreign concept that made no bloody sense to me – there was no difference between idiots losing the case in court and them agreeing to a settlement. In fact, the former would be achieved through a ton of trouble that wasn't worth the time and effort. The fact that the Rong couple agreed to settle this out of court and compensate us was already admission that they knew they were wrong. What was the point of pushing this further? Wasting so much time and money on legal procedures that could be invested elsewhere? Pushing them to the brink, just for what? Self-satisfaction? When satisfaction could already be achieved through out of court compensation? After all, as part of the compensation, Lily could request that the Rong couple issue a public apology and clarify to everyone that they were wrong all this while.
Only if they refused those terms, then we would continue to pursue this in court. Usually we would insist to carry on the court session if we were not satisfied with the compensation terms that they offered. Otherwise the out of court settlement would achieve the same goals. Court was only a last resort, something you used if the other party was not willing to give in.
Just like in the beginning, when Lily and I refused to submit to the Rong couple's accusations because we knew we weren't in the wrong. But if the other party admitted to being in the wrong, then there was no reason to insist on the court session.
"I have a few conditions," Lily said. Ricardo Rong nodded.
"Name them."
"The money is not an issue. But I want a public apology, ad for you to clarify to everyone the truth. Admit your son's mistakes and that I never seduced him, never even wanted to have anything to do with him."
With the evidence all out in the open, there was no way they could win the case and the Rong couple knew it. Ricardo Rong hung his head, stung but resigned.
"All right," he agreed. "I will get my public relations manager to arrange a conference tonight. My wife and I will publicly apologize to you and release an official statement about how our son had wronged you all this time…and that we were the ones who had wrongly accused you."
"Thank you."
"Not at all. We are the ones who should apologize. My wife was…not in her right mind after Riley's death. She ended up lashing out at everyone. I'm sorry that you had to suffer so much." Ricardo Rong raised his head, looking determined. "I'll go talk to my lawyer and judge. Expect good news tonight."
Then he marched off. I watched him, surprised at how well this was going, but I decided to be cautiously optimistic rather than let my guard down.
Fortunately, the Rong couple kept their word, and that night, they publicized their apology and official statement that they were in the ones in error, bowing their heads in front of millions of television screens nationwide, and asking for forgiveness.
At least we managed to close the case for this one…for now.