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Jeno sighs and knocks on his sister's door. He waits a moment as he hears the scurrying of tiny feet, smiling when his nephew opens the door. The little boy frowns when he sees his uncle's sad face and reaches up to grab Jeno's hand. He leads the boy into the room, calling out to his mom.

"Momma, Uncle Nono is sad." The woman turns, sighing when she sees the state of her youngest brother.

"Chan, how about you go find grandma, ok? I'm sure she'd love to see you." Sooyun smiles sweetly at her son and gestures for him to close the door as he leaves. Jeno sits down on the bed beside his sister, sighing loudly. "What's wrong Jeno?"

"Yunnie, am I..." He pauses, looking at his lap. "Am I really a mistake?" He looks at her, tears stinging his eyes. "Am I really a disappointment to the family?"

Yes, Jeno may not want to work in the family business. Yes, Jeno may want more freedom, but he also just wants to make his dad proud. As rebellious as Jeno is, he just wanted his dad's support. And yet, all he was to Mr. Lee was a failure, a disappointment, a mistake. He wasn't Doyoung or Jaehyun. He wasn't controllable and to his father, that was a bad thing. But after a while, it gets to you. To know you aren't what your parents wanted. To know that you're different, and in a bad way. The endless comparing to his brothers, the countless fights and arguments. Jeno loved his father, but at this point, he wasn't sure if his father loved him back.

"God Jeno no, you are nothing of the sort. Dad is just being...complicated. He doesn't really mean it."

"Yes he does Yunnie. You guys don't deal with it like I do. You don't see the disgust in his eyes." Jeno lets his tears fall. "I'm really a useless son, aren't I." He says, less like a question but more as a statement.

"Jeno...you have to promise not to tell anyone else this, ok? Especially not Jaehyun." The boy nods, a confused pout on his face. Sooyun smiles. "You want to know why I was never asked to participate in corporate meetings, nor why I was never set up on dates? Why I was allowed to marry who I wanted. Do what I wanted. I was free."

"It's because you're the oldest, isn't it?"

Sooyun shakes her head, sighing softly. "No, Jeno. It's because I'm a girl." She holds his hand, a weak smile on her face. "When I was 10, and you were only 3 at the time, I overheard a conversation between mom and dad. It was about me. They were discussing the future of the company and my dad said, and I remember it as clear as day, he said..." She pauses and takes a breath. "He said: 'We can't have Sooyun run the company. She is just a girl, she doesn't have the means nor ability that her brothers have. A woman can't run the business like a man can.' You don't know how upset mom got." Sooyun laughs dryly. "I ran upstairs and the next day I acted as if I didn't know a thing. But I knew, I knew what he really thought of me. Ever since then, my respect for dad has lessened. I still love him of course, and part of me is grateful that I was more free than our brothers, but...now that I know the reason, I never saw him the same way. I picked up on the little things, the way he would eye our maids. How he would put down and mansplain to mom. Before, I thought he was always so nice and gentle with me because I was his first born. His precious daughter whom he would protect forever. But no, he was caring to me because he thought I was fragile. That I was over-emotional. He doesn't have respect for me, nor mom for that matter."

"He's an ass."

"I know. But mom always taught me to stay strong. To not let men walk all over me. That I was more than what they made me, and I'm really grateful for mom. You know, she doesn't mind you not working at the company. She supports you."

"No she doesn't." Jeno furrows his brows in anger.

"She does Jeno. But she has to lay low because of dad. She stood up for you the day you ran off. She got so mad at it. Me, Doyoung, and Jaehyun were all surprised." Sooyun pats her brother's hand gently. "And from what I've seen, mom is a whole lot more smart and strong than dad is. You can quote me on that."

Jeno hums in response, thinking about what his sister said.

"What got you to run in the first place? I mean.." She stops talking when Jeno's face becomes bitter.

"He set me up with some 16 year old tramp...but when I denied wanting to go, he hit me."

"He what!?" Jeno just nods silently, not looking at his sister's furious face. "I'm getting your brothers." Her voice darkened.

"Wh- Noona! Don't-" But she was already out the door, coming back only seconds later with a worried Doyoung and a fuming Jaehyun.

"He hit you?" Jaehyun harsly whispers. Jeno breaks down when he sees his siblings. He was so grateful for them, for always taking care of him and being with him when he was alone. They were his mentors, his friends, his family. He loved them so much and he was so grateful to know that they had his back.

Doyoung sighs and brings his youngest brother in for a hug, whispering soothing words in his ear. Sooyun sat next to Jeno and held his hand, caressing his palm gently. Jaehyun, though, was trying not to explode with anger. He was always the hardhead. The brons. His first option was to beat up whoever hurt him and his family, and Doyoung always had to hold him back.

He stares at the closed door, ears practically blowing steam. "I can deal with dad most of the time, but he just went too damn far." He growls out, making Doyoung stand.

He puts a hand on his brother's shoulder, slowly calming him down. "Let's talk to mom first." He turns back to Jeno, who was wiping his tears. "Jeno, maybe you should go play with Chan. To get your mind off things. Is Renjun still in China?"

"Yeah.."

"Alright..." He hums in thought. With the state their sibling was in right now, they couldn't just leave him alone but they also didn't want him to hear anything that could stress him out.

Sooyun smiles. "What about that Jaemin boy? Isn't he your friend?" She suggests.

Jeno gulps and shakes his head. "I can't..."

"Why?"

"S-something happened a few days ago...so it's kind of weird right now." He glances to the side, sighing at the memory. Sooyun raises a brow and gestures for the other two boys to head to their mom's office, leaving her and Jeno alone.

"What happened Jeno?"

"Well...When I ran off, I went straight to Jaemin's house. I explained what happened to him and then I fell asleep. I guess he couldn't sleep out of worry or something...." He trails off, feeling bad that he deprived Jaemin of sleep. "Anyways, I woke at like 3am and found him looking at me. I won't go into details...but basically, we kissed. The next day was fine, I guess because it hadn't really set in what just happened. I mean, I kissed my best friend Yunnie..." He looks at his hands, as he's seeing them for the first time.

Sooyun hums and slings her arm over her brother's shoulder. "Well...do you like him?"

"Y-yeah. I do...a lot." He whispers out the last part but the girl hears him anyways.

She smiles. "So..?"

"I've confused him though. I don't know when we'll talk again but I decided to give him some space to collect himself. I'm sure he's wondering about what happened. Plus, I can't worry him with this. I don't want to burden him."

Sooyun smiles sadly and pats her brother on the back. "Right...You go play with Chan and I'll join our brothers and mom, ok?" Jeno nods and the two stand and exit the room. Jeno makes his way down the hall and knocks gently on the play room, smiling when he hears a cheerful 'Come in!'

He enters the room and joins his nephew on the floor, picking up a toy train and turns it around with his fingers. "Uncle Nono, why you sad?" Chan waddles over to his uncle, putting the boy's cheeks between his hands. Jeno smiles softly and ruffles the boy's hair.

"I'll be ok Channie, I promise. Let's just play now, ok?"

"Ok! Momma bought new dinosaurs, let's play!" He waddles over to his toy box and Jeno laughs at the cute toddler.

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Jaemin rolls his eyes at the rambling Donghyuk, who kept talking about Mark and how amazing he was. It was somewhat entertaining, especially when Jaemin was able to give his friend dirt on a certain Canadian boy.

"And I went over to his house last weekend and we watched movies and cuddled. He is so soft Jaemin." Donghyuk says happily, practically glowing with love. Jaemin smiles and laughs at his friend, glad to see Mark has someone like Donghyuk.

The two boys were heading to pick up Chenle from school, because according to Donghyuk, they needed a 'girls night out'. And frankly, Jaemin didn't care what it's called, as long he could relax his mind, even for a little bit, would be very nice. It was a Friday, and Jaemin was so fucking exhausted. He was surrounding himself in work, taking extra care of his friends, and trying to figure out his heart and his feelings towards Jeno.

Sighing, Jaemin follows Donghyuk to the school date, taking out his phone to text Chenle that they were here. Pretty soon, they see their dolphin friend running towards them, a smile on his face.

"Hyungs!" He jumps into Jaemin's arms, holding him like a koala. "I haven't seen you all week." He fake cries into his friend's shoulder, making both Donghyuk and Jaemin laugh.

"Come on you dolphin, let's get going. Donghyuk said he wanted to buy you some new clothes." Jaemin puts the Chinese boy down and waits patiently as he starts squealing incoherent noises.

"Thank you hyung! All of my clothes are out of season and I don't have the confidence to wear them yet." He pouts sadly.

"Scared Jisung wouldn't like it?"

"Wh- What does this have to do with Pwark!?" Chenle's face now a furious blush, making Donghyuk smirk.

"Oh please, we all know you have the fattest crush on him."

"No I don't!"

Jaemin sighs and shakes his head. He pinches his friend by their ears and drags them away from Chenle's school, scolding them as they walk.

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∆Hey guys, this is a bit of a filler, because I still have a couple things planned. I also need to lowkey rush this because I need to start my Markhyuk book and I said I wouldn't update that till this is like almost done lmao ok ok I'll stop ranting. Also thank you so much for over 730 reads. I literally blinked and it doubled oh my god I love you all so much :(( I'll see you soon∆