The first crack came at noon.
The members were sprawled around the dorm, half-asleep after practice. Klan sat at the table, barely touching his food, while Kael leaned against the counter, arms folded, his eyes flicking toward Klan every few seconds.
It should have felt normal. But everything had changed. Every glance was heavier. Every silence louder.
Then Tavi's phone buzzed. Loud. Urgent.
"Hyung…" Tavi's voice faltered as he stared at the screen. His usual cheerful expression drained away, leaving him pale.
"What is it?" Eren asked, frowning.
Tavi swallowed hard and turned the phone around. The screen blazed with a headline that felt like a death sentence:
"EXCLUSIVE: LUMINA's Kael and Klan Caught in Late-Night Intimacy?"
Underneath was a grainy photo, taken from outside the dorm building. The angle was blurred, but clear enough—Kael's arm around Klan on the balcony. Their faces close. Too close.
The caption screamed louder than the picture:
"Fans Speculate After Leaked Photo Sparks Dating Scandal!"
For a moment, the dorm was silent. No one moved.
Then chaos erupted.
"Where the hell did this come from?!" Eren grabbed the phone, scrolling frantically as more headlines popped up. "Oh my god, it's everywhere—Twitter, forums, StarBuzz—"
"Comments are insane," Tavi whispered, reading the feed. "Some fans are defending you guys, but others… they're calling for a statement."
Klan felt the blood drain from his face. His chest tightened, breath coming in shallow bursts as the words swam before his eyes.
Kael snatched the phone from Eren and scanned the photo, his jaw clenching so hard it looked painful.
"Who took this?" he demanded, his voice sharp as a blade.
"It doesn't matter who," Sion muttered grimly. "What matters is what happens next."
Before anyone could answer, the manager's ringtone shattered the room. The name flashing on the screen made everyone freeze.
Kael picked up without hesitation. "Yeah?" His voice was flat, lethal.
Whatever the manager said on the other end made Kael's expression darken with every word. When he hung up, his amber eyes burned like fire.
"Emergency meeting," Kael said coldly. "Now."
The ride to the company was silent, thick with dread. Klan sat in the back, staring out the window, his hands trembling in his lap. His mind screamed with panic, but louder than that was the memory of Kael's arms around him last night, Kael's voice whispering You're mine.
And now, the whole world knew something they weren't ready to admit.
When they arrived, the conference room was already set. Executives lined up behind the table, faces like stone. The manager stood at the head, his expression unreadable.
Kael and Klan sat side by side, their shoulders barely touching, but the weight of that single inch between them felt heavier than ever.
"This," the manager said, slamming his phone on the table, "is a disaster."