Note: underlined and italicized text is to indicate that text is being read or spoken in English.

—•

"Good morning," Jeongguk said coming into the office with a gift bag in hand. As soon as he entered, his colleagues looked at him with worried eyes.

"What?" Jeongguk asked and looked around and noticed everyone on the phone except for Chaeyoung.

"Have seen the news yet? Or checked your SNS?" Chaeyoung asked him and Jeongguk shook his head.

"Search up Mr. Kim's name," Jisoo instructed.

Jeongguk set his gift that he'd prepared for Sohye down and pulled out his phone. He opened his search engine and quickly typed in Taehyung's name. His eyes widened as he read the titles.

Former Lee's Model and current Director at Lee's, Kim Taehyung is reportedly dating his secretary

Jeongguk dropped his bag and rushed to his other office and saw Sohye and Taehyung standing in the middle peering over a table with disgusted looks. Jeongguk could hear the static of the office phone just being left open. Sohye noticed his presence and looked up.

"You saw it too?" Sohye asked with a weak voice.

"Have you called your fiancé?" Jeongguk asked immediately.

Sohye lifted her brows. "Huh? No..."

"Go call him. I'm sure he won't believe any of this but he still deserves an explanation," Jeongguk explained. Sohye nodded and left the room to go make the call.

Jeongguk looked at Taehyung who was still reading the article. Jeongguk reopened his phone and scrolled through. He saw a photograph of Taehyung and Sohye hugging outside some restaurant, then another than was caught when they were moving making it a little hard to tell what was going on but at first glance it looked like they were leaning in for a kiss.

Whoever wrote this didn't even have the basic common sense to blur Sohye's face which only made it easier to take down, but Jeongguk knew putting out a hot article was not the goal of this. The fact that Taehyung was not long ago a well known model only spread the fire.

Jeongguk skimmed through the article. In summary, it said Taehyung who'd just recently gotten the position as a Director at Lee's is not competent enough for this title. It showcased him as some kind of kid just in it for fun. It even said he should've stuck to his modelling career if he was just going to fool around with girls.

Jeongguk went down to the comment and they were worse. There were the few that said it was his life to live, but most were childish like "I was so excited to hear Taehyung was coming to Korea but not anymore." What caught Jeongguk's and most of the other commenters was the top comment that was posted just minutes ago.

"Wth?? I follow her on insta and she posted a pic of her and her fiancé saying there were engaged not too long ago? It's an affair. Disgusting. I expected more from Taehyung."

The commenter also attached a link to the post. He opened the links and saw all the comments to be filled with nasty insults and slurs. Jeongguk went back and refreshed the page, now there were even more articles, even one's in English, that mentioned that it was an affair. Now the situation would've just gone as another couple caught in the acts but this really made everything go out of hand.

He looked away from his phone and saw Taehyung with a hand on his forehead, his lips caught between his teeth as he was still reading through everything.

"Don't read it. It's all nonsense anyways," Jeongguk said.

Taehyung nodded. He kept his eyes to his phone for another moment before he pressed a button and tapped in something then brought it to his ear.

"Ms. Han? Yes, I have. I want them all down immediately. Each and every single article and look into what we can do to the reporter," Taehyung said. Jeongguk could tell he was trying to keep calm but there was clear anger in his expression.

"The phones are blowing up," Chaeyoug said entering the room.

"Keep telling them we have no information regarding it and that we deny the claims," Jeongguk answered for Taehyung as he was still on the phone. Chaeyoung nodded and went back.

Just as Taehyung hung up, Sohye came back to the room with a trembling hand over her chest.

"He- um, didn't answer and he doesn't ch-check voicemails," Sohye started, her voice not stable. "I c-called his mom and she didn't answer too. I tried calling his sister but it didn't even go through. She-she texted me 'crazy bitch, I knew you were just a gold digger, how could you?' and b-blocked me," Sohye said and immediately began to cry. She covered her mouth and tried to choke back the sob.

"What do I do, Mr. Kim?" she managed to say.

Jeongguk glanced back at Taehyung and watched as he stood their, clearly worried but going blank not knowing how to comfort her.

"Here, I'll keep trying. You sit down. I'm sure he'll answer and when he does, I'll give it to you. Calm down, don't worry okay?" Jeongguk said approaching her. He took her phone and guided her to sit down on one of the waiting chairs.

Jeongguk redialled the number that was named as "hubby" and put it to his ear. It rang through and went to voice mail. When he pulled the phone away to end the call, Sohye began to cry harder.

Jeongguk bit his lip as he redialled again and looked at Taehyung, who stared at him with hope that he'd answer. The last thing he'd want is ruining someone's relationship, and Sohye's at that.

They heard the door opening and all three pairs of eyes darted to the man and his secretary. Sohye was on her feet and wiped her eyes aggressively. The three bowed at the same time. As they lifted up their heads, the man was right in front of them.

"President Lee. I apologize for the trouble I have caused. I promise I'll fix this in a matter of hours," Taehyung said.

President Lee shook his head. "I already know the culprit behind this. I should be the one apologizing. Taehyung, Ms. Kim, I apologize on my son's behalf," he said and bowed.

Taehyung scramble to put an arm on his shoulder to stop him. "No, please don't."

President Lee straightened himself out and sighed. "I've arranged a press conference for you and Secretary Kim. I can't believe it's gotten this big but then again, you're still a hot topic these days."

"Thank you," Taehyung said. "I'm sure it will all be forgotten in a matter of days."

Mr. Lee nodded and looked over at Sohye sniffing and keeping her head down. "I'm afraid you'll have to cancel your flight. The company will of course take care of the rebooking and accommodations. We will also give compensation for the stress this may stress caused."

"That's very kind of you, but it's alright. I'll stay for the press conference and leave. Thank you," Sohye thanked, forcing on a smile.

"I appreciate both your understanding to the situation, and I'll assure nothing of the sort happens again. If there's anything I could do, please do let me know," President Lee said as his last words. They bowed again before he left.

Sohye sank back down on the couch and covered her face with her hands. "No one is going to believe us," she cried.

Taehyung raked a hand through his hair and made a frustrated noise before going into his office. Jeongguk looked back and forth between the office door and Sohye and just on time, Chaeyoung walked in again.

She and Jeongguk met eyes and Jeongguk titled his chin towards Sohye and she nodded. Jeongguk gave Chaeyoung the phone and whispered her instruction to keep dialling until he answered. He offered her a smile before entering Taehyung's office.

The man was seated on the couch, elbows propped on his legs and head down with both his hand on his neck. Jeongguk could hear the heavy breathing sounds resonating throughout the office.

"Mr. Kim?" he called out approaching him slowly.

"Mr. Kim?" he tried again when he was right in front of him, but the breathing just got louder and shorter.

"Taehyung?" Jeongguk called out in a worry and Taehyung finally looked up. His eyes were blinking rapidly and he kept trying to breath. He put his head down again and clutched onto his legs.

Jeongguk realized the situation and was quickly on his knees in front of the man. He looked up at Taehyung,  reached his hands out and cupped the man's cheeks.

"Hey hey hey, look at me. Breathe, everything is alright. This is not your fault," Jeongguk said.

Taehyung shook his head. "No Jeongguk, it is. I shouldn't have taken Minseok so lightly. Her fiancé's family already hated their son getting married to someone out of their culture, she went through a lot to make her relationship work. I ruined everything."

"Nothing is ruined," Jeongguk reinforced, shaking his head lightly.

"No, Gguk you don't understand. That's not all. Some of my fans are extreme. They'll attack and bully her. She's in the more sensitive position here."

"You just have to explain clearly what happened for the press. It'll all workout. I know it will, trust me, okay?"

Taehyung looked at him for some time before finally nodding. Jeongguk nodded back and he retrieved his hands slowly. He got up and wanted to step away but Taehyung took back one of his hands.

Taehyung clasped the ends of his finger with both of hands. He pressed his forehead against the back of Jeongguk's hand and Jeongguk just let him. He peered down at him, feeling a little ache in his heart.

"Should I just go back? I've caused people nothing but trouble coming here. Sohye, President Lee, his son, you..." Taehyung listed.

Jeongguk should've told him to leave, should've told him that he was troubling him so much that he couldn't sleep and would have to stay up with just himself and his thoughts sometimes. It wasn't because he didn't want to sound rude, or because he wanted to give Taehyung what he hoped to hear, but because he spoke without thinking twice.

"Stay," Jeongguk breathed out, barely heard.

Taehyung tensed. He looked up at Jeongguk and said, "what?"

Jeongguk blinked a couple times, finally realizing what he just said and what that would've sounded like. "If-If you leave now then it'll be like you're running away from Minseok. Don't let him feel the satisfaction and make him think he can accomplish anything with money," he explained, although what he just said was all an afterthought.

Taehyung nodded and he looked at the hand he was still holding. He let go of it quickly and placed his fist back on his legs.

"Sorry," Taehyung said. Jeongguk didn't say anything back wanting to pretend nothing happened.

Taehyung phone began ringing, saving them both from the awkward silence. Taehyung got up and and grabbed the phone from the desk, which Jeongguk assumed was his personal phone as he saw the man turn off his other phone as soon as he ended the call earlier.

"Hey, dad," Taehyung said answering the phone. "Yeah everything is fine, don't worry... Sohye-sshi... She could be doing better... Yes I will take care of it... Tell Jangmi-sshi not to worry... No dad... What? Invite? Now? Okay, I'll tell him later... I won't forget... Bye, dad," he said finally and hung up the call. Taehyung put his phone down and looked at Jeongguk.

"My dad barely knows how to operate his phone but the rumours have reached him. Will it really be alright?" Taehyung questioned.

"It has to be," Jeongguk replied, looking back to check up on Sohye with Chaeyoung who was doing her best to comfort her.

•—•—•

It's been a day. New articles began to pop up after the press conference. There were more comments of support than the previous articles like how they though that conference was unnecessary because it was none of their business about one's personal life. Although the supporters only won majority by a bit, there was still just as many hate.

Sohye still came to work for some reason but judging by the dark circles and puffy eyes, Jeongguk knew her problems were still not solved. He forced her to go take a nap in the break room that no one uses.

Jeongguk kept thinking of what he would've done in her situation. He would've blamed the world for the injustice and cried his heart out in the comforts of his bed. Would've wanted no human interactions if it wasn't with the one he loved.  He was snapped out of his thoughts when the office phone began ringing. He picked it up and put it to his ear.

"Director Kim's office," Jeongguk answered.

"There's a visitor for Secretary Kim, he claims to be her fiancé. Rohan Singh," the receptionist told him.

Jeongguk eyes widen. "Tell him to stay, I'll come down and get him," Jeongguk said quickly and hung up after getting the receptionist's confirmation on his request.

Just as he walks around his desk, Taehyung opens the door to his office. At the speed Jeongguk was going, he didn't have enough reaction time to stop and so he crashed right into Taehyung. Taehyung catches the side of his arms and kept him from falling.

"Woah, where are you going?" Taehyung asked, retrieving his hands when Jeongguk regained his full balance.

"Sohye's fiancé is here," Jeongguk informed quickly.

"Rohan's here? Where?"

"The lobby, I'm going to go get him, he'll want to see Sohye," Jeongguk explained.

Taehyung shook his head. "He doesn't know how to speak Korean, I'll go."

Jeongguk bit his lip. "What if he's upset and things get... out of hand?"

"I know him but... okay, we'll go together," Taehyung suggested and Jeongguk nodded. They both made way down to the first floor and basically ran to the waiting lounge.

"Rohan!" Taehyung called out and the man stood up immediately.

"Taehyung, I need to see Sohye," Rohan said and Jeongguk could hear the desperation in his voice.

"Rohan, we were just out for our last dinner together. Whatever you may have read or saw–" Taehyung started but Rohan shook his head and cut him off.

"You don't have to explain. I know it was all nasty rumours. I'm here to clear up the misunderstandings between Sohye and I," Rohan said in a rush. Taehyung nodded and looked at Jeongguk.

"Where's Sohye-sshi?"

"The break room, come with me," Jeongguk replied. They followed Jeongguk up and to the said room.

Sohye was curled up on the couch with a blanket draped over her. There a bunch of tissues on the table beside and the ground. Rohan walked over slowly and squatted down in front of her. He looked at her with a sad smile, noticing her tear stained face. He placed a hand on her cheek softly.

Sohye's eyes flutter opened and it took her a moment to realize she wasn't dreaming. She lifted her self up into a sitting position.

"R-Rohan!" she exclaimed and cupped his face. "Baby, t-those pictures and rumours, you can't b-believe them! I swear I would never even think–"

Rohan cut her off by pressing his lips onto hers. Sohye froze in shock for a second but quickly melted into the kiss. She shut her eyes and the tears fell down her face. Rohan pulled away and smiled at her sweetly.

"I know, Sohye. My mom hid my phone and locked me in my room as soon as she heard the news. She thought if I was left alone with my thoughts I'd change my mind about you, but never baby, I can't imagine a life without my angel. I knew none of the claims were true or reasonable, I don't care what proof they had, I trust you."

Sohye nodded. "Oh god, b-but how are you here?"

"I couldn't think straight, I had to see you. Why didn't you answer your phone? As soon as I got out, I got my hands on a phone and called you."

Sohye shook her head. "I'm so sorry. I waited for your call and I even answered all of them hoping that it might be you. Then at a point I got tired of all the calls I was getting asking if the rumours were true or not and then when my number leaked, to call me a whore."

"I'm sorry you had to go through all of that," Rohan said softly, placing their foreheads together.

"I thought I lost you."

Taehyung tapped the side of Jeongguk's arm and got his attention. Taehyung signalled towards the door and Jeongguk nodded. The two left the room so that the couple could have some time to themselves.

"What happened?" Jeongguk asked. He understood bits here and there but English was just not his forte. Taehyung gave him a quick translation of the cause of misunderstandings.

Jeongguk began to admire Rohan. The trust he had in her, the way he just hopped onto the next flight to come and see her, the way he held her in his arms and caressed and soothed her. Maybe if Jeongguk had gotten on the next flight to go see Taehyung, just maybe, they wouldn't have been in the situation they are in now. If he'd just put up a bigger fight.

"Jeongguk?" Taehyung called out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh?" Jeongguk sounded, turning his head to face Taehyung.

"Hey what's wrong?" Taehyung asked and then only did Jeongguk realize the feeling of tears spilling down his cheeks.

Jeongguk quickly dabbed the tears and eyes with his sleeves but they just kept coming. At a point he just kept his wrist at his eyes.

"I'm sorry," Jeongguk said. Taehyung stood there, confused and concerned.

"Can I um, leave early?" Jeongguk asked and bit his lip to choke back the sob daring to leave his lips.

"Y-Yeah, of course."

Jeongguk nodded, quickly bowed and rushed to the office passing the team office. He was glad he decided to start his day at his main office. Jeongguk really needed to keep his emotions in check when he was at work.

As soon as he got in his car, Jeongguk let everything loose. He knew trying to force it to stop would only make it worse. So Jeongguk let his cries be as loud as they wanted to be in the empty parking lot and in his car.

He couldn't do this anymore, this needed to stop. Jeongguk couldn't keep hurting himself and Taehyung because of his stubbornness. It wasn't fair to neither of them.

Jeongguk sniffled and tried to bring his breathing back to a steady rate. He fished out his phone and went to his contacts and found Mr. Kim. Without a second thought, he sent him a message:

If you're not busy later, can we meet? We need to talk.

—•
Quick question
I asked this on my message board but I'll ask again
If I were to write a gxg with original characters (I don't really have any gg ships) but with bts also in it + a bts side ship (probs taekook lol), would anyone read it?

I was thinking something along the lines of how *insert oc's name* is constantly being asked how she got so lucky to be childhood friends with one of the members of BTS and later a close friend with them all and which member she would would date/likes but she always answers none of them because her heart's set on someone else, and that someone else just so happens to be the biggest bts hater for no reason (coughshesjealouscough)

Idk just a random idea

ALSO AHHH IM SO EXCITED FOR THE CB
STREAM SHADOW
Bye<3