The EXO members had been practising continuously for their upcoming US tour for the past two weeks. Every day, I had been coming to SM Entertainment to visit them and bring them food and beverages around lunch time. It became routine after a while. They would leave first and I would arrive at SMHQ around noon with the food I made and the beverages I bought. As usual, I would greet Ryuk and give him his coffee can as I went up to the dance studio.

As I sat down and watched them practise, I took in how their fluid athlete's bodies heaved from repetitive re-reruns and how they panted from exhaustion. They were very hardworking and, on top of their rehearsals, they also attended talk shows, radio shows and even fan signing events. It amazed me how they managed to keep smiles on their faces despite how exhausted they were.

When the music finally stopped and the EXO members reached their ending pose, I got up from my seat and walked over to them, carrying their towels. I went up to Chanyeol first. "Here," I told him as I handed him his towel and his energy drink.

He smiled at me as he slung his towel over his neck and patted his forehead with one end while he drank his energy drink at the same time. I observed how his dark hair was drenched with sweat and his black shirt had a V-shaped sweat mark in the middle. He saw me gaping at him and I quickly turned away to give the other EXO members their towels.

"Nami-ah" he called after me as I finished handing out all the towels. I turned around and saw that Chanyeol was approaching me. Once we were facing each other, he smiled nervously as he fidgeted with his towel. "Listen, I want to talk to you after practice, will you be sticking around until then?"

I looked at him quizzically, "Erm well, I have plans later on today."

"Plans?" Chanyeol was surprised at my answer. I guess having me around almost every day from lunch till the end of their rehearsal time made him think that I was always available. "What plans?"

As if on cue, my phone vibrated and I checked my messages. It was Hyun-suk. "I'm going out for a coffee with Hyun-suk today" I informed him as I answered Hyun-suk's message at the same time.

Chanyeol's face grew sombre at the mention of his name. "You're going out with him? The tech guy?"

"Yeah" I responded simply. "He invited me for coffee a while back."

Chanyeol's face darkened. "Will it just be you and him?" he asked. "No one else?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

I saw Chanyeol's lip form into a thin line. He didn't look too thrilled, "No. I don't want you to go with him."

"What do you mean 'no'?" I repeated astounded. "I'm not asking for your permission, Chanyeol. I'm just letting you know."

"But he's a guy!" he argued.

"And?"

He fumbled for his words as he tried to come up with a reasonable argument. "And you haven't known him for so long. What if he's sketchy?"

"Chanyeol," I said firmly, "I'll be fine. He's my friend and he's nice too. Nothing bad will happen. We're just going out for coffee."

But Chanyeol wouldn't give up, "Why can't you just make female friends instead?"

I sighed, "How can I make female friends when I'm living with you guys?"

"What?"

"You're EXO for goodness sake! Don't you know how many girls, especially EXO-Ls, would kill me for my job right now? If they found out I worked as a housekeeper for EXO, they would hunt me down and burn me on a stake" I exaggerated.

Chanyeol laughed lightly towards the end of my rant.

"I'll be fine" I reassured him. "I'll be back at the dorm later today."

Chanyeol gave me a hesitant look as I said goodbye to him and the EXO members before leaving the dance studio.

~*~

"Are you okay with letting Little Umma go?" Kai asked as Chanyeol got ready for their next song rehearsal.

Chanyeol grunted in reply. He had a lot of things on his mind and, most of them consisted of thoughts about Nami. Of course, he wasn't okay. Why would he ever want Nami to hang out with another guy apart from him?

"Well, it's not like Chanyeol-hyung can forbid Little Umma from doing whatever she wants" Sehun replied for him. "And that includes hanging around her guy friends. I mean, what can hyung do to stop her even if he could?"

Kai thought for a moment and a sly grin crept up his face. "He could start eureureong eureureong eureureong dae" he sang while enacting the dance moves to their popular single, 'Growl'. Sehun snorted as he joined Kai in dancing around Chanyeol, who glared at the two.

"Knock it off" he barked, which caused the pair to scuttle off, acutely aware that a real wolf may actually be upon them.

~*~

"I have a confession to make."

I blinked at Hyun-suk who was sitting across from me. We were at the café we had agreed to meet in and we had been sipping our hot beverages when Hyun-suk suddenly broke the silence.

"What is it?" I asked nervously. I always felt a little wary when people started conversations off with confessions.

Hyun-suk looked at me earnestly, "The truth is Nami-ssi, I'm--"

"Please don't say it" I interrupted. Hyun-suk blinked at me. "I mean, please give me time to mentally prepare myself for what you're about to confess."

He looked at me understandingly, "Of course."

"What kind of confession is it?" I asked. I was really hoping that he would keep his word when he said he only wanted to be friends. I didn't want to lose him if he ended up telling me he was actually interested in being more than that.

Hyun-suk was a little reluctant to say, "It's to do with EXO."

"EXO?" That came as a surprise.

He nodded. "The truth is...I'm an EXO fanboy." Hyun-suk looked at me expectantly as he tried to scrutinise my expression.

I was befuddled, "You're an EXO fanboy?" I couldn't quite believe it. "As in, you're their fan?"

He chuckled at my expression, "Yes, Nami-ssi. I'm pretty sure that's what 'fanboy' means."

"Wow" I replied, astounded. "I never pinned you down as a fanboy."

Hyun-suk smirked, "But that's not all" he leaned in as he anxiously stirred his coffee, "I'm also...gay."

I blinked again.

Hyun-suk had been staring down at his coffee as he nervously waited for me to react. He peeked up at me and saw that I was still speechless. "Please say something."

"Er, erm. Well, okay. You're gay. Cool." I tilted my head at him, "Wow, this is gonna take some time to process."

"I know I'm overwhelming you with a lot of information but, if we're going to be friends, I want us to be honest with each other. I don't want you to think I'm using you just because I know that you're EXO's dorm mother."

"Ah, so that's why you approached me!"

Hyun-suk smiled shyly, "Guilty as charged."

I grinned. "You know, I don't mind having a gay friend. My best friend is gay too."

"Really?" Hyun-suk was surprised. "No wonder I'm really comfortable around you! You're already immuned to my kind!" I watched as Hyun-suk perked up, "I'm so glad I told you now. I wanted to tell you when we first met but, I thought it was too soon."

I agreed, "Yeah but, I would have appreciated it since I actually thought you were trying to hit on me."

Hyun-suk grinned, "Nami-ssi, you know I find you gorgeous but, I don't swing that way."

"Clearly" I replied. "I just can't believe my gaydar didn't go off! I mean, it was on point when I found out about my best friend."

At this, Hyun-suk was intrigued, "Oooh. Do tell me more about this gay best friend of yours. Is he single?" He leaned in and cupped his chin in his hands as he flirtatiously fluttered his eyelashes at me. I thought to myself, Yep, definitely gay.

"As far as I know, he is." I thought about Nikka and noticed how we've never really talked about his love life. Whenever I brought it up in the past, he would change the conversation into something else.

"What does he look like?" Hyun-suk pressed on. "Does he live in Seoul?"

I snapped back to attention and shook my head in reply, "No, no. He works in a different part of the country" I lied. "But he's really handsome."

Hyun-suk was disappointed. "That's a pity. I was hoping you could set us up."

I giggled at the thought of Nikka and Hyun-suk together. It would be an odd pairing to see my friends from two different worlds meeting up and actually getting into a relationship. "I know, it's quite a shame actually. He's very charming too. I actually had a crush on him before I found out he was gay."

This piqued Hyun-suk's interest. "Oooh, really? Spill the beans!"

I reminisced the time when I first met Nikka. I had recently been hired so I was very stressed with work. When I saw Nikka beaming down at me, I looked away shyly, insecure of my imperfections. Nikka was on a whole different level. He attracted attention wherever he went and the female staff swooned at his every word and his every gaze.

In comparison, I was a nobody.

I had attended an all-girls school which left me inexperienced with handling guys and it didn't help that I was introverted. I only spoke to a select few of our colleagues and one of them was Karen. Karen and I had attended the same university which was why we were quite close in the beginning.

"Did you see the new rookie?" she asked me once while we were working on fact-checking together.

"The handsome one?" I replied. Everyone dubbed Nikka as the 'handsome one' after a few weeks into the job.

Karen nodded, "He's so gorgeous. I just want to eat him up!"

I giggled at Karen's words.

"What do you think of him, Mirei? Do you think he's fit too or nah?"

I blushed at the thought of him. I had to admit, he was really attractive. "I think he's okay."

Karen looked at me suspiciously. "I can see your cheeks going red, you know."

"What?" I touched my cheeks and felt they were warm.

Karen snickered, "You have a crush on him too!"

"No, I don't!" I denied strongly.

But Karen wasn't convinced. She continued with what she was doing before speaking again, "You know what, I find it quite odd that a guy like him doesn't have a girlfriend."

I peered at her, "How do you know that he doesn't have one?"

"I overheard it from the bitches from Current Affairs" Karen replied with a slight sneer. Karen didn't get along with the female staff from Current Affairs. "And if he doesn't then, that means, there's a chance to get in with him," she said, wiggling her brows.

I gave her a small smile, "Good luck with that." I had a feeling that guys like him preferred women who were glamorous. And the glamorous ones were those who worked in Meteorology and Current Affairs. Why would he ever pay any attention to us?

But in spite of that mentality, I soon discovered that he and Karen had started dating. It came as a shock more than a surprise. Karen came to me one morning and told me the news excitedly. I was so dumbfounded that I didn't know what to say. "Congrats" I eventually muttered.

But at some point, Karen and Nikka broke up. It was really messy. Karen was sobbing for a week and she didn't come to work because she knew that he would be there. And when she finally did come to work, she came back a changed person.

She had cut her hair short and had started wearing thick makeup. "He wasn't that good of a boyfriend anyway," she told me bitterly, even though I hadn't said anything. "I think something's wrong with him. He's too perfect, you know. Like his hair is so soft and always neat and how he dresses so classily..." her voice trailed off but then she shook her head violently to snap out of her reverie, "but anyway, I think he's definitely gay."

I looked at her, "Karen, don't say things like that if it's not true."

"But it is true!" she insisted. "He's definitely gay. Why else would a man reject me?"

I pursed my lips. Maybe he just doesn't like you anymore...

"But anyway, Mirei. If you ever come into contact with Nikka, don't be fooled!" she warned. "Don't let him monopolize you and break your heart. If women can be called femme fatales then he's the male equivalent of it: Nikka's a homme fatale. But, he's one of those homme fatales who are still trying to figure out whether they like sausages over buns."

I nodded doubtfully at Karen. I didn't want to completely disregard her warning since she was more experienced than I was in romantic relationships. But, at the same time, I wanted to form my own opinion of Nikka by myself. And at some point, I eventually did. Nikka and I ended up working together on a project for the first time and during that time together, I started to pick up signals that reinforced what Karen said might be true.

Nikka was a smooth talker and he was surprisingly very interested in many of the things I was interested in. We got on very well. And one time, he even managed to guess my taste for shoes right. It was like he was psychic. And that was when I drew the conclusion that he had to be gay. I mean, how many straight guys can actually understand the difference between platform boots and regular boots without consulting the internet? That had to be it!

So when I confronted him about it over dinner, I was delighted to find out I was right. Karen was right. Nikka was gay but he hadn't come out yet.

I had told Hyun-suk all this with a couple of details omitted. Hyun-suk nodded accordingly, "He sounds like a really nice guy."

"He's an absolute darling" I answered. "Aish, talking about him is making me miss him a lot."

"Well, let's talk about something else then" Hyun-suk chirped. "Why don't we talk about the EXO members?"

"Sure" I replied. There were so many things I could tell him. "What do you want to know?"

"I just want to know about one particular person" he mentioned shyly. "I want to know more about Sehun." Hyun-suk giggled, "He's my bias."

"Ahh. You like Sehun?"

He nodded. "I actually put off military service because of him." He sighed dreamily. "Omo, Nami-ssi, you're so damn lucky you get to see him every day!"

I chuckled, "Yah, I'm actually not as lucky as you think."

"What do you mean? You're practically living under the same roof as them!" He gasped, "I bet you even got to see them half-naked or something!"

A sudden image of EXO shirtless as they played on the beach entered my mind. I shook my head violently to be rid of the thought. "N-no I haven't."

Hyun-suk was doubtful, "But anyway, I want to learn more about Sehun! Do you think there's a chance that I might convert him?"

I raised a brow, "I don't think he swings that way."

"You never know!" Hyun-suk replied, "He did say before that he liked men."

I was still uncertain. "That was probably just for fan service." Although, Sehun never explicitly said that he liked women in my presence. Either way, I wasn't getting the gay vibe from him but, maybe my gaydar was broken?

Hyun-suk looked at his coffee wistfully and sighed after taking a sip. He cupped his chin with his hand as he stared at me. "So how are things with you and your boyfriend?"

I jolted. "Erm, things are going fine."

Hyun-suk eyed me suspiciously. "Does your boyfriend mind you working as a housekeeper for EXO? I mean, you're living under the same roof with eight guys."

I blinked at him. Oh, that's right. Hyun-suk probably thinks that I'm dating someone outside of EXO. "No. He doesn't mind."

Hyun-suk eyed me suspiciously. "Nami-ssi, you're not... hiding something from me, are you?"

"Me? No! Of course not!"

Hyun-suk looked at me doubtfully. "You know, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up falling for one of the EXO members. I mean, they're eye-candy. I don't know how you've been able to restrain yourself from just gobbling them up!"

I chuckled awkwardly, "That's because I'm actually a BTS fan."

Hyun-suk's eyes rounded, "Bwo?"

I laughed.

"No wonder you said you weren't that lucky" he chuckled. "Imagine that! To be a housekeeper of your fandom's rivals." He narrowed his eyes at me, "I'm not even sure we can be friends now." But then he smiled to show that he was only joking. "Anyways, tell me more about your boyfriend. What's he like?"

I shuffled uncomfortably in my seat. He's overbearing, obnoxious and a complete derp, I thought. But then, memories of how Chanyeol took me to see BTS and him taking care of me when I was sick flooded my mind. I smiled weakly, "He can be a complete pabo at times but, he's also kind and thoughtful."

Hyun-suk let out a long 'awwww'. "You seem to love him a lot!"

I jerked up, "What? No, I don't!"

Hyun-suk raised a brow at my sudden objection. I quickly added, "I mean, we've only started dating recently so I'm not really sure whether I feel that way about him."

"Oh." Hyun-suk cocked his head, "Why would you date him if you don't like him in the first place?"

I fumbled as I struggled to think of an excuse.

Seeing me tongue-tied for words, Hyun-suk tentatively asked, "Is there... someone else?"

I blinked. Normally Xiumin would be the first person to come into my mind when I thought about these things but surprisingly, it wasn't him this time. It was D.O. I frowned at myself, why was I suddenly thinking about D.O?

"N-no" I managed to reply.

Hyun-suk picked up on my reluctance and pried further, "Nami-ssi" he said firmly, "you might as well tell me. You'll feel a lot better once you talk it out with someone." I gaped at him and he continued, "C'mon girl. That's what gay friends are for. We're here to share our guy troubles."

I smiled weakly at his effeminate tone. God how I wished Nikka was here. "Erm, well... there is another guy that comes to mind."

At this, Hyun-suk was all-ears. "Go on" he encouraged.

Unsure of where to begin, I scratched my head. Hyun-suk suggested, "You can give them nicknames if that helps you explain better. Why don't you call your boyfriend Jun-pyo and the other guy Ji-hoo?"

I giggled at his suggestion. "Are we seriously using the character names from 'Boys Over Flowers' to discuss this?"

"Why not? They were like the ultimate heartthrobs back in the day! I'm personally a Lee Min-ho fan" he admitted.

"Fine" I conceded. "Let's do this." Hyun-suk sat up attentively as I began. "I'm not really sure how I feel about Jun-pyo because our relationship is kind of complicated."

"How so?"

"Before we started dating, we had a rocky relationship" I replied. "I don't know how to describe it. He was like marmalade: sometimes he was sweet and other times he was bitter. We were always teasing and fighting with each other non-stop."

Hyun-suk nodded, "Okay."

I continued, "But then after we started dating, we kind of grew closer" I blushed at the thought of Chanyeol, "but I don't know if what I feel for him now is...love."

Hyun-suk saw me contemplating about this deeply. "And what about Ji-hoo?"

I stared intently at my cup as I tried to organise my thoughts. D.O was still the first person that came to mind. "Ji-hoo is a very kind person" I began, "he's always supporting me and he's also very sweet and caring. I think that he's actually a lot nicer than Jun-pyo."

"Then why are you with Jun-pyo and not Ji-hoo?" Hyun-suk asked curiously.

"It's complicated," I told him. "I don't even know how I feel about Ji-hoo. Honestly, I've never really seen myself with him. And besides, Ji-hoo has someone he likes already."

Hyun-suk looked disappointed. "That's a shame." He took a sip of his coffee before continuing, "So you're still on the fence about how you feel about Ju-pyo."

I nodded.

"Tell you what," Hyun-suk suggested, "why don't we do a quick test?"

"Okay," I consented. I wonder if it's a similar test to what Nikka did with me last time.

Hyun-suk sat up as he focused his gaze on me. "I'm going to ask you a list of questions and you have to answer them with either 'yes' or 'no' while thinking about your crush. No hesitating--just say it. Okay?"

I nodded, "Okay."

Hyun-suk started, "Is he the first person you think about when you wake up in the morning?"

"Yes," I admitted while blushing.

"Do you find yourself looking for him when you walk into a room?"

"Yes." But that was only because we had to pretend that we were dating.

"Does seeing him with other women bother you?"

"Yes." It bothered me when Suji was always around.

"Do you hate talking with him?"

"No." Nowadays, I actually enjoy his company.

"Do you find yourself missing him when he's away?"

"Yes." I always find myself looking forward to seeing him when I visit the dance studio.

"Do you feel happy when he calls your name?"

"Yes." At some point, the sound of his voice was like music to my ears.

"Do you consider him as only a friend?"

"No." I struggled with this question. He was more than that.

"Do you hate him?"

"No." I don't hate him at all.

"Do you abhor him?"

"No." I scrunched up my face, Of course, I don't.

"Do you dislike him?"

"No." Isn't this the same thing as before?

"Do you detest him?"

"No." Why was Hyun-suk repeating himself?

"Do you love him?"

"Yes."

Hyun-suk blinked. He stared at my confused expression as I sat, speechless for words.

I was shocked. Did I just say... 'yes'?

"Looks like you've found your answer, Nami-ssi." Hyun-suk grinned as he continued to gape at my stunned expression. "You said it yourself," he teased. "You're in love with him."

~*~

Author's Note:

Hey reader! Thank you for reading chapter 34 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

I thought it was time you got to know about Nami's perspective on what happened with Nikka. And her feelings towards Chanyeol. Surprise!

Did you like the 'Boys Over Flowers' reference? Hehe. I actually watched the Japanese version- I've never seen the Korean version. I was going to use a different drama ('You're Beautiful' with Shinwoo and Taekyung as an example) but I figured that the 'Boys Over Flowers' reference would be better known. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and look forward to what will happen next!

What do you think Nami will do after finding out her feelings towards Chanyeol? Find out next time!

P.S. Shout out to my readers from the US and the Philippines! Thanks for tuning in. And to my other readers from other countries, I'll be sure to mention you next time! Please continue to support me by voting, commenting and sharing this fanfic. I am forever grateful to those who have also added this fanfic to their reading list: you've made my day!