MY ACTOR | woosan

chapter sixty five

"what did you say?!"

choi san looked down at the tablet that mr. wong, the ceo of his entertainment agency, had thrown onto the table in front of him. he took a glance at the article once more, before looking back up at the man. "i said i'm going to go public with him," he said matter-of-factly, completely unfazed. this was bound to happen after all.

the middle-aged man sat back on the chair behind his desk, pinching his nose in dismay. he let out an exhausted breath. "choi san, you've brought me a hundred love scandals throughout the entire time i've worked with you... but a guy?! who's not in the entertainment industry himself?? and you said, what, you wanna go p-public with him?!" he stammered, gradually raising his voice, and choi san crossed his arms nonchalantly.

"so what if he's a guy? there are many actors in the industry that are open about their orientation. i'll deal with the repercussions on my own."

"this doesn't just affect you, you bastard!" he exclaimed, slamming his hand on the table. san rolled his eyes. did he always have to be so dramatic? he always did this whenever san ended up in a scandal. "ugh, i send you to an apartment to hide until your love scandal is old news, but you come back with another one.. your neighbor, at that! do you just find it hard to keep it in your pants wherever you go?"

san scoffed, offended by his choice of words. "hey, it's not like that! i told you, i'm serious about him."

from the day wooyoung marched into the elevator of the apartments and kissed him, choi san knew what he wanted. he never worried even once about their relationship being found out, because he'd always planned to go public with it, because like his other scandals, wooyoung wasn't a mistake, or a misunderstanding. up until he met wooyoung, every single scandal of his had been an inconvenience. he absolutely hated having to take the responsibility for all the mess. only this time, san was grateful that the news had broken out before he left the apartments, because san truly couldn't imagine a life without the dancer by his side—he'd slowly become his entire world. from the moment he opened his eyes in the morning, up until he fell asleep, wooyoung was all he thought about. 

all these uncontrollable feelings made it obvious, that san's heart was genuine. he didn't look at wooyoung as time-pass or a fling. he wanted to see things through with him, until the very end. three months was way too soon for someone to decide they want to spend the rest of their life with their special someone, but choi san saw wooyoung's face almost everyday in these few months, and the feelings never seemed to fade. if anything, they grew stronger and bigger until they consumed all of him.

seonghwa sauntered into the office casually with his hands in his pockets, clearly knowing exactly what had gone down. "sup, wong?" he greeted with a big smile and a wave before plopping down on the couch next to san.

"at least i have one with common sense," mr. wong sighed once more upon seeing seonghwa, who tilted his head curiously. "hey, seonghwa, why don't you knock some sense into your friend? he's giving me a migraine."

seonghwa cocked an eyebrow. "are you grilling him for the scandal?" he asked before facing a stubborn san. "thanks for getting caught on my behalf, man! y'know, i've been seeing his friend lately... the blonde one. this'll make things easier for me," he chuckled, and san shook his head. "plus, now we have an excuse to cancel on that afternoon show. i really hate that host, don't you? he's so passive aggressive! eugh."

"by friend, do you mean hongjoong? i'm glad you're going to leave my guy alone, but i don't think he—"

"you too?!" mr. wong exploded, his voice booming through the room. the two actors looked up at him, insulted that he'd butted into their conversation like that. "ugh, i give up, i give up," he fell back onto the chair. "both of you, end things with the girl—guys, guys that you're seeing. do it now. if you don't listen to me and things go haywire i will not help you—"

"san!" mr. kim, san's manager, burst into the room. he looked around in concern before sighing in relief upon spotting san, who was relaxed as usual. "mr. wong, things are out of control right now," he said, scurrying towards the ceo's desk. "the media is going crazy. there's a bunch of reporters outside san's house right now and i've called the police, but i don't know what to do about his social media.. everyone's losing their minds..!"

san shook his head and decided to opt out of the conversation. he looked back at seonghwa, who was busy reading the article on the tablet. "the quality of this picture... it's horrible," he grimaced. san couldn't help but laugh. was that really what was he was worried about? "congrats to you though, brother. i've watched you mess around with girls and hide from scandals, and now you're actually going public with this one. i feel like a parent watching their child grow up," he said and swatted away a fake tear from his eye.

"shut it," san nudged him with his elbow, and seonghwa snickered. "hey, what did woo say about all of this? does he know that you're planning on going public with him?"

"oh, fuck," san muttered under his breath. he'd completely forgotten to check in on wooyoung. the guy was probably a panicky mess right now. "hey, take care of wong for me for a while, will you? i'm just gonna give him a call. thanks," san rushed his words before running out the door, leaving a confused seonghwa behind. he fished his phone out of his pocket and pulled his mask up, facing a plant pot so nobody would notice him. although, this made him look all the more suspicious.

"wooyoung!" he said into the phone loudly once wooyoung had picked up. san cleared his throat and looked around, hoping he hadn't grasped anyone's attention, before continuing with a lowered voice. "you've seen the article, haven't you?"

"...i have," his hesitant response came. how strange. he sounded more disheartened and demotivated than usual. "i'm sorry, san."

"hey, why are you apologizing?" san laughed quietly, "none of it is your fault. it's not a problem, either. not at all."

"what do you mean by that?"

"i mean, don't you think it's about time? i don't know about you, but i'm happy things went down this way. even though i wanted to say it on my own," san expressed leisurely. he knew wooyoung would have his doubts and concerns initially, but he would give in in the end. san was certain his feelings were genuine, too. wooyoung wouldn't just abandon him like that.

"...san," wooyoung began after a pause. "are you maybe... planning on going public, about us?"

"of course!" he responded quickly, smiling wide even though wooyoung couldn't see it. "why, did you think i wouldn't—"

"don't do it."

the three words were enough to make san's heart plummet down in his chest. the smile on his face quickly dropped, replaced by an apprehensive expression. "what do you mean, wooyoung?"

"i said, don't do it," he repeated once more, more sternly this time.

"...i'll come back to the apartments soon. we'll talk about this then."