Superiore [Su•pe•rio•re]
- A title given to seniors of the group once they have turned 50 and are unable to work anymore.
Her Point of View
"Mark," I whispered while we were in the dinner table. He raised an eyebrow and moved his head towards my direction.
He hummed a "hmm?" locking eyes with me.
"I really don't wanna go to the gathering..." I sighed. "Wanna run away?" I smiled and raised both my eyebrows joyfully.
Mark tut-tutted and nudged me in the elbow. I frowned and gave him a glimpse before focusing once again on my dinner.
I looked around me and saw the other boys busy with their food. Jeno was busy too, but not with food. He had a frown on his face while pushing back the pages of the thick amount of papers he was holding.
"What ya have there?" I asked pointing at the papers he was holding with my fork.
"Renjun passed me these earlier. Anyone familiar with the name André Vargas?" Jeno lifted his head up before locking eyes with me. I felt my mood unintentionally change. My hand wrapped the utensils on my hand even tightly. Jeno looked as if he had confirmed something. "Eight," He called. "Mind telling?" He now had his usual expressionless face but his eyes were telling another story. It was as if he looked mad.
"No. I'm not familiar." I answered and averted my attention to the salad I was eating.
Deep inside I knew I was fighting a battle of emotions.
Jeno's hum was the next thing that I heard. Our eyes locked, he had his usual poker face. But his eyes was subtly threatening me.
"What?" I questioned.
Jeno released an evident sigh as he looked away from me. I frowned in response and focused on my salad for the last time.
—
"Hurry!" Haechan grumbled while sitting on the van. The doors were open as I hurriedly pulled down my short, black bodycon down with narrow shoulder straps and ran with heels towards the car.
"Where's Mark?" Asked Jeno. I looked back and saw Mark buttoning his inner shirt up while walking towards us. He then wore his coat before stepping in the van. I averted my gaze to Jeno and saw him lifting an eyebrow.
That confused me.
Throughout the ride, it was silent, almost deafening. It seems the boys were nervous. I silently chuckled at that thought.
I closed my eyes for a while resting and calming myself before finally hearing a voice.
"We're here." It was Jisung.
I looked outside and saw a big arena. It was in the middle of nowhere though.
What the hell is this place?
We stepped out of the van and the atmosphere was wrapped with nervousness. The boys must be bothered by the thought of the their seniors in the place.
It was unusual how no one was saying anything. Mark and I locked eyes urging me to give him a smile.
"Seems you guys are nervous." I whispered. Mark replied with a short chuckle.
Together, we walked in the arena. A big and spacious event place welcomed us. Classical music surrounded the area. There were tables and chairs scattered as well as big and tall men in black suits.
Everything was intimidating.
"Oi, Jeno!" A tall man made his way in front of us.
"Great to see you, Lucas." Jeno said in his usual monotonous voice.
The man names Lucas scanned the members until his eyes landed on me. He frowned. "Newbie?"
"Yes. She's Eight." Jeno replied.
Lucas smiled and offered his hand. "I'm Lucas."
I shook his hand and nodded my head. "Eight."
"What's you role then?" Lucas asked, his eyes attached on me. I would say I felt weirded out but in all honesty, he also had a friendly and comforting aura.
"Anything." I replied causing him to laugh.
"Feisty." Lucas and the boys chuckled.
"Eight's always like that. She could be considered arrogant but she's a great member." My heart felt happy at Jaemin's words.
"Well then, I'm looking forward to seeing see your work." Lucas last stated before making his way to the other men.
"That's Lucas. One of the greatest marksmen out of there." Chenle whispered by my side.
I hummed, faking amusement.
"Fix yourselves. We're meeting our seniors." Jeno said quietly but enough so all members could hear it. He eyed every member and landed his gaze on mine. "And you, don't say nor do anything reckless."
"I'm not that impetuous, you know." I calmly replied.
I saw the other boys smile while Jeno, himself, did not say anything else and turned his heel away instead, walking into three middle-aged men chattering who had different auras projected in their faces and bodies.
Jeno's Point of View
"Superiores." I greeted firmly but made sure that there was notable respect in my tone. Standing next to my seniors feels like standing next to billions of people who always have something bad to say about me— it's not that I care if others judge me, but one judgement from them would make me rethink my life decisions. After all, they're more experienced than any of my members and I combined.
The talking among the Superiores stopped. Their attention was now on me and my members.
"Ah, hijo. It's been a while." A man with grey hair greeted. Superiore Miguel's dark brown eyes glistened at my sight.
"You call him hijo like he's not the underboss of his unit. What's it called again?" Another old man with an obviously dyed hair and bright green eyes replied. It was Superiore Carlo. He pushed his brown hair up and acted as if he was thinking of the answer to his question. "Ah, Sueño." A proud smirk formed in his lips when he was able to answer his own question.
"Your memory must be getting hazy, Carlo." Superiore Miguel laughed.
"Ay, silencio, Miguel. You must not say bad words." Superiore Carlo replied, his face lighting up with silliness.
Another voice followed. This time, it was stern and clear. I instantly knew who it was. "And who are you?" I followed the voice and saw Superiore Alfonso coldly staring at Eight. He fixed his attention on her, examining her face and body.
His eyes on her made me feel uncomfortable.
"She's Ei—"
"I'm asking her, Jeno." I was cut off by Superiore Alfonso's powerful voice. It's the kind of tone you don't dare to reply to.
"Eight." Eight shortly replied.
Idiot.
Alfonso's eyebrow raised. "Since when did you recruit untrained and uneducated... women?" His words were full of disgust. "You could have worn something better, woman. You look as if you were picked up from the streets. A whore is what they call it nowadays I believe."
"Apologies, Superiore. I will talk t—" I was once again cut off, this time by Eight's voice.
"Señore, I don't think "untrained", "uneducated", and "whore" are the adjectives suitable for my description. Maybe we could try others such as "amazing", "cool, or "extravagant"." She replied, her usual sarcastic smile forming on her lips. "And my clothes does not define my skills. I can wear nothing and still kill someone without them even knowing that they're dead."
Alfonso shot her a deadly glare. "You imbecile!" He shouted, pointing his golden staff at her.
"Alfonso, calmante." Miguel whispered loud enough so Alfonso and the others could hear him.
"This hija is... different." Carlo had his eyebrows furrowed but I could see amusement in his eyes.
"You better choose your members wisely if you want your head to stay on your body." Alfonso warned while looking at my eyes directly and left the group. Miguel and Carlo stayed with us.
"Don't worry, hija. He's always like that." Carlo chuckled. Pushing and fixing his brown hair up again. It has become his mannerism at this point.
"Alfonso is always the traditional one. Apologies for his sudden outburst." The kind Superiore, Miguel, said.
"No need to apologize, Superiore. It was completely my member's fault. She shouldn't have said that." I stated calmly, but deep inside I was burning with anger.
The two seniors nodded. Both understanding and kind enough to let it pass.
But I wouldn't.
"We'll go for now." I said as a goodbye and bowed respectfully, my other members doing the same. I looked back and instantly locked eyes with Eight who had a playful smirk on her face.
Oh, you think this is a funny?
You are so fucking dead, Eight.