#dwfil

It wasn’t anything noteworthy–matter of fact, it wasn’t even anything to care about.

Just a small bow to each other.

And suddenly it all blew up.

In a world of boys he’s a gentleman #seonghyeon #eomseonghyeon #cortis 

At first, it was okay. 3.5 million views, comments all praising his manners.

ungwoion: He has such good manners 🥹

— lngshot warrior: lmao you guys just love the bare minimum

chao yufine asf: omg James behind him 🤤

gojosbbl: Awww he’s so cuteee 

Stella’s my gf: omg I just realised she’s technically his senior

No one questioned it, after all he was just a rookie at another music show, paying his respects to another group.

Until…

Jaehyuns big left toe: I dont go here but I swear he likes her

The comment got 20 thousand likes. 

It wasn’t much, but it was enough for people to get the message.

It started slow, a few more comments here and there. 

Miaaa: Bro her and Seonghyeon would be so cute togetherrrr

—eommmmjiii: OMGGG THATS WHAT I WAS THINKING TOOOOO

Again, it was slow. Mainly because there was so much push back against the shippers, but of course a few cracks were beginning to show.

It started with edits–mashups of your groups songs and clips of you two actually talking in interviews suddenly started going crazy viral, almost every single edit getting over a hundred thousand likes.

There was a particular one where both of you were in separate interviews, talking about your passions for music. Ian had replayed it hundreds of times around you, playing the audio so loud that it started annoying everyone else.

Then photos started coming out–fake ones of course, but they looked real enough for everyone to start believing it.

You didn’t mind it, matter of fact you didn’t care at all, you didn’t even know the guy anymore! You just wanted to focus on your group's music, so you ignored it. 

Dating someone while in the industry was messy enough, but to date someone else also in the industry? That was basically a nuke for your career.

Although you had gone to the same elementary school as him, you barely remembered anything from back then. Maybe a few shared laughs and jokes, but you had moved away soon after. You had even taken and passed the middle school equivalency exam when you turned 12 and the high school equivalency exam the minute you turned 14, so you had absolutely no experience in dating in your teenage life at all.

You had no idea how the media thought you could date anyone, but nevertheless they persisted.

It was late at night when it started getting serious.

You went on live with Ian, eating a late night dinner after a fanmeeting in Japan. At this point, most of your fans were convinced something was happening between you two.

The minute you waved to the camera thousands of comments started flooding in, all about the same thing.

ThebigTTTS: Are you dating someone?

Obviously you knew why they were so curious, but it wasn’t like something was going to happen between you two.

Ian knew it was meant for you, but had replied to it nonetheless and said no, also indirectly saying no for you, bringing up how the whole group was too busy for such things. 

So you thought his obsessive fans could rest, knowing their precious prince was single.

It worked a little, some of the edits and comments starting to wane.

Then, a few days after, Seonghyeon and Keonho had gone live.

The comments were pretty much the same thing, and they had also said no to dating someone.

You thought that was it, the rumours would go away, and you wouldn’t have to care about anything to do with him anymore.

Then came the MAMA awards.

Both your groups had won Rookie of the year, a few tears here and there but overall you were happy.

You had been walking off the stage, other groups walking around you. Ian was next to you, smiling and laughing about the award. A few fans on the ground floor had their phones out, holding banners and waving them up in the air. 

You had waved to a few, not paying attention to what was in front of you when you had suddenly bumped into someone. The collision was soft enough to not hurt, but nonetheless you had decided to apologise and bow. 

You hadn’t seen their faces as you were too busy being embarrassed and bowing, mentally slapping your forehead for not looking at your surroundings.

You were about to walk away when the person’s voice cut through your apologies.

“It’s okay, boyfriends are supposed to forgive their girlfriends for something small, right?”

The sentence made you stop mid bow, looking up to see the person’s face.

Eom Seonghyeon stood in front of you.

An amused look was on his face, his hands in his pockets. His earpiece hung loosely around his neck as he stood back casually, the proximity between you two close enough that you could reach an arm out and touch his.

His hair fell perfectly styled over his face, his plump lips curled up into a small smile. His dark brown eyes stared right at you, crinkled at the sides in enjoyment at the situation (although you aren’t sure whether he’s laughing at you, or he’s just really happy after winning).

You couldn’t react, too frozen in place to even offer a polite laugh to his joke. 

The stage was too crowded with idols, a few even almost bumping into you as you stared at him. Fans were still cheering around you, the fans close to the barricades in particular being the loudest. You couldn’t hear what they were saying, but you could feel the eyes on you.

You felt too exposed, your skin suddenly prickling up.

You were lucky that the fans were far enough to not hear his words, but everyone could see how close together you were. 

You stepped out of your trance, giving him a polite smile before waving and walking off. He waved back too, a small chuckle escaping his lips.

You don’t get why he seemed so amused–what if fans took that the wrong way? Cameras were everywhere, and if you got into another dating scandal with him, you were sure that would be the end of your career.

Your group members had walked off without you, already backstage and telling you to hurry up.

“What were you doing?” Stella had asked, pulling you close to the group as you walked through the halls. 

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Seriously? That’s what he said?” Stella exclaimed, but because she was wearing a face mask, her words had come out almost strained.

“Did you say anything back?”

You sat on the bed, having finished your nighttime skin routine.

“No, I just smiled and waved him off.”

“Okay, that’s good.” She fans her face, turning away and looking into the mirror. “As long as you didn’t keep the conversation going for too long. Tell our manager about it, and just hope the fans don’t take it the wrong way.”

You had nodded at that, hoping that her words would be true. Again, it was just a mistake, plus just another bow.

As long as they had listened to your words, nothing would happen.

Obviously it did not work. 

Once again, the clip between you two went mega viral.

10 million views on twitter, with just over seven hundred thousand likes all in the span of one night.

—Suuperjellyous: They HAVE to be dating

—gojo’s left arm: omggg the way he grinned at her 🤭🤭

Those comments were the same as always; a little delusional but harmless.

But of course, hate comments were bound to follow.

Poyoyiii: Am I the only one who thinks she’s weird as shit for doing that? Like she probably did it on fucking purpose.

VOTE FOR CORTIS! | STREAM COTL: ew why would Seonghyeon ever talk with someone like her lmaooo

Hummingbird501: I fucking hate her so much. She definitely planned that shit. Now Seonghyeon is going to get hate again.

Wonyoungieee: She’s so fucking chopped holy shit

You ignored those comments for the most part. Obviously they had affected you to some degree, but it was just part of the job. You couldn’t allow them to affect you.

Getting into scandals this early into your career was never ideal. You felt bad, if only you had been paying attention to where you were walking it would’ve never reached this scale. The rumours were just starting to get cleared too, and now all that time spent mending it just went to waste.

Management had called you in the afternoon, explaining what they had planned.

They were obviously going to release a statement, mainly about anyone spreading false information and rumours that had been made clear as false would be taken legal action against. You had agreed to it, hoping that it would all clear up soon.

It did not.

In fact, it got worse.

You had just landed back in Korea, a few reporters here and there but not enough that you felt overwhelmed.

You don’t remember much, just recalling how you were just walking when a sudden, sharp pain hit you at the side of the head. It stung for a few moments and it was very much a shock, causing you to stop in your tracks.

Your members were around you immediately, A-na staying by your side while your managers started rushing you out.

You had found out later that it was a water bottle that struck you–capped, so the water wouldn’t have spilled out everywhere at least.

Clips of it were already spreading online, multiple angles of it everywhere.

Of course, there was a lot of sorrow, mainly how a lot of the fans felt bad that you were getting treated so badly.

You felt so embarrassed.

You were known to be quiet, barely grabbing people’s attention unless you were performing. Now suddenly the harsh spotlight was thrust upon you, following your every move and just waiting for you to crash.

Yuha and Juun had taken away your phone before you could read any of the hate comments.

You had to start recording soon, plus choreography and filming content. You didn’t have the time for this.

“Just…go to sleep. We have practice tomorrow morning.”

The next day, funeral wreaths were posted outside the SM building. Your heart had sunk the minute you stepped out of the van, feeling like the world had just stopped. Stella and Ye-on made you put your head down, making sure you couldn’t see it.

You were a little grateful they did, as you would’ve almost just started crying right then and there. Photographers were taking pictures everywhere, any photos of you crying would just make the situation worse. Your manager made sure to have them taken away, but the wreaths had done their damage.

You ended up crying in the hallway later, stifling your whimpers and cries, hoping that no one could hear you.

You stayed up that night, staring at the ceiling.

You couldn’t believe so many people hated you. Just for rumours? Just for a guy you didn’t even know? You were angry and sad–nothing was even confirmed, how could they hate you so much?

You weren’t just angry at the fans, you were even more furious at him.

If he hadn’t said that stupid joke, you wouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place. If you hadn’t just done that stupid bow, all of this would just stop.

You wish you could take it all back–maybe stop yourself from ever even interacting with him.

It started affecting you in practice. 

You would space out and forget choreography. You had even stopped eating, not bothering to even feed yourself after the most tiring practice sessions. Your voice would crack, and you found yourself feeling much weaker on days you were usually so energetic. Filming during variety shows had to keep getting cut short because you would forget how to do the challenge right in the middle of it.

Your members would try to take care of you, forcing you to sleep and even piling their phones up on the dinner table so you wouldn’t feel alone.

Ian and Ye-on would even invite you to sleep in their room, just so they could comfort you as you slept.

After a week, you started getting better. 

The rumours were starting to disappear, and dispatch was finally starting to stop following you around. You were eating and drinking more, and you weren’t making as much mistakes as before.

Then the elementary photos came out.

Photos of you two, posing and pressing your dimpled cheeks together. There were a lot of them–maybe about 40 photos of just you two hanging out as kids.

Hundreds of articles were out in the next hour, all talking about the same damn thing.

Childhood friends to lovers? An idol love story…

Comments were flooding the groups accounts, all ranging from blatant insults to outright death threats.

The company immediately released a statement, most of it re-stating the legal actions they would take if the discourse continued, while also acknowledging the friendship you two once shared.

Your members stayed with you for the next hour, hugging you and wiping away your tears.

Then a day after, a random number started texting you.

Unknown: I’m sorry.

You felt yourself typing before you could even think about it.

what for?

Unknown: Everything. I promise I’ll do something to make it up to you.

You scoffed at that, typing onto your phone with more annoyance and frustration than you even had.

Like what? You’re acting like you can magically fix this whole situation.

Unknown: I promise. I don’t break promises, I’m sure you remember that, right?

Don’t talk like you know me. You have no right to talk about our memories together when they’ve done nothing but hurt me now.

You watch as the gray chat bubble popped up before disappearing, leaving your message on read.

It had been two hours since. 

You felt bad about that last message–you know that the scandal wasn’t just affecting you, and yet all you did was shut him out.

But all you could do was feel angry at him.

Angry that it all happened, angry that you let it affect you and the group so much, and even ashamed that you even felt so enraged in the first place.

Again, you don’t remember much from your elementary days, but judging by the photos, you guys actually seemed really close. You wondered why you couldn’t remember any of it.

If he remembered it all, did that last message hurt him more than you thought?

You went to sleep that night, feeling almost like you were drowning in an ocean of thoughts, each bad comment or situation you remembered dragging you deeper and deeper.

What were you even going to do tomorrow?

Should you just pretend like nothing happened? Your company was already going to release another statement, it was just a matter of when. Your phone kept pinging with every notification, each one getting you more uneasy.

He hadn’t texted back since, and you were already feeling anxious as to what he was going to do.

What did he mean by his ‘promise’? This wasn’t some k-drama where everything would be solved with one little statement.

This was the real world, where things had consequences for everything.