+ fifteen

When Narda returned to her apartment that night, she had a box of food for Nari in one hand, and about a million questions on her mind. She opened the door to find Nari in her pajamas on the living room couch, watching her K-dramas. That was her favorite activity to do after work. That, and seeing her secret friend who she wouldn't let Narda see. Now that she knew Nari was EXO's hairstylist, the foreign girl suspected that it had to be one of the EXO boys, though she wasn't sure which yet.

She only hoped that it wouldn't be Baekhyun because she would have to back off for Nari's sake. Narda wasn't the kind of person to take a girl's boyfriend away. Her parents had raised her better.

"Hey Narda." Nari greeted her with a friendly smile.

Narda cut the distance to the couch and plopped down the box of food next to her friend. "I brought you something from the pizza place I went to with friend." She made sure not to mention which friend, since Nari had warned that she wanted nothing to do with EXO, yet she had everything to do with them.

"Thank you." Nari grinned at the sigh of food.

"Hey Nari..." Narda began casually to an unsuspecting Yeo Nari who didn't know her friend was already aware of one of the two big secrets she was hiding from her. "I know you said you didn't want to know about anything I do that is connected with EXO somehow. But that friend I went to dinner with was Park Chanyeol, and he told me something very interesting." Her voice was already hinting what she knew and was about to reveal.

Nari who was rummaging through the contents of the box looked up slowly when her friend's words sunk in. At the same time, the color seemed to drain from her face, leaving her in a pallid, almost ghostly mess. "Ah," She started nervously. "What did he tell you?"

Narda didn't want to beat around the bush any longer. "He told me that he knows you. That you've been EXO's stylist since their debut. You got mad when I hid the fact that I'm in love with Byun Baekhyun, yet you're there hiding the fact that you know EXO. You get to talk to them, to touch their hair. Tell me one thing, Nari." Narda paused, the expression on her face dead serious. When Nari nodded her head, signaling that she would answer her question, Narda continued, "Is Byun's hair soft or is it really soft? I think its probably really soft." She gushed, letting her inner fangirl make an appearance.

Nari rolled her eyes at Narda in slight annoyance. Of all the things she could have asked, she asked about her crush's hair. With a sigh of defeat, Nari explained, "I normally don't tell anyone that I style EXO's hair. For one, I don't have many friends other than the boys and a few co-workers. And two, if I told anyone, I'd never have a moment of peace. Everyone would ask me to help me meet them. I'm not allowed to do that. I signed a contract with SM that I'm not supposed to have any interaction with the boys other than professionally--let alone introduce them to my friends."

Narda thought about Nari's explanation and concluded that she had very compelling reasons to keep that information to herself. Her voice now taking a softer tone, Narda said, "I understand, Nari. And I assure you I won't try to use our friendship to get closer to Baekhyun. I'll find ways to do that on my own."

"But you went out with Chanyeol." Nari pointed out.

"Yeah." Narda nodded, "But that was just as friends and I made that clear to him."

"Just please don't use Chanyeol's friendship to get to Byun oppa." Nari warned, feeling bad for Chanyeol who seemed to have a liking for Narda.

The foreign girl gave a shake of her head. "I promise I won't. I would never do that to someone--to take advantage of the fact that he's my friend. That would be such a bitch thing for me to do. I honestly just want to be his friend. I admire him."

-

Chanyeol woke up bright and early the next morning to pick up Narda at her apartment. It was seven in the morning when he got out of bed and got in the shower. Baekhyun had heard his room mate's alarm and was surprised to see him awake that early, on a morning when they had nothing much to do. It was one of their free days in which they were allowed to spend the day with their family. 

When Chanyeol got out of the shower and got ready, he was about to head out when there was a knock on their door. The tall EXO member opened it, with Baekhyun watching his every move, and they saw one of their managers there. On his face was a serious expression. 

"Morning, manager hyung." Chanyeol greeted.

"The managers and I need to talk to you." He informed, adding, "We'll wait for you in the lounge room." Without saying anything more, he walked next door to the lounge area.

Chanyeol groaned in exasperation. "Ah! Why now?"

"Got something with your family?" Baekhyun wondered, raising an eyebrow at him.

His room mate nodded. "Yeah, I was supposed to meet them at eight thirty. That's just a half hour from now." He said, keeping the truth concealed. The last thing he wanted was for Baekhyun to know he would be hanging out with Narda because then he might want to tag along like he did the previous afternoon.

"It might be something quick." Baekhyun shrugged. 

"Doubt it." Chanyeol frowned. "They probably saw the pictures of me and the little liar."

-

At eight, Narda waited outside her apartment with her green national team jersey worn proudly. She had another hanging off her arm, neatly folded, which she was prepared to force Chanyeol to wear. It was an older model from the nineteen nineties that had belonged to her father and had the design of the aztec calendar on the front side. 

She waited for him a half hour before she realized that maybe he planned to meet her at the pizza place. Narda then walked down the street to the train station and caught a ride into town, to a stop that dropped her off right in front of the mall. 

It was ten minutes to nine when she was already at the pizza place. She asked the person at the counter if Park Chanyeol was in the restaurant. The worker informed her that he hadn't seen the kpop idol enter the restaurant yet. Narda went to find a table on her own and waited for the game to start. There were ten minutes before the game, and another ten for the anthems and other announcements that would be done before the match.

Narda sighed and waited for her friend.

-

Chanyeol was sat at the table where he normally had meals with the other group members. Only then he wasn't eating, nor was he surrounded by the smiling faces of the other boys. He was met with the serious faces of his manager. None of them were pleased with him, and one of them had his tablet open to a gossip article on allkpop.

When everyone arrived for the meeting, the manager with the tablet began, "What is the meaning of this article?" He asked the boy sitting at the other end of the table.

Chanyeol heaved a sigh. "I am not into schoolgirls." He said firmly. Though, he was into Narda, and if she were to be an actual schoolgirl, then the article would have been accurate. 

"Well now the whole country thinks one of our idols is a pervert." His manager hissed in a scolding tone. It was clear that they were all pissed with him. SM took its reputation very seriously, and if one of their idols looked bad, it made them look bad by association. "Why were you even with this girl?" He was asked another question.

The twenty one year old idol shrugged. It was time to tell a lie--one that would save him the punishment of being involved with a girl when he wasn't supposed to. "I went to the mall to buy pizza for the other boys, and she was lost. I only helped her find her way back to her apartment." Narda was foreign. It had to be a believable enough lie considering she probably didn't know many places in Korea.

"It doesn't matter what the reason was." Another of the managers said. "We need to debunk these rumors before they spread like wild fire."

"Can I go now?" Chanyeol asked, raising his hand like a little boy, asking for permission to speak.

"No." His manager said. "You have to stay here and not go out until we solve this."

Chanyeol bit down on his lip.

I can't stand up Narda, he thought to himself.

With a frustrated sigh, he got his cellphone out and unlocked it, opening up a new text message for someone. He didn't have Narda's phone number, but he would do the next best thing so that she would know that he wanted to be there, but he couldn't.

chanyeol: baek!

chanyeol: i need u to do me a HUGE favor

baekhyun: yah sure

chanyeol: remember the pizza place from 
yesterday??

baekhyun: mhm, why?

chanyeol: pls go there and tell narda i won't 
be able to make it.

baekhyun: ah u little shit

baekhyun: u liar

chanyeol: yes yes im a little shit. just do it.

baekhyun: i guess i can do u that favor...

chanyeol: thnx

-

Baekhyun borrowed one of the agency's cars from the garage and set out to the mall which was only a ten minute driving distance away with good traffic. He made it to the restaurant within fifteen minutes and spotted Narda immediately. She was wearing a green shirt, while most other people in the restaurant at that time were wearing white South Korea national team shirts.

He went over to her and sat down in the booth, right next to her.

Her eyes were trained on the table in front of her and not on the screen. When she felt someone slide in next to her, she looked up as she spoke. "I thought you were going to leave me hanging, usted." A small smile made an appearance on her lips as she spoke without looking to see who it was. The smile dropped slightly and was replaced by a look of nervousness and confusion when she saw Baekhyun. "Oh, hey Baekhyun. What are you doing here?"

"Expecting someone else?" He asked her.

She nodded. "Chanyeol and I were going to meet up to watch the game."

Seeing how upset her eyes looked, he felt a twinge bad for her. He looked up at the screen and said with a cheerful voice, "Its Korea against Mexico. That's your country, isn't it?" He smiled at her, a genuine smile for the first time since they met.

Narda nodded once again. "Yes." And gesturing to the jersey hanging from her arm, she added, "I brought him a jersey to wear, but since he's not here, I'll just carry it."

"I'll wear it." Baekhyun offered.

Her eyes lightened at his words. "Really?"

He nodded and took the shirt from her hands. He quickly slipped it over his head and put it on. Narda giggled at the sight of him. He seemed to strange, so foreign wearing that shirt. A bright green with the aztec designs. 

"Is Chanyeol going to make it?" Narda asked curiously.

Baekhyun's expression dropped slightly. "I don't know. He was gone before I even woke up this morning." He said to her.

And he instantly regretted lying to her.

-

here's an update for the story. sorry it was a bit rushed and sorry for the super short author's note. i normally write more. but i have piano class in a bit and i have to go there right now. thank you so much for reading. it means a lot.

have a wonderful week!

-clary xx