Favorite Crime

7: Peculiar Stranger

The ice cream had been forgotten in just a second.

In crime movies, the espionage agents spy on their suspects wherever they go to investigate any suspicious actions without getting caught—because if they do get caught, are they even a true spy?

Olivia had never thought about what she really wanted to be in the future as she was still undecided on her future career. But with the way she was pulling off her fake ignorant act, she was once again qualified for another potential job.

Dakota seemed to think that there were no eyes onto her by the way she did not seem tense while quietly slipping a whole cup of instant noodles in her jacket, which intrigued the blonde even more. Olivia had her body facing a shelf of candies—specifically right in front of strawberry-flavored candies which she disliked like what she told the poor boy from last week during lunch—while her eyes were constantly throwing secret glances to the direction of the shoplifter.

What could comfort Olivia better than ice cream was anything that catches her attention, like a stranger stealing food in a convenience store in a late afternoon.

The blonde turned her attention away from her for a while to throw a glance on the cashier and around the store, finding only one customer on the other corner. She felt fascinated by the girl in a windbreaker for still not getting caught by the cashier as she also felt proud of herself for being the only one who caught her in the act.

Olivia had experienced shoplifting herself while she and Theodore went to an ice cream store months ago. The owner of the ice cream store loved candies after ice cream so they sold candies in a bowl on the front counter. Even though one candy costed less than a dollar, Olivia only just laughed it off while pocketing five candies as if it was not still considered a crime—and she basically only did it for fun.

Watching the stranger commit a crime was making her want to suddenly help her in doing so just for the fun of it. Being her father’s most hated existence made her grow up to be totally different.

Olivia moved back to the refrigerator where all the ice cream were as she raised her head to watch the stranger when she was finally done taking everything she needed. The blonde raised an eyebrow with her interest growing when the cashier suddenly stopped the shoplifter from leaving the store.

“Hey,” the tall scrawny cashier spoke that halted the girl in a windbreaker.

Without uttering a word in response, Dakota just slowly turned her head to him without completely chinning up. The tension was rising which was making her nervous as there was only one person who was genuinely enjoying the current situation—the blonde girl who was casually leaning on the refrigerator while staring at them as if she was watching a fighting match.

“I changed my mind. I’m not buying anything,” Dakota lowly spoke.

“Okay.” The cashier had his eyebrows drawn together in suspicion as he looked at her from head to toe. “Can you open your jacket, though?”

Olivia had a small smirk playing on her face as she excitedly waited for what the shoplifter was going to do next when suddenly she saw a glimpse of her face. A perfect face behind scars—exactly Olivia Jean’s type.

Dakota had a scar vertically halfway across her right eye—just under the eye. Another scar was through her left eyebrow, giving her the eyebrow slit look. Her face was clearly flawed, and that made Olivia want to get involved with her for some reason rather than just watch her steal food in a convenience store and never see her again after.

“Why are you, a grown man, asking a lady to unzip her jacket to you?” The cashier immediately turned his eyes away from the girl in a windbreaker when the blonde suddenly appeared next to her. She flashed a fake smile before continuing, “She’s with me.”

For the first time, the shoplifter completely lifted her head to turn to look at the blonde in utter confusion. Olivia turned to look at her as she secretly gave her a wink, loving the fact that she got to see a full view of the stranger’s whole face up close.

“I—It’s not what it seems like. It’s just that she seemed suspicious and I just wanted to—” The man was not able to finish his sentence confidently when the blonde suddenly let out a scornful chuckle. His face was about to be the new cousin of the family of tomatoes.

“You know, perverts usually make a lot of excuses when they are being questioned for their suspicious actions. An example is what you’re literally doing right now.” Olivia let out a sigh as she shook her head in disappointment while looking at him from head to toe, the same way he did to the girl next to her earlier. “Are you even aware that she’s a minor? Even though you didn’t touch her, you can still go to jail.”

“Hey, look—”

The blonde slammed her left hand on the counter, making the tall man jump. She glared right at his nervous eyes. “Your miserable life will become even more miserable. You’ll lose your job, your family will abandon you out of embarrassment if they haven’t, no one will ever want to stay at least five feet close to you. Would you like that?”

“N-No.” He quickly turned to face Dakota with a terrified look on his face as he then did a 180-degree bow. “I am so sorry. Please forgive me for asking you to do that. That was so stupid of me.”

“Oh—uh. Sure, I guess,” the shoplifter replied with slight confusion in her tone while glancing at the blonde.

“Good that you understand that. Now, please scan these,” Olivia said with a bright smile on her face as she placed two chocolate ice cream cones on the counter which she quickly grabbed from the refrigerator earlier before running to the counter.

“Yes, of course!”

The cashier eventually only scanned the ice cream cones without letting Olivia pay as some sort of apology. When they left the convenience store, Dakota did not bother thanking or just saying anything to Olivia as she just quickly walked away from her with hope that the blonde would walk the other way—but that was where she was wrong.

“You’re seriously not gonna at least say thanks?”

Because the current situation was annoying her.

Like she did not have a life, Olivia ended up following the stranger even though she was literally ignoring her on purpose.

Now that the shoplifting incident was over, Olivia was just realizing at that moment about the physical appearance of the stranger: her wavy hair was up to her neck, showing off a bit of her nape; she had red highlights, which Olivia envied because she wanted to try dyeing her hair but her father’s threat of shaving her whole head was stopping her from doing so even though she sometimes enjoys pissing him off; her jacket looked really used as it also looked like she never washes it too.

Dakota just kept a straight face as she continued walking down the sidewalk with her hands buried in the pockets of her jackets even though she was already irritated by all of the questions that Olivia kept throwing to her. She did not know her nor did she even need her help back in the convenience store because that was not her first time to shoplift, which meant that she could have still been able to escape the situation earlier without any help.

“Hey. Talk to me, will you?” Olivia groaned as they took a turn.

The blonde hated the way the stranger was treating her like wind—well, they were strangers to each other after all. If only she was not an interesting person, Olivia would not even bother getting herself involved earlier. If only she did not have a pretty scarred face, Olivia would have pulled her thick hair and held it out on the road filled with fast running vehicles.

It was the things she was doing for a person she knew nothing about except for the fact that she was a shoplifter.

“My god. How are you even resisting my charm—”

Olivia did not even realize that they entered a dark narrow alleyway where they could not be seen by anyone outside. With how loud the noises were at the busy streets, no one might even hear or have a clue on what was going on in the narrow alleyway—worse, someone could get killed in there and no one would ever know because of the desperate need to get to their destination.

And the worst thing was that no one knew that the daughter of Flyve City’s mayor was currently being pinned on the dirty wall with a knife being pointed on her neck.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want from me?” Dakota spoke while looking directly at her eyes with a sharp look.

Olivia was trapped between the wall and a stranger. The stranger’s arm heavy on her chest, keeping her in place. Her pocket knife being only an inch away from touching her perfect skin. The alleyway was dark and a bit far from the street, and there were no other people nearby which meant that no one could come saving her unless a miracle comes in which a superhero suddenly appears out of nowhere. Right in front of her was not just a simple shoplifter in convenience stores, but an actual criminal who does more than steal.

Dakota furrowed her eyebrows in confusion once again for that day when the blonde whom she was pinning on the wall suddenly flashed a smile—an excited smile.

From the moment the blonde came to help her in the convenience store up to that moment, there was only one thing that the stranger thought of: the blondie was, if not a psycho, a peculiar human being.