It was the day before the Gayo Daejun Concert and the EXO members were sitting around the common area. Sehun asked the others, "So what are we wearing tomorrow?"

"Stylist-noona said that we'll be wearing something with a black and white motif" Suho replied. "She will be stopping by the dorm to drop off the outfits."

"Are we not getting ready at the venue, hyung?" Kai asked. "It's at Gocheok Sky Dome, right?"

"I think it'd be better if we get ready here" Xiumin replied. "There will be loads of idols performing tomorrow so the dressing rooms will be packed."

"We'll still get our own dressing room, though" Suho confirmed. "But we'll only use it to touch up."

The EXO members exchanged looks with each other. They were all tired and a bit anxious about tomorrow's performance. Even though they had performed many times in front of a large audience, they couldn't help feeling a little nervous before a concert. After all, anything could happen and it was the uncertainty that worried them.

Chen turned to Nami, who was sitting at the end of the sofa, next to D.O. He had noticed that she hadn't visited Xiumin and him in their room ever since Xiumin had fainted that day. It seemed like she was avoiding him. Maybe she was too embarrassed to talk about their very close kiss? Either way, Chen didn't want Nami to get cold feet now. Not when he and Baekhyun just managed to convince Xiumin to tell her how he feels about her after the concert. Luckily, he had thought of a plan to make sure Xiumin's confession was a success.

"Nami-ah" Chen called out to her. Nami turned to him. "What will you be wearing for the concert?"

Nami was puzzled. "What will I be wearing?" She glanced at everyone else's faces and saw that they were interested to hear her answer. "I wasn't even aware I was going."

Chen had a sly smile. "Of course you're going! You'll be our guest. How can we leave you here when you've done so much for us during the past few weeks?" He glanced at Baekhyun as if to signal something.

"That's right, Little Umma" Baekhyun joined in, getting the hint. "It's our thank you gift for looking after us."

Chen pulled out a slip of paper from his pocket. "We got you an admissions ticket for the concert."

Nami was surprised. "You really got me one?" Chen handed it to her and she looked at it eagerly. It was difficult to read but she saw that it was a VIP ticket. That meant that she would be very close to the stage, almost right in front of the idols.

"We wanted to thank you and figured that this was the best way to do it," Chen said. "And since you've seen us rehearse non-stop, we thought it would be fitting if you saw the actual performance too."

Nami met Chen's eyes and he saw that she was bursting with happiness. "Thank you so much, Chen-oppa! You don't know how happy this makes me!"

"Now, you can see what an awesome group we are" Baekhyun bragged proudly as he stuck up his nose towards the ceiling. "I bet you've never seen us perform live before. Consider yourself lucky, that ticket was very hard to get."

"I can imagine" Nami replied, still in disbelief at the ticket in her hands. "Just getting normal concert tickets for BTS is hard enough, let alone concert tickets where different idols attend."

The rest of the EXO members exchanged looks after hearing Nami's utterance.

Chanyeol spoke, "I hope you're not just looking forward to watching BTS' performance."

Nami had a guilty smile. "Of course I'll watch your performance too! It's just that, I can't quite believe I'll get to see BTS perform live! It's been my dream to watch them perform on stage."

"And there goes our pride out the window" Baekhyun commented sarcastically.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy," Suho said, a little wounded by Nami's earlier remark, "but like Chen asked, what are you going to wear?"

Nami thought for a moment. "I have my BTS hoodie upstairs. I can pair that up with a pair of denim jeans and I'm good."

Sehun was unimpressed. "No way, Little Umma, you can't come with us in the car wearing a BTS hoodie! That's so disloyal!"

"Yeah, imagine us walking out of the car and a Little Umma trailing behind us in a BTS hoodie" Kai snickered, "it would look comical."

"At least wear something with EXO on it" Sehun pleaded.

"I think you guys have forgotten that I'm still an ARMY" Nami replied. "And if this is my only chance to see them perform live then, I'd like to wear something to support my fandom."

"How about we reach a compromise?" Chen suggested. "We'll get stylist-noona to dress you up and you can bring a BTS light stick with you."

Nami was confused, "Dress me up? It's a concert. Why would I need to dress nicely?"

Chen kept a smile on his face. It's not because of the concert that I need you need to dress up. It's for after the concert, he thought to himself. "It's just part of our thank you gift. And, it would be nice if you came in neutral clothes since we'd like you to support us too. Don't you think it'd be unfair on us if you just wore a BTS hoodie even though you're our dorm mother?"

"He's right, Little Umma. You're practically family. And family stick together" Baekhyun preached.

Nami was thoughtful. "Fine," she said finally. "I'll do as you say."

Chen mentally patted himself on the back. "Great. It's decided then." He looked across to Baekhyun and they exchanged roguish smiles. "Tomorrow, Nami-ah, we'll be your fairy god-fathers."

"And you shall go to the ball!" Baekhyun chimed.

~*~

I climbed downstairs carefully, my feet wobbling slightly as I wasn't used to wearing platform heels. EXO's stylist, who I call Stylist-unnie instead of noona, had worked tirelessly getting EXO and myself ready for the concert. She was the same stylist that had looked after me during the photo shoot a while back.

She smiled at me once her work was done. "You look stunning, Minami-ssi," she said kindly. She was a few years older than Xiumin but if you saw her, you would have thought she was the same age as me. I sometimes wondered why she wasn't an idol herself: she was drop-dead gorgeous.

"Thank you, unnie" I replied shyly.

She looked at my reflection in the mirror and said, "You know, it was fun doing your makeup and hair during the photo shoot the other day. It's rare for me to work with hair that has never been dyed before." She fiddled with the loose strands of my hair, carefully putting back the curls to where they belonged. "Have you ever considered being a model?"

I shook my head. "I don't think I'm cut out for modelling."

She kissed her teeth, "That's a pity. I think that you'd be a great hit. What with your unique charm and all."

I blushed. Stylist-unnie was quite the flatterer. "I'm not that pretty," I told her.

She smiled. "Minami-ssi, those who don't think they're pretty are the prettiest of them all."

I got up and straightened my dress. Somehow, Stylist-unnie had convinced me to wear a one-piece white dress with platform heels. It didn't look like attire that would be comfortable to wear during a concert.

"Why do I have to wear a dress?" I had asked her before putting it on.

She smiled at me. "I was told to style you in the most feminine way possible. And anyway, it wasn't me who bought the dress." I looked at her curiously and she laughed. "It was EXO who bought it for you."

As I reached the end of the steps, I saw that the rest of the EXO members were already dressed, waiting for me. They were wearing black and white, like they discussed yesterday, but the designs of their clothes varied. Some of them wore white shirts while others wore black. They all had the same pattern etched on their clothing: it was a dandelion seed print.

D.O was the first to react, "Nami-ah" he said my name as if he was breathless.

As soon as he did, the rest of the EXO members had turned around to see what D.O was looking at.

Sehun did the wolf-whistle. "Little Umma. Hot Umma" he whispered appreciatively. Suho punched him lightly on the shoulder.

I approached all of them and my eyes unavoidably met with Xiumin's. His auburn hair was gelled back and parted to one side. He had black eyeliner around his almond eyes, making them stand out more than usual. To be honest, I had always found it weird when guys wore makeup but, for some reason, Korean men seemed to suit it well. Xiumin especially. It made him look more intense; more dangerous; more sexy...

He saw me looking at him and he smiled, making my heart race at the sight of his lips. I hadn't been able to look at him straight in the eye ever since that day in the dance studio. And would you blame me? I feel like my heart was going to explode every time I remembered how dangerously close he was and how our lips almost touched. How it felt to have his warm breath against mine and his cool palm caressing my hair. It was electrifying.

"You look beautiful, Nami-ah" I heard him say in that soothing voice. I almost had a mini heart-attack.

Chen nodded from behind him. He had a glint in his eye. "Yep. The dress was a perfect fit."

I turned towards him. "Stylist-unnie mentioned that EXO bought this dress for me. How did you know my size?"

Chen grinned. He cocked his head to Baekhyun and everyone else looked at him. "What?" he asked innocently.

"How did you know my dress size?" I asked him. It was not like I had ever gone shopping for clothes with EXO before.

His cheeks were tinted rose. "It was, erm, a guess" he rubbed his neck and mumbled, "I guessed your size after the shower incident."

My face coloured at his response. The shower incident. When he accidentally walked in on me naked. "Well, you guessed right," I told him while blushing and slapped him on the shoulder out of embarrassment.

The others laughed. Once they'd calmed down, Suho took charge. "Now that we're all ready, we should get going so that we have time to warm up our voices."

"But before we go" Chen interrupted, "we have to decide something very important."

"And what would that be?" Chanyeol asked.

Chen grinned, "Who would Nami-ah's escort be, of course."

I looked at him bewildered. "I don't need an escort."

Chen elaborated, "Of course you do. After the concert, there will be an after party for idols only and you'll be coming with us."

I was surprised. An after party? No one said anything about an after party. "B-but I'm not an idol. What would I do in a party like that?"

"It's just a small get-together" Baekhyun explained. "Only a couple of idols are coming. It's really exclusive but since you're with us, you'll be able to get in without a problem."

I was gobsmacked. No wonder they made me wear a dress!

"BTS will be coming too" Chen mentioned casually. He knew that I wouldn't be able to refuse once he mentioned BTS. "So what do you say, shall we decide on who will be Nami-ah's escort for tonight?"

"Sure," Chanyeol said confidently. He eyed me determinedly before looking at Chen again, "how shall we decide?"

"Wait," I told them, "don't I get a say in this?"

The EXO members exchanged looks. "Nope."

"We can decide by doing rock-paper-scissors" Kai suggested.

"Sounds fair to me" Sehun replied.

Suho sighed, "Okay, let's just get this over and done with."

I watched as D.O and Xiumin joined in too.

"Ready?" Chen asked the others. They all nodded. "Okay, kai-bai-bo."

The EXO members stuck out their hands either wielding rock, paper or scissors. They did this a couple of times until eventually, only Chanyeol, Xiumin and D.O were left. The trio looked at each other competitively as they threw their hands in for the final round.

"Kai-bai-bo!" Chanyeol chanted and threw his fist in front of him. D.O joined him by choosing rock too. But Xiumin chose paper, ending the game victorious. The EXO members applauded Xiumin, who became the winner and my escort for the after party.

"Aigoo" Chanyeol groaned.

Xiumin could only comfort the pair who had lost. "I knew you were going to go for rock."

"How?" Chanyeol asked.

He snickered, "You always go for rock, remember?"

Chanyeol facepalmed himself at the realisation, "You know me too well, hyung."

"Me too" D.O murmured.

Xiumin turned towards me, a radiant smile on his face. "Shall we go, Nami-ah?" he asked, offering his arm for me to link my arm with. Winning at rock-paper-scissors had made Xiumin giddy. I smiled back at him, my earlier shyness ebbing away.

"Yes, oppa. Let's."

~*~

In no time, Nami and the EXO members arrived at the Gocheok Sky Dome and got ready for the evening's performance. Nami observed how busy everyone was behind stage. There were idols everywhere on standby; the tech crew were rushing to organise props and checking the equipment was functional and there were also racks of sparkly costumes and rows of suitcases filled with outfits and cosmetics, lined up in the hallway.

It was busy, very busy and, Nami felt overwhelmed with all the lights, the buzz and the heat that was being emitted from having too many people in a confined space at the same time. But, in spite of all the stimuli, Nami saw that the EXO members were calm. They were focused on their performance and she knew that they would do it well.

As the EXO members huddled together for a pep rally by Suho, Nami snuck out of their dressing room to explore. She had hoped to bump into BTS and have a quick chat with them before the concert started. But instead of BTS, she ended up bumping into someone better.

"Oof" the guy in front of her grunted as they collided. "Sorry" he mumbled in English. "I mean, mianhe" he looked up and saw that he needn't correct himself. "Mirei?"

Nami snapped to attention at the sound of her real name. "Nikka?" she was just as surprised to see him as he was her.

Nikka captured her in an embrace. "Mirei! What the hell are you doing here?" he pulled her away from him to look at her closely, "And dang girl, you're smokin' hot."

Nami giggled, "The EXO members invited me to come." She twirled around to show off her outfit, "They even got me professionally dressed up."

Nikka was impressed. "Well, I'm glad you're here. Listen," he told her urgently, "I'm gonna be interviewing BTS right after they perform and I'll be flying out tomorrow. Will you come and see me off?"

Nami nodded. "You're leaving so soon. I can't believe it."

Nikka drew her close into a hug again. "I know, darling. But it won't be long till we're reunited again."

Nami pushed him away. "Nikka, I don't think we should be talking here. The EXO members are only round the corner. Let's meet up again later."

"Sure. Where will you be?"

Nami showed him her ticket. "I'll be in the front row in the audience."

"You're going to be watching from there?" he asked astounded. "How will I ever find you?"

She gestured at her dress. "There aren't many people who wear a white dress to a concert, you know."

Nikka smirked, "Good point."

As Nikka and Nami parted ways, Chanyeol appeared from around the corner. "Nami-ah" he called to her. "There you are. You shouldn't go wandering around backstage by yourself--you'll get lost."

"Sorry, Chanyeol" she apologised quickly, hoping that Nikka had already started walking away.

Chanyeol glanced behind her and saw a man in a slick navy suit and a man-bun walking in the other direction. He eyed him suspiciously before turning his attention to Nami. "Let's go. The concert's starting in an hour."

~*~

The sound of the audience roaring was deafening as each and every K-pop idol appeared on stage for their performance. All around me, I saw fluorescent lights of varying colours, many of which were from the light sticks which fans carried to represent their fandom. As I looked back, behind me, I saw an ocean of black that was peppered with small orbs of light that looked like glitter against the black blanket. The audience hummed with life; screams could be heard from excited fans, culminating into a low-key buzz that resonated around the dome-shaped venue.

In front of me was the stage. It was a large platform with bright fluorescent lights that illuminated the venue with a kaleidoscope of colours. A massive plasma screen TV projected the idols' group names as they performed and a string of powerful spotlights spun strategically to highlight the idols during the climax of their song.

The energy from the audience was infectious. I found myself cheering and screaming at the top of my lungs as the likes of Big Bang, GOT7 and CNBLUE performed on stage. It was so invigorating to see them live. It was as if I could finally believe they were real people: not just celebrities that I could only ever see through watching YouTube videos or reality shows. I was there, right in front of them and, it felt like I had finally served my purpose in life.

As SHINee waved the audience goodbye, and a short intermission was announced, I took a break from shouting to calm my raw throat. The host had announced that the next performance would be by EXO and after that, BTS. I immediately perked up. They were the performances I've been eagerly waiting for.

"Are you still going to go through with it?" I heard a girl mumble behind me to her friend.

"Yes. I've come this far. I can't back out now."

"Are you sure? If you do that, we might get kicked out."

"This is our chance! We're so close-- it's now or never."

I turned around curiously, taking a sly peep at the girls behind me. Their conversation sounded sketchy and I suspected that they were up to no good.

They continued, "Have you got the water balloons in the bag?"

"Yeah, we were lucky to smuggle them in without getting caught."

"Good. When EXO comes on, we'll aim for the one that's nearest us."

Inconspicuously, I turned my head and saw that they had a rucksack filled with water balloons. When I saw that both the girls were wearing BTS hoodies, I knew immediately what they were: they were EXO anti-fans. There were two types of fan: the accepting type that respected other fandoms and, the extreme type that were die-hard and sometimes instigated fandom wars.

I knew that if I let the girls go through with their plan, not only would it ruin EXO's performance, which they had worked so hard for but, it would also implicate BTS. And I didn't want them tarnishing BTS' good name over their extreme hate of other fandoms.

I couldn't let them go through with it but, as I searched around for security, I found out that they were too far away for me to reach. There was only one other thing I could do and that was to try and stop them myself.

I was about to confront the two girls when the lights suddenly dimmed and flashes of red light consumed the stage. The familiar sound of EXO's 'Monster' blared out of the overhead speakers and I saw that the EXO members had begun their performance. The crowd roared with life once more, causing me to lose focus on the two girls behind me. They had begun edging their way towards the stage, where they could get a better vantage point of their unlucky target.

When I eventually found them, I saw that they had targeted their sights on Suho. I clenched my jaw, if I don't get to them now, they will ruin everything!

As fast as I could manage in heels, I forced my way through the crowd so that I could stop them. I kept my eyes on them all the time as I struggled against resentful fans who were ignorant of what potentially could ruin the whole concert. But, as soon as I was only five steps away, I saw that they were preparing to launch their first balloon. With one last desperate attempt to get to them in time, I jumped from where I was, rugby tackling the fan next to me, who fell and caused a domino effect around the surrounding people next to her. The two girls were caught in the stumble and their water balloons went flying into the air all around them, soaking the nearby fans.

What happened next was pure havoc.

The soaked fans got hold of the perpetrators and started a brawl which resulted in security rushing over to break-up the fight. Luckily I wasn't involved in this until the fan that I had tackled gestured for one of the security guards to take me in too.

"She tackled me to the ground for no reason!" she squeaked.

The guard looked at me and beckoned for me to come with him. I protested, "It's all a misunderstanding," I begged, "I was trying to stop those two from ruining the concert. If I didn't tackle her, I wouldn't have been able to stop them!"

The guard frowned, "So you admit assaulting this lady?"

I was tongue-tied. It wasn't like I could deny it.

The guard let out a grunt as he escorted me out of the venue like a criminal.

I walked out of the main concert hall with my head hanging low in shame.

All this happened while EXO performed so I didn't get the chance to watch them. I was just gutted that I wouldn't be able to watch BTS' performance too.

~*~

Author's Note:

Hi reader! Thanks for reading chapter 24 of Our Little Mother.

I know not much has happened yet but the events will unfold in the following chapters. For now, I want to ask you, what's going to happen to Mirei? What has Chen got planned? And will Xiumin be able to tell Mirei his feelings?

Stick around and find out!

Next time...

P.S. Vote, comment and share!