A Criminal Romance | Vkook

When I grow up...

Summer, 2005

Jungkook sat in front of the wall, bored. 

His mother had taken him out shopping for a birthday present for his aunt.

He would rather have been doing anything else.

The boy pressed his knuckles on the ground, rocking back and forth and humming to himself, trying to keep himself entertained.

It wasn't going very well.

"Jeongukkie, aren't these pretty?"

Jungkook was pulled out of his trance by his mother's voice.

He turned in her direction to see her holding up a pair of pink earrings.

Pretty they were, but not pretty enough to distract the boy from how much he just wanted to go home.

"Mhm", he offered his mother, just wishing she would buy a pair and be done with it, "Sure."

Jungkook's mother tilted her head to the side, assessing the earrings from another angle.

"Hmm, maybe blue would be better...", she said, mostly to herself, then turned to face the boy again.

"Oh, Jeongguk, get off the floor, will you? It's not polite to sit there like that!"

With that, she turned and headed off to find another pair.

Jungkook rolled his eyes and slowly stood up.

 Suddenly, two girls caught his attention.

One appeared to be distracting a cashier, while the other snuck past, holding a handful of clearly stolen items.

Jungkook hurried towards the girl and pulled her arm.

"Hey, what are you!-", the girl yelled, as Jungkook spun her towards him.

"I know you're stealing", he whispered, not wanting to create a scene just yet. 

"And?", the girl replied, whispering now too, "So what about it?"

"Don't you think that's wrong?", asked Jungkook, confused, "Haven't your parents ever told you not to steal?"

"My parents don't care", said the girl, rolling her eyes, "They think I made them". She held out her fistful of bracelets.

"Well, why don't you actually make some, instead of stealing them?", asked Jungkook, now even more confused.

The girl smiled.

"I do! I just need to steal some parts first...I take the pieces, and then put them back together. I can make any other jewellery from these!"

The other girl had spotted the two by now, and left the cashier to join them.

"Hani, what happened?", she asked, eyeing Jungkook as she came closer, "Is he bothering you?"

The girl, apparently named Hani, shook her head.

"I was just explaining what I do with these", she said, holding up the bracelets again.

The other girl, who Jungkook assumed was older, sighed.

"Hani, you can't go around telling everyone these things. It's dangerous!"

She turned to Jungkook.

"You won't say anything, right?", she asked, staring him right in the eyes.

Jungkook gulped.

The girl, despite being shorter than Hani, was extremely intimidating.

"Wh-why are you helping her steal?", he asked, not wanting to answer the question directly.

"Hani may not look like it, but she's actually a creative genius! What kind of sister would I be, not to support that?"

A sister with morals, thought Jungkook, although he didn't say it out loud.

Hani smiled and looked down, "Unnie..."

"Besides, what's it to you?", asked the unnamed "Unnie".

"It's illegal!", said Jungkook, starting to break his whisper.

The girl put a finger to her mouth, "Shh! Are you trying to get us in trouble?"

Jungkook nodded.

"You should be in trouble for doing something like this!", he said, now gaining his confidence back.

"Go ahead", said the girl, "They'll think you were in on it too, you know! Why else would you just be standing here, talking to us?"

Jungkook thought for a moment, then sighed.

She was right.

"Your dad's not a cop or anything, right?", asked Hani, her eyes widening.

Jungkook shook his head.

"No...but I'll be one when I grow up! The best one!"

Now Unnie rolled her eyes, "Sure."

"Hey, I will!", said Jungkook, "You'll see."

"Yea, yea...What's your name, anyway?"

"My name's Jungkook", said Jungkook, "What's yours?"

"Hyojin", answered the girl, "But call me Elly...it's cooler."

Jungkook smiled.

"Okay, Elly...I guess, since you have such a cool name, we can be friends!"

Elly chuckled.

"You're pretty cool, too...Mr cop! We can be friends if you let us off, deal?"

Jungkook nodded, and sighed again.

"I guess I have no choice, really...Bye, Elly! And Hani! Good luck with the jewels!"

Hani smiled, "Bye!"

The two girls quickly left the store.

Jungkook turned around and went back to his waiting spot, remembering not to sit down this time.

Oh my god, this one took so long, I'm sorry, but I hope it's good enough! I'll get back to the main story next chapter, but for now, I hope you enjoyed this one!