“Venelopi Stryder,” Jun said her name slowly, narrowing his eyes slightly. It was a bit difficult to pronounce. In fact, it didn’t even sound like any American name he had ever heard before. He wondered if her parents came from another country. It wouldn’t be surprising. America was full of different nationalities; quite different from Japan’s homogeneous population.

Thinking about her parents led him to yet another question. Did they know where their daughter was? Were they concerned? In his research on human trafficking, Jun had discovered that sometimes the parents were the ones who sold their children into slavery. But surely that wasn’t the case for this girl. She was from [i]America[/i], quite the opposite from the impoverished countries where families relied on their children’s trafficking incomes to get by. Her parents would have had no reason to sell her. But did they know what happened to her? Did they even know she wasn’t in America anymore? He had so many unanswered questions.

[b]“How did you feel?”[/b] Venelopi Stryder spoke again. [b]“When you found out about all that was happening here?”[/b]

Jun stared at her curiously. That was a strangely personal question. But then again, it only made sense that she would want to know his thoughts about what was happening to her. He was an outsider, a man who —until now— was just another customer. Of course she would want to know what changed his perspective.

“I was shocked and disgusted,” Jun said, bringing his other knee to his chest. “In all honesty, I used to think prostitution was voluntary. I thought you did it for money.” He shook his head and gave a mirthless laugh. “I never expected to learn that it was forced on you. And then there’s everything else… the things that happen behind the scenes…” He trailed off. “It sounds like something out of a horror film, so… I also feel guilty for taking part. It doesn’t matter that I was unaware of the truth, I was still wrong for coming here and…” He swallowed. “And taking advantage of you.”