Panic was building as Mingyu paced the coffee shop. He almost didn't call in but he knew whatever he had to deal with was going to require caffeine. And lots of it.

The email had gone out to all staff early that morning directly from the CEO and the instructions were clear.

"Under no circumstances are any Pledis employees to make public comment, or provide any information to the media, or any persons outside the company, on the pictures about to be published on the Star Dispatch website this morning at 9am."

The text messages were flying thick and fast as speculation built around what was going to be revealed. A dating scandal was what everyone expected and Mingyu knew exactly who it was. He had seen them on Saturday heading out for a lunch date. Mingyu silently cursed Wonwoo and Jihoon for being so stupid. How dumb could they be, to get caught, and by a gossip site as well.

He shifted from one foot to the other in agitation as he waited for the coffees. He finally took them in his shaking hands and walked quickly to the Pledis building.

People were whispering in every corridor. Mingyu expected them all to stare at him with pity, the poor Manager assigned to the most difficult idol in the company, now dealing with a dating scandal and a gay dating scandal on top of it all. But no one seemed to take any notice of him and he concluded that they didn't know yet. He looked at his watch. 8:35am. Twenty five minutes until his career fell apart.

He tapped his pen on the desk as he watched the clock tick down. Wonwoo hadn't been sighted and Mingyu pulled his little Hello Kitty figurine out of his pocket and put her on his desk. She gave him comfort when he found none elsewhere. It was a reminder that, if just for one moment, he had been important to Wonwoo.

Mingyu folded his arms on the desk and used them as a pillow. He was so over this exhausted melancholy he was caught in. He felt like he hadn't slept in weeks. He wasn't sure what was going to happen today. Would Wonwoo's debut be cancelled? It would at least have to be postponed. Surely Mingyu would be fired or at least reassigned.

He resigned himself quickly to the loss of Wonwoo from his life. If he was fired or even reassigned their relationship, whatever it was, was over. They weren't friends. They wouldn't stay in contact. Mingyu couldn't even call him to offer breakfast on a Saturday morning.

I'm not going to cry.

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