“And it appears as though our very own Bonnie and Clyde have made another reappearance after only a week in between robberies this time. Is there a reason that they seem to be breaking their usual pattern? Are they becoming more reckless? Unfortunately, these are questions we don’t have the answers to. What we do know, however, is that their latest hit has been the Busan Bank, owned by BNK Financial Group. Exactly how much money was stolen is still yet to be determined. There have been no reported causalities, and the investigation is still currently going underway.

The details, as the situation stands now, are as follows: At approximately 9:30 a.m. this morning, police received a phone call from the bank of a frantic woman claiming that there were two masked assailants attempting a robbery. It was later pieced together from various eyewitness accounts and evidence left behind that it was indeed the infamous duo that were responsible for the theft. Apparently, the man had a gun, and he kept the hostages in place while his partner collected the money. They managed to accomplish their work quickly and escaped just ten minutes before the cops arrived on the scene. The survivors of the experience, which included the three clerks on duty, two security guards that had been knocked unconscious, and roughly thirteen civilians, were shaken when they gave their statements.

They described the two to both be wearing all black, with masks, hats, and thick sunglasses to hide their faces. According to various testimonies, their attitude was not that of your typical robbers. Instead, the pair seemed relaxed and were even laughing with each other as they raided the safe, acting almost as if it were a game. Chilling. They called each other pet names like ‘Sweetheart’ and ‘Speedy’ and seemed to be very affectionate with one another. All of this fits the description of the dangerous duo nicknamed by the authorities as B and C, a case name derived from the infamous American team of lovers turned robbers, Bonnie and Clyde.

The police suspect a criminal by the name of Chen to be our Mr. Clyde. This is a picture of him taken a couple of years ago, as well as a photo of him from a month ago with his partner taken secretly by a waiter at a café. His real name is Kim Jongdae, and he has a nasty record of largescale theft leading back all the way back to a little over year ago, with four instances of petty theft before that, and a charge for illegal street racing two and half years ago. He’s been apprehended several times, but never official charged for his crimes- it’s a mystery how he’s managed to get away so many times, eluding justice and the authorities. Officer Park Jongsoo has been heading the manhunt for him since the moment his life of crime began, and he has now taken the lead on our mysterious Bonnie’s case as well.

Based on the limited photos of the two captured together in public before their hasty get-aways, the female half of couple has been identified as Kang Yuri, a girl that was reported missing by her worried roommate three months ago- roughly around the same time that the feminine criminal first appeared. From what data the police have been able to gather on her, it seems as though there’s not much motive for her sudden switch to the dark side. She has no past criminal records and was a senior scheduled to graduate college this next spring. What could have gone wrong in this poor girl’s life? Was it really love that led her astray, as so many people seem to be suggesting?

According to our witnesses, the pair was last seen headed due north in their signature blue car you see on your television screens here. If you have any information at all regarding the case or their current whereabouts, please contact police immediately. Do not engage, as it is believed that they are armed and dangerous. Back to you at the studio, Jin.”

“That sounds just horrible, Minji. Hopefully, they’ll be caught soon. In other news…”

*****

“Let’s go to Jeju!” Yuri laughed, laying in the backseat of their car- yes, their car; oddly enough, even Jongdae had started referring to it as that despite the fact that it was his precious baby long before she came along. Jongdae was sitting in the trunk, counting all of the money they had procured just the other day, talking to her through the open side doors. They had skipped town, driving for a whole day straight in order to put some distance between them and the coppers that were sure to be not far behind on their trail. Currently, they were holed up in the nearly empty parking lot of a storage facility that they were pretty sure was no longer in use. “I’ve never been to Jeju before,” she mused with the remnants of a minuscule smile on her face.

“As nice as a vacation sounds, what would we do with the car?” Jongdae asks back, voice accompanied by the sound of crinkling paper. “There’s no way I’m just leaving it behind to rust in some garage or get commandeered by the police.”

“Hmm, I forgot about that,” Yuri admits, giving up on the impulsive idea. To be honest, she didn’t need to do something as big as traveling to Jeju Island in order to have fun or feel alive- being on the run with Jongdae was more than enough excitement already. She had never been happier than she had been with him in these past three months. She was content.

At first, she was more terrified than thrilled when they started breaking the law together. Panic attacks during quick getaways were a common occurrence, and the first few times after the deed was done, she sat staring at a wall, not really comprehending what had just taken place. The first time she had seen Jongdae pull a gun on someone, even though she knew it was fake -or at least, not loaded-, she had nearly had a heart attack, and that wasn’t an exaggeration. It was just one of those things that seemed so cool and edgy in movies, but made you completely freeze in real life. Despite the fact that it wasn't pointed at her and she was aware it couldn't harm anyone, there was just something about seeing a pistol pressed to someone's forehead that made her blood run cold and time seem to stop. It was a sight she had never expected to see, because who does expect to be put into that type of situation? Nobody really.

To be honest, she still wasn't completely used to the idea, nor was she very comfortable with it. It was one thing to think the ever impossibly attractive Lee Jongsuk with a smoking gun in his hand from W was her aesthetic, and another entirely to see Kim Jongdae, who she had to admit was extremely attractive in his own right, laughing as he shook the weapon at cowering store clerks and bank tellers. It was unsettling to say the least. It was true what they said though- that humans are impressively adaptable beings that can get used to practically anything. Eventually, even if it still wasn't exactly her cup of tea, she got used to the guns and faint undercurrents of violence that buzzed beneath their extracurricular activities, just as she had gotten used to breaking and entering, to robbery and a life on the run, to driving dangerously above the speed limit, to sleeping in the cramped backseat of the car and late-night talks with Jongdae. It was like nothing she had every experienced before- exciting. Free.

The past three months had passed by like an epic dream that, if she thought about it too deeply, she was frightened she'd one day wake up from. She was scared that they'd get caught, that her condition would worsen; she was scared of a lot of things that she didn't dare to say out loud. Ironically enough, it was when they were actually pulling jobs that she wasn't afraid, too caught up in the moment and the high it took hours for her to come down from. This was something that she instinctively knew Jongdae understood too, even though they had never spoken about it to each other. There were a lot of aspects to their relationship that were like that: silent, implied, yet naturally reassuring and warm even if the words or thoughts themselves weren’t given life.

Jongdae was a warm person; that was the only way that Yuri knew how to describe him. It wasn’t that he was particularly kind or angelic or anything like that- he stole for a living, enjoyed trouble and danger so much she sometimes worried he had a death wish, and he loved messing with people until they got so pissed off they exploded. Not to mention the fact that she had quickly learned he was a bit of a ert too- okay, maybe more than just a “bit”, but sometimes she liked the attention, as awkward as it had made her feel in the beginning. In short, it was arguable whether or not he was a good person, but being good and being warm are two completely different things, despite the fact that people often equate them with one another when it comes to describing someone’s personality.

He was warm in the sense that his smiles felt like sunlight. He was warm in the sense that his laugh chased away the threat of her fears and his touch sparked a certain heat to spread across her skin. He was warm in the sense that his chocolate brown eyes shined so brightly they took away the monotone greys her world had been filled with and replaced them with vibrantly blinding colors. He was warm in the sense that she felt an easy comfort when she was around him that she had only ever felt with Minseok before, but that was after years and years of companionship, not just a couple of months. He so warm that, even when they were clearly placed in a precarious position, she felt safe when she was with him. He had managed to chase away the chilling cold of the loneliness, the lifelessness she had thought she was destined for before they met. Because of him, she could say she was happy, truly happy, for the first time since she was a young child.

Jongdae was like the sun to her, and she was the moon, desperately trying to steal his light and warmth for herself. Perhaps it was the way she was used to living due to the circumstances of her upbringing, but she realized she was incapable of being independent. Her parents had kept her extremely sheltered, and then after that, she had relied on Minseok. Now, she was latched onto Jongdae like a leech, clutching him tightly as though he were a lifeline; in a way, he was her only chance to actual live. It was one of those realizations about yourself that you never wanted to make, the kind that left you feeling hollow and ashamed, that made you want to change but hurt because you knew you couldn’t. Thankfully though, Jongdae didn’t seem to mind.

“Not all relationships are toxic,” Jongdae had shrugged off her concerns when she had broken down and admitted her thoughts in the middle of the night around a month ago. He had sat up in the bed they were sharing -they were low on funds at that moment and could only afford a one bed room, especially with the couple’s discount the motel was offering at the time- and stared down at her with an unreadable expression. The only thing she was able to discern from his face in the dark shadows of the room that smudged his visage was the soft glint in his bright eyes. “It’s not necessarily a bad thing to depend on other people,” he told her, voice so soft and gentle it was a mere whisper almost lost in the rustling of sheets as he moved to look at her. “Besides, I’m using you too,” he confessed, “so let’s settle on labeling this as symbiosis and move on, okay? Stuff like that isn’t important anyway.”

But it was important; it was important to her. Or at least, it had been a month ago when she brought it up. However, Jongdae had way of somehow making all of her worries disappear, of making things like that truly seem to pale in comparison of importance to other things. What became important was a list of trivial items and moments that everyone seemed to take for granted in their daily lives. Stuff like blasting the radio as loud as it can go and singing off key with the windows rolled down as they speed down the highway at night. Stuff like ordered in dinners and badly told jokes and a good adrenaline rush. Stuff like little pet names, affectionate nicknames like ‘Dae’ and ‘Speedy’, like ‘Sweetheart’, and ‘Yu’, and sometimes, rarely, ‘Ri’. It was indulgent escapism at its finest, but neither of them cared.

“So, what now?” she asks curiously, shaking off all the other thoughts clouding her mind. The previous excitement from the job was starting to wear off, but that didn’t mean they still couldn’t have fun or that she was unhappy.

“Hmm,” Jongdae hums before abruptly throwing the bills down on the floor of the trunk and climbing over the headrests of the backseat to join her. She immediately sits up and scoots over to make room for him, awaiting his answer expectantly. He grins the same boyish grin at her he always does, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Well, we have money now. Why don’t we go spend it?”

“On what?” Something in his gaze tells her that she’s going to regret asking, as she always does. He was full of surprises, and she never knew what to expect from him when he smiled at her like that.

His answer leaves her giddy with anticipation and she can’t help but let out another laugh- something she’s been doing a lot more ever since she ran away with him.

“Everything,” he breathes.

And so, they went out to buy, wreck, and do everything. Together.

*****

Breathe in. Breathe out. In. Out.

Every time they did a job, she’d have to take a minute to collect herself and calm her rapidly racing heart. Even if she had grown used to the same pattern they always followed when they decided to rob a joint blind, her body always reacted the sa