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Mark knew the second they sat him down nearest to the camera that this question was coming. Somehow, he still didn't believe that he had to fake this whole relationship with some guy he met for a brief 2 minutes and already hated.

"So Mark," The interviewer said in a cheeky tone.

Mark had to stop himself from sighing and rolling his eyes, so instead, he plastered a fake mischievous grin on his face. "Yes?"

"There have been some pictures of you and a certain brunette actor getting quite cozy at an award show," The interviewer said, "Care to comment?"

The picture was shown on the big screen both behind them as well as a smaller screen in front of them. The boys were shocked at how intimate the two looked.

"We're really good friends," Mark said with a smile, having practiced this line as least twenty six times today to make it sound convincing.

"I don't know how your friendships usually go, but I never try to kiss my friends," The interviewer jokes, and the audience, as well as the boys, laughed.

Mark faked a laugh and flashed his pearly whites, "Yeah, we're really, really close friends. Donghyuck was saying something and I couldn't hear him so..."

"So you leaned your lips down to his?"

"Yeah?" Mark said with a laugh, before quickly changing the subject as if he had something to hide, "Next question!"

After the interview, the boys got into the car to go to another interview.

"Was that Lee Donghyuck that they were asking you about?" Jaehyun asked.

"Yeah," Mark said, scrolling through the messages on his phone.

"When did you guys get so close?" Lucas asked.

"Why bother asking," Jeno scoffed, "It'll probably be some other actress or musician or model they'll be asking about next week."

For some reason, this really ticked Mark off, "Not my fault you don't have any game, Jeno."

"I'd rather be with one than with hundreds."

"Donghyuck and I are good friends," Mark said.

"Since when?!"

"A while," Mark answered vaguely.

Jeno rolled his eyes, "This won't last."

"Wanna bet?" Mark said.

"I would feel guilty swindling you out of your money, so no thanks," Jeno said and put his headphones in.

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"Do you remember what you're supposed to say?" Donghyuck's manager told him, more than asked while texting on her phone.

"Yes, I do."

"Are you sure?" She asked again, "You know how you get-"

"I remember it, Mrs. Lee," Donghyuck said firmly, trying to hide how annoyed he was at his manager treating him like a child.

"Don't screw this up." His mother said before picking up a call and walking away from him.

"Donghyuck, you're on in 60 seconds." The stage manager said, ushering him to the side stage where he had to enter.

"Please welcome the Best Actor of 2017, Lee Donghyuck, better known as Haechan!"

Donghyuck walked out, waving at his fans and the audience and made his way to the chair where the interviewer was waiting for him. He hugged the interviewer and sat down.

"Before I start, I just wanted to congratulate you for winning the Best Actor award!" The interviewer said, clapping while the audience cheered and hollered.

"Thank you! I still can't believe it." Donghyuck told her, "I honestly feel like I'm going to wake up and all of this would have just been a dream."

"On top of your award, you're also completing 10 years in the industry!" The interviewer said, clapping and nodding in approval.

"Yes, I will be," Donghyuck said with a genuine grin on his face, "It will be ten years next week, actually."

"So, how did you end up in the industry?"

"Well, when I was 13 I auditioned for a part in the rom-com Angel and once that was finished, I got a role, playing Moon Taeil's son in his film with Johnny Seo. My career kind of just snowballed from there and now I'm here!"

"With your second Best Actor Award!" The interviewer added.

Donghyuck laughed, not knowing what else to say.

"The film that you won this award for..." The interviewer said, waiting for Donghyuck to complete her sentence.

"Superhuman," Donghyuck said.

"That was a very demanding role, physically, wasn't it?"

"It did require a lot of stunt work, yes," Donghyuck said.

"And you did all of your own stunts?" The interviewer asked.

"I was lucky enough to get to do my own stunts. Actually, it was a very funny story about how I got to do that. My director and stunt co-ordinator tried to get me to use a stunt double especially for the scene where I had to jump out of the helicopter with a broken parachute, but I didn't want to." Donghyuck answered enthusiastically, "I told them that I wanted to do my own stunts and they wouldn't let me, so I made a bet with them that if I could do one stunt successfully without a stunt double that I would be able to do the rest of my stunts by myself."

"And it worked?"

"I chose the easiest one," Donghyuck said with a cheeky smile. The interviewer and the rest of the audience laughed.

"From awards, to films, to stunts," The interviewer said. Donghyuck already knew this was coming. He had been prepped from every possible angle that this question could pop up, "So, Donghyuck."

"Yes?" He asked in anticipation.

"I noticed that you didn't attend the afterparty after winning your award."

"I celebrated with my friends," Donghyuck said.

"Any friend in particular?" The interviewer asked with a grin. Pictures of Mark and him popped up on every screen.

Donghyuck faked a laugh and covered his face with his hand.

"So, Donghyuck, what's the story here?"

"There's nothing to tell!" Donghyuck said, trying to be coy, "We're really good friends."

"Who occasionally kiss?"

"There was no kissing!" Donghyuck said, laughing.

"His lips are very near to yours."

"I was trying to tell Mark something but it was too loud," Donghyuck said.

"So he moved his lips closer to yours to hear better?"

"He's a good listener," Donghyuck said, feeling his cheeks heat up a little.

"I'm sure he's a good kisser too," The interviewer said.

"I wouldn't know," Donghyuck said, coyly.

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Donghyuck's hands were crossed across his chest, leaning as far back into the chair as he could manage, tapping his fingers on his arm as if that would make time go by faster.

"Stop that," Mark said, clicking his tongue, annoyed.

"Don't tell me what to do," Donghyuck grumbled, rolling his eyes.

"Are you always this fidgety?"

"Are you always telling people what they can and can't do?" Donghyuck retorted, shooting him a side glance.

"Both of you," Mrs. Lee said firmly, "Stop it!"

"He started it," Mark grumbled, leaning back into his seat.

"What a child," Donghyuck muttered under his breath.

"The reason for this meeting-" Mark's manager started but got cut off.

"You changed your mind and you don't want us to fake date anymore?" Mark asked happily.

"No." His manager shot down.

"It's because people are starting to get suspicious," Mrs. Lee said.

"No way!" Donghyuck said sarcastically, "People are getting suspicious of our completely contractual, fake relationship? That is so weird!"

"Donghyuck." Mrs. Lee warned.

"Now what?" Mark asked, trying to steer the conversation away from the obvious tension.

"We take it slow." His manager answered.

"How?"

"Instead of debuting you two as a new couple on the red carpet, we're going to make you two bump into each other," His manager said.

"How is that going to help?" Donghyuck asked.

"You two are going to be incredibly close and in the next two weeks, you will be seen everywhere together."

"That's going to make us seem even more suspicious than we are now," Donghyuck said.

"He has a point." Mark agreed.

"Six dates, we need at least that much," Mrs. Lee said.

"The next carpet after this one is a month away," Mark's manager said, skimming through a calendar.

"We can make that work," Mrs. Lee, Donghyuck's manager, said.

"So all we have to do on this red carpet is bump into each other?" Mark asked, "Seems easy enough."

"We need you to sell the fact that you two are really close and good friends." His manager said.

"What happens if we fail?" Donghyuck asked.

"That's not an option." Said Mrs. Lee.

"No, no," Mark said, backing Donghyuck up, "Answer the question."

"What exactly are the consequences here?" Donghyuck said, talking to Mark directly, "Think about it."

"You're bound by a contract." His manager spoke up.

"And if we don't carry it out, what's going to happen?" Donghyuck asked, "It's not like you can take us to court and ask the judge to make us carry out the contractual obligations. If you do that, everyone will find out and that would make us look bad. But if we do go through with this, and everyone finds out anyway, that would also make us look bad."

"He has another point," Mark said.

"Listen, sweetie," Mrs. Lee said in a sickly sweet voice that made Donghyuck want to flinch, "Court isn't the only option to make you fulfill your contractual obligations. So I suggest you stop trying to get out of this. You already signed the contract and you're in this for the long haul."

"Dude, your manager is scary," Mark muttered under his breath.

"I am." She said, "So don't test me."

"After the red carpet, you," Mark's manager said to Mark, pointing at him, "Will visit Donghyuck set while he's filming and he'll visit your sound checks."

"That's only this week?" Donghyuck asked, already feeling overwhelmed.

"We'll cover next week closer to the date." Mrs. Lee said, gathering up her papers.

"So just the red carpet and the visits?" Mark asked, "Nothing else?"

"As of now," Mark's manager said, "No."

"And remember," Mrs. Lee said, "No one should know about this."

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"You know you still haven't told me what's going on between you and that guy from the picture," Jaemin said while doing Donghyuck's hair.

"That's because there's nothing to tell," Donghyuck said, eyes on his phone.

"Didn't look like that from the picture," Jaemin commented.

"I just bumped into him and he was telling me something but I couldn't hear him," Donghyuck said, rehearsed.

"I'm your best friend," Jaemin said.

"And?"

"I'm not an interviewer, Donghyuck," The man said, a little hurt.

"Nana," Donghyuck said, looking up at Jaemin through the mirror, "If there was something to tell you now, you're the first and only person I would tell."

"Pinky promise?" He said, holding out his pinky.

Donghyuck was conflicted. He wanted so badly to tell Jaemin everything but he knew he couldn't. Omitting to tell Jaemin was one thing, but lying to him after a pinky promise, as childish as it sounded, was another.

Jaemin was Donghyuck's only friend. If he lied to him and Jaemin found out, he would truly have no one.

"Donghyuck!" Jaemin said, bringing Donghyuck back out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, I zoned out," Donghyuck said.

"Pinky promise?" Jaemin reminded, cocking his head towards his hand.

Donghyuck smiled sadly, but linked his pinky with his friends' anyway, "Pinky promise."

Not Edited

Friday, September 6, 2019

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