Chen and Baekhyun nervously exchanged looks with each other as Nami glowered at them from the entrance. She demanded again, her voice cold and unforgiving. "What bet?"

"Little Umma," Baekhyun began, his eyes darting wildly as he tried to come up with an explanation. "It's-It's not what you think it is--"

Chen interjected, "Yeah, erm, we were just talking about something else. Erm--" he gaped at Baekhyun desperately before continuing, "Poker. Yes! We were talking about poker."

Nami approached them swiftly, her eyebrows knitted and a scowl evident on her face. The pair had anxious smiles on as they backed away warily. But just as she was about to confront them again, the sound of approaching footsteps and the hubbub of voices caused her to turn around. As soon as she did, her gaze landed on the other EXO members who had returned from their other activities. Xiumin and D.O were the first to enter the dance studio. Their eyes widened in surprise at seeing Nami before them.

"Nami-ah!" Xiumin exclaimed, a smile creeping up his lips. "You're here!"

D.O shared his enthusiasm. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling better now?"

The others joined the pair in bombarding Nami with questions once they realised that Nami was amongst them again. But Nami didn't care for their questions. As soon as she spotted Chanyeol, who had come into the dance studio last, she marched right up to him. Being the last to realise that Nami was in the dance studio, Chanyeol smiled at her, oblivious of her fuming rage. He was happy at last to finally have the opportunity to speak with her face to face.

"Nami-ah--"

"Is it true?" she challenged, her eyes were hard and unyielding.

Chanyeol gave her a puzzled look.

"Am I just a bet to you?"

Chanyeol had his face scrunched up in confusion as he searched Nami's eyes. But as he was doing so, he suddenly noticed Baekhyun and Chen cowering in the background. He frowned as he realised what had happened. "Nami-ah, I can explain--"

But Chanyeol wasn't able to finish his sentence. 

He was midway speaking when Nami had swept her leg behind him and pushed him to the ground, causing him to land with a loud thud on his back. He groaned in pain, stunned that Nami had done her judo throw on him. It had been a while since Nami had done that. "Yah! You macho woman--!"

But yet again Chanyeol was unable to finish his sentence. As he looked up at Nami, he saw that tears were falling freely from her almond-shaped eyes. They looked hurt, causing him to feel a tight squeeze in his chest. 

Her voice cracked as she told him, "Chanyeol, you pabo."

Nami ran away from the dance studio as she choked back her tears. The EXO members looked from Nami's direction to Chanyeol, unsure of what to do. Chanyeol had made Nami cry before, during the photo shoot but, this time, something was different. Nami wasn't just upset, she seemed deeply wounded by Chanyeol's actions.

"Nami-ah--" D.O was quick to run after her but Xiumin held him back. As he did so, Chanyeol hastily got up from the floor and sprinted towards the exit to pursue Nami.

D.O turned to Xiumin, baffled as to why he had got in his way. "It's not for you to go after her, D.O-ah" he declared as his gaze locked onto D.O's wide eyes. "Nami-ah and Chanyeol-ah need time to talk things out."

D.O protested, "But hyung--"

Xiumin glared at him and D.O conceded reluctantly. He knew best not to cross Xiumin when he was angry. Xiumin turned his attention to Chen and Baekhyun, who had retreated farther away from the others. "You two," he said sharply, "have a lot of explaining to do."

The pair exchanged anxious stares at one another again before gulping in fear at their hyung's raging wrath.

~*~

"Nami-ah, wait!" Chanyeol pleaded as he made a grab for her wrist.

She shook him off, refusing to turn around and face him. "Let me go!" she shouted. Nami continued briskly walking down the corridor, wiping away the tears that refused to stop falling from her eyes. She sobbed quietly, trying to fight them back, trying to show that she wasn't hurt but, to no avail.

Chanyeol continued to pursue her. He took big steps, almost leaping, so that he could catch up with her and block her from escaping. Once he was in front of her, he clamped his broad hands on top of her shoulders and held her firmly, forcing her to stay despite her trying to wriggle free.

"Let me go!" she screamed at him again but he refused.

"Nami-ah, please" he begged. "Let's talk this over." He watched as Nami's eyes met his and he observed the pain in them. The squeezing in his chest returned but much stronger now.

"You want to talk?" she sniffed. "Fine. Let's talk."

Chanyeol swallowed as he tried to explain, "In the beginning, it did start off as a bet."

Nami's eyes flickered as if he had inflicted another wound on her. She stared at him coldly, her lips set in a hard line.

"It started off as a bet between Baekhyun, Chen and I. It was a stupid bet that we made before I met you" his voice trembled, "before... I fell for you."

Nami looked up at him, her eyes still brimming with tears. "No" she muttered while shaking her head at him. "I won't be fooled anymore."

"Nami-ah, please" Chanyeol begged. "It's the truth."

She broke away from his grasp and took a step back, "What truth?" she spat. "I don't even know what's real anymore, Chanyeol. How can I tell if any of this is real when, all this time, you were lying to me?" Fresh tears sprung from her eyes as she whispered, "You used me. And I'm through with being used."

Nami attempted to walk past him but Chanyeol blocked her path once more. "I didn't use you" his voice was stern. "Why aren't you listening to me? I told you, this was a stupid bet that we made before I met you. Before we had what we have now."

"Don't" she snapped. "I don't need to hear your pathetic excuses anymore. If you have nothing better to say then, just let me go."

"No" Chanyeol refused strongly. "I don't want to." He looked at her earnestly, "I know I've hurt you and I'm sorry but, I can't let you go. Please don't be like this. Don't you see I'm trying?"

"Trying?" she repeated bitterly. "Trying for what?"

"Trying for us" he answered desperately. "I'm trying to keep us together." He looked at her sadly, "Please. Give us a chance. Don't you want us to be together?"

Nami searched his woeful eyes and saw the sincerity in them. The truth was, she really wanted to be with him. She loved Chanyeol so of course, she wanted things to work out between them. But the problem was, she didn't know if she could trust him again. She had given him that one chance and he had blown it. She didn't want to risk getting her heart broken again. She didn't know whether she could survive it a third time.

Nami returned his gaze. "How can I trust you anymore, Chanyeol?" she asked him desperately. "How can I trust you when all this time, you were only being nice to me because of your bet?" Her voice cracked as she continued, "How can I trust that this isn't all just a game to you? That you aren't just playing around with me again?"

"I'm not playing around with you!" he was exasperated. "Nami-ah," he said her name with an agonised expression, "I'm serious about you. About us."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked him, her voice was weak. "Why did you hide it from me?"

Chanyeol wasn't sure of what to say. "I didn't- I didn't think it mattered..."

She scoffed bitterly, "That's your problem. You didn't think it mattered. You didn't think of how it would hurt me." She glared at him, "You didn't think about my feelings at all." Nami choked back the tears that keep threatening to fall from her eyes. The pain in her chest was so sharp and so intense that it affected her breathing. It was like someone was crushing her from the inside, rendering her breathless.

She stared at Chanyeol and tried to figure out what to do. She had trusted him. After the incident, she had endured a spirit-crippling trial that she wasn't sure she could ever recover from. There were so many times she had wanted to leave Seoul, abandon her report and throw everything away. She just wanted to go home and be with her family, friends, and be back to where everything was familiar. She wanted to leave but, she fought on because every time she felt like giving up, she would see Chanyeol's face. He was the only reason why she decided to stay. But that was before she found out she was just a bet to him.

A bet as cheap as ten-thousand won.

She looked away, her pain renewed. "If you were really serious about me, you would have considered my feelings" her eyes met his and he saw the disappointment in them. "Is that why you weren't there when I needed you most? Was it because I was just a bet to you so it was okay if I got hurt? Did my feelings not matter at all?"

Nami's pained expression haunted him as Chanyeol felt a wave of guilt. "Of course they matter to me. Nami-ah, I care about you."

She shook her head at him bitterly, "Stop lying, Chanyeol. Please," she faced him again with a wounded expression, "I can't take it anymore."

"But I'm not lying!"

"Yes, you are!" she shouted. "You don't care about me. All you care about is your stupid bet and your stupid ten-thousand won--" Nami barged past him successfully and hastily started marching away. But Chanyeol grabbed her arm in time and pulled her towards him. "Let me go!" she cried, thumping his chest with her closed fists. "Let me go!"

"No, Nami-ah. Stop. Please--"

"No!" she cried, still hitting him in the chest. "You're a liar, Chanyeol. You lied to me!"

"Nami-ah--"

"You said you were going to protect me." Her voice cracked as she tried to choke back her tears. "But when I needed you most, you weren't there."

Chanyeol's eyes were mournful, "I-I'm sorry..."

She shook her head at him. "Sorry isn't good enough, Chanyeol." She wiped her tears away before tugging her arm free, "I have to- I have to go."

"Nami-ah, please wait--" Chanyeol stopped her by obstructing her path.

"Move out the way, Chanyeol" she ordered.

"I won't move out the way until we solve this" he replied determinedly. "Please. I want us to stop fighting." He looked at her with tired eyes, "I admit that what I did was wrong and hurtful. But, it was all just a stupid bet and it didn't mean anything. Everything's different now." He paused as he searched her eyes. "I would have forgiven you if you had done it to me. So why can't you do the same?"

Nami wiped away a tear that was forming in the corner of her eye, "That's the difference between us" she said bitterly. "If it were me, I would have never made a bet to begin with." She pushed past him and Chanyeol caught her in his arms.

"Let me go!" she struggled as Chanyeol fought to keep her in his embrace.

"I won't--" Chanyeol pulled her close and forced his lips on hers. He kissed her aggressively, urgently, desperately. As if by doing so, he could convince her to stay and forget the pain he had caused her. Chanyeol stroked his lips on hers but she refused to accept him. Her lips were cold and unfeeling.

Violently, Nami pushed him away and she finally broke free from his grasp. Once there was a distance between them, she lunged at him and slapped him hard on the cheek. A raw pain stung his face from where Nami's hand had struck him. Chanyeol was startled. Slowly, he turned to face her, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Nami wiped her mouth furiously and Chanyeol saw that her lip was bleeding from where he had sprung a kiss on her. Fresh tears slid down her cheeks once more. "You really are a pabo, Chanyeol."

Nami attempted to run away again but Chanyeol clung to her wrist once more. "I'm sorry, Nami-ah. Please. Please forgive me--"

"Let me go!" she shouted as she violently shook her hand free. She stood still as she glared at him contemptuously. Chanyeol's body felt cold under her icy gaze. "I quit."

"What?"

"I said, I quit" she repeated fiercely. "We should stop it here, Chanyeol."

"What-what do you mean?"

"I don't care if the others know I'm a reporter. Not anymore." She eyed him coldly as she let out a long breath, "I'm tired of all this. I'm tired of this charade and I'm tired of pretending."

"Nami-ah" Chanyeol was bewildered. "What-what are you talking about?"

Nami's eyes were lacklustre, "It's over, Chanyeol." She started walking away again and Chanyeol made an attempt to stop her. He reached for her.

"Don't touch me!" she shrieked, backing away from him.

Chanyeol was taken aback by the sharpness of her tone. "Nami-ah... please don't do this. Please... don't leave me." He reached out his hands as he attempted to intertwine his fingers with hers but she snatched them away.

"I'm sorry, Chanyeol. I can't. Not anymore." Her eyes were shimmering with tears. "I don't think I can ever trust you again." Her voice was unsteady as she finally said, "I rather go to prison than stay in this fake relationship with you for a minute longer." Nami averted her gaze as she walked away, not looking back.

Chanyeol, at last, let her go as he stood motionlessly on the spot. Her words echoed in his mind in a constant loop while with each step she took, his heart broke just a little more.

Finally, he turned around and watched her go. And as much as he wanted to go after her and stop her again, he couldn't. It was like his legs were rooted to the ground by her sharp words, hindering him incapable of pursuing her. Her words were like daggers that stabbed his heart, causing an intense pain that he had never experienced before.

Chanyeol clutched his shirt where his heart was as if by doing so, he could prevent it from shattering any further. It hurt so much. Why did it hurt so much? He was breathless, heaving, gasping for air as he tried to overcome the unbearable pain that overwhelmed him.

I really am a pabo.

Out of frustration, he punched the wall next to him and a sharp pain shot up his arm as he grazed his knuckles, causing them to bleed. But he didn't care. The pain he felt in his hand was numb compared to the rawness in his chest. Suddenly, something warm slid down his cheek. He touched it and saw that they were his tears. For the first time in a long time, he was crying. He punched the wall again, shouting in agony at what he had just lost.

The thing was, to Chanyeol, their relationship wasn't false. At some point, he had started to believe that what they had was real.

And he thought that Nami did too.

~*~

Chanyeol entered the dorm hesitantly. It was already late at night and he was the last one to return to the dorm. After their day of rehearsals, the other EXO members had returned to the dorm without him as he had a meeting with Suji and Manager-nim on the topic of the Chinese film he would be taking part in.

For the first time, he was actually relieved to be with Suji. Spending time with her gave him time to think things through and consider how he could fix things between himself and Nami. He didn't want to believe that things between them were over. He was desperately holding onto the hope that Nami only said those things out of spite because she was angry at him. If he begged her for her forgiveness earnestly, would she take him back? He wanted to believe that Nami's feelings for him were strong and that they would overcome this obstacle. After all, even if their relationship was fake, wasn't their feelings for each other real?

He knew his was but, was hers?

Chanyeol entered the common area and was immediately greeted by eight pairs of eyes that turned to look at him. All the EXO members had congregated in the living room with Nami sitting amongst them.

"Is this true, Chanyeol-ah?" Suho said in disbelief. "All this time... you guys weren't dating?"

"What?" he heard his voice say. Chanyeol's eyes travelled to Nami's and he saw that hers was lifeless. She averted her gaze. His heart sank, so it really is over...

"Nami-ah just explained to us that you guys were only pretending to date so that you can keep Suji-ssi away," Baekhyun remarked. "Is this true too?"

Chanyeol was silent. He had heard Baekhyun's question but he didn't have the voice to say anything. He was still in shock that things were really over between him and Nami.

"Then, that time at the Gayo Daejun concert" Xiumin pondered. "That was all... an act?" He turned to Nami, searching her eyes but she refused to look at him. Something in Xiumin lit up at the realisation. "I see..."

"But why didn't you tell us you were just pretending to keep Suji-ssi away?" Kai asked. "You didn't need to hide it from us too."

Nami turned to Kai, "That was Chanyeol's idea." Chanyeol eyed Nami at the mention of his name. "He said that it would be better if we kept it a secret from you guys too in order to avoid increasing the chance of Suji-ssi finding out." Nami glimpsed at Chanyeol briefly before looking away again.

Chanyeol eyed her despondently. Nami still wouldn't look him in the face.

"You didn't have to do that, hyung" Sehun addressed Chanyeol. "We can keep secrets."

"Yeah" Kai agreed. "We all know how bothersome Suji-ssi is. You didn't need to pretend when you were amongst us: we're family!"

Chanyeol smiled weakly, "I'm sorry guys. I just thought it was the best thing to do at the time." But the truth was, Chanyeol was thinking of something else entirely. I didn't want to tell anyone about the secret because I wanted to get closer to Nami.

"But Nami-ah," D.O began. "You didn't have to keep this secret from us." Nami gaped at D.O as he continued, "You didn't have to do that for Chanyeol unless..." He glanced from Nami and then to Chanyeol and then back again. "Unless he was making you keep this secret for a reason."

"That's true!" Chen exclaimed as he remembered their conversation from before. "Was he blackmailing you, Nami-ah?"

Nami struggled to answer. She inevitably locked eyes with Chanyeol. He stared at her with pleading eyes which turned soft as he realised why she was gaping at him. Nami had told the rest of the EXO members that their relationship was fake. The deal was off. Now, Chanyeol could get his revenge by exposing her secret to them. He could tell them the truth about her being a reporter.

Nami braced herself as she saw Chanyeol open his mouth to speak. She knew she said that she would rather go to prison than continue pretending to be his girlfriend but, half of her didn't really mean it. She just said that to him because she was so livid and hurt.

All eyes shifted from her to Chanyeol as they witnessed him and Nami engage in a stare down. It was as if they were communicating with each other through their eyes.

Chanyeol gave her one last look before saying, "The truth is--"

But he was unable to say anything more as he was suddenly cut off by the sound of 4Men's 'Baby Baby' playing in the background. Flustered, Suho quickly answered his phone and turned away, "Hello? Manager-nim?"

The rest of the EXO members let out a deep breath as Suho had broken the tension that was building up amongst them. It was a brief intermission from the drama that was about to unfold. 

Nami and Chanyeol broke away from their locked gaze and turned to look at something else while they waited for Suho to finish his call.

Once he had finished, he turned to look at everyone, a look of surprise still on his face.

"What's the matter, hyung?" Baekhyun asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"It's either that, or he's finally realised his fly's been open the whole time" Sehun chuckled.

"What?!" Suho quickly looked down at his zipper and Sehun and Kai erupted into a laughter.

"Made you look!" Sehun teased.

Suho was bemused by his tricks.

"What was the call about, hyung?" D.O asked.

Once Suho had collected himself, his serious expression returned. "It was Manager-nim, he had just told me some important news."

"What is it?" Chen enquired, frowning. "Is there another problem again?"

Suho shook his head. "Not quite."

Xiumin questioned, "Then, does it affect us in some way?"

"Yes," Suho replied. "It actually affects two of us."

"Just say it already, hyung!" Kai complained. "What did Manager-nim say?"

Suho's lips thinned as he took a deep breath in. He looked at Nami directly, "Nami-ah, we're going to need your help again."

"Huh?" Nami was taken aback. "Why? Is this another modelling gig?"

Suho shook his head as the rest of the EXO members turned to her. "You're not gonna like it because this time, you have to take part."

Nami was sceptical. She didn't like where this was going. "What do you mean I have to take part? Why?"

"They were direct orders from the big man himself, Lee Sooman" Suho replied. His eyes were stern, "Nami-ah, he wants you to take part in 'We Got Married'."

A gasp escaped the lips of every EXO member. They turned to Suho, wide-eyed and brimming with questions.

"Hyung," Kai commented, "You mean that--?"

Suho nodded solemnly.

Everyone turned to look at a bewildered Nami. "What is it? What's going on?"

The EXO members exchanged looks with each other as they realised something important: if Nami was going to take part in 'We Got Married' then, she would need someone to get married to. 

The question was, who, amongst the EXO members, will be her groom?

~*~

Author's Note:

Hello reader! Thank you for reading chapter 42 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

I have to say, my heart really did break when I was writing Chanyeol and Nami's heartbreak scene. It was so painful... and I hope my writing was able to move you. *Cries in a corner*

Now, what do you think will happen next? It's finally the start of the fourth and final arc! Will Chanyeol and Nami overcome this obstacle? Or will another contender sweep her away? 

Find out next time!

P.S. Comment, vote and share! Shout out to my readers from India, Bangladesh and Indonesia! Thanks for tuning in!