The buzzing of your phone woke you the next morning at 6:30am. Exo were granted an 8am start as opposed to the usual 6:30am start due to Exo-m arriving late in the night. You awoke a little confused at first to where you were, but soon regained your bearings and got up. You tiptoed out from the study room towards the bathroom, careful not to be loud in case the boys were still trying to get a snooze in. Before you had reached the bathroom, a sleepy figure came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes as he did so.

"Good morning" you greeted, bowing. Upon closer inspection the said sleepy figure was Jongin.

"Oh, good morning" he greeted back, his voice thick with sleep. "I'm so sorry, I forgot the downstairs bathroom was for you" he mumbled, turning to make his way back up the stairs.

"Oh no, don't worry, I'm sure there's a queue up there, I'll quickly wash up and you can use it after me" you offered, as Jongin continued rubbing his eyes, yawning.

"Are you sure?" he murmured, you felt like he could fall asleep at any second.

"Yeah, of course, I'll be quick" you smiled, skipping into the bathroom.

"Thank you, don't rush though" Jongin called after you. You could see him bowing 90 degrees just as you closed the door. What a polite sleepy boy you thought, quickly placing your toiletries down. Despite Jongin telling you not too rush, you still hurried, knowing that there were a total of 14 people in his dorm and only 3 wash rooms. As you finished up, you gathered your pyjamas and makeup bag and opened the door. Kai was still waiting outside the door, his eyes closed as he rested against the stairs.

"Sorry for taking so long" you apologised, Kai opening his eyes now.

"Trust me, you're quicker than most of the boys" he smiled, as he slowly walked into the washroom.

---

You had finished up and were ready to go at around 6:55am so you decided to help with breakfast. As you walked into the kitchen you could smell the sweet aroma of pancakes wafting through the kitchen into the dining room.

"Smells good" you complimented as you saw Suho, flipping another pancake. He turned around slightly before turning around fully to greet you.

"Good morning Eun Mi, how did you sleep?" he greeted, a wide smile on his face.

"Quite good, yourself?" you asked, coming to stand by him.

"Alright, considering Chen was hugging me the whole time" he laughed, tossing the pancake in the air.

"Can I help with anything?" you questioned, laughing as you pictured Chen hugging Suho as he slept. "Can I bring this plate out to the table?" you asked, picking up a full plate of pancakes.

"Yes, thank you" Suho smiled, his face lighting up like sunshine. Before you left the kitchen you opened the fridge to find any condiments that would go well with pancakes. You found a bottle of syrup and a box of berries and decided to pick them up with your free hand. You nudged the fridge door closed as you walked towards the dining room. Just as you left the kitchen, another member had walked into the dining room, quickly coming to take the plate of pancakes away from your full hands.

"Careful now" he warned, placing the plate carefully on the dining table.

"Good morning Baekhyun" you smiled, placing the condiments on the table next to the plate.

"It's a wonderful morning, exo-m brought over a beautiful lady from China" Baekhyun grinned back.

"Aye, you're so cheesy" Chanyeol teased, as he came into the dining room, joining the two of you, placing a hand on Baekhyun's neck and squeezing it. Baekhyun coiled up, scrunching his face as he did so. Soon enough, the rest of the boys had all come down to the dining room and were setting up the table, getting ready for breakfast.

"Did you sleep well? Is it too cold down here? There's extra blankets, do you want me to get you some?" Lay whispered quickly as he placed down some tissues.

"I slept well, it's not cold down here at all" you whispered back, once again warm from Lay's worries. Lay gave you a small thumbs up before Suho came into the dining room with one last plate of pancakes.

"Alright boys, eat up, we're leaving in about half an hour, so don't waste time" Hyun Kyun announced, sitting down at the head of the table. The boys didn't need to be told twice as they began eating at their breakfast. Living with So young, you were used to not being able to finished all the food and having leftovers, but within 15 minutes there were about two pancakes left and most of the boys were upstairs packing their practice gear. Since you had already packed for today you helped with the cleaning up, you stacked the empty plates from the table and took them into the kitchen where D.O was loading them into the dishwasher.

---

You did a quick head count as the boys stood in the living room waiting to go.  7,8,9,10,11,12….and Hyun Kyun you counted, your eyes darting around making sure you didn't double count anyone.

"Alright guys, split into two groups of 6, we'll be taking two vans over today" Hyun Kyun called, standing next to you. After a quick shuffle, Suho, Chen, Chanyeol, Luhan, Kai and Xiumin stood in a line by Hyun Kyun while Baekhyun, Kris, D.O, Lay, Sehun and Tao stood by you.

"I'll lead them out first, here's the key, you lock the door behind us" Hyun Kyun continued, handing over the keys as he made his way toward the door.

"Noona, can you speak Korean?" Sehun asked innocently as he waited by you.

"Yes, I can speak Korean, although my Chinese is better" you replied, as the living room started clearing out.

"Ahh, then you can help me improve my Chinese, and I'll help improve your Korean" Sehun bargained as he nodded enthusiastically.

"Sounds good" you nodded back, reaching the front door, locking it behind you securely. The two vans were waiting by the front door and the other group had already gotten in and buckled up. You quickly jogged to your group, slipping into the passenger's seat, sliding the keys into your handbag.

---

You had only been to Korea once previously, when the golden trio decided to come here for a vacation during the winter holidays. The city whizzed past and before long the vans were pulling into the driveway of the Korean SM building. By the time you had closed the passenger door, Hyun Kyun had already punched in the pass code to the glass doors and exo were already walking in. After all 14 of you made it in, the glass doors automatically shut behind you, sealing once more.

"I have the key still" you informed Hyun Kyun as he waited next to you.

"That's your set of keys, take good care of them" he exclamed as the elevators dinged open. "Go up with the first group, I'll wait for the elevator with the second group" he said as he pushed you into the full elevator. You stumbled a bit and before you could regain your balance the elevator had already closed its doors and began lurching upwards. You stumbled into a torso that remained still despite the impact.

"Sorry" you whispered, finally standing up straight now. You looked up to see Chanyeol smiling down at you.

"All good" he replied, holding onto your arm as the elevator slowly stopped. "You good?" he inquired as the door opened up.

"All good" you assured, stepping out from the elevator first. Apparently, elevators in Korea hated you too. The boys began walking into a big practice room and you followed behind them. A man, you assumed the dance choreographer was already in there, stretching. The boys all greeted him as they too started warming up. Soon enough, all twelve members were stretching in the middle of the room as Hyun Kyun set up the audio for the speakers. You took a seat on

the couch available as the boys began walking to their positions.

"Music cue" the dance instructed called, pointing his fingers in the air. MAMA had started playing through the speakers as the boys stood in a triangular formation, chanting along.  The boys performed, each song hyping them up for the next one. The boys had run through MAMA both Korean and Chinese version, History both Korean and Chinese version all twice now and you could see the sweat shining on the boys foreheads.

"Alright, good job boys, 10 minute break" the instructor called, just as the boys finished up their 5th MAMA practice. Sehun and Tao immediately dropped to the floor, Tao's head falling on Sehun's stomach. The rest of the boys reached for their towels and waterbottles, Kai showing Lay some dance moves as he dabbed his forehead. Just as you stood up to stretch out your legs, your phone had buzzed in your pocket and you fished it out.

Exo manager meeting, conference room 2, 9:30am. You took a peek at Lay's watch and read that it was 9:12am, by now Hyun Kyun had come by you, his phone in his hand.

---

As you sat in the conference room, your phone sat on the table, notes open. You were chatting lightly with Hyun Kyun as the two of you waited for the others to arrive.

"The boys can be quite hard to handle at times, but I hope you're not finding them too hard to manage" Hyun Kyun smiled, as talked about exo-m like they were his kids. You laughed along at his remarks.

"No no, they're a very lovely and sweet group of boys, exo-k included. I've really grown to treat them as my kids" you replied, smiling as you thought back to Xiumin's care when you were feeling tired, Tao's consideration with your luggage, Kris's love for s and mother and Lay's overall caring and warm personality. You had wondered if it was really you taking care of the boys, or the boys taking care of you. Your conversation with Hyun Kyun was interrupted as two men had walked into the conference room.

"Youngjun, Seunghwan, meet Eun Mi, Eun Mi, this is Youngjun and Seunghwan, Youngjun is the head manager of exo, while Seunghwan is exo-k's manager" Hyun Kyun introduced, as you stood up to greet the two.

"Twelve boys sure need a lot of managing" you joked as the number of managers just continued to increase. Everyone laughed along lightly, before the CEO and his assistant had finally walked in and took a seat in front of the four of you.

"Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone for coming so promptly. Now, in the meeting held in Beijing, it was discussed that exo-m were to remain in China after the Exo debut showcase in Beijing, but that has now been changed. Exo-m will be flying back with Exo-k the day following the Beijing showcase, April 2nd, and will fly back to Beijing on April 7th and commencing their schedule on April 8th as originally planned. Between April 2nd and 7th, Exo will be practising in preparation for their schedules. Any questions?" The CEO informed, whilst his assistant handed each of you an updated schedule. "Taehyun in Beijing has already been informed of the changes in schedule and will prepare accordingly." Everyone all nodded their heads in understanding, and your notes were now filled with small reminders and scribblings.

---

As you returned into the main practice room, the boys were on what you assumed to be their second break from choreography practice. The twelve of them were all huddled in a circle around Kris as someone was on speakerphone.

"Have you been eating well, my boys?" an older female voice sounded through the room.

"Yes Mum" the boys chorused back.

"Kris has been very mean to be recently Mum, he's constantly teasing me" Tao whined, as he slumped against Kris's shoulder.

"Oh dear, well tell that Kris to be kinder to his younger members, okay Tao?" the woman advised, recognising who was speaking straight away.

"Mum, I've been diligently studying Chinese recently, have you noticed?" Chen chimed in, speaking towards Kris's phone.

"Oh my, Jongdae, your Chinese has improved a lot, I'm very proud of you" she complimented, as Chen began grinning.

"Oh! Eun Mi is back, quickly come over and greet Kris's mum" Xiumin called, as he jogged over to you, pulling you into the group huddle.

"Hello Ms Wu, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Eun Mi, I'm exo-m's manager" you greeted, bowing at the phone despite Kris's mum not being able to see you.

"Ah yes, Ms Eun Mi, it's nice to meet you finally, the boys have been telling me a lot about you. Thank you for taking care of my boys while we can't. I hope they're all behaving and listening to you"

"Ahh of course, we're all good boys" Luhan chimed in, hugging Kris's waist as he spoke to the phone.

"Mum, our break is over now. I'll talk to you soon, I love you" Kris interrupted, as the dance teacher signalled break up.

"We love you" all twelve boys shouted, the korean members trying their hardest to speak Chinese.

"I love you all too" Kris's mum expressed before the call was disconnected.

It's Mother's Day when I'm updating this. So remember to tell all your Mother's that you love them and appreciate everything they've done for you! ❤❤❤