ᴡᴏɴᴅᴇʀ | ᴊᴀᴋᴇʜᴏᴏɴ

- 𝟎𝟐 -

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Sunghoon was gay.

That's something that had been established by now. His brother Park Jongseong was also gay, which was no secret either.

Well, no secret amongst the two of them.

When it came to their parents and the public, it was an enigma that was locked away in a box. It was never to be spoken of, and never to be shown.

Society was never kind to those who were different from the so-called 'normal'. If a single word got out that the famous Park brothers were interested in men, there would be a riot.

Forget society, if even their parents knew that they were gay, their lives would become even more of a hell hole.

So Sunghoon and Jongseong pretended to be interested in girls, and they obliged when their parents asked them to dance with the daughters of rich business tycoons, and they did 'date' in high school to clear all possible suspicion.

However in the late hours of the night, they would talk about their ideal type of guy, they would secretly check out the sons of their father's friends when they met and discuss their impressions afterwards in the walls of their bedroom.

Secret donations to LGBTQ awareness funds were made. An incognito window was opened up at 3 AM so the two could watch BLs online.

They were each other's partners in crime and best gay buddies.

Sunghoon hated the fact that he even needed to sneak around about such stuff, the fact that he couldn't just ask a guy to dance instead of a girl, and that he couldn't just talk about his crush on the class treasurer.

Jongseong hated it too. He longed to find a Prince charming with whom he could have his happy ending.

Alas, he knew that could never be real. In their family, marrying the girl of their choice was forbidden, imagine if he ever told his parents he wanted to be with a boy.

Jongseong had many conversations with his parents about this ever since he turned 18.

"That's Min Shi-Won, daughter of Korea's most successful fashion designer. Go and ask her to dance with you, and make sure you talk to her dad afterwards." his mother whispered into his ear.

He gritted his teeth and nodded, putting on a fake smile as he approached the young woman. "Would you like to dance Ms Min?"

Be charming, smile, and look into her eyes. The girl blushed and shook her head, taking his hand softly.

She was beautiful no doubt, and a very sweet girl as well. She would be a great person to hang out with. Did he want to marry her? No.

"You're looking very dashing tonight Mr Jongseong," she whispered shyly, as they waltzed together. Laugh and return it. He forced out a low chuckle and spoke.

"I think I should be the first person to tell you how stunning you look, not that I actually am the first." That was good, mission accomplished.

Such efforts were necessary. Find a rich man's daughter, dance with her, flatter her, praise her dad, and then try to set up some cheap business deal.

At first, this was just another task that he had to carry out, no matter how much he disliked it. Over time, he began to fear it. As Jongseong graduated from University, he realised that he had now reached the stage of being eligible enough to start working for the company.

It wasn't an issue at first. He was a smart man after all, he could do everything with ease. However, a mere bachelor's degree wasn't enough to make him qualified for the CEO position. In another period, he wouldn't even require a degree to have the title.