That Stupid List (A Seventeen Fanfic)

Chapter 74: Gossip

People were starting to talk. It was not just whispers and unfounded rumors like before; now, it became a solidified impression that so many people seemed to have. "Petroleum Engineering freshman Kim Mingyu and Theology freshman Jeon Wonwoo are in a homosexual relationship."

There were a lot of reasons to believe it. There was the early rumor that Wonwoo was gay. There was the fact that Jin, who people had thought was dating Wonwoo, now had this thing with Vernon. There was also the fact that Wonwoo had moved in with Mingyu. The two were also often seen out in public together, and when they were walking together, their arms were entwined.

But the thing that fuelled the rumors now more than before was the publication of the magazine. Everyone saw the cover, and many saw the other photos in the spread as well. It was taken as some kind of definitive confirmation of those rumors for some reason.

Wonwoo hated that this was happening. He hated that he had dragged Mingyu into this untrue gossip that was affecting both of them negatively in so many different ways.

The rumors fuelled a lot of hostility towards Wonwoo. Slurs have been directed at him: some spitting, some religious bigotry, some shoving, and some scowling. Wonwoo found that he hated walking outside like when the gay rumors had first started. The hostility, however, was also now directed at Mingyu as well.

Mingyu didn't bring up the rumors, but Wonwoo knew that they did affect him. Although Wonwoo never saw it happen, he was almost certain that Mingyu heard the slurs and the insults, experienced the pushing and the spitting. Wonwoo could tell from the way that Mingyu at first stopped being as touchy with him in public as before, and later stopped being with him in public altogether. They stopped having lunch together, stopped walking to classes and home together. They also never really talked about the fact that they stopped; both of them knew the reason without having to say anything about it.

It was not like they had much of an opportunity to be together in public anyways. Mingyu was getting busy with his work and exams and internship, and Wonwoo hated going outside and thus stayed in the dorm most of the time. The two of them only ever saw one another at night when they slept and sometimes in the morning before they headed their separate ways.

At one point, Mingyu stopped touching Wonwoo altogether, even when they were alone. He was still bright and kind and everything, but kept his hands to himself.

It made Wonwoo feel really bad, because as much as Mingyu liked to give off the impression that he didn't care what people thought, he clearly did care. It was not very pleasant to be the center of gossip and to be associated with an untrue rumor that turned many people against him.

Wonwoo took to social networking sites to clear up some of the rumors. "Mingyu and I are only friends," he posted on the campus gossip Facebook page that had spread all of these rumors in the first place.

Mingyu never talked about how the rumors had impacted him, but Wonwoo knew. He spoke to Mingyu's other friends, who relayed some of Mingyu's experiences. Some of Mingyu's female friends had stopped talking to him, workers for whom he interned found out about the rumor and started being extremely demanding with him. And there was the occasional bully in the class who made fun of him for it,

Wonwoo wanted to stop it. He didn't care that it was affecting him anymore, but he really wanted it to stop affecting Mingyu. Mingyu didn't deserve it.

Wonwoo would have asked Jin to pretend to date him like she did last time, to hold his hand in public like before, but it seemed like Jin was now out of the picture. Although Jin said she broke up with Vernon, their "some" relationship was clear as ice and Wonwoo did not want to get in between that.