“Two hundred tickets before noon!”
Lingzi adjusts her cap and checks the time. 11:54am. Just in time!
She crosses the street, smiling to herself as she imagines sitting in the comfort of her car with the air-conditioner on full blast. As she walks along the path, she spots another ticket expiring.
“Two hundred and… one!” she counts as she takes note of the number plate.
“Wait, wait, wait!” someone calls out.
Lingzi turns her head and sees a woman taking long strides in heels. She feels bad, she really does. But she’s a new police officer so just because the car belongs to a beautiful woman, she can’t risk losing her job (something that she worked really hard for) by waving off the ticket.
“I’m sorry,” Lingzi sincerely apologises, “But I have to do my job.”
“You’re a police officer right? You should know what you’re doing is illegal!”
“Ma’am, your car has been parked here for two hours and three minutes in a zone that only allows for two hours. That is illegal,” Lingzi points out calmly, though her patience is wearing thin as the woman in front of her is unknowingly wasting her precious lunch time.
“No, no!” the woman shakes her head. “I know that’s my bad but you...” the woman crosses her arms, looking Lingzi up and down, before the corner of her lips tugs up slightly, “Don’t you know it’s illegal to look that fine?”
Lingzi’s heart stutters for a moment and she freezes up. Her throat goes dry and all she can do is stare back at the woman dumbly. What did she just say?
“W-what?”
Lingzi hates that she just stuttered. She’s the policewoman here! She’s supposed to be the one with authority!
She clears her throat, determination on the tip of her tongue.
“I need to see your licence,” Lingzi says as she hovers her pen over her parking violation notepad.
“If you want to know my name, you can just ask,” the woman smirks, “It’s Xu Jiaqi.”
“I only need the licence number,” Lingzi deadpans. There is no way in hell she’s falling for any of this.
Jiaqi clicks her tongue but pulls out her licence from her wallet. She silently watches as Lingzi copies down her licence number and fills in the rest of the details on the ticket.
“A hundred and ten dollars?!” Jiaqi exclaims. “The government’s such a greedy pig.”
Lingzi pauses for a moment and takes a good look at Jiaqi and her car: The woman’s covered from head to toe in Louis Vuitton and she drives a Maserati. Isn’t a hundred and ten dollars like loose change to her?
When she doesn’t respond, Jiaqi speaks up again, “That money could’ve been for our entrée.”
Lingzi’s heart does a flip or two (but she’ll never admit it). She rips out the ticket from her notepad and holds it out in front of Jiaqi’s (very pretty) face.
“Thank you…” Jiaqi’s voice trails off as she taps her finger on her chin, “What’s your name?”
Lingzi shakes her head again, not trusting herself to say something without turning into a stuttering mess. She tucks her notepad and pen away in her pocket instead.
“You know my name but I don’t know yours,” Jiaqi pouts and it’s so adorable that Lingzi really considers telling the woman her name (and maybe even her digits). “Should I just call you mine?”
And just like that, the mischief returns in Jiaqi’s eyes and Lingzi wants to rinse her thoughts with like bleach or something.
“There’s an address printed at the bottom,” Lingzi points out in a grave tone, “Please pay your fine there. Have a good day.”
“Are you telling me this is where I should pick you up from when we go on dates?”
Lingzi ignores her and turns to leave but Jiaqi’s quick on her feet and jogs around her, blocking her path.
“Wait! Just one more thing, do you have the time?” Jiaqi asks with an innocent smile playing on her lips.
Lingzi looks down at the Rolex on Jiaqi’s wrist and raises a single brow. “You have a watch.”
“You’re right! I’d check it but I can’t seem to take my eyes off you,” Jiaqi grins as Lingzi falls right into her trap.
“For fucks sake,” Lingzi curses under her breath.
She tugs the sleeve of her uniform and reads the face of her watch.
Shit.
She dashes over to her cop car that’s parked two cars behind Jiaqi’s. The parking slip displayed on her dashboard clearly shows 10:03am. She looks at her watch again in disbelief. 12:14pm.
Two hundred and two tickets today then…
Jiaqi walks up beside her with her hands in her pockets and a smug grin on her face.
“I won’t tell anyone if you let me buy you lunch,” Jiaqi offers.
Lingzi has to admit (only to herself, definitely not to Jiaqi) that this woman is indeed quite charming but the question that lingers in the back of her mind is how many people does she say these things to?
When it’s clear that Lingzi isn’t going to say anything anytime soon, Jiaqi lets out a heavy sigh.
“Alright, I’m sorry for bothering you,” Jiaqi relents, “Hope you have a lovely day.”
She makes her way back to her car and unlocks it, sliding into the driver’s seat. It’s only when the car’s engine roars to life that Lingzi snaps out of her daze and sprints to Jiaqi’s car. She knocks on the window and almost immediately, the window rolls down.
“What’s the matter, officer?”
“You invited me to lunch but you’re leaving without me?” Lingzi asks in a voice smaller than she intended it to be.
Jiaqi breaks into a bright smile and practically jumps out of the car. She runs over to the passenger side and opens the door for Lingzi.
“Here you go!” she says cheerily as she holds open the door, keeping a hand on the roof of her car so Lingzi wouldn’t bump her head while getting in.
Lingzi takes note of this and hums happily as she waits for Jiaqi to drive. One meal with a pretty girl won’t hurt right?