"We're not going back to the dorm?" I asked as the car parked outside a tall apartment complex.

"Nope" one of the WGM staff replied. "You and D.O-ssi will be staying in this apartment together for the duration of the show."

D.O and I exchanged looks as we made our way to our new apartment. It was a cosy apartment that was furnished with chocolate brown leather sofas and simplistic decoration.

I surveyed the room and realised that there was only one bedroom. I peered inside and I was astonished to see that there was no bed. "Erm, excuse me," I said, trying to attract the attention of the WGM staff, who were busy setting up their filming equipment. "Where's the bed?"

"Oh, there's a futon inside the cupboard over there." She pointed to one of the airing cupboards and I checked it by sliding the door to one side. There, folded up neatly, was a futon. I took it out only to find that we had another problem.

There was only one futon.

I turned to look at D.O, who had followed me inside the bedroom although, it was just an empty room at the moment. "D.O-ah," I said pointing to the futon.

He glanced at where I was pointing at and then met eyes with mine. "I'll sleep on the sofa tonight" he stated. "You can take the futon."

"Are you sure, D.O-ah?" I asked. "I mean, I can sleep on the sofa tonight--"

"No, it's okay. I'll sleep on the sofa--"

"But it's unfair on you," I replied. "You should take the futon--"

"No, Nami-ah. I insist, I'll take the sofa--"

We engaged in a staredown as we both stubbornly wanted the other to sleep on the futon. It was a battle of politeness. Suddenly, D.O started laughing and I couldn't help but join him.

"Look at us," he said still grinning. "We're fighting over who should sleep on the futon."

"Yeah" I giggled, "I guess we're just as insistent as the other."

"Tell you what" he suddenly said. "Why don't we play for it?" He raised his fist to suggest a game we were both familiar with.

"Rock-paper-scissors? Seriously?"

He chuckled. "Whoever loses has to sleep on the futon, deal?"

I nodded. "Fine. Deal."

We threw our fists in front of us and started playing rock-paper-scissors. D.O chanted, "Rock, paper, scissors!" And he made the rock sign with his fingers. I grinned: I had played paper. "Looks like I'm taking the sofa" I smirked.

D.O was displeased. "Let's do best of five."

"Nah-uh" I replied. "A deal's a deal. You sleep on the futon."

I pranced out of the bedroom before D.O could protest. It felt good to win, even though it was just over a silly thing like who gets to sleep on the sofa. When D.O finally came out to join me, he saw that I was checking the cupboards. They were all empty. I turned to one of the WGM staff. "So we'll be staying here until further notice?"

She replied, "Yes. We'll be filming your interactions at home but it will be done less invasively." She pointed to the cameras that had been installed. "We've set up some smaller cameras since the apartment isn't very big. Rest assured, we won't be here all the time so you'll be much more comfortable."

D.O then asked, "Do we have anything scheduled to be filmed today?"

"Well, since there is no food in the apartment at the moment, we were planning on filming you guys going grocery shopping."

D.O turned to me. "Shall we do that, Nami-ah?"

I nodded. "But what about the other EXO members? Will there be time to visit them? I still have souvenirs to give them."

The staff member replied, "We won't be filming you all the time so, you'll have time to do things privately once we've got enough material."

D.O made his way to the door. "Okay. Well, let's get grocery shopping then. I'm actually quite hungry."

~*~

We went to a nearby supermarket and started buying plenty of food. I had always gone grocery shopping by myself so it was quite refreshing to have someone come with me. D.O pushed the trolley as I hovered over the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that were on display.

He parked the trolley next to me. "You should buy the semi-ripe ones" he suggested as he pointed to the bananas that I was staring at. "That way, they last longer."

"I prefer the really ripe ones though" I replied. I turned to him and grinned as I picked out a bunch of bright yellow bananas. "That way I can eat them immediately." I placed the bananas in the trolley and D.O raised his brow.

We continued picking out different kinds of food while the WGM staff tried to film us as inconspicuously as possible. Of course, having a couple of cameramen following us drew a lot of attention anyway. The customers in the supermarket gave us curious looks as we passed by but, I knew they were all staring at D.O. He wasn't wearing a mask so his face was in full view if he just took off his black baseball cap.

D.O continued to push the trolley along as I led the way. I was actually semi-thankful that the WGM staff were with us because even if the customers did recognise D.O, they were too intimidated by the cameras to approach us. I felt somewhat reassured that nothing like what happened in the restaurant would happen to us again.

"We should buy some ramyeon too" I suggested as we passed by the noodle section.

D.O followed suit. "Don't buy too much though. It's not healthy."

"I won't" I replied, but I proceeded to take packet after packet.

While I was busy doing this, a woman with a baby sat in her trolley, suddenly went past us and stopped to take some oriental sauces that were shelved on the other side. The baby turned to look at D.O and gurgled at him.

"Hello!" D.O cooed at the baby who was flexing its small, star-like hands at him. The baby smiled and continued to make gurgling noises as D.O pulled silly faces.

When the woman returned, she smiled when she saw D.O trying to make her baby laugh. "She seems to like you!" she commented and picked her baby up so that D.O could see her better. "Say hello, Dasom."

"She's so adorable," D.O said sweetly as he extended his finger and baby Dasom curled her little ones around his. D.O moved his finger up and down as if to shake hands with her. "Hello, Dasom!"

The baby gurgled and laughed at the sound of D.O's voice.

"How old is she?" D.O asked the mother.

"She's only five months old. Time flies fast, though" the mother replied happily. She kissed the baby on the cheek and the baby gurgled in response.

I approached the pair with packets of ramyeon in my hands. D.O and the mother turned at the sound of rustling packets as I dropped them into the trolley.

"Oh, Nami-ah," D.O said as he beckoned for me to come closer to him. He turned to the woman, "This is my wife. And this," he said turning to me, "Is baby Dasom."

The baby looked at me with her big brown eyes and she laughed. My heart melted at the sight. Oh! The cuteness!

"Hello there, cutie Dasom" I cooed.

The mother smiled as she told us, "Well, I have to get going now. I have to pick up my other children from school. Say goodbye to the kind man and lady, Dasom."

The baby, as if understanding her mother's words, flexed her squishy fingers as if to wave goodbye.

"Bye-bye!" I waved and so did D.O.

"She's so cute!" I exclaimed as D.O and I continued to shop for food. "Oh, I just want to pinch her cheeks so bad!"

D.O chuckled. "Sounds like your maternal instincts are kicking in" he joked.

I turned to him and gave him a wily grin. "Well, I can't help it. I love kids." I thought for a moment as I remembered something. "Speaking of which, I hope you haven't forgotten your promise to me!"

D.O was startled. "What promise?"

"You don't remember?" I frowned.

He gaped at me cluelessly.

"You promised me that I'd get to pinch your kid's cheeks one day!"

D.O looked at me confusedly and then laughed as he remembered. "Ohhh. That." He rubbed his neck, "I can't believe you remembered that."

"A promise is a promise, D.O-ah. Of course, I'd remember it." We strolled a little further, almost finishing our shopping list. I thought for a moment and then asked him, "Say, D.O-ah, how many kids would you like to have in the future?"

"Huh?" he sounded surprised by my question. I looked to my left and saw that his eyes were wide. He fumbled, "Erm, well, I don't really know. I've never really thought of it."

I smiled weakly. "Well, for me, I'd like to have at least two."

"Why's that?"

I glanced at him. "Because I know what it's like being an only child and it's kinda lonely at times. If I ever have kids, I'd like to have two at the very least so that they could depend on each other."

D.O looked at me thoughtfully. "I can see where you're coming from. I have an older brother and I guess having him around when I was younger was always comforting. It felt like I had someone I could rely on."

"Right?" I replied. "It must feel great to have a sibling."

"Any preference on gender?" D.O asked suddenly.

I thought for a moment. "I'd like one of each. A boy and a girl. But, I'd like to have a boy first."

"Oh?"

I explained, "Because I'd want my daughter to have an older brother to protect her from all the bad guys."

D.O arched his brow. "Nami-ah, you surprise me. I would have thought that you wouldn't want your daughter to rely on anyone's help."

I shrugged. "That's true but I wasn't always as strong as I am now." I saw D.O looking at me curiously and I elaborated, "I've always wanted an older brother. But because I was an only child, I had to learn to be self-reliant from the very beginning." I grinned at him, "So I'd want my daughter to have someone to protect her always."

D.O looked like he was about to say something when I suddenly spotted something on the TV that caught my attention. "Ah, D.O-ah! Look!"

D.O turned to see what I was looking at. "Oh, it's Yoora-noona."

On the small TV screen was Park Yoora, Chanyeol's older sister, who was broadcasting for YTN news. She spoke eloquently as she reported on the biggest headlines of the day before handing over to her colleague, who informed us about the weather forecast. As I watched Yoora on screen, I was suddenly reminded of what she told me the last time I saw her.

I sense you'll be wearing a ring on that finger soon...

I glanced down at my left hand and eyed the silver wedding ring that I was wearing. Was this what Yoora was on about? Me taking part in 'We Got Married'?

"Nami-ah" D.O called out to me. "Let's go pay now."

I followed D.O as he pushed the trolley up to the cashiers. I was still a little dazed about what I just remembered and thinking about Yoora unavoidably led me to think about Chanyeol. I sighed inwardly. I wonder what Chanyeol was up to right now? Even though I knew I should stop thinking about him, I couldn't help worrying about him a little. After all, it wasn't like I could erase all our memories together just like that. Every time I thought of him, I still felt a pain in my heart, like a sharp needle but, recently, I've noticed that the pain had started to dull. It was more like a low ache. A low constant ache that I wouldn't notice unless I suddenly thought of him.

"Nami-ah, are you feeling okay?" D.O asked worriedly. "You're looking a little pale."

"Hm?" I replied, snapping out of my daze. "Oh. Sorry, I was just thinking about something."

D.O looked unsure. "Maybe you're hypoglycaemic."

"I'm what?"

"You have low blood sugar" D.O explained. "In other words, you're probably hungry. You should go and get some sweets or chocolates to snack on before you faint."

D.O ushered for me to pick out something to eat while he waited in the queue for the cashiers. I scanned the area and walked around for a while until I spotted something that attracted my attention.

"Strawberry flavoured..." I read the sign aloud but I couldn't understand the last character since I was unfamiliar with the Hangul. I peered at the price and saw that it was on sale. They were sold in individual sachets and they were wrapped in shiny pink packets. "This looks cheap," I said to myself. "Maybe I should get some for D.O too?"

"Hello there, miss" a shop attendant greeted me. I looked up and saw that it was a rather large middle-aged woman. "We're having a promotion at the moment on all our products in store." She glanced at the pink sachets I had in my hands. "Oh? Did you want to try different flavours as well? We also have apple, orange and banana flavour."

This piqued my interest. "Really? Are they on offer too?"

The woman nodded. "Yes, and they also come with a free bottle of lube if you buy two full boxes."

I blinked. "Lube?"

"Nami-ah!" I heard D.O call me. I turned around and saw that he was approaching me steadily. "What's taking you so long? I've already paid for the groceries. The WGM staff have already taken the bags to the car."

"Oh, D.O-ah" I replied. I showed him the sachets in my hands. "I was just choosing some sweets that are on offer. The attendant said that they also come in different flavours. Which flavour do you want? There's strawberry, orange, apple and banana."

D.O glanced at the sachets in my hands and then at the stall that we were in front of. His face immediately turned crimson as he read the sign. "Erm, Nami-ah."

"Hm?"

He blushed as he pointed at the sachets in my hands. "Those aren't sweets."

I glanced down at the sachets. "They're not?"

"No," he replied as he awkwardly pointed out, "those are flavoured condoms."

"What?!" I threw the sachets back into the box I found them in. I felt heat rise to my cheeks as I faced away from D.O, embarrassed at my naïve mistake. Curse my cruddy Korean reading ability!

The shop attendant laughed at our embarrassed expressions as I and D.O couldn't look at each other in the eye. Upon seeing our wedding rings she asked, "Omo, are you two youngsters a couple?"

D.O replied, still a little flustered. "Yes, ajumma, we're newlyweds."

"Ahhh, congratulations" she responded while smiling at us warmly. But then her salesmanship took over and she added, "Tell you what, as a late wedding gift, I'll throw you a discount for one of our best selling products." She took out a packet of condoms and showed it to D.O. "It's our best brand yet and it's the ultra-thin kind for a more realistic feel." She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively and I blushed even more.

D.O declined, "It-it's okay, ajumma. We-we won't be needing those."

"Ahhh, I see." The sales attendant nodded her head knowingly as she put the box away. She smirked, "You and your wife must want children straight away. Youngsters these days are a lot more feisty than I thought!"

I exchanged looks with D.O and we both looked away shyly. Both of us were like a pair of bright red tomatoes.

"Let's-let's get out of here" I whispered to D.O urgently and he nodded in agreement.

But as we turned away, the sales attendant shouted after us, "If you ever change your mind about having kids, make sure you come and visit this stall!"

I quickened my pace and I noticed that D.O did too.

Gah, such an embarrassing misunderstanding-- damn it, Mirei! I groaned inwardly, I should really work on my Hangul...

~*~

Author's Note:

Hi reader! Thanks for reading chapter 53 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

*Bursts into laughter* I'm sorry... I couldn't help myself with that last bit. I'm just a crude writer hehe. But, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter since a few themes have been echoed and will come into play later on. Do you remember them?

Stay tuned to find out what happens next!