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"I will kill her next time if she showcases those yellow teeth that had to be photoshopped by the editors for these stupid magazines," the girl yelled, flinging away the month's SportsPro magazine. Her secretary flinched in fear and slowly tiptoed to pick the Special Edition magazine that he bought with great difficulty. 

"Isabella Sanders' phlegm toughens the competition to the Chair of The Heracles Club, My foot," the infuriated girl groaned, exhaling fumes after every breath. The secretary had to stand there, head hanging low in fear if she would vent out her anger on him. 

"Got herself one nice player and she is having her nose high above the clouds. Is this why she called for a family dinner today? To detain me by being a step ahead? Bitch," She scoffed, holding her hair and her secretary rushed to her, scared if she would pull out any strands in frustration. 

"Ma'am, you have a board meeting in a few minutes. Disheveled hair is not a professional etiquette and would score you a bad impression from Madam Carter," the secretary reminded her before she could have an abnormal hairstyle. 

"All that I am going through because of that oldie," she grunted, pulling the brush from her drawer. Clicking her pointed heels aloud, she walked to a huge mirror at the right corner of her office and started setting her hair properly. Fear of losing impressions overrides the outbursts in aggravation. 

"Update on finding players?" she asked, wetting her lips after applying a nude shade on the edges and the man inside the office trembled, swallowing a lump of air in nervousness. On hearing a silent answer, the girl turned towards the shaking man with a dainty smile on her face, screaming mockery and displeasure. 

"Why did I hire you out of all the people in the world? To be a major disappointment? All you have to do was one fucking job but all you do is stand in front of me like a useless stone," the girl scoffed and the secretary had his lips sealed, suppressing his despair at her blatant remarks. 

"My head hurts," she sighed, shaking her head and the secretary helped her with her white pressed blazer. The girl collected her glasses and wore them before checking herself in the mirror again. The secretary carried the necessary files in his hands and led the way for his strict boss to the conference room. 

Everyone in the building bowed to her in respect, some in fear and some with mixed feelings. She was portrayed as the arrogant cold bitch who showed no mercy to the employees. But then, no one could deny how she works her ass off every day and night to accomplish her targets. There wasn't a day where she had more than four hours of sleep, resulting in people having different opinions on her. 

"Madam Carter will be here in a few minutes," the speaker representative announced and the girl tapped her pen under the table, mumbling inaudible curses while the other prominent members in the room stiffened at the announcement. They started checking their outfits and sat straight, adjusting their facial expressions that made the girl chuckle. 

"Always ready to kiss up to people's asses," she muttered under her breath. 

In a few minutes, the Chairwoman arrived and everyone stood up to bow in respect. She sat on the center Chair and nodded, gesturing everyone to sit down before taking a glance at the girl and her secretary. 

"Rosetta Marchetti" the Chairwoman called and the girl stood up with a straight face. 

"Shall we begin the meeting now?" She asked and Rosetta nodded, glancing at the executive speaker for a moment. The speaker began the meeting by putting up the matters of concern that were discussed in the previous week and the target missions to be accomplished in the current week. 

The speaker then continued to present the progress of the Club under Rosetta Marchetti in the week that passed by and the percentage of target achieved. In the end, he presented the major concerns that must be looked into and the factors that had been advantageous to the Club as well as the ones that were barricading their growth. 

"I am happy that every one of you has done their jobs well in the week like usual but also disappointed at the same time that it's always like usual," the elder lady, the Chairwoman began as the presentation ended and everyone had their head hanging low. 

"Every one of you possesses a great skillset and not engineering it in the right way is a great liability to this Club. Isn't motivating and helping your employees seek the correct method your responsibility, Miss Marchetti?" The Chairwoman questioned, quirking her brows at the stiffened girl and the younger nodded, displaying an expression of apology. 

"Mrs. Sanders has already acquired one of the strongest players in the country and her team is so far the most athletic team in the whole country. I wonder how your team would do in the Nationals, Miss Marchetti," the elder lady subtly confronted and Rosetta stayed silent, cursing her sister in all great obscenity, in all the languages she knew. 

"I will devote my time to get a result more fruitful than this week and make sure to find the best players at the earliest. Please excuse me for taking much time but I promise to get our Club the most potent basketball team in the country," Rosetta stated and the Chairwoman pressed her lips into a thin line, followed by a small hum. 

"I'd appreciate it if your actions are as true as your words. Every year, the Heracles Club presents two skillful teams to the National Basketball Championship, Korea and I hope you are aware that one team would be from Miss Marchetti and the other from Mrs. Sanders. And depending on our players' performance, the potential ones will be chosen for the national team to be represented at the international championships," the Chairwoman spoke and the board of directors nodded in acknowledgment. 

"It's needless to remind you that I want the maximum number of players from The Heracles Club, Please don't tarnish our name because of your mistakes and incapability. I need perfect and beneficial outcomes from Mr. Marchetti's team. Did you get that?" the Chairwoman asked, her voice an octave higher and everyone nodded, some muttering a small 'yes ma'am'.  

"Do you have anything to say, Miss Marchetti?" The Chairwoman asked the girl shook her head in negation. The Chairwoman then sat down and her secretary announced the target missions for the next meeting while Rosetta's secretary was noting down the minutes of the meeting. 

The board meeting ended and everyone took a breath in relief. The Chairwoman and her secretary stepped out first followed by Rosetta with her secretary. Some people stayed in the room, chattering about the attitude of the ladies in position while some left to be on track with their work. 

"Rosetta," the Chairwoman called and the girl turned to face her. A moment of silence followed and the two secretaries left them, understanding the topic of conversation ahead. 

"Yes, mom?" Rosetta answered and the elder lady's lips curved into a small smile. 

"Please attend the family dinner. Though I know your sister and you aren't on good terms, I want to see my family together," the lady requested and Rosetta nodded, fiddling with her fingers. She genuinely wished she could find a good excuse to miss the dinner but when her mother asked for her in person, she found it rude to neglect it. 

"Thank you," Rosetta's mother patted her daughter's shoulder and was about to leave but halted her steps when Rosetta called for her. 

"Mom, are you serious about this? Isabella is not capable of the chair. She could mess up bad. Are you sure about this fair competition?" Rosetta asked and her mother's lisp curled into a small frown. 

"Capable or incapable, that depends on their performance, Rosetta. She is doing great, despite having less knowledge about management and the sport, and as a mother as well as the Chairwoman of the Club, it's my duty to give a fair chance to both of my daughters. You know the condition. Whose team wins the Nationals this year will decide the next Chairwoman. Play fair and square," Rosetta's mother left the place and the younger huffed out a breath. 

"All she did was fall in love with a rich lad and started fighting for her so-called rights," Rosetta sighed, pressing her temples as her head started throbbing with the competition ahead and the ticking time. 

"Mr. Park," She called out loud and her secretary summoned before her in a few seconds. 

"Let's go to the Academy. I need to see the players," she spoke and the undeniably short secretary bobbed his head like the obedient employee he was. He was fidgeting with something behind his hands and Rosetta quirked her brows in question.  

"Here," he forwarded her a small packet of bubblegums, managing to produce a smile out of his grumpy boss's face. Accepting her addictive diversion, she started chewing one bubble gum. The whole staff rarely gets a glimpse of their boss having her mouth still, all credits to her uncontrollable craving for the mint-flavored gums. 

"One of the reasons why I can't fire you, Mr. Park Jimin," she mumbled, taping the pack of bubble gums and Jimin smiled sheepishly, following his boss as she strode her steps towards the elevator.  

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Rosetta Marchetti, the older daughter of the Chairman of The Heracles Club, the most prestigious basketball club in Korea and one of the best basketball clubs in the world. The Club has been soaring high in the field of basketball for over fifteen years and is the highest contributor of players to Korea's National Basketball team every year. 

The club is everything a basketball player would dream of, every aspirant applies for the club but a very small number of players get filtered out for the training in the Academy. Eventually, the best ones will be chosen to represent the club in the National Championships. 

Evelyn Carter, the daughter of the founder of The Heracles, had been the Chairwoman for the Heracles for ten years with her daughters, Rosetta and Isabella leading two different teams to represent the club in various competitions.  

The elder lady finally decided to lead a peaceful life by passing down the position to one of her daughters, which was undecided yet. She wanted to test their performances in bringing out the best team from the club and would assess their worth on the basis of each of their team's success. 

Though everyone in the country knew Rosetta's immaculacy and efficiency to lead the club perfectly, the Chairwoman decided to be totally impartial in her decision. Isabella was not known for being a girl of brains but with her husband's support, she started to outstand Rosetta's strengths. But her elder sister is not the one to give up, not for centuries. 

The Korean Basketball League and the Korean National Basketball Championships were three months away, not favoring Rosetta's jammed mind to search for the versatile and skillful players in the country. She assigned many of her employees to all the districts in South Korea to hunt for the best players but none could get the ones better than the players in the current team. The futile results were only giving her a hard time as her sister was successful in finding really great players across the country. 

"Noona," a cute, muscular guy poked Rosetta's shoulder and the girl turned to see him, forcing out a smile despite the past events and future concerns were bothering her mind. 

"You looked drained. You didn't sleep last night, right?" the guy asked, observing the noticeable dark circles under her eyes and her evident struggle to stand properly. Jimin was quick enough to hold his boss by her shoulders as she tumbled on her steps. He held her slowly and helped her sit down on the audience seats in the court while Jungkook rushed to get her a drink. 

"Hyung, didn't I tell you to take care of her? All you had to do is one job and there you are, standing like a stone," Jungkook commented with a scowl, passing the lemon drink to Rosetta, whose vision started getting hazy. Jimin served her the drink, helping her to sip it slowly while rubbing her back slowly. 

"Shut up, don't act like a boss. I was the one who got you from Busan or you wouldn't even start blabbering about this noona and that noona," Jimin chided, pulling a kerchief from his pocket and handing it to Rosetta, who wiped her mouth with it as she slowly started gaining her composure. 

"I was about to apply for The Heracles Club even before you begged me to join the Club, crying that your boss will turn into a cannibal and feast on you," Jungkook retorted and Jimin mercilessly pulled the younger's years while Rosetta simply smiled, used to them bickering like siblings. 

"Ouch hyung, you are more of a cannibal than noona," Jungkook winced in pain and the elder didn't let it go until Rosetta gestured him to stop. 

"Remember that I am elder to you," Jimin admonished and Jungkook rolled his eyes, taking a seat beside Rosetta. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her wholly from the side and resting his head on her shoulder. 

"Yet, I am the taller one," he blurted, earning a glare from Jimin and a chuckle from Rosetta, who started caressing Jungkook's hair.  

"Is that fluffernutter causing you trouble again? I heard the news," Jungkook muttered and pulled back from her shoulder, to look at her. Rosetta nodded with a smile and looked down, her mind wandering to the board meeting in the morning. 

"You can trust me. Our team is really strong and as a captain, I can assure you that we will put a hundred percent effort to win the championship. We will not disappoint you," Jungkook assured her, holding her hands and pressing them tightly. 

"Let's not lie to each other, Jungkook. We both know what our team is lacking. We don't have potential shooting guards and it's a great con to the team which has to be strong in every sense," Rosetta spoke and Jungkook nodded, releasing his noona from his clasp. 

"They are training hard. They will do good," Jungkook tried to affirm but he knew it would be hard for them to be skillful enough to compete against the rival team which got itself some of the best players of the country.  

"Don't let that nutcracker of your sister ransack your mind and take some rest. It's hard for me to see you heavily exhausted like this," Jungkook mouthed, concerned for her and she nodded, stealing a glance from Jimin who stood stiff throughout her conversation with Jungkook. 

"Thank you for getting this kid from Busan," Rosette thanked Jimin who grinned, nodding while Jungkook felt proud of himself. The only person who could soften Rosette's heart, make her smile in the phase of struggles and difficulties and the one whose words actually course through her ears was Jeon Jungkook. 

"Ma'am, you need to get ready for the family dinner in an hour," Jimin reminded and Rosetta glanced at her watch before releasing an exasperated sigh. 

"All the best. Hope your cheeks don't hurt for the number of times you have to force out a smile," Jungkook jested and Rosetta chuckled, before getting up. She left the Academy after greeting every player and motivating them to do their best and forewarning their coach of the possible difficulties that the players would face and asking him to train them well to face any kind of unpredicted situations. 

· · ─────── ·🏀· ─────── · ·

"I am glad you arrived on time, Rosetta. I thought you would be late because you are a busy lady," Isabella commented as soon as Rosetta entered the mansion. Rosetta internally threw a curse at her and displayed an outward smile, followed by a namesake hug. 

"Aww! My two daughters are here. It's been a month since I have seen you both together. All thanks to Isabella for planning this dinner," their mother chirped in excitement. The younger threw a sheepish smile while the older just nodded. 

"Yo! Rose is here. It's been a month, Polpetta. You seemed to have lost a lot of weight," Isabella's husband, Logan Sanders hugged Rosetta by her waist and the elder sister chortled at his silly nickname. Logan was her best friend when she studied in the States and she had a crush on him at one point in time. 

All her hopes shattered when her sister started hitting on him as they both returned to Korea. Logan showed interest in her and they started dating, giving Rosetta a zero score in trying her shot. They married within a few months of dating and it was easy to convince in the house for Logan being the only heir to one of South Korea's largest law firms. 

"I guess today Aunt Carter will feed her eldest daughter with lots of food. I am so ready to savor Aunt Carter's food, especially her Italian dishes," Logan squealed in excitement and held his wife's arm, scurrying towards the dining table while humming a song. 

"Let's get this bread," I patted myself and walked ahead. My phone beeped and I was about to ignore it but stopped, seeing the floating message. 

"Ma'am, a player is found" 

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Author's Note:

Polpetta means Meatball in Italian

Also, sorry for the rushed story and also sorry that I will be unpublishing this soon. I have some committed works that I need to attend to and will post this story once I find my schedule clear