Through The Night

1

I've been waiting for at least 10 minutes for a cab. New Zealand does not seem to like me. There are several people who insist on going inside the cab before I can even lift my luggage. I move closer to the side so that I can easily enter. Another cab stopped right in front of me, and another person was about to get in.

"Fucking hell!" I exclaim as the person turns to face me. He doesn't seem to expect that from me, so he steps back to let me take the cab. "Thank you!" I yell, more sarcastically than gratefully. I slid my bag inside and shut the door.

"Where to?" I take out my phone and show the driver my destination, who nods. I keep quiet the entire ride as I gaze out the window at how stunning New Zealand is. However, the beauty of a place cannot be determined simply by looking at the city's fully constructed buildings. For the next ten days, I'll be in New Zealand. I need to look into a case, and one of the key locations is in another country. I've been a prosecutor for three years. I'd say I'm struggling because it's difficult, but I'm also aware of the flow of my work. It is exhausting, but it pays well in either case.

The car came to a halt in a different location after only a few hours. There are no large buildings in the area. There are houses nearby, but you can see how clean the neighborhood is. As I exit the car, I take a couple of bucks from my wallet and hand it to the driver. I take a deep breath in and, as expected... This is a breath of fresh air in this environment.

"Prosecutor!" I turned around to see a man in his 50s running towards me. He appears to be the local detective who will assist me with my investigation. The person in charge of the case in South Korea is also investigating, so he asked someone to accompany me. "How was your flight?" he inquired politely. "I'm Detective Riley, just call me Riley," he said, wiping his hands on the side of his pants before offering it to me. To be honest, he looks like a father of five children who doesn't see him very often, and he always eats donuts at work, but I think he's good at his job. That's me judging and complimenting someone all at once.

"Please call me Lisa," I said, taking his hand and lightly shaking it.

"No, no... I'll call you Prosecutor; it's not like I get to work with a Prosecutor every month, so I'm quite excited," he said again, smiling.

"By the way, Detective Lee told me to rent a car for you," he said, pointing behind me, and I turned around to see a black BMW.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he says as he walks towards his police car. "Let's go to where you're staying... just follow my car," he says as he walk towards his police car. 

Riley assisted me with my belongings as I followed him inside after a quick drive towards a decent-looking neighborhood. There are a few people here and there, and it appears that many of them stay here. The space is also larger than most houses in the neighborhood. Riley greeted the man right next to a couple of people, prompting a woman to turn around. They appear Asian... If I'm not mistaken, they're probably Koreans. 

"Prosecutor, this is Mr. and Mrs. Park, the owners of the entire apartment, and this is the prosecutor I was referring to," the couple offered their hands for a hand shake as I take their hand. When I extend my hand, I bow slightly because they appear Korean.

"I'm sorry, I just get used to it... I live in Korea," I explained as they nodded.

"Did you notice we're Koreans?" the woman asked, prompting me to nod and smile. "Where were you born?"

"I was born in Thailand, but I studied and began working in South Korea."

"Rosie was about to start working there as well," Mr. Park explains. I'm not sure who Rosie is, but she's most likely their child.