donghyuck froze on his spot, his eyes wide in surprise as his heartbeat accelerated in his rib cage. he was still surrounded by dozens of journalists, pointing their mics and cameras at him, expecting for an answer.

are you and lucas from super m really a couple?

where the hell did this question come from?

why would the press even ask him that?

what the fuck was going on?

"lee donghyuck, are those rumours true?" one of the journalists yelled, pushing his mic the further possible to record donghyuck's answer.

"i-i... h-huh..." donghyuck's eyes started to water as he felt suffocated by the crowd surrounding him.

he was the centre of attention. all eyes were on him.

he hated it.

he could feel himself slowly losing his consciousness, as if this sudden rush of emotions was triggering inside of him a panic attack.

he had no idea why these people were there, and why they were asking him all of those questions.

before donghyuck's vision got completely blurry, a black van pulled up in front of him, forcing some of the journalists to step away not to get ran over by the car.

the tanned male wanted nothing more than to run away and disappear at the sight of that car. what was going to come out of it? more cameras? other journalists interested in any drama?

donghyuck glanced behind the crowd of giddy journalists, finding his seven friends standing frozen as well, their eyes as widened as donghyuck's, absolutely not understanding anything of what was happening.

"lee donghyuck, get in the car." the man in the passenger seat said, making donghyuck's body tremble. he didn't know this person; he had no idea who they were nor what they wanted with him. and he had been taught not to get in the car of someone he didn't know.

"w-what...?" donghyuck blinked, his vision getting even more blurry as the floor swayed under his feet, sign that he would soon pass out.

the backdoor of the car slid open, revealing a face he knew too much. "donghyuck, come inside!"

if it wasn't already enough for the poor boy, donghyuck froze again at the sight of the boy he had been trying to get off his mind and to ignore for the past week. mark lee from super m was looking at him worriedly, in the middle of a crowd of journalists who soon realised what was happening.

"oh my god, it's super m!" one of the yelled, catching the attention of the others.

mark pushed the car's door open completely, jumping off the car and running to donghyuck before grabbing his wrist and pulling him to the van. he made donghyuck rush inside before him, and slammed the door shut as soon as they were both inside.

"go! go! go!" one of the boys exclaimed before the driver started the engine again and drove away from the journalists at a high speed.

donghyuck's body was trembling as he slowly looked at his surroundings, finding the seven other members of super m sitting in the 9-passenger minibus. he had been pushed in the first row of seats, just between mark and lucas.

"w-what is h-happening...?" he asked, his voice shaky.

"a picture of you and lucas holding hands was published on the internet and now there's a dating rumour about you two." mark replied, his full attention on the tanned male who looked like he was about to pass out.

"w-what...?!"

"here, look." lucas handed donghyuck his phone so that he could understand the problem.

the fanboy took the phone with a trembling hand before scrolling down the article a bit to read what had been written about it. in a matter of seconds, donghyuck gasp, unintentionally letting the device slip from his hand as he teared-up and started crying.

"oh my god, don't cry, don't cry..." lucas's eyes widened as he panicked slightly, not really knowing what to do in this situation. "cool, really. it's fine, man, it's not as if- "

lucas was interrupted by mark who had passed his arm over donghyuck's back to punch his shoulder lightly and mouth him a 'what the hell?!'. lucas shrugged guiltily as mark wrapped his arm around donghyuck's body while the younger was bent forward, crying into his palms that were resting on his knees.

"calm down, donghyuck..." mark told, pulling the golden boy closer to him as donghyuck let himself getting embraced by mark's arms. "shh... it's okay... it's just a big misunderstanding..." he added as donghyuck was now crying with his face on his lap while mark rubbed the boy's back soothingly.

it felt weird for mark to be so close to the gorgeous fanboy after one week of being ignored by him. mark wasn't going to lie, he had grown accustomed to talking to donghyuck, and so, this past week had been quite miserable for him.

mark had always believed that, as an idol, having who he wanted would be easy. when he had first realised that he liked donghyuck a bit more than he should, he hadn't gotten too worried about it, because he knew he was part of the fanboy's favourite group, and so, there was no way donghyuck would ever lose the privilege of talking to an idol – i mean, who would?

but mark was wrong; hell, he was so wrong...

donghyuck wasn't like other people. donghyuck was unique. and donghyuck had somehow realised how fucked up this all was, and he knew that the best thing to do was to cut ties, as much as mark wanted to deny it.

"we're here. go to meeting room 100, i'll go and warn lee sooman that you're all here." the man sitting on the passenger seat – who was none other than the super m manager – declared.

lucas opened the back door of the car before hopping off and folding the seat so that the other boys in the back rows could hop off too.

soon, the seven members of super m and donghyuck were walking across the corridors of the sm entertainment building. donghyuck was standing in the middle of them, his eyes red and puffy as he had stopped crying a minute prior.

they reached the meeting room 100 in a matter of minutes, the boys all taking a seat around the glass table without uttering a word. they didn't wait long for their manager and lee sooman to step in the room and sit down on the last two chairs remaining.

"well, boys." lee sooman started speaking, making them lift their heads to look at the powerful man. "this is some serious mess that lucas and that boy put you into."

donghyuck held himself from breaking into tears again. he needed to stay strong, even though the situation was completely unbelievable and utterly overwhelming.

"what the hell has been going on with this group for the past weeks?!" lee sooman yelled, making everyone around the table flinch. "first, we have baekhyun forgetting the whole choreography on live-stage! then, mark's depression for the past week! god, we even had to re-schedule the fucking interview because he couldn't stop crying! and now what?! a dating scandal between lucas and a random boy?!"

lee sooman looked successfully at each of the boys sitting around the glass table. all had their heads lowered with guilty expressions.

"anyway, we're here for the dating scandal, so, first, let's have a quick talk with that boy." he stated, his eyes fixed on donghyuck who shyly looked up to meet eyes with surely one of the most powerful men he'll ever meet in his life.

"name?" lee sooman asked.

"l-lee donghyuck..." the boy replied.

"age?"

"21 years old..." donghyuck answered.

"how do you know super m?" lee sooman frowned.

"t-they're... my favourite boy group." donghyuck admitted.

"he was a participant of the 'one day with super m' program we launched on july, 24th." the manager explained. "that's where he got closer to the members i'm guessing."

"so, one day together and then they're close enough to hang out?" lee sooman raised a brow.

"donghyuck had a v.i.p. ticket to the concert in seoul a few weeks ago. we met him again there."taeyong intervened.

"can i know how you two agreed on that hangout after those two times of seeing each other?" the sm entertainment boss asked looking between lucas and donghyuck.

"actually, it wasn't planned. mark had dragged me out to a café, and when we were there, we met donghyuck and he was alone so i invited him to stay with us." lucas explained truthfully, because for him, this meeting was purely coincidental.

"and where was mark when you two were caught on camera holding hands?" the manager frowned.

"well, he had left because you had- "

"i just had things to do." mark cut lucas' words before the whole situation became messier than it already was.

"mark what's wrong with saying that- "

"this is not the matter at the moment, right?" mark interrupted him again, glaring at lucas and making a few other members raise a brow.

"anyway, now that you two got caught, we have to do something about it." the manager rolled his eyes. "anyone has an idea of what to do?"

the seven super m members stayed silent, shaking their heads left and right to signal that they hadn't a clue what they could do.

donghyuck looked at them confusedly before finding the courage to voice out his thoughts.

"w-what about telling the truth...?" he spoke. "t-there was a crowd of f-fans following us, so... so lucas and i t-tried to run away from t-them and he grabbed my hand b-because i wasn't fast enough...?"

lee sooman snorted loudly before emitting a laugh. "the truth? are you serious right now?"

"w-well..."

"the truth isn't what the press wants to hear. and it won't benefit super m nor sm entertainment to say that." the manager informed. "this would basically be like insulting our fans, and saying that they are crazy stalkers."

donghyuck held himself for spitting a 'which they are', but he knew better than angering the two older men that were sitting in front of him.

"now, if no one has anything to suggest, i have a brilliant idea that i thought of as soon as the rumour started." lee sooman smiled brightly. "so, you all know how we had decided to make mark date a western trendy girl? well, let's forget about that, because finding the chick and getting in touch with her agent and actually making them accept would be so long and a waste of money." he continued, looking at the manager who nodded. "but now, we have the perfect opportunity. let's have lucas and..." he stopped looking at donghyuck and frowning.

"donghyuck." lucas spoke.

"...and donghyuck! let's have them dating for real!" lee sooman explained. "that way, we have our super m couple, it would involve a fan, thus giving hope to all the fans out there, and also, it would destroy the cliché of korea being homophobic because obviously one of the idols from a big korean company is openly gay." he kept going, moving his arms around as he spoke excitedly. "and this is the perfect plan for super m to gain the trust of the lgbt community, thus having more fans, and also for us to have more profit. i'm a genius, aren't i?"

there was a long silence in the meeting room.

none of the super m members dared to talk, neither did donghyuck. the latter somehow hoped that it was all a big joke and that someone would say this out loud.

"actually..." the manager frowned, making donghyuck's hopes skyrocket. "actually, that's brilliant! i'm calling the marketing team immediately to create the announcement."

"perfect! and we'll need a photoshoot of lucas and donghyuck doing couple things so that it can be published over the world." lee sooman continued.

"w-we are not dating!" donghyuck exclaimed before the manager could stand up.

"you aren't?" lee sooman frowned. "well, this doesn't matter anyway, for the sake of the company and everything, you are now."

"w-what?! no!" donghyuck stood up abruptly, taking aback all the super m members who had their eyes widened while looking at him. "y-you can't do that!"

"of course, i can." the boss scoffed.

"i-it's unethical! and... and..." he turned towards the other members, looking at lucas. "aren't you going to say something?!"

"well... our contracts kind of state that we have to do as lee sooman says..." lucas admitted.

"listen, dongsun- "

"donghyuck!" the tanned male yelled, correcting the ceo.

"yeah, donghyuck, whatever." he rolled his eyes. "you don't have a choice. that picture of you and lucas holding hands has already been seen by thousands of people across the word. and you can't do anything about it anymore. you're famous now, so you have to act like famous people do."

"i-i... i d-don't want to be famous..." donghyuck spat, fresh tears escaping his eyes.

"it's too late for that. so, now, dry your tears and go to the shooting room with lucas to get ready for a photoshoot to announce your dating."

"we're not dating!" donghyuck continued crying.

the ceo sighed. "okay, how much do you want? ten million won? one hundred million? state your price, i'll make you a check right now."

"i don't want money..." donghyuck shook his head. "i just want to stay anonymous."

"well, that's not possible, so bear with it."

and with that said, lee sooman left the meeting room with the super m manager on his heels as donghyuck allowed himself to break down completely in front of the seven idols he loved so much.