It was late in the evening when Lay finally arrived at the dorm. Bleary-eyed, he let himself in, half-expecting one of the EXO members to still be awake to help him with his luggage. But to his surprise, the common area was empty. Everyone seemed to be asleep already or, otherwise not in the dorm.

Lay inspected the interior and discovered that it was relatively clean and generally looked the same as when he had left for China, five months ago. The main lights were off so everything was shrouded in darkness apart from nearby the stairs, where the middle light was left on.

Lay was about to call out and alert the others of his presence but then, he stopped and changed his mind. He was exhausted from his travels and didn't want anything more than to sleep and, he was pretty certain that the others would be feeling the same way.

As silent as he could, Lay hauled up his suitcase up the stairs and crept along the corridor and into his room. He would leave surprising the other EXO members for tomorrow morning when he was much more refreshed.

Without turning the light on, Lay clambered inside and proceeded with stripping his clothes off. He'd shower in the morning--he was way too lazy to do it now. All he wanted to do was hit the sack and get more shut-eye.

Lay pulled off his trousers with a satisfied grunt and climbed onto his bed. He was so exhausted that he didn't even notice that his room had undergone a minor transformation.

And most importantly, he had failed to notice that there was someone else sleeping next to him.

~*~

The sound of shuffling roused Baekhyun from his sleep. He groaned and blinked a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to the light that came from the lamp on top of Chanyeol's nightstand.

"You're leaving already?" he asked, his voice was croaky from just having woken up. He saw that Chanyeol was already dressed in his outdoor clothes and he was busy packing some things into his backpack.

"Yeah. I'll be leaving in a couple of hours" he replied. Chanyeol checked his phone and saw that it was only five in the morning. His flight was at nine so he still had plenty of time. He glanced at his screensaver which was a picture of him and Nami during the photo shoot. It was the same picture which illustrated her surprise when he suddenly kissed her on the forehead. He smiled slightly. Even though he and Nami had pretended to date for almost two months, this was the only couple shot they took together. He regretted not taking more.

"You're not gonna say bye to Little Umma?" Baekhyun asked as he sat up.

Chanyeol shook his head. "It's best if I leave quietly."

~*~

D.O was busy cooking breakfast when he heard someone climbing down the stairs. He peered from the workstation and saw that it was Chanyeol, wearing his black fedora and long jacket. If it weren't for the backpack he always carried with him when he travelled, D.O wouldn't have realised that today was the day that Chanyeol was leaving for China.

"Chanyeol-ah" his voice had a conflicted quality to it. He couldn't quite believe that Chanyeol would be gone for a month. "You're leaving now?"

Chanyeol smiled at him weakly. "Yeah."

"Don't you want to eat first?" he asked. He was still busy frying some eggs but there were some that were already cooked.

Chanyeol shook his head. "It's okay. I'll eat at the airport."

D.O looked at him and saw that he looked conflicted too. "Does anyone else in the dorm know you're leaving now? Do you want somebody to go with you?"

Again, Chanyeol shook his head. "It's fine. Manager-nim will be picking me up soon."

There was silence.

D.O was careful with his choice of words. "What about Nami-ah?" Chanyeol's eyes met with D.O's at the mention of Nami's name. "You're not going to say goodbye to her?"

He smiled weakly. "Just tell her that I'll be gone for a while." Chanyeol checked his phone again to see if there were any messages from Manager-nim.

D.O gaped at him wordlessly. They hadn't exactly met eye to eye ever since he and Nami had revealed they weren't dating.

Chanyeol was his friend but Nami was someone he deeply cared about. And unknown to the rest of the EXO members, Nami had not taken the break up very well. On the outside, everyone thought that Nami was fine, she was moving on and her break up with Chanyeol meant nothing. She had fooled everyone into thinking she was okay by putting on a brave front like she always did. But in reality, she was still hurting inside. He knew this because every time he passed by her door, to check if she was still having nightmares, he would hear muffled crying. Nami had been crying herself to sleep every night. They may have said that their relationship was all pretend but, he thought otherwise. He knew that Nami loved Chanyeol for real.

"Oh, and D.O-ah," Chanyeol said, as he approached the door. Manager-nim had finally messaged him that he had arrived. He eyed D.O seriously, "Take care of her for me."

D.O nodded. "I will. Oh, Chanyeol-ah, before you go, about what I said before--"

"Don't worry about it" Chanyeol dismissed. "We're good" he grinned. "No bad blood."

D.O was relieved by his words.

"I'll see you in the US" Chanyeol waved before leaving.

"Yes" D.O replied as Chanyeol began walking away. "See you in a month."

~*~

The eggs sizzled in the pan as D.O waited for them to fry. He was almost finished with preparing breakfast and it was nearly time for him to wake up the rest of the members.

It was out of habit that he woke up early in the morning today in spite of having no rehearsals. He had been told yesterday that his schedule for this afternoon and evening were to be left free which, he found peculiar since Manager-hyung (one of the nicer managers) didn't specify why that was.

As he diverted his attention back to waiting for the eggs to fry, his train of thought was suddenly broken by the alarming sound of an ear-piercing scream. He jolted and immediately looked towards the entrance of the kitchen. It sounded like Nami's voice.

Without a moment to lose, D.O scrambled his way upstairs, still carrying the spatula in his hand. When he got to Nami's room, he saw that the others were already at the scene. The EXO members were still wearing their pyjamas and some of them were rubbing their eyes and yawning. D.O heard a lot of shouting coming from inside the room along with the occasional thump as things sounded like they were being thrown.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" Baekhyun asked the others.

"What happened to Nami-ah?" D.O asked worriedly. "I thought I heard her scream just now."

"Maybe she's having a nightmare" Sehun suggested. His hair was parted at odd angles from not having tidied it up yet.

Suho walked over to her door. "Nightmare or not, she needs to settle down." He was about to turn the doorknob when he suddenly heard another thump as something hit the door this time.

Everyone's eyes widened when they heard a guy's voice telling her to stop throwing things. Suho opened the door immediately.

The EXO members pushed and shoved each other as they tried to get a better look at what was happening inside. As one of the shortest in the group, D.O struggled the most while the others towered in front of him. He watched as everyone stiffened in surprise at what they saw. Eventually, D.O managed to worm his way to the front and saw why everyone had stopped to stare.

"Lay-hyung?!" Baekhyun exclaimed.

On the floor, covering his manhood with a heart-shaped pillow, was a naked Lay who was gaping at the EXO members with a look of relief at finally seeing familiar faces. "Surprise," he said weakly. "Although, this wasn't how I planned to do it."

"You know this pervert?!" Nami shouted from the bed. She was still in her pyjamas and she was armed with her slipper in one hand. "I woke up and saw him sleeping next to me!"

Lay retorted from the ground, "What are you talking about, you crazy woman? I should be calling you the pervert! Why were you sleeping on my bed? No, why are you even in my room?"

"Your room?" Nami was surprised.

Suho quickly interrupted them, "I think there's been a misunderstanding." He addressed Lay first, "Lay, this is Nami-ah. She's our dorm mother." He turned to Nami, "Nami-ah, this is Lay. He's our ninth member and he's been in China all this time."

Lay and Nami exchanged looks and nodded at each other awkwardly. Embarrassed by her behaviour, she apologised to him profusely.

"Don't worry" he replied. "Although, if you're really sorry, I'd appreciate it if you turn around so that I can put some clothes on."

Nami blushed and did as she was told. While she was facing the opposite direction, the other EXO members helped cover Lay until he was decent. While doing so, their voices overlapped with one another as they asked him questions but, before he could answer any of them, Suho cut in once more. "We'll have plenty of time to catch up later. For now, Lay, you should come with me and stay in my room while Nami-ah uses yours."

Lay nodded. "Okay."

"Everyone else, get back to what you were doing."

The other EXO members started shuffling out of the room while Suho reared them away like a shepherd would to a flock of sheep. D.O was relieved to see that nothing bad had happened to Nami. As he was leaving, Kai sniffed the air as he walked alongside him. "D.O-ah, were you cooking something just now? I think I can smell something burning."

D.O's eyes rounded as he realised he had left the eggs frying on the hob. "Shit!" he exclaimed, before dashing down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. While he was glad that Nami had come away unscathed, he couldn't say the same about the eggs.

~*~

Author's Note:

Hi reader! Thank you for reading chapter 46 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

I know that today's chapter is short but, it's nearly time. Are you excited?

Stay tuned for what will happen next!