+ twenty eight

After about a week in Mexico, the other members of EXO K returned to Korea without their maknae. He was required to stay behind for his photo shoot with Florencia Orizaba, since it had dragged on longer than anyone hoped. It seemed that each time they had the photo shoot done right, something happened to send them right back to where they started. No one even suspected that the twenty year old former Miss Universe was behind all of it.

Sehun ended up staying there a total of two weeks when pictures of the two were posted all over the internet. What had been an innocent coffee date was blown out of proportion by both the Mexican and Korean media. Two of their most popular and famous young stars being seen together was beneficial for them. Mexican subsidiaries as well as Mexican brands themselves suddenly wanted the two as the faces of their ads. Commercials were filmed and pictures for billboards and posters were taken.

By the end of two weeks, SM Entertainment had cooked up another relationship, and one for publicity at that. Of the EXO members who were currently in relationships, it seemed that the only ones who were together by choice were Sarang and Junmyeon.

The rest of them--Baekhyun and Taeyeon, Yixing and Mae--were in it for the publicity. Sehun soon joined the list of SM idols, but particularly EXO members, who were in a relationship.

To show that the two were serious about their relationship, SM orchestrated a press conference in Mexico, where they would confirm that they were an item. Both Sehun and Florencia attended, along with their managers, looking happy to make their announcement, and relieved that they no longer had to hide their love. SM even moved Florencia out to Korea so that she could be seen with Sehun, even through his busy schedules and EXO's first world tour around Asia.

On her first day in Korea, the former Miss Universe settled into her temporary home, had a little taste of EXO's fan base, as well as meeting the other EXO members and their girlfriends. They were all excited to have her around, since she was someone famous and well known around the world. Even through their own fame and popularity in their country, and even outside of it, it was interesting to have a foreign famous person with them, especially someone who had once been considered the most beautiful woman in the world at eighteen years old. They all thought she was beautiful now, but she must have been even more stunning to win that competition. The EXO members and their girlfriends spent all dinner time fawning over her good looks, but particularly her stunning green eyes, since in that part of the world they were a rarity.

Florencia got along with the boys, and the other girlfriends. Mae and Sarang had been more than friendly to her, and promised that they would be there for her, now that she was with Sehun. Nari was more quiet and reserved when it came to the new girl, keeping to herself as she sat by Kyungsoo's side. Each time she said something, she was shot down by Taeyeon, but was always defended by Kyungsoo. 

Even Taeyeon had been overly polite to Florencia, asking her how she was liking Korea and already promising she and the beauty queen would go shopping together. Taeyeon already acted like Florencia was her long time friend, while Florencia was just trying to be polite. Florencia made a mental note to keep her distance from the SNSD vocalist. She looked at both Nari and Narda with disdain, scoffing constantly at the things they said, and trying to make them both sound like they were dumb as though she were superior to them, and only talked to Mae and Sarang.

Mae and Sarang on the other hand, only talked to her to be polite, but they tried hard to bring the other two girls into the conversation as well. Both of them seemed to get on well with both Narda and Nari.

The one person Florencia most got along with was Narda Gutierrez Lozano.

They had many things in common, which was the very thing that brought them together. They both spoke the same languages--Spanish and English. They were from the same country--Mexico, even though Narda had been born in the United States, her parents were from Mexico and Narda felt it was her home country as well. They were both an entire world away from home and knew what it was like to be the foreign person in town. And Narda reminded her of home, all the things that Florencia missed and took for granted until now. The two became fast friends.

That friendship, the close bond between the two, immediately seemed to bother Nari and Chanyeol. Suddenly, Narda was spending every moment with Florencia and less time with her room mate. Whenever Florencia wasn't with Sehun, it was more than likely that she was with Narda. The two watched Mexican movies together, cooked Mexican meals together, played football together, watched the Mexican league football games together, listened to Mexican music together, and celebrated all national holidays together.

Narda was spending less and less time with Nari and Chanyeol, and it drove both of them insane. One day, Nari found herself ranting to Kyungsoo about it. "Guti's out with Kkoch and her sister again." Since Florencia was much too difficult to pronounce, and the letter F didn't exist in Korean, the managers at SM promoted the couple as Sehun and Kkoch. It was the Korean word for flower, and flor was the Spanish word for flower which was in the first part of her name. Florencia.

Narda had just gone out to a dance studio in the SM building that Florencia had borrowed for dance practices which she went to for fun. Recently her younger sister Acacia had joined the duo and now Nari had two insufferable people taking her best friend away. She couldn't stand it. She didn't exactly hate Florencia or her sister--she thought they were nice, and pretty, and likable even. Were they under any other circumstance, Nari was sure she wouldn't have a problem with them. She just hated the fact that Narda seemed to prefer their company over hers. Chanyeol felt exactly the same. It was natural, she knew. As she also knew that just because she was spending all her time with the two super models didn't mean she loved Nari any less. She was merely excited spending time with people who knew what she was going through.

"You should be happy for Guti." Kyungsoo said to Nari, trying to get her to understand that their friendship wasn't a bad thing. But the problem wasn't getting Nari to understand. She understood, but she still didn't like it. "She seems much happier now. She's always been happy here, but she always had this tiny hint of homesickness in her. With Kkoch here, that homesick feeling is gone."

Nari sighed, instantly feeling bad that a happiness could make her feel so bitter. "I am happy for Guti. I'm just sad for me, Soo. Its like she's leaving me behind, you know? Next she'll leave my apartment to go share one with Kkoch." 

It didn't help that just days before Florencia moved to Korea, the apartment next to Nari's suddenly became available for rent. SM Entertainment just happened to find out and decided to rent it, because they wanted Florencia as close to Sehun as possible. Little did they know that their plans were sabotaging her friendship with Guti.

"You're jealous of Kkoch." Kyungsoo pointed out in amusement.

Nari admitted shamelessly. "Yes. Guti's my best friend."

He pointed out yet another fact to her, the amusement never leaving his face. "You know, she had other friends before she moved here and met us. And once her study abroad year is over, she's going to leave."

"Well something needs to be done." Nari decided, plans already circling around in her mind. She had decided to ignore what Kyungsoo said about Narda having other friends back home. Nari's life mostly revolved around her job as an SM stylist, and the friends that she had now were all she had. The thought of losing one of them was like losing a family member. "Chanyeol oppa agrees with me. Kkoch needs to keep her spoon in her own bowl. She should just focus on spending time with her boyfriend. They're always so awkward together when they're alone." 

Nari and everyone else had noticed the way Sehun was always hesitant when he put his arms around Florencia, or how awkward they were whenever they held hands. They all attributed it to them being in the beginning stages of their relationship. There was also the fact that Florencia had been publicly attacked at the airport by one of EXO's fans. The others thought that they were abstaining from any public display of affection, to keep Florencia safe. When she had the hot coffee thrown on her, she had ended up with minor burn marks on her hands when she covered her face, and SM along with Florencia's management pressed charges against the girl who did it. But the others were concerned that something worse could happen to them next time they're out together.

"Or," Kyungsoo started, laying back on the couch with eyes trained on the ceiling as he gave a suggestion. Beside him Nari was stewing in her own plans. "You could save yourself the trouble and just tell Guti you feel like she's abandoning you. Then you could fix things instead of all this sneaking around. Plus, Yeol is shit at making plans and carrying them out. With him as your ally, you'll both fail. Just let them be friends, it doesn't hurt anyone. Guti's just excited with Kkoch because they're the same. Kkoch understands Guti's struggles."

Kyungsoo left Nari's house later that day, since Nari told him that she wanted to spend time with Guti. She also promised that she would try to follow his advice about talking to her room mate about how she was feeling, but it was difficult. When Narda returned from her job that afternoon, she was happy. When it was Daniel who made her happy, Nari understood because she thought that Narda needed a boyfriend. Now that she had Kkoch with her, Nari felt like she was being replaced.

"So Narda," Nari started, looking towards her friend who walked towards the small dining table in the kitchen and placed her belongings on it. She continued when she knew Narda's attention was on her. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to this new karaoke bar they're opening downtown. I asked Soo to come with me, but he said he has some things to do." Nari lied, if only to tug on her friend's heart strings. Rejected by her boyfriend, then maybe her friend might go with her.

Narda crinkled up her nose and scrunched up her face in rejection. But her expression also held pity, she felt bad for not being able to go with her. "I can't Nari. Flora, Cacia, and I are gonna go eat barbecue tonight. Sehun and Jongin are coming too."

When Nari watched her expectantly, Narda gasped.

"Dios mio." She said, "Where are my manners? Do you wanna come with us, Nari? You can be my date so I won't fifth wheel with them."

Nari felt like she was so out of the loop when Narda's words made it seem like Florencia's sister was going out with Jongin. Nari agreed to go with them and tried not to show her excitement to be included in something Narda was doing with her other friends. As she got ready, Narda told her what the deal with Jongin and Acacia was. 

It seemed that Acacia and her boyfriend Drew were taking a break, something they had both agreed to since she would be in Korea with her sister for an undetermined amount of time and he was staying in Mexico to film a Mexican drama. Florencia thought it was a good idea to set her sister up with Sehun's group mate Kim Jongin. The two seemed to get on well, and were attracted to each other. According to Narda, Jongin was dating the Mexican beauty queen, but there was nothing official between them.

As her friend gave her the details, Nari texted Chanyeol with the time and place where they would be eating. She asked him to bring Kyungsoo along, so that Nari could spend time with him, leaving Chanyeol with the opportunity of scoring some alone time with Narda. Of course Nari would be there to spend time with Narda as well, but by inviting Chanyeol, she thought she would be killing two birds with one stone.

But naturally, with his big mouth, Chanyeol ended up accidentally letting everyone know.

Soon, all of them had been invited, and their little get together turned into a large group gathering.

-

a little update for this story. since its been a bit over a week since i last uploaded something. guys, my notifs were dead today. and thats because i haven't updated anything in two days.

it feels really strange not to get notifs.

but thats not the most important thing. thank you all so much for supporting me and reading my stories. it means so much to me.

have a wonderful week!

-clary xx