Much Ado About Nothing (Part 3)
Title: Much Ado About Nothing (Part 3)
Pairing: Se7en, Danny
Rating: R for language and implied sex
Summary: Danny finds compromising pictures of himself and a high school boy splashed on every tabloid in South Korea. Janice Rhee, YG senior publicist, attempts to put together a contingency plan. Choi Dong Wook's life will be changed.
The same six blocks he had traversed for the past four years of his life had seldom been so long nor trying on his patience. Everywhere he turned, Dong Wook was surrounded by a sea of cameras and microphones that were constantly being shoved in his face. The rude pushing and shoving was often followed by a cacophony of questions that Dong Wook didn’t even know the answers to: questions about how he had landed the gig and questions about his sexuality.
Shutting out the noise and the chaos surrounding him, Dong Wook simply walked. No one had gotten a single response out of him asides from an occasional greeting or a curt nod of the head. The tiring walk to school had been filled with ducking and weaving through people while dodging microphones and shielding his face from the onset plague of cameras.
Every step forward in the throng of journalists and the paparazzi had been a minor struggle that had to be won with diligence. For the first time in his life, slipping past the iron fence of his high school and reaching the safety of school grounds had been a joyful and triumphant occasion. It had taken an extra twenty minutes due to the hassle of fighting through the crowd, but Dong Wook had calculated the possible delay and had still managed to arrive a bit early to school.
Hurrying inside the building, Dong Wook smugly left the crowd of flashing lights outside the gate.
However, as he paced through the hallway towards his classroom, Dong Wook noticed that the tone on campus was also different from where he had left it before Dong Wook had gracefully donned the cover of every newspaper and magazine in South Korea. The students that had hardly noticed his presence before now gawked at him as he strolled the hallways. Dong Wook noticed that the majority of the students began breaking out into whispers and quiet fits after he had walked past. It was blatantly obvious that all the awkward glances, snickering, and finger pointing was due to his new found infamy.
But Dong Wook had never wanted this sort of attention and he openly cursed it now. By the time the shaggy haired boy reached his desk, Dong Wook was too tired to care about the eerie silence that filled the classroom which had been full with noise and chatter before. Perhaps school wasn’t going to be such a safe haven after all.
Crossing his arms on the desk, he placed his head down and closed his eyes in an attempt to act nonchalant about the sudden quiet in the classroom. Even still it felt as if his classmates were all holding their breaths, their eyes fixated on his hunched back. Class didn’t start for another five minutes, and Dong Wook wondered if he could handle the tension in the room until the faculty would step in and save him.
“You’ve got a pretty big crowd of fans out there. The security guards and the principal now openly hate your ass for creating so much havoc this morning,” stated a baritone voice that Dong Wook didn’t have much trouble registering.
Lifting his head off the table, his eyes rested on the towering figure sitting on the corner of his desk peering down at him with his arms crossed and that lopsided smirk plastered on his face.
“What, you want an autograph for something?” Dong Wook chuckled as he silently thanked his friend for coming to the rescue with a whimsical smile. Avery Thomas was a recent transfer student from the United States that maintained a certain level of celebrity status within their high school with effortless ease. His mother, a Korean woman, had made a careless rendezvous with some blonde American military bloke who had been stationed in Korea and his friend had been the unfortunate byproduct.
Avery’s parents had attempted to make things work by quickly marrying and moving to the United States where interracial marriages where more common and accepted. However, the marriage had ended up failing within Avery’s eighth birthday and Avery with his mother had booked a one way plane ticket back to Korea without ever looking back.
A social outcast in his own right, standing at six feet, he easily towered above the rest of the class with his black faux-hawk and the green eyes that every Korean girl on campus tried to mimic with colored contacts. The guys on campus loathed him and the girls practically worshipped him as their high school version of Daniel Henney.
Unlike Dong Wook, Avery seemed to enjoy bathing in the attention.
“No, but I am interested in finding out where you got the hook ups,” Avery inquired peering at Dong Wook’s confused expression.
“Man, don’t play dumb, I’m talking about how you landed a gig in Danny’s new music video,” Avery stated while maintaining that inquisitor expression. “I have to say though, playing some gay guy as your acting debut isn’t something I’d sign up for.”
“What in God’s name are you talking about,” Dong Wook sighed, annoyed at the rampant rumors that were being spread around. The reporters this morning that had stalked him to campus had all asked a question similar to what Avery was talking about.
The tall mutt produced a copy of the morning tabloid that had a picture of him plastered on the cover to the left with Danny’s picture in the center and someone that looked like a film director to the right. A slender finger jabbed the bold headline.
“YG clears up misunderstanding, Danny Im not gay,” Avery read the headline out loud with a chuckle. He then followed the story jump and flipped through a few pages before finding the real meat of the article. “It says here that your kiss scene with Danny that caused the tabloid sensation was a leaked scene for Danny’s upcoming music video.”
Dong Wook was now surely puzzled as to what was going on. His brain refused to make sense of the situation. His hand itched to call Danny to ask what this new story was about, but Dong Wook knew he wasn’t going to get any privacy to have an important conversation. Besides, Danny would simply get mad at the fact that he was reading the tabloids again.
“I can’t really talk about it Ave,” Dong Wook shrugged, trying his best to look as if he was repressing some sort of contracted secret. Dong Wook couldn’t tell Avery that he didn’t know what the hell was going on in fear of disputing an official claim by YG Entertainment published in the papers. Danny had specifically told him to say nothing in regards to the scandal until his people had figured something out as the official story.
“Aw fuck Wookey,” Ave whined. The taller boy was going to continue his interrogation but the teacher had abruptly walked into the room sending everyone scattering to their seats.
Dong Wook thanked God for class.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
“I liked the red cocktail dress better,” Lillian murmured as two tailors pinned the hem on the longer black skirt that she had just put on. “Don’t you think this looks a bit too old and matronly? I want to look good for my first outing in front of the cameras. I don’t know if this is the right color. It’s so bland.”
Janice looked up from the magazine she had been flipping through and shoved her annoyance aside. What was it with these people and their unwillingness to wear what the damn coordinator had picked out for them? They were professionals for a reason and Janice was wondering why certain people could never just take what was given to them and be happy.
“If your goal is to look like a hooker, sure the red cocktail dress suits you nicely,” Janice rolled her eyes as she got up from her seat. Placing the magazine on the coffee table, she headed over to where the tailors were busy taking measurements.
“You also should realize that it is currently three in the afternoon. Who wears a cocktail dress at three in the afternoon?” Janice spoke as she examined the work that was being done.
“I don’t think this attire suits Danny’s image. Shouldn’t I be dressed a bit more wild or sexy?” Lillian countered, obviously unhappy with the black skirt and the white satin blouse with an ivory mesh collar and cuffs.
“I’m the publicist; let me worry about Danny’s image and you worry about getting dressed and getting your part right. These will be the first pictures of you two taken by the paparazzi and they have to be perfect,” Janice hissed with enough venom to kill a man. The publicist was counting on these pictures to be plastered on every major tabloid in South Korea by tomorrow morning.
“Alright, don’t worry about it, we went over it a thousand times” Janice conceded.
To match the white blouse and the black skirt, a pair of black stilettos with a metallic pump was added along with a pair of white gold hoop earrings and an ivory bag from Chanel. Once all the clothing had been set and Lillian had been properly dressed, Janice was set to put their plan into motion. A quick ring to Danny’s road manager confirmed that everything was going as scheduled.
Four shopping bags full of new clothing sat on the counter, all items purchased by the YG record label. Lillian had been designed as an integral part of the contingency plan and Janice Rhee was not afraid to place a large investment in getting things right. The rumors and the photographers would have to gravitate to the new pairing that Janice had set up in order to calm the tabloid storm that Danny and Dong Wook had caused. No one liked to take pictures of an ugly couple.
After five minutes of waiting patiently, Janice’s blackberry vibrated silently in her hand. Signaling silently to Lillian that she had received the call, the senior publicist headed up the stairs of the retail shop where she would watch the second part of her contingency plan unfold.
By the time the front door opened and Danny Im stepped into the clothing store, Janice Rhee observed the scene from her perch above while punching in a text message on her phone with perfectly manicured fingers.
This was turning out to be a good day.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As Danny walked into the isolated boutique store where he had been scheduled to meet his stylist, the 1Tym member pondered how long the whole ordeal was going to take. Danny was never one to like being told what to wear or what not to wear, but for special events and stage performances, he grudgingly listened to the wishes of his publicity staff. Besides Danny had always gotten along well with his coordinator and didn’t mind being in Annais’ company for an hour or two.
With his hands shoved deep into his jean pockets, Danny peered about the store while he waited for his stylist to appear out of some corner holding an ensemble that he probably wouldn’t care too much for.
“Your Danny right?” a female alto purred from behind as the sounds of stiletto pumps clacking on marble echoed throughout the designer store. Danny turned his head to glance over at the female that had called his name.
“Yeah, and you are?” Danny asked, not out of interest but simply out of courtesy.
“Lillian Lim. I’m with KMA. I heard from Annais a few times that we share the same coordinator but I’ve never had the pleasure of bumping into you,” Lillian smiled as she extended her hand forward in greeting.
“The Korean Modeling Agency?” Danny asked rhetorically and stretched forth his hand to offer a friendly shake. He hadn’t heard of Lillian’s name before but there were so many people coming and going in the entertainment business that it was impossible to keep track of who was who.
Just as the two were exchanging their initial greetings, Annais appeared from behind a dressing room curtain with a rack set on wheels full of clothes dangling from hangers. Looking at Danny, the stylist’s face brightened considerably.
“Hey Danny you’re on time for a change,” the coordinator joked as she walked over and gave the taller man a hug. Danny and the rest of the 1Tym members had been her clients for the past year. Although she didn’t supply the baseball caps and wife beaters that Danny donned so frequently, she did furnish most of his jeans, sneakers, and the more formal attires for the many televised variety programs that Danny took part in.
“Yeah, surprisingly I wasn’t running behind today,” Danny chuckled while returning the hug. “So have you picked out what I’m going to be wearing for that Happy Together show I have tomorrow?”
“Yeah but I have to grab it from the back. Do you mind helping Lillian take her shopping bags out to her car real quick?” Annais asked as she looked through the rack of clothing she had just carted out. Both Lillian and Annais had been drilled by Janice to follow the set plot without fail.
“Sure not a problem,” Danny shrugged as he looked back to woman he had met only a few seconds ago. He offered her a smile and nudged his head towards the door.
“Aw, thanks love, you’re a sweat heart. The bags are over by the counter,” Annais pointed to the four over sized and over packed shopping bags before heading towards the curtain she had magically popped out from a moment ago.
“Thanks for helping me with my stuff, I’ll show you where my car is,” Lillian stated as she followed Danny to the counter and watched him grab the bags full of clothing. Once Danny was ready, Lillian headed towards the door and to her shining moment.
- - - - - - - - - -
From Janice’s vantage point through the balcony over looking the street, she could easily spot the pair walking towards the white BMW parked by the curb. What she also noted smugly was how fast the paparazzi had managed to converge on the pair as they headed towards the vehicle.
Just as planned, Janice watched as Lillian slid her arm around so that Danny and she were now locking arms just as the paparazzi photographers were beginning to snap pictures. She could vividly picture Danny’s flabbergasted face in her head, and she had to suppress a chuckle.
With the first set of photographs well on their way, she now had to tie up one more loose end of the story.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay and once again for the crappy content! Merry Christmas to all of you!
Pairing: Se7en, Danny
Rating: R for language and implied sex
Summary: Danny finds compromising pictures of himself and a high school boy splashed on every tabloid in South Korea. Janice Rhee, YG senior publicist, attempts to put together a contingency plan. Choi Dong Wook's life will be changed.
The same six blocks he had traversed for the past four years of his life had seldom been so long nor trying on his patience. Everywhere he turned, Dong Wook was surrounded by a sea of cameras and microphones that were constantly being shoved in his face. The rude pushing and shoving was often followed by a cacophony of questions that Dong Wook didn’t even know the answers to: questions about how he had landed the gig and questions about his sexuality.
Shutting out the noise and the chaos surrounding him, Dong Wook simply walked. No one had gotten a single response out of him asides from an occasional greeting or a curt nod of the head. The tiring walk to school had been filled with ducking and weaving through people while dodging microphones and shielding his face from the onset plague of cameras.
Every step forward in the throng of journalists and the paparazzi had been a minor struggle that had to be won with diligence. For the first time in his life, slipping past the iron fence of his high school and reaching the safety of school grounds had been a joyful and triumphant occasion. It had taken an extra twenty minutes due to the hassle of fighting through the crowd, but Dong Wook had calculated the possible delay and had still managed to arrive a bit early to school.
Hurrying inside the building, Dong Wook smugly left the crowd of flashing lights outside the gate.
However, as he paced through the hallway towards his classroom, Dong Wook noticed that the tone on campus was also different from where he had left it before Dong Wook had gracefully donned the cover of every newspaper and magazine in South Korea. The students that had hardly noticed his presence before now gawked at him as he strolled the hallways. Dong Wook noticed that the majority of the students began breaking out into whispers and quiet fits after he had walked past. It was blatantly obvious that all the awkward glances, snickering, and finger pointing was due to his new found infamy.
But Dong Wook had never wanted this sort of attention and he openly cursed it now. By the time the shaggy haired boy reached his desk, Dong Wook was too tired to care about the eerie silence that filled the classroom which had been full with noise and chatter before. Perhaps school wasn’t going to be such a safe haven after all.
Crossing his arms on the desk, he placed his head down and closed his eyes in an attempt to act nonchalant about the sudden quiet in the classroom. Even still it felt as if his classmates were all holding their breaths, their eyes fixated on his hunched back. Class didn’t start for another five minutes, and Dong Wook wondered if he could handle the tension in the room until the faculty would step in and save him.
“You’ve got a pretty big crowd of fans out there. The security guards and the principal now openly hate your ass for creating so much havoc this morning,” stated a baritone voice that Dong Wook didn’t have much trouble registering.
Lifting his head off the table, his eyes rested on the towering figure sitting on the corner of his desk peering down at him with his arms crossed and that lopsided smirk plastered on his face.
“What, you want an autograph for something?” Dong Wook chuckled as he silently thanked his friend for coming to the rescue with a whimsical smile. Avery Thomas was a recent transfer student from the United States that maintained a certain level of celebrity status within their high school with effortless ease. His mother, a Korean woman, had made a careless rendezvous with some blonde American military bloke who had been stationed in Korea and his friend had been the unfortunate byproduct.
Avery’s parents had attempted to make things work by quickly marrying and moving to the United States where interracial marriages where more common and accepted. However, the marriage had ended up failing within Avery’s eighth birthday and Avery with his mother had booked a one way plane ticket back to Korea without ever looking back.
A social outcast in his own right, standing at six feet, he easily towered above the rest of the class with his black faux-hawk and the green eyes that every Korean girl on campus tried to mimic with colored contacts. The guys on campus loathed him and the girls practically worshipped him as their high school version of Daniel Henney.
Unlike Dong Wook, Avery seemed to enjoy bathing in the attention.
“No, but I am interested in finding out where you got the hook ups,” Avery inquired peering at Dong Wook’s confused expression.
“Man, don’t play dumb, I’m talking about how you landed a gig in Danny’s new music video,” Avery stated while maintaining that inquisitor expression. “I have to say though, playing some gay guy as your acting debut isn’t something I’d sign up for.”
“What in God’s name are you talking about,” Dong Wook sighed, annoyed at the rampant rumors that were being spread around. The reporters this morning that had stalked him to campus had all asked a question similar to what Avery was talking about.
The tall mutt produced a copy of the morning tabloid that had a picture of him plastered on the cover to the left with Danny’s picture in the center and someone that looked like a film director to the right. A slender finger jabbed the bold headline.
“YG clears up misunderstanding, Danny Im not gay,” Avery read the headline out loud with a chuckle. He then followed the story jump and flipped through a few pages before finding the real meat of the article. “It says here that your kiss scene with Danny that caused the tabloid sensation was a leaked scene for Danny’s upcoming music video.”
Dong Wook was now surely puzzled as to what was going on. His brain refused to make sense of the situation. His hand itched to call Danny to ask what this new story was about, but Dong Wook knew he wasn’t going to get any privacy to have an important conversation. Besides, Danny would simply get mad at the fact that he was reading the tabloids again.
“I can’t really talk about it Ave,” Dong Wook shrugged, trying his best to look as if he was repressing some sort of contracted secret. Dong Wook couldn’t tell Avery that he didn’t know what the hell was going on in fear of disputing an official claim by YG Entertainment published in the papers. Danny had specifically told him to say nothing in regards to the scandal until his people had figured something out as the official story.
“Aw fuck Wookey,” Ave whined. The taller boy was going to continue his interrogation but the teacher had abruptly walked into the room sending everyone scattering to their seats.
Dong Wook thanked God for class.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
“I liked the red cocktail dress better,” Lillian murmured as two tailors pinned the hem on the longer black skirt that she had just put on. “Don’t you think this looks a bit too old and matronly? I want to look good for my first outing in front of the cameras. I don’t know if this is the right color. It’s so bland.”
Janice looked up from the magazine she had been flipping through and shoved her annoyance aside. What was it with these people and their unwillingness to wear what the damn coordinator had picked out for them? They were professionals for a reason and Janice was wondering why certain people could never just take what was given to them and be happy.
“If your goal is to look like a hooker, sure the red cocktail dress suits you nicely,” Janice rolled her eyes as she got up from her seat. Placing the magazine on the coffee table, she headed over to where the tailors were busy taking measurements.
“You also should realize that it is currently three in the afternoon. Who wears a cocktail dress at three in the afternoon?” Janice spoke as she examined the work that was being done.
“I don’t think this attire suits Danny’s image. Shouldn’t I be dressed a bit more wild or sexy?” Lillian countered, obviously unhappy with the black skirt and the white satin blouse with an ivory mesh collar and cuffs.
“I’m the publicist; let me worry about Danny’s image and you worry about getting dressed and getting your part right. These will be the first pictures of you two taken by the paparazzi and they have to be perfect,” Janice hissed with enough venom to kill a man. The publicist was counting on these pictures to be plastered on every major tabloid in South Korea by tomorrow morning.
“Alright, don’t worry about it, we went over it a thousand times” Janice conceded.
To match the white blouse and the black skirt, a pair of black stilettos with a metallic pump was added along with a pair of white gold hoop earrings and an ivory bag from Chanel. Once all the clothing had been set and Lillian had been properly dressed, Janice was set to put their plan into motion. A quick ring to Danny’s road manager confirmed that everything was going as scheduled.
Four shopping bags full of new clothing sat on the counter, all items purchased by the YG record label. Lillian had been designed as an integral part of the contingency plan and Janice Rhee was not afraid to place a large investment in getting things right. The rumors and the photographers would have to gravitate to the new pairing that Janice had set up in order to calm the tabloid storm that Danny and Dong Wook had caused. No one liked to take pictures of an ugly couple.
After five minutes of waiting patiently, Janice’s blackberry vibrated silently in her hand. Signaling silently to Lillian that she had received the call, the senior publicist headed up the stairs of the retail shop where she would watch the second part of her contingency plan unfold.
By the time the front door opened and Danny Im stepped into the clothing store, Janice Rhee observed the scene from her perch above while punching in a text message on her phone with perfectly manicured fingers.
This was turning out to be a good day.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As Danny walked into the isolated boutique store where he had been scheduled to meet his stylist, the 1Tym member pondered how long the whole ordeal was going to take. Danny was never one to like being told what to wear or what not to wear, but for special events and stage performances, he grudgingly listened to the wishes of his publicity staff. Besides Danny had always gotten along well with his coordinator and didn’t mind being in Annais’ company for an hour or two.
With his hands shoved deep into his jean pockets, Danny peered about the store while he waited for his stylist to appear out of some corner holding an ensemble that he probably wouldn’t care too much for.
“Your Danny right?” a female alto purred from behind as the sounds of stiletto pumps clacking on marble echoed throughout the designer store. Danny turned his head to glance over at the female that had called his name.
“Yeah, and you are?” Danny asked, not out of interest but simply out of courtesy.
“Lillian Lim. I’m with KMA. I heard from Annais a few times that we share the same coordinator but I’ve never had the pleasure of bumping into you,” Lillian smiled as she extended her hand forward in greeting.
“The Korean Modeling Agency?” Danny asked rhetorically and stretched forth his hand to offer a friendly shake. He hadn’t heard of Lillian’s name before but there were so many people coming and going in the entertainment business that it was impossible to keep track of who was who.
Just as the two were exchanging their initial greetings, Annais appeared from behind a dressing room curtain with a rack set on wheels full of clothes dangling from hangers. Looking at Danny, the stylist’s face brightened considerably.
“Hey Danny you’re on time for a change,” the coordinator joked as she walked over and gave the taller man a hug. Danny and the rest of the 1Tym members had been her clients for the past year. Although she didn’t supply the baseball caps and wife beaters that Danny donned so frequently, she did furnish most of his jeans, sneakers, and the more formal attires for the many televised variety programs that Danny took part in.
“Yeah, surprisingly I wasn’t running behind today,” Danny chuckled while returning the hug. “So have you picked out what I’m going to be wearing for that Happy Together show I have tomorrow?”
“Yeah but I have to grab it from the back. Do you mind helping Lillian take her shopping bags out to her car real quick?” Annais asked as she looked through the rack of clothing she had just carted out. Both Lillian and Annais had been drilled by Janice to follow the set plot without fail.
“Sure not a problem,” Danny shrugged as he looked back to woman he had met only a few seconds ago. He offered her a smile and nudged his head towards the door.
“Aw, thanks love, you’re a sweat heart. The bags are over by the counter,” Annais pointed to the four over sized and over packed shopping bags before heading towards the curtain she had magically popped out from a moment ago.
“Thanks for helping me with my stuff, I’ll show you where my car is,” Lillian stated as she followed Danny to the counter and watched him grab the bags full of clothing. Once Danny was ready, Lillian headed towards the door and to her shining moment.
- - - - - - - - - -
From Janice’s vantage point through the balcony over looking the street, she could easily spot the pair walking towards the white BMW parked by the curb. What she also noted smugly was how fast the paparazzi had managed to converge on the pair as they headed towards the vehicle.
Just as planned, Janice watched as Lillian slid her arm around so that Danny and she were now locking arms just as the paparazzi photographers were beginning to snap pictures. She could vividly picture Danny’s flabbergasted face in her head, and she had to suppress a chuckle.
With the first set of photographs well on their way, she now had to tie up one more loose end of the story.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Authors Note: Sorry for the long delay and once again for the crappy content! Merry Christmas to all of you!