12 | doce

Florencia got her new apartment a bit over a week later, which was a pleasant surprise for her because she thought it would take much longer. There was an opening in the building where Nari and Narda lived, coincidentally right next door to them. She was more than happy with her new apartment, and SM Entertainment had the members of EXO help her move her things over, more for publicity than to help her. The apartment was several times bigger than the little room in the EXO dorms she had been temporarily given, and it was awkward sleeping in a place full of boys. Getting in the shower was the worst. Since she refused to use the communal bathrooms on EXO M's side, she'd always use the private bath in Sehun's room, which he shared with Junmyeon. Florencia would kick them out of the room for an hour when she needed to take a bath. Junmyeon didn't mind, but Sehun always found himself complaining and pounding on the door to hurry her up. Her new apartment had two bedrooms, one of which her sister would use while visiting her from Mexico.

On the first week that she was living there, Sehun visited her, as was forced onto him by his agency. They would take turns visiting each other, which had been agreed by their managers. Though whenever she went over to the dorms, they were all smiles and adoring looks. There wasn't a lot of touching, since both of them weren't keen on showing PDA in front of the other members. When he visited her, they were serious and quiet whenever Acacia was sleeping. They didn't have to put on a show for anyone.

Sehun showed up with a little white dog in his arms on a morning of her second week in Korea, and a small luggage trailing behind him. "I need to ask you for a big favor." He started as he entered his girlfriend's apartment so they could have breakfast together. 

Florencia had been woken up that morning by a phone call from Sehun, trying to reach her. She missed the first one, and he called her two more times before she picked up. It was a day in which both of them had their own schedules. Sehun had heavy dance practices that day, while Florencia had photo shoots--more photo shoots, to integrate her to the SM website as well as billboards and pamphlets in the building's lobby. Her manager at SM wanted to have her put everywhere because she was Sehun's girlfriend, and because she was very visual. There was also the fact that she was SM's first non-Asian idol, and that brought them more media attention and more fans. Florencia never knew how hard idols in Korea worked until she had to become one. Even through that, Sehun had pointed out to her that her schedules weren't even that bad. 

But she wasn't used to working that hard, and for her it was draining.

She was still in her pajamas, a pink satin night dress and a robe made of the same material which she used to cover herself. He hadn't given her much time to change into something else. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders messily. On the table, breakfast was already prepared. The SM managers had paid someone to make breakfast for her every morning, and for it to be ready by the time she and her sister got up in the morning.

"You're cold around me and you won't forgive me for what I did, yet you're so comfortable coming here asking me for a favor." She pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest. She let him into the apartment and closed the door behind him. He walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. Florencia followed behind him.

"This is important." He insisted, immediately taking a dramatic tone. "A life is at stake."

Florencia heaved a sigh and gave a roll of her eyes. Her expression only softened when Vivi jumped off Sehun's lap and went over to her. Florencia's demeanor changed entirely and she became cheerful and nice. She picked him up in her arms and looked to Sehun as she said, "Let me guess. The life of this cutie is at stake." She then turned her attention to Vivi, holding her high above her head. "What's your baby's name, Sehun?"

"Vivi." He replied full of pride, quickly adding when he saw that Florencia was growing soft on him. "He needs a home."

"What about the dorms?" Florencia suggested.

He shook his head. "I can't take him there. They don't allow pets." It wasn't like he hadn't tried that already. The managers had quickly taken notice of their new tenant on EXO's floor and immediately asked for him to leave. That was when Sehun first got Vivi, and he had to find him a home outside the dorms. He eventually found one, but it hadn't worked out, and now he needed Florencia to help him.

"Your parents?" She tried something else to get out of it. She loved animals, especially dogs, but she had too many responsibilities to be able to make time for a dog. Her parents always told her that a pet was like a baby--they needed attention and constant supervision. Florencia just didn't have time to take care of a pet, and even less one that was not hers to begin with.

"My parents can't take care of him properly." He explained with another shake of his head. That had been his second option after his attempt to hide Vivi in the dorms. "He needs to be somewhere where I can be close to him. Before, I had to drive forty minutes to get to my parents house to see him." Florencia sighed, placing Vivi on the ground by her feet as she thought about the favor Sehun wanted to ask of her. The pup hurried over to its owner and Sehun picked him up, cradling him in his arms like a baby. "Do me this favor, and I'll forget what happened in Mexico." He finally told her, making an offer he thought she wouldn't be able to refuse.

She raised an eyebrow at him with suspicion. 

"Fine. We have a deal." She finally said after making her decision. Leaning in towards Vivi, she said in a cute high pitched voice. "Looks like we're gonna be roomies Vivi--gal pals."

Sehun almost choked on his own spit when he heard her words--deeply offended. Florencia looked up at him to see a horrified expression on his face, and she didn't understand why that was. His English wasn't the best, but he knew enough to understand most of what Florencia said to him whenever they talked. "Did you just call him--" He covered Vivi's ears before proceeding. "a girl?"

Florencia nodded innocently, not sure what the big deal was. Sehun was acting like she had mortally wounded Vivi's ego, and by consequence his as well.

"He's a boy." He hissed at her, filled with annoyance.

Her jaw dropped in surprise. "His name is Vivi." She argued.

Sehun nodded. "Yes."

It took more than a few seconds for Florencia to wrap her head around that logic. But when it came to her, she finally realized there was an obvious difference in cultures. A name that sounded like a perfectly good boy name to him, sounded like a girl name to her. Florencia apologized, explaining to him, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry I assumed he was a girl. But in Mexico, Vivi"--or Bibi, the way he pronounced it. "Is a woman's name. Short for Vivian, or Genevieve. There is a very famous actress in my country named Bibi Gaytan. See my confusion?"

"Vivi is a boy." Sehun told her once again. 

"I'm sorry." Florencia offered again, her hands reaching out to pet Vivi who was still in Sehun's arms.

"Thank you." Sehun said with a genuinely grateful smile. it was the first time he had smiled at her since they were in Mexico and he didn't know she was trying to sabotage him. "This gesture has really made me change my mind about you. Maybe we can be friends, even after this charade of a relationship is over." Looking towards Vivi now, he said, "Vivi, you're going to live with Kkoch now. She's going to be your new eomma. You'd better treat her well, and she will do her best to treat you well too."

Florencia asked playfully. "What happened to his old eomma?"

"He didn't have one." Sehun replied with shrug of his shoulders. "I was a single father. My Vivi didn't need anyone other than me."

Florencia rose from her seat on the couch and gestured towards the kitchen. "Well since you're here...you wanna have breakfast? SM sent over a cook to make us food. You can go sit while I wake my sister and take Vivi's things into my room."

Sehun had just noticed the aroma of food coming from the kitchen. It smelled like it had been recently prepared and his stomach rumbled with hunger as he remembered he hadn't eaten since around lunch time the previous day. Diets for male idols weren't nearly as strict as they were for female idols, he had just forgotten to get some food with all his commitments. He got back on his feet, picking Vivi up in his arms and he looked towards the kitchen. The food on the table was similar to the things Narda cooked for them when they were on tour over the summer and she had been hired to be their housekeeper.

"They treat you better than they treat me." Sehun joked, though there was a truth to his words.

The EXO members hardly got any perks like having someone cook for them. They had gotten it more often over the year that Yena was pretending to be Tao, but other than that they mostly cooked their own meals or bought already prepared food.

Also, since Florencia was never a trainee and had no trainee debts, she got paid more than him too. She only got a small percentage deducted from her check every two weeks, to cover the cost of Korean language classes, as well as make up and wardrobe fees during photo shoots.

Sehun sat at the table and Florencia took the small luggage to her room. He had offered to do it for her, but her room was a mess at the moment. She had just moved in a week prior and there were bozes upon boxes of her unpacked belongings that her mother had sent her from Mexico. Most of them were either clothes and shoes. Her bed was also unmade since she had just gotten up that morning when he arrived. 

She placed the luggage by the door and then went down the small hallway to her sister's room. Florencia opened the door to find her sister sound asleep in bed. She walked over and it took a few attempts to shake her awake--Acacia was a heavy sleeper.

"Go away, Flor." She groaned, trying to kick her sister's hand away.

But Florencia insisted. "Get up so we can have breakfast before it gets cold. And you'd better behave because Sehun is here and I don't want him to think my sister is crazy."

Her sister groaned loudly once again, but ended up giving in. "Fine. I'll be there in a minute."

Florencia rolled her eyes playfully, but left the room and returned to the kitchen. Sehun was already sitting there with Vivi in his lap. Florencia went to get some plates from the cupboard and set one down in front of him. There were fried eggs in a large platter, chilaquilles, and bacon strips. On another large platter was mixed fruit and a cup of plain yogurt to pour over it.

He served his own food, even though Florencia offered to be the one to serve him since he was a guest at her house. He got two eggs, four strips of bacon and two big spoonfuls of chilaquilles. Florencia only had the fruit and yogurt.

They ate in silence until Acacia arrived about five minutes later.

She greeted Sehun with a friendly smile and squealed in delight when she saw Vivi. "Who is this cutie?" Acacia gushed, looking at the pup who immediately took a liking to her.

Sehun joked. "I'm Sehun."

He and Acacia seemed to get on better at first than he and Florencia. But that had been because he was mad at her. Still, he got along well with her sister. Acacia let out a sarcastic laugh and stuck her tongue out at him.

"That's Vivi." Florencia answered the question, just the slightest hint of jealousy in her tone that he could get on so well with Acacia and not with her. Then again, she had been the cause of that previous hostility. Before her sister could say anything about the dog's name, Florencia quickly added, "Vivi is a boy. I already made the mistake this morning of assuming otherwise."

The three sat together for breakfast, and afterwards, Florencia packed the left overs for him to take for lunch. He had been the only one to eat the food, since the two sisters had only eaten fruit and yogurt. Florencia explained to her sister that Vivi would be staying with them from now on, and that she would need to help take care of him, which Acacia didn't mind. 

Sehun finally looked at the time on his phone and informed them that he had to get to his dance practices.

Florencia walked him to the door like a good girlfriend would and they said their goodbyes. He thanked her again for taking care of Vivi and then did something that took her by surprise. He leaned in quick and gave her a peck on the lips, smirking as he pulled away.

"Saranghae, Kkoch. I'll see you when I finish my schedules for the day, if I can manage to finish them before you go to bed." He said to her before disappearing down the hall.

Florencia felt her heart flutter for a moment.

But then her reality set in and she remembered it was all just part of the act.

-

a slightly filler chapter for this story, since i haven't updated it in a while. thank you all loads for readind and supporting this story. it means so much to me and im also very happy that this story is super close to hitting 2k reads.

so thank you for that as well.

i hope you're all having a wonderful week. on a positive note, seeing as the past few months have not been the most positive for me, my tickets for exoplanet #3 came in today. also, im in the process of getting a job teaching english in korea for a year. so im very excited about that.

-clary