a deathly silence had taken over the room that was previously filled with laughter and happiness. baekhyun's interruption had made things take another turn.

"i-i..."

"can one of you explain to me what all this shit is about?!" the oldest member barked, looking between mark and donghyuck who were both beet red in embarrassment.

"it looks like donghyuck and mark are kissing..." lucas stated uninterestedly. "wait! you guys are kissing!" he exclaimed.

"of course, they are. it's pretty clear." kai rolled his eyes at lucas' silliness.

the giant let out a dramatic gasp. "donghyuck?! you're cheating on me?!"

"you guys aren't even together!" mark yelled, glaring at lucas.

"they are to the fans and the rest of the world!" baekhyun interjected angrily. "however, you two are supposed to be nothing but friends." he added, pointing at mark and donghyuck. "so WHY THE HELL IS THERE A PICTURE OF YOU KISSING ALL OVER THE INTERNET?!"

"we..."

before mark could find what to say, the door of the dorm slammed open, allowing their fuming manager as well as a very angry lee sooman to enter the room stomping their feet.

"mark and donghyuck, you guys have ONE MINUTE to explain yourselves!!" the manager roared.

all eyes turned on mark – except for donghyuck's whose eyes started to water as his whole body trembled in fear and apprehension.

the canadian male gulped before taking a deep breath and intertwining his fingers with donghyuck's under the table. "donghyuck and i are a couple. he's my boyfriend. my REAL boyfriend."

"no, he can't be! he's lucas' boyfriend!" lee sooman yelled, pointing an accusing finger at the two boys.

"lucas and him are fake-dating. donghyuck and i are in a real relationship. one that we want to last."

the ceo of the company blinked in confusion before looking at the tanned male.

"is that true, dongsun?"

"his name is donghyuck!" mark tsked.

"yeah, donghyuck, whatever..." the man rolled his eyes. "is it true that you and lucas aren't in a real relationship?"

"y-yes." donghyuck stuttered, his cheeks already wet with tears.

"so, you guys are together!"

"oh my god, can't you remember?!" mark snorted in annoyance. "you basically forced them to date because of that rumour that started!"

"be careful how you talk to your boss, young man. contracts are made of paper that can tear really easily." the super m manager warned, threatening mark.

"i am only stating facts!" mark yelled back.

the sm entertainment ceo coughed, catching the attention of everyone around the table.

"make the boy leave." he told.

"make the boy- are you really going to tear my contract because i talked back?!" mark raised a brow.

"no. you stay. dongsun- "

"HIS NAME IS DONGHYUCK FOR FUCK'S SAKE!" mark yelled, startling all of the members that were sitting silently around the table, not really knowing what to say or how to act.

"SHUT UP!" lee sooman screamed back at him, this time making the whole room completely silent for a few seconds.

"donghyuck. come with me." the manager declared.

the tanned male – who was still crying in silence – stood up and walked in the manager's direction with his head hanging low.

"no, he's staying here!" mark stated, gripping donghyuck's wrist to prevent him from leaving his side.

"we need to have a conversation with the people concerned by the problem only. he's leaving." the ceo explained.

"and by which means would he not be concerned by the dating problem, huh?!" mark snorted loudly.

"BECAUSE HE IS AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE FUCKING PROBLEM!"

this very sentence was the last straw for donghyuck. these words made donghyuck realise why nothing seemed to go right with him and why he was always surrounded by misadventures. lee sooman had summed it all up in one sentence.

donghyuck was and had always been the problem.

the sudden urge to lose consciousness that ignited inside donghyuck's chest made it hard for the tanned male to follow what happened next. he heard loud voices in a blur, saw people agitating around him, but he couldn't decipher what was being told or said.

he doesn't remember what happened after this very sentence was pronounced. he doesn't even remember how he got back to his and jaemin's apartment, under the comfort of his blanket inside his bed.

he had only one thing on his mind at that point: he was and he had always been the problem.

and this explained so many things...

♪

"donghyuck, you don't have to go to school..." jaemin repeated for the nth time that day.

"i'd rather go to school than stay on my phone all day and see pictures of mark and i on the internet."donghyuck mumbled, tying his shoelaces.

"i know, but what if people are mean to you at school? i don't have all of my classes with you, and i want to stay with you to protect you from those meanies..." the younger male insisted.

"look, jaemin." donghyuck sighed. "life is still going on, no matter what's happening. i'm going to school."

jaemin bit his bottom lip in nervousness. "are you sure?"

"do i have another choice?" donghyuck raised a brow.

"yes, hundreds of others."

"a choice that doesn't involve running away from my problems?" the tanned male challenged, raising his brow even higher.

"your first choice usually is to run away from your problems..." jaemin pointed out after a few seconds, rather surprised by his best friend's sudden change.

"except that these aren't only my problem. it's super m's as well." the tanned male explained.

"and?" jaemin questioned, not understanding hos this changed anything.

"and super m is owned by one of the most powerful men in korea."

"donghyuck this makes no sense and- "

"listen, jaemin." donghyuck cut his best friend's sentence. "people already hate me. i'm guessing all they want right now is to insult me and hurt my feelings the best they could. and you know very well that if i don't give them what they want, they'll end up finding their way to me."

"so, you're going to go to school and let them insult you openly?" jaemin asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "i won't let that happen."

"we don't have much choice."

"sm entertainment has to do something!" jaemin groaned.

"sm entertainment couldn't care less about me, for fuck's sake!" donghyuck yelled. "for them, i'm only a way to earn money! and now that i fucked things up, i'm making them lose it, so trust me when i say they won't bother helping me."

jaemin stayed silent for a few seconds before sighing in despair.

"i'm going to sue them." he declared.

donghyuck snorted at his best friend's words. "good luck on that."

"i can't stay here, looking at your life crumbing in front of your eyes without doing anything!" jaemin exclaimed.

"being famous was meant to destroy my life, and we knew it." donghyuck spat. "that's why i didn't want to be famous. and that's why i hate it now."

♪

since the picture of mark and donghyuck leaked on the internet a week ago, the tanned male has been living the same nightmare-ish day over and over again.

insults – lots of them – from people who never paid him attention as well as people who eventually worshiped him; and violence, from being pushed in the corridors to stumbling on people's feet.

and let's add to that the way super m was now ignoring him. not a single message from mark or lucas or any other member, and no sign of the black van that drove the members around everywhere.

donghyuck was now alone, surrounded by his friends who were the last thing keeping his sanity, and who tried their best to prevent donghyuck from breaking down in public.

cheater!

you're such a shame to super m!

rotten piece of shit!

lucas doesn't deserve you!

you're nothing but trouble!

leave far away and never come back!

the tanned male used to cry at the end of the day after being greeted every minute by such words. he used to be sensitive, and to pray for something to happen and make things better.

but he wasn't delusional anymore. he knew that this hate-step was part of a famous person's life cycle.

every idol, star or well-known people live the same thing.

first, they get known for one little thing, and the public eye immediately worships them. this makes them become famous.

then, now that they are famous, they continue their life peacefully, slowly getting used to the privileges being famous offers.

and that's when the harsh part comes... at some point, one thing they would do compromises their life and so, their fame. the famous person is involved in scandals, and the whole world turns their back on them, claiming that they are the worst vermin and that they didn't deserve the love they got.

and finally, for most people, things stop here. the scandal dies down, and the previously well-known stars is forgotten, slowly disappearing from people's memories.

only a few lucky rich people manage to turn the scandal their way and to regain their fandom. but once again, donghyuck had ceased being delusional, and he certainly didn't have enough money to do anything to stop the scandal. and when you looked at it, the scandal was founded; donghyuck – who was lucas' boyfriend – had cheated on him with one of his group mates.

"donghyuck?"

"hmm?"

"are you... alright...?" jeno asked hesitantly as him and the whole group of friends had their eyes on the tanned male who seemed to be in a daze while looking at his phone.

"yeah..." the boy answered, his response very unconvincing.

"what were you looking at?" renjun then questioned.

"super m just posted a story on instagram..." donghyuck replied with a sigh as he threw his phone on the table where the eight friends were sitting at.

the seven males leant forwards simultaneously to watch the story that super m had just posted, only to be horrified at what they saw.

the content was nothing shocking or unusual. it simply displayed the seven idols having fun together in the backstage of a random show; nothing unusual. but considering the events that had taken place a week ago, this story was very unnecessary. and for donghyuck, it was a proof that super m had completely forgotten about him, and that none of them cared less about the state he was in after everything that happened to him.

"i swear i'm going to sue them." jaemin growled, locking the phone before the end of the video to prevent himself from bursting in anger right now.

"there's no use..." donghyuck sighed. "i knew this was meant to happen."

"but donghyuck. you don't deserve any of this. you can't let them consume you without acting!"

another sigh escaped the tanned male's lips.

"what do you want me to do...? that's how the famous world is..."

♪

"what the hell is this?!" the canadian idol yelled, holding his tablet out for his manger to see.

"this is instagram, mark." the manager answered in a calm tone.

"but what is that shit?!" mark questioned again, pointing at the small super m icon at the top of the screen.

"that's an instagram story from super m."

mark took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down and not scream at his manager anymore.

sadly, the amount of anger contained in his body was too high to allow him to go back to a calm state.

"this is a video of us at an interview from the week after we were back from the tour! why the hell has it been posted now?!" mark growled.

"because you are a kpop group, and you need to be active on social media. that's why we post things."

"now is not the time to be active on social media considering the scandal we are into!" mark continued arguing.

"first of all, the scandal YOU are into. none of this would have happened if you had kept it in your pants. and second of all, donghyuck was nothing but an artifact that brought us money. there's no use keeping him now that he doesn't make us earn money anymore." the manager explained, as if all of this was logical.

"stop talking about my boyfriend that way!" mark exclaimed, making his manager huff.

"you boyfriend?" he let out another snort. "do you think he still considers you as 'his boyfriend' after you not sending him a message or visiting him for the past week?"

"when i'll tell him that you took our phones and monitor our every move, he'll understand that i didn't want to ignore him!" the canadian male spat.

"good luck on that." the manager snorted. "lee sooman has made you his top priority."

mark ignored his manager's words.

"delete the story." he stated.

"why would i?"

"because first, we're in a scandal, and second, the purpose of a story is to show what you are doing at the moment, and not two weeks ago!" mark explained.

"the scandal is donghyuck's problem now. so, this reason is not valid. and if you'd like, i'll delete it if you put a video of yourself doing whatever instead."

"the scandal is about us! super m is impacted by this! stop trying to deny that!"

the manager chuckled at mark's words. "sure, for the moment, we are impacted by this, but wait for our communication team to come up with the article of a testimony from you."

the idol frowned. "i'll never make a testimony for them."

"of course, you won't. we already know what you'll say. so, we made a fake one to save some time."super m's manager smirked.

"what?!"

"yeah, in a few days, the whole world will know how donghyuck played lucas to become famous, and how he harassed you until you gave in and kissed him."

if mark was angry before, he was now twice as angry. his face became bright red, and steam could almost be witnessed coming out of his ears and nose.

he was on the verge of exploding and jumping on his manager to strangle him to death.

"you have no right to do this..." he growled, his fists shaking in anger.

"i sure don't. but lee sooman does."

"i hate you for doing all of that." mark continued.

"oh, i know. and i'm not here to be worshipped by you, so i couldn't care less."

there was a pause in the conversation.

mark didn't dare opening his mouth, too scared of all the insults and horrors that could slip past his lips.

his manager stayed silent as well, staring at the young idol for long seconds.

"haven't you understood this yet, mark?" he asked. "the idol world is a big lie, full of rotten souls that were lucky at one point and that will have to play pretend during the rest of their life."