“Ya, Heose-unnie! Get your hands off my girl this instant!”

Hitomi couldn’t help but yell when she saw Yena dragging Chaewon down the stairs on a headlock as they made their way to the headquarters. She knew it was just useless banter between the two but seeing Yena getting close to Chaewon reminded Hitomi of things that happened in the past. Hitomi acknowledged that Yena was more charismatic and outgoing than she was, and it made her feel insecure at times, especially when Yena is being charming in front of her girlfriend. She felt like she might lose Chaewon to Yena if the two hung out more, a fear that wasn’t too outrageous…

Since it already happened before.

“Ya, Bbangtomi. Your girl put her hands on my girl first!” Yena replied, not letting go of the newbie con artist. Chaewon glanced at her girlfriend to check whether she would react violently to what Yena had just called her, but Chaewon was surprised to see her girlfriend glaring at her instead.

“Is that true, Chaewon?”

Chaewon felt Yena’s grip loosen, so she took the chance to wiggle herself out of Yena’s arms. When she succeeded, she answered, “Yuri hugged me, so I gave her back a slight pat---”

“Oh, so putting your hands on my girlfriend’s back and rubbing it in circular motion for ten seconds was a slight pat?” Yena asked with a devilish grin on her face.

“Hey, when did that happen? Hiichan, it wasn’t like that!”

Hitomi simply turned her back to Chaewon and went back to the couch. “Guess who’s sleeping here tonight?” she asked, hiding her own devilish grin from Chaewon.

Chaewon, unaware that the two con artists were in cahoots, panicked and went straight to Hitomi to bargain her sleeping arrangements. The newbie con artist turned and saw Yena laughing, “Unnie! Fix this! You know that I didn’t rub Yuri’s back or anything!”

“Lesson #1 about cons: It’s all about the details.”

“Unnie!” Chaewon hissed at Yena, but when she saw that her girlfriend was sulking, she sat down on the couch to give her girlfriend her full attention. Yena looked at the two and felt her heart warm up.

Hitomi deserves someone to love her just like Chaewon does.

The door to the underground parking suddenly opened and the voice filled the room. “You won’t get her back like that, Newbie. Try harder.”

Chaewon looked to the source of the voice and saw Chaeyeon standing in the doorway. She was wearing her work overalls and carrying a suitcase. Behind her were Sakura and Hyewon who were dressed in a similar fashion, but instead of suitcases, Hyewon carried a duffel bag while Sakura had a backpack.

“Chaeyeon-unnie?” the sulking Japanese girl said in a soft voice.

“Tomi-yah…” Chaeyeon’s expression suddenly changed to a sad one. Feeling the tension, Chaewon felt that she should stand up to the thief. There might be some history between the two and she didn’t want Hitomi’s mood to be worse than it already is. She was about to stand up from the couch when the Hitomi jumped up full of energy and ran to Chaeyeon.

Hitomi pulled Chaeyeon into a tight hug and said, “Unnie! It’s been a while! I missed you so much, especially your cooking!”

“Tomi-yah! I didn’t know you’d be here today. I should have brought some tofu. Sorry for not visiting you in prison, though.”

“You still should have visited, unnie. It’s not like you’ll be an inmate too if you just visited!”

“I’m just paranoid that the guards might have their picture there and be like ‘You fit one of these descriptions. You want to stay here for the night? We got a free room.’”

Chaeyeon and Hitomi broke the embrace and smiled at each other. “We should definitely catch up soon, but business first.” The thief turned to Yena and said, “We got what you asked for. It’s not perfect, but it should work.”

Yena clapped upon hearing what Chaeyeon said. Yena then looked at Sakura and Hyewon, who were busy unpacking their stuff, “What about you two? Are we ready? The meet is in a couple of hours.”

Sakura answered, “As you expected, we heard her and her bodyguard talking about their plans through my gizmo. I’ve already thought Kwangbae how to use my new invention so we’re good to go. Nako’s already working on surveillance near Jang Wonyoung’s building. Everything’s set on our end.”

Yena nodded to acknowledge what the older Japanese girl said. She then gathered everyone to the center of the room and said, “Alright, everything is going according to plan. Chaeyeon, you can start casing out the venue for the party. Nako will follow you there after today’s meetup. Hitomi, you’re with Sakura here in headquarters. You’ll be on my ears. Tell me whether there are danger signs on Wonyoung based on her tone. Kwangbae, you already know what to do. Chaewon…”

Chaewon looked at Yena, awaiting her instructions. She hasn’t really had any major contribution to the team after what she did during the heist, and she was excited to have any role whatsoever.

“Don’t ever hug Yuri again.”

Chaewon was shocked by what she heard. “Huh?”

Yena just stared at Chaewon and said, “I said keep your hands off my girl. In fact, don’t ever show up at my house again.”

“But---”

“Dismissed!” Yena clapped her hands again to signal the end of the team meeting. As all the team members dispersed to do their assigned tasks, Chaewon just looked lost in the center of the room. She didn’t know what to do because she wasn’t assigned any task to do. She found Hitomi, who was back to sitting on the couch with her arms crossed in front of her. Chaewon approached her girlfriend again, hoping to win her favor.

“Hii-jjang! Please forgive me.”

“Cheese hotdog.”

Chaewon was taken aback by the sudden mention of the snack, “What?”

“Get me a cheese hotdog and I’ll forgive you.”

Chaewon finally snaps and shouted loud enough for all the people in the headquarters to hear, “This is not fair! I am just trying to do what y’all wanted me to do and I did it well, and now I’m the bad guy? I didn’t hug Yuri, okay? Yena was just exaggerating her story and you fell for it. Geez!”

Everyone was surprised by Chaewon’s outburst, especially the trio who just came in. Chaewon stormed out of the headquarters, but before she went up the stairs, she looked back and said, “I am pissed off, but I’ll be back after a while. It’s not like I was assigned to do anything anyway. I’m still going to get your cheese hotdog, Hiichan.” The red-haired girl makes her way up the stairs and out of the building.

Hitomi lo