Unfortunately, EXO’s Wolf promotions overlapped with major sports seasons. Jihae was only there for the first two weeks of performances before having to leave for Wimbledon. And right after that, she was picked by the Korean Sports Association to handle the Universiade in Kazan, so she had to leave the Wimbledon tournament a few days early to be in Russia.

While Jihae was regretful of the fact that she didn’t get to finish out Wimbledon, because she genuinely loves tennis, she did what she did best in Kazan. She didn’t only talk to the Korean competitors, because she knew a fair amount of Mandarin now, and some basic Russian, so she was talking to anyone she could even somewhat communicate with or she would find a translator herself. If she was going to do the Universiade, she was going to do it proudly. The officials took notice of her and her influence. She’d made friends with many staff members and competitors, as well as many of the officials themselves. So when it came to finalizing the ending performances, they asked their favorite Korean correspondent for her opinion.

“We want a KPOP act in the ending ceremony.” They told her when she sat in the meeting with them. “We already have the traditional Korean performers set, but we don’t know how to pick the Korean Pop stars. You’re young, and you know what is popular in Korea, right? Who do you think we should invite?”

“I can give you a few suggestions, but I won’t know if they’d have an opening to perform. I don’t really know the schedules for the KPOP stars.” She chuckled awkwardly. She was put in a weird position. She knew the idols, because she watched the music shows for Kris, but she was hardly an expert on the topic.

“Sure, give us a few names!”

“2PM recently came out with a new song, and they’re great performers. They’re very well known in KPOP. Girls Generation is huge. They’re not promoting a new song, but they might be open to performing one of their many hit songs. Big Bang is very popular and fun, but I think they might be on tour right now or something. BEAST is great, and they’re also quite popular and I like their music too. EXO are great kids. They’re fairly new, compared to the others I’ve named, but their following is strong in Asia, and I like their new song. They’re very powerful and artistic.”

“Okay, so that’s 2PM, Girls Generation, Big Bang, Beast, and EXO. We’ll look into these groups. Thank you so much for your help.”

Jihae let out a gush of air when she left the meeting. She wasn’t sure if it was alright to suggest EXO or not, but she did it anyway. She sent Kris a text to tell him they were one of a few groups she suggested to be invited for the ending ceremony. He laughed and thanked her for supporting EXO. He didn’t think they were actually going to be invited, so he was in for a shock when they were told they were going to Russia to perform.

“Not sure how, but your name was thrown in, and you guys got picked,” Their CEO laughed. “Congrats kids. Get ready to go to Russia.”

“It was Jihae.” Kris laughed immediately.

“Jihae?” The others looked at him in surprise.

“She suggested us, and a few other groups. But she was the one who put our names on the table.” Kris beamed.

“Wow! We should thank her then!” Chanyeol hopped around excitedly. The others nodded.

“Have I mentioned that I’m in love with your girlfriend?” Luhan joked. He’s been saying that ever since she really did get him Ronaldo’s autograph.

“Keep saying that and I’ll kill you.” Kris threatened playfully. “She’s mine.”

“Okay. Tell her I said thanks for the opportunity.” The CEO smiled and dismissed them.

“Will we get to hang out with her in Russia?” Lay asked when they were heading to the practice room.

“I don’t know. She’s really busy. She interviews like ten individuals a day and reports the games and the results immediately. She barely has time to call me, so we might not even see each other in Russia.” Kris had to force himself not to pout.

“Well, the boss says if it’s possible, she can walk around the city with us. We’ll just say she’s helping us tour or something.” Their manager came up behind them.

“Serious?!” Kris was excited. Walking around in public, even if they were still keeping their relationship a secret, was like a dream to him. They hadn’t done that since before he debuted and he really missed it.

Somehow, EXO was in the same hotel as Jihae in Russia, though they were on different floors. She was waiting in the elevator for them, and they had to wait for the doors to close to hug each other excitedly. “This is so much better than London!” Kris grinned.

“I don’t know. London was kind of romantic.” Jihae laughed.

“What was London?” Baekhyun asked.

“I was working in London when you guys were there to perform. But because we couldn’t risk it, and I was too busy, we didn’t get to meet or even see each other.” Jihae explained to the others.

“If you guys didn’t get to see each other, how is that romantic?” Xiumin laughed.

“It was like a movie or something. Two people, finally in the same city, unable to meet, hopelessly sigh while looking up at the same sky for the first time in a long time. I thought it was romantic.”

“Funny, I never pegged you for a romantic.” Kris teased, kissing her nose. Sehun and Tao made gagging noises in the corner.

“Hey, just because I can kick your in video games and most sports doesn’t mean I don’t like pretty.”

Jihae and Kris, pushed by the others, played various video games and sports with the rest of the group. They were impressed with Jihae’s soccer skills, and her general natural athletic ability. She even gave Kris a hard time in basketball, which she had to play left-handed to protect her right elbow. Kris was sure that if she could use her dominant hand, he would have suffered a humiliating loss.

“Are you free to hang out with us tomorrow?” Kris asked when he lagged behind to walk with her to the EXO hotel rooms.

“Yeah, I freed up a few hours in the morning and afternoon tomorrow. But I have to leave in a bit to do some dinner interviews with the Korean coaches tonight.”

“Oh, you can’t eat dinner with us then…” He pouted openly to her.

“It was the only way to get some free time tomorrow.” She squeezed his hand apologetically.

“Okay. When do you have to go?”

“Right after I walk you to your hotel room…”

He grimaced. “When do you get back?”

“Probably after you’ve gone to sleep. There will be about 20 coaches there, and I need to talk to all of them.” Jihae giggled at his shocked expression. “What? I’m a busy person! It’s the end of the competition and I have to talk to a ridiculous number of people!”

“If you can’t hang out with us tomorrow because of work, it’ll be okay. I understand. You don’t have to rush things and pack your schedule. I may not like it, but it’s your job.”

“No! I want to walk around Russia with you guys. I did it by myself already and it was nice, but lonely. I don’t care what I have to do to my schedule, I want to.”

“Okay…” Kris reluctantly acquiesced. This was one of the rare times when Jihae said she ‘wanted’ something. She wasn’t asking for something really, but it was close enough. “Then you better do your best to be with us tomorrow! I want you to show us around!”

“Of course! I’ve been studying tour guide books in preparation!” Jihae beamed.

“Ugh, stop being so cute. I won’t let you go if you’re being cute!” Kris whined when they got to his door.

They heard vague vomit noises on the other side of the door.

Jihae woke up early to get ready for her somewhat date with Kris. She made it up to EXO’s floor and bumped into their managers who were trying to wake everyone up. She waited in the hallway and pretended not to see the boys in what they wore to sleep, or what some didn’t wear to sleep, as they made it back to their own rooms because everyone decided to change it up last night.

“Kris isn’t waking up!” Xiumin groggily yelled to a manager in the hall. “I even tried to remind him that he’d get to see – Oh hey Jihae. Can you wake Kris up?”

“Is it clear for me to enter?” Jihae nodded, but hesitated at the door.

“Yeah, this room has fully clothed people. And everyone is awake but Kris.” Xiumin chuckled and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

Jihae entered the room and found the giant Kris shaped lump on the bed on the far side of the room. The boys sleepily waved to her as they pulled out clothes to change into or shower.

“Good luck, he at waking up.” Baekhyun sighed. “You look pretty by the way.”

“Thanks.” Jihae smiled and sat down next to the Kris lump. “Kris.” She nudged him.

“What?” He grumbled.

“Wake up.”

“I don’t wanna.” He whined, poking his head out from the covers to pout at her with his eyes closed, “5 more minutes.”

“No. You need to get up.”

“Not happening.” He pulled her down and under the sheets. “You should sleep too.”

“Kris!” Jihae giggled. “Get up! We have places to go and awesome crap to see!” She kicked the sheets off of them. “Get up before I spill embarrassing secrets about you to the others!”

“You wouldn’t!” His head snapped up to look at her, scared.

“I just might if you don’t get up!”

“Kiss me and I’ll get out of bed.” He cheesed.

“Wow. Fine, you can be sleeping beauty today.” Jihae smiled at him in disbelief. She pressed a chaste kiss to his lips, but he wasn’t having it. Kris pulled her back in for a deeper kiss, continuing even through the wolf calls from the other members in the room and the hall watching them. She had to hit his shoulders to get him to stop before going too far. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were an exhibitionist and were into voyeurism.” She teased, getting up and fixing her hair.

“I might be.” Kris laughed. “You look really pretty. Sorry I messed up your hair and makeup.”

“It’s okay.” She pecked his cheek and retreated before he could pull her in again. “Now hurry up!”

Jihae cocked an eyebrow at the thing on Kris’ shoulder. “Is that…?” He was fully dressed and ready to walk around town, with a small white tiger glued to his shoulder.

“It’s my new son.”

“What about our son?” Jihae laughed. “Are you abandoning Ace?”

“No, but this tiger will be his brother now.”

“Aren’t we supposed to talk before adopting another child? I don’t know if we can handle the responsibility of another child.”

“It’s okay. I’ll make more money and hire more help for you. Or, you can work more and I can quit being an idol and take care of our children.”

“No. It’s too soon to be quitting jobs. It’s also too soon for us, two 23-4 yr olds, to be taking care of two little boys.”

“Why are you guys taking this so seriously?” Kyungsoo stared at them in confusion.

“Because it is serious.” Kris and Jihae said together. They were really just kidding, but the look on everyone’s faces was priceless.

Kris wanted to attach himself to Jihae during their tour, but he couldn’t. There were fans watching and taking pictures. Even if these fans were well-behaved, they were sure to notice if Kris was affectionate to the pretty Jihae. She spent equal amounts of time with everyone in the group, managers and other staff included, before she had to leave for a lunch time interview with a few winners. She came back right after and was able to surprise/distract Kris while he was taking a picture with a Russian model. He pouted when he found the picture of his distracted face online. She laughed at him and used the picture for his caller ID on her phone.

After that, she was too busy to see him, and EXO had to practice and work with the stage set up. It was different from what they were used to. Kris found out belatedly that, while Jihae was interviewing the French Soccer team, some over excited player kicked a soccer ball to her head. And by belatedly finding out, he means that he found out from popular news gossip sites posting the video clip up of Jihae talking to the team captain and coach and pushing them out of the way when she sees the ball coming and getting hit in the side of the head. The clip ended with her laughing like crazy, saying she was okay and that the French were really good kickers. Kris was not amused, especially when he saw the bruise on her cheek when she took off her makeup that night. She was hanging out with EXO on their floor until it was time to sleep. They were all piled on Kris’ room to watch TV together with her.

Kris fell asleep, as did most of the others, and Jihae carefully made her way out to go back to her room. A manager followed her to walk her back to her room, though she said she would be okay going down the elevator to her floor by herself. He said he needed to talk to her.

“You two are cute together.” The manager said.

“Thank you.” Jihae shifted awkwardly as she leaned against the elevator wall.

“The CEO and we managers have been closely monitoring you.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“I agree with the CEO when he says that Kris has a bright and promising career ahead of him. These things won’t happen often, and you shouldn’t hope for it. You’ve read some comments fans have made about other fans taking pictures with the EXO members, so you must know that Kris and you must never come out into the public, even if you really want to.”

Jihae sighed in frustration, finally snapping. “Yes, I do know that. But it’s not because of some harsh fan comments that I don’t want to be public about us. I had hoped that you guys coming out to see me while I’m on the job would make it clear. I work my off for my career, and I’m damn good at my job. I’m not worried about EXO fans threatening me. I’m worried about being crucified by the general public and my colleagues for dating an idol star younger than me, when I’m already fighting tooth and nail to gain some respect in this industry.

“You guys seem to forget that I have my own career to protect. You guys act like I want to tell the world, like I’m some boy crazy teen, when I need this to be a secret too. Do I want to casually walk around with him when I’m not on a project? Yes. But that doesn’t mean I’m stupid enough to think it’s possible. We both have very public careers, and both of them are gaining great traction right now. But if you think about it, really think about it, he’d be fine if the scandal broke. He’s dating a pretty sports reporter that’s older than him. He’ll survive that practically scratch-free. I wouldn’t. I’d become a joke to my peers, peers who are eying my popularity and the name I struggled to make for myself. So it would be great if all of you would just stop staring at me like I’m going to send a tweet telling the world I’m dating him.”

“If it’s so dangerous for you, why do you keep dating him?”

Jihae was quiet for a moment. The elevator doors opened to her floor. “Because he makes me feel happy and warm. And so few things do.” She left him behind in the elevator.

So I made her Ace's mommy.