+ twenty

Narda stayed at her booth since she couldn't leave it unattended, but when her shift end and the next person arrived, she hurried to look for Baekhyun. Chanyeol had gone off to tend to the popcorn stand for an hour. In her search for Baekhyun, she had run into him and he had been dressed up with a red and white striped apron and a hat. He had discreetly handed her a bag of free popcorn and asked her to wait for him so that they could go on some of the rides together afterwards. Narda assured that she would, after finding Baekhyun because she needed to talk to him.

After minutes of searching, she finally ran into Nari, and Kyungsoo was nowhere in sight. By the look on Nari's face, Narda found it obvious that her friend wasn't in the best mood.

"Nari," Narda still thought to ask her if she knew anything about the person she was looking for. "Have you seen Baekhyun? I need to talk to him."

Her flat mate gave a nod of her head. "I did see him. He was looking for Kyungsoo oppa, but then I told him he was busy with his shift at the fish bowl game booth." Just by the way that she had put extra stress and her tone shifted as she mentioned Kyungsoo, Narda knew that her friend's bad mood had been attributed to the EXO member. She would have to ask her about it later. At that time she needed to find Baekhyun.

"So do you know where he went?" Narda asked another question.

Nari nodded. "When I told him Kyungsoo was busy, he said he would return to the dorms."

Narda cursed under her breath. There was no way she would be able to get into the dorms in order to talk to him. She would have to wait to run into him on the street like she normally did when she was returning from her teaching job at the primary school.

She waited for Chanyeol to finish up his shift and spent the rest of the afternoon with him, going on all the rides at the carnival. But her thoughts remained on Baekhyun.

-

Narda never got to explain the situation to Baekhyun--even though it had been obvious from the beginning. It was a kissing booth, and Chanyeol had paid for his kiss just like everyone else. But that didn't matter because Baekhyun had seen it and he was avoiding her even more than ever. 

She didn't see him again for weeks until Nari informed her friend that she would be busy all week at the filming for EXO's Overdose music video. Since it was a lot of work preparing the hair dye, and carrying around her hair styling equipment, her bosses at SM Entertainment allowed her to bring along a trusted assistant on the condition that the person couldn't take any pictures of the boys while filming, and she wasn't to bother them either. Nari immediately thought of Narda, who was one of her only trusted friends.

Though she would be getting a minimum salary for her work and filming was mostly done at night due to the group's busy schedules, Narda was thrilled to be there.

It was on the first night of filming that Narda arrived with Nari onto the set. Both of them carried two large luggage cases with Nari's styling equipment and hair dye for the boys. They set up on one of the counters for the stylist and Narda immediately began mixing the dye. There were eight bottles labeled with different member names and Narda noticed that none of them was labeled Baekhyun. Since Nari and Narda were working hair dye that night, she wouldn't be getting to see him.

She got to see Chanyeol who was getting his hair colored into a soft red color for the music video that was very subtle. The EXO rapper was very happy to see her--though he had been seeing her every afternoon for the past two weeks. 

He had been practicing his rap solo with her and had done so so many times that she had already learned it and could probably recite it from memory. 

For the next five days, Narda tried to get close to Baekhyun to no avail.

Even after filming finished, and her help was no longer needed at the agency, she tried to talk to him. She purposefully tried bumping into him on the street. His schedule was already engraved into her mind and she knew which times he left for group or solo practices and activities, she knew at which times he was likely to return from them, and she knew what times he went out to pick up dinner for the group with Chanyeol. She used all of that knowledge to try to get close to him, and the EXO vocalist pretended not to notice her as though she weren't there, all for his friend's sake.

But he couldn't get away from her. Even when they didn't say a word to each other--because he didn't want to--he could feel her always watching him.

His distant behavior continued for months, and soon the summer time came around. School had gone out for the better of three months and Narda would have nothing to do in Korea. She had originally planned to return home and spend the summer at home with her family, but she had learned that her father had gotten tickets for the world cup in Brazil and he would be going with her brother Aldaír. Though she was happy for them, she was slightly jealous that she couldn't go. Tickets had been expensive and her father only had been able to purchase enough for two people.

The group had seen hard times with Yifan leaving and Yixing getting involved in a huge dating scandal with Park Mae of Baby Lips. Even through that, EXO would be going on their first solo tour together as a group. They had worked so hard to prepare for it, and the agency didn't want to let internal problems get in the way of it.

Nari informed Narda that she would be gone for the next couple of months--working as EXO's stylist on tour. That was going to leave Narda alone in the apartment, with nothing to do for the summer. The school would still pay for her share of the rent, but since she wouldn't be working for the summer, she wouldn't get her teaching salary until classes started up again in the fall. Narda begged Nari to ask within SM Entertainment for a job that she could do for them over the summer. Her flat mate had informed her that she knew of one position they were trying to hire for. 

It was a housekeeping position, to clean after EXO, do their laundry, and cook for them while they were on tour. But they wanted someone who was trustworthy and wouldn't bother the idols. 

Narda assured her friend that she would do anything as long as she could get a job for the summer. And even better for her, it was a job where she would be able to travel and she would also get to see Baekhyun.

Nari talked to her bosses at the agency and recommended Narda, reminding them that she had been a good volunteer at the SM Town charity carnival a few months back, and that she had been her assistant during the filming of the music video for Overdose. The managers took that into consideration when they decided whether to give her the job or not. She had been a good worker who hadn't caused them any trouble, which meant that she was a reliable person. 

A week before they continued their tour outside of Korea--moving onto Hong Kong--the managers informed Nari that her friend had been hired, and that she had to report to the SM building for instructions as to what they wanted her to do and what her daily tasks would be. She had been told about some of the tasks already by Nari, but when she met up with an SM representative, he explained to her that in addition to her cleaning tasks, she would be teaching the boys some English. They had found out through Nari that Narda was an English teacher, which was one of the key factors for her getting hired.

-

She traveled to Hong Kong in a different flight with the other stylists, and staff who would be accompanying the group on tour. They would be staying in Hong Kong for a total of six days before moving onto the Chinese mainland. Since their stay would be longer, they would be renting a house to stay in rather than staying in expensive hotels for six days. 

The staff arrived at the house first. Narda was shown to her room by a member of the managing staff and she set her luggage down by the door. That hallway was separated by the rest of the house by a ways, and the person next to her room would be Nari, which made her more comfortable since Narda had learned minimal Korean since her arrival and most people of the staff knew minimal English. 

The idols didn't arrive until about two hours later. They had gotten off the plane hours earlier, but had been taken out to have dinner. When they arrived, EXO's manager went to get Narda from her room. He led her out into the living room area where the EXO boys were sitting on couches and having side conversations with each other. Their conversations ceased when they saw Narda and their manager standing in the middle of the room. Narda smiled awkwardly at them and locked eyes for a second with Baekhyun, who looked away from her quickly, bringing a hand up to cover his face.

"This is Narda Gutierrez Lozano." Their manager explained, saying her name in a broken attempt. They already knew her, but he didn't know that. "She was hired to deal with all household chores around here, and she'll be teaching you how to better your English."

"You can call me Guti, since its easier to pronounce in Korean than Narda." She told them, more for their manager to take note of, since the boys already knew that was her preferred name.

The manager nodded. "If you need anything, don't hesitate to call her."

"I can cook, clean, and do laundry, as well as most other house hold chores. My parents always thought it was very important for me to know these things. So you can find yourself a good husband, they would tell me." Narda made a joke as she explained her skills which she would be required to do. In her culture, it really was important to learn the skills of a housewife. She knew it was important in Korea as well. 

"That's very good to know." Chanyeol grinned at her.

Baekhyun got up from his seat, and grabbed a hols of his luggage. "I'm really tired. I'm going to sleep. Please show me to my room." He announced, and looked to his manager.

The manager gestured towards Narda. "Guti has the room arrangements."

"If you'll just follow me, I'll show you where your room is." Narda nodded with a polite, yet nervous smile, and got out a sheet of paper. One of her tasks for that day was showing the boys to their rooms. She unfolded it and searched for Baekhyun's name on the small layout map of the house. He would be sharing a room with Sehun during their time in Hong Kong--which Narda found strange since Baekhyun and Chanyeol normally shared a room.

Baekhyun crinkled up his nose. "Can't someone else take me?"

There was a flash of hurt in Narda's eyes, but she said nothing to him. The other boys only stared in disbelief at the way their group member was treating her. Chanyeol was about to say something to him, but instead Narda turned and gestured for him to follow, ignoring what he said. "Please follow me, Byun."

He sighed and followed her out of the living room and into a connecting hallway that led to the bedrooms. Narda followed what was written on the room arrangements and stopped at one of the doors. She got a set of keys out and opened the door, handing the key to him after she removed it from the key ring it was in. The room was big, bigger than the room Narda had been given to stay in. But it was understandable because he was the idol--not her--and he would be sharing his room with someone else.

"This is where you will be staying. Please let me know if you need anything." She told him in a monotone voice, keeping her head low, and refusing to make eye contact with him.

"Guti, I..." He started in English with a sigh, his hand reaching to grip her arm as an apology formed its way out of his mind. But he didn't get to say it because she pulled her arm back harshly.

"I get it, Byun. You don't want me here. Excuse me." She said and scurried off down the hallway.

"Fine. Go." He said in a huff. And muttering to himself, he added with a sigh, "You're so fucking frustrating."

His eyes watched her as she disappeared around the corner.

-

an update for this. there was also a lot of filler here, but its going to start getting good again. as of this point, there are twenty more chapters for this story to end, so we still have a lot to go through together. this story had only reached about its halfway point.

thank you all loads for reading and all of that. it means so much to me! ^.^

have a wonderful week and take care. <3

-clary xx