The funny thing about being a reporter is that whenever you encounter anything, you can't help asking a lot of whys. For instance, why was Baekhyun always the last one to use the bathroom? And why was Suho always grumpy after waking up? Why was Chen always asking 'why' at Suho? And why did Sehun like bubble tea? Why was Chanyeol's laugh so infectious? And why did Kai like chicken so much?

I furrowed my brow as I sorted through the large pile of laundry in front of me. And then, came another question, why was everything D.O owned, black?

As I busied myself with separating the laundry into piles, I started formulating answers to my never-ending list of questions. There were so many things I needed to find the answers to. I sighed as I started thinking about the next part of my report. Everything was going smoothly for now but, I needed more information: something that wasn't already known by the public about EXO or K-pop idols in general.

As I sorted the clothes into piles of who they belonged to, I came across a pair of SpongeBob SquarePants boxers. It was blue and yellow and quite childish. I smirked, I knew who these belonged to without having to look around. It was Chanyeol's.

"He's such a man-child," I told myself.

When I finally reached the last pile, I stopped for a moment to admire the clothes in front of me. It was Xiumin's pile. I picked up his shirt and traced my palm across it. The material was soft and it smelled faintly of his scent. The smell of his minty shampoo also lingered around the neck hole. Suddenly, I remembered the way he patted my head a week ago. I remembered the way his eyes crinkled to reveal his child-like smile that was full of innocence. My face reddened-- what was I doing sniffing Xiumin's clothes?

I dropped his shirt forcefully as I felt my cheeks heat up. What was wrong with me? My heart was beating like a drum against my chest even though all I did was sniff his clothes. Was I a pervert?

I shook my head violently to try and snap myself out of it. I was so confused with what I was feeling. You're a reporter, Mirei! I yelled at myself internally. And you're also an ARMY not an EXO-L!

But there was another question which nagged at my brain; could I be developing feelings for... Xiumin?

I groaned. That's another question to add to the list.

~*~

The sound of the water running was mystifying. Chanyeol embraced the warmth that enveloped his body as he washed himself away of the sweat he had accumulated from working out in the gym. It was late in the afternoon and he had just returned from exercising. He was surprised he still had enough energy left. He was physically exhausted but mentally satisfied.

As he arched his body back, the sound of the door opening caught his attention. He stopped.

"Hello?" he called out. "Who's there?"

But there was no answer.

Chanyeol turned the water off and decided to take a peek outside the shower cubicle. As he focused on the frosted glass doors, he could just about make out the outline of an individual. He opened the doors slowly.

"Hello, Chanyeol."

"Holy mother of--!" Chanyeol exclaimed in shock. "Aigoo, Baek! Don't just pop out of nowhere like that! You scared me!" He clutched his heart as he breathed in and out slowly.

Baekhyun laughed. "Sorry, Chanyeol-ah. I just wanted to take a shower. You done?"

Chanyeol frowned at him. "I just started!" He saw that Baekhyun was only wearing a towel around his waist. "And what are you doing here, anyway? I swore I locked the door." He narrowed his eyes, "Did you pick-lock again?"

Baekhyun shrugged innocently. "What? I wanted to shower straight away. Suho-hyung's using the other one and I can't shower with him."

Chanyeol was unimpressed. "Of course you can't. Hadn't you learned your lesson from before?"

Baekhyun gave him a sidewards glance. "Yeah, but that was only with Nami-ssi. Suho-hyung never mentioned anything about everyone else."

Chanyeol sighed. "Well, it's a 'no' from me. Go shower after I finish."

"Oh c'mon. I wanna nap before dinner!" he moaned. But then he grinned mischievously. "There's no need to be intimidated. Your package is big too."

Chanyeol glared at him. "Yah, get out pervy Baekhyun."

Baekhyun pouted. "I'll just wait in here until you're done." He sat down on the toilet seat cover and watched as Chanyeol resumed his shower. After a few seconds, Baekhyun got up and started admiring himself on the mirror.

"Yah, Chanyeol-ah" he said as he inspected his chin. "How are things going with Nami-ssi?"

Chanyeol was silent. Only the sound of the water running could be heard.

"She seems to be resisting your charms" Baekhyun taunted. He waited for a response. Nothing. Baekhyun frowned. "I guess she doesn't find you so good-looking after all."

The sound of the shower door suddenly opening made Baekhyun jump. Water was dripping from Chanyeol's hair as he replied, "It's only a matter of time before she falls for me." He gave him a perplexed look. "For some reason, my usual technique didn't work on her."

Baekhyun agreed, "I saw," he stifled a laugh, "she didn't even bat an eyelid to any of your advances. Honestly bro, it's painful to watch."

Chanyeol scoffed, "That was before. I've changed my tactics now. It will work this time."

"What? You're gonna go from clingy to cringey?" he asked playfully.

"No. I'm going to act like the bad guy" Chanyeol answered coolly.

Baekhyun raised his brow. "Seriously? The bad boy act?"

Chanyeol nodded. "Why not? It worked before. Girls like bad boys."

"I think you're confused" Baekhyun replied. "Most girls like bad boys. But Nami-ssi isn't like most girls." He looked at his reflection as he ran his fingers through his hair, "Can she even be considered a girl? I mean, have you seen her? She's anything but feminine."

Chanyeol dried his hair. "Well, whatever, I'm going to go with this strategy for now." He smiled. "Nami-ssi may not be like most girls but, in the end, she is still one." He turned to Baekhyun and gave him a lopsided grin, "And I'll make her mine, you'll see."

~*~

"There it is" I said out loud as I reached for my mobile phone.

It had fallen at the side of the bed and I had been searching around for it for almost half an hour. I was expecting a call from Richard today but, I had no idea when he would contact me. Richard wasn't the type to stick to schedules. He just rang you whenever he felt like it and, he expected you to answer without fail.

I sighed as I checked my phone. Nothing. I still had to finish doing the laundry so I decided to get back to work. I could always run back to my room when Richard called. Lately, my room was the only place safe enough for me to answer his calls without any of the EXO members overhearing.

As I passed through the corridor, the door to the bathroom suddenly opened and out came Chanyeol. His damp, messy hair hung low, covering his big eyes and as my vision trailed downwards, I saw that he was only wearing a towel around his waist. His chest was bare, revealing his taut arms and chiselled abs which formed perfectly defined angles across his body.

Chanyeol saw me looking and smiled deviously. "Are you checking me out, Nami-ssi?"

I immediately snapped to attention and stared at him squarely. "No, I'm not" I quickly said. But I couldn't help my eyes from wandering downwards. Just how fit was he? He had a face of a boy yet a body of a Spartan. Chanyeol himself was a paradox.

His eyes twinkled impishly as he said in that deep voice, "Ah, but I saw you looking." He glanced down at his body, "Like what you see?"

But before I could answer him, someone appeared from the bathroom door behind him.

"Chanyeol-ah, don't forget your watch." It was Baekhyun. And he was only wearing his towel too.

I raised both my brows. Chanyeol turned to Baekhyun and then to me. He saw my expression and rushed to explain, "No, this isn't what it looks like--"

I let out a scoff. "So you two showered together?"

"Yeah, we did" Baekhyun answered proudly. "Got a problem with that?"

Chanyeol was mortified. "Yah! What are you saying? No we didn't!"

"But you were in the bathroom just now" I persisted. "And Baekhyun-ssi just came out from there."

"Like I said, it's not what it looks like!" Chanyeol was exasperated. Baekhyun looked at him amusedly. He seemed to be enjoying Chanyeol's reaction.

I raised both my hands in surrender. "It's okay. There's no need to explain to me. It's a guy thing, right?" I said as I started walking away.

"Yah, Nami-ssi! Wait, let me explain!" Chanyeol called out to me.

I turned to him from the top of the stairs. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone!" I shouted back. I smirked as I saw Chanyeol's horrified expression: it was priceless.

Chanbaek it is, I thought to myself as I headed down the stairs, I guess there was some truth in fanfictions after all.

~*~

The sun beamed down on me as I clipped articles of clothing onto the washing line. It was pretty warm today despite it being so late in the year. As I reached out to grab a peg, my phone suddenly vibrating in my pocket.

Oh crap. I already knew who it was without even looking.

I fumbled for my phone and as I correctly guessed, it was Richard. Richard wasn't a patient person and it would take too long to get to my room upstairs. I searched around the backyard. There were no EXO members in sight. It should be okay to answer my phone out in the open, right? I knew that most of them were away on solo activities so there was a slim chance that they'd overhear my conversation.

I quickly answered my phone.

"There you are! What took you so long?" Richard grumbled from the other end. He seemed to be in a bad mood today.

"I'm sorry, sir. I was in the middle of doing the laundry" I whispered to the receiver.

"What? Laundry?" he retorted. "You should be working on your report, Minami!"

I rolled my eyes. By this time, I had already given up on correcting Richard.

"I am, sir" I reassured him. "I have some videos that I will send later today."

I heard Richard grunt, "Very well. Are these the videos of the K-pop idols?"

"Yes, sir. It's videos of what they do on their days off and--"

"Good" Richard said, cutting me off. "Send them to me immediately. I will be waiting for them."

"Yes, sir."

"And, Minami."

"Yes, sir?"

"I hope you're not slacking off. Remember, I'm counting on you to get a good report."

I bit the insides of my cheeks to hold back my irritation. "Don't worry, sir. I take my work as a reporter seriously."

Richard hmphed. "I should hope so." And then he hung up.

I let out a sigh of relief. Talking to Richard was always so stressful. Didn't he know how hard it was to stay undercover? I couldn't snoop around as freely as I wanted to so it had been difficult trying to get videos of the EXO members without them catching me in the act. I rolled my neck to relieve the stiffness around my shoulders. I needed a way to alleviate my stress. All talking to Richard ever did was give me neck cramps.

I clicked on the Spotify app on my phone and chose one of my favourite playlists: 'This is: BTS'. As soon as I did, 'Fire' came on. My body started moving to the beat of the soundtrack as I sang along to the lyrics. As Jimin's part transitioned to the chorus, I started head-rocking when Suga said--

"Bultaorene."

The music took over my body and I started to imitate their choreography as best as I could. I thought I was doing it pretty well but from an onlooker's perspective, they would have thought I was a crazy woman trying to hex the laundry in front of me.

"Eh, eh oh, eh oh! Ssak da bultaewora bow wow wow!" I sang out of tune.

I was really enjoying myself when I heard snickering coming from behind me. I turned around and saw it was Chanyeol, fully clothed. His hair was combed back to reveal his forehead and he had a wide smile on his face.

I stopped what I was doing immediately. How long had he been watching? I could feel my cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

"Nice moves" he complimented sarcastically. "You have a unique way of doing laundry." He started imitating my moves with exaggerated movements, his long arms flinging around like he was trying to swat invisible flies. He stopped afterwards and started laughing heartily.

"Laugh all you want" I told him. My face must have turned crimson by now. "But you're just jealous of how good BTS is."

"I'm not jealous of them" Chanyeol said in between laughter. "In fact, why would I be? I'm just as talented as all of them."

"Oh yeah?" I challenged, "Well I think that Rapmon is a better rapper than you."

Chanyeol stopped laughing immediately. His eyes were wide, "What did you say?"

I stuck my tongue out, "I said, 'Rapmon is a better rapper than you'."

His bright eyes suddenly darkened. "Have you ever heard me rap?" he confronted.

I shook my head. "I don't need to. I already know that Rapmon is better at rapping."

Chanyeol suddenly advanced towards me. "Well, you can't just conclude that without evidence." He snatched my phone away from my hand. "Here, I'll show you. Let me just find the soundtrack to one of our songs--"

"Yah!" I shouted. "Give me my phone back!" I reached my arm out to reclaim it but, Chanyeol lifted his long arm above his head so that I couldn't reach.

"Huh? Why is your phone all in English?" he asked as he pried into the one thing that could give away my true identity.

"Yah! Give it back!" I demanded, still trying to reach for my phone. It didn't help that I was only one-hundred and fifty centimetres tall while Chanyeol was one-hundred and eighty-four. "Give it back, I said!"

Chanyeol gave up on navigating through my phone as he looked down at me. He smirked at the sight of me being manipulated by him. "Come get it, shortie," he jeered as he dangled my phone from above my head. I tried jumping up to seize it but, as soon as I did, he lifted it a little higher so I missed. He laughed at my struggling.

"What's the matter? Don't want your phone anymore?" he teased.

"Give it back, Chanyeol!" I demanded angrily. I was in no mood to be polite anymore. But this seemed to only fuel Chanyeol's teasing further.

"Nah-uh," Chanyeol tutted. "I'm not giving this back until you take back what you said earlier."

"What? About you being jealous of BTS?"

Chanyeol shook his head, "Nope. About Rapmon being a better rapper than me."

"Fine" I conceded. Even though I hated to admit it, my drive to keep my identity hidden was more important. I swallowed my pride as an ARMY, "You're better than Rapmon at rapping" I mumbled.

Chanyeol placed his free hand behind his ear. "What? I didn't hear that. Say it again."

I huffed, "You're better than Rapmon at rapping."

Chanyeol grinned. "Nope. Still not loud enough."

"YOU'RE BETTER THAN RAPMON AT RAPPING!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "There? Loud enough for you?"

Chanyeol was startled. But once he regained his composure, a wily smile appeared. "Nope. I'm still not satisfied."

"Give it back, Chanyeol! I did what you asked" I complained. He was starting to get on my nerves.

Chanyeol wagged his finger as he tutted, "That's not how you ask politely, Nami-ssi." He turned his attention towards my phone. "For someone so small, you sure do have a large phone."

"Yah! Don't go through my phone! That's private!" I barked. I was trying my best to contain the panic that was starting to overwhelm me.

I had videos of the members saved onto my phone and, it would be a disaster if Chanyeol went through them!

Chanyeol started fiddling with it in his hand. "Let's see what kind of embarrassing photos you have on here--"

"Yah!" I screamed, trying to divert his attention.

"Omo" he started scrolling down my gallery and then let out a laugh, "is this you?" He turned my phone screen towards me and I saw a photo of me from three years ago. It was when I was in university and I was in the middle of exam season. I didn't bother doing my hair and I had just done an all-nighter. It was taken by one of my friends during our study group sessions. I looked like I had just seen hell and back.

"Stop going through my pictures!" I shouted as I attempted to make a grab for my phone again.

"Wait. Wait. I wanna see what else you got on here" he replied distractedly as he scrolled down even further.

I was in panic mode at this point. If I don't get hold of my phone soon, Chanyeol will end up seeing the videos I took of them! I had to think of a way to get my phone back--and fast!

And then it dawned on me. There was one way to take it from him. Chanyeol was taller and much stronger than me so I was at a physical disadvantage. But, that never stopped me in the past.

I can't believe I'm about to do this...

I loosened my body up from the tension in my muscles. It had been a while since I last did this but, I was pretty confident I could pull it off.

Desperate situations call for desperate measures!

I eyed him up quickly to calculate how to best execute my plan. Chanyeol was standing upright and distracted which gave me a perfect opportunity to target a weak spot. I breathed, here goes nothing.

I charged up to him and grabbed hold of his shirt. Chanyeol was startled at my sudden proximity. "What are you doing--?"

But he couldn't finish his sentence because by that time, he was already on the floor, facing upwards and stunned into silence.

I had swept his legs from the back using my right leg to push him out of balance. With my grasp on his shirt, I had pushed him down, letting gravity do the rest. Chanyeol landed on his back with the grass softening his fall. He was so shocked that he was speechless.

I grabbed my phone from his large hands and quickly locked it. I had just made it in time. One more scroll and he would have seen the videos!

"Yah! You brute of a woman!" Chanyeol yelled at me from the floor. He had finally recovered his ability to speak, "What the hell was that?"

I turned to him. "That was a judo throw."

"What? Judo?" Chanyeol wore a confused expression on his face.

I nodded. "Yes, judo."

He stared at me blankly from the grass.

"You better not mess with me anymore, Chanyeol. Take today as a warning. I used to do judo when I was younger." I made a V-shape with my index and middle finger and pointed it towards my eyes and then to his. "So you better watch out."

Chanyeol's jaw was left hanging as I walked away from him, relieved that I had just narrowly escaped, at what could have been, a disastrous situation.

~*~

Author's Note:

Thanks for reading chapter 12 of Our Little Mother.

I apologise for how long my chapters are getting each time. I just have so many ideas for this fanfic and I don't have enough words to express them!

I hope you are enjoying the story so far because the story has almost reached the end of its first arc! It's nearly time to get the drama on!

As usual, please comment, vote and share.

Happy reading!

Next time...