Chapter 6 -  [Part 2] The Show Must Go On

Baekhyun’s Condo Unit

It’s been exactly 3 days since Baekhyun was seen going out of his unit. It’s also been days since he had a proper meal. Ever since Kyungsoo’s last visit, the idol hadn’t eaten anything healthy and was merely living off of pizza deliveries.

To say that Baekhyun wasn’t affected with the chaos is a lie. He was deeply, deeply hurt. He never got involved in scandals as huge as this one. All those years he spent, taking care of his fans, interacting with them, and performing for them seemed rather useless.

His fanbase is one of his sources of strength next to his family and Kyungsoo. Now, more than half of his fanbase had turned their back on him. 

They branded him as a user, social climber, and . He even got death threats saying he scammed them. His fans were saying that they spent all their money on him but turns out he was secretly dating behind his back. They called him disgusting and all derogatory terms.

He knew that this was coming but it still ing hurts. 

The only thing that’s keeping him sane right now is his brother Kyungsoo. After all, he did all of this to protect the guy. He couldn’t afford to lose Kyungsoo. Never. 

Being jobless doesn’t even help Baekhyun one bit. Everything would’ve been better if he had been working, however, Heechul himself told Baekhyun to set a low profile for a week. He's still on his 3rd day of keeping a low profile. All he did was lock himself in his unit and wasting all his time lazing around.

Baekhyun loved to work. Although work was tiring, he still did it because he loved it. Regarding his funds, he didn’t need to worry about anything, he owned 2 buildings, none of which are known to the public, not even Kyungsoo knows it. 

What he wants right now is something to do. Something to distract him from all of these. 

He also couldn’t talk with his fans on social media as it could only ruin his ‘low profile week’, stalking them as what he would usually do will only hurt him. It’s not good for his mental health as most of his fans have resorted to bashing him online non-stop. He needed to stay away from his fans for a while. He wouldn't want to hate them back.

“Why don’t you use this time to write songs?” he heard a familiar deep voice, he looked behind him and it was his beloved brother. 

“Kyung!” Baekhyun rose up from lazing around the couch and smiled.  Apparently, Baekhyun had been hanging upside down from his couch.

“The restaurant kept me busy. I brought you some food” Kyungsoo headed straight to Baekhyun’s fridge, only to find nothing but a box of dried up pizza from last night.

“This isn’t healthy! You could’ve sent me a message and I could’ve cooked something and have it delivered here” the bald man walked briskly towards Baekhyun and gave him a look of disapproval. 

“But you said it yourself! You’re busy and I wouldn’t want you distracted from your work” Baekhyun diverted his gaze from Kyungsoo to who knows where but certainly not Kyungsoo's eyes. He might not look like he's pleased with Kyungsoo' visit but he's certainly very happy. And although the guy might start nagging now, at least, he got to see Kyungsoo in person, which is more than enough to push all the negative thoughts out.

“You know what, I’m gonna have you banned from Pizza deliveries and deliver you healthy ones myself” This time Kyungsoo was carrying a bento box for Baekhyun. 

As soon as the bento box was handed to Baekhyun, the younger started to eat right away. Kyungsoo on the other hand, proceeded to clean up Baekhyun’s mess. 

“For a 27 year old guy who's dating a CEO, your place sure looks like you’re single” Baekhyun coughed as soon as he heard it. 

“Why would you bring that one up?! And what makes it look like I’m single?” but Kyungsoo didn’t answer him. Instead, he continued where he left off.

“Also, why are you living off of Pizza deliveries? Shouldn’t your CEO boyfriend be living with you or something? Isn’t he worried about your health? Did he even know you can’t cook? What about your...” Kyungsoo went on with his nagging as he continued to clean Baekhyun’s mess up while the latter silently ate what was in the bento box, blocking out Kyungsoo’s voice so he couldn’t remember what happened. 

Honestly speaking, he felt pathetic as a person and he hated the fact that this was the only way he could protect Kyungsoo. He didn’t want any of this to happen, but he was willing to go through this. If this is the only way that he could ward off interested parties away from Kyungsoo and his restaurant. Then he's gonna do it.

“Are you even listening?” Kyungsoo was now seated beside him. Baekhyun simply shook his head, smiled and replied “Maybe?”

That was enough to make Kyungsoo feel better. At least Baekhyun looks like he's handling this problem a little better than he expected.

Baekhyun on the other hand was more than grateful Kyungsoo visited him. He needed Kyungsoo’s presence to at least get through this hell of a cover up. 

“You should allow me to talk with that CEO guy you’re seeing. I need to talk to him” Kyungsoo was now at Baekhyun’s doorway and was about to go home. 

“His name is Chanyeol. I’ll let you meet him soon” Baekhyun reassured Kyungsoo with a smile as he bid the bald man goodbye. Soon after, Kyungsoo’s figure faded away and Baekhyun was back to the slump that he was in. 

He still had lots of time in his hands. Heck he had all the time for himself, so he decided to watch a movie on Netflix. 20 minutes into the movie and his phone lit up. It was a text message from President Kim, asking him to visit his office.

What could it be this time? 

Kim Krystal & Jongin's Residence

News indeed travelled fast. It hasn't been a month since his issue was published but the people had seemingly forgotten about it. He scrolled through naver and news and found out that his recent scandal had been completely covered up by articles about Baekhyun. It's been about 3 days since the news broke out, but Korea seems to be showing no signs of recovery from what happened. 

Baekhyun is a great guy, he knew him since he was Kyungsoo’s brother. They were getting along just well, however, the guy started hating him because he continued to date Kyungsoo in spite of marrying Krystal. 

He knew that what he did was wrong. For goodness sake, he’s legally married to Krystal Jung!

However, he couldn’t see himself loving anyone but Kyungsoo, yes, not even Krystal Jung. 

In his defense, their marriage was only for the show. 

Thankfully, his Kyungsoo was kind enough to understand his situation, and now they’re back together. What he didn’t expect is the explosion regarding his relationship with Kyungsoo. That was thoughtless of him. 

The day before the rumour exploded, he and Kyungsoo had a bit of a misunderstanding. The day the picture was snapped was when they had just made up. He should have been more careful and wary of his surroundings. Jongin didn’t have a clue that he was being tailed. Hence, the rumour exploded. Had Baekhyun’s dating scandal not broke, Kyungsoo’s life would have been in danger and Jongin’s candidacy would’ve been compromised.

Although he was married, Jongin didn’t love Krystal the way he loved Kyungsoo. Yes, Krystal is a beautiful woman with a kind heart, however, he didn’t touch her ever. He couldn’t. Everytime he sees the woman retreating to her bedroom, all he could think of is Kyungsoo. 

About how things would go if he was married to Kyungsoo instead? 

He would wake up seeing Kyungsoo cooking breakfast. His beloved would look up to him, smile, and greet him good morning. He would then give Kyungsoo a back hug and kiss his hair. It would’ve been such a warm and loving home. Just like Kyungsoo. 

As Jongin looked around, all he could see was a large well-made house filled with beautiful furniture. Nothing more than an oversized dollhouse.

“You can play with Kyungsoo tonight, I’m going to sleep over Amber’s. Ciao” Kystal knew about him and Kyungsoo. Jongin told her, and she wasn’t affected at all. In fact, the moment she heard about the news, she looked as if she felt relieved. Weird, but it worked. 

In fact, she was very supportive of the two and would even call Kyungsoo whenever she wanted to throw a party. Oftentimes, she would cover up for him whenever his father, Heechul, would look for him. 

Evening came, and Kyungsoo visited Jongin. Instead of seeing a smiling Kyungsoo like usual, his face was painted with worry. 

“What’s wrong?” Jongin could clearly see the worry in Kyungsoo’s eyes. 

“Baekhyun. I don’t think he’s doing very well” Kyungsoo and him we’re sitting on Jongin’s large couch with Kyungsoo’s head over Jongin’s shoulder and Jongin’s arms around Kyungsoo. 

“I went to his condo this morning to bring him food and his things were all over the place. His books were on the floor, his stuffed toys were scattered all over the place. Bub, I know he had a breakdown. And him, eating nothing but Pizza is not helping his health. I don’t know what to do. And I don’t think his CEO of a boyfriend went over to his house to check how Baekhyun had been doing. Should I just head to his boyfriend’s office and —” Jongin shushed Kyungsoo and kissed his forehead. 

“You’re overthinking everything. I know Baekhyun, he’s strong. I’m pretty sure he knew this was coming when he decided to date. I need you to relax and trust your brother” Jongin caressed his lover’s back and gave him a reassuring smile “Okay? Just do what you can do, like bring him food. Talk with him about fun things. He already went through enough stress” Jongin added as he pulled Kyungsoo for another hug. 

That seemed to work as Kyungsoo was able to relax and smile. Jongin couldn’t afford to stress Kyungsoo out. His lover was not armed for this kind of stress while his brother had already dealt with these kinds of news before. 

Unfortunately for Baekhyun, Jongin was quite pleased with his dating scandal. Jongin knew it was wrong, how could he wish ill for his lover’s dear brother? However, Baekhyun’s demise protected Kyungsoo, and that’s the most important thing. 

And Jongin would do anything, just to protect Kyungsoo. 

Kim’s Residence

It was a peaceful day. Too peaceful for Jennie’s liking. Kim Jennie is the owner of Mismatch, a famous (or perhaps infamous) media outlet in Korea. Its known for busting out celebrity couples who are dating in secret. 

That was supposed to be her role, until Big Hit decided to take the spotlight and now, no one seems to have been giving her tips about the who’s going out with who, which means no income for her.

That is until her office phone rang. 

“Yes, Mismatch Korea how may I help you”

“Someone is going out on a date tonight at 10 at the Pork Bo’s Bar. I'll pay you if you get a good photo” It was from a high pitched altered voice. It was creepy and weird, however, that was the only top she had received ever since Big Hit took the spotlight. It sounded quite scammy to her and she needed some reassurance this wasn't just any scammy set up.

“How do I know that you’re not a phony?”

“I just sent you half of the amount I’m going to pay” right then and there, her phone lit up with a notification that says ₩2 000 000 had been deposited to her account.

“I need a good photo. I’ll call you again tomorrow morning” right then and there, the call dropped. . The job sounds easy, but coming from a person who’s masking his or her voice is making her doubt. But she needed the money for her father’s surgery.

Should she do it?

She glanced at her wall clock, it was still 8 in the evening. Just enough time for her to prepare and head to the place. 

Jennie hated her work. Imagine making a living out of other people’s private relationships— yes terrible. However, it fed her, paid her expenses, and most importantly it paid her dad’s hospital bills. 

Being jobless for days is a red flag for her, especially when her father needed the money for his upcoming surgery. So, no matter how creepy the job may sound, she should take it.

Jennie was already at the place 25 minutes before the call time. And just as her client had said, around 10, someone particularly tall arrived. He stepped out from a Mercedes-Benz Jeep. Following him was a rather short guy with a familiar milky white skin. She could immediately recognize who shorter one was. It fairly easy even if he had a large scarf wrapped around his neck. 

He was holding hands with a taller guy. 

Right then and there, the shorter guy tripped. The taller one was quick enough to catch the shorter one on time. 

What was weird is that the two froze. Usually, if someone you know dearly trips, you either ask how they’re doing, or would laugh at them as you help them up.

But this couple is quite different. They were both frozen in shock.

But Jennie didn’t care. She caught the moment perfectly. With the taller guy’s arms wrapped around the shorter guy’s body, as they stared ‘lovingly’ into each other’s eyes. 

Perfect.

 

Author's Note:

Sorry for the very late update. Things happened I needed to do it, however, here's my update for today. 

I would like to thank kriscassotheman  and efiana for commenting. If its not for you guys, I would've taken this fic down. I'm really in a slump and your comment just pushes me through so thank you so much. 

This chapter may sound like a filler chapter but it's not. It's an important part as were already transitioning towards the main part of the story. 

Anyway, at who is your favorite character so far, and why?