Chapter Text
Jongho is at the company, as he has a vocal practice session today, but the weird thing is he's the only one today. Usually, there'd be at least another member to go with him, but he received a call from a temporary manager that he's going in alone according to the schedule. Jongho, who feels like something's off, wanted to see the said schedule from the manager, but the man refused to show it to him, and instead, he changed the topic. And that definitely adds up to his suspicion, but he still went to the company since, deep down, he still believes that there's a vocal practice session today.
Before making his way to the studio that was assigned to him, he stopped by the 7-Eleven to get a few snacks since he forgot to eat at the dorm before coming here. If Seonghwa knows this, he'll probably be scolded since Jongho never skips his meals even when he feels insecure of himself. San told him that it's okay to be insecure of yourself, but make that a motivation to improve and be better, so that's what he did. He eats a lot; he never skips his meal, and he eats dessert, and at the same time, he works out. He exercises at the gym with the members. So that's how he got his current muscular body, and he knows that fans swooned over his shoulders, his waist, and his thighs. Seeing the reactions makes him feel good since they're the good consequences of what he's done for himself.
He makes sure he's wearing his mask correctly before he scans his temperature and enters the cafeteria. His eyes widened and sparkled at the sight of food, snacks, and desserts in front of him. "Mhm, what to choose?" He mutters to himself while scanning the food before making up his mind – he chooses a triangle kimbap, a box of fried squid, and a bottle of cola. He went to the cashier to pay before entering the company building.
The place was quiet as if it were a ghost town, but it makes sense since it was a Saturday, where people would be at home resting, sleeping, or hanging out with family or friends, but here he is, practising, which he doesn't mind at all. He enters the studio and plops down on the couch, unpacking the food before starting to eat. The male hums in delight, as the simple food was still delicious for him.
While he was busy munching on the food, the door swung open all of a sudden with such full force that it startled Jongho, who literally looked in that direction with food still in his mouth. He stood up abruptly at the sight of the temporary manager who goes by the name Beomsoo.
"H—hyung, you're here."
Jongho swallows the food down his throat while looking at the manager, who's... looking not happy at all. The younger presses his lips together nervously as he can feel the tense atmosphere in the studio.
"I thought I'd eat first before starting my practice. I didn't know you were here," Jongho said while wiping his lips with a tissue and looking down, too nervous to make eye contact with the manager.
Jongho isn't a person who's easily scared of people, but for some reason, he's absolutely terrified of this temporary manager. He wasn't intimidating with the other members, but when it's just the two of them, the manager looks scary and is always silent. He isn't sure why, but he's really scared as shit right now.
"You came here only to eat?" The manager asks a simple question, but Jongho was sure there was spite in those words. He was too stunned that he had no idea what to reply, so the manager shot him again.
"Just because you're good at singing and dancing, you think you could come here to waste time by eating?"
Jongho blinks his eyes repeatedly in confusion. "Hyung, I—"
"Look at you. Don't you think you should starve yourself or skip meals? How can you be an idol when you're fat?"
Fat. Fat. Fat. The word keeps replaying in his head, and he shakes the thoughts away. No, Jongho isn't going to believe what this manager is saying – just no.
"I'm not fat. I'm muscular, I'm fit," he said while gritting his teeth as he looked at the man. Beomsoo laughs out in disbelief before looking at him up and down. The manager closed the door and locked it, which made the maknae perk up at the sound. Being in the small room with the man, especially after hearing his rude, spiteful comments, made him feel scared.
Beomsoo pokes Jongho's chest with his index finger harshly as he speaks. "You're fat." Pokes. "If it weren't for your voice, you wouldn't be able to be an idol." Pokes. "I hate fat people. And you seem to be proud that you're fat, which disgusts me." Another harsh, hard poke on the younger's chest that makes the maknae grit his teeth angrily.
The manager punches Jongho's stomach once with his big fist, which had the younger instantly kneeling on the floor in pain; he closes his eyes to squint them hardly, trying to hold onto the pain.
"Fucking piece of shit. Act all strong and muscular in front of cameras but actually be a weak asshole."
Jongho looks up at the man with hate and anger burning in his eyes, which made Beomsoo even angrier. He slaps the maknae across the face with his right hand as he stares down at the younger. Jongho could taste iron in his mouth, and he knew that his lips were split due to the hard slap. The only thing he could think of right now is how he is supposed to hide this from his hyungs.
"I dare you to look at me with those eyes again. And let's see if your eyes will be the next victim," Beomsoo threatens Jongho and smirks in victory when the younger stays silent in response to the older's words.
The maknae looks down on the floor as his eyes are brimming with hot tears; he bites his lower lip before he sniffles. Beomsoo, who heard the younger's cries, felt even more proud at what he did.
"Not so tough now, huh? You better shut the fuck up about this, or you'll get more from me."
"What the fuck do you want from me? What is it that I do so wrong for you to treat only me like shit? Why the fuck am I here?!"
Another tight and hard slap lands on his left cheek again. The pain doubled up even more, causing the maknae to look down as he cries again. He cursed inside for not being able to do anything – he wants to fight back and punch the man back, but for him, violence isn't the way.
"The reason you're alone today is because I need to put you back into your place. Stop being fat, stop eating," Beomsoo cups the maknae's chin harshly with his hand before pushing him back and leaving the studio.
Jongho pants slightly heavily upon what the man did to him; his brain is still processing those harsh words, the pain that he received. He wipes his lips with his hand to see some blood before he stands up slowly, legs a little wobbly with a sharp pain on his cheek and stomach.
The maknae swallows his saliva down his throat, and doing just that hurts as well. How will he explain this to the hyungs? Will they even believe him? He doesn't want to seem like an evil person setting up another person, but what happened here in the studio was real. Those spiteful words and the pain he received are real.
"So I came here for nothing… only to set myself up with a man who hates fat people... Fuck..."
Jongho mutters to himself and laughs softly in disbelief before he breaks down into tears. He covers his face with his hands and screams out all he wants since the room is soundproof. He throws a hard punch at the wall, which bruises his knuckles; he shakes his head as thoughts run wild in his head.
"Shut up, shut up!" He covers his ears with his hands as he exclaims to shut his inner voices out. His breath was shaky, eyes tightly shut with his hands still over his ears before he pulled his hands away when the voices died down. The maknae looks at himself in the small mirror at the studio, and he looks fucked – lips were bloodily split, bloodshot eyes, messy hair, tear-stained cheeks.
How the fuck will he get back to the dorm in this state? Not just the dorm – how will he be in the same vehicle as his manager? Knowing manager-nim, he'll steal glances at Jongho through the rearview mirror since he always does that. What will he say?
He groans out as he can feel his head throbbing at the wild thoughts. Jongho opens his eyes and fixes his hair and clothes as well as tries to clean up his lips. The blood is gone a bit, but the split still could be seen; they'll definitely ask him. His stomach – his painful stomach. He lifts his shirt up a bit, and there it was; bruises were all over his body, from his chest down to his stomach. How will he withstand this pain? He needs to check it up, but he'll get caught if they bring him to the hospital.
Jongho calms himself down while rubbing his chest gently with his hand. First, clean himself up. Second, pretend you're alright by walking normally like you do even when your chest and stomach hurt like hell. Third, smile and deny whatever concerning questions come from the members. He can do this; he can hide the pain, the bruises, the truth. He's their strongest maknae, after all; he can do it. Luckily, he had a spare cap in his bag, so he put it on and called his manager to pick him up.
As he's inside the van, he pulls down the cap to hide his face while he leans against the window so that the manager won't be able to see him.
"Jongho-yah, are you okay? You're awfully quiet today, and your voice sounds too hoarse over the phone. Was the practice session hard today?"
The maknae closes his eyes as he pretends to sleep to avoid talking. He feels bad for ignoring the kind manager, but he has to do what he has to do. The manager was silent after asking that, and Jongho took it as a sign that he probably knew that he was sleeping. The ride to the dorm was really late and painful today; it's possibly the pain from his bruises.
He hopes that when he wakes up, this is all just a dream and that there's no mean manager, no bruises, no pain. Just him in the dorm with his members, happy and contented with each other. He crossed his fingers, hopefully.