Chapter 43: Nowhere to Go

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“What are we going to do with her? Minami, this teenager isn’t a criminal. We can’t very well keep her in a holding cell forever; we have to find something to do with her.”

The officer in question let his eyes flutter as he leaned forward on the table, pressing his mouth against the hands that were tightly linked together. He stared wonderingly at Moto, who stood in front of him with his back pressed against the wall. Omar was sitting next to Minami, equally as displeased with Minami having tossed Rina into a holding cell as if she were just another common criminal. She was an endangered teenager, thrown out into the streets by her very own parents and he treated her as if she meant nothing. It boiled Omar’s blood to see Minami was treating people this way simply because he had the power to.

“There is nothing else to do with her. We will try to get into contact with her parents to see if they want to reconcile with her and take her back in. If they don’t or if we cannot get into contact with them then we will consider her disowned and put her into the foster care system. For the night, Suzuki will be staying in the holding cell.”

“Why does she need to stay there?” Omar spoke up now. He could see Minami roll his eyes and he glared harshly at the young officer. He already disliked the idea of Rina going into the foster care system and Minami’s bad attitude wasn’t helping. Even if Rina’s parents had once thrown her out, he prayed she would be taken back by them. At Rina’s age, her fate in the system looked bleak. Couples only wanted babies or toddlers; teenagers of her age rarely got taken in, at least not permanently. He wanted her to have a loving family, but what chances of that did she truly have if she was in the system at her age?

“Do you have another suggestion, Karim? We don’t have a family to send her too; what else are we supposed to do with her?” Minami asked in an annoyed tone. Omar sighed heavily; it was getting harder and harder to peacefully work with Minami without telling him where to get off.

“As much as I don’t like the idea of the young girl staying in that cell all night, Minami is right you know, Karim,” Moto spoke up now, gaining the attention of both males in front of him. He sighed dejectedly, scratching the side of his head. “We can’t let her back out onto the streets; she’ll get hurt. We have a moral and legal duty to make sure teenagers like her are safe when we find them. Jail might not be a preferred option but it is certainly better than her being out on the streets.”

Omar hung his head, his hands coming up to rub his aching temples. He knew they were both right. He had encountered her twice on the streets and twice now, she had almost gotten herself hurt by the same group of people. If they did let her out and she didn’t have anyone to stay with, what was stopping her from going back out onto the streets alone? She was too soft; she would never survive that.

“Unless you want to temporarily house her.”

Omar’s thought process stopped when he heard the monotone words from Minami. He slowly raised his head again, giving Minami a curious look. The much younger officer laughed at his clear shock and leaned forward onto the table again.

“You’ve taken quite the fancy to her, I see. I don’t know what you want with such a young girl but if you want her to stay out of jail so badly, we can have her temporarily housed with you until we have a more permanent solution for her placement,” Minami explained to the still stunned ex-officer. Omar shook his head to gain back his senses.

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