Paris, 9 a.m

"Get back here, you little rascal!"

Water droplets splash onto the unfortunate bystanders walking on the pavement. The road is still wet from the rain that has only just stopped, forming puddles at the sides. Her footsteps are fast, disrupting the tranquility of those newly formed puddles as she steps on them, inching away from the man wielding a knife. Well, if a floral knife, which has a longer handle than blade, could even be considered a proper knife.

Three hours before noon, as other Parisians rush to their workplaces, one florist finds himself running after a tourist who has just snatched his wallet. The hustle and bustle of the City of Light can clearly be seen on this lively street. Shops are slowly opening their doors, tables and chairs are being set up on the pavement. Briefcases are carried in many different directions by people who seem reluctant to leave the comfort of their homes. Cars on the road, forming a long and barely moving beeline, most with their windows rolled down. Smoke from cigarettes, cigars, and pipes ascending to the sky from inside the cars and the pedestrians.

The florist begins to slow down, puffing while waving his hands. He rests his hands on his knees after coming to a complete stop.

The tourist waves the wallet in her hand, a huge smile on her face, rubbing her victory in the poor man's face. She crosses the road without checking for oncoming traffic, since the traffic on the one-way street is stationary for the time being.

In her hurry, she steps on a puddle again, splashing water onto pedestrians again, shooting quick sorrys again.

After running uphill, swiftly eyeing all the variety of goods through the display windows, she reaches a coffee shop. She dumps the wallet on a small round table that is placed outside the shop and drops into a chair. Finally, she can catch her breath.

"Three minutes and 38 seconds," Krystal said to the girl, holding her pocket watch.

"No, you cheated, unnie!" Rosé wipes the sweat from her forehead using the collar of her white tee.

Krystal grins before picking up the wallet that Rosé had thrown on the table. There is not much cash in it, only a bunch of worthless cards. She takes out an ID card, which is light blue in colour, and inspects it closer.

"Denis Loiseau is the name of the florist that you just pickpocketed." She slides the ID back into the wallet.

"I don't care, because you cheated. You started the clock too early!" Rosé folds her arms and pouts at Krystal.

"She didn't, we started the clock the second you left this shop," Yeoh said before taking a sip of her coffee.

Rosé puts her fingers in her ears, which made Yeoh and Krystal burst into laughter.

"When I told you to snatch his wallet and return here in under three minutes, you said you could do it. But it turns out, you couldn't." Krystal watches in amusement as Rosé still refuses to admit her defeat.

Krystal shares a look with Yeoh; the older woman simply shrugs, and they both take a sip from their cups. She shoves her hands into the pockets of the varsity jacket that she is wearing. It was mostly black in colour, except for the white long sleeves, with a white, bold font of the words 'SEOUL NAT'L UNIV.' on the back.

Rosé ignores her remark once more, opting to cross her arms and pout instead. Though it does not take long for the younger girl to make her voice heard again.

"Moving on from the fact that you cheated, when will this friend of yours be here?" She made sure to put extra emphasis on that one word.

"I didn't—okay anyway, she should arrive any minute now."

On the previous night, Krystal had mentioned to the rest of the crew that she was going to meet an acquaintance who would provide them with new passports this morning. Although she had worked with this acquaintance on a heist before, one can never be too careful in this line of work. That was why she had instructed Hyun Bin and Taehyung to stay inside their rental car, which is parked right across the street, just in case things went south. No honour among thieves and all.

A woman donning a black leather jacket and dark blue jeans takes a seat across from Krystal. She pulls down the brown scarf that was wrapped around her neck before slightly pushing her aviator sunglasses down her nose. Krystal crossed her arms, a smirk growing on her face when she could finally make out the identity of that woman.

"Speak of the devil."

"Aww, come on sweetheart; it’s been like three years since that incident. You need to let it go." The woman brushes her short, scruffy brown hair back, making her side-faded haircut more visible.

"Everyone, this is Amber Liu."

At last, the mystery woman's identity has been revealed, sort of. She takes her sunglasses off, storing them inside the sling bag she is carrying. She extends a hand to Yeoh, and they exchange a brief handshake. When Rosé tries to do the same, however, the woman pulls her hand back. Instead, she begins to scan Rosé up and down. The look in her eyes appears to be... lustful.

"Would you be so kind to introduce this sweet eye candy to me, Krystal?"

It takes a second for Krystal to fully comprehend the situation that is going on. She lifts her eyebrows while giving her head a gentle shake.

"Oh, this is Rosé; she's a pickpocket that I met back in-"

"Well, how do you do, ma chérie?" Amber tenderly wraps her hand around Rosé's, pulling it closer before pressing her lips against it. "That's a beautiful name. It suits you."

"Thank you—wait, no—merci." Rosé covers with her other hand as she giggles, clearly entertained by the courtesy.

Like that was not embarrassing enough, Amber smoothly rubs her thumb against Rosé's fingers before finally letting go. Her eyes remain locked on the pickpocket with a devilish smile on her face.

"By the way, Krystal, you can call those guys in the white Volkswagen over," Amber said while keeping her eyes on Rosé, "I have their passports right here."

How did she—, Krystal thought as she waved towards Hyun Bin and Taehyung, who were stationed inside the car. The two men share a look before getting out of the car and making their way over to the coffee shop. Once they reach the table the women are at, Amber pulls out a stack of dark blue books and dumps them on the table.

The others pick up one passport each, briefly checking the identification picture inside it, and pass it to the rightful owner. There appears to be a slight problem, though: Amber only hands them four passports. Krystal seems to be the only one without it.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" She leans forward towards Amber, her arms resting on the table.

"Nah."

Krystal rubs her nose as she tries to maintain her cool. She carves up a fake smile as she sarcastically nods.

"So, where's mine then? I paid for five passports, but it seems that you came up short."

"Oh honey, you should know well by now that money can't buy everything." Amber lights a cigarette as her attention shifts from Rosé to Krystal. "I could really use your particular skill set for a job."

Her hands curled into fists as Krystal was forced to keep herself calm once more. She cannot say that she did not see this kind of situation coming. The last time she worked with Amber, during her bank robbery with G-Dragon, the woman threatened to report her to the police if she did not hand over a third of the stolen money.

Krystal definitely thought about putting a bullet through Amber's head, but in the end, she complied because G-Dragon managed to talk her into handing over the money. She was also in a rush to leave the country after the robbery, but she could not do so since her only way out—the new passports—was in Amber's possession. She told herself to never make a deal with the wretched woman again, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

"Fine," she unclenches her fists, not letting her emotion get the better of her, "what's the target?"

After taking another puff of her cigarette, Amber blows the smoke out through her nose and pulls her phone out. She shows Krystal an image of a way too familiar blueprint in the phone's gallery.

"You're gonna love this."

--

Her eyes wander around the bleak little room. The air inside it is suffocating, filled with a foul stench that no one seems to be doing anything about. The bland, gray structure looks almost the same as it did when she was here many moons ago. No matter how hard she tries, her past life always finds a way to make a comeback. First it was her ex-boyfriend, G-Dragon, suddenly popping up inside her living room, trying to convince her to steal something that should have been nothing more than a piece of gemstone.

And now, Krystal finds herself inside the bank vault in Paris that she had broken into three years ago. The very same vault she made love in, with an old lover that she had the misfortune of meeting. This place was the beginning of the end of her relationship with him. After robbing the bank vault and making their way back to Korea, Krystal and G-Dragon had a huge argument. Both sides were blaming each other because the heist did not go as smoothly as planned and their relationship turned sour since.

That bank robbery was also their penultimate heist together, with the final one being the one where she was left high and dry while G-Dragon was too busy running for his life. In a way, she is glad to end up here again because she can finally point out where things went wrong in her last relationship. Not that she regrets ending it, though, but at least she found closure.

"I should burn this whole place down."

Krystal takes one last look around the vault before stepping closer towards a wall of safe deposit boxes. It was not built yet three years ago, making it the only new addition inside the otherwise old and dull room. She begins to inspect the numbers on each box as she looks for the one she is after.

"418... 419... 420! There you are."

Using the key that Rosé had stolen from the bank counter, Krystal unlocks the deposit box. Amber did not actually mention what item was stored in the box when she told Krystal to break into the bank vault, so Krystal decides to slowly pull the door of the safe deposit box in anticipation. It must be worth a fortune if Amber needs someone with her specialties to steal it from the bank.

The box door is now wide open, but Krystal still cannot make out the item that is inside. She reaches her hand inside, and she feels something cold and rectangular-shaped. Her palm is carefully pressed against the item. It is much smaller than her hand, being about the size of an earlier generation smartphone—possibly a gold bar. Or maybe it *is* just an old smartphone, which would make this all a waste of time.

She closed her eyes as she pulled the item out. It is firmly in her grasp, but she cannot bring herself to open her eyes. The suspense is killing her. Krystal counts as she slowly lifts her eyelids.

"One... two... thr-"

"Freeze!"

Before she turns towards the source of the voice, Krystal takes a second to glance at the item that she is holding. She instantly sighs when she realises what the item actually is.

I'm so gonna kill that bastard, she whispers to herself before finally turning around. Standing on the opposite side of the vault, right outside the door, is the bank's security guard. The guard is armed with a fully black pump-action shotgun, and it is clear that he only has one target in mind.

Another sigh is released by Krystal. She cannot believe that all these years later, she would find herself in a similar situation as before: stuck inside a Paris bank vault with a gun pointed at her from the vault door. Only this time, there is no knight in shining armour to rescue this damsel in distress. The guard tries to approach carefully as Krystal lifts her hands up.

Just as the guard takes a step forward, Krystal throws the item in her hand straight at him. The thrown item hits the guard's left eye socket, causing him to scream in pain as he cups his damaged eye with his hand. Krystal manages to dodge before the shotgun is fired, its bullet causing a loud metallic echo as it lands on the wall of safe deposit boxes. She rolls towards the guard, not giving him any time to reload his shotgun.

With her fingers pressed against the floor, Krystal sweeps the guard's leg with her own. The swift motion towards his ankle causes the guard to lose his balance and stumble. Krystal quickly gets to her feet, picks up the item that she had thrown, and sprints out of the vault. The corridor seems like nothing but a blur to her as she pumps her legs. The portraits of French politicians on the walls are staring at her as she dashes by, probably upset at the audacity of this Korean woman to break into one of their banks. Twice, as a matter of fact.

Even after all this time, she still knows the layout of the bank by heart. That is why it does not take long for Krystal to reach the exit. Moments after she had escaped the building, the alarm began to ring. Pedestrians stop in their tracks and shift their attention towards her as she makes her way back to her crew. It appears the entire street in the Paris suburbs is filled with the blaring sound of the bank's alarm.

At last, Krystal reaches her destination, the same coffee shop she was at, hands on her knees as she comes to a halt. Rosé rushes to her side as the others remain seated. The younger girl rubs her back as Krystal inhales before regaining some energy to speak.

"I'm gonna smash your stupid little face in." Krystal said as she stared Amber dead in the eyes.

Amber simply smirks in response, taking another puff from her cigarette. She proceeds to put the cigarette out and gets up from her seat.

"That was fast; I'm impressed." She slowly claps at Krystal, her smirk still apparent.

Krystal tightens her grip on the item in her hand. She could feel her blood boil, her face turning red as she imagined countless scenarios of her beating the absolute hell out of Amber. She would have acted on the spur of the moment had it not been for the soothing rubbing motions on her back.

"Breathe, Krystal, just breathe."

Rosé's voice manages to calm her down, and she takes in deep breaths as told.

"This has been fun and all, but I'm afraid that I have to take my leave now," Amber makes her way to Krystal and pats her on the cheek, "give me a call next time you're in Paris, alright?"

Krystal keeps herself composed even though only she knows how much she wants to grab the woman's hand and break it in half. She decides to be the bigger person since Amber is not worth the time. And since there are too many eyewitnesses anyway.

"I hope our paths will cross again someday, angel." Amber takes Rosé's hand and gives it one last kiss before departing.

The pickpocket seems to enjoy it as she covers her smile with her hand again, waving Amber goodbye as the wretched woman disappears from sight.

"What was that all about?" Taehyung said once Amber is out of their vicinity.

Instead of replying, Krystal tossed the item in her hand onto the table. Everyone swarms around the table to get a closer look and is instantly dumbfounded after finding out what the item actually is. It turns out that Krystal had gone through all the trouble of breaking into the bank vault, reaching into the safe hoping for something valuable, only for it to be her own fake passport.

"Wait, so she didn't actually need something stolen?" Taehyung asked as he went through the crumpled pages of the passport.

"Well, that's criminals for you. People like her, and I just like to feel... I don't know... 'in charge', I guess." Krystal reaches for the passport as Taehyung hands it over to her.

"No, don't say that," Krystal feels Rosé linking their arms together, "you're nothing like her."

The statement is reassuring to hear, but Krystal wonders how much truth there is in it. Perhaps, even though she hates to admit it, Amber and she are not so different after all. Perhaps all the condescending characteristics of a criminal have never truly left her, no matter how hard she tries to get away from them. The life of crime itself had never left her, as she finds herself being dragged back into it.

What Amber did to her is the exact same thing she did to Rosé earlier in the day. Telling someone to risk their life simply for her personal enjoyment, just because she can. There was no reason for her to do it, just like Amber, but she did it anyway (again, just like Amber).

Her eyes are shut, and a smile begins to dawn on her face. It is clear to her now that any effort to escape from this life is futile, and the rationality behind it is quite simple.

She used to think that this life was like a prison that she had been unjustly thrown into. But she has finally grasped the reality that it has been a prison of her own making all along. There is no escape because she was the one who designed the impenetrable cell she finds herself in, and she willingly threw the key away. She is and will always be a criminal.

With that apprehension in mind, Krystal feels at ease. She opens her eyes and looks at her crew, putting the fake passport inside her jacket pocket. She could see the confusion in their eyes, but for the time being, her mind was only set on one thing.

"Let's go home."