"What the hell happened to you two?" Xiumin asked as he entered the kitchen and saw D.O's and Chanyeol's tired expressions.

Chanyeol yawned as he stirred his coffee. "We didn't get much sleep last night."

D.O sauntered over, his hair dishevelled and his eyes showing apparent bags. "Nami-ah was a difficult roommate."

Nami peeped at both of them. "You guys keep saying that, but I slept just fine." She poured some cereal into a bowl. "All I did was sleep in the middle."

Chanyeol frowned at her, "I guess you don't remember the part when you started snoring."

"Or when you started to roll around" D.O mentioned.

"And when you drooled on my pillow" Chanyeol continued.

"Or when you started sleep-talking" D.O added.

"Okay, okay!" Nami said, embarrassed. "You don't need to say anymore."

Xiumin chuckled. "Sounds like you two barely got any sleep."

Chanyeol and D.O exchanged looks. They saw that they were just as bleary-eyed as the other.

"Let's sleep on the sofas tonight" Chanyeol suggested.

"Agreed" D.O replied.

~*~

"No," I told Sehun sternly. "I'm not wearing that."

"Oh, c'mon, Little Umma! We're at the beach. And beaches mean wearing bikinis" he insisted.

"If you want to see someone wearing a bikini then, ask one of the others" I retorted.

Sehun scrunched up his face. "Little Umma, this is for women, not for men."

"Then get a mankini then!"

The other EXO members laughed as Sehun pouted. We were at the beach again and we were about to play some water games when I pointed out to the EXO members that I didn't bring enough spare clothes to use for the beach. That was when Sehun kindly offered me a bikini that he happened to have.

"Why do you even have that?" Baekhyun interrogated Sehun. "Do you just carry bikinis around with you?"

Sehun curled his lip at him, "Haha, hyung. Very funny. We went to the supermarket yesterday and I bought it for Little Umma since I noticed she didn't swim yesterday." He turned to me once more, "Please, Little Umma? You're not going to reject my heartfelt gift, are you?" he said with aegyo.

Suho grabbed hold of his shoulder and squeezed it. "Yah, you pervy maknae..."

Sehun wrenched himself free from Suho's grasp and quickly hid behind Chanyeol. "Save me, hyung! Suho-hyung looks like he's going to eat me!"

Chanyeol peered down at him and sighed. "Look, Sehun. Nami-ah doesn't want to wear the bikini you bought so just let her be."

Sehun was disappointed. "Hyung! Don't you want to see Nami-ah in a bikini? You're dating, aren't you? It's not every day that we get to go to the beach."

I saw Chanyeol look at me and raised his brow. He turned back to Sehun. "Why would I want to see her in a bikini?" he asked puzzled. "Nami-ah doesn't have a shred of sex appeal so it's not worth seeing her in a bikini anyway."

"What did you say?" I asked, aghast. Did he just insult me in front of the others? "I have no sex appeal?"

Chanyeol nodded, "Yep. None whatsoever."

I frowned at him. I may not be the most attractive girl out there but, I wasn't going to let Chanyeol openly insult me like that. He always knows how to provoke me! I snatched the bikini from Sehun's hands and scowled at Chanyeol before storming towards the make-shift changing room that we created using seaside privacy screens. "Just you wait, Chanyeol! I'm going to make you eat your words!" I spat, before storming off.

~*~

"Little Umma sure is taking her sweet time" Baekhyun commented as he played around in the sand.

"Maybe you should check on her, Chanyeol? See if she needs any help?" Chen suggested.

Chanyeol sighed. "That macho woman better be dressed by the time I get there" he grumbled. He was still a little cranky from not getting enough sleep. He walked over to the privacy screens and saw Nami's outline from behind the blue and yellow striped tarpaulin. "Nami-ah" he called to her from a distance. "Are you ready? We're gonna start the games now."

Nami peeped from behind the screen, only showing her face. She looked at him shyly. "I-I don't think I'm going to play after all."

Chanyeol raised his brow. "Why not?"

She looked away awkwardly. "The bikini Sehun bought is a lot more revealing than I thought. It's-it's a little too tight."

Chanyeol smirked, "Just come out already. It can't be that bad."

"But it is," Nami said, her head disappearing behind the screen. "I feel really self-conscious."

Chanyeol grinned. Nami acting embarrassed was kind of cute. "Don't worry about it. No one's gonna body shame you. We're all friends here."

Nami peered from behind the screen again. "Promise me you won't laugh?"

Chanyeol grinned mischievously, "I won't, don't worry."

Nami straightened herself up and walked away from the screen. Chanyeol's eyes widened at the sight of her. His eyes trailed down as they took in the curves of Nami's body and her bronzy, sun-kissed skin. She was in great shape. His eyes couldn't help fixating on the part she mentioned was a little too tight. He gulped. He could feel heat rushing down to an area of his body that he didn't want her to see. He turned his hips slowly, hoping that she wouldn't notice.

Nami had her arms around her chest as she tried to cover her exposed skin. "Well?" she asked expectantly.

Chanyeol couldn't help blushing. "You-you look...great"

Nami narrowed her eyes at him and her lips curled into a teasing smile. "What's this? Are you... blushing, Chanyeol?"

"No I'm not!" he denied, turning his head away.

Nami's smile was wide now. "Yes, you are! You're blushing!" she ran up to him so that she was in his line of sight again. "You're embarrassed! And you said I didn't have a shred of sex appeal."

Chanyeol averted his gaze as Nami continued to tease him. She was too close to him. So close, in fact, that he had a perfect view of her 'little' puppies. Chanyeol gently pushed her away, aware that his 'little brother' was starting to come into view. Taking one last look at her again, he sighed and started taking off his black shirt. He threw it at her.

"Wear that" he ordered.

Nami peered at it. "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?" he said, blushing. "You said you were feeling self-conscious so wear that on top." He turned around as he tried to calm his little brother down.

Nami looked at the black shirt in her hands. "It stinks of you."

"Just wear it!" Chanyeol insisted.

Nami did as she was told and found that his shirt reached down to her thighs. It was long enough to cover her exposed butt. "Okay, you can look now."

Chanyeol turned around. Nami had her hair tied up in a pony-tail and his black shirt looked oversized on her. She looked so cute that something in him made him want to protect her. His heart drummed against his chest at the sight of her: she was the perfect image of the girlfriend wearing the boyfriend's top. Chanyeol could feel heat rushing down again and he quickly angled his body away from her again.

"Let-let's go, then" he stuttered.

Nami giggled, "I told you I'll make you eat your words."

~*~

When we met up with the rest of the group, I immediately saw Sehun's expression dampen at the sight of me wearing Chanyeol's shirt.

He remarked disappointedly, "Why are you wearing his shirt? Where's the bikini I got you?"

"I'm wearing it," I told him, as I pulled out the strap from the neck hole to show him. "See?"

Sehun huffed, "Yeah, but you're wearing it underneath. You should--" but Sehun couldn't finish his sentence as Chanyeol had him in a headlock.

"Yah, stop making Nami-ah uncomfortable," he said through gritted teeth.

"Hyung!" Sehun gasped from his arms. "You-you're choking me!" He tapped Chanyeol's arm to signal his submission. Chanyeol let him go.

Sehun gasped for breath as he rubbed his neck. "Aish. Getting all protective now, are we?" he gave him a wily smile from the ground. "I bet you saw something and now you don't want to share it with us."

Baekhyun made teasing noises from the other side. "Leave 'em alone, Sehun. Chanyeol's whipped now. Of course, he'd be protective of Little Umma!"

Chanyeol was blushing furiously. "I'm not whipped!"

I rolled my eyes. Men. "Can we please just start the games now?"

Suho took charge. "Yes. Our first game is the horse and jockey game!"

Baekhyun perked up. "Yes! I love this game!"

"The lightest should play the jockey then," Chen remarked.

Sehun was grim, "I already know I'm playing the horse."

I turned to Chanyeol, "What's the horse and jockey game?"

"You've never heard of it?" Baekhyun asked.

I shook my head.

"Have you not watched 'Scarlet Heart Ryeo'?" his voice was high in pitch. "It was in one of the scenes for episode seven." He stuck up his nose proudly. "I was the jockey."

"It's basically three people locking arms with one another to form a horse," Chanyeol explained, "while the fourth person, the jockey, sits on top and tries to steal the opponent's headband."

Kai counted the members, "There's nine of us here so one person will have to sit out and referee."

D.O raised his hand. "I can do that."

"You're not playing today too?" I asked him.

D.O shook his head at me. "I rather not."

"Oh, c'mon D.O-ah" Kai whined. "You gotta play. You're one of the lightest ones here. You can be the jockey."

"Yeah and Suho-hyung can referee" Sehun added.

Suho glared at him.

"It'll be fun, D.O-ah," I said.

Reluctantly, D.O gave in.

"How should we decide the teams?" Chen asked.

"Kai-bai-bo?" Chanyeol suggested.

Xiumin spoke, "But we only choose either rock or paper. If there are unequal numbers, we can keep playing until we have two teams."

Everyone agreed.

"Okay, everyone ready?" Suho asked, from outside the circle we had formed. "Kai-bai-bo!"

We played rock-paper-scissors until the eight of us had formed into two teams of four. I joined the group that chose paper and that was Kai, Chen and Chanyeol. Our opponents were the rock group; D.O, Xiumin, Sehun and Baekhyun. After a brief team meeting, I was selected to be the jockey. Since Chanyeol was taller than Chen and Kai, he was told to support my weight from one side while Chen linked arms with him so that they could form my seat. Kai acted as the head of the horse and Chen and Chanyeol linked their arms together to form a sturdy unit. I tied the headband around my forehead and got ready for battle, as they hoisted me up on their shoulders.

"You're pretty light, Little Umma" Kai observed from below me. He turned his head around, only to quickly face the front again.

"Yah! Face the front and concentrate, Kai!" Chanyeol shouted from behind.

Chen added, "Stop trying to look at Nami-ah's chest!"

As we advanced towards the starting position, I saw that the opposing jockey was D.O. Baekhyun was the head horse and Sehun and Xiumin acted as the supporting body. When Suho saw that both teams were ready, he dropped his outstretched hand and shouted, "Begin!"

Both our teams let out a battle cry as we advanced at one another. "Get his headband!" Chanyeol commanded as I wrestled with D.O.

"I'm trying! I'm trying!" I shouted as D.O and I raced to get each other's headband. I saw D.O's competitive side as he refused to yield. We were all shouting words of encouragement at each other as we engaged in this fun but intense battle.

"The losers have to clean up after dinner!" Suho shouted from the side.

"What?!" Baekhyun shouted from below. "D.O-ah, make sure you get that headband!"

D.O and I struggled to grab hold of each other's headband. His arms were longer than mine so he had a better reach but I was quicker than him. After much struggle and a lot of squirming, I managed to steal D.O's headband.

"Got it!" I shouted as I waved the headband triumphantly. But I must have squirmed a little too much because the next thing I knew, our horse formation had collapsed and we had toppled over.

Chanyeol groaned in pain. I quickly stood up and saw that I had landed on top of him. He was curled up in the foetus position with both his hands protecting his most sensitive area.

"Oh my God, Chanyeol. Are you okay?" I asked him worriedly as he rolled around in the sand.

His voice had gone into falsetto. "Yep. But I don't think my little brother is."

Kai had fallen down on the other side. He dusted the sand from his vest. "Looks like you hit him right in the balls."

"He'll recover," Chen said, from my right. "But he's gonna need ice. And lots of it."

~*~

It was late in the evening and D.O was busy preparing the BBQ they were going to have for dinner. As it was windy outside, the other members had insisted that they use the indoor grill. As D.O washed the vegetables and marinated the meat, Nami came over to join him.

"Need any help?" she asked.

Immediately, D.O's spirits were lifted. He liked it whenever Nami joined him in the kitchen. "Yeah, that would be nice."

Nami got to work and started slicing the vegetables into bite-sized pieces while D.O skewered the meat. They worked quietly but, D.O felt that there was a good atmosphere between them. He saw that she was struggling with a knife and said, "You should use this one. The blade on that one is dull."

"Don't we need garlic salt?" she asked as she peered at what D.O was doing. He was sprinkling some seasoning on the meat.

"There should be some in the cupboard" he replied, pointing to the highest one.

Nami walked towards it and saw that it was further up than she thought. She tested her height by getting on the tips of her toes but confirmed that it was indeed, out of her reach. D.O saw her struggling and grinned. He walked over to her and reached up, just barely getting it himself. He didn't even realise how close he was to Nami until she turned around and his round eyes met her almond-shaped ones. He jumped back immediately, trying to calm his erratic heartbeat.

"S-sorry" he mumbled.

She chuckled. "No worries."

The sound of the others shouting from the living room caught both of their attention. "It sounds like they're having another competition," D.O said absentmindedly.

"They were having a wrestling match when I left" Nami informed him. "But Xiumin-oppa was winning them all."

"Hyung is the strongest out all of us" he pointed out. He looked at Nami and saw that she was staring at him from afar. "Did you want to go and join them?"

She turned to him. "No, it's fine. I already wrestled with the others earlier. Xiumin-oppa was too strong to beat."

D.O watched as Nami's face lit up whenever she mentioned Xiumin's name. He knew that she was fond of Xiumin but how close were they exactly?

When dinner was ready, D.O called the others and they sat down and ate heartily. Kai, as usual, was the noisiest of them all and started eating all the meat as soon as D.O had set the plate down on the table. While they were eating, the others started talking about their wrestling match.

"Hyung, how did you get so strong?" Chanyeol asked Xiumin. He was still pinching an icepack between his legs.

Xiumin just shrugged. "I worked out, obviously."

"It's unfair. If we did a thigh wrestling match, I'd definitely win" Kai said with his mouth full.

"I think we already established that ages ago" Baekhyun muttered sarcastically.

"But what surprised me most was how Nami-ah beat all of us apart from Xiumin-hyung" Chen commented.

The others nodded in agreement.

D.O was impressed, "Really? Is this true?" He turned to Nami who just simply nodded.

"But then again, we've all seen her flip Chanyeol over so of course we knew she was strong already" Suho pointed out. "How did you get so strong, Nami-ah?"

"Yeah, tell us your secret!" Sehun encouraged.

Nami smirked. "I ate spinach."

The EXO members were confused. "Huh?"

"You know, Popeye?" Nami elaborated. She thought to herself, did Koreans not know who Popeye was? He was an American cartoon character that grew muscles every time he ate spinach.

"You mean, Bobbai" Chanyeol corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?"

He shook his head. "But seriously, though. All you did was eat spinach?"

"It was a joke. I already told you, I did judo when I was younger."

"Ah, really?" Baekhyun asked. "I did hapkido in the past. And Umin-hyung did taekwondo and kendo too."

At this Nami was interested. "Really? I didn't know you did martial arts!"

Baekhyun bragged, "And I was pretty good at it too."

"That's right, didn't you mention before that was how you built your arm strength, hyung?" Chen asked Xiumin.

"I did practise a lot back in the day" Xiumin mentioned. "My sister was pretty good at it too."

"You have a sister?" Nami asked. It was the first time she had heard of this.

Xiumin nodded.

"You didn't know, Nami-ah?" Chen asked. "Xiumin-hyung's sister looks exactly like him!"

"Really?" she blurted excitedly. Nami tried to imagine a female version of Xiumin and giggled. She must look really pretty, she thought. "Have you met her?"

"We have" Baekhyun replied. "But Xiumin-hyung doesn't like us getting close to her."

"Why not?" Nami questioned curiously.

Xiumin responded, "Because I don't want her to fall in love with any of the members."

Kai teased, "Yeah, but doesn't she already have a crush on Chen-hyung?"

Chen stole a glance at Xiumin who went quiet. "That was a long time ago" Xiumin finally said. He didn't look too pleased with Kai for bringing it up.

"Xiumin-hyung is very protective of his sister" Suho explained to Nami. "And that's understandable since he's the only one with a younger sister in the group."

"He won't even let her date yet alone date anyone from EXO" Kai commented and Xiumin glowered at him.

"I just don't want her to date anyone from EXO in case it doesn't work out. After all, we're friends and she's family. If it all goes sour, so will our friendship" Xiumin explained.

"C'mon, hyung" Baekhyun teased. "You can trust me. I'll cherish her."

Xiumin looked at him snidely, "I trust you even less."

Nami giggled. "I think it's quite admirable that you care about your sister that way. I mean, if I had an older brother like you, I would want him to do the same."

Xiumin locked eyes with her. "Well, if you want, I can be an older brother to you too."

At this, everyone looked at Xiumin. Chen and Baekhyun were especially surprised. Nami was taken aback. She blinked a couple of times before saying, "Oh. Erm. I-I guess that would be good..." but in her mind she was confused. Why had Xiumin said that to her? She didn't want to be considered by him as a sister. She wanted to be more than that.

Xiumin set his gaze on Chanyeol, "Since Nami-ah's like my little sister now, you better look after her, Chanyeol" he said jokingly. "Or I'll beat you up if you ever hurt her."

Chanyeol nodded. He knew that Xiumin meant it as a joke but he couldn't help feeling that there was a deeper meaning behind it.

~*~

"What was that about?" Chen asked Xiumin sharply. He saw that Xiumin was busy changing into his pyjamas as they were getting ready to go to bed. "What do you mean you're going to be an older brother to Nami-ah?"

"Lay off it, Chen" Xiumin said wearily. "I meant what I said. I'm gonna start treating her as a sister again."

Chen frowned. "Seriously? Why? But you love her!"

"In case you didn't know, Nami-ah and Chanyeol are dating" Xiumin replied sarcastically.

"So?" Chen retorted. "That doesn't mean you have to start treating her like a sister again!"

Xiumin sighed. "I don't want to stay heartbroken anymore. I need to move on." He finished getting dressed and noticed that he wasn't wearing his watch. "Have you seen my watch?"

"No. But more importantly, are you really sure you want to give up on her?" Chen asked. He knew how hard it was for Xiumin to admit he liked Nami so, he could only imagine what he must be feeling to have to throw his emotions away.

Xiumin looked at Chen with sadness in his eyes. "I have no choice. I was too late. The only way I can maintain a good relationship with everyone is to go back to how things were before I realised I loved her."

Chen nodded. He felt guilty as it was he who had pushed Xiumin to realise his feelings in the first place. He felt responsible for his broken heart. "So she's just a sister to you now, then? Nothing more?"

Xiumin smiled weakly. "Yes, Chen. Nami-ah's just a sister to me now. And I don't think I'll see her as anything but a sister from now onwards." He climbed onto the bed and Chen frowned from his side.

Just then, he heard a small tap outside their door. Chen turned to Xiumin who was already falling asleep. "Did you hear that?" he asked him.

Xiumin grunted as a response.

Chen got up and decided to check where the sound had come from. He opened the door and found that the corridor was empty. Hm. Must have imagined it, he thought. But then, he noticed something silver on the floor. It was Xiumin's watch. "How did that get here?" he asked out loud as he picked it up. Chen glanced around the corridor again and saw that no one was around. He shrugged it off. "Maybe one of the others must have found it."

But as he returned to his room, little did he know that the person who had returned it, was quietly tiptoeing back downstairs, carrying with them, a heavy heart.

~*~

Author's Note:

Hey! Thanks for reading chapter 29 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

I had quite a bit of fun writing this chapter, especially with the horse and jockey game. That was inspired by the Scarlet Heart Ryeo scene which I referenced. I couldn't help mentioning it since Baekhyun starred in it (and it was a good show too).

What do you think of the development so far? Let me know by commenting!

Also, this chapter is dedicated to BS. Thanks for the awkward chat. Haha. >.<

See you all soon!

Next time...