They say to be wary of a new moon.

When the night is at its darkest.

Because she would come in stealth and rid you of your materialistic items.

No one has actually seen her up close before, but rumors and gossips always run amok amongst these people.

Affluent families who seem to do nothing but spend their wealth like nothing.

They say that’s why she targets these people. Because she despises these sort of people. They say that they were the reason why she became penniless. That they forced her parents’ shop bankrupt and left her with only the clothes on her back. And as an act of revenge, she began to target those who destroyed her livelihood. Stealing precious items and selling them on the black market. They say that she went through hell and back, struggling to make ends meet and is now thirsty with revenge.

However, one fact stands amongst the rumors. Witnesses have always said that they’ve seen a flash of white-gold. The color of her hair that had a stark contrast with her full black outfit.  

So beware.

Beware of the cat bugular, Goldilocks.

 

She delicately hung the painting on the wall before her. Glimmers of small statues lined up neatly on the table below. Statues of a jade dragon and of a gold lion were one of the few that she had collected.

The painting wasn’t big, about a foot long and two feet tall. But the painting itself was striking.

A portrait of a young man with tousled black hair right before his eyes. With dark eyes but in the light they were hazel. Intensely riveting eyes that seemed to follow the onlooker everywhere. A mysterious smile adorned his face as if he knew all your secrets just from looking at you. He was wearing a simple black suit that showed up to his pocket where a silver chain dangled from it. And the background was swirls of dark colors making the portrait seem almost foreboding.

She didn’t know why she chose this painting out of all the rest. It certainly wasn’t the most expensive. That one was reserved for a painting depicting a battle in some far away land. But as she walked through the gallery, this specific portrait grabbed her attention and before she knew it, it was in her hands as she bounded away.

There was a magnetic pull towards the painting of the attractive man. But whatever the reason was, the painting was now hanging on the wall of her home.

After checking that it was hung straight, she backed up and settled on the couch behind her and the television.

The news channel blared on, it was showing breaking news that a painting was stolen from one of the most prestigious galleries in the city. They were known for their impressive collection and even more noteworthy security. The fact that the burglar made it inside was surprising news.

The newscaster relayed the latest news with fake enthusiasm.

“It seems like the painting that was stolen was not the most expensive one in the gallery, but one that ranged several million dollars less. Authorities and experts are contemplating why the thief chose this specific painting. Theories of that it holds some kind of secret is being explored. Security cameras show glimpses of the thief, and her face is hidden like always. But like always, her trademark hair is still prominent. It seems like Goldilocks has struck again.”

At the sound of her moniker, she ran her hand through her hair. She had dyed her hair platinum blonde in sheer boredom, but now that it was the reason for her nickname, she was beginning to take better care of it. Her shoulder length hair was now in a ponytail after a long night out.

She blew her bangs up before reaching over and grabbing today’s newspaper from the side table. She almost knocked over a diamond studded crystal box where she stored small odds and ends, but managed to catch it before it fell over.

She glanced at the front page, her eyes skimming over before falling onto an article about an upcoming auction in a week that was showcasing an autographed record by her favorite artist. There were only three in the world that still existed.

She smiled to herself as she folded the newspaper and resigned to bed.

 

The next week she had dressed herself up in her routinely attire. Black long tights that hugged her legs as well as a tight fitting black shirt. She learned that tight fitting clothes were the best for her night activity the hard way. Loose clothing would snag on unsuspecting corners and hinder her. She pulled on a black mouth mask that covered over and nose, leaving her hazel eyes with a clear view. She pulled on a black cap, threading her ponytail through the hole. She laced her black boots before standing up and spinning once.

She closed her eyes, running through the schematics of the building and the security implements once more in her head. She opened her eyes and nodded.

She was ready.

 

It was quiet; almost too quiet. She stealthily slipped in the building through a small window, careful not to fall onto the floor. She then pulled herself to a small spot near the ceiling, scaling the wall where small bricks extruded as an aesthetic design of the building.

When she reached to a certain door, she clipped the claw of her custom-made rope to a sliver bar that ran around the wall near the ceiling and lowered herself down carefully and picked the lock within seconds.

She pushed the door with her foot slowly, opening the door only an inch and reaching her hand in. She then opened a security code box near the door and punched in a series of numbers by memory. An audible beep sounded, and she dropped onto the floor with a soft thud. She pulled on the rope with one long tug followed by two short tugs. The claw opened up and fell towards her which she caught with one hand.

After stuffing the rope in her backpack she entered the back room. Items were already set up for tomorrow’s auction. But the glamorous jewelry and the bronze statues didn’t interest her.

She stalked down the row of goods before stopping at a table with a cloth covering it. She pulled it off without a sound and stared down at the wooden table. An 18^th century Italian writing table.

She frowned. It wasn’t what she was looking for and was about to cover the table again until she paused. One of the legs of the table was a millimeter higher than the rest. She reached down feeling the sides of the table and under it until she felt a depression and pressed it.

A secret compartment opened up and out fell out what she was looking for. A brief grin appeared on her face but disappeared soon after. She picked it up, putting her prize into her bag. She then pulled out a similar looking record; however, this one had her autograph instead. She inserted it into the secret compartment and closed it softly with a click.

She began to leave the room when she stopped in front of the gaudy jewelry. One case held black pearl earrings with diamonds surrounding it. She considered taking it as well, for she knew someone who would pay dearly for them. She was about to put her hand on the case when she heard voices coming closer to the room.

She saw the shadows before she saw them. She took a glance at the earrings and quickly pried open the case, pulling the earrings out.

Which in return set off an alarm.

The voices became more urgent as she rushed towards the back of the back room, disappearing amongst the antiques as the security guards burst in, catching sight of her bright hair.

They immediately swung their flashlights around, scouring the room. The two of them returned to the front where the missing earrings were and conversed about their confusion. They were positive that the burglar was in here when they entered, but there was only one exit and that was the door they entered with.

She had to be still in here, but they checked every corner of the room. It was as if she disappeared in thin air.

While they talked and started searching again, above their heads a girl was crawling through the air vents, her bag clenched in her teeth. And by the time the security guards alerted for more help, she was already on her way, walking along the streets like any other ordinary citizen.

 

The morning after, she arrived at a small restaurant. She opened the door where silver chimes indicated her arrival. A small boy rushed out and greeted her.

“Sorry, we’re closed. Please come back later.”

The visitor replied with, “A watched flower never blooms, while a carelessly planted willow grows in the shade.”

The boy’s expression changed dramatically, bowing towards her and gesturing towards the interior of the restaurant. “Please, this way.”

She followed the boy through series of hallways and sudden turns before arriving in front of a simply white door. He knocked and allowed her to enter.

She walked in to see a young man with his feet propped on his desk, using a loupe to examine a stone embedded in a ring.

He looked up and grinned at his visitor. “Well, who do we have here? How nice of you to visit, Goldie.”

“Hey,” she replied in acknowledgement, sitting down in the chair in front of his table. “Long time no see.”

He smiled, the corner of his lips curling up like a cat. “If you consider two weeks a long time, then sure, nice to see you again. Not that the talk about you still hasn’t quieted down in all these years.”

She rolled her eyes as she reached into her backpack. “I got something for you.”               

His eyes gleamed with excitement. “What is it?”

She pulled out the earrings and set them in front of them.

He greedily grabbed them and examined them under the light. “Black pearls,” he murmured to himself. “Tahitian black pearls. With a ring of pink diamonds surrounding them.”

He looked up at the girl who was leaning back in her chair with her arms crossed.

“These are quite a find,” he chuckled. He wrote down a hefty figure on a piece of paper and pushed it towards her.

She picked it up and inspected the number. She frowned. “We’ve known each other for a long time, Baekhyun. You know better not to cut me short.”

He laughed. “I was checking if you’ve gotten rusty.” He pulled the paper out of her hands and added another zero. “Is that better?”

She nodded, handing it back.

Baekhyun grinned. “Monthly deposits like always?”

“Please and thank you,” she responded. She got up to leave, but the other man reached over his desk and pulled her down.

“Stay! Stay for lunch. We haven’t had time to talk in a while, and you’re in a rush to leave?” he pouted.

She glared at him. “We shouldn’t be seen together. You know that.”

He gestured around him. “Where do you think you are? Plus, I’ll treat you.”

She hesitated at the sound of free food and finally relented. “Fine,” she sighed. “But I’m ordering the most expensive thing on the menu.”

                                                                                                            

Sitting in their VIP room, he flipped through the television while chewing on his straw until he stopped on a news channel.

“The Tahitian black pearl earrings were not the only thing that was stolen from last night’s auction house heist. Authorities have revealed that their prized signed record memorabilia was also stolen.”

Baekhyun glanced over to the girl across her who was mindlessly watching the news as well. “You stole something else?”

Her eyes flew off the television to him before running back to the news channel. She shrugged. “It was something I wanted.”

He rolled his eyes before turning to the television again. It was now showing a panel of experts who were discussing the ever elusive “Goldilocks”.

“There are reasons why she steals selective items,” one of the suggested. “And not the most expensive ones.”

“No, she’s doing this to throw off the law enforcement. She’s a calculating individual who loves toying with us,” another argued.

Baekhyun almost snorted in amusement. He had known the blonde haired girl since the beginning of her thieving career. He met her in a pawn shop trying to sell some items to the owner. He was only browsing the shop to see if there was anything that was being sold that was mistakenly undervalued. It happened more often than not. But as he was, he heard her arguing with the owner about ripping her off. Even from where he was, his calculating eyes could tell that the watch she was trying to sell was worth much more than what the man was offering.

She huffed angrily and stalked out the store with the watch still in her possession.

Baekhyun ran after her and caught up to her which he promptly offered a better price with no introduction whatsoever.

She was wary of him, giving him a suspicious look, but when he pulled out the hard cash, she realized that he was speaking the truth.

He remembered asking her where she had gotten the watch which she replied, with shifted eyes, that she had “found” it. Baekhyun knew that wasn’t the truth, but didn’t probe further.

That was start of their buyer-seller relationship. She had realized quickly in the beginning that Baekhyun wasn’t just any buyer of goods but that he worked in a darker business, however that didn’t deter her. He would always buy what she had, even when it wasn’t the best.

Baekhyun could count on her to bring in excellent goods and asking for the right price. As long it was fair, she wouldn’t ask for more. He had also realized during their partnership that the now blonde-haired girl had a knack for knowing which items were valuable regardless of nothing knowing the cost.

“Funny how these rumors of you could be so wrong.”

The girl glanced at him and shrugged. “It’s not like I can go up and refute them just to tell them the only reason why I steal these things is because I like it. And all the others, I just sell for cash. Don’t really care what it is. Doesn’t even have to be the most expensive,” she explained.

“I know,” he laughed. “I think their explanation of your origin is even more hilarious.”

She rolled her eyes. Other had speculated that her family went into ruin because of rich aristocrats, and she was doing this for revenge. It wasn’t too far from the truth.

Her parents did own a business, and they did go into bankruptcy. However, the reason why wasn’t because some rich company bought them off or anything. In fact, it was because both her parents had a gambling problem and loved to spend money on useless extravagant items.

In the end, they brought their own ruin. And they left town without her. It wasn’t surprising to her that they did so because she didn’t actually live with her parents. But the small amount of money they sent to her stopped, and even with her job, it wasn’t enough to support her.

She struggled to make ends until she found her gift. She was watching the busy crowd after getting fired from her job. She had landed a job, only to be fired because she didn’t smile enough at the customers. She was apparently “scaring” them away as her ex-boss put it.

So she after being fired, she despondently sat herself in front of a café and watched the busy crowd pass her by. But as she did, she realized how careless these people were. Their wallets and valuables were literally hanging out of their pockets. It was so easy to simply reach out and grab it.

And before she knew what she was doing, she had entered the crowd and tried out her judgment. Moments later, several wallets were in her hands. But her guilty conscience caved in and in the end, she delivered the wallets to the police station anonymously.

But fact that it was so easy stayed with her.

She found another job after that, one that didn’t involved smiling but rather paperwork. But her pick pocketing habit didn’t leave. However, instead of wallets, she stole more materialistic items such as watches and jewelry. And only from wealthier looking people. She was sure that they wouldn’t miss them.

She made the extra cash from selling them at pawn shops. And it wasn’t until she met Baekhyun that that money became more her main income than her secretarial job.

When he learned about her natural ability to steal things easily, he had convinced her to take a more difficult challenge. One that involved stealing from rich families or auction houses.   

 

“You mean that you’re the one who got me into it?” she scoffed.

The man before her grinned. “I knew you were going to be great at it.”

She rolled her eyes again and got up to leave. “I’ll see myself out.”

Baekhyun’s hand shot out.

“Wait, I got something for you.”

He pulled out a rare book that she had once told him that she loved and handed it toward her.

“Happy Birthday, Eunkyung.”

She blinked at the present and then gazed at Baekhyun.

Recognizing the stupor in her face he replied with a grin, “You forgot, didn’t you?”

She had, but she wasn’t going to admit it to her buyer and friend.

She glanced at him and gave him a crooked smile. “Thanks.”

“One more thing.”

She looked down as he pushed over a clipping of a newspaper.

“What is it?” she asked as she picked it up to read. Skimming over the article, she frowned while she handed it back to Baekhyun. “I don’t get it.”

The man shook his head. “Keep it. That family is known for their valuables they kept in their house. Now that the owners died in a mysterious accident, there are disputes about where these valuables should go. Most of them will go to their only son, but it should be fine for him to miss some of them,” he hinted.

Her eyes flickered from the clipping to the other’s expectant eyes. “Is there anything you want in particular?”

He grinned, setting his chin on top of his intertwined hands. “I trust your judgment.”

 

 In the midst of the silence of the dark, she quietly entered the mansion. It was impressive to say at the least. Despite its grandeur, she felt that there was something misplaced with it. An air of gloom seemed to hang around the building, making the hair on her arms rise up.

It was simple Gothic building, but when she studied the plans, courtesy of Baekhyun, before tonight, it was more than she imagined. The structure of the two story mansion was ridiculously intricate with more alarms and security than one would really need. In fact, there more security precautions that weren’t included in the original plans she had. But she found some loopholes in the system and used it in her advantage. But in spite of that, breaking in was more difficult that she initially believed.

She shivered but continued to walk down the halls of the mansion. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, gold sheeted railings lined the stairs, and extravagant portraits hung systematically in each room.

She moved from one room to another, shaking her head at each one. She didn’t feel anything grab her attention. Everything was boring, unoriginal, something she could find other places. She wanted something more special. Except she didn’t know what it was, but she knew she would know when she saw it.

After inspecting the lower floors and with nothing to her liking, she decided to head up to the higher floor. She was hoping to avoid the second story because it was more likely that the son of the house would be sleeping there, but she didn’t want to waste a trip for nothing. She had seen Baekhyun angry, and she didn’t want to see it again.

She creeped up the stairs with light steps and peered around the corner down the hallway. It was longer than she expected, for she could barely see where both sides ended. But in spite of that, she was hesitant to start opening doors. She didn’t know where the son resided, and she didn’t want to risk opening the door that would lead to him.

She chose not to enter the doors that lined the solemn dark hallways and opted out on exploring the hallway instead. She hoped that something along these hallways caught her attention.

Moving past small figurines and paintings, she finally arrived to one end of the hallway and looked up in wonder.

An enormous painting towered her depicted a couple of a man and a woman. Fairly older than her, but even through the painting, they looked intensely at her.

They were well-dressed and stunningly beautiful. The woman looked fairly young for her age. A regal air surrounding her. The man was equally as handsome. Strong-looking and confident, he seemed to be in control of everything.

She shivered again despite being full-clothed. She observed the painting once more, contemplating if she should take the painting. She was enamored by it, but common sense won her over. The painting was simply too large for her to take, and she wasn’t about to take that risk.

She stared at the portrait again, something about it vaguely tickling her brain, like she had seen something similar before, but she shook her head. She needed to go; she had spent too long admiring it.

A soft blade suddenly touched . The cold biting metal against her warm blooded skin sent shivers down her spine.

She didn’t dare to move, inching her eyes as far as she could to see if was able to see her attacker.

But she couldn’t see him, lest even hear the sound of his breathing. However, she could tell her attacker was male. His hand that held the knife led to thin arm that was covered with a buttoned-up collared black shirt. But it was tight enough that she could see the lean muscles curving their way around it.

And then he spoke.

“What are you doing here?”

He sounded guarded, unhappy, and curious.

But she was more focused on the skill of his blade. It wasn’t big, but it was sharp. And it was pressed directly against . Something that seemed simple but was actually more complicated. She knew that if she moved an inch left or right, she would inadvertently cut her own throat.

She knew that this person wasn’t an ordinary person; he knew what he was doing.

When she didn’t say anything, her attacker pressed the blade harder against . “I don’t take kindly to strangers in my house,” he whispered darkly in her ear, his hot breath against the nape of her neck.

Eunkyung cursed her luck. Not only was her attacker skilled, but he was also the son of the house. Someone she was trying to avoid. She knew that she was in serious trouble. She wasn’t skilled in any martial arts, but she knew self-defense. But in her position, she wasn’t able to even move. She had to do something.

“Thief,” she blurted out softly.

“What?”

She could hear the surprise in his voice.

“I’m a thief. I snuck in here to see if I could find something interesting and steal it.”

There was a moment of silence where Eunkyung internally prayed that he would be so surprised that he would lighten the pressure on and from there, she could make off with her getaway.

Instead, he laughed.

Which surprised her in the least.

He removed the blade off completely, and she was about to run off while he continued to laugh hysterically.

However, as she passed him, mid-step she threw a glance back at her attacker and froze.

He continued to laugh, leaning his arm against the nearest wall for support.

It wasn’t for the fact that he was handsome, something she probably would never admit to him, but because she had seen him before.

In fact, she had seen him in her home. On the wall.

The man standing before her was the person who was portrayed in the painting she had recently stolen.

She glanced at the painting of the two couple which was directly behind him and then back down at the man.

Oh. She realized why the couple seemed so familiar. They had similar features with the man, the same intensity in their eyes seemed to be a genetic trait.

While she had been contemplating the relationship of the couple in the painting with the man, she didn’t realize that the same man had stopped laughing and cornered her against the wall with both hands on each side of her head.

His dark eyes caught hers and she felt a pull towards them. Even if she wanted to look away, she couldn’t. As if he commanded everything around him, including her.

He smiled, but not a polite one. A more dangerous one. One that made her feel like a rabbit being stared down by a lion.

“So,” he smirked. “Did you find anything to steal?”

She shrugged. Determined not to be intimidated by the man, she tried her best to look nonchalant. “Didn’t find anything of interest.”

The man seemed to find that equally amusing and her previous statement as his mouth widened to show his white teeth and seemed to gleam in the darkness.

“Oh?” he purred. “I do believe that there were several items downstairs that are worth several million dollars.”

She swallowed to clear her dry throat. “There was, but I don’t steal anything unless I find it interesting.”

“Interesting, hmm?” he mused. He chuckled before his eyes darkened. “But I do wonder how you got in. There are alarms scattered throughout the place. I’m sure you would have triggered at least one.”

She cleared nervously. “Obviously you haven’t set them up well enough. The alarm on your kitchen window as been malfunctioning for the last three months. You haven’t fixed it yet, and it was quite easy to sneak in that way.”

“Ah, yes,” he murmured while nodding. “I had been meaning to fix that for a while. I had completely forgotten about it. But even with that, it is not easy to sneak in. I have countless of people fall in their own demise even before passing through the first barrage of alarms.

He looked down at her, a slight grin playing on his face. “So, you haven’t stolen anything yet?”

She shook her head.

“Does that mean I should let you go?”

Eunkyung might have nodded a bit too quickly for that.

He chuckled, bringing his right hand over to her face and lifting her chin up to look directly at him.

“Ah, but I do believe I told you before that I don’t take kindly to strangers in my house. And you’re no exception.”

She felt herself stiffen under his gaze. He was smiling, but his eyes were not.

Her heart thundered against her chest so loudly that she was sure that the man could hear her nervousness if didn’t smell it first.

She closed her eyes for a second before opening them with a determined gaze. The man seemed to notice the shift and narrowed his eyes in caution.

She slowly raised her hand that her fingers brushed against his chest dangerously slow. Maintaining her gaze in front of her and not up at him, she murmured softly, “Not even for me?” Her hand reached his collar of his black buttoned shirt and it softly between the thumb and index finger.

She knew she was playing a dangerous game, but if she didn’t do anything, she was sure that something much worse would happen.

The air of high tension hung upon them, and Eunkyung’s bravado was slowly dissipating. She risked a glance up at him to try and understand what had caused him to stay silent.

He was staring at her with furrowed eyes as if he was trying to understand her as well. As their eyes met, neither one of them broke their gazes until she couldn’t handle the force of them.

She looked away nervously, her hand still on his collar. She dropped it, however, when she felt him move closer. Unable to look straight into his eyes, she continued to look toward the side.

She could feel him lean closer and closer until a warm breath near her ear whispered, “Try and act more confident. It works wonders, you know. The subconscious mind will slowly accept that you are confident if you keep telling yourself that.” There was a small pause before he chuckled. “But this is cute too.”

Her eyes widened as she whipped her head to him about to curse at him at ridiculing her. However, it proved to be foolish move when she realized that their faces were only centimeters apart.

She stumbled back in surprise, heavy and thick. However, she didn’t get very far because the man still had his hands pressed against the wall so she instead bumped into his arm instead of escaping like she had hoped.

He looked surprised as well, but that moment passed fairly quickly when he laughed. He removed his arms from beside her head and took a step back.

Eunkyung’s eyes shifted from him to way that led to her exit, unsure what to do now.

Seeing her confusion, the man smiled. “I’ll give you the exception. You can leave.”

She opened , about to ask why, when she shut it closed. She wasn’t about to let this opportunity go with some silly curiosity of hers. She quickly whisked past him and right before she turned the corner she threw one last look back.

The man was casually leaning against the wall and gave her a wink back.

 

She opened the door of her apartment, heaving an audible sigh and throwing her eyes in a ceramic bowl that clicked lightly against it.

She rubbed her eyes, feeling tired after long hours of secretary work. Despite having a “night” job, she also had a day job where she filed and answered calls for a local firm. A low-key job, but it drained her if she worked overtime. Like today.

She walked past the hall towards the kitchen. After the occurrence that happened three nights ago, she was hadn’t been feeling up to par. She had rejected several of Baekhyun’s offers which she could tell was bothering him but never pushed her to tell him why.

A small rustle in her kitchen drew her out of her thoughts, and she froze. She quietly stepped toward her kitchen and peeked around the corner.

A dark figure was rummaging through her refrigerator, and she found it ironic that there was a thief in the house of another thief.

Catching sight of her letter opener lying on the counter, she silently picked it up and armed herself. Taking one silent step after another, she stopped until she was a little behind him.

But the moment she threw her hand down, the intruder grabbed her wrist, spinning it until he forced her against the wall with her arm twisted behind her back.

She hissed in pain, glaring at the man. His face, however, was shadowed by the dark, and she was unable to see him.

Tilting her hand slightly to get a better angle, her eyes widened in surprise.

The moonlight shone softly down one side of his face, a wide grin plastered on and an apple settled between his teeth.

“You,” she growled. “What are you doing here?”

The man shrugged before crunching down on his apple and setting on the counter. “When you left, you forgot this.” He brought his hand up, dangling a black cap with his pinkie.

“I wonder what happened to it,” she murmured to herself. She smiled at him which didn’t really reach her eyes and replied sweetly, “Thank you for bringing it to me. You could have left it at the front door.”

He chuckled. “But if I did that, I would worry that someone would steal it.”

“No one would steal some old cap,” she laughed in a fake tone.

“Oh, you would be surprised at things people would steal. Things that surprised even me.”

She knew that he was talking about one specific person.

He continued. “You have quite the collection. Have you been doing this often?”

“I would answer any questions you have, but only if you kindly let me go,” she muttered firmly.

He looked down at her and let go, bringing his hands up like he was surrendering. “Oops. My bad. You startled me.”

She scoffed as she massaged her throbbing arm. Lies. All he said were lies. She had a nagging feeling that he knew her presence the moment she came home and was waiting for her.

He gestured toward the living area. “Shall we?”

She bit the inner of cheek, obviously feeling wary of the man in front of her.

Seeing her hesitation, he chuckled. “I promise that I won’t do anything.”

It didn’t lessen her uneasiness, but she believed not listening to him would cause worse consequences.

 

“Hmmm.”

She walked in after him and froze.

The man was standing before one of the walls, staring at the paintings she had hung around the room.

But the painting he was looking in particular was one she completely forgot about.

“Lovely portrait, you have here,” he announced without sparing her glance. “They really brought out my eyes.” This time he did look at her, the same eyes twinkling with mischief.

She tried her best not to roll her eyes at the man who was complimenting the portrait portraying himself but failed anyways.

He laughed, sitting down at the couch and patting the seat next to him.

She sat down but not where he suggested. She tried to situate herself the furthest place possible from the man. But seeing that there was only one couch, the furthest place possible was sitting on the opposite end of the couch.

He noticed her apprehension and found it amusing, moving slightly closer to her that she was trapped between one end of the couch and a thin wall of air that separated her and the man.

He found it amusing, she could tell, the way his lips turned up when he invaded her personal space.

Her hand shot out, resting firmly on his chest. She couldn’t help but to notice the how well-defined it felt. Getting over the surprise she looked up at him who was looking at her curiously. “If you don’t mind, I don’t like it when you’re hovering over me,” she mumbled blankly.

He grinned, nodding in understanding. His moved away, but not enough for her to feel comfortable.

She sighed. Despite his easy-going nature, there was a darker nature under that mask. And she wasn’t about to rip it off to see what was underneath.

“Would you explain why you’re here?”

He smiled at her, his eyes sparkling with entertainment. “I told you. You left your cap at my place.”

Her eyes narrowed with annoyance. “We both know that isn’t why you’re here,” she murmured darkly.

He laughed. “True. Well, if you want to cut straight to it. Frankly, the reason why I’m here is that I’m interested in you.”

Her eyes looked at him vacantly. “What does that even mean?”

“Well,” he began, his lips taking form of a teasing smirk as he began to lean closer to her. She inched backwards as much as she could in spite of knowing there wasn’t anywhere to go.

His face hovered above her, his dark eyes looking devilishly down at her and his lips curling into a smirk. “What do you think it is?”

She scowled, pushing him roughly with the palms of her hand. “If you’re looking for something like that, you won’t find it here.”

He mockingly gasped, putting a hand daintily to his chest. “Why, I would never suggest such vulgar things. I was merely saying that you arouse my interest. Excitement. Such feelings that I haven’t felt ever since I had to return to my parents’ house.”

He continued, locking his gaze with hers. “And besides, nobody has successfully broken into that house. My parents had their security system exclusively made and installed into their house. They were paranoid people, afraid that someone would come in and steal their precious things. Though I don’t blame them, being in their profession, they have every right be.”

“Profession?” she mused. “What did they do?”

He smiled at her. “Ah, I think that’s enough about me. What about you?”

Her gaze hardened. “What about me?”

“I asked you before, remember? Have you being this for awhile?” he questioned, gesturing around him with the word “this”.

She nodded. “Several years now.” She pointed to her hair. “This doesn’t remind you anything?”

The man stared blankly at her while he shook his head. “No, should it?”

“Goldilocks?”

He mused over that. “Well, I wouldn’t call it a gold color. It’s more white than gold or even yellow.”

“You haven’t heard about the thief called Goldilocks?”

“It does ring a bell. But to be honest with you, I haven’t been in the city until my parents passed away.” His eyes brightened and he grinned. “But I have heard rumors about a gold-haired thief. Are you trying to tell me that you are the one?”

“Yes,” she said before she could stop herself. She was a bit startled about her own confession. She didn’t know why she was telling him who she really was, but during the times they interacted, she felt somewhat similar to him. In some odd way that she didn’t know how to explain.

He blinked at her, astonished that she readily admitted it even though he assumed it halfway through their conversation.

“So, you’ve been stealing for several years,” he repeated. “Aren’t you bored?”

“Bored?” she echoed with surprise. “Why would I be bored?”

He grinned, leaning toward her on one hand that was pressed against the cushion. “Please. I can tell. Stealing like this is basic to you. You want more of a challenge don’t you?”

“I do?” she said softly. “No, I don’t think…”

He crept closer to her while she contemplated on his words. “Oh, no. You do. At first it was exciting, but now. Now, breaking into those places is as easy as a snap.”

“But I don’t know how to snap,” she replied, proving it to him as she tried to do the action but failed.

He faltered slightly as he moved away; taken aback that she took his words a bit too seriously. But he laughed. “I have an offer.”

“And that is?” she replied with suspicion.

“To tell you the truth, I am in town only for a few more nights. I only came back to grab some things from my parents’ house. But even in the end, I didn’t find one specific thing I was looking for.”

“Wait,” she interrupted. “I thought that you lived with your parents.”

He seemed slightly disturbed at that thought, his facial features contorted into something of irritation. “Oh, heavens no. I left my parents’ house years ago. I wasn’t able to handle their methods. They were always, how do I say, more aggressive than I would like.”

“And I thought that you were inheriting their valuables. Which is why I even broke in the mansion,” she continued.

He waved his hand at that thought. “I don’t need them. I’m letting my uncle deal with it. I told him he could do whatever he wanted with the valuables as long I got first choice of several items. He agreed in a heartbeat.”

“But that’s like a millions of dollars down the drain!” she exclaimed.

He shrugged. “Like I said I don’t need it.” He glanced at her. “I don’t believe I told you what I do.”

She shook her head no. “Does it matter?”

“To this conversation, yes. My parents taught them all they knew which I’m grateful for. The skills needed, including various life skills and countless of information of myths and legends. But to put all together, my parents were treasure hunters. And I followed in their footsteps.”

She gaped at him. “Treasure hunters. You’re joking. What do you think this is? A movie?”

“I can assure you that this is no movie. In fact, I only came back because my parents were in pursuit of an extremely rare and valuable treasure. But like I said, their methods were always a bit too violent. They might of made off with a few people in their career. Made a few enemies here and there. And that caused their demise. But not before hiding all the information they gathered about the treasure.”

He frowned. “They sent me a letter before they died telling me to go find it. That they didn’t want their hard word go to waste.”

“Why are you telling me this?” she questioned. “I’m sure this is the type of information that you don’t want to let others know.”

He grinned again, his teeth showing through his lips. “It all leads to my offer. You’re quite extraordinary. Even with my trained skills, I was never able to sneak into my parents’ mansion. But you were able to. That says a lot. Which is why I want to recruit you on my mission. How about it?”

Eunkyung let a scoff of air. “What? Recruit me? You can’t expect me to simply go along with this ridiculous plan of yours. What exactly is this treasure anyways? In some far away land that probably doesn’t exist?”

“Actually, I don’t even know what it is,” he confessed.

“You’re joking,” she sighed. “Then how the hell do you expect me to go with you if I, you, don’t even know what you’re getting into.”

He shrugged. “It’s all part of the adventure and excitement. You can’t always expect everything to be easy. It wouldn’t be fun either way.”

“You didn’t even find what you were looking for in your parents’ home!” she cried out in frustration. “You don’t even know where to start!”

He stood up. “On the contrary, I do now.” He walked over to the portrait of himself. “I might not have found anything at home, but before that, let me ask me you a question.” He turned to her and leaned against the wall. “Tell me, why you stole this painting, assuming that you did. Was it because I was too attractive not you?”

She rolled her eyes. “You wish.” She stood up as well, walking over to the portrait. “I don’t know,” she confessed. “Something about it caught my attention, and I just knew that I should take it with me. Even now, I still don’t know why.”

“I do.”

She turned her head to him with a bewildered look on her face. “What?”

He grinned back. “I’ll show you.” He looked around the living room, searching for something sharp. He saw the letter opener that she tried to attack him with lying abandoned on the table. He picked it up and without a word, used it to slash the painting diagonally through.

“What are you doing!” she cried out in shock.

“Proving to you that I have a lead to the treasure. Look.”

She peered closer to see that there were etchings inscribed near the bottom of the backing of the wood of the frame. The numbers 46.0166700 could be barely read, and right besides it some wrote in pen the letter “N” in parenthesis right next to it.

“I don’t get it. And you could have simply taken the painting out of the frame, you know. You didn’t have to slash it.”

He grinned. “It wouldn’t have been as fun.”

“But how did you know that this was behind it?”

“As much as my parents had cared for me, they were not the type of people who would spend money for someone to paint a picture of me.”

“But if they put this inscription here, then why was it in a gallery?” she asked.

He frowned. “Now, that is what confuses me. I doubt they would sell this painting like this. Perhaps someone stole it before you did? But luckily, it’s in your possession now.”

“Alright, so we don’t know how it got into the gallery, but what do those numbers mean?”

The man mused over them before saying softly, “They’re coordinates. Or least part of them.”

He tapped the numbers with his fingers. “46.0166700 is the latitude in decimal degrees. The ‘N’ means North. And the reason why it’s in parenthesis is because it only hinting that these numbers are coordinates since coordinates in decimal degrees usually don’t have directions associated with them. But where’s the other half? The longitude coordinates.”

He stood there, lost in his thoughts as he tried to figure out the puzzle.

Eunkyung watched him as she began to understand this man’s prowess. He was much more than he made himself out to be.

She then turned her attention to the ruined painting. She was to some extent disappointed in the ruination of it. She wasn’t about to admit it was because it was a painting of himself. But she had liked the way the artist depicted him. The artist definitely captured the intensity in his dark eyes that she never seemed to escape from. She was positive that the same artist painted the portrait of whom she understood as his parents. Their son had the same facial features as them, especially the eyes.

She remembered wanting to take it with her, but was stopped by rational reason.

But why had she wanted to take it with her?  

 “I know where the other part is.”

“You do?” he exclaimed. “Where? How?”

“The portrait of your parents. In your parents’ house. Where you found me.”

His eyes widened. “Of course! Why didn’t I think of that?” He paused. “How did you figure it out?”

“Baekhyun always said I had a knack of picking the more valuable items.”

“Baekhyun?”

“He buys the things I steal.” She turned away from him, picking up the cap that the other brought with him. He glanced at him. “Well? Aren’t we going to head over there?”

He smirked, crossing his arms. “We?”

She stopped short and slowly turned around to face him. “Yes, we. You offered this to me, didn’t you? Or are you going to go back on your words?”

“I thought you were highly against it. Especially since I had no direction on where to start.”

She looked away. “Perhaps I was hesitant at first, but you’re right. This is exciting.”

He stared at her with a solemn look before his lips curled up at her. “Excellent. I was actually going to force you to come now that I know that you are able to distinguish the importance of artifacts. That ability would come quite in handy.”

She gave him a quick nod until a thought came across to her. “Oh. I can’t believe I never asked you this.”

He looked expectantly at her.

“What’s your name?”

He laughed. “Joonmyun.”

She offered him her hand. “Eunkyung,” she replied.

“It is a pleasure to work with you,” he murmured as he shook her hand in the sign of partnership.

She pulled back somewhat too quickly, for when they touched; she could almost feel an electric shock course through her.

He didn’t seem to notice when he asked afterwards, “However, do you not work?”

She looked down at her boots and finally looked up to throw him a rare grin. “Who said I can’t quit it?”

And with that she ran out the door with light steps.

He grinned, feeling more excited than he should be, and bounded after her.

 

---

Goldilocks with Kim Joonmyun/ Suho (EXO)

A/N: Woo! I finally updated. And I changed the group to EXO. I did warn you in the beginning. This one was a little different than the other stories. But I don’t know where to categorize it. I was going to go with a more light-hearted story, but this came out instead. And it’s another long one.

 

Goldilocks and the Three Bears is apparently classified as a fairy tale. Whenever I read the story, Goldilocks always pissed me off. Why would she intrude in someone else’s house, eat their food, break their stuff, and then have this mentality that she was right. Ahem. Perhaps I’m thinking too much of it. Anyways, I made Goldilocks here a somewhat better character. Instead of using their stuff or breaking it or eating their food, she steals it. Hmm. Okay, so maybe it isn’t that much better.

And Suho is “considered” the baby bear, if you couldn’t tell. She breaks into his house (sort of). It belongs to his parents, but Mama Bear and Papa Bear are no longer in the picture.

Next one should be a more light-hearted story. Should be.

 

With ideas to spare, let's see what I'll cook up next.