A few hours after the Awards’ after party (flashback)

It was five in the morning when the necklace finally came back from the Awards, securely carried in a locked suitcase that was carried by both Sehun and Jongin, who were obviously exhausted from pulling an all nighter but managed to function almost as if they were perfectly fine.

Of course, Tiffany & Co. was closed to the general public and the streets around the store’s area were almost empty at that time, but nothing was chosen at random. It was all part of the security’s strategy to deliver the necklace back.

Johnny was waiting for them, as they prepared to the protocol of checking the necklace once again, before putting it back on its vault, six meters underground, on what seemed to be Seoul’s safest treasure box.

Once Sehun and Jongin put the suitcase on the table, Johnny quickly opened it, reaching for the necklace case in no time as he got the necklace to check it one last time.

When he lifted it up and took a closer look, he screamed and before Sehun could open his mouth to ask what was going, Johnny took his phone, quickly dialing to a very specific number.

“Sunmi-noona, it’s me, Johnny. The necklace has been stolen.”

The distant buzzing sound of her doorbell woke Rosé up from her deep one-hour slumber. She rubbed her eyes, got up and groaned as she put on a comfortable pair of slippers, walking towards the door.

Even though it had been about over an hour since she got home, Rosé couldn’t even remember how exactly she got there or how she put on her pajamas before she went to bed.

She put on her glasses and fumbled through her purse, blindly looking for a painkiller as she narrowed her eyes at the clock on the kitchen wall: it was almost 7 am.

The singer was exhausted and she was already plotting in her mind hundreds of ways of murdering whoever was ringing her doorbell that early in the morning.

It was probably Jisoo, who had forgotten her code and they keys again, considering that any visitor had to go through her security guards before they could reach her doorstep.

Yawning, Rosé unlocked her front door without checking the cameras and she was met by a complete stranger, an older woman, dressed up in complete formal attire, who politely smiled at her.

“Miss Park, good morning. I’m sorry I’m here this early considering you had a very important event yesterday and deserve to rest today.” The woman energetically said. “But I’m here to address some important matters regarding the necklace you’ve worn.”

“I’m sorry, Miss...?” Rosé slowly said, too sleepy to process. “What’s your name again?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Sunmi, nice to meet you!”

“Alright, Miss... Sunmi. Is the police even allowed to trespass at this hour?”

“Oh, if the police comes to your place, I’m afraid that it is not considered trespassing.” The woman explained. “I’m not a policewoman, though. Nor a police investigator.”

“So you did trespass.”

“No, I-“

“I’m calling the police.”

“No, please, Miss Park, listen-“ Sunmi pleaded. “Please hear me out… I went through your security system normally and I’m just a insurance fraud investigator-”

“No, thanks, I’m not interested.” Rosé quickly said, almost shutting the door close if it wasn’t for Sunmi’s feet blocking it. “Oh, c’mon, I need to go back to sleep, my head is KILLING ME!”

“I swear I just have a few questions for you regarding the Majestic and it’ll be quick.”

Rosé contemplated the idea, weighing on the possibilities and truth was: the sooner she dealt with this annoying Sunmi, the sooner she could go back to sleep.

Also, she needed to fire whoever allowed Sunmi to enter her place without telling her, but that would be a problem for Jisoo to solve some other time.

“Please, Miss Park! Look, I even brought hot chocolates for this!”

Rosé looked down at Sunmi’s hands that did in fact carry two foams cups whose plastic lids were completely fogged by the hot steam coming out of the cup.

The singer let out a tired sigh before she internally cursed herself.

“Hm… okay, c’mon in.”

Sunmi quickly wiggled her shoes away, smiling in victory as she managed to carry both cups in one hand and her suitcase in the other. She looked expectantly at Rosé, who led the way to her enormous meeting room and pointed vaguely to a chair as she sat on the other end of the table.

“Can I have my hot chocolate now?” Rosé asked. “By the way, how can I know you did not poison this?”

“I… Ugh… I can prove to you there’s no poison by drinking it!” Sunmi suggested and took a sip. “See? I’m not dead.”

“Hm, okay.” Rosé agreed and closed her eyes once the hot chocolate’s warmth hit . “This is nice.”

They stayed in silence for a whole minute until Rosé abruptly opened her eyes and caught Sunmi anxiously staring at her.

“You may begin, Miss Sunmi.”

“Oh, okay! So I’m here to inform you that someone has stolen the necklace and I’m here to look for clues.” Sunmi explained. “I’m not here to accuse you of anything and I couldn’t care less about legal prosecution. I just want to find the necklace and detect any insurance fraud.”

“Wait.” Rosé almost gasped. “What? Someone stole the necklace?”

“Correct and this person was most definitely at the Awards yesterday.”

“It was not me.” Rosé almost panicked. “I know I was the one wearing it but I swear I have nothing to do with this!”

“It’s ok, Miss Park. Once again, I’m not accusing you.”

“Right.”

“I just have a few questions. First, what happened last night? Anything unusual?”

“Ugh… I got dressed, I drank a weird green tea my manager gave me and I was puking my guts out one second and then I was on stage… Wait, no. Before that the necklace was gone for a split minute and the a woman found it on the floor, I thought it had been an accident, but now I’m not so sure...”

Sunmi took some notes. Once Rosé finished talking she took out some files of her suitcase and flipped through them until she found a photo, which she showed to Rosé.

“This gentleman, Bogun, he was there.” Sunmi stated.

“Yes, he was my date…”

“Was there ever time you two were alone while you were wearing the necklace?”

“No.”

Sunmi narrowed her eyes at Rosé who was very confused. Then, she showed Rosé some other pictures, this time of her and Lisa smiling brightly on the red carpet.

“How about this lady, Lalisa Manoban? She was there with you, too. Were you ever alone with her while wearing the necklace?”

“I.. ugh… are you sure you’re not a journalist from a gossip website?”

“Is that a yes then?”

“I’m not- Lisa didn’t steal the necklace.” Rosé said. “We… we weren’t alone.”

“Ok.” Sumi scribbled down some notes. “Was there anyone present with you in the bathroom?”

“How can I know? My head was in a toilet bowl!”

“Hm...Do you know this person?”

Sunmi showed her another picture and Rosé took a closer look. That face was very familiar and she forced her hangover self to remember who that woman was. Oh, of course, she knew that person, that was Tiffany Young as she had been told by her manager.

“Yes, that’s Tiffany Young.”

“Hm, interesting.” Sunmi commented and showed her another photo. “She is actually Irene Bae, convicted felon. She was present there, yesterday at your event or should I say on the night of the incident, disguised as someone else.”

“Oh my, did she steal the necklace?” Rosé was impressed. “She’s good.”

“Apparently not, she’s the only one with an alibi, smiling at the camera the entire time.”

“Oooh… so?”

“So I have five innocent people who seem to be suspects and one person that should be a suspect but isn’t.”

Sunmi was frustrated. Rosé wasn’t as helpful as she had imagined her to be. In fact, she certainly didn’t know about the incident and clearly had been blissfully sleeping prior to her visit.

“I have footage from all the security cameras that seem to cover every single inch of that stadium, except for the bathroom, where the Majestic was stolen from your neck.” Sunmi said and got up from the chair. “Interesting case, sometimes I love my job.”

“I love my job too” Rosé said and got up as well. “Thanks for the chocolate!”

“Thank you for your time, Miss Park. I have more people to interrogate, so...” Sunmi bowed as she bid farewell to Rosé, who bowed in response and accompanied her to the door. “Goodbye.”

“Bye! Good luck on your investigation!”

After closing the front door, Rosé contemplated whether she should call her manager and tell her about this strange visitor or not. Shrugging, she decided on the latter and ran upstairs, going back to sleep.