Chapter II

Return to the Crime Scene

Lisa hopes that she's just being paranoid. After all, being on a breakout for months does that to people. You walk a little faster, glance over your shoulder a little too often, and jump to conclusions a little too quickly. So really, it can be anyone knocking on that door, right? Problem is, Jennie doesn't seem to be getting a lot of friendly visitors. Unless greeting friends with a Beretta is some kind of a tradition in Korea, which Lisa is pretty sure it isn't.

This brings her to the conclusion that yes, it may be them knocking on that door. Somehow they've found her, and now she's screwed.

So when Jennie leaves to check who demands entrance to her flat, Lisa jumps to her feet and starts looking for clothes. Remembering hers were discarded somewhere in the corridor (she flushes and shakes her head, because now it's not the time to think about how mind-blowing that night was), she settles on wearing Jennie's clothes. They are a bit too small but will do.

As she puts on some loose t-shirt with a logo of a band she has never heard of, she hears a sound of cracking wood and flinches.

They are here.

For a brief second, she hesitates, because she can clearly hear Jennie's yelp of pain. She's such a jerk for not even warning her and she knows it. But when the door to the room open, and she catches a glimpse of the familiar silver cuff, her guilt becomes overpowered by her survival instinct. She dashes to the balcony and jumps onto its railing.

But before she escapes, like the coward she is, she glances over her shoulder at Jennie. And she hopes the girl knows that she really means it when she mouths her apology.

She shouldn't have approached her. No matter how tempting her dark eyes and luscious lips were. No matter how badly she wanted her, even if just for one night. But now it's too late, and she can only hope that Bambam will show her mercy.

With that last thought, Lisa pushes her feet off the railing, taking a massive leap forward.

She soars through the air, and for a split second she fears the eight storeys chasm below her is going to swallow her for eternity. She will never laugh or run or kiss a woman again. She takes what she presumes is her final breath, and then...

She lands in a crouch on the balcony of the adjacent building, a level lower than the one she has jumped from.

Fueled by the adrenaline in her veins, she quickly jumps over the railing on the side and grabs onto the drainage pipe. Scaling the pipe nimbly like a lizard, she soon feels it rattle under her palms and glances below her.

Sorn is closing in on her, dark purple lips twisted in a sneer.

Lisa stifles a curse and quickens her pace.

Once she reaches the roof's edge, she pulls herself over it, tumbling on the gravel, before she's back on her feet and running. Sorn's rapid footsteps crunch ominously behind her back, getting louder and louder.

Maneuvering between the chimneys and jumping over the power generators reminds Lisa of the time when she and Sorn were still kids, chasing each other down the narrow streets of Bangkok and scaling the rooftops to admire the breathtaking views of the glimmering city.

The only difference is back then Sorn didn't want to kill her like she wants to now. But Lisa doesn't really blame her. After all, she did betray her then ran away without a word. So yeah, she totally understands why the girl is holding grudges against her, but that doesn't mean that she won't try to escape from her. Despite how crappy her life has become, Lisa very much enjoys being alive and would like to keep it this way, thank you very much.

So when the roof comes to an end, and the next one seems to be an insurmountable distance away, she dares not to hesitate or lose speed now. Because Sorn may be faster than her but jumps were always Lisa's specialty.

Ignoring thoughts about possible failure, Lisa launches herself into the air. And there's that brief moment, a second or two, when she feels like she's flying, wind whistling in her ears and tears b in her eyes, but then it's over. Her body bends double and hands flail to keep her balance when her feet land on the roof's ledge.

She made it!

Her happiness is short lived, however, because the moment she turns around to confirm that Sorn has given up the chase, she actually finds her ex-best friend soaring through the air. And Lisa knows she won't make it. Before she realizes what's she's doing, she leans over the ledge and grabs onto Sorn's hand, saving her from the fall.

“Gotcha,” she mutters and using all of her strength, pulls the girl up and onto the rooftop.

They sit opposite each other on the gravel, gasping for air. Sorn's eyes wide in shock before she narrows them, glaring at Lisa.

“Run,” she says, voice shaky from exhaustion and fear.

Lisa knows she's letting her live as a pay back for saving her life. Still, the gesture somehow emboldens Lisa, and she reminds herself of Jennie and her uncertain fate.

“Don't hurt the girl. She doesn't know anything.”

“Run,” Sorn repeats, this time in a voice akin to a growl.

Lisa scampers to her feet and does as she's told.

As she's running through the rooftops, there are tears in her eyes, and she really hopes that Sorn will listen to her, and that Jennie will be fine.

* * *

The fact that Lisa has jumped through the balcony in her favorite t-shirt is the least of Jennie's concerns right now. Because she lives on a ing eighth floor, and there's no way the girl would survive the fall from such height. Just the thought of this makes Jennie's stomach churn, and she breaks into cold sweat.

Meanwhile, the silver suit loses his , shouting like a madman and pointing his baseball bat at the balcony. And before Jennie realizes what's going on, the goth jogger hurls herself forward and jumps out of the balcony in a similar fashion to Lisa.

“What the ?” Jennie mutters under her breath, staring wide-eyed at the fluttering curtain and wondering why the hell everyone is jumping out of her balcony like a bunch of freaking lemmings.

But soon, she has more pressing questions to answer, when the silver suit points his baseball bat at her and starts yelling in what she guesses is Thai.

“I don't understand what you're saying!” Jennie shouts over him, and it seems to work because he finally shuts up.

He looks at her through his unnaturally blue eyes, gushing with a sneer, before he swings his bat.

Jennie shuts her eyes, bracing herself, but the pain never comes; there's only the sound of shattering glass ringing in her ears. Cracking one eye open, she watches how the man breaks a mirror that hangs above her dresser then swipes all of the photos to the floor and smashes each of them into smithereens.

Each strike causes Jennie to flinch, and she almost sighs in relief when he finally stops. He straightens his back and takes a deep breath, before he moves to sit down on the dresser. Staring down at Jennie, he crosses one leg over the other and runs his palm along the length of his hair, fixing the lose strands.

“Where's the ing money?” he asks in perfect English, voice calm and collected.

Jennie thanks gods for the English lessons Rosè gave her back in the orphanage. Once again it strikes her how lucky she was to have her and Jisoo.

“What money? I don't know what you're talking about,” Jennie answers on the verge of full blown panic. “I met her just yesterday at a bar. We didn't even talk much.”

Her back begins to hurt, and her wrists are numb from the vice grip the other guy is holding on her. Unbelievable how the one time she decides to have a causal hook up with a stranger may lead to her demise. Why she had to be so ing dumb and trust the girl? Sure, Lisa was gorgeous, and the was spectacular, but was it worth dying for? Not really.

The man inhales sharply, jaw clenching. To say that he's displeased with her answer would be an understatement. There's fury behind his eyes, just waiting to be unleashed. Thankfully, he becomes distracted by the sound of approaching footsteps. Seconds later, the goth jogger saunters into the room, looking slightly disheveled and even paler than when Jennie saw her for the first time.

“What the--? How did you--?” Jennie blinks at her in disbelief, wondering just how the hell she survived the suicidal jump.

The woman says something to the silver suit which causes him to frown in thought. After what feels like ages to Jennie, he jumps off the dresser and smooths his suit. Without as much as sparing Jennie a glance, he walks past her and out of the room, the woman hot on his heels.

After they leave, Jennie's captor finally loosens his grip. And then, all of a sudden, pain shoots through her neck. And the world goes black.

* * *

Jennie's eyes flutter open, and the first thing she notices, after her vision stops being blurry, are the scattered shards of glass. Slowly, she lifts her cheek off the cold floor to get her bearings. She's still in her bedroom. Alone, thankfully.

Pushing herself up to a kneeling position, she winces at the throbbing pain at the back of her skull. She touches lightly the sore spot, hissing in pain, but doesn't find any blood, just a bump in the size of a pear.

“,” she mutters and stands up from the floor.

A light breeze skims across her skin. Her gaze falls onto the fluttering curtain. Swallowing, she makes her way to the balcony and  carefully looks over its railing but finds nothing. No crowds. No ruckus. No police cars. Just a small patch of green lawn and a tree between the two opposing buildings.

Jennie frowns and leaves the balcony.

Trudging into the kitchen, she groans when she passes by the broken door, too tired to even lift them, and makes a mental note to later call someone to repair it. As well as get herself a new gun.

Once in the kitchen, she gets herself a pack of ice from the freezer and rummages the cupboards in search of some alcohol because she really needs a drink right now. A strong one, preferably.

“,” a curse leaves her lips when she finds nothing. Not even a single beer bottle.

With an exasperated sigh, she leans against the counter, gingerly holding the ice pack to her bump.

“What the hell was that?” she mutters under her breath as the events from the morning play out in her head.

She has been a thief for ten years, and one would expect that she had her fair share of crazy, near death experiences. But to be fairly honest, Jisoo, Rosè and her lived pretty peaceful lives. The underground crime world never had much interest in them. Jennie had always wondered about that until Rosè explained to her that it was all thanks to Jisoo's diplomatic skills and some money, of course.

So what happened today was definitely something unexpected and puzzling to Jennie. Questions kept piling up in her head. Who the hell are those people? What money they were talking about? And what is Lisa's part in all of that?

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter