"And, that's all for today. Thank you, everyone, for coming and supporting these wonderful artists!" The emcee quipped cheerily. He turned to the EXO members, who were getting up from their seats. "Thank you, EXO for coming to today's fan signing. EXO-L's will continue to support you."

The sound of screaming fangirls resonated around the hall as the EXO members waved their fans goodbye. 

But as soon as they reached the safety of being behind the stage and in their dressing room, the smiles, which they had plastered on their faces, finally came off.

It was a tiring three hours, not to mention the fact that they had early morning rehearsals before that. 

Each EXO member let out a breath of relief at finally being able to relax their cheek muscles and their sore hands. How many signatures had they had to write in that small amount of time? One thousand? It felt like more than that. 

Baekhyun was the first to speak. "I'm so tired. All that signing has made me hungry." He turned to the others. "Anyone down for chicken later?"

Chen groaned. "Chicken again?" He had an eyebrow raised. "Yah, our bin at home is literally full of chicken bones. How many chickens have you guys eaten in the past three days?"

Kai and Sehun grinned at Chen's question.

"Only two," Kai answered. 

Sehun cocked his head. "Or maybe three?"

As the members climbed into their van and got ready to go back to their dorm, Chen, Baekhyun, Kai and Sehun bickered on what they should eat. 

"Yah, can you guys shut up already?" Suho sounded irritated. He was sitting at the front of the van in between a sleepy Chanyeol and D.O, who was preoccupied with his phone. 

Suho pressed the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger once he was done yelling at the four to shut up. D.O glanced up at Suho and noticed how worked up he was getting. He turned to the back of the van, where the four members were still arguing but, quietly. 

"I can cook something when we get home" he offered. 

The four noisy members looked to the front of the van and at D.O's direction. 

"Will you really?" asked Kai excitedly. He liked D.O's cooking.

D.O nodded. "Yeah, it's no trouble."

The dorm was a large building with an open plan kitchen that led to the communal sitting area and living room. Upstairs, there was a long corridor that led to the members' bedrooms. There were two bathrooms and six bedrooms in total so some of the members had to share a room. The dorm was predominantly painted in an off-white colour and furnished with chic brown leather sofas and bean bags of varying colours. It gave off a very modern and youthful ambience.   

When they finally arrived at the dorm, the EXO members immediately did what they normally did straight after a tiring day: they began to unwind. Sehun, Kai and Xiumin went straight to their rooms while Chanyeol, Chen and Baekhyun gathered around the TV.

D.O went straight to the kitchen to start making dinner.

Suho took a moment to inspect the state of their dorm. It was absolutely filthy. There was clutter everywhere. He sighed at the pile of empty plastic water bottles that had occupied the coffee table and the unwound game controllers which were left on the ground by the maknaes, Kai and Sehun. 

Seeing the beagle line just lazing on the sofa, watching TV, further irritated him more. "Guys, this place is a mess!" he exclaimed.

Baekhyun turned to him. "You think so, hyung? It's only like this because Mrs. Park hasn't been in for the past three days."

Suho's eyes widened. "Three days? It's only been three days and the dorm is already this messy?" He shook his head before heading towards his room. He was too hot-headed and tired to think properly.

"What's wrong with him?" asked Chanyeol from his beanbag. 

"He's probably just hangry" replied Chen dismissively. Chanyeol gave him a confused look. "You know," Chen elaborated, "hungry and angry at the same time? Suho's probably having one of those moments."

"But he's right, you know" Baekhyun acknowledges. "The dorm is a mess. When's the new housekeeper coming?"

Chanyeol answered, "I think Suho-hyung said that she'll be here in a few days."

Baekhyun sighed. "Few days, huh?" A mischievous grin crept up his face. "You think she'll be as pretty as Mrs. Park?

Chanyeol gave him a repulsed look. "Ew, Baek, don't ask me that. You make it sound like you're asking about my mom!"

"I wasn't asking about your mom. I meant our Mrs. Park. You think the new housekeeper will be anything like her?"  

"What? You mean like good at cooking?" Chanyeol enquired. "We'll just have to see."

"But I'm gonna miss Mrs. Park though," Chen suddenly interjected. "It's a shame she had to get married."

Chanyeol and Baekhyun exchanged looks. 

"Sounds like someone had a crush on Mrs. Park!" Baekhyun teased. "Isn't she like, seven years older than you?"

Chen shot him a warning look. "Yah, there's nothing wrong with that."

Chanyeol chuckled quietly. While the pair engaged in a mock fight, he looked up at the TV to see what show was on and found that they were on some international news channel. A foreign reporter appeared on the screen and was speaking in English. Luckily, there were Korean subtitles at the bottom.

Chanyeol observed the reporter's features. He had sweeping, long jet-black hair that was parted to the left side of his face. His eyes were a dark chocolate brown and he had a neatly shaped beard and matching moustache. His arabesque features were unique and quite frankly, alluring. 

To Chanyeol, he thought that guy was handsome. When he told this to the other two, they laughed at him.

"What? Don't you think this guy would be a babe magnet?" Chanyeol asked, trying to defend his earlier comment.

"Not really. I think that men look better without the facial hair. It just makes him look old," Baekhyun argued. 

"But he gives off a mature aura, you know?" Chanyeol insisted. He stroked his own chin. "I don't think I'd be able to pull off that look even if I can grow a beard."

"You'd look like a man-child" Chen joked.

Chanyeol was bemused at his remark.

Baekhyun stared at Chanyeol intensely for a few seconds and then agreed, "I tried imagining it. It won't suit you, bro."

"Well, whatever!" Chanyeol uttered as he flung his arms up at the air. "I think I'm good-looking as I am anyway."

Baekhyun let out a stifled laugh that sounded like a shriek. "Yeah, but not enough to be a babe magnet!"

Chen chortled at this, "Chanyeol? A babe magnet? No way!"

"Yah, I can be both" Chanyeol boasted. "Don't you know how many girls rate me as their number one bias? It's more than what you two get all together."

At this, Chen and Baekhyun took offence. 

"Are you saying," began Chen, "that you are more handsome than both of us combined?"

Chanyeol replied confidently, "Of course. In fact, I'm so confident that I'm handsome that I bet I can make any girl fall for me just with my good looks alone."

Baekhyun let out a long 'oooh'. "You're getting way ahead of yourself, Chanyeol."

Chen agreed, "Yeah, you think it's that easy to make a girl fall for you? In reality, you won't be able to get a girlfriend because all you'll attract is crazy fangirls."

"I'm open to dating fans," Chanyeol replied casually. 

"You know what, let's make things interesting" Baekhyun suddenly announced. "Why don't we take you up on that bet?"

"What?" Chanyeol managed to say. 

Chen grinned. "Yeah, why not?"

Chen and Baekhyun both looked at Chanyeol expectantly.

"I bet for ten thousand won" Chen challenged, "that you can't make a girl fall for you and your so-called good looks."

Baekhyun smiled. "Ditto."

Chanyeol looked at the pair of them and saw that they were serious. Really now? He thought to himself. They doubt my ability that much?

"Fine," Chanyeol finally answered. "I'm in on the bet too."

The three extend their hands to shake on the offer.

"But we'll decide on who that girl will be," Baekhyun added. "We'll have to make it as fair as possible."

Chanyeol gave him a confident look. "Bring it on. It doesn't matter who it is. As long as I can talk to her, I'll make her fall for me."

"You better not quit on us" warned Chen playfully.

"Hakuna Matata" Chanyeol replied offhandedly, "I won't back down." 

The bet was on.

And Chanyeol was determined to win it.

~*~

Author's note:

Hello again! Thank you for reading the second chapter!

And... Happy New Year! May you have a great 2018. I was literally writing this chapter while waiting for the clock to chime 12.

I hope you are enjoying the story so far and as usual, please vote, comment and share if you like the story. It will mean a lot to me. 

I will try to write the first five chapters and upload them soon. After that, I think I will start releasing a chapter every Sunday.

Happy reading!