#008: lipstick

"Chanel Rouge Coco in shade Rouge Intimiste."

“I’m kind of regretting this right now. It’s like the blind leading the blind.” Lisa muttered under her breath as she picked up another lipstick and glanced at its bottom, before uncapping it and smearing on the large mirror in front of her YSL Rose Stiletto. “Damn, who are coming up with these lipstick names.” She whistled as she gingerly placed the lipstick back neatly on the table, lest Momo smacked her again for messing things up.

Sejeong had only let out a grunt that was supposed to be a chuckle, picking up another lipstick of her own and smearing its brand and shade onto the same mirror that was spread out across the table in front of them. “My shoulder aches; I’m this close to tapping out.” Sejeong pinched her fingers together as Lisa gave out a snort.

Sejeong and Lisa had wondered if they could help Momo with whatever she was up to, especially, if they could shorten the three days to perhaps even one. They weren’t expecting, however, to be hunching over a giant mirror that Momo hauled from god knows where, capping and uncapping lipsticks into the late a.m.

“I can hear you guys.” Momo said in a sing-song voice at the end of the table, packing the lipsticks on her side back into a large box. “Are ya’ll almost done?” Sejeong huffed out a breath and straightened up, stretching her arms behind her back. “Yep, just another eight more to go.”

“Here give me some, I’m almost done.” Lisa stretched out her palm as Sejeong gratefully chucked four lipsticks into her open palm.

Momo re-emerged from the large closet where she kept all her make-up, hauling along the mirror that came from the crime scene and onto a large easel at the head of the large table. Lisa and Sejeong finally straightened up, stretching their backs and giving each other a tired high-five as they gazed towards the other mirror that Momo had just brought in.

“Looking into all these mirrors and seeing how I get progressively uglier as the night stretches on is really reaffirming my self-esteem.” Lisa gave a sardonic smile as Sejeong gave out a bark of laughter, clicking the final chest of lipsticks shut and hauling it back into the closet.

“But oh, pretty Lisa, we’re still not done with looking into these mirrors yet.” Momo teased, tossing a can of beer towards the other girl. Lisa caught it easily and could only grumble under her breath as she opened the can and downed half of it in a matter of seconds.

“So what are we up to now?” Sejeong yawned as she shuffled out of the closet, her right hand gripping onto her left shoulder. “My shoulder is aching more than when I train with Shownu; thank you very much Mo.”

Momo could only bat her lashes at the unimpressed look Sejeong was throwing towards her and threw her hands on the girl’s shoulder, giving her a quick massage. “Well the next part can be over and done with if we do it quick and ya’ll stop complaining.” Momo suggested teasingly as she ducked, trying to escape Sejeong’s flick to her forehead. “We just need to match the lipstick smear from our samples to the one on the mirror from the crime scene.” Momo clapped her hands. “I truly am a genius.”

“But what if you don’t have the shade?” Lisa countered, crushing the empty beer can and tossing it into the trashcan under the table. Momo could only roll her eyes and cross her arms across her chest. “Honey, not only am I a genius I’m also a makeup artist and a huge one at that. I’m sure I have every single lipstick under the sun.”

Sejeong had only lifted her eyebrows and gave a lazy smile, pushing the other two girls towards the table. “Ya’ll can continue this in the morning. Let’s just get this over with so I can finally sleep.”

The next half an hour was spent with the girls walking up and down the long mirror, asking each other if that was the right shade, or shooting each other down for being too far off. They had currently wiped off every sample except two. Sliding the mirror between the two samples, the three girls bent down low over the mirror, eye-balling and scrutinising every and stain on them.

“I seriously can’t tell this apart.” Lisa huffed, squinting her eyes and darting her head between the three smears.

“I think its this one,” Sejeong breathed, pointing to the one directly in front of her. “If you look really closely, this one is duller, and it matches the one on the mirror.

The other two had almost pressed their faces into the glass, before Momo popped up like a spring, a wide grin on her face and her eyes shining. “I think its this too! I think we did it!” Momo began jumping up and down before running back into the closet to fetch the said lipstick.

“Chanel Rouge Coco in shade Rouge Intimiste.” Lisa mocked in a fake accent as she threw her hair back and held her head high. Sejeong could only snicker. “This girl may be a murderer, but I do appreciate a murderer with class.” Lisa added, snickering along with Sejeong.

“Here it is!” Momo came running back out, lipstick clasped in between her outstretched fingers before she smacked it down onto the mirror with a bit too much force.

“Calm down girl, a cracked mirror is seven years of bad luck, and we do not want that.” Lisa wagged her finger at the girl before straightening up. “But still, what was all this for again?”

“A magician can’t reveal all his secrets at once. You’ll both find out tomorrow.” Momo said smugly, wiggling her eyebrows at the two girls in front of her.

“I don’t think a magician ever reveals his secret, but okay then. By the way, I just realised that you actually told RM three days and we managed to do it in a night.” Sejeong shook her head and crossed her arms in front of her. “I don’t get why I had to work so hard.”

Momo only gave the girl a teasing smile. “So that I’ve more time to work on your outfit for the ball.”

Sejeong blew out a breath and rolled her eyes. “As if you know what’s the plan yet. Don’t go around being too ambitious, girl.”

Momo only continued with her teasing. “I know what the plan is because it’s only in my genius head up here.” The girl reached up and tapped her temple with a pink nail, giving the other girls a -eating grin at the same time.

Sejeong could only roll here eyes. “Well I’m done with this conversation and I’m beat. Goodnight girls and Mo, you better close the door softly when you come in later.” Sejeong pointed a finger at the said girl as she walked backwards towards the elevator and disappeared as the doors shut.

𝛃

The agents were all gathered around the long oak table, waiting for RM to share his amazing plan with them, especially after Momo’s project the night before. “It may seem redundant at first, but the lipstick the murderer uses can actually help us in ID-ing her.” RM started, flashing a hologram of said lipstick. “As such, our entire plan will be centred in finding out who owns this lipstick at the ball and we'd be on the right track. Sejeong and Sehun will be attending the ball separately, for Sehun to be used as bait, and Sejeong as back-up.” RM started, fiddling around the panels and flashing a hologram of a ballroom.

“I’ve looked into this event, an apparently its a charity ball that’s held annually for the big donators and investors of the organisation. Very classy, very unnecessary. As such, security will be at the highest, and arrangements have been made for Momo, Shownu and Lisa to be the security guards at the venue. Whilst checking purses, said lipstick can be found at the same time.” RM grinned widely, showing his pearly whites. “At the same time, Daniel will be posed as the bartender and Wonwoo as back up outside the venue, especially if we need to stop her from exiting the venue. Jaehyun will be at the opposite rooftop just in case.” RM clapped his hands in satisfaction. “And voila, we’ve got a mission on our hands.” He sunk into his huge leather chair, sighing contentedly.

Jaehyun however, darted his head out and squinted his eyes at RM. “Then what are you gonna do?”

RM simply gave a wry smile. “I’ll be here, watching through CCTVs and telling ya’ll to watch out. I think I’ll be pulling my weight, eh?”

Jaehyun pursed his lips and nodded his head. “Well, yeah.”

“Now that the briefing’s over with, we all have a ball to prepare for. Agents dismissed.”

𝛃

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