The 9th | Stray Kids Extra Member AU

❀ 16: The Cover-Up ❀

It had been a month since the break-in happened. Yejun had finally been able to sleep in her own bed, though there had been a few times where she had to ask one of the members to sleep next to her. The nightmares had also almost completely vanished, along with the jumpiness. The members had also eased up on leaving her alone quite a bit.

Though the whole thing had almost completely cleared from Yejun's mind, JYP Entertainment was still receiving lots of backlash for being so careless of their idols' security. This wouldn't be something that the media would let go of so easily. It was even worse when the information that the sasaeng would only get a few months of jail time due to the company deciding to not press charges. JYP was facing one of the harshest controversies they've dealt with in a while. They were lucky that I am: WHO did so well on charts, but that's because almost everyone agreed to support the group after the mistreatment Yejun went through in this entire case.

The whole situation was making Yejun even more anxious about everything. JYP Entertainment didn't even tell the group that they weren't pressing charges, so they found out along with the public. Chan was fuming, to say the least, while Yejun just shivered knowing that she could only feel safe from the creep for a few months. But, due to the controversy, it was no surprise to Yejun when she was told to meet with JYP in one of the meeting rooms.

"Can I bring someone with me?" Yejun asked into the phone.

"He figured you would ask something like that," her manager sighed. "Only Chan is allowed to come, it has to stay a secret from everyone else to make it seem more realistic."

"Make what seem more realistic?" Yejun asked, a confused look plastered on her face.

"I can't tell you, just be in meeting room number four within the next thirty minutes. Don't be late, please," the manager said before hanging up, leaving Yejun dumbfounded. Nevertheless, she put her hair up with an alligator clip, walking over to Chan's room to tell him to come with her.

"He wants us to go to a meeting?" Chan asked, closing his laptop.

"He wants me to go to a meeting, but he said I could only take you with me, and I really don't want to go alone," Yejun pouted, crossing her arms.

"When do we need to be there?" Chan asked, getting up and grabbing some clothes to change into.

"Thirty minutes," Yejun sighed. She wasn't looking forward to talking about whatever her boss wanted to talk about. "I'll wait for you in the living room."

---

"Ah, Yejun, Chan, you're here," JYP sat at the end of the large table. The two bowed, yet Chan couldn't help but glare a little. "Please go sit next to your manager."

The two did as instructed, sitting only a few seats away from their boss. Yejun noticed someone she didn't recognize sitting across from Chan, while someone's jacket was on the chair across from Yejun. She began picking at the loose strings on her ripped jeans.

"So, let's get this meeting started," JYP began with a small smile. Everyone nodded. "We can catch our other attendee up on everything when he's back from the restroom."

"Now, as I'm sure you all know, this company is suffering through a large amount of hate right now due to recent unfortunate events," the man looked over to Yejun. "The fans are taking it out on me, tarnishing my company's reputation harshly. This, of course, is affecting all of our groups in terrible ways, which means we need to find a way to get rid of all the news surrounding this situation."

It is your fault. You could've pressed charges, Chan thought to himself, his glare only growing more narrow.

"The best way to rid of a scandal like this is with another one."

Yejun felt a pit in her stomach. He couldn't be doing what she thought he was, right?

"So, Yejun, I want you to temporarily date one of SM's artists. He debuted only a few months ago, his name is Lucas."

Yejun felt the world drop around her. She never thought that she would be pulled into something like this.

"Since all of this is because of a scandal you caused, you'll have to make up for it by starting another."

"Sir, not to be disrespectful, but you're kidding, right?" Chan finally spoke up, Yejun jumping from the harshness in the older's voice. JYP sighed, pursing his lips together. "None of this is her fault. You shouldn't force her into fake dating someone she doesn't know. This will just tarnish her reputation."

"I understand, but I cannot risk the reputation of this company," JYP let out a sigh. "It's either she does this or I'll have to remove her from this company."

"You could just press charges. That would fix all of this," Chan argued again. JYP shook his head.

"His family offered us a high amount of money to not press charges. It could really help with the company," JYP explained, not making himself look any better.

"You're rich," Chan scoffed, "you don't need anymore money."

"Chan, it's okay. I caused this whole thing to happen. I can handle pretending to date for a few weeks," Yejun held the boy's hand, displaying a sad smile. "Just don't get yourself in trouble, please."

"Also, you will keep all of this a secret from your other members. This needs to be as realistic as possible," JYP added on, still just making this worse for Yejun. The girl only nodded, not knowing how to respond.

"Hey, did I miss something," a deep voice caught everyone's attention.

"Yeah, everything," his manager rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Oh, is this Yejun? Hi, I'm Lucas, I'm a big fan," Lucas let out a small giggle as the girl shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you," Yejun gave him a small smile back. She did have to admit, he wasn't bad looking.

Chan felt a strong, deep ache in his stomach. Something about this felt wrong, dangerous almost. He didn't knwo why he felt this way, but it only made his protective grip on Yejun's hand stronger. It made him scared to think of anything bad happening to his best friend, and to Chan, this Lucas guy had 'bad' painted all over him.

a/n: you guys are about to DESPISEEEEE how fast the story goes cuz i do too LMAO im so sorry