Three years later...

"Wow! Traditional Japanese hotels are the best!" Kai exclaimed excitedly, as he rushed inside to inspect the Asiatic decorations.

"I believe they're called 'ryokans', Kai. They're more like inns than hotels" Sehun corrected.

The EXO members entered their Japanese-style accommodation which composed of tatami floors and minimalistic decoration. An earthy and neutral colour scheme was evident across the whole room and a small, wooden table was placed in the centre, nearby a tiny, flat-screen TV. Connected to the cosy common area were two spacious rooms that the EXO members will sleep in. These rooms were separated by sliding doors and were currently empty, apart from a pile of futons that were neatly folded in one corner.

Suho observed their humble abode for the next couple of days. "You guys better take advantage of our time in Osaka" he advised, "We'll be moving on to Hokkaido next."

"Do you think it'll be any different? I mean, Manager-nim might have booked us another ryokan" Lay mentioned as he brought one of the futons to the common area.

"I don't think so" Suho replied. "Manager-nim said that he only booked us the ryokan because all the big hotels were at full capacity. I guess we're doing our Japan tour at the wrong time since there are many tourists this year." He peeped at Lay who was making himself comfortable on the futon. "Yah! Lay, if you're going to sleep, go shower first and sleep in the bedrooms-- don't sleep here!"

Lay's eyes were already half-closed. "I'm just going to rest my eyes..." he mumbled sleepily while hugging his purple unicorn plushie.

Suho sighed, "Typical."

Chen hauled his suitcase into one of the spacious rooms. "Kinda think of it, I thought they'd postpone our tour to Japan until a lot later in the year. It seems counter-productive to do a tour when the Olympics is going on."

"I agree" Xiumin responded as he sat down on the tatami floor. "But when I was speaking to Manager-hyung, he said that Manager-nim and Lee Sooman thought that it would be a good idea since we could take advantage of all the tourists who will be coming."

"I still think it's pretty dumb" Chen expressed carelessly. "One thing's for sure, it's so hot outside that I think I'll end up fainting on stage!"

Baekhyun sat down on the tatami floor next to Xiumin. "Well, while we have these three days off before we head over to Hokkaido, we can use this time to relax." He picked up the remote and switched on the TV. "Maybe we can catch up on some anime or something?"

Sehun smirked from beside him. "Yeah, I bet you're just looking for the hentai channel, hyung."

"No, I'm not!" Baekhyun blushed as he aimed to kick Sehun on the shin but he avoided it.

Chanyeol returned from one of the bedrooms with a towel slung over his shoulder. "Any of you guys wanna go to the hot springs? D.O-ah and I are going there right now." A few moments later, D.O appeared from the bedroom too. He was staring blankly at the others as if he was preoccupied about something.

"Nah" Baekhyun replied. "I think I'll watch some TV first." He turned to Sehun. "How about you, Sehun-ah? Maybe you should go to the hot springs to cleanse your filthy mind?"

Sehun stuck his tongue out. "I think I'm fine just the way I am, thanks."

"What about you, Suho-hyung? Chen? Umin-hyung?" Chanyeol addressed the other three.

"I think I'll go after" Xiumin replied as he started eating mochi that was left on the table for the EXO members. "I'll take a bath before going to sleep. It's still pretty early."

"Same here" Chen answered.

"I'll go later as well" Suho responded. He looked around the room, "Where's Kai?"

"He's probably off calling his sister again," Sehun told Suho. "He's been missing his dogs lately."

"Okay, well, I guess it's just me and you, D.O-ah" Chanyeol told him. D.O nodded. "We'll see you guys later then." Chanyeol waved, before leaving the room with D.O.

"It seems like D.O-ah is still feeling a little weird being in Japan" Xiumin observed once the pair had left.

"Can you blame him, though?" Chen answered. "I guess it brings back a lot of memories for him."

Suho sighed, "Well, I'm going to unpack some of my things. Since there are two rooms and there are nine of us, we'll have to split up into groups of five and four."

Immediately, the other EXO members grouped up together. "Baekhyun, you're with us, okay?" Chen told him as Baekhyun was still busy flicking through the channels.

"Okay," he replied distractedly. "I don't mind who I share a room with."

"Why don't we just split into two groups of four instead and have Lay sleep in the common room by himself? He seems to have made himself comfortable already." Xiumin pointed at a horizontal Lay who was snoring softly in one corner.

The others nodded in agreement. "Deal." It was the easiest decision they've ever had to make so far.

Baekhyun groaned, "There's nothing good on TV. All I'm getting is Olympic tournaments."

"Then why don't you just watch that?" Suho asked him as he started moving his things. The others had got up to start claiming their space in the bedrooms too.

"Ugh" Baekhyun grunted. "But it's all in Japanese so I don't understand anything."

Xiumin chuckled as he appeared from one of the bedrooms. "Then just pretend you can" he suggested, before disappearing again.

Baekhyun sighed as he flicked through each channel. After a while, he eventually decided to watch a martial arts match. Since he did hapkido in the past, martial arts had always been an interesting topic for him and the closest ones to hapkido were taekwondo, judo and karate. At the moment, it was the women's judo match on TV. Afterwards, the men's would begin.

Baekhyun shuffled around on his seat to get comfortable. There was only so much you can do when you were sitting on hard, tatami floors as opposed to cushioned chairs. He grabbed the plate of mochi that was on the table and started munching on them while he observed the two competitors, who were fighting in the featherweight division. Baekhyun saw the flags of their countries appear next to their names and saw that it was Great Britain v Spain.

He yawned as he watched the match begin. He observed how the female representative for Britain was short, tanned and had a pixie cut while her opponent was a tall Caucasian woman with blonde hair pulled into a tight ponytail. He noticed that their names were Na Mirei and Álvaro Sara, which was written with surnames first, like in South Korea. Baekhyun watched disinterestedly as the two females circled each other. He didn't really feel like cheering for any side-- he was just waiting for the men's division to start.

"It's already obvious," he said out loud to no one in particular. "The blondie's going to win. She's so much taller than the other girl."

Baekhyun popped another mochi into his mouth as he continued to watch. As he was doing so, he heard the others squealing on the other side. It sounded like they were having a pillow fight or something because Suho was scolding them. Baekhyun shook his head disapprovingly. "Tch. Must be Sehun and Kai again."

He sighed once more as he continued to watch. He was starting to lose interest because nothing was happening. "Maybe I should check if taekwondo is on," he thought out loud, before reaching for the remote to change the channel. But just as he was about to press the button, the small, tanned girl grappled her opponent and threw her onto the floor with amazing force, earning her a point.

Baekhyun blinked. He was dumbfounded. Well, that was unexpected... He straightened his back, leaning forwards a little bit more as he watched the match more intently. Something about that throw was mesmerising-- it was executed so perfectly-- even he, as a hapkido practitioner, had to admit.

He watched as the camera zoomed in on the tanned girl's face, who had a serious expression. She was currently speaking to her coach, probably receiving feedback for her earlier throw. Baekhyun narrowed his eyes as he took in her features. The camera had zoomed in so that he can see her face clearly: the curvature of her nose and her pair of almond-shaped eyes felt somewhat familiar to him but he couldn't put his finger on it. The tanned girl finished talking with her coach and she smiled to reveal a pair of dimples on her cheeks. Baekhyun's eyes rounded and he gasped as realised who she was.

"Little Umma?" he murmured to himself. He had dropped the mochi in his hand back onto the plate and blinked several times. Was he seeing right? Was it really her? Could that Mirei really be their Nami from before?

Baekhyun resumed watching the match, before making a conclusion. He didn't want to get too ahead of himself because maybe, he was just imagining things. He didn't want to alert the others just in case it was another false alarm. It wasn't the first time, after all...

After Nami left unexpectedly, D.O and Chanyeol flew back to the US to rejoin the others on the tour. But even though D.O was with them, he wasn't the same. While he performed to the best of his ability and acted fine on the outside, his eyes showed no happiness. It was as if he was wearing a mask or pretending to be one of the characters from his dramas because, while D.O was able to hide his true feelings, his round eyes couldn't lie. He was in pain but he was repressing it for his fans, for his teammates and most of all, for the sake of the show.

Once the tour had ended and they had gone back home, D.O had locked himself in his room for a long time. He was really downcast and the EXO members didn't know how they could make him feel better again. Nami was gone but that didn't stop them from dedicating their time in searching for her. They had realised that Nami was important to them and it didn't matter that she was a reporter. They wanted to make things right again; they wanted her to come back to where she belonged.

They started off by trying to glean as much information as they could from Suji. But she was determined not to reveal a single piece of information, even going as far as denying she had any knowledge of why Nami had left her job as EXO's housekeeper. When the EXO members finally gave up on pestering Suji, they decided to do things the hard way and search for her in the UK.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol went incognito to the UK to search for Nami. They had visited the biggest news reporter agencies and inquired after her, asking if anyone knew of a reporter called Nami but everywhere they went, it was a dead end. Even with her picture, they couldn't get very far. It was only then did they realise how very little they actually knew about Nami. They didn't even know her surname.

After a while, they finally managed to get a lead on her. They managed to find an agency that said that they had an employee that went by the name 'Minami' but she had left her job in news reporting and was now doing missionary work in Asia. Baekhyun and Chanyeol showed them a picture of Nami to confirm that it was the right person but soon discovered that it wasn't. They were devastated. It was like Nami had disappeared from the face of the earth.

A year had passed when D.O told the EXO members to stop looking for her. There was nothing they could do if Nami didn't want to be found and he could see that searching for her was tearing the team apart. They had to let her go and give up on searching for her. And finally, they did. But doing so made them all painfully aware of the void that they once felt when their previous members had left. The void had come back because there was no Nami to fill it and it was like a big part of EXO was missing without her.

For Baekhyun, it took a while to get used to. Every time he saw a petite woman with black hair and a hoodie on, he would immediately think that it was Nami. After a year of constantly keeping an eye out for her, he had developed a habit of seeing Nami everywhere. But when he was told to stop, it was hard to get used to. And now, on the TV, was a judo athlete who really could be their Nami.

The Nami they've been searching for was right in front of him.

"Guys!" he shouted, trying to draw the attention of the other EXO members. "Yah! Everyone, come here! There's something you need to see!" Baekhyun thought that if he was really imagining it, then at least the other members could help him snap out of it.

"What's up, Baekhyun-ah?" Chen asked as he strolled over from the bedroom. Soon afterwards, the others trailed after him.

He pointed at the TV. "Look!"

The others turned to look at the TV and watched as the tanned girl wrestled with the blonde girl. They were stuck in a deadlock.

"What about it?" Xiumin asked curiously as he sat down. "Yah! Did you eat all the mochi?"

"No" Baekhyun lied. "But that's not the point. Doesn't she look familiar to you? To any of you?"

Sehun tilted his head as he looked at the tanned girl. "No, why?"

The tanned girl broke free from the blonde girl's grasp and managed to hurl her to the ground. Sadly, it wasn't a valid point.

"See that? Doesn't that throw look familiar to you?" he asked exasperatedly. "Do none of you recognise it at all?"

The others continued to watch attentively but most of them had blank faces.

"What are you trying to get at, Baekhyun?" Suho asked impatiently. "Just tell us what it is."

Baekhyun grunted out of frustration. "It's Little Umma!" he exclaimed as he pointed at the tanned girl. "Little Umma's real name is Na Mirei!"

At this, all the members jerked to attention as their eyes scrutinised the tanned girl's face. They erupted into a hubbub of overlapping voices.

"Wait..."

"What?"

"How?"

The camera zoomed in on the tanned girl's face again and the EXO members eyed her closely. It didn't take them long to see where Baekhyun was coming from: they finally recognised her.

"You're right!"

"Omo, it's her!"

"It really is Nami-ah!"

The EXO members exchanged excited looks with each other at seeing Nami again after so long. They felt a mixture of surprise, disbelief and delight at finally having found her.

"Where's D.O-ah? Chanyeol-hyung? They have to see this!" Kai shouted.

"They're at the hot springs" Baekhyun responded with equal hype.

"I'll go and fetch them!" Sehun offered, getting up.

"Wait!" Suho commanded. Everyone turned to face him. He had regained his composure. "Are you all sure about this?"

"What do you mean?" Xiumin asked him.

"I mean, D.O-ah told us to forget about searching for Nami. And he's already gotten this far in forgetting her." He eyed each and every member seriously. "Are we all sure that it's the right decision to let them meet? I don't want him to get hurt again. What if she's already moved on?"

Suho's question led the other EXO members to contemplate their decision. He was right. While they knew that D.O had suffered and was slowly getting better, they didn't know anything about Nami, or Mirei, now that they know her real name. A lot of things could happen in the space of three years. What if Nami was already in a committed relationship? By letting D.O and Nami meet again, would they be making things more difficult for both of them?

"I want them to meet," Kai was the first to speak. "I was wrong about her before. Little Umma did betray us but she was also our friend. She had her reasons. And I know better now how much she meant to D.O-ah... how much she meant to all of us."

"Kai's right" Xiumin agreed. "They should meet again. Even if she's already moved on, we shouldn't deprive them of the chance of seeing each other. It may bring some closure to D.O-ah if it isn't meant to be."

There were murmurs of agreement from the other EXO members. Suho nodded at all of them.

"I think we should let them meet," it was Sehun this time. Everyone turned to him. "Honestly, I was really upset when I found out that she had been lying to us all along. But that's because I value loyalty over everything else. I couldn't believe that Little Umma could deceive us like that." Sehun saw that the others were looking away, probably reminiscing the day when they found out that Nami was an undercover reporter. "But like Kai, I know better now too. Chanyeol-hyung once said that 'we are one and Little Umma is one of us'. Well, I think it's time we let her know that."

The other EXO members smiled at Sehun's words.

Suho had a grin on his face. "Then it's decided. Sehun, go fetch D.O-ah and Chanyeol-ah. They'll want to see this."

~*~

D.O and Chanyeol were relaxing in a steamy hot spring with towels above their heads. They were in a state of utter bliss and Chanyeol could see that D.O was finally starting to loosen up. Ever since they had arrived in Japan, D.O had been in a strange mood. It was like being here had triggered some memory of Nami that he had been trying to forget. But at last, Chanyeol could see that, at least for now, he had forgotten all about his worries and was just letting the hot springs do their thing.

While Chanyeol was relaxing, he saw something sparkly around D.O's neck, which caught his eye. "Why are you wearing that chain around your neck?" he asked D.O. "Wouldn't it get rusty in the water? You should take it off."

D.O looks at him. "Oh? This?" He lifted the chain Chanyeol saw that there were two silver rings attached to it. D.O smiled weakly. "I never take it off."

"D.O-ah..." Chanyeol's voice had a hint of concern. He recognised those silver rings: they were the rings Nami and D.O wore when they were on WGM together.

As if he knew what Chanyeol was getting at, D.O replied, "I know. I'm slowly moving on but I didn't have the heart to throw them away." He gazed at the rings endearingly. "It's all I have left of her. Sometimes, I feel like I'd need it someday."

Chanyeol asked tentatively, "Does it still bother you?"

"What does?"

"Not knowing."

D.O was quiet. He looked at the rings again and sighed. "Yeah, I guess it does. I never really got any closure."

Chanyeol sank lower into the hot springs. "I understand. I'd probably feel the same way if I proposed and never got to find out the answer..."

The pair stared up at the sky and were quiet for a while, lost in their own thoughts. But as they were about to enter a state of meditation, they suddenly heard Sehun's loud voice calling for them from across the hot spring.

"Hyung! Hyung! D.O-hyung! Chanyeol-hyung! Are you here?" he kept shouting.

D.O and Chanyeol exchanged confused looks with each other. What could Sehun want for him to be shouting so urgently like that?

"Sehun-ah!" Chanyeol shouted back, covering his vulnerable parts with a towel. "We're over here!"

Sehun sprinted over, still fully-clothed. Chanyeol was about to scold him for not following Japanese etiquette when Sehun suddenly blurted, "You have to come quickly!"

"Why? What's wrong?" D.O queried as he got up and covered his waist with his towel.

"It's Little Umma!" Sehun replied excitedly.

D.O and Chanyeol's eyes widened. They didn't expect Sehun to say her nickname ever again. Since the day they had decided to give up on searching for Nami, none of the members had explicitly mentioned her name or nickname ever again. It became an unwritten rule.

"What about her?" Chanyeol asked eagerly.

Sehun grinned. "We think we found her."

~*~

"What took you so long?" Baekhyun half-shouted. "Her match is almost finished!"

"What?" D.O asked, squatting down on the tatami floor to watch what everyone else was watching. He and Chanyeol had rushed from the hot springs, hastily putting on their robes, and not even bothering to get dressed.

Sehun hopped over some of the members so that he could return to his space while Chanyeol, seeing how crowded the common area was with everyone on the floor, kicked Lay awake so that he could have somewhere to sit down."Lay-hyung! Get up!"

Lay jolted awake. "Huh? What? What's happening?"

"Nami-ah's on TV!" he quickly explained.

"Huh?"

"Shh!" Baekhyun urged.

D.O watched the TV screen intently as his eyes skimmed over the two women who were fighting against each other. He saw that they were neck and neck as their points were the same. Both of them only needed to score one more ippon before they declared the judo gold-medallist champion for the featherweight division.

D.O focused his eyes on Mirei, the tanned girl, who was panting with exhaustion. He watched her closely and even though she seemed more tanned and she no longer had long, raven hair, there was no mistaking it. Mirei was Nami. And he had finally found her.

"C'mon, Nami-ah!"

"Fighting, Little Umma!"

"Nami-ah! Nami-ah! Nami-ah!"

The rest of the EXO members chanted and cheered for Nami. There were only thirty seconds left of the match. Will she be able to win?

D.O watched attentively as Nami hooked her arm around her opponent's uniform and went in for a throw. The EXO members held their breaths as they watched her flip the other woman over with a throw they were so familiar with. It was both nostalgic and refreshing to see Nami's throwing form again.

"Go, Nami-ah!" Chanyeol cheered.

With a mighty thud, Nami's opponent landed on the ground, stunned that Nami had been able to lift her so high despite her height. A white flag was raised to signify that she had scored a point. The EXO members roared into life at the sight of the flag.

Nami did it. She had won gold!

Like the audience in the TV, the EXO members celebrated and cheered for Nami's success. They high-fived each other, hugged each other and ruffled each other's hair at seeing their dorm mother win a very difficult match. They were proud of her but most of all, they were happy that she got what she deserved. D.O couldn't help smiling.

"Guys! Shh! I think she's about to speak!" Suho pointed to the TV and everyone saw that an interviewer was approaching Nami. She had tears of joy in her eyes as she held onto her gold medal.

"So how do you feel today, Mirei?" The interviewer asked. "You won a gold medal for Great Britain. Congratulations! I bet you're feeling so proud!"

A happy Nami nodded. "Yes, I'm so happy that I managed to get gold. Never in a million years did I think that I could do it."

The members watched attentively as Nami spoke in English. They hadn't noticed before but Nami had a really distinct British accent. It was like music to their ears to hear Nami's voice again, even if it was in a different language.

"What is she saying?" asked Kai.

"I can't understand!" complained Sehun.

"She's speaking English, isn't she?" enquired Chen.

"Shh!" hissed Suho.

The others did their best to listen and understand what Nami was saying.

"Is there anything you want to say to all those people who have come to support you today?" asked the interviewer.

Nami had a wide smile which revealed her dimples. "Yeah, I'd like to thank my friends and family who supported me in my decision to go pro. I couldn't have done it without them" she paused as she looked directly at the camera. "And I'd like to say thank you to that special person who couldn't be with me today."

D.O's heart raced as he met eyes with Nami. It felt like she was directly talking to him.

"Thank you," she continued to say, "for telling me to pursue my passion. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have had the courage to take that first step." She kissed her medal, "This is for you. You know who you are."

"Well thank you for..." the interview continued to talk and the camera zoomed in on the reporter's face as Nami walked away to join her team members and her coach.

The members erupted into murmurs as they tried to decipher what Nami had said. But D.O didn't need any help. He knew she was talking to him. She didn't forget. Could he hope that things were still the same? That she might still feel the same way about him?

"What are you still doing here?" asked Baekhyun.

D.O looked up at him from the floor. Everyone had stood up and they were looking at him expectantly. D.O was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Go after her" he replied.

"What?"

"You heard him, D.O-ah," said Chanyeol with a smile. "Go after her."

"You've been looking for her for so long. Now that you know where she is, you should go and get her" Xiumin encouraged.

He turned to all the members. They were all nodding in agreement, their eyes filled with encouragement.

"Guys..." D.O felt touched.

"We talked about it before" Suho spoke, "And we think that you two are meant to be."

"But what about the concert?" D.O enquired. "We were supposed to use this time to rest before our performance--"

"We have plenty of time!" Lay chipped in.

"Hyung, you should go." Sehun told him while grinning, "It's rude to make a lady wait, you know."

D.O couldn't believe the overwhelming sense of support he was receiving from the EXO members. With a determined stride, he got up. "Thank you, everyone."

"Go get her, tiger!" Chanyeol said with encouragement. "Fighting!"

D.O hastily put on some clothes as he ran outside to catch a taxi to the airport. The last time he did this, he was too late. But this time, he was determined to catch her on time.

~*~

Author's Note:

Hi reader! Thank you for reading chapter 65 of Our Little Dorm Mother!

First of all, apologies for how long this chapter is. I thought about dividing it but it would just ruin the flow.

What do you think? Did you expect for Nami (or should I say Mirei) to become an Olympic judo fighter? Hehe, I hope you were able to pick up the hints I've been dropping throughout the whole book!

So, the question is, will D.O and Nami meet again? And will they finally have their happy ever after?

Find out next time...