“Are you actually insane?” Jisoo demanded that afternoon, her voice jumping an octave. She’d come back from work to find a tired but determined Jennie poring over some blueprints, security system information, and news articles. At first, nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, but then Jisoo had caught sight of the invitation—or, more specifically, the name on the invitation.

“Why are you getting so riled up? It’s not like I haven’t crashed parties before to get what I want,” Jennie said flippantly.

“But this isn’t just any party. This is Sooyoung Park’s party. As in, the mayor’s daughter.”

“Okay, and what’s your point? She’s just a person with a title.” Jisoo’s eyes were literally about to pop out of their sockets as she watched Jennie casually carry on with her work.

“I knew you were stupid, but I really didn’t think you could actually be so careless. Are you out of your ing mind?”

“Well yeah, that’s kind of part of the job description.” Jennie looked up with an infuriating smirk. “I guess that’s why you weren’t cut out for it. You’re too sane.”

“I don’t know how great you think you are at theft, Jennie, but you’re not up for something of this grandeur. Maybe if it was something small when no one was home or when everyone was asleep, and all you had to do was get in and out without being spotted, then maybe you’d be able to pull it off. But we’re talking about crashing her party—which will have heavy security no doubt, and that isn’t including the countless police officers probably invited as guests. And not only do you think you can get into the party but you also want to rob something, and somehow you miraculously think you’ll get out unscathed. Can you see how crazy that sounds?”

“Of course I can,” Jennie replied with a roll of her eyes. Then she smiled at her sister in a way that made Jisoo both want to smack her and pinch her cheeks. “Luckily for me, my plan sounds nothing like that.”

“Oh really? Then please, enlighten me with your oh-so-brilliant plan.” Jisoo crossed her arms, leaning against the wall as she waited to hear what ridiculous thing came out of Jennie’s mouth.

“Well, first of all, I’m technically not crashing the party. I’m going as Lisa’s plus one.” Jennie held her hand up when Jisoo opened to speak. “I already checked. Chaeyoung can’t go to the party and Lisa isn’t taking anyone else. I have her invitation so I can use that to get me in. It shouldn’t be a problem.”

“And the robbery?”

“This is only phase one, my dear sister. This is mostly going to be just for my personal pleasure, but I will do some scouting and check the place out for the real deal. I’m not an idiot, Jisoo. As much as crowded places make for good cover, I know that it’s far too risky to try stealing anything in this particular crowd. Maybe a couple of cufflinks or watches or bracelets if the opportunity arises. But I won’t take anything from Sooyoung—not that night, anyway. I would be caught far too easily.” Jennie leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms to match her sister’s pose. “Satisfied?”

“No, I have one more question.” Jisoo paused, presumably for dramatic effect. She narrowed her eyes as she looked Jennie over. “What are you going to wear?”

***

“How do I look?” Jennie asked. Two weeks had passed by and it was finally the night of the party. Jennie had never felt so excited. She turned slightly, checking herself out in the full-length mirror, admiring how the one-shoulder dress hugged her body nicely, accentuating the curves that her usual stealth clothes did not do justice.

“I guess you look decent enough,” Jisoo commented from where she was sprawled on Jennie’s bed.

“Awe, come on. You know I look really hot.” Jennie grinned at the way that Jisoo rolled her eyes in response.

“I still think you're crazy.”

“I still think you worry too much. I’m going to be fine.”

“How can you be so calm when there’s so much that could go wrong?”

“No plan is a hundred percent perfect. There’s always the possibility that something could go wrong. Focusing on anything but the task at hand increases the risk of mistakes. You should know that, you’re the one who taught it to me.”

“But you’re not going to focus on the task at hand. You’re going to focus on Lisa. And the fact that she knows you is a problem all on its own.”

“Geez, have a little faith in me, would you? I’ve got this all under control.”

“Jennie, you don’t even have self-control. This whole thing is a recipe for disaster.”

“Well, that’s the thrill of it. You’ll see. I’ll be totally fine.”

“Your overconfidence is going to be your downfall.” Jennie merely smirked as a reply, strutting about as she continued to get ready.

***

Arriving at Sooyoung’s house felt like arriving to a red carpet event. There were reporters and photographers scattered across the sidewalk, and a large crowd of “fans” trying to push past security and sneak into the house. The actual party guests drifted by graciously, flashing their invitations with smug smiles as the bouncers made way and let them pass. Jennie stared up in awe at the giant mansion that awaited her. She almost felt unnerved by the scene before her—almost. She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders, feeling adrenaline thrumming in her veins. She sauntered over to one of the bouncers and showed him Lisa’s invitation on her phone.

“I’m Lalisa Manoban’s plus one,” Jennie said as if she owned the world.

“Name?” the bouncer asked in a gravely voice without missing a beat. Jennie could feel her heartbeat quicken further. This was the tricky part. Still, she didn’t hesitate or stutter as she delivered her answer.

“Kang. Seoyeon Kang.” Jennie’s voice was even when she spoke, and her expression suggested that she shouldn’t even need to be questioned. In her head, she was planning her explanation for not being on the guest list but her mind instantly went blank in the next moment.

“Ah, yes. Miss Manoban told us to expect you. Go ahead in,” the bouncer said, stepping aside.

“Wait, w-what?” Jennie mentally cursed herself for stammering and breaking character in general, but she couldn’t believe what she had just heard. But the bouncer didn’t reply, simply ushering her inside. Jennie found herself frozen for a while, unable to process what exactly had just happened and what the bouncer could have meant. It wasn’t long, however, before a voice tore her out of her thoughts.

“I was wondering when you’d finally show up,” the person said. Jennie spun around, recognizing the voice immediately. Lisa stood before her, donned in a black strapless jumpsuit and a white blazer. It was a surprising choice but there was no doubting the fact that she looked downright stunning. The most surprising part however was the unfamiliar smirk on the girl’s lips. “I’ve been waiting for you. What took you so long, Seoyeon?

“How did you—” Jennie wasn’t able to finish as another voice interrupted.

“Lisa! Is that you?!” Both girls turned to see another young woman approaching them. She was petite, with light brown hair cascading down her shoulders and bangs falling into her eyes slightly. Her smile was radiant and there was a soft glow about her. Somehow, that only served to put Jennie on edge. When the girl reached them, she pulled Lisa into a hug. “It’s so good to see you. How have you been?”

“I’ve been alright. Same old, same old,” Lisa replied with a warm smile, her expression becoming child-like and gentle all of a sudden. “How are you? Are the others here too?”

“Of course. Sooyoung gathered the whole crew. Seulgi and Joohyun are around here somewhere, probably making out or something. And I assume Yerim is with Sooyoung so they can enter together.” The girl turned to Jennie, blinking at her as if noticing her presence for the first time. “And who’s this?”

“Oh, right. Sorry. Seungwan, this is my friend, Seoyeon. She decided to accompany me since Chaeyoung couldn’t make it. Seoyeon, this is Seungwan. We went to college together,” Lisa introduced them, using Jennie’s fake name like it was nothing out of the ordinary. Seungwan held out a hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Seoyeon,” Seungwan said with a saccharine smile. “Take care of Lisa tonight, okay? Chaeyoung will kill you if you let anything happen to her beloved girlfriend.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to take good care of Lisa,” Jennie assured, managing a convincing smile.

“Alright good. Anyway, I’d better be off. Gotta find Joohyun and Seulgi and make sure they don’t get into any trouble.” With that, Seungwan excused herself and melded back into the crowd. Jennie stared after her, thinking that she could probably manage to swipe one of the gold bracelets that the girl had been wearing later.

“Don’t even think about it,” Lisa said in a warning tone. Jennie looked up at her, wondering for a moment if she’d accidentally spoken aloud. But no, she was sure she hadn’t said a thing. Yet Lisa leveled her with a cold look, the warmth she had expressed with Seungwan instantly disappearing. “I know you were thinking about finding Seungwan later to take something from her, but I highly advise against it. She’s a detective and her adorable personality does not extend to her work. You do not want to mess with her.”

“How did you even know I was thinking about that? As a matter of fact, how did you know to use the name ‘Seoyeon’, or that I was even coming at all?” Jennie demanded.

“I like to stay one step ahead of the simple minded, and that is an incredibly easy feat when it comes to you.” Lisa smirked as she turned to move further into the party. Jennie watched her for a moment with a dropped jaw. This night definitely wasn’t going the way she envisioned.

***

A few hours passed by and the party was in full swing. There was drinking and dancing and a lot of talking. Jennie stuck close to Lisa, partially out of curiosity about the younger girl, but mostly because the blonde was her alibi. Sooyoung had made a grand entrance with her girlfriend, Yerim, about half an hour after the party had started and Jennie had even been introduced to them at one point.

(“Lisa, you made it!” Sooyoung called, weaving her way through the crowd to reach Lisa and Jennie, dragging Yerim behind her.

“Of course. I couldn’t miss the party of the year,” Lisa said with a grin. She reached for the older girl, pulling her into an embrace. “Happy birthday, Sooyoung.”

“Hi, Lisa. Nice to see you again. Oh, I’m great, thanks for asking,” Yerim piped up with a roll of her eyes. Lisa giggled, hugging the shorter girl too.

“Hi, Yerim. It’s nice to see you too.”

“Hold up,” Sooyoung suddenly said, her eyes landing on Jennie who had been awkwardly standing off to the side. “Lisa, who’s your friend? And where’s your girlfriend?”

“Geez, Sooyoung. Chill a little, would ya? This is Seoyeon. Chaeyoung had a shift tonight and couldn’t come so I asked Seoyeon to accompany me instead,” Lisa explained. “My gift is actually from the both of us, just so you know.”

“Oh, alright. It’s nice to meet you, Seoyeon,” Sooyoung finally greeted, holding out her hand. Jennie shook it, plastering on a smile.

“Honestly, the pleasure is all mine. Can I just say that you’re much more beautiful in person than on the news.” Seeing the immediate change in Yerim’s expression, Jennie quickly turned to her and added, “You both are. And you look even better together.”

“Yeah, we get that a lot,” Yerim joked, visibly relaxing. Sooyoung rolled her eyes, taking her girlfriend’s hand.

“Well, we should probably get back into the melee. There are still a lot of guests left to greet,” she said with an apologetic smile. “It was really nice meeting you, Seoyeon. And Lisa, don’t be a stranger, okay?”

“I won’t,” Lisa promised with that bright smile of hers. “Bye, Yerim. Enjoy your party, Sooyoung, and happy birthday once again.”

A couple more farewell phrases were exchanged and then the birthday girl and her girlfriend departed, moving on to entertain another group of guests. Lisa stared after them for a while with that adorable smile. Once they faded out of view, however, Lisa’s smile dropped almost immediately. She turned to Jennie, her lips upturned in a slight smirk.

“You’re quite the little actress. They weren’t even remotely suspicious of you. I guess it’s part of the job,” Lisa commented. Without waiting for a response, the blonde turned to drift into the crowd. Jennie, confused more and more by the minute, rushed to follow after her.

You’re a pretty damn good actress yourself, Jennie thought to herself, staring at the back of Lisa’s head. There was definitely something interesting about her.)

Currently, Jennie was loitering around the food table, swirling her deep red, slightly-alcoholic beverage around in its glass. She was glancing around uncomfortably at the crowd, shifting from foot to foot. She knew that she probably looked odd and extremely out of place, more so than before. And the reason was that Lisa was no longer by her side and hadn’t been for several minutes now. Jennie had felt uneasy when the blonde had pulled her to the side, talking over the music with her lips pressed to Jennie’s ear, telling the older girl that she had to step out for a moment to make a phone call.

“I’ll be right back. Stay here,” Lisa had said, offering Jennie a reassuring smile. But there was something off about it that Jennie couldn’t quite place, something forced. Jennie said nothing to the girl, however, biting her lip nervously as she watched the blonde walk away. There was something about the rigidity of Lisa’s shoulders as she walked off that made an inkling of dread trickle into the pit of Jennie’s stomach. Just as Jennie was starting to feel like she might implode if she was alone any longer and was considering looking for Lisa, her phone vibrated inside her clutch purse. She pulled it out immediately, grateful for the distraction, but ended up staring at her screen in confusion.

Meet me by the staircase in the back. Be quick but don’t draw attention. Don’t tell anyone where you’re going.

The mysterious text was from an unknown number, and that made Jennie even more confused. Jisoo had set up various precautionary measures on her phone to prevent it from being hacked and no one had her number unless she trusted them with it. But someone at this party had just texted her and they wanted to meet.

Hurry up delinquent.

The second text shocked Jennie more than the first. This sounded a lot like Lisa, but that was impossible… right? Jennie shook her head. There was only one way to find out for sure who this was and what they wanted. Determined not to waste any more time, Jennie put her phone away and set her drink down on a table, trying to look as calm and inconspicuous as possible as she weaved through the crowd and then away towards her destination.

The hallway leading back towards the staircase was dimly lit, almost eerily so. The staircase itself, as grand and beautiful as it was, looked oddly terrifying to Jennie in the lighting. She willed her racing heart to slow down, but it continued pounding away in her rib cage, making her feel like it would jump out at any second. She wasn’t usually so easy to frighten, but something about this felt off…

It was the moment when Jennie was about to call out that a hand clamped over , another snaking around her waist and yanking her back. She let out a muffled scream, squirming and struggling against her captor. The grip was surprisingly strong, however, though oddly gentle. It didn’t hurt but it sure as hell was annoying. She continued to struggle as she was pulled backwards into the shadows beneath the stairs. Once there, she was spun around, somewhat roughly, and held against her assailant, hand still covering . And all at once, Jennie stopped screaming and struggling. Wide, dark eyes stared down at her from a doll-like face—a face Jennie would recognize anywhere.

“I need you to come with me. Keep quiet. Don’t argue, don’t ask questions. We don’t have time,” Lisa whispered, her voice almost inaudible even though it was silent except for the sound of distant music from the party. Jennie stared at her, wide-eyed and unsure of what to make of the situation. Lisa’s expression was stern as she glared at Jennie. “Do you understand?”

“Mhmm,” Jennie mumbled against Lisa’s hand, managing a slight nod. She wasn’t sure why she agreed so easily but she didn’t have time to second-guess herself because suddenly Lisa’s hand had dropped from to grasp her wrist instead, her hold like iron. Lisa tugged Jennie, wasting no time on being gentle and settling on harsh instead. Jennie let out a whimper, both out of frustration and slight pain.

“I told you to keep quiet,” Lisa growled, shooting Jennie a poisonous look. Was this really the same girl Jennie had first met at the police station? Those were the same eyes, but where before they held mere defiance and annoyance, now they held a deadly warning. Jennie automatically clamped shut, jogging to keep up with Lisa’s long-legged strides when she began to move again. There was something very, very scary about this situation, and even Jennie wasn’t stupid enough to keep challenging Lisa at this moment. For now, she’d do what she was told and demand answers later—at least, that was Jennie’s plan until Lisa dragged the older girl through a side door and out to the street.

“Hey, what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Jennie hissed as the blonde pushed her into the backseat of an idling car. Jennie tried to fight and climb out, but Lisa caught her off guard by shoving her back in and slamming the door. Jennie heard the distinctive click of the door locking before she could try to get out again. Lisa didn’t even spare her a glance as she quickly got into the driver’s seat.

“You want to know what I think I’m doing?” Lisa asked, buckling her seatbelt. She met Jennie’s eyes in the rearview mirror. “Saving your sorry . That’s what I’m doing.”

“Saving me from what? I don’t need to be goddamn rescued!” Lisa didn’t answer, shifting the car into drive and pulling away from the curb. Jennie let out a frustrated huff, throwing her hands in the air. “You’re ing insane. , this isn’t even you’re stupid car. Did you steal it?”

“Of course.” Lisa’s answer was cold and precise, and it made Jennie pause. She stared at the back of the blonde’s head in disbelief, thinking that any moment now the younger girl would laugh and say she’s kidding. But, of course, that never happens.

“W-What? You stole this car?!”

“Yes, that’s what I just said.”

“But… why?”

“It’s a much better getaway car if it has absolutely no connection to you or me.”

“G-Getaway car? Why would you need a getaway car? Who are we getting away from?”

“Jennie,” Lisa says slowly. She looks at the brunette through the rearview mirror again. “Who do you think we’re getting away from?”

Jennie is about to say that she has no idea. Her head is spinning and she can’t quite process what’s going on. Everything about the night has been weird, and this is definitely no exception. She can’t quite wrap her head around it and her processing function seems to be exceptionally slow at the moment. But then she hears it, off in the distance, the thing that they’re running from, and realization hits her like a bucket of cold water. The wail of sirens. Police sirens. They’re getting away from the police. But why? Why now? And why Lisa? How did she know? Why did she help? These questions run laps in Jennie’s head, making her dizzier and dizzier by the minute. That, coupled with the annoying screech of sirens, is enough to make Jennie’s mind go completely blank before she falls into darkness.

Confused yet? You should be hehehe

~unsungpoet >:)