Chapter 11
Wait,” Channing called to us. She held her phone up to her ear. “Yes, he’s here again. You don’t have to come over, just talk to him on the phone?”
“Only doing my job,” the officer said to me. “I need to see the license by itself.”
“I’ll cut it out of the wallet,” I said, my voice rising. I sounded hysterical.
Channing joined me in the doorway and said to the man, “Kent Cho will be right over.”
The impact of her words was instantaneous. He turned and walked right back to his official vehicle, a blue SUV with East End Police painted across it. He didn’t leave, just waited in the car with his driver’s side door open.
“A little extreme, aren’t they?” I said. “What’s Kent got to do with this?”
“He helped me last time this guy showed up. I guess there have been robberies in the neighborhood; it’s on the news, whatever. Who knows.”
“Okay, but why didn’t he believe you when you told him who I am? Especially if you went through all this with him before?” I said.
“Reason doesn’t matter around here. They have their own weird rules in this town,” she said. “Anyone they don’t know is suspicious to them,” Channing said with a sigh.
“What about the tourists though? They have to go through this?”
“Yeah, I have no idea. I didn’t think you and Harabeoji coming for the weekend would matter to them.”
I’d never heard of such a procedure. I shook my head. “So it’s over, we can go to sleep now?” I asked.
“Almost,” she said, and closed the door. Instead of going upstairs, she hovered near the tall, narrow windows on either side of the entrance, looking out to the driveway. I went over to see what was keeping her.
A car pulled up to the curb and a man climbed out. He walked to the policeman, who was standing now. They shook hands.
“Let’s get this over with,” Channing said grimly, and opened the door.
I felt a rush of cold air sweep across the lawn as if a windstorm had suddenly spun up.
I shivered and put my arms around myself and winced.
When I looked up again, Channing had retreated, and the police officer and his car were gone.
Kent stood in front of me. He smelled like rain.
He looked angry as he stared at his shoes.
I moved aside in surprise. Had we done something wrong?
The first thing he did was storm past me to my cousin and whisper something to her.
She leaned back and said, “I appreciate it, Kent.” From the stiffness of her shoulders I could tell she was trying not to be rude.
He laid a hand on her back. It was taking all her willpower not to pull away from him, I could tell from the tight line of her lips.
I stood where I was despite the wind and said, “Yes, thanks, Kent. Good night!”
“You should go,” Channing said. “The door’s open.” She pointed to it.
Without missing a beat, he said, “Then tell Dahee to close it. I need a few minutes with you.”
My cousin glanced my way and nodded. I shut the door. “It’s late, we should get the kids to bed,” she said, and sidestepped away. I knew she’d already gotten the boys to bed. If they weren’t asleep, they would have been clamoring at our feet.
“She’s right. I’m exhausted,” I said. He didn’t respond and was staring hard at my cousin. I repeated myself, thinking he hadn’t heard me.
“Dahee, I only need Channing.” His eyes never left her.
“Like I said, thanks for coming over,” she said a little louder now. “You dropped everything to help, and I appreciate it.”
“That’s all I’m looking for: a little appreciation,” he said. “You know I’ll always protect you.” He continued to stare at her and wet his chapped lips, which were parted, of course. He hardly blinked.
“I’ll tell the Ahns how helpful you were,” she said.
“I need your help with something specific in my car,” he said. “Then I’ll go.”
“Tomorrow, okay?” she said. Her voice was light, and her lips were turned upward in a smile.
It was so obviously a fake smile. Why was this the price she had to pay to men like Kent?
Words of gratitude weren’t enough for him.
She had to act out a dance of niceties in return.
She had to flatter him and give him the time he demanded so he felt respected or else she’d be labeled as rude or thoughtless or cruel no matter the size of the favor he’d given.
All to keep this job and make sure the rest of society thought well of her.
What would he say to the Ahns about her if she didn’t please him?
What would the rest of East End think of her?
I recognized the restraint in her stance. I couldn’t bear seeing my cousin go through the motions now. The performance cost so much from the one performing. She’d said no in many ways, and he didn’t accept it.
“Are you negotiating with me?” he said.
Channing’s face froze.
“I think she has a headache,” I told Kent.
“Dahee, go to bed,” he said to me as if I were a child.
Then he turned to Channing, who had taken another couple of steps away from him.
“Tonight you needed my help so I came, and tonight is when I need yours so you’ll do the same for me,” he began.
He wasn’t going to let it go; I could hear it in his voice.
Channing must have understood it, too. She said, “Okay. Dahee can come with us.”
“Dahee said she was tired,” he replied.
“I’ll come,” I said, and hurried after Channing, who was already out the door.
“It’s not necessary, Dahee,” Kent said, remaining in the foyer.
I didn’t know what to do.
Channing looked back from the driveway. “Wait right there by the door,” she said to me as if I were going to disappear. Her words seemed to release a great sigh from him and set him in motion out into the night.
“I’m coming anyway,” I called, and followed them.
The gray clouds were ominously low. I left the door wide open behind us in case we had to dash back in.
There wasn’t a moon or stars. Just this wind that was cold, ribbons of it around me eddying now, not as forceful as the one that had accompanied Kent.
I kept my distance to appease him. I wanted him to free Channing as soon as possible.
Her hair wafted out over her face, and she raised a hand to clear it.
Kent’s hand went up, too, toward her brow, and she shrank back.
They stood there for a long while by his car with Kent talking endlessly.
My cousin’s shoulders slumped more with each passing minute.
She shook her head and moved her arm away when he touched it.
I didn’t feel she was in danger, but it was more than an annoyance the way this man wanted her time and attention in exchange for his help that night.
It dragged on, so I finally thought it was appropriate to say something—as if any of this was appropriate. It was confusing to me, but I knew that Channing really needed this job. I walked closer to them and repeated that it was late. Kent turned his head in my direction.
At that moment Channing looped her arm around Kent’s shoulder in a half hug and only after that did he open his car door and get in. As soon as the door shut, she turned and sprinted toward me.
“Thanks for saving me from that cop. Sorry you had to call Kent,” I said as we entered the house.
She shuddered. “See what he makes me do?”