"Have you finally fallen in love?" Jaejoong smirks at Max over the dinner they had ordered from room service. To an outsider, it would seem strange, two males having dinner in a dimly lit hotel room, while one is asking the other if he is in love.

Max hasn't touched any of the food, but none of it is going to waste; Jaejoong is scoffing down the soup and croutons like he hasn't eaten in days. "In love?" Max thinks about the women he's dealing with right now, Fei and Gyuri, and wishes that he could say that it is love that brings them together. But it's not. "I wish I could say that."

Jaejoong frowns, flicking bread crumbs off the table absently. "How can you wish to love a woman?" he asks. "You can love one, but your love doesn't necessarily have to be returned."

"That's not my problem," Max says. "You really think I'd call you all the way out to Paris just to whine to you about love life? Besides, you're not exactly the best person to be lecturing me about loving women. I know for a fact that you have never loved a woman in your life."

"I love work, and work loves me," Jaejoong says, shrugging. "Everything else comes second."

"Except pleasure."

Jaejoong grins cheekily. "Somewhere between work and oxygen, yes, there is pleasure," he says. "But, for me, not love."

Max rolls his eyes. "I guess I should be thankful, just this once, that I know you."

"Hey, kid, watch what you say," Jaejoong says, trying to look threatening, but failing. He shakes his head, smiling. "What do you mean?"

"I need you to seduce someone."

Jaejoong is surprised at his request, but he realises he should have expected it. Why else would Max need him so urgently? "A woman, I hope?"

"I've heard it doesn't matter to you," Max says.

He actually catches Jaejoong off guard; the other man drops his crouton into the soup and doesn't bother retrieving it, his cheeks pink. "That was one time," Jaejoong mutters. "Yunho wasn't supposed to tell anyone."

"You asked a thief to keep your promises?"

"I know, it was stupid. Shut up," Jaejoong growls, digging a fork from beneath the pile of tissues he had used to wipe his fingers, and using it to fish out the sunken crouton. It falls onto his plate with a sodden plop. He makes a sound of disgust and tips it back into the soup. "Who is this person you want me to seduce?"

Max smiles slightly, glad that he has put himself in a good position to be asking favours from Jaejoong; only someone close to Jaejoong, like himself, would know that fiddling is Jaejoong's outlet for discomfort. "I think you know her," he says. "Her name is Park Gyuri."

Jaejoong splutters. "Know her?" he repeats. "Who doesn't know her?"

"Makes life easier for you, then," Max says. "No background research, no observing sessions. You just have to dive in, do what you do best, and leave the rest to me. I've arranged everything."

"You want me to seduce one of the most recognised women in South Korea?" Jaejoong says, now completely uninterested in his food.

Max nods. "Exactly."

"You realise I'll never be able to live my life back home if I do this?"

"Yes, you will," Max says, looking at Jaejoong like a mother looking at a child who's just asked what the colour of the sky is. "Even if you meet Gyuri again, she won't spare you a second glance. From what I've heard about her, if you do this for me, then you'll just be part of the long line of men panting after her. And," he continues, "if she does look at you again and you're socially humiliated, it won't make much of a difference. You're a thief. Signing over our lives is part of the deal."

Max's mouth sets into a hard line after he says the last part, because even though he's known that his life has never been completely his ever since he started working at CS, he has only just realised how true it is, now that his own head is on the chopping block.

Jaejoong's eyes narrow. "Something's up," he says, suspicion colouring his tone. "You never ask me to do this kind of thing."

"There's a first time for everything, Jae hyung."

"I know, but Park Gyuri?" he asks in disbelief. "What the hell have you got planned that requires me to get into her pants?"

"Gyuri doesn't really wear pants."

Jaejoong's looks unimpressed. "Now's not the best time to be a smartass, Max."

He sighs. "I know. I'm sorry. But if you knew, Jae," Max says, lowering his voice, "you would understand. Believe me, I've been told that this job won't be an easy one, and this is my only plan."

"What's the job?"

Max bites his lip. Usually, CS thieves aren't allowed to discuss explicit details of their thefts to each other (or anyone, for that matter), but he's desperate and knows Jaejoong would never have asked if he knew that Max could handle it himself. And he obviously can't, seeing as he's asked Jaejoong to drop everything and fly over to Paris. "I have to steal a diamond."

Jaejoong arches an eyebrow. "That's it?" he asks. "A diamond?"

Max wrings his hands in frustration. "That's the problem," he says. "It's Park Gyuri's diamond, and Fei says−"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second." Jaejoong holds up a finger. "Did I hear you say Fei? Fei, as in, secretary Fei?"

Max sighs, knowing he's said too much, but there's nothing he can do about it now. "Yes, that Fei."

"She was fired," Jaejoong says. "Yesterday. Or maybe she resigned. No one really knows."

Yesterday? Max thinks. She came to see me the day before yesterday, and after that, she resigned? Or maybe T.O.P fired her. Maybe he found out that she came to warn me.

A thought chills his blood. What if... what if he killed her?

"Is she still alive?"

Jaejoong gives him an odd look. "Fei?" he asks, slowly shaking his head. "She's not a thief. She can leave when she wants−"

"I know that," Max snaps. "What I want to know is if she's alive."

"I don't know," Jaejoong says, shaking his head. "I saw her leave, but I don't know anything about her. No one does." He frowns. "Why does it matter so much to you?"

Max's heart thumps. Fei hadn't answered his phone calls yesterday, and Jaejoong had said that that was when she'd gotten fired, which means that there is every possibility that she is lying at the bottom of the ocean right now, or beneath a crudely dug pile of earth in a remote location.

He makes a split second decision. "Jaejoong," Max whispers. "If I tell you something, you have to swear on your life that you won't tell anyone. I'm serious. This isn't just about something petty. Fei's life may depend on this, and I want you to tell me what you honestly think."

Jaejoong nods, a little taken aback by Max's solemness. "Of course."

Max looks around the room, even though he knows they're alone. He'd already checked for listening bugs, but he has no time to check again right now. "The day before yesterday, Fei came to me."

"Here?" Jaejoong asks, his eyes widening. "In Paris?"

"In Paris," Max confirms. "She told me I had to leave, because my life is in danger. She said T.O.P arranged for my death. Yesterday, the day she got fired, I called her, but she didn't answer."

Jaejoong lets out a low whistle. "So you think she's dead?"

"I want to know what you think," Max says, swallowing. "Do you think T.O.P would kill her if