Chapter 3. Down to business

It was starting to feel like a field trip or something. Or maybe comparing things to a summer camp made more sense. Them standing together in what looked like dorms, working in the same place, eating in the same place, it was all very sweet and all but it came with rules. Each of the criminal team members had been told they had until 12 o’clock to change their minds or if they agreed, to return with whatever clothes and personal items they needed. That was their deadline, 12 o’clock at night to return with their clothes and items and become an official part of the team. One by one they were arriving at the house, moving upstairs and arranging their beds.

Heechul had taken the first bed on the right side, the one as far as way as possible from the end of the staircase, using the space left from the wall to his bed in order to put his rack of clothes and beauty products and whatever else he brought. He basically made himself a corner of heaven that was full of bright colors and screamed personality. Siwon, right next to him, had found a way of putting all of his suits neatly on hangers, arranging his shoes besides each and every one. If Heechul’s spot was bright and colorful, Siwon’s place was more neutral, in black and brown and smooth colors.

Hyukjae had made his spot at the top of the stairs, on the right and was now helping Donghae with his spot. He thought he would be extremely shocked by Heechul’s items but Donghae also came as a surprise. He had a few toys, including a Nemo one, notebooks that he arranged one after the other inside his drawers, His clothes were mostly jeans and shirts, clothes that didn’t stand out but the toys... a fondness for fish out of the normal.

“Are you sure you want them on your bed?” Hyukjae asked as he took out another fish toy, slightly bigger than the other.

“Yes. I like sleeping with them.” Donghae smiled brightly.

As he moved next to Hyukjae, he began explaining how he got all of them. Some were from his childhood, some he had won, but to Hyukjae’s surprise, everything the light brown haired owned seemed to have a story. Then there was this photo album that he had taken out and before he knew it, they were sitting on Hyukjae’s bed, looking through them.

“I think I have seen some of them online.” Hyukjae pointed out, confused as to whether the photos were downloaded from the internet or not.

“Maybe... but I have taken them myself.” Donghae smiled brightly.

“So even though the photos are online... you also take a picture of the places...object?” the black haired asked, yet again, still not sure he was getting it.

“Yeah... I guess that’s how I started doing what I did. One thing is to have something already ready and another is to do it yourself.” Came the explanation, once again a bright smile on his face.

For a criminal, Donghae seemed to be the most innocent of them all. It wasn’t exactly right to separate crimes and consider one better than the other but at least none of them did murder. Still, while Siwon and Heechul seemed proud with what they were doing and showed constant wit into getting better and be evasive, hearing Donghae talk about what he was doing sounded different. It was like the man was good at something and simply was not given the chance to use his talents for the good. Something told Hyukjae that if Donghae had the chance to use his skills for good he would take the opportunity and straighten up. The rest of the crew looked like they were going to miss the illegality so they wouldn’t really agree to be on the good side except when it benefited them. Hyukjae was not sure about Moon since she had not talked much and she was not there yet but he was pretty sure about Donghae.

“Well, you are great at what you do so maybe you’ll get to do this legally in the future.” Hyukjae told him, reaching the last page of the photo album.

“Maybe. It would be nice.” Donghae agreed, grinning.

“Hey....” Kyuhyun appeared at the head of the stairs. “Did she arrive yet?” he questioned, looking around the common space.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked towards Kyuhyun. They had arrived all by themselves and did not notice something or someone around the building so they were not exactly sure what to tell Kyuhyun. He was their leader and of course that meant they responded for their actions in front of him but they honestly had no idea where she was.

“It’s almost midnight.” Hyukjae noted, looking at his wrist watch.

“What happens if she does not come again?” Heechul questioned, sitting on his bed with a manhwa book, only his shoes off.

“I’ll track her bracelet. If it doesn’t show me her location, she will be considered a fugitive. If her bracelet still pings and she doesn’t show up, we will consider she changed her mind and move to take her back to jail.” Kyuhyun quickly spoke and then ran back downstairs.

Hyukjae was worried since there seemed to be a flaw with the team from the beginning. If she didn’t show up, then that was going to be a grave stone from the team right from the beginning. Donghae sensed something was wrong, Siwon seemed to have found the situation interesting but didn’t show much reaction. Heechul just didn’t seem to care at all. But Kyuhyun cared. Running downstairs, he moved towards the post she had created to be able to do her part and searched for her location. He wasn’t really sure how to make the system work but he was going to figure it out soon. A smile appeared on his face as what he did seemed to work because the screen changed a bit and then a map appeared on the screen. He frowned a bit, confused at what he was seeing. According to the map and the signal there, she was there. But she wasn’t. Moving towards the entrance, he opened one door after the other and then reached the main entrance.

“What are you doing?”

He relaxed as he saw her leaning against the entrance wall. She was holding on to a small bag and was looking straight ahead, no expression on her face, just like before. Upon hearing Kyuhyun talk, she took her time to turn her head around and look at him. It was only then that he realized she was holding a cigar between her fingers, letting it just turn smaller and smaller.

“Are you going to get inside?” Kyuhyun moved closer to her, waiting by her side.

“I’m still thinking.” She spoke while bringing the cigar to her lips. “There are five more minutes until midnight.” She added right after checking the clock that appeared on one of the tall buildings far in the distance.

“And you will just stay here for 5 minutes?” he questioned, standing up straight, hands in his pockets, regretting he didn’t take his jacket with him as well.

Ji-Yeon simple shrugged and then finished her cigar, looking around for a place to put it off. Kyuhyun searched as well, realizing there was no place to dismiss cigars once they were finished. He made a mental note to put something together so that she can go out and have a smoke whenever she wanted. In the end, he remembered he had a gum in his pocket, a blade, and offered it to her. 

“Putt if off and then here. I’ll dump it in the dumpster. You can have the gum.” He spoke as he give her his piece of gum.

She nodded her head, taking the gum and then unpacking it, putting it in to chew it properly before placing the cigar bud inside of it. Kyuhyun had expected she would enter the house now but she stayed there, the wrapper in one hand and gum inside . She just didn’t seem to want to bulge from her spot until the clock ticked 12 o’clock.

“Okay. What’s up?” he moved closer to her, wanting to know what was on her mind.

Something was obviously stalling her from entering the house. Unless she had a form of OCD that compelled her in some way to be absolutely keen on keeping deadlines. Maybe there was somethi