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☙ • ▎ 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 𝓰𝓸 𝓱𝓸𝓻𝓻𝓲𝓫𝓵𝔂

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"sir there's one more boy who's here for interview"

"jisung i'm done with this let's end the interview, call him later", the man sighed looking at his watch.

"um... i think you might like him... he's suitable for the face of the company..", jisung pursed his lips while going through the candidate list in his hand.

"i literally rejected all-"

"well.. it's impossible to find someone like you or miss karina..."

the black haired one smirked as he got up from his chair, "of course there's no other jeno nor karina." the tall man stepped closer to the huge glass window as he gazed at the orangish sky, the sky was full of warm colors as it was evening currently. "i'll take a leave now, have good day."

"thank you mr lee! have a great day ahead", jisung flashed his beaming smile at the ravenette as they bid each other a goodbye.

soon jeno stepped out of his cabin which was on the 9th floor. he is now handling his father's business, the male is now the owner of the most famous beauty brand in south korea, "adorn."

every employ greeted the ravenette whenever they saw him on the hallways. lee jeno was almost like a celebrity, each and everyone knew about him and the company. adorn's beauty products were one of the finest with no flaws, almost everyone had it at there home. from idols to normal people, adorn was a popular brand.

the male was now on the ground floor with jisung who came to escort him, he noticed a pink haired boy talking to the receptionist.

"oh it's the last candidate, i'll just tell him to come tomorrow", with that the younger one ran towards the pinknette.

jeno stared at them from a distance, the pink haired boy was indeed prettier than the others he met this evening. he was dressed simply just a white shirt and a pair of black skinny jeans. the boy was fair and tall, he had cute doll like eyes with long lashes, some strands of his hair covered a bit of his eyes. even though the ravenette had straight face while staring at the two, in his mind he admitted that the boy is pretty and he might choose him for the face of adore beside karina.

jisung rushed back to jeno.

"it was the last candidate?" the black haired one asked tilting his head as his eyes followed the pinknette who was now leaving the company.

"yes! he's handsome right?"

"kind of", jeno nodded looking uninterested.

the two went to jeno's car outside, he noticed that the pink haired boy was still on the road, the ravenette secretly eyed him. jeno smirked as he saw the boy going inside a taxi. it was shocking for him as everyone who comes to the company always have their own car, basically this is not a place for poors.

jeno laughed lowly turning his face to the other side.

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"jeno honey ... are you really that busy?...", the woman spoke lowly while knocking at the door.

"coming mom!" the raven haired male stepped out of his room in a hurry, he was dressed in a black office suit. "sorry i was on a meet."

"even at home? the fact that you didn't even change your suit yet... aish come on jeno you aren't paying attention on me nor do you care about yourself, i'm disappointed!" the woman turned to the side, face palming.

the ravenette laughed lowly and took his mom in an embrace from the back, "sorry mom, i'll make sure to look after you more."

"not only me jeno... son you don't understand! i just want you to be happy ... and your dad's last wish...", the voice of a worried mother replied.

jeno rolled his eyes after hearing about his dad. the wish was to get jeno married but unfortunately his father passed away due to which the thing he desired the most couldn't take place infront of him but jeno's mother wants to see her son get married by now as she's growing older, she doesn't want the tragedy to repeat again.

"please jeno ... what if i die someday like your dad? are you not gonna fulfill our last wish?" tears got collected in the woman's eyes, she just stared at her son with an unpleasant look on her face.

"please don't say such things, you know i hate it when you act like this mom!" jeno was fuming at this point. he doesn't want to marry someone, not at all but now he might have to change his mindset.

"please...", the mother looked at him as tears ran down her face.

this broke the ravenette's heart he could only utter a single word, "fine.." jeno slowly walked towards his room while leaving the woman on the hallway. his action made mrs lee confirmed that she might have hurt her son again since it's been a long time she's asking jeno to get married but he denied every single time.

the moment was sweet yet bitter for her. mrs lee decided to leave jeno alone for now as he doesn't look so good.

she was happy that her son will marry the person she has already chosen for him.

as soon as she started to leave jeno opened the door, he stepped out with a smile.

"oh! you're here", she smiled gentle and hugged the boy. "i thought you were upset."

"mom i'll marry at one condition, i don't want anyone to know that i'm getting married", the raven haired one eyed at his mother looking serious.

"what do you mean... ", the woman looked slightly worried.

"please..?"

she nodded accepting the condition given by her son.

eventually the two of them went to the dinning table and sat discussing about the day to day things happening in their lives.

"do you have any ... girlfriend?" the woman questioned while eating the food.

jeno's mind was shouting only one thing, karina. but he didn't want to marry her either so the boy denied, "i don't."

"aish i knew you're not that type so I already found a girl for you!" the mother chirped picking her phone from the table. "here, she's haewon." she handed her phone to the boy.

jeno was silent for a second, fuck she's karina's friend.

"Do you like her? she's pretty right? she's a veterinarian" the woman smiled looking at the picture of haewon. she was a pretty girl, she was also well educated and haewon's mother was good friend of mrs lee.

jeno finally tried to speak but ended up stuttering, "i-i... don't"
I can't marry haewon for sure.

his mother's face saddened by what jeno said, "you.. don't like her? i think she's good for you, she's so nice."

"mom i can't-" the male denied.

"why not?"

jeno couldn't answer her question at all. he can't state the fact that she's his girlfriend's friend.

"just because... i .. think i like boys-", jeno's lie made himself uncomfortable. he didn't know what did he just spoke. all he could do was to see how his mother reacted to what he said.

she was shocked, her eyes were popping out. she stared at her son with her mouth apart, the woman was puzzled, it was unexpected but she accepted the fact that her son is not straight at least this is what his mom thought which was far from the truth.

"well... cheer up honey", she scoffed. "you hid this from me? i'm not going to disown you jeno! idiot!" mrs lee laughed while patting at jeno's hair.

the boy laughed along with her. wow i'm fucked up. all he could do was regret what he said.

within a second jeno came up with a thought, so does that mean i don't have to marry now cause i can't marry a girl?

the ravenette acted upset, jeno lowered his face. he looked at his plate, "this is the reason i don't want to marry anyone..."

the mother let out a laugh, "c'mon you always liked boys i knew you were something else- i mean you even promised to marry a boy when you were younger... he was our neighbor oh actually i don't remember.. his name something.. jae.. um i don't know" she ruffled jeno's hair, "sorry jeno maybe i never took care of you like the way a mother does..."

"no mom it's not your fault don't be upset.... and what you said i promised-" jeno was cringing at his own self now. he thought he must be ridiculous to promise such thing to a boy.

"i'll just inform haewon that you don't want to marry her", the woman got up from her seat and took the empty plates and bowls with her to the kitchen.

the ravenette was now left alone on the dinning table. he literally wanted to hit his head on the wall. he started to doubt his personality now

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"haewon... is minmin gonna be alright after the surgery?"

"this surgery involves removing small pieces of bone where the vertebrae connect, as well as some of the vertebral bone that lies over the spinal cord, minmin is facing intervertebral disc disease"

"this is curable without the surgery but... i prefer you to go for the surgery because without that it will take alot of time for him to recover", haewon pressed her lips together, she caressed the paralyzed dog on the bed.

"it hurts alot to him...", the pink haired one gazed at his dog with tear filled eyes.

"well jaemin you should see some good surgeon for him as soon as possible... but the surgery is gonna be so expensive.. and since we planned to do that in US it's 3000$ to 8000$, jaemin's pomeranian's situation made haewon disquiet.

jaemin wiped the tears rolling down his cheek, "i hope they choose me to be the face of adorn... i don't want him to die..."

"don't worry... ", the brunette patted on the boy's arm.

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