To Find Something True

※ twelve

It was autumn. But, Lee Jiah felt hot most of the time, especially her face.

She squirmed in her position, kicking the duvet that covered her body. It dropped to the ground. A few squeaks bothered her hearing and it made her eyebrows furrow deep.

Random questions began to pop into her mind, and the deeper her eyebrows frown became. She grasped the noises of chit-chattering and a soft ringing of a telephone after that. She gasped and instantly sat, opening her eyes wide.

Judging by the uniforms the workers wore, she immediately knew that she was at a police station. Turning her head to one of her sides, she found out the heat on her face earlier came from the sun ray that pierced through the window. Despite the heat, she realized the sofa she lay on was undeniably comfortable.

"Good morning, miss!" Greeted a male who was also part of the team. A humble smile spread on his face.

Jiah turned her head to look up at him. "Good morning."

He seemed almost reluctant to tell something, yet he said, "Someone brought you here. If you're wondering."

"Is that so?"

The intern policeman nodded.

"Who?"

The intern shook his head for a while and said, "I don't know. He didn't tell us his name."

"Him?" More confusion was exposed on her face. "Is it a man?"

"Yes."

Jiah quietly gasped and whispered to herself, "Oh my goodness, that's dangerous."

The policeman added, "He can be someone you know. He brought you here by dragging you. Oh, right! He bought you some plasters and alcohol rub, in case he hurt you, he said."

At a leisure pace, Jiah lengthened her right arm to take the items.

The young policeman looked down at her knuckles. He said, "I see that you scraped your knuckles."

Jiah looked at her knuckles and noticed her right knuckle was reddened, with dry blood on her skin. The skin on the knuckle was torn as well, revealing its bare part.

"I think he forgot to get some cotton. I'll get some for you."

"Yes, thank you." She bowed and smile before he left.

While the intern policeman went to get some cotton, Jiah wondered who was that man. She barely remembered what happened. Trying to remember only hurt her brain.

**********

"How is Hoseok?" A feminine yet rough voice rang through a speaker. On the phone's screen display, there was Amber in her sweater. Her short, black hair dampened and her right arm tattoo displayed just above the home button. The background was quite dimmed.

Seokjin sighed, "good, good." With tired eyes, he pressed his lips into a thin line, his cheeks formed a chubbier shape.

"And you?" Amber asked.

Seokjin was exasperated. He stared at the screen in disbelief at first, before venting out. "You should have asked when we started talking! Why now? It's already more than forty minutes, and you think of asking now? We've been talking about business and you didn't bother to ask about your best friend's well-being first? Why, why, why?"

Amber was able to let out an awkward chuckle. Seokjin hardly scolded her. It led her to an assumption that he was under great stress. However, knowing Seokjin, she was used to that attitude, and fighting him back would be useless. If she was asked to resemble the man with a character, she would answer that he resembled the grumpy grandfather from Courage the Cowardly Dog.