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"What would you guys possibly want with us?" Jongdae wondered, watching the two in front of him suspiciously.
A hand reached for Mariel and he pulled her behind him protectively. His other hand instinctively went to rest on the handle of his gun. Mariel looked from her date to Jin and Yoongi, confused as to what was going on. She knew them by name and she knew what they looked like--the Coyotes owned The End of the Nighti, and half of her profits went to them--but she had never seen them in person. They never showed up at the night club and had a representative of the organization managing that business.
Jin's eyes glanced at the gun that was semi concealed by his shirt. Out of instinct, Yoongi did the same. With a laugh, he offered a shake of his head, and nodded for Yoongi to stand down. The Coyotes' assassin did, but was hesitant to do so at first. "We don't want to start a war against you over Mariel, if that's what you think. We know your leader isn't really interested in Seoul when he has Beijing as his headquarters. We want to be your allies."
Jongdae furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "You want to be our allies?"
The Coyotes' beta nodded his head.
"Why?" His eyes narrowed, still full of suspicion. He already knew well that if they wanted to seek an alliance with them, it because they wanted something. "What will you be getting out of this?"
"That's for our leaders to discuss." Jin winked at Jongdae. "I understand you're fifth in the chain of command. Let the adults handle it."
Jongdae gave a nod of his head, but snapped back with his reply. "And you're second in command of your pack, but that doesn't mean I owe you any respect."
"Just deliver the message." Yoongi hissed in a threatening tone.
"I'll tell him." Jongdae finally said with a nonchalant sigh. The threat had done nothing to faze him. He had long gotten used to getting threatened. "But that doesn't mean he'll agree to see you. He'd have to come back to Korea to meet with you. He was only here for a few days on business." He decided to keep the explanation vague.
The Coyotes' beta found the words to be amusing and let out a chuckle. "Business of the heart, you mean." He corrected. Everyone had already heard about how the leader of The Pack had lost his wife to Wu Yifan in a card game. Since then, Suho was hated by everyone and known as the most despicable person in Korea. No one knew that it had been his own wife who had put herself up as the prize.
Turning towards Mariel, he placed his hands on her shoulders, pressing his lips to her forehead. "I have to go, Mariel. Think about what I told you."
She nodded her head slowly, not wanting to part from him.
He waited until she left, disappearing further down the hallway where the dressing rooms were located. Mariel opened the door to her room, which she shared with another one of the dancers at The End of the Night, and smiled at Jongdae before stepping into the room.
-
Three people were having dinner at Baekhyun's house on the third night which they had been assigned shadows to follow them around at work. Taeil was quiet at first, shy and reserved, but he seemed to get along fine with Miran who was closer to his age. He was the same age as the pack's maknae--two years younger than Baekhyun, and two years older than Miran.
Baekhyun had often joked that they were like a married couple now, and that Taeil was their son. Miran had commented with amusement that she had a son who was older than her. Now that they had extra company, Miran had encouraged Baekhyun to take her to the super market. She picked up all kinds of healthy foods and vowed she would learn how to cook for her boys. It didn't take long before the extra attention struck the older beta with a hint of jealousy and he tried harder to get keep her attention to himself. The one thing he actually enjoyed about having Taeil around was that his home only had two bedrooms. Miran had suggested for them to share the bigger room, and for their son to sleep in the smaller one.
At the dinner table, after a long day of work, Miran had prepared beef with vegetables and rice for them to eat. Conversation began almost instantly, with Taeil telling Miran excitedly about all the things he had learned from his hyung. It was clear that he felt more comfortable around Miran because she wasn't intimidating like Baekhyun was.
Miran quickly congratulated him on his good work and fast learning.
The conversation finally arrived at something Miran had been wondering for the last couple of days. She tried to come off as casual as she asked, "What's your real name, Light? And why don't you use it? I've never heard any of our siblings use their real names before either." It hadn't taken very long for her to get used to calling the other boys, and Jagi, her siblings. Most of them went by their nicknames and she didn't even know what their real names were yet.
Baekhyun looked up from his dinner at her, himself barely coming to the realization that he hadn't told her what his real name was. It was a detail he had ignored, since he hadn't seen it as very important. He normally went by his nicknames in all public aspects of his life. Even in private, he rarely went by his real name anymore. "My real name is Byun Baekhyun." He said the name, and it felt unnatural as it rolled off his tongue. "I don't use it because its easier--and more safe--to go by a different name. If my enemies knew what my real name was, they could use it against me. I have parents, and an older brother. My enemies would use them to hurt me. That's why we all don't use our real names."
Miran nodded in understanding.
"You'll have to start going by a new name too." He told her after a short pause.
She thought about it for a moment. She couldn't imagine having to go by another name that wasn't her own. But he was right. In their world, it was too dangerous to go by her real name. She couldn't continue being Nam Miran if she wanted her family to be safe.
"Luma." She said, almost a full five minutes later. By then, both Baekhyun and Taeil had gotten back to their dinner.
Baekhyun looked up once again, confused.
It was the name of a Brazilian actress. Miran remembered seeing it once when she was flipping through the channels and saw the ending credits of a Brazilian drama called The Fatigues of Love. The main character was named Nanda Saboya Duarte and was portrayed by an actress named Luma Costa. Miran remembered instantly falling in love with the name from the moment she saw it.
"I want to go by Luma." She clarified.
The pack's beta nodded, with a warm smile on his face. "Luma it is."
-
luma costa is a real brazilian actress. super pretty.
i think i will start that book of male/female face claims.
slightly filler for today because i spent all day running around town with my cousin who was trying to apply to my university. in the end they said they would accept her for the fall semester, but she wanted to start next week. kinda sucks because we wanted to hang out together at school since its my last semester.
but im glad she'll get her degree eventually. we started university at the same time and she still needs two more years.
anyway, thank you all for reading and i hope you're having a wonderful week!
-clary xx