[NARRATOR]

EXO finally finished their last schedule of the day and it was already 8 p.m. The manager dropped the boys at their dorm and then took Hae Jung, Lay, Sehun and Chanyeol to a nearby supermarket. Since there could be people watching, the manager insisted on going with them. Hae Jung might be the stylist noona but others might think differently and rumours could arise.

"I think we should split into two to save time." suggested Hae jung as she grabbed a trolley and handed Chanyeol one of the shopping lists.

"Okay, noona! We'll meet at the counter!" replied Chanyeol happily and dragged Sehun along with him.

"Ya!! Why should I go with you? I wanna go with Lay hyung!" Sehun whined, trying to let go of Chanyeol's grip.

Hae Jung and Lay laughed at the sight of Sehun and Chanyeol bickering. "Anyways, is there anything that you guys want to eat?" asked Hae Jung as she pushed the trolley.

"Meat! As long as there's meat, we're all good!" replied Lay, immediately heading towards the meat section.

"Meat? It's a bit expensive but anything to make you boys happy!" agreed Hae Jung and bought a few kilos of meat just for them.

"Yay! Thank you, noona! You're the best!" Lay smiled eagerly.

Both teams continued shopping for around 30 minutes and the manager was there all along to monitor them. "Noona! We're done! We'll wait for you at the counter." shouted Sehun from another end of the supermarket.

Hae Jung gave them an ok sign and suddenly, her trolley accidentally bumped into a person in front. The person turned around, cursing like crazy. "What are you blind or something?" asked the person angrily.

Hae Jung was shocked and she immediately bowed many times to apologise. "Well, well, well, look who we have here." said the person mockingly.

She lifted her head from the bow to see who the person was. Her jaws dropped, her eyes widened. "Noona, are you okay? What happened?" Lay, who went to the toilet, ran towards her and asked worriedly.

"Ah, I see you're dating an idol now, huh?" asked the man again and smirked.

"I'm fine. Let's just go." said Hae Jung as she pushed the trolley towards another direction but was stopped by the man.

"Ya! Where do you think you're going? We haven't seen each other for so long. Don't you miss me?" the man slowly moved closer to her and touched her hair in a mocking/weird/peverted way.

"Don't touch her!" Lay suddenly hit the man's arm away from Hae Jung.

Hae Jung turned to Lay, a bit taken aback by his sudden act.The manager sensed something fishy going on and decided to step up. "I don't know who you are or what's your relationship with this lady but please, just let it go. She's apologised." said the manager.

The man just coughed sarcastically and smirked. "Okay, I'll let you go. Just this once. You better hope you won't bump into me again in the future." he threatened, drawing his face near to Hae Jung's and sniffled her hair before he left.

Hae Jung was holding her breath the entire time because she was really nervous and scared. She let go of the trolley and finally let out a big sigh. Lay noticed that she was kind of shaking. "Noona, are you okay? Who was that guy?" asked Lay, worried and concerned.

"I'm okay. Don't worry." Hae Jung replied. "Let's just go and pay these. Chanyeol and Sehun are waiting for us." she continued and pushed the trolley as fast as she could.

Lay paused for a few moments. 'There was definitely something. If not, she wouldn't be that scared. Who was that man? And why was he acting like that to her?' thought Lay as he watched her walked away. "What are you doing? Let's go." said the manager, interrupting Lay's deep thoughts.

Hae Jung paid for everything and they finally headed back to EXO's dorm. "We're back!!" said Sehun happily and the other members rushed to the door to help with the groceries.

Although Hae Jung wanted to prepare their dinner all by herself, the boys insisted on helping and she couldn't say no. Kai and Tao helped set the tables up in the living room and after an hour or so, dinner were finally ready. Everyone gathered around the table with big smiles on their faces. "Thank you for the food, noona! We'll enjoy eating them!" said Suho cheerfully followed by the rest and they started gobbling down the food like they haven't eaten in years.

"Why aren't you eating with us?" Xiumin asked Hae Jung who was sitting quietly on the couch, just observing them eat.

"I'm not hungry." she replied with a weak smile. "I'm gonna step outside for a bit. You guys continue eating." she continued and headed out.

Lay suddenly remembered about what happened at the supermarket and began to worry. Hae Jung was also, oddly, very quiet after they got back from the supermarket and that made Lay even more worried. He decided to check up on her. He went out and found Hae Jung sitting on the stairs with her head wrapped between her arms. "Noona, are you okay? Is it about what happened just now?" asked Lay, worried.

Hae Jung lifted her head up and her cheeks were wet from all the tears. Lay was so surprised seeing her like that. "That was m-my ex-boyfriend." she stuttered. "He wasn't really a good man. He's done some bad stuff." she continued.

"Bad stuff? To you?" asked Lay again.

Hae Jung suddenly stood up and started walking back and forth. "What if I see him again? What if he finds out where I live? What if he tries to hurt me again?" she started bablling to herself, scratching her head like crazy.

Lay got even more worried seeing her like that. "Noona! Stop! Just stop!" Lay grabbed Hae Jung by her shoulders and shook her to stop her from panicking. "Look at me, noona. Nobody's gonna hurt you." said Lay as he looked her into the eyes.

"B-But..." stuttered Hae Jung, a bit taken aback.

"I promise you that he won't ever find you. And even if he did, I won't ever let him come near you and hurt you! So don't be scared, okay? I'll protect you." said Lay in a very manly voice as he wiped the tears off of her cheeks.

Hae Jung was kind of shocked but she felt really safe when Lay said that to her. She was really thankful too. She hugged him tightly and cried even more. "Shh, don't cry. I'm here for you." Lay hugged her back and patted the back of her head.

Hae Jung let go of Lay after a few minutes and looked down on the ground as she was a bit shy from everything that had happened. "Can you please promise me not to tell Lea anything about this?" she asked, still looking down.

Lay nodded and grabbed her by the hand. "Let's go back inside. The others are waiting. And you need to eat something. I'm sure you're hungy, riight noona?" said Lay as he dragged her back inside.

"Thank you. For everything." replied Hae Jung, smiling.

Lay smiled back at her and winked. He squeezzed her hand to reassure her that everything's going to be okay.

To be continued...