"How's the acting gig going?" Chen asked Chanyeol as he stretched his arms. "You said that you might be starring in a film this year, right?"

"That's if I get the part" Chanyeol answered. He stretched his arms and shook his legs to loosen the tension in his body.

"But you'll be speaking in Mandarin" Baekhyun confirmed. "Will you be able to cope?"

"I think so" Chanyeol mumbled. "If only Lay-hyung was here. He could help me with my pronunciation."

Baekhyun nodded as he scrolled down his phone and huffed, "Speaking of languages, ugh, why is English so hard?"

It had been a week since EXO had returned from their three-day retreat and they were finally back in the dance studio, practising their choreography again.

Chen scooted closer to Baekhyun and peeked at his phone. "We don't have to say a lot of English, you know. A simple 'hi' and 'how are you' will do."

"But I want to make it more personal for the fans" Baekhyun whined. "I want to make a good impression."

Chanyeol glanced at the pair who were busy Googling how to say phrases in English. It had been announced earlier in the year that EXO would be touring around North America as part of their promotion for their new album. And keen to please their fans, Baekhyun and Chen had been trying to prepare a small message they could tell them during their concert. Chanyeol sighed. They didn't have this problem when Kris, their former member, was still with them. He was their representative when it came to speaking in English. Now, they had no one to consult.

Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in Chanyeol's mind as he realised that they did have someone to consult. They had a secret native in their midst. "Didn't Nami-ah say that she grew up in a bilingual household?" Chanyeol asked.

"That's right!" Baekhyun exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"We can ask Nami-ah to help us" Chen stated. "Xiumin-hyung did say that she sounded native. What did he compare her accent to again?"

"I think it was 'Harry Potter'" Chanyeol replied. He pulled out his phone and started to text Nami, "I can ask her what time she'll be coming in today."

Baekhyun watched as Chanyeol happily occupied himself by texting on his phone. He saw his mouth curve into a smile. He smirked, "Looks like someone's in a good mood."

Chanyeol looked up. "What? Why do you say that?"

"Ever since you started dating Nami-ah, you've been awfully cheerful" Baekhyun observed. "It looks like you're in the honeymoon phase."

"I don't know what you're talking about" Chanyeol denied.

"To be honest, I agree with Baekhyun" Chen added. "You and Nami-ah have been on very good terms ever since we came back from the retreat."

Baekhyun giggled, "Maybe it was because Chanyeol got thrown up on."

Chanyeol frowned at the two for bringing up what happened that night. After Nami had thrown up on him, she had passed out on the floor and didn't wake up until the following morning. The EXO members had exploded into fits of laughter at his misfortune, mainly because it was unexpected and they were still a little tipsy.

Nami had no recollection of what happened the following morning which, to Chanyeol's dismay, meant that she couldn't remember their spontaneous kiss. But unfortunately, the other EXO members were kind enough to fill her in on what happened after she had forced a kiss on him. Since that day, Nami had been very apologetic to Chanyeol and had been acting nice towards him to make up for her carelessness.

But that wasn't the only reason why Chanyeol had been in a good mood. Even if Nami couldn't remember their kiss, he did. And like the first time, he found it electrifying and strangely addicting. He couldn't get Nami out of his mind and he started to notice that he would find himself smiling at the thought of her. Chanyeol knew that he was in trouble. He finally acknowledged that he was attracted to her and he didn't have enough willpower to deny it. Maybe, just maybe, he was falling for her for real.

"Nah, I think it's because Suji-ssi doesn't come and bother us anymore" Chen mentioned.

Chanyeol snapped to attention. "Er, yeah. That's right."

"Now that you mention it, it has been a lot quieter this week," Baekhyun said.

Chen responded, "And I'm glad."

~*~

Chanyeol: What time are you coming in today?

You: I'll be there soon. I'm still on the bus.

Chanyeol: Kk. Message me when you're here.

You: *thumbs up*

I put my phone away as I got off the bus. I had finally arrived outside SMHQ and I was carrying a tote bag filled with homemade snacks and bottled drinks for all the EXO members. It was the usual errand but, I had been coming to their practice rehearsals more frequently ever since we had come back from the retreat. Guilt swelled in my gut as I tried to remember what happened that night...

When I woke up the following morning, I felt a throbbing pain pulse on my head and I felt really nauseous. I found myself lying on a bed with my hoodie off, a small stain of God-knows-what decorated my shirt. I was in an unfamiliar room and I was alone. Light seeped through the gaps in the curtains, dimly illuminating the room to show that it was Xiumin and Chen's room. Their familiar suitcases were stationed tidily in the corners of the room which led me to conclude that.

Carefully, I crept downstairs and found that the EXO members were all asleep on the floor, their bodies overlapping with one another as they slept awkwardly together. They didn't even have the futon out. They must have passed out from drinking too much, I remembered thinking. But then, how did I manage to get up the stairs?

Once they were all awake and we were on our way home, D.O explained to me what had happened the night before. I had vomited on Chanyeol after drinking two shots of vodka and this was validated by many of the other EXO members enthusiastically. I was horrified, I puked on Chanyeol? Me?

When I tried to apologise to Chanyeol, he wouldn't look me in the eye. I felt bad for him. Apparently, my projectile vomit had got him square in the face.

"I'm really sorry, Chanyeol" I kept telling him every time I bumped into him in the dorm.

Chanyeol would refuse to meet my eye. But at last, a few days ago he spoke, "You'll have to do something to make it up to me."

"I will!" I replied enthusiastically. "Anything."

Chanyeol turned around and grinned at me. "Then, you can start by never drinking again."

I walked to the entrance of SMHQ with the tote bag in between both my hands. Once I was in front of the entrance, the security guard, Ryuk rushed up to me to give me a hand.

"You need some help, Nami-ssi?" he asked with a smile. Ryuk was a beefy, middle-aged man that had large arms and a big build. He was wearing a white shirt and plain black trousers as part of his security guard uniform. I had been coming so often to SMHQ that I was already familiar with the staff there. Ryuk was just one of many people I had come to befriend.

I shook my head, "It's okay, Ryuk-ssi. I can manage." I continued with entering the building when I suddenly remembered, "Oh, and this is for you." I handed Ryuk a can of coffee.

Ryuk smiled. "Oh! Another coffee can? You're too generous, Nami-ssi. I can't let you keep spoiling me."

"It's okay. Just take it as a thank you gift" I said, as I waved him goodbye before I made my way to EXO's dance studio.

~*~

"You're so slow" Chanyeol complained as he took the tote bag from me. "I thought I told you to message me when you arrived?"

"My hands were full" I replied dismissively as I followed him to where the other EXO members were sat.

I glanced around and saw that the others were doing their cooling down stretches before settling down to eat around a circle.

"Oh. Little Umma!" Kai greeted. "You're here again today."

"Did you make us something good again?" Sehun asked. "I hope you bought bubble tea with you."

I shook my head. "Not today, Sehun. You can't keep having bubble tea every day."

"Bubble tea is life, though" Sehun mused.

"What did you make for us?" D.O asked as he helped Chanyeol unpack the tote bag. He peered inside and opened the lidded containers.

"I made kimbap again" I replied, a little embarrassed. "I haven't mastered the other types of snacks yet."

D.O smiled. "You'll get there. You said you wanted to learn how to make bibimbap tonight, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it looks simple to make."

"I can help teach you tonight, after practice," he offered.

"Late night cooking lessons, eh?" Baekhyun observed with a cheeky smile. "Aren't you studious, Little Umma!"

I blushed, "Well, I want to improve my cooking. Is there something wrong with that?"

Baekhyun held his hands up, "Nope. None whatsoever. I'm actually quite glad since your food is starting to taste normal." He took a bite of the kimbap and chewed it appreciatively. "Which reminds me, Chen and I have a favour to ask you."

Chen nodded. "Yeah. We were wondering if you can help teach us a bit of English."

I froze. "W-why?"

Chanyeol gave me a reassuring glance as he answered, "We're going on tour to the US soon and we wanted to say a few words in English for our fans."

I relaxed, "Oh. Well, yeah. Sure. I can do that."

"Do you have any ideas on what we could say?" Suho asked as he reached in to take a kimbap.

I thought for a second. "Well, it depends on what you want to tell them. Do you want a short message or a heartfelt one or--"

Suddenly, the door burst open, interrupting me midway my sentence. The EXO members and I turned around to see who had come in. It was a young man wearing a black shirt and jeans. He looked like he was one of the SM staff.

"Is Park Chanyeol here?" he asked. His voice was a little squeaky which came as a surprise considering his manly appearance.

Chanyeol swiftly got up, "Yeah. I'm here."

Seeing Chanyeol, the man started making his way towards us, only to stop midway when his eyes spotted who was next to him--me.

"Omo! Are you Minami-ssi?" he asked excitedly, as he abruptly diverted his attention from Chanyeol to me.

I was startled at his sudden exclamation, "Er, yeah. That's me--"

He knelt down beside me and squealed, catching me and the EXO members off guard. "I can't believe it!" he shouted. "I can't believe you're right in front of me!"

"Erm..." I managed to say, still a little confused. "Do I know you?"

"Nope. But I know you!" he replied. "I saw your modelling gig and was absolutely captivated by your beauty."

I felt myself colour. "Um, thank you. I guess."

"My name is Hyun-suk. I was part of the tech team that worked on set during the photo shoot a while back." He smiled to reveal a cute dimple. "I don't expect you to know who I am but I hope that you'll remember my name from now onwards. I'm a big fan of yours!"

I exchanged looks with Chanyeol who shrugged at me. "Thank you, Hyun-suk-ssi--"

"Please. Just call me Hyun-suk."

"Okay," I said. "Hyun-suk, I appreciate your compliments but I hope that you'll keep my identity hidden. As you know--"

"Of course! I know how you don't want anyone to know who you are." He took out his phone to show me an article. "I've been reading up on you and there's hardly anything available online. It was actually a coincidence that I managed to learn your name."

I frowned, "How did you find out my name?"

He replied, "I heard it from Suji-ssi who was complaining about you."

I rolled my eyes. Of course, it had to be from Suji.

"What did you need me for?" Chanyeol asked as he edged closer towards me. I looked up and saw that he didn't look too pleased with the attention Hyun-suk was giving me.

Hyun-suk snapped back into attention as he remembered why he had come into the dance studio in the first place. He stood up to face Chanyeol. I saw that he looked significantly shorter than him. "I was sent to fetch you. You have a visitor downstairs."

"A visitor?" Chanyeol repeated. "I wonder who it could be. Did they say who they were?"

Hyun-suk shook his head. "They just told me to fetch you."

"You should go" Suho advised him. "Maybe it's family?"

Chanyeol started making his way towards the exit. He turned back to face us. "Aren't you leaving too, Hyun-suk?" he asked petulantly.

Reluctantly, Hyun-suk parted from my side. "I hope we'll see each other again, Minami-ssi" he murmured before winking at me. I saw Chanyeol scowl at him from behind.

Baekhyun let out a long whistle as Hyun-suk caught up with Chanyeol. "You sure are popular, Little Umma."

"Looks like you've got a fanboy" Kai observed playfully.

I turned to everyone and saw that they were as equally surprised as I was. Since when did I become famous?

But just as Chanyeol and Hyun-suk approached the door, it suddenly burst open again, startling the pair and making them jump.

"Chanyeol!" the person, who appeared, screeched.

Everyone's eyes turned to the unexpected visitor who had burst through the doors. As my eyes darted to their direction, I saw that the visitor was a young woman. Her short, brown hair was parted to the right and she was wearing a long, beige military coat that had black buttons running down on either side. She was also wearing a navy blue pencil skirt, black heels and was carrying a small side bag. She frowned at the sight of Chanyeol gaping at her.

"Yah! Park Chanyeol, how dare you make me wait!" she shouted as she yanked Chanyeol's ear, forcing him to follow her back into the dance studio.

Chanyeol whimpered in pain, "Ow, ow, ow! It hurts! Let go, noona!"

My eyes widened. Noona?

The EXO members jumped to their feet as Chanyeol and his older sister came to join us. She greeted the other members cordially, still holding onto Chanyeol's ear.

"Yoora-noona!" both Sehun and Kai said in unison. "What brings you here?"

Yoora smiled at them both, "I was sent on an errand by my company. They told me to interview my little brother and Suji-ssi on the topic of their supposed dating scandal."

"Dating scandal?" Suho repeated.

"Yes," Yoora confirmed.

"We sorted that out already, noona!" Chanyeol shouted as he struggled to break free from Yoora's grip. "Let go of my ear already, you macho woman!"

Yoora glared at him before twisting his ear a little more before setting him free. Chanyeol grimaced in pain and touched his sore earlobe gingerly. "Aish, you--"

"Say that again and I'll do the same to your other ear!" she threatened.

Chanyeol shrank away from her.

Yoora turned to the other members and then back to Chanyeol, "What do you mean it's already been sorted? If that was the case, I wouldn't be here right now."

"We had an interview straight after the incident" Suho explained to her. "And we discussed there that Suji and Chanyeol weren't dating. I don't know why they'd send you for another interview."

Yoora curled her lip, "That was for a different company. The one I work for had sent one of my colleagues to interview Chanyeollie and Suji-ssi during the Gayo Daejun Concert straight after your performance." She turned to Chanyeol and glowered at him, "Which you didn't turn up to."

"Noona, there was a good reason for that--"

"But anyway" she continued, not letting Chanyeol finish. "I'm here to interview Chanyeollie and Suji-ssi so, let's just get it over with so that I can go back to news anchoring rather than field work."

The EXO members exchanged looks with each other.

"Erm, Yoora-noona, hasn't Chanyeol told you?" asked Chen.

Yoora raised her brow. "Told me what?"

Xiumin glanced at Chanyeol who was still tending to his ear. "Chanyeol's dating someone already."

Yoora's eyes widened. "What?!" She shouted, making Chanyeol jump. "You're dating? Who?"

Chanyeol backed away as Yoora leaned in to confront him. He guarded his ears instinctively. "Er, I-- I--"

"Who is it, Chanyeol?" she pressed further.

Chanyeol looked up at the others helplessly. As he was doing so, his eyes inevitably met with mine. Yoora noticed this and followed his gaze, her head slowly turning until her eyes met with mine too. She stopped gaping at Chanyeol and blinked at me. It was like she was noticing my presence for the first time.

Yoora approached me slowly, her eyes darting up and down as she scrutinised my appearance. I shrank away as she did so, her gaze was so penetrating that I felt like a hare being hunted by a hungry fox. Once she was only an arm's length away from me, she smiled. "Are you--?"

"Her name is Nami-ah" D.O interjected. Yoora turned to him. "She's our dorm mother."

Yoora's brows were raised. "Nami-ssi?" she said my name and focused her eyes on me once more. She smiled again and I noticed how she resembled Chanyeol when she did so. "I see."

She turned to the other EXO members but addressed Chanyeol specifically. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to postpone our little interview for a short while" she announced. She turned back to me and grabbed my wrist, "I'm going to have a little chat with Nami-ssi."

"W-what?" I said, befuddled as Yoora started leading me away. I couldn't break myself free from her strong grip: it was like the grip of a cage wrestler.

Chanyeol snapped into motion when she saw her dragging me away. "Wait, noona. Where are you going?" He looked at me and saw the confusion in my eyes. "Where are you taking Nami-ah?"

"Relax little brother," she told him. "I just want to have lunch with her." Yoora turned to me, "You're okay with that, right?"

"I--"

"Great" she replied quickly. "Let's go!"

I glanced back at the others helplessly as Yoora dragged me out of the dance studio. Chanyeol looked back at me worriedly while the EXO members watched me go, not quite sure what to do or say at my sudden departure.

~*~

Author's Note:

Hello reader! Thank you for reading chapter 31 of Our Little Dorm Mother.

Just to clue you in on the development of this fanfic, we have reached the third arc! Yehet!

What do you think will happen between Yoora and Nami?

Stay tuned to find out!

And as always, please share, comment and vote. Your support is invaluable to me!

Next time...