Light streamed into the room causing my eyes to flutter open. I blinked to focus my vision. Where was I? My head pounded slightly and I felt groggy.

As I got up, I noticed that I was lying on my bed and my clothes were damp with sweat. How did I manage to get back to my bed? The last thing I remembered was going down the corridor to go and fetch water from downstairs but instead, I ended up meeting Baekhyun on the way. My memory was hazy after that.

I turned to my right to reach for my glasses. As I did so, I noticed that there was someone beside me. Their head was lying on top of their folded arms and they were sleeping soundly.

I jumped in surprise and grabbed a damp cloth, which was near my hand, and threw it at them. "Who are you? What are you doing in my room?" I screamed.

The person jolted awake at the sound of my voice and removed the cloth that had landed on top of them. They rubbed their eyes sleepily. I let out a sigh when I saw who it was.

"Chanyeol-ssi? What are you doing here?"

He blinked at me, allowing his eyes to adjust. "Is this how you treat people who look after you?" He yawned and stretched his arms. "You don't remember? You were sick last night."

I looked around and saw that he had several cloths next to him as well as an ice-pack. "I was looking after you all night."

I felt my face flush. I felt bad for having screamed at him. "Thank you," I told him finally.

He gazed at me sleepily, his face was worn like he hadn't had enough sleep. "Let me feel your temperature." He leaned in close as he placed his cool hand across my forehead. As he did so, I noticed that he had dark circles under his eyes. "Your fever has gone down." He smiled, "that's good. At least we know that you'll be fine after some rest."

"Thank you for looking after me," I told him once he had backed away. "I must have troubled you, Chanyeol-ssi."

Chanyeol pursed his lips at me, "If you're really thankful," he began, "then you would stop calling me 'Chanyeol-ssi'." He locked eyes with me and maintained a steady gaze. "What happened to calling me 'oppa'? Or just 'Chanyeol' like before?"

I averted my gaze. After everything that had happened yesterday, I had thought it best to put some distance between us. After all, I was an undercover reporter and by going back to formalities, it will remind me to stay on track. I had to remain unattached.

"Well?" Chanyeol prompted.

But I didn't know what to reply.

Chanyeol was displeased. "Nami-ah, if you're angry at me for abandoning you yesterday then, please just yell at me." He tried to meet my eyes. "I don't want you to stay silently angry at me the whole time." He added, "I don't want you to hate me."

I turned to him. "I don't hate you."

He smiled weakly. "Then, can we go back to how we were before?" He stared at me with puppy eyes, "will you forgive me?"

I looked at his worn appearance and nodded. Chanyeol had stayed up looking after me. The least I could do was let bygones be bygones. "I forgive you, Chanyeol."

He perked up at my words.

"Since you looked after me, we'll call it even," I told him. "But next time--"

"I'll protect you," he interrupted abruptly. I saw that his eyes were tenacious and unwavering. I didn't expect him to say that at all. "If anything like that happens again, I swear that, I'll protect you."

His eyes were so earnest that I felt heat rise up to my cheeks. I smiled. "As if I need protecting, pabo" and I threw another damp cloth at him.

~*~

The EXO members were ready to depart when I finally joined them downstairs. Their eyes lit up when they saw me shuffling towards them with Chanyeol as my crutch.

"Nami-ah!" It was Suho. "It's good to see you up so early in the morning."

"We were really worried about you, Little Umma," Kai said as he stuffed a piece of bread in his mouth. "I just heard from Chen-hyung that you had a fever last night."

"And that you had collapsed in front of Baekhyun-hyung" Sehun added.

I turned to look at Baekhyun who was, curiously, still in his pyjamas. He had a blanket over his body. "It's a good thing I caught you when I did," he said, his voice sounded hoarse and raspy. "But it seems I have caught something else in the process."

Xiumin approached me. "Baekhyun will be staying in the dorm with you today. We think he's caught a cold." He inspected my face carefully. "But I'm glad you're feeling better, Nami-ah." He patted my head affectionately and I felt the familiar racing heartbeat, I usually felt, whenever I came into contact with Xiumin.

I felt a sudden tug on the side as Chanyeol steered me away from him. "You should go and have some breakfast" he grumbled to me before leading me away.

As he led me to the dining table, D.O appeared with a plate and cutlery for me to use. "I'll be staying at home to look after both you and Baekhyun today" he informed me. He busied himself by preparing some toasted bread for me.

"But don't you have somewhere to go to today, D.O-ah?" Chanyeol asked from my side.

D.O shook his head. "It's fine. I can miss my reading rehearsal at least once." He offered the toast to me, "and looking after family is more important."

Chanyeol nodded but I couldn't help noticing how displeased he looked at hearing the news.

"Chanyeol-ah!" called Chen from the other side of the dorm. "We're going now."

Chanyeol looked back and saw that the other EXO members were heading out the front door. He gazed down at me. "We have a talk show that we have to go to today but, we'll be back later."

I nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. D.O-ah and Baekhyun-oppa are both with me."

He gave me a reluctant look before joining the others.

~*~

Without my ability to walk easily, there wasn't much I could do around the dorm. D.O stayed good to his word and looked after both me and Baekhyun by making our meals and doing the chores. It felt strange seeing D.O clean but, it reinforced his nickname as EXO's second umma.

While D.O busied himself with the chores, I stayed upstairs and used this time to work on my report. After Nikka had told me about the promotion, my motivation had been renewed. I must get it no matter what! As I passed by the members' rooms, after returning from the bathroom, a sudden thought entered my mind. Could they have left their rooms unlocked this time?

I knew it was risky to try, since Baekhyun and D.O were still at home, but it was one of the rare opportunities I had. If I was going to get that promotion, I will need to take risks to get that scoop first. Blinded by my eagerness, I tested each door that I passed by until I found one door that was left unlocked. I loo