Wicked Secrets

Chapter 2

Corine opened the door with men hounding at her with questions. She was the only child in the gang but not the only female. As she answered them without compromising too much, she saw Lulu cooking in the kitchen. Lulu was about 30 years old and single. The reason why a beauty like Lulu did not marry was that she declined every single men who ever proposed. She told Corine it was because she prefer to be an independent person. In addition, she was not to fond of men after seeing the power hungry extent of that species. She approach Lulu and asked "Lulu, would you like me to give you a hand?"

Lulu turned and smiled at the sight of Corine. "Of course! Come and help me prepare the veggies, alright?". Corine nodded and did what she was asked to do. Lulu was quite fond of her. Corine assumed it was because she was the only female Lulu could talk to. Lulu came to the gang about 10 years before Corine because she needed to earn money. No one wanted to accept her but one day, Ape met Lulu who needed a job and was hired. She did all the house chores instead of stealing due to her morally objecting to stealing. But although that, she got a decent wage, free clothes, food and shelter. All's well that ends well, they say.

While preparing, Lulu could sense Corine's discomfort. She decided to be tactful and allowed her some time. But after the silence with instructions from Lulu and 'Yes' from Corine, she decided to asked. "Corine, dear, what's bothering you?"

The relationship between Lulu and Corine was like mother and daughter. Ever since Corine came here, she received love from Lulu and was educated the best she can although Lulu was busy. By the time she was old enough to steal by herself, she was supported by Lulu although Lulu objects to stealing.

Returning the favor of love and support from Lulu, she helps her in the house chores although she rarely got the chance. After her first steal, she was ordered to do more and eventually helped out in heists as they found out she was pretty good at it. Corine was not surprised to hear Lulu using her name. They are on first name basis as Lulu dislike calling Corine by her code name. Corine was surprised, however, that she knew she was bothered. "How did you know?" Corine asked, her curiosity starting to bubble up.

"Intuition." Lulu shrugged. "Come on. You can tell me.".

"Alright..." Corine sighed and told her about the heist, how she flunked it and now was expecting punishment. As she said all this, Lulu just shook her head and asked "I'm so sorry about that. But how did you flunk it? You have never even failed an assignment once ever since you got your first punishment!".

Corine sighed. Lulu had hit a sore spot but decided to be truthful to Lulu about how she was held up by Dean. Lulu eyes brightened and Corine was figuring why until "Oh.... A crush so soon," Lulu teased.

Corine turned the shade of a tomato and shouted "That's not it!"

"Oh, but the way how you said the boy was holding you up, that must mean he's interested in you," Lulu said.

"Seriously, all he wanted was to ask me some questions!" Corine answered. Seriously, Corine couldn't believe this. While she may be facing a possibly brutal punishment, Lulu was teasing her about boy troubles. As Lulu was going to round 2 of this, the men came back and Ape called "Meeting!".

I happily went to the meeting room while Lulu gave me the look that screamed "Later!".

Seriously, I was just happy to get out of that situation even though the situation I'm gonna face might be no better than the last. I went inside the meeting room and was not that shocked to see what was happening. Ape and Luigi were at it again and Hip was trying very hard to break it up. When they saw Corine, they immediately stopped fighting and went into business.

"The client is going to be here soon. Prepare!". They did, each holding a weapon to threaten. Corine, as usual, stayed in the shadows. Whenever in a group, she stays in the shadows and act as the backup plan. The client approached to us. It was difficult to tell the gender of the person as the client was hooded and wearing a long overcoat that Corine can't see any clothing except for the leather boots.