Prettiest Lie - A Taekook Love Story.

40 - Someone Is After Us Both..

As soon as they were in Jungkook's vehicle, Taehyung pulled him into a hug. "Did you come straight from Cannes?"

"No, I was on my way when I heard the news." Jungkook replied in a troubled voice. "I didn't have time to go online the whole day. Only checked my phone in the car."

"I figured."  Taehyung gently stroked the back of Jungkook's palm, before tangling their fingers together. "You coming here will make news again."

Jungkook scoffed. "As if I give a shit about it."

"But the media-"

"These are all foreign brands here, Tae. They don't care about petty Korean scandals. You're a superstar here. No one will dare say anything against you."

"But Kookie-"

"-What's happening? I could only check the social media sites. What's the update now?"

Taehyung gave a sigh before telling Jungkook about the situation. Jungkook listened without interrupting, trying to think who could have done something like this.

"Hmm.. seem like you have a serious hater. A very capable one, if all your cancelled dramas and movies are the work of the same person."

"That's what we were thinking too. It's too big of a coincidence to think there are two different people, all hell bent on ruining my career."

Jungkook was deep in thoughts before he looked up at Taehyung. "Maybe it's not the only thing they are trying to ruin."

"What do you mean, baby?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm reaching too far. But I didn't like the time frame of your.. ehhh… alleged affair."

Taehyung tried to figure out what Jungkook meant by it, but before he could, the vehicle stopped near the hotel he was supposed to stay in. After a quick 'I'll talk to you later', Taehyung got out of the vehicle. Jungkook was late for his appearance at Cannes film festival and Taehyung didn't want to make him delay even more. He himself was scheduled to attend tomorrow, with the cast of his own movie, which was being shown on that day.

Jimin was already waiting for him at the hotel, as the former had ridden the vehicle that was supposed to be Taehyung's. The Internet was buzzing with videos from the airport, as they all knew it would be. Even though it was an impulsive decision from Jungkook's side, his agency supported it. Im Nayeon had already contacted Jimin, partially to ask him about his awareness about it, to which Jimin replied that he had no clue, and partially to confirm that they are getting a lot of positive responses from back home due to Jungkook publicly offering his support to Taehyung like this.

Of course, neither agencies had a clue about what that support truly meant.

Taehyung was on his was to his room, when he suddenly stopped. What Jungkook said about timing was running through his head the whole time and he finally figured out what the idol meant.

The time period of his alleged affair coincidentally matched with Jungkook's longest tour. The idol was out of the country for over 4 months, and Taehyung had been confined in Korea due to his own schedule. That's how it was meant to be, but in reality they did meet a few times throughout that period.

Both of them took turns to discreetly fly out to where the other person was at that time, with the help of their managers. Usually they have little more patience but their relationship was facing a tiny bump at that time, curtesy of Taehyung's father bringing a marriage proposal forth and neither wanted that bump to escalate to something more.

So they had their secret rendezvous. It was definitely fun. And the mischievous and secretive nature of it helped to rekindle their love flame to a whole new level. But now, looking back on it, Taehyung couldn't help but fear that they might have been little careless.

It was when Jungkook's solo career skyrocketed and two back-to-back blockbuster movies made Taehyung earn his 'Nation's top actor' title. They were feeling like they were at the top of the world. And nothing can touch them up there.

But looking back at it now, guess they were not invincible after all.

Taehyung wanted to sleep a bit to recover from jet lag but his mind was in chaos. It was one thing to have a target mark on his back but it's a whole different story if whatever that's happening is related to Jungkook also. Taehyung ended up staying awake past midnight, till his hotel door opened and Jungkook walked in.

"Oh-" Jungkook made a surprised noise when he saw Taehyung sitting on the sofa. "I thought you were already asleep. Aren't you tired?"

"I am." Taehyung gave a soft sigh. "But I couldn't sleep."

Jungkook walked towards the sofa and sat at a corner. Then he guided Taehyung to lay his head on Jungkook's lap, making sure that the actor had enough space to stretch his legs. Taehyung sighed in content when Jungkook's fingers started to softly massage his scalp.

"Better?"

"Hmm.."

"What's on your mind?"

Taehyung was silent for a few seconds, before he spoke up. "Was thinking about what you said."

"Oh.."

"What did you mean by that?"

Jungkook pulled out his phone and looked for the initial article. It was taken down from the Internet but Hoseok had asked the company to send him a copy of the same.

"Look at this photo."

Taehyung raised his head a bit to look at Jungkook's phone. It was a photo from a cruise trip they took. Taehyung was leaning against the ship's railing. It was a close-up  photo with no recognizable location details and Taehyung himself had updated it to his social media account.

"What about it?"

"Tae, I took that photo."

Taehyung blinked a few times, still not understanding what Jungkook was trying to say.

"I took that photo, Tae. There wasn't anyone else from your circle on that ship with us. No one was supposed to know where we were even. And that woman is claiming that she took that photo."

"What-"

"They obviously wouldn't have any unreleased photos, they can only use whatever that's already there. And any other photo, the person who took it would come forward and say, 'here, I took this photo. She's lying', and thereby exposing her. Except this! This we can't say. I understand that this might be too much of a reach but I just can't shake this feeling that it's not a coincidence."

"But that would mean.."

"Yes. Someone knows about us. They know that we won't come forward to clarify things. And they are using it to their advantage."

"Kookie.."

"It's not only about you. Someone is after us both."