CLANDESTINE

dix - huit

18
_____

the more i think about it now,
the less i know.
_____

the ceo had asked the manager to left which mark was very thankful for.

he didn't know if he can even stand another minute with such horrible person like the manager. mark literally hated everyone that dare to breaks donghyuck's heart, the manager wasn't an exception.

"so i heard that both of you are.. together," the ceo said. the words leaving his mouth left a peculiar sensation to him. for people to date each other, he got that a lot. he found more than half of his artists have something for each other, some were caught, some might still be hiding. but a case where one dates with the same gender was a first time. he began to question whether the boy groups inside the company might have the same case as the two boys in front him.

the ceo sighed, he didn't know how to handle this kind of things. "okay, listen to me. i would be straight at this." the boys looked up at the man that seems to be having a hard time to comprehend the situation right now.

donghyuck knew what the ceo was feeling. he usually let things like this slide, it was the managing staffs that would take care of scandals regarding their company. sure, people might say that he is the ceo of sm entertainment but really, he wasn't one to handle things that happened in the company. most won't believe if he said it but really, the head director and those that under him would be the people who deal with this kind of things. all the ceo did was decides a group's comebacks, confirm the group's songs, review the songs, signing papers, signing the schedule made by the other directors, and made sure the company is in good condition.

for donghyuck personally, he adores the ceo.

he heard a lot about people saying their management sucks, well it may be true but donghyuck wouldn't blame it to the ceo. if there are people to blame, it's those that manage the artists. donghyuck like the ceo, he was understanding of his artists, he would spend time with the artists whether it's drinking or just having dinner outside, he would use his money to bring them for a holiday and no, it's not because he want to show off, it's just because he want to.

other people said that the ceo was cruel. donghyuck would disagree with that, he thought the ceo is a selfless man.

"i don't care if you're dating, what i care about is your image. i'm sure both of you know the consequences. i won't tell you guys to break up, i wouldn't be that harsh to ruin your happiness." a small smile came to donghyuck's face, glimmer of hope in his eyes as he expected the next words of the ceo.

"but you know people won't like this thing, right? i'm perfectly fine with this but it wouldn't be like that to everyone. all of the pictures that surfaced had been taken care of, what concerns me right now is, the fans might still have the copies of it." he said, eyeing each of the boys expression before continuing.

"we already made sure that no one would make an article about this, that mean, only those that have seen the pictures are the people that knew about this. other than them, no one else should know. i'm sure the fans would be talking about this between them but that wasn't what we're worried about, it's the fact that they might have spreads the pictures secretly, behind our back."

as the ceo stopped talking, a silent came over.

both donghyuck and mark had their minds working on how to handle this.

they started this, they should be the one that are responsible of it.

_____

unpopular opinion:

i don't really think that sm was that bad. sure, as we all heard, the way they handle the idols over these years are all those horrible things. forced diet, plastic surgery, inconsistent comebacks, rude behavior, unfair treatment and so.

most of us would say it's lee soo man fault.

after giving some deep thought about this whole thing, i'm not sure if lee soo man is the wrong one. like i had wrote upwards, the one who truly handle all the things about idols inside the company are the management staffs. a ceo don't really had the time to look over all the things that is happening inside the company.

what i have found also, the idols and artists of sm always said good things about their ceo. they always compliment the ceo as a friendly man that exerts a father figure feeling to all of them. sure, you guys may think that it must be one of those facades of them but i wouldn't say that, they're so honest when talking about their ceo.

you might have an opposite opinion at this, you might disagree and say shit but this is just my opinion. you're open to think what you want.

- tantan