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Real and Fake
Jeonggwan and Junjae have received a lot of attention since they started dating until now. Because even their daily lives are in the spotlight, there are many stories about the two online, and it’s not easy to distinguish between real and fake. This is because when people think “Oh? This sounds plausible,” it turns out to be fake, and when they say “Wow, this must definitely be fake,” it turns out to be true.
To name a few examples, there was a rumor that Jeonggwan wasn’t accepted by Junjae’s father, Won Youngjae, and was still disliked even after the second son Jeongwoo was born, so he took the children to the main house in Seongbuk-dong every day to pay respects. However, when Jeonggwan started an Instagram live broadcast for people curious about Jeongwoo who was about to turn one, the truth behind this rumor was revealed.
[Daddy. Open this for me.]
[This? Yongjae, wait a moment, Daddy’s hands are full… Father-in-law!!]
Jeonggwan, busy holding Jeongwoo in one hand, feeding him baby food with the other, and simultaneously reading the chat, was about to tell Yongjae who approached asking him to open a snack to wait a moment because his hands were full, when he suddenly called out to someone off-screen. Father-in-law? Could it be Won Youngjae? No way. Everyone thought that even if he said “Father-in-law,” the actual Won Youngjae wouldn’t really appear, so they were waiting to see if it was Jeonggwan’s cheerful and cute father they had seen a few times on his Instagram. But the person who approached Jeonggwan a moment later wasn’t Jeonggwan’s father but the actual “Won Youngjae.”
The chat was flooded with question marks, and soon people started mentioning the rumor. They asked if Jeonggwan really went to the Seongbuk-dong main house every day. However, Jeonggwan’s biggest fans claimed that the background behind him was indeed Junjae and Jeonggwan’s house that they had often seen on his Instagram, and soon after, it was revealed that the rumor was false as Jeonggwan’s attitude toward Won Youngjae was not that of someone who was disliked, as the gossip suggested.
[Father-in-law. Could you open this snack for Yongjae?]
[This? Yongjae, do you want to eat this?]
[Yes!]
[Eat it with Grandpa?]
[Yes!]
[Let’s go with Grandpa!]
People who had only seen Won Youngjae’s expressionless face exuding charisma were so stunned seeing him completely disarmed by his grandson, bouncily walking away, that the chat was silent for about 3 seconds.
negabongaemaza – Father-in-law? Won Youngjae? Really?
Then someone broke the ice, and—
[Yes, that’s right.]
From that point on, explosive chat messages erupted. Why was Won Youngjae at Junjae and Jeonggwan’s house? When seen in news or articles, Won Youngjae seemed intimidating, but he was just another grandfather. A grandson-loving fool. And so on.
[Oh, you’re asking why he’s at our house? He came to see the kids. Uncomfortable? Not really? Yongjae loves his grandfather. Nagging? Hyung does that. To Father-in-law. Telling him to stop giving Jeongwoo snacks. What snacks for Jeongwoo? Just baby rice puffs. But if you give him one, he really eats one every 5 seconds… Seongbuk-dong? You’re asking if I take the kids to Seongbuk-dong every day? Come on, how could I take the kids there every day? The thirsty person digs the well—Father-in-law comes to see the kids whenever he misses them.]
Due to Jeonggwan’s scornful dismissal, the rumor about the daily trips to Seongbuk-dong was proven false.
There was also another rumor: that Junjae’s infatuation period had ended and he no longer had affection for Jeonggwan. It was said that the two barely spoke at home, and that they even despised married life now. Supposedly, Junjae openly met with beautiful omega models in front of Jeonggwan, juggling not just two but three, four, or five relationships.
Of course, this rumor was proven to be complete nonsense within about two hours of being posted, when Junjae and Yongjae followed Jeonggwan to the airport as he was leaving for a week-long friendship trip to France with Jihoon. They clung to Jeonggwan’s back and legs respectively, refusing to let go for dozens of minutes.
Amidst the prevalence of fake rumors, there were also some true ones mixed in. One of the rumors that people found most implausible and absolutely refused to believe was that former top model J, now the hottest actor, was completely smitten with Jeonggwan. This, surprisingly, was true.
Former top model J was the national actor Lee Jaejun, who currently dominated screens so much that you would catch him in either a commercial, variety show, movie, or drama whenever you turned on the TV. He had encountered Jeonggwan once before. At that time, he didn’t even consider pursuing Jeonggwan, feeling far inferior to Won Junjae, the executive director of Won Group. But now that he had earned some money and become famous, he had bumped into Jeonggwan again by chance at his bakery four months ago and was obviously infatuated.
Lee Jaejun would go on broadcasts to mention that his ideal type was someone plump with a sweet smell, and he would visit Jeonggwan’s bakery whenever he had a chance. His behavior was suspicious enough that one might wonder if he was really having an affair with Jeonggwan. Of course, Jeonggwan wasn’t interested in Lee Jaejun’s ideal type, and even when Jaejun visited the bakery, Jeonggwan always had an employee handle it while he stayed home, so he didn’t even know Jaejun had been there.
However, journalists who wouldn’t miss the chance for a sensational headline like “Affair between Top Actor and Hallyu King!” were on Jaejun’s tail, keeping a close eye on him. They were waiting to catch the two having a secret meeting that couldn’t be denied and break the story. They had even leaked such content in rumors to gauge public reaction, but people snickered and absolutely didn’t believe it, which made the journalists anticipate even more the shocked reaction of people being blindsided.
However, for some reason, they couldn’t capture even a single instance of Jaejun and Jeonggwan meeting for over three months. Jaejun went to Jeonggwan’s bakery once a week after his schedules, but they only caught him buying bread and leaving. Jeonggwan would go to the bakery at dawn, quickly make bread, and return home. Then in the morning, he would come out holding Junjae’s hand, with Yongjae in his right arm and Jeongwoo in his left, to take Yongjae to kindergarten. Then he would return home with Jeongwoo, and that was it. Or occasionally, he would meet Jihoon, pile up desserts like mountains, eat them, and laugh until he was out of breath.
Jaejun wanted Jeonggwan to acknowledge him, so he tried to pass his number to Jeonggwan through an employee, but was firmly rejected by the manager who acted more like the owner than Jeonggwan himself. In the end, despite trying to connect somehow, Jaejun had failed for four months and became a solitary admirer, and the journalists also left empty-handed, concluding that Jaejun must have just been hooked on the bakery’s bread, bringing the rumor to an anticlimactic end.
However, there was just one person who knew both Jaejun’s feelings and that the rumor was true. Junjae, who regularly received reports from bodyguards stationed near Jeonggwan’s shop even when Jeonggwan wasn’t there, soon began following Jaejun as well. He realized that Jaejun’s feelings for Jeonggwan were genuine and also remembered that Jeonggwan had once said Jaejun was handsome when he appeared in a magazine, causing him to swallow his rising anger alone.
Even though he knew Jeonggwan wasn’t having an affair with the actor, Junjae spent a while bombarding Jeonggwan with endless questions about whether he loved him, seeking confirmation of affection. Jeonggwan, who had been patient for a long time, finally got genuinely annoyed. Just like now.
“What’s wrong with you, hyung? What are you insecure about again?”
“I’m asking if you love me…”
“It’s really disgusting. Disgusting. How many times do I have to say I love you? Do I need to scream it in your ear for you to believe it? Sheesh.”
“No. Without you, I…”
“I love you. I love you. Happy now?”
“…Say it prettily.”
Sigh… Jeonggwan, running his hands through his hair, looked Junjae up and down with a genuinely annoyed face. For the past few days, Junjae had suddenly become a love parrot again, constantly asking “Do you love me? How much do you love me? How much?” Jeonggwan felt like his head was going to explode. This was happening while he was already exhausted from peeling and roasting hundreds of pistachio shells since morning for a new menu development.
“Hyung. Junjae.”
“Yes.”
“I truly love you with my life, okay? I love you enough to give you both chicken drumsticks, and even if you greedily ask for the wings after eating both drumsticks, I’ll gladly give those to you too. Even if all the food in the world disappeared and only one chocolate bar remained, I love you enough to give it all to you.”
“…I’m touched.”
“Satisfied now?”
Junjae embraced Jeonggwan with a truly moved expression. Jeonggwan scoffed at Junjae being touched by such an absurd confession of love, but since he liked it… Jeonggwan nodded in agreement and briefly patted Junjae’s back with one arm. Then he quietly whispered into the ear of Junjae, who had buried his face in Jeonggwan’s neck and wouldn’t let go.
“Now either help me peel these, or answer Yongjae’s question of the day, or go play with that wild horse running around in the living room.”
As Jeonggwan pointed to the wild horse—no, the two-year-old Jeongwoo—screaming and running around in the living room, he shrugged his shoulders, telling Junjae to let go now. Junjae seemed to comply, releasing his arms from around Jeonggwan. But Junjae wasn’t one to let go easily. He turned Jeonggwan around to face him, and—
“Me too. I really love you too.”
He smiled and kissed Jeonggwan’s lovable, chubby cheeks.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
