Nomin One-Shots

The Secret Admirer pt. 1

Requested by lippe890: Jeno has unrequited love towards Jaemin who is an employee in his boss' firm. 

There were many instances where people often found themselves questioning why a soft hearted guy like Lee Jeno could bring himself to work for someone as heartless and cold as Mark Lee. Their names often brought speculation with many suggesting that the two men shared a parent, though one would never freely determine which one of Mark's parents strayed from their marriage in order to produce the younger Lee. Jeno was often reviewed as the sweetheart of the two, with many praising him for his ability to work with his older brother despite the obvious family tension.

Unfortunately, this wasn't exactly the case. Jeno had no blood relation to his boss at all, though he could and would accept their close bond as being something of a brother-like type. Mark was his elder and his hyung, who looked out for him and cared for him like a brother would. When Jeno's parents died and he wound up in an orphanage which had been supported by the Lee family, he never expected to have gotten so close to their only child. Mark had grown attached to Jeno from the very start, oftentimes begging his parents to go back to the orphanage because he wanted to spend more time with his new friend. It seemed inevitable that the parents would form a bond with the young boy too, and on Jeno's fourteenth birthday they offered him an invitation to join their family. And out of loyalty to his only friend, Jeno accepted.

Having very similar interests as his elder hyung, Jeno often found himself tagging along wherever the elder went regardless of Mark's parents telling him he didn't have to. Though they were more than happy to supply them both with opportunity, money and supplies they would need for whatever crazy situation they had found for themselves and despite what many people might think Jeno actually enjoyed figuring out how to make everything seemed like controlled chaos, it was a fun opportunity - a thrill that was indescribable.

Despite there not being a blood bond between the two, that didn't make Jeno any less of a family member to the Lee's. A family member that didn't care much for office gossip, especially when it revolved around their simple background story. Since Jeno already came from a 'Lee' branded family, the shift was easy. Moving into the actual home of the wealthy side of life was the more difficult thing, it was difficult moving from a small box-sized bedroom from the orphanage into a moderate sized room fit with the top-most toys any kid could wish for.

So when the Lee's were asked if they could drive him back to the orphanage with a box struggling to stay in his hold, they agreed although they were a little hesitant. Upon arriving, Jeno rushed to join the other children who had gathered around to welcome their sponsors, which is when the box was opened and all of the high-tech gadgets were given out to the other children. It was pretty self-explanatory as to how much adoration Jeno developed in the family after that, the boy promising to return every year with other toys for them. Mark quickly followed him in the gesture, approaching Jeno with various advertisements of upcoming games that he thought the kids would enjoy. Both of them gave boxes of toys to children the very next year and all the years after that. This little tradition is kept solely between the family, a little secret that even the children don't share.

"Please tell me that I can have lunch alone today," Mark begged him the second they walked into the company elevator, the elder's head was tossed backwards as he eyed the ceiling. "Please for the love of everything I love."

"Unfortunately not." Jeno declared, eyes already glued to the tablet with Mark's schedule loaded into its hard drive. His lips automatically curled up into a smirk as he realised just who the elder would be having lunch with that afternoon. "You have a lunch meeting with the marketing team."

Mark's head snapped back down at the mention of the marketing team, his eyes widening as he turned to look at his best friend who was struggling to keep his laughter contained. It wasn't exactly a secret that Mark had a crush on the department head, it was just that no one knew about it apart from Jeno since the two of them were quite good at keeping themselves natural in the office, a feat not many people appreciated.