(A late happy birthday to Sehun~~)

Eun Ae

“Exo’s--biggest--” Baekhyun spluttered. He shot a loathing glare at me and rammed through the bedroom door. We silently listened to crashes and shouts coming from the other rooms.

 Biting my lip, I glanced over at Jongdae, who was quietly fixing Tao’s bed. “Um. So...”

 “Do you want to go out and eat or sleep immediately?” he asked calmly, fluffing out his pillow. I simply looked at him, not sure of what I should make of his reaction. He smoothed out his covers and stood up, tilting his head toward me. “What shall it be?”

“Um,” I awkwardly bent down to pick up one of my EXO logo shirts. “Are you hungry? Or sleepy?”

“You’re the guest, you choose,” he shrugged and walked over to help me organize my things. I gently pushed him away, trying to let him know that I would do it myself, but he shoved back and flipped through my calendar. He reached the picture of himself with my self-drawn hearts decorating his face. He chuckled, “Fangirling much?”

 “Y-yah,” I snatched the calendar from him and shoved it back into my bag, not daring to meet his eyes. “Let’s cook some ramen and after we eat, I’m going to sleep early.”

 “Okay,” Jongdae stood up and dusted off his knees. “I had a pretty rough day myself. Make sure that you’ve washed up by nine so that I can turn off the lights.”

...I’m sharing this room with Kim Jongdae...I’m sharing this room with Kim Jongdae...I’m sharing this room with Kim Jongdae... He walked over to his bed and pulled out a wallet.

“Wait, are we going out to buy ramen?” I asked, astonished. “Shouldn’t you have some in the kitchen?”

“Tao said he ran out this morning,” Jongdae waved his wallet in the air. “So we can go buy some now.”

I groaned and buried my face into my hands. “Dude, the whole point of eating ramen is so that we don’t have to go outside!”

“Oh.”

I raised my head and thought for a while. “Have you guys eaten a decent meal lately?”

He shook his head.

“Okay, then I guess I can help prepare some rice and a dish or two.” I sighed and stood up.

Jongdae smiled happily and said, “Let’s go then!”

We slipped out the door and saw no sign of Baekhyun, so we left the dorm. Suddenly, he stopped and flipped my jacket hood over my head. Tightly pulling on the strings, he patted me head. He then tried to grab his hood from behind his neck, but the pitiful guy couldn’t reach it.

Snorting, I leaned over and stood on my tiptoes to throw the hood over his head. He scrunched up his mouth and glanced at me, saying thank you.

I squinted, letting him know that he was welcome.

The walk to the convenience store seemed a bit long, maybe because of the silence. “Hey,” I finally said. “How come you’re not annoyed by that fact I lied to you?”

He turned and eyed me, expressionless.

“You know...I said I didn’t know who you guys were but actually I practically drool over your faces?”

Jongdae chuckled and looked forward. “Sorry that Baekhyun made such a big deal out of it. I guess we treat fans differently from other girls who don’t know we’re celebrities. With fans, there’s a limit. But with other people, we can get to know them as well as want. To Baekhyun, it seems like we let our guard down and let you stay with us, even if it’s for one night.”

I nodded, bobbing my head up and down rapidly. So...there’s a limit to how close fans and their idols can become? Glancing over at him again, I asked, “I know how Baekhyun oppa thinks about this, but what about you?”

“Me?” Jongdae pondered for a while. “I don’t know. Sure, I’m surprised, but it’s not like you’re a different person now. You’ve been Eun Ae from the very start.”

Suddenly, I felt extremely hot. Maybe it was the hood, or maybe it was just the fact my ultimate idol was talking to me normally and even liking it, while just a few hours ago I was staring at his face through pixels.

I think I was secretly smiling to myself, because Jongdae peered under my hood and raised an eyebrow. “Dude, are you okay?”

“I’m absolutely okay,” I admitted, shoving my hands into my pockets. “Actually, more than okay. Today has been a great day for me.”

He grinned at me again and nudged me with his elbow, signaling the end of my fangirling and the start of my responsibility as someone who can cook. We entered the convenience store with our hoods tightly wrapped around our heads, looking like faceless dorks. People were staring, but it was all we could do to fully protect EXO’s identity and reputation.

“Rice. Kimchi. Potatoes,” Jongdae tossed food into the shopping cart as I rolled it down the aisle, dumbfounded by the amount piling up. “Pork. Broccoli. Corn. Oranges--don’t you dare crack a joke--Steak. Ice cream--”

“Okay, okay, okay!” I laughed and quickly rolled ahead of him so he wouldn’t be able to throw any other items into the cart. “I’ll probably only use like two of these ingredients tonight and when I leave, you’ll be left with all this unprepared food!”

“Psh,” Jongdae rolled his eyes and threw a box of crackers from behind me into the cart. “I’ll just drag you over to our dorm.”

I swear, when he said that, my face turned at least five shades of red. Good thing my hood was blocking my face though. “Wait...” I slowly asked. “What do you mean?”

He suddenly shook his head and turned sharply. “Look!” He pointed to a box of candies. “My favorite. These are so good.” Slyly tossing them over his shoulder, he skipped forward and began to empty the snack shelves.

He is such a cutie. I thought to myself as I began to mentally add up the prices of the foods. Just like a little kid who needs to be looked after.

“Eunnie!” he squealed as he picked up the largest wheel of cheese I had ever seen in my entire life. “This, too?!”

I called, “Yah, you’re the one with the money, remember?” Rolling my eyes, I turned down a different aisle in search of vinegar and soy sauce.

Eventually, we actually ended up buying everything in the cart. The orange kid had an excuse to eat everything. “Watermelon’s in season right now! We must treasure it while it lasts! Sausages are so easy to cook. Just stick them in the microwave! No no, trust me, Gatorade is the American sports drink that is really popular now.”

We had at least five large heavy bags by the end of our shopping spree and resorted to a five-minute taxi ride back to the dorm. When Jongdae unlocked the front door of Tao’s dorm and pushed it open, I almost fainted.

About a dozen tall, well-built guys were crowded inside--two or three watching TV, a few in the kitchen fooling around, and some were even in the bathroom together taking selcas.

Although I was absolutely appalled by the current situation, Jongdae stepped inside with a huge smile on his face. “Ayo,” he greeted, with awkward English pronunciation, a baby-faced member who I easily recognized as Chanyeol. “Whaddup Chanyeol.”

“Ayo wassuuup!” Kris jumped up from the couch and lightly punched Jongdae, who roared with laughter.

With Jongdae no longer physically standing beside me, I scanned the dorm nervously. Luhan was in the kitchen with Sehun, making some kind of puke-colored smoothie. Chortling, they added bits of cookie dough into it and continued to blend the mixture. Kai was leaning against the sink, laughing so hard that he bumped his head against the faucet. Kris, Chanyeol, and Jongdae (who now probably had forgotten all about me) were chilling on the living room couch, going over songs that I recognized from the YouTube teasers. Although I expected Tao to be camera- in the bathroom, Xiu Min, Suho, and D.O. were making funny faces at the mirror and snapping pictures of themselves.

Where were Baekhyun and Tao?

I thought that the members would have noticed me by now, but it was so chaotic within the dorm that I easily strolled by Kris and Chanyeol, the kitchen, and the bathroom. When I reached the room that I was staying in, my eyes widened at the sight of Baekhyun’s turned back. I opened my mouth to call out to him, but he spoke before I did.

“I still can’t believe we’re letting a mere fan stay here,” Baekhyun said in a strangled voice. “I thought Jongdae was smart enough not to let random, fanatic strangers stay in a room with him for a night! Or even longer!” he threw back his head and sighed heavily. A hand patted his shoulder.

“Hyung,” The speaker had an accent when he spoke Korean, so I assumed the member was Tao. “Jongdae is usually pretty smart. Maybe he has a reason behind this? Just let it be. Eventually, she will have to move out. She can’t cling onto him forever.”

I curled my fists into balls when I heard this. Mere fan? Random, fanatic stranger? Cling? I was about to burst into the room and give them a piece of my mind, but a pair of hands roughly grabbed my shoulders.

“Yaaaa,” Suho let out a satisfied sound and grinned at me. “Pretty, talented, and an EXO fan!”

“Uh. Ne?”

At this, Baekhyun and Tao whipped around and gaped at me. Ha. Serves you right for talking behind my back.

“It’s Park Eun Ae, right?” Kris calmly and coolly walked towards us. He gave me a lopsided smile and tilted his head towards the room. “Sharing a room with Jongdae?”

“Girl, you so lucky~” Xiu Min hopped onto Kris’ back, who groaned loudly. “Get to stay with the Chen, the almighty Jongdae for a night!” He bounced on his leader’s back a couple of times and squealed, “I’m so jealous!”

“Um,” My heart and mind were racing, not sure of what I should do. “I just needed a place to stay, and he was kind enough to lend me a bed...”

“I LOST MY MIND...” D.O. suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to spin in circles. “CHEN IS GETTING LAID TONIGHT...”

“Shut UP!” Jongdae rushed into the scene and bopped D.O. on the head, who stumbled backwards and stuck his tongue out at him. The poor kid shook his head furiously and tried to shoo all the members away from me. “She’s just a friend...she might be a trainee soon...just helping her out...no big deal...AND DEFINITELY NO INAPPROPRIATE STUFF, DO KYUNGSOO.”

All the members began to hoot and shout as they pushed Jongdae around.

“Aww, naw, you’ve got a girl in your room and you aren’t going to do anything?”

“Don’t lie to us, Jongdae!”

“Unveil your true nature!”

“Out. Out, OUT!” Jongdae erupted, his eyes ignited with fury. This sent the laughing members out the door towards their own dorms, leaving behind only me and him.

Plus Baekhyun and Tao.

“Ah, Eun Ae!” Tao smiled sweetly at me, despite his harsh first words that I heard from him. He held out his hand, which I took hesitantly. Surprisingly, his hand was baby soft, unlike the hard calluses I imagined from practicing martial arts. “It’s nice to meet you. Enjoy your room tonight; I’m sleeping over with Kris hyung tonight!” He stepped out of the bedroom and walked past Jongdae, but not before giving him a punch and a wink. Jongdae only glared at him and disappeared into the bathroom.

“I...guess I’ll be going now.” Baekhyun gave me a half-hearted smile and quickly departed from the room.

“Not so fast, Byun Baekhyun,” I called. He froze. “Treat me with some respect, will you? It seems like all the rest of the members are quite fine with this, except for you. Is there any specific reason behind this?”

Baekhyun spun around and stared at me suspiciously. He kept opening and closing his mouth, looking like a fish. Finally, he just said, “Stay safe. Goodnight.”

He fled from the dorm, slamming the door behind him. 

Hmm...do you guys ship Eunhyun or Eundae? XD

@Renzei27, Yogurt, Lila8171997, nariiv - Heheh, glad you guys enjoyed that last part!

@madetofangirl - Gosh, invading my privacy XP