Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁
"Are these your pictures?"
Donghyuck pressed his lips tightly shut and looked away from Uhm Seongwoo—one of SM Entertainment's press managers. The older male sighed and rubbed his temples looking at the A4 paper in front of him; on the sheet of paper were Dispatch's latest headline.
Donghyuck tried to not look at the sheet in front of him too much. Afraid to show that these were indeed his pictures. His pictures with his girlfriend Choi Daera. Maybe, if he was able to keep quiet, the people around him would forget this Dispatch article was ever posted and everyone would move on.
But his hope was small; almost non-existing.
"Haechan-sshi", Seongwoo started and crossed his arms in front of his blazer. "You're making this harder for everyone involved. If you want to have your phone back and your privacy safe then you have to tell me if these are your pictures." The man sighed. "Is this you?" He asked again and Donghyuck looked up, his eyes were burning with annoyance and he sighed.
It's been a few days since he came back to Seoul. Last week the doctors removed the cast but advised him to keep wearing an elastic rail for his shin. He was slowly participating in the practice for their Seoul concert—all while sitting down of course.
During his rehearsal for "No Longer" Uhm Seongwoo had knocked on the door of their practice room and directed Donghyuck to his office. To this point, Donghyuck hadn't been aware that there was an article about him and Daera.
"If this is me" Donghyuck suddenly spoke up, "what are you going to do about it?" He cockily asked and Seongwoo breathed out. "If this is you, you have to meet the CEO because I'm only responsible for PR stuff." - "Will the President make me break up?"
Donghyuck didn't realise his mistake at first. Only when Seongwoo perked up and looked Donghyuck straight in the eye, the young singer realized what he just did. "Hyung, Hyung!" He stuttered, "I was just joking around... when would I ever have the chance to meet a girl and actually date her?" He laughed awkwardly but Seongwoo had already looked through his lie.
"I'm sorry Haechan-sshi... everything from now on is in our president's hands. I'll be the one that either confirms or deny this rumour later." Donghyuck watched Seongwoo collect his stuff and put it in his drawer. "I think you need to head to your manager. I have to inform Mr Lee's assistant so you and Hamin-hyung can meet him and talk about this... situation."
While Donghyuck stood up, he could hear the PR-agent mumble about Dispatch and Dating rumours. Uhm Seongwoo didn't seem to happy about the outcome and so was Donghyuck. All of a sudden he felt miserable. With a sigh he left the office and dialled 127's manager's phone number.
Kim Hamin was a handsome man and one of NCT's many managers. He was mostly responsible for 127 and since MC Ari had his hands full with NCT Dream, it was Hamin-hyung that Donghyuck approached now.
Hamin quickly answered the call with a swift, "Donghyuck-ah? What's the matter?" Donghyuck took a deep breath and leaned onto the wall next to him. His heart was beating faster than usual when he tried to form his words. "I... I may or may not have caused trouble?" He asked and could hear his manager scoff confused. "What do you mean?" - "Dispatch wrote an article about me..." Donghyuck said and Hamin was awfully quiet.
"H-Hyung? Could you at least say something?" - "Where are you?" The older male asked and Donghyuck told him he was in the office on the 6th floor. It didn't take the manager long to arrive and once the handsome man was in front of him, Donghyuck finally was able to open up.
"So... Dispatch wrote an article about me including pictures of me and... my... girlfriend." Donghyuck let out and watched Hamin's face closely. The older man didn't even flinch with the sudden news. "So someone either hacked me and got their hands on these pictures or I accidentally send them to someone" Dongyhuck continued. "But I'm sure my girlfriend didn't send these to Dispatch. She would never betray me like this!"
"You and your girlfriend were hiding pretty well, Donghyuck-ah." Hamin suddenly said and Donghyuck started blushing furiously. "W-What do you mean?" The singer asked and the manager chuckled. "I asked Ari-hyung about it when I read that article. And Ari simply said that you may or may not be really fond of his niece." The manager paused and eyed Donghyuck, "Johnny then told me that you have a crush on Choi Daera and that you are dating her fro quite sometime now." The manager finished and Donghyuck only opened his mouth.
"Even though I was hiding my romance so well, it still got swept into the public eye... what should we do Hyung?" Donghyuck asked and Hamin smiled. "You're going to call your girlfriend and have to give her a heads up. Comfort her, she's probably going through a lot at the moment. And I'm going to contact the CEO and ask him what we're supposed to do." Hamin looked at his client, that was fumbling for his phone.
"I'm aware you won't be breaking up with her no matter what the president says, so I'll give the CEO a warning, that he won't be able to force you to break up, okay?" Hamin looked at Dongyhuck that nodded before pressing his phone to his ear. "Daera-yah, it's me!" He said with a smile while walking down the corridor, out of Hamin's reach.
"What's up, Donghyuck?" Daera asked, immediately catching something in Donghyuck's voice. "Have you read any Dispatch article lately?" The boy asked and Daera immediately said 'No'. "I don't read false rumours of these disgusting douchebags." Daera simply stated and Donghyuck sighed.
"Maybe you should go and read their latest headline." Donghyuck said with a warning before adding, "I'm so sorry, Daera. I swear."
