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Title Track: The Pressure by Jhene Aiko
Korean dialogue will be labeled *K* ....
Yes you guys ... ya girl has been taking too many dabs cuz there's gonna be a lil FRENCH in this part. It's literally just two sentences but I thought it would work well and made for a cute funny little part in the elevator.
So the point is, there will be one instance of *F* instead of *K*
Thank you for reading I love you.
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Two cops were at our door and a man in a fancy suit. I bowed immediately and Roxy followed.
*K* "What's going on?" I asked them.
*K* "Good evening, ma'am. Are you Zeda Montgomery?" An officer asked and I of course nodded.
*K* "We need to speak with you ladies about last night at Gianni's."
I tried to keep calm and play it cool. Did someone report my incident? Was I going to get in trouble for concealing it?
*K* "Okay, yeah. That's no problem. Are we uh ... going to the police station?"
*K* "No, we can just conduct the interviews here in the office to save time. It's urgent."
They allowed me to change out of my robe and then we stepped out into the hallway.
*K* "I am officer Erskine, and this is my deputy Jihu. Behind me is detective WooTai." The man continued. *K* "If you wouldn't mind just following us downstairs." He said and then we all started towards the elevator.
We all crammed in and unfortunately, Roxy was nearest to the controls, so it was her job to push the right button. Which she of course didn't do.
We all felt the cab rising instead of descending and all eyes were on her. She looked back over at the board and her eyes went wide.
"Whoops. I hit the top floor instead of the bottom one." She tried to laugh but was a bit embarrassed and it made her more nervous.
She quickly hit the correct one, but the elevator was still going to travel all the way to the top before it took us where we needed to go.
Everything got way more tense. What if they think we're up to something now?
'Dammit Roxy.' I thought, shaking my head and looking down at my feet.
Everyone in the elevator could feel the tension and Roxy being true to her nature tried to ease it back down and break the ice.
"Can you tell the guy in the suit that he's handsome?" She said to me.
I covered my face with my palm. I was so embarrassed and now growing angry with her.
I sighed loudly. "No, Roxy. I'm not gonna-" I started saying with a strong attitude, but she interrupted me.
"Is French common around here? I could say it in French."
I again just sighed. "Roxy ... for the love of God, please do not -"
But of course, she started spitting out something I couldn't understand to embarrass us even further.
*F* 'I think you're very handsome, sir."
It was quiet for a few seconds, and I so badly wanted to just pry the doors open and leap to my death instead of being in this elevator.
What had gotten into her? She was on some kind of high after meeting all those guys the night before.
But then the man behind me, detective WooTai spoke up.
*F* "Thank you, Roxy." He chuckled. *F* "And just so you're aware ..." He continued, "I can understand and speak English too."
There was a pause of shock.
"And so can Jihu."
Then both the men laughed.
Now I was beyond embarrassed but felt slight relief that they were playing along with her, especially Wootai.
He was very tall, towering over us with his razor-sharp jawline. His eyes were emerald green, just like Roxy's and they shined against his slicked back black hair.
The two men in uniform had dark eyes and dark brown buzz cuts. They almost looked like they could be brothers, having similar features.
Their laughing ceased when the elevator stopped moments after, the doors opening to reveal two other guests. Seeing how full it already was their eyes widened and they stepped away to signal that they weren't getting on.
The doors again closed, and we finally made it down to the ground floor where they walked us behind the front desk and through a carpeted hallway.
My anxiety, like a rollercoaster, began its ascension to the heavens when they asked to speak to Roxy first. They left me to fill out paperwork with the two officers in another room with nothing but a round conference table.
It was just simple things, my name, address, phone number etc. There was a giant space on the back where it told me to give my statement, but it didn't say what for. It gave me an eerie feeling.
I stared at the blank space for some time tapping my pen on the desk and bouncing my leg, my anxiety almost at its peak, reaching the height of the track. The officers noticed me and told me to fill out that section after I talked with WooTai. I nodded with a loud sigh, trying to calm myself down.
About a half an hour later he and Roxy both came to the door for us to switch places and she would fill out paperwork while I was interviewed.
She seemed unfazed and still had a smile radiating on her face along with her uppity attitude as she sat in the seat next to mine.
"It was great speaking with you, Roxy." WooTai said with a grin.
*F* "It was my pleasure, Detective." She flirted, and then turned to start the paperwork.
He chuckled and his cheeks flushed for a few moments, but it quickly faded when he referred to me.
*K* "Zeda, if you're finished, I'd like to have a word with you."
I nodded and left my seat, stepping out into the hall and the detective closed the door behind me.
*K* "Right this way." He led me to an office a few doors down and again closed the door as I took a seat.
"Would you be more comfortable speaking English?" He asked me as he settled into his own chair.
"I could use the practice of speaking Korean. I mean ... this is only my second time here." I admitted.
*K* "So, you'll let me know if there's something you can't understand?" He said very quickly to test me. *K* "I'm just joking." He chuckled.
I let out a nervous and awkward laugh.
My train was now stuck at the very top of the tracks, teetering forward and back. The tension in my stomach, almost like butterflies, but bad ones, hell flies, that slowly eat away at your insides.
Paired with the dizziness, disorientation, blurriness of everything, I almost felt like I could faint. My mind fired off scenarios of the words that could come from his lips. What does he know?
*K* "Do you need anything? A drink or something to eat?"
This question slightly surprised me. I shook my head.
*K* "Alright well, I suppose you're wondering why we're here."
I said nothing.
*K* "Well. It's about last night."
He wasn't giving me any hints as to if it might be my altercation. So I just decided to assume it was.
*K* "Do you ... know what happened last night?"
*K* "Yes." I said, and this confused him.
He leaned back in his chair.
*K* "You do?"
I nodded.
*K* "Can you tell me?"
*K* "How much time do you have?" I asked with a subtle laugh.
*K* "All of it." He smirked.
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