The 𝕸𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖌𝖊 Dilemma ║ 🄹🄹🄺

Chapter 60

Fortunately, the storm held back long enough for you to return, though the boat had to turn back half an hour earlier than planned so you wouldn't get caught up in the high waves. As soon as you arrived, Jungkook and you headed for the conveniently placed shopping mall nearby where you ended up in a convenience store, cheap ice cream and instant ramen included. You chatted about what the tour guide showed you and debated about pirates and whether either one of you would have made it as a successful privateer. 

"I think if I would have been born during that time, I would've been a great pirate. Like, straight up Pirates of the Caribbean", you joked, considering the amount of swimming you had done for the past week.

"Yeah I can totally see you there. You'd make a great Davy Jones. Keeping everyone in check on the boat", Jungkook replied, which earned him a half hearted jab in the side.

"And you'd make for a perfect siren. I can just imagine: hair flowing freely in the breeze, sat on a rock while your tail splashes softly in the waves-" you started.

"Let me guess, seashell bra shimmering in the evening sunlight while I lure sailor to their deaths with my beautiful voice?"

"Something like that, why not?"

"Then I'd finally be spared from having to fill out tax returns." He shuddered demonstratively and made a disgusted noise.

"You could sing for a living."

"Maybe in a different life I would."

That was a sentence too nice for you to add another joke to it, so you just smiled and continued eating your noodles. Soon enough, the storm was over and you went on with your next activity: historical museum. It seemed as if today was centered around the past of other people so as to not dwell on your own history, which was a welcomed distraction. 

A few hours later and after a rather uninteresting exhibition about chairs, you were already back at the hotel, mentally exhausted from all the input you had received and still somewhat unsatisfied with the fact that you had to listen to the museum talk about the evolution of chairs for almost three hours. 

While Jungkook was occupying the bathroom by taking a shower, you zapped through the channels in hopes of finding something entertaining enough. When that didn't do the job, you resorted to mindlessly scrolling through various social media platforms and answering messages that had been waiting in your inbox. Hoseok sent you a video of the newest choreography he'd been developing for his weekly dance class followed up by a photo of the aftermath at the bar after a particularly wild bachelorette party. Your brother sent you several links to some Youtube videos and somehow managed to slide "Never gonna give you up" in there. Finally, you somehow ended up on Twitter, which was perhaps your first mistake. The second mistake was typing Jungkook's name in the search bar. The third one was clicking on the recommended search under "Jungkook scandal".

You knew people were slandering you, but you had no idea just how badly they had been dragging his name through the mud. After that first time you'd searched up his name on Google before the wedding, you remained under the impression that he was relatively irrelevant online save for his unhealthy obsession with what Kim Seokjin might be thinking about him. You didn't know that on social media, things were looking a lot different. There was only so much that people could say about you because truth be told, there was nothing they could dig up to make you look bad. Your online presence only started after you married him. 

But for someone like Jungkook who has been in the public eye for the past few years, every single photo that could be taken out of context and interpreted in a way that stirred up some drama was worth its weight in gold. 

It was weird and awkwardly intrusive to be finding out things about him like that, but at the same time the absurdity of some posts was alluring. You didn't know that he'd started at the company when he was still a minor. Though that made sense, because how else would he have ended up in his current position at such a young age? The original post was several years old and showed a group photo of people in business attire and Jungkook blowing out birthday candles. He still looked like a child compared to now. Min Yoongi was in the pictures too, though it was obvious now why he'd left and started bangtan.com instead: his displeased expression and the way he was pulling at the sleeve of his suit told you that he would rather not be there at that moment. The person who reposted that captioned it with "#nepobaby", though as far as you knew, neither one of Jungkook's parents were associated with the company. 

It went on like that. Though the posts were many, the same account names would pop up the further you scrolled. Whenever someone bothered to mention you too, some (very few) posts hit the nail on the head: "He just married her so people would think he's finally settled down". Others, not so much: "I'm betting he got her pregnant so he didn't have any other choice. The announcement should come any day now." 

The more you scrolled, the more you understood that the current gossip was just the aftermath of Jungkook's previous media presence. There seemed to be a time period where Jungkook was in the center of attention, mainly because of his good looks and his early success, but after popularity comes the fall and people get bored quickly if all you have to offer is, in their eyes, a pretty face. In Jungkook's case, failing to give people the entertainment they craved meant they made it up themselves. Because god forbid a working college student knew a day of peace.

Most posts were taking things out of context as they've always done: photos of him arriving home late at night, accusing him of visiting prostitutes. A photo of him out at night drinking with friends claiming that it was irresponsible to be seen like that when he was representing the company. Photos of him in his car saying the money had gotten to his head and that they wouldn't be surprised if he would be found dead from an overdose, because he "hasn't amounted to anything since working there apart from wasting time".

Along with countless posts talking about his appearance, you spotted one or two that mentioned Seokjin's name, more often than not comparing him to Jungkook. They were both rather young and had reached a successful position early. The were working in the same branch but for different companies and they were both good looking. So far so good. 

Seokjin had his shit together since he wasn't out in public smoking. 

Seokjin knew what he wanted from his career because he worked on extending the marketing branch to Japan. 

Seokjin at least didn't-

Holy shit, people really desperately needed to find some hobbies.

At least now, you had somewhat of an idea for why Jungkook acted the way he did. The amount of pressure from such a young age, combined with not having any media training whatsoever and people comparing you to your biggest rival can't have been healthy. Add having to marry a person you have never met because the original one bailed and you'd be paranoid about people finding out the relationship is fake, too.

The bathroom door opened and you closed the app and shoved the phone under your leg. Jungkook didn't seem to notice.

"What are we watching?"

"Hm?"

He pointed to the TV where some reality TV show was currently on. "Oh, I haven't decided yet. How about you choose something while I go to get dressed?" you asked.

He hummed and with that, you left the room. The rest of the evening was spent with the worst action movie imaginable, and you weren't sure if Jungkook picked it out as a joke to see how far you'd endure it or if he actually enjoyed it, but you weren't about to say anything. That evening, you were content with just spending time with him, no matter how horrendous the movie might have been - your thoughts were elsewhere anyway.