To Find Something True

※ forty-four

Author's note:

"Italicized in dialogues" – characters speak in English.

P/S: making Amber meeting a detective at a fast food restaurant was not my original plan... i was hungry and craving for fries when i wrote the scene lmao

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

Somewhere in New York City, Amber waited for her detective cousin in a fast-food restaurant. Hungry, she ordered a beef burger, onion rings, and a cup of carbonated drink. After receiving her food, she carried her tray to a table beside a floor-to-ceiling window. It would be great to keep an eye on the road in case her cousin appeared out of nowhere. She poured a sufficient amount of ketchup on the plate and dipped an onion ring, taking a bite. It crunched. The ketchup's tanginess spread through her tastebuds.

Amidst the chatter of customers, the latest song of the year played through the speakers. The beeps from the touchscreen cash register were loud, chiming through the space. On weekdays in the evening, the queues were always short. The fragrance of fried chicken failed to make her salivate. It wasn't that she was lucky to have received her order already, but she was nervous about the news she would receive.

From behind her, a man (in a brown leather jacket with a signage on one of the chest pockets, black jeans as his bottom wear, and a pair of running shoes for footwear) appeared. He turned to a chair and swiftly sat across from her. "Hello there, buddy!" He reached for an onion ring.

Clicking her tongue, Amber slapped his hand away, preventing her cousin from taking it. In Korean, she spoke, "Order for yourself. Go!"

"Ah..." her cousin muttered. Looking out the window, he added, "Boyish or feminine, ladies will always be ladies."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing!" he said, giving her a blank look. "Anyway, should I wait for you to finish your food or should we share it so you can finish quickly?"

"Judging by your tone, it's like asking whether I want the bad news later or now. Don't tell me I'll vomit at your news later."

"You sure know how my job is. And knowing you won't share your food with your starving cousin, I shall give you the good news first."

After taking a big bite of beef burger, with her mouth full, Amber asked, "you found her?"

"Obviously," Detective Eric Nam said, smiling and pointing his index finger at her. He raised another finger to show number two. He said, "And the second good news is, we found the guy too."

Before giving a comment, Amber took a piece of tissue and wiped the beef patty sauce from the corner of her lips. "That isn't good news to me. Thinking of that guy makes me want to punch his guts out."

"Watch your mouth, Bamby. I won't defend you if I catch you behind bars at my workplace."

Amber rolled her eyes, scoffing, "Duh." She put down the beef burger and said, "And what's the third good news?"

Detective Nam blinked his eyes. "Third good news?" His eyebrows raised. Shaking his head, he said, "nada." Amber raised an eyebrow. After placing his clasped palms on the table, he added, "I'm afraid I have more bad news for you. But if you want a side of good news, I can share that with you too."

He continued, "Thanks to your report, we discovered one of the human trafficking cases we've been investigating. We've saved the victims, but we're still looking for the culprits behind it. At the moment, we can't interrogate all the victims. Most of them were found in a weakened state, so our chief demands them to fully recover before we can question them." He took a moment to pause. "But I'm not surprised that guy is one of the culprits."