It Ain't Easy

열여섯 **

QUICK CODE

Apostrophe - main spoken language is Korean.

Single Dashes - English

Back Slashes - person on the phone

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Music was loud on her end when I answered. The near silence on the street between building seemed to amplify the noise coming out of the phone. I had no emotions for this woman only panic that she would pull the plug and yank my boy from me.

/Hey.. is anyone there?/

It was a voice I didn't recognize. It snapped the fear out of me.

'Yes, who is this?'

The line was nothing but music again. 'Hello? Are you there?'

Someone snorted and distant laughter, like giggles. 'Look I'm going to hang up..'

/No!!/ the voice whisper-yelled /Please no. Something is wrong. My friend won't wake up and../

They started to cry. My gut turned sour. Something happened to Reggie.. 'Where are you?'

She may not mean nothing to me, anymore, or care about her own life, but she was still the mother of my child and.. well, I do care about her deep down. Not enough to love her anymore, but I don't want anything to happen to her.

/Figaro.. I think. Hurry. They have us in../

I thought I heard "How are you still awake?" before she whimpered, and the line went dead.

What the fuck was this? What do I do?! I couldn't get caught up in anything illegal due to my visa, but I couldn't just let happen what was going to happen..

I marched in the restaurant and saw David get even more handsy with Mr. Park. It set my blood on fire.

"Fuck you. You can have him," I mouthed in English and slipped back out the way I came.

*** somewhere between 20 to 40 minutes later ***

I called Tae, explained the situation, who told me to be sensible, and the non-emergency number, who wanted way too much info before sending any cops to the location.

Getting in the club was easy. There were different levels for VIP and ELITE. Being foreign and fucking handsome, if it was different circumstances I would toot my own horn, made it easy to infiltrate these areas on the arms of pretty women. Private rooms were a little harder to check.

I heard someone crying behind a closed door and tried the knob first. It opened. Three girls lay in various degrees of undress and consciousness, but no one else was in this room.

The only girl semi-conscious was crying. She saw me and jumped back, hugging herself and shielding her exposed body from me.

'Are you the one who called me?' I asked as gentle as I could, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. She shook her head, but I didn't know if that was a true answer or her fear.

I pulled my phone from my front pocket and called Reggie. Called and called. No answer. Exiting the room, I called more and more, trying to listen as I headed down a corridor of rooms until a muffled scream caught my attention.

I will never be a hero and knew I couldn't just sit back and allow this to happen. Bracing myself, I stopped calling and called the emergency number, then kicked open the door. It came open with a jerk, yells and screams followed.

People scrambling to gather their clothes while others too junked up on whatever stared at me in an unfocused haze. I didn't expect this to say the least. Reggie, all passed out, with her body spread wide for all to see, and someone hovering close to her with a wet hard-on with others all around engaging in similar activities. I shivered.

'Who called me?' I asked to the confused faces as I panned over them one by one. It made me sick to my stomach to think what was going on in this room.. the other rooms.. That girl..

'WHO CALLED ME?!' I yelled when I got no answer.

Someone snapped from their elevated stupor. 'Chill bro. No need for that negativity. Just swallow it down and feel relaxed..'

His relaxed voice and comment enraged me beyond I had ever felt before and I punched the man. I don't even remember how I knew it was him that spoke or how I got covered in his blood.

It wasn't until I was on the way to the police station in the back of the police car that I came to.

*** a few hours later ***

Tae stood in his monkey pajama bottoms and my hoodie shooting daggers at everyone while he held Joonie.

- You are stupid. So stupid! - he cursed me as the lawyer, his mother sent over for me, went over the specifics with the booking officer.

I hung my head down and noticed the tears as they dotted my clasped, cuffed, and bloody hands. 'Just let me see him, please,' I croaked out in barely a whisper.

Tae shuffled over and hovered the baby in my line of sight. I didn't want to touch him covered in someone's muck. Never will I taint my son.

The lawyer and the cop talk for a while. Nothing they said sunk in. All I could think about was Reggie all sprawled out.. With my bound hands, I wiped at my face trying to dispel the images from my mind. I knew she was a little off. She always had that crazy energy about her. But why?!

I thought back to all the time together we spent. None of what happened to her was right. None of what I saw looked willing. My fists balled in my lap. My heart broke for her, and the others trapped by whatever game their tormentors were playing.

The lawyer put a hand on my shoulder, and I jumped jarring from my thoughts.

'You're free to go,' he said looking at me, as if sizing me up. 'Get these government bracelets off my client.'

The police officer was already up and bending over the desk. He jerked my wrists upward and unlocked them. My hands still hung in the place left them as I slowly processed what was going on.

Slowly standing, I asked out in the open - Does he know where she is? -

- Where who is? - asked Taeseok, bouncing the awake Joon-bug. 

- Where is Reggie? -

I groaned in frustration and whipped back around to the lawyer. - Where did they take the girl? -

- I can't tell you that. It's against my legal advice to visit the victims. - The lawyer narrowed his eyes. - Don't do it. It will look bad for you. -

I didn't care about looking bad. I needed to know what happened to her and if she was okay. Desperate, I stomped out of the police station with Tae following quickly behind.

Phone in hand, I called the only other person who could help with this.