Puzzle Piece 𖢻 ∫ JaemJen

𖢻 Chapter Five: Take It or Ruin It

"He drove you! In his car! Just the two of you." Jeno rolls his eyes at the very enthusiastic Lia from across the table.

"It's nothing serious..." He tries to brush it off, however they both know he is just as enthusiastic as Lia is.

"How can you say that when he just... You know... Made a move!" Lia barks back at the poor brunet boy.

"How is that a m–"

"Boyfriend and husband materials include taking care of you, driving you around is part of it. Therefore he cares about you!"

"Okay, so what if he cares about me...?" Jeno averts his gaze and focuses on sipping on his drink.

Lia scoffs in response, "don't give me that 'lose of faith' bullshit, Jeno."

"I'm just saying, let's not get too ahead of ourselves because maybe Mr. Na is just being his usual nice self. Besides, I'm nothing but his secretary."

"And soon that will be upgraded." The next second, Lia quickly inserts with a flat look. Although her eyes says it all.

"Lia!" Jeno widens his eyes, flustered as he flashes her a look.

"What? I'm being optimistic here!"

"Very optimistic, let's not give me false hope." Jeno deadpans.

Groaning, she rests her chin on the back of her hand. "Fine then, what do you want to believe for now at least?" She looks a little bored, knowing well what Jeno is going to answer.

"That I'm just a secretary of Na Jaemin, him generously offering to drive me here today is nothing but him being a decent human being."

"He is only being nice, I'm sure I'm not the only one receiving this kind of treatment from him." Jeno softly explains.

Lia gives him a look before lifting both of her eyebrows, "well I can definitely say I haven't."

"That is because you have a car and know how to drive," Jeno tries to reason, wanting to defend himself from whatever shenanigans Lia is up to.

"Please, it's not even just that." Lia rolls her eyes, "I literally got in trouble for being late three days straight."

"Maybe–"

"Believe it or not, love, he might have an interest in you." The raven haired woman smirks mischievously.

"Why else would he let you off like that? While I can't, like hello? That is so rude." Lia exaggerates and crosses her arms.

However, to her slight dismay, Jeno is still persistent about this whole ''love life'' with their boss. "Because I'm a newbie, still." He reasons once again.

But fret not, Lia is just as persistent as Jeno is. She has a gut feeling that this mission of hers would be great.

𖢻

Jeno was busy doing his given work, but paused as soon as someone knocked on his door. To which he didn't even realize it was already opened.

Looking up, he meets his boss's eyes who was standing by the doorway ever so casually. "Hey, Jeno-ssi it's already lunch time. You can finish those files later," he says.

Pursing his lips tightly, Jeno was a little hesitant to do as told, had been wanting to get this work over with so he wouldn't have to worry about it later.

But then the blue haired man speaks up again, "would you like to get lunch with me?"

And Jeno completely went blank, he froze on his chair as he didn't even realize a sound escapes his lips.

Up until Jaemin gives him an amused look, eyebrows lifted up as his forehead creases a bit, the corners of his lips curling up as well.

"U-uhm... is– are you sure, S-sir?" Jeno stammers, inwardly cursing at himself for his sudden nervous state.

So unprofessional of you, Jeno. He scolds in his thoughts.

The blue haired man's low voice brings him back in to reality; reminding Jeno on what situation he is currently in.

Solution for said situation? He doesn't know yet, his thoughts are all jumbled up.

"Yes, of course. If I wasn't sure on inviting you to have lunch with me, then I wouldn't have asked you, am I right?"

Jeno nods shyly, feeling embarrassed as usual at his choice of words. "But the real question here is, do you want to have lunch with me?"

Jaemin looks at him so intently that it brings back Jeno's senses to squirm on his chair.

"Uh, j-just the two of us?" Stupid! Why did you ask that!

"Well, I planned on only inviting you. But if you want to bring someone else along with us, feel free to do so." Jaemin replies so casually.

The brunet boy swallows hard. He tries his best to put those thoughts aside and save it for later to freak out about.

He then ponders in thought (mainly as a distraction) on who to bring along with them.

He isn't that comfortable and close with other employees there in the company yet, so it would obviously get even more awkward.

If only he could invite Lia today. But the latter was out for another schedule of her own, currently flying across the country to handle some business.

Then he stops pondering in thought on who he could bring. A sudden scolding of his inner voice interjects.

Stop thinking about someone else to have lunch with you and Mr. Na. He initially invited you only, he's just being considerate of your comfort.

Now if you bring someone else in, you just fucked up your own moment with the person you admire.

This is probably your only chance. Who knows. Take it or ruin it.

"Ahh, I– err... It's okay," for a second, Jeno thought he could be seeing things but he spot a glimpse of Jaemin's gaze change.

"I won't invite anyone else, I think it would be rude of me anyway to you as well since... You only invited me, Sir Na." He tries not to cringe and mess up his response.

Jaemin's face visibly lights up, "is that a yes then?"

The only thing he got as a response was a shy nod, and without further ado, Jeno takes his small bag just in case and follows Jaemin out his office door.

Lia is going to freak out.