A Criminal Romance | Vkook

The plan

Junghwa and V first explained how they met.

"Wow", said Jungkook, "You've been holding onto that ring for quite a while."

Junghwa nodded. "I made sure she never sold that ring. I kept hiding it and making it "reappear out of nowhere" for years. It was easy since she always made me clean and rearrange everything every time we moved. As soon as she died, I changed the store's name to include mine, so V could find me. I didn't expect him and Hyojin to get in touch. I never saw her or her sister again after we moved." 

"Hani?", asked Jungkook.

Junghwa gasped, "You...you know her?"

Jungkook nodded. "We met once, when I was 9. I caught her and Hyojin stealing bracelets."

"You know, when Hyojin told me that, I was surprised", said V, "I thought you said Hani never stole things, Junghwa!"

Junghwa looked down.

"Well, I used to get defensive about her...I guess because of my mom. But she never stole the necklace, or anything else from that store!"

"Why did you and Hyojin go by different names?", asked Jungkook, now completely invested in the story.

"The three of us, actually", said Junghwa, "Hani's real name is Heeyeon. I guess we thought it was cool. Only a few people knew us by those names, it was more...exclusive, you could say."

"I see", said Jungkook, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"So, I guess what comes next is...why did you start stealing, V?"

V sighed, as if the memory was painful.

"Junghwa's mom wasn't the last person my dad sold jewellery to...There were many. Of course, Junghwa and her mother knew a lot about jewels. But not everyone did. After a while, my dad found out just how easy it was to sell jewellery for a much higher price than it was worth. I believe he even used fake jewels in some cases. He'd steal my mother's accessories and claim he didn't know where they'd gone. But I knew it was him.

After some time of doing that, he decided it was becoming too suspicious. He stopped completely until running into someone that claimed he owned a business that could supply my dad with cheaper jewellery, and prices reasonable enough for no one to ask questions. That man was Heeyeon and Hyojin's father. The agreement was that my father would send their business however much they deemed appropriate of his earnings. They left him with enough to keep him satisfied while also keeping enough to keep their operation going.

My mother never knew about any of this. She became very ill when I was young, and was occupied with fighting until the end. I was the one to take care of her, of course, since my dad only had interest in money. Some time after her death, I found some notebooks in my dad's office, detailing the business transactions with Mr Ahn and his fellow workers. I kept a couple, knowing my dad probably wouldn't notice, given how many there were. One night, my dad invited them over for dinner, and told me they were just "men from work". That was the first time I met Hyojin and Heeyeon. They arranged some time to speak about their "work" and left the three of us in my room. That's when I showed the two the notebooks I'd found. They admitted that they knew about everything too, and that they wanted to get their father back for the things he'd done to people. I revealed my plan to them. I planned to steal back everything my father had sold, using the notebooks. Heeyeon agreed to help me, and explained that her father had a collection of special tools for his work. After watching him in action for years, she picked up the same talent."

"She can make anything out of jewels", said Jungkook, remembering what Hani had told him.

V nodded, "Exactly. Of course, it also came to light that we all knew Junghwa. By then, she'd moved already, but Hyojin revealed that she'd been tracking her and her mother, waiting for Junghwa to take up the business by herself. And eventually, she did."