Wendy had woken up early, to run through the list of things she needed to prepare for the catering as well as their major heist plan, which had to happen just as she had discussed multiple times with Irene.

She was a bit anxious about the whole situation, so to calm down her own nerves, she decided to prepare herself by making tea to all the girls gathered inside her place: Irene, Joy, Yeri and Seulgi.

Seulgi took a tea cup and shot her a grateful warm look, the one she always used when Wendy was undeniably caring and cute, which would always make the Canadian sigh but smile.

Joy grabbed a mug from Yeri, who huffed and took another tea cup for herself, whining to Seulgi about the hacker’s lack of politeness and reprimanded her choice for a significant other.

Irene, on the other hand, was deeply entranced on testing out their gadgets and only noticed Wendy was offering her tea when the Canadian gave her a side hug, which she reciprocated.

“Everything is under control, ok?” Wendy reassured and Irene smiled back, with a glint of happiness in her eyes.

“It’s finally happening, Wan.”

When the clock struck two in the afternoon, Jisoo sent them a message saying that Rosé would arrive two hours prior to the MAMA Awards red carpet event, which meant they had still about an hour to gear up.

They all gathered in the back of Wendy’s fake catering van which she proudly name it Red Velvet, as she had previously explained it was her favorite cake flavor back in the United States plus she swore it had a metaphorical meaning behind it that suited them.

“Unnie, the red is for the blood we’re not shedding and the velvet is what we’re for the money we’re getting after.” Wendy said, vaguely gesturing to the giant sticker on the van.

“What?” Seulgi asked, confused. “I thought we had agreed that the red represents our bright personalities and the velvet is for our dark criminal side.”

“I like Seulgi’s definition better.” Irene concluded and Wendy pouted, proceeding to sit on the driver’s seat. “But yours is good too.”

“Hold on, did you live in the US, Wendy-unnie?” Yeri asked while she was putting on her earpiece. “I thought you were Canadian”.

“Joy, mic test!” Irene demanded as she took the passenger’s seat. “She is Canadian, Yeri.”

“Long story.” Wendy sighed and Irene giggled. “But, yeah, I lived in the US.”

“One day you gotta tell us about it, though.” Joy said loudly while switching on their equipment, making her voice echo in her own head. “I guess the gadgets are working perfectly then.”

Wendy waited for Irene’s signal and soon after they were on the road, through Seul’s hectic streets, on their way to the biggest heist ever known to humankind, as a GPS gave them the coordinates.

Less than half an hour later, they arrived at the event without any big difficulties and splitted up, each one going to their designated positions as they had thoroughly planned before.

Wendy, Yeri and Seulgi went straight to the kitchen where pretty much everyone was waiting for them, as Wendy was actually a head nutritionist for the event’s catering buffet.

Joy would stay inside the van, that she then parked at a strategic place as she would be monitoring the cameras and the girls devices using her laptop and a bunch of other electronic gadgets.

Then, Irene, who would be participating in the awards by disguising herself as a indie singer, decided to look for Jennie, who was checking some last-minute arrangements for the show.

Despite the stadium’s hugeness, she spotted the woman quite easily as she was the only using a megaphone to shout at other organizers at least two kilometers away from her.

“Hey, Ire-Tiffany!” Jennie exclaimed rather excitedly as she ran to meet her halfway. “How’s everything going so far?”

“It’s going swell, I just don’t know where I could eventually change clothes?” Irene or now Tiffany asked and her presence alone had drawn Nayeon, who was closely, into their conversation.

“Oh, hi! I’m Nayeon and you must Tiffany Young, a rising indie superstar!” The woman introduced herself, smiling brightly at her. “Do you need something? Why are you here so early?”

“I got anxious at home.” Irene explained and Nayeon nodded. “Jennie, told me I could come earlier then and, well, here I am!”

“Oh, I didn’t know you guys knew each other!” Nayeon stated and shot a weird look at Jennie “Jen, please share the secret, how come you know so many famous people?”

Jennie giggled and waved dismissively at Nayeon who gave her a warm smile and seemed busy enough to not bother them any longer, as she excused herself to go solve some problem with the tables.

“She scared the out of me now.” Jennie commented and Irene laughed at her distress. “I hope she doesn’t suspect anything.”

“She seems too busy to care I guess.” Irene said and Jennie contemplated it, her mind elsewhere as she supervised the Vogue Crew. “Where’s Jisoo and Lisa?”

“Still at Rosé’s house. That girl takes forever to get ready but they should be here any minute now.”

Irene hummed and took a look around for the first time as she noticed that the whole event seemed to be set up already as all tables were neatly organized as well as the stage and the lights.

“I must be keeping you from doing your job here.” Irene said and Jennie’s face reddened. “Ok, I’ll let you be, just tell me where the dressing room is.”

“All the way to the back, then you turn left.” Jennie explained. “I’m sorry that we can’t talk but I actually cherish the authenticity of our plan here.”

“You’re the best, Jen! See ya!”

One hour later, after a lot of chit-chatting through their hidden earpieces and mini microphones, Irene finally decided to gear up the other girls, by using Yeri as her delivery girl.

“Why am I always the chosen one?” The young woman complained when she met the leader in the dressing room. “That’s not fair!”

“Well, you’re the youngest.” They both heard Wendy’s voice through their earpiece. “That’s a good criteria.”

“Plus you’re faster and more skilled than us.”  Seulgi’s voice ringed in their ears.

“I just voted for you because honestly you at cooking and we actually need you to be useful.” Joy interrupted which made Irene laugh. 

Irene gave Yeri the gadgets and devices and rushed the girl to the door, pushing her outside of the room and she laughed at Yeri’s unpleased face.

“There was an election!?” Yeri whined loudly once Irene just pushed her outside the dressing room. “Why didn’t I have a chance to vote?”

“Democracy can be tough sometimes.” Wendy said simply. “We didn’t have the time for that.”

“You would’ve been chosen anyway.” Joy huffed. “Deal with it, honey!”

“Seulgi-unnie, why aren’t you defending me?”

“Ugh, because I’m busy?” Seulgi said and an idea popped on her mind. “Just do the job and I’ll make up to you by providing you free dessert today.”

“Deal.”

After Yeri handed out the devices and Lisa, Jisoo and Jennie were finally connected, they all gave their updates about the press, media, guests and who they should avoid talking to, as to not raise any unwanted attention.

In the dressing room’s bathroom, Irene was finally able to do her makeup for the event as she had been busy memorizing all the way backstage, which they would use to lure Rosé and snatch the necklace when no one was looking.

“Ok, so we’re now finally counting down to our plan.” Irene’s voice was stern through the mini speakers on each team member’s ears. “First of all, you don’t need to feel scared.”

She paused a bit, while she applied a bit of blush to her cheeks and chose a lipstick to put on.

“Food in prison is better than what people say.” Irene continued her monologue and sort of speech. “And even the solitary could be peaceful.”

She halted when a unknown woman got out of the stalls, giving her a weird glance but walking away, not even bothering to wash her hands. Unsanitary.

“Well, I just want to say thank you! The last three weeks have been amazing for me and we all worked hard for this.”

Irene stopped and reached for her mascara. She could hear the members steady breathing as they all payed attention on what she had to say.

“Whatever happens tonight, I just want you to remember one thing: you’re not doing this for me, you’re not doing this for you.”

The leader took a step back and stared at herself in the mirror, admiring her outfit and makeup choice for the night.

“Somewhere out there, there’s a eight-year-old girl, lying in bed, dreaming of being a criminal.” Irene took a deep breath and smiled. “Let’s do this for her!”

Jennie suppressed a laugh upon hearing that absurdity and almost failed, specially when Nayeon reprimanded her with a cold stare while she gave out orders of not to do or say to the guests.

Outside, Jisoo murmured a curse as she was unsuccessfully trying to calm down Rosé’s nerves and shared a glance with Lisa, who had also been hearing Irene’s speech and was getting ready to walk down the red carpet with the singer and her annoying date, gasped in an attempt to not laugh.

Rosé gave them a side glance, but Bogum was seeking her undivided attention so he tugged her arm, explained to her the poses they could do while they walked on the red carpet.

Meanwhile, the other girls were in the kitchen, staring at each other and laughing as if they had a secret unspoken joke going on which obviously attracted awkward looks.

Satisfied with her team’s reaction, Irene thanked them one last time and exited the bathroom, ready to begin a new chapter in her life, but this time, with the help of seven other women.