Colors || Lee Jeno

Chapter 6 | "thriving as usual"

Hyewon surveyed herself in the mirror, checking over her outfit. She chose to wear her favorite dress, a dark red one that Haeji said looked great with her eyes, with a black leather jacket and some tall heeled boots. She put on some black and grey eye makeup before pulling on her face mask, making sure that only her eyes were visible.

With a satisfied hum she grabbed her knife, slipping it into her boot just incase, and left the room. Most of the gang was already gathered, and Hyewon quickly walked over to Chaemin, Ten's girlfriend.

"Hey cutie, you look great." The older girl said once she noticed Hyewon approaching. "That dress looks stunning on you!"

"Thanks, I was just about to come ask you if I looked alright." Hyewon said with a chuckle. "You said the exact same thing that Haeji said when I first bought this dress."

"We'll both of us just have great taste I guess." Chaemin said with a smile. "God, I can't wait until you and Xiaojun see color, you'll be the most fun person to take shopping."

"Yeah well, here's to hoping that's soon..."

"Don't feel down, little Hye, it'll happen." Chaemin said with a reassuring smile. "Sometimes these things take time. It'll all be worth it in the end."

"Yeah I know, I'm feeling better after my day with Xiaojun yesterday, thanks Chae."

"Any time." The older girl said with a dip of her head. "Now I think your boyfriend is waiting for you."

She turned to see Xiaojun standing patiently by the stairs, a warm smile on his face. She quickly said goodbye to Chaemin, running into her boyfriend's open arms.

"Hey there, beautiful, that dress looks great on you." He said with a laugh. "Can I ask what color it is?"

"Red, as usual." She replied, doing a little spin.

"I can't wait for the day I can see you in red. Everyone says it's your best color."

"Yeah... me too." She said quietly, diverting her gaze.

"Alright, everyone here?" Kun called out, grabbing their attention as he did a head count. "Good, remember best behavior tonight. Let's go."

- - -

When they arrived to the truce meeting, Hyewon could sense the tension in the air. The biggest gangs in Korea met once ever three months to share updates on their achievements. Supposedly it was so that none of the major gangs got into conflict with one another, but everyone knew that it was just to establish a hierarchy even among the strongest.

She recognized a few gangs, Red Velvet and Aespa all dipping their heads politely to her. She'd always had a somewhat friendly relationship with them. Exo, Shinee, and TVXQ were there as well.

As her gang members politely greeted the other gangs, Hyewon leaned into Xiaojun. She wasn't scared as she knew it was a truce meeting, but she didn't like the tension. It was intimidating, it made her feel small, and the biggest gang wasn't even there yet.

"What are you doing?" Xiaojun whispered to her as he felt her step closer to him, slightly bumping him.

"I'm just... a bit freaked out." She replied softly.

"Well don't be, you're fine." He said quickly, giving her a light pat on the head before stepping away from her and he greeting some other gang members.

She sighed to herself, pulling her jacket around her body tighter in an attempt to find some sort of comfort when suddenly the doors to the building flew open. Immediately the hall fell into silence as the newcomers strode in, a dominating aura about them.

NCT. The current kings of the mafia.

The tension in the room tripled, all the gangs quickly making way for them and diverting their eyes. Hyewon did the same, not daring to look at any of them directly. They had long established themselves as the most dominant and dangerous gang, no one wanted to challenge them.

"Kun, it's good to see you." A deep voice said, approaching their leader.

"You too, Taeyong, everything been well?" He replied steadily, but Hyewon could see the nervousness in the slight tremble of his muscles.

"NCT is thriving as usual. I trust WayV has been doing well?"

"Very well, we have a lot to share tonight."

"That's good then." Taeyong replied with a low chuckle that sounded more threatening than humorous and sent a shiver up her back. "Let us catch up with the others for a bit and then we'll begin."

They didn't even wait for an answer as the 16 boys spread through the room, already knowing that whatever they requested would be obeyed. They moved like predators, stalking through the crowd with smirks on their faces.

"Damn, I forgot how scary these things could be." She heard Lucas mumble to her. "I'm taller than almost all of them but they're still intimidating as hell."

"I know right?" She whispered back. "I feel like if I'm not paying attention, I'll get stabbed in the back."

"Dont joke about that Hyewon. Not here." Xiaojun said lowly from next to her. "Be professional."

She shared a glance with Lucas, the tall boy rolling his eyes as she let out a sigh, playing with the hem of her dress. Even after their great day yesterday, she knew that the whole colors thing was putting a strain on her relationship with Xiaojun. He'd become less patient with her. Both of them were frustrated and honestly, she was starting to loose hope, yesterday only extended her patience for a bit longer.

"You alright, Hyewon?" Lucas asked, seeing the frown on her face.

"Just... thinking about things."

"Thinking about colors?" She nodded. "Don't worry, Hye, you'll get them soon I'm sure. It just takes time. Remember how happy you were yesterday."

He flashed her a warm smile before they both turned their attention to the front where the leaders were gathered. Taeyong cleared his throat to start announcements and the whole hall fell into a hush, the man's eyes glinting with a hunger that scared her.

As they spoke about their recent achievements, Hyewon finally raised her gaze and began looking around. With everyone focused on the announcements, it was the only time she felt safe to look around, lazily scanning the crowd to see who was there. It's not like she could identify them with masks on, but she still liked to see now that NCT was focused on something else.

As her eyes drifted, they landed on a boy who was seemingly doing the same, his eyes unfocused as he surveyed the crowd. She could tell from the mark on his mask that he was from NCT, stealing one last glance at him before she knew she needed to look away or risk a challenge.

Suddenly his gaze landed on her, their eyes meeting for a split second and Hyewon could swear her heart stopped. In that moment, everything changed as her world burst into bright and vivid color.