The following few weeks had been hectic as the EXO members rehearsed tirelessly for the upcoming Gayo Daejun Concert. It was only a week away and even though D.O knew that he had learned the choreography and the lyrics by heart, he couldn't remove the anxiousness which swirled around in the pit of his gut. Why did he always have to get so nervous?

As he climbed down the stairs to fetch some water, late in the evening, he spotted that the light in the kitchen was on. From the bottom of the stairs, he could see someone busy working away as their casted shadow danced on the tiled floor of the common area. D.O took a peek from the edge of the door frame.

Inside he saw Nami, wearing her red apron, making some sort of snack with her deft fingers. Her face was screwed up in concentration with the tip of her tongue just barely visible from the corner of . D.O watched as she carefully sliced what looked like a sushi roll into equal pieces. She smiled at what she had accomplished.

"Why are you still up, Nami-ah?" D.O asked and Nami jumped.

"You scared me!" she shouted as she clutched her heart. "You need to stop doing that, D.O-ah. I could have dropped this knife!"

D.O gave her a weak smile as he apologised. He walked over to the workstation and found that Nami had made sushi as well as other snacks. He looked at her curiously. "What's with all the food?"

Nami replied shyly, "I wanted to surprise everyone by bringing snacks over tomorrow while you practised" she scratched her head, "but I guess you found out."

D.O smiled at her. Why was Nami always doing things that made his heart beat fast? He glanced at the food and saw that they were poorly done but was filled with thought. Nami saw his expression and quickly said, "I know they don't look good but I'm pretty sure they taste fine" she picked up a small piece of sushi with chopsticks and offered it to him, "do you want to try one?"

Nami hovered the sushi piece in front of D.O's face. It had a lot of rice and barely anything else. He knew that Nami wasn't good at cooking so if he ate this now, who knows what he'd be feeling the next day. But, with the image of Nami offering to feed him and her almond eyes shining, he couldn't refuse opening his mouth to take a bite. At least he would die a happy man.

D.O chewed on the sushi and forced himself to smile. "It's...good," he said forcibly.

Nami could tell that D.O was faking it. She set down her chopsticks and sighed. "I'm so hopeless, D.O-ah."

D.O quickly swallowed the sushi and replied, "You shouldn't get so down, I'm sure the members will appreciate your hard work into making these snacks for us."

"How can I serve this to them if it tastes bad?" she asked despondently.

D.O met her eyes and reassured her, "I can help you practise."

Nami's spirits lifted. "You would do that?"

D.O saw how Nami's eyes glittered with hope. If it's one way of getting close to you, I would do anything, he thought inwardly. "Of course."

Nami's mouth stretched into a smile that showed her dimples. D.O had to remind himself to breathe whenever she did that. "Thank you, D.O-ah! You're the best!" she cleared away the workstation so that she could start again.

D.O watched a happy Nami get back to work. He liked the way she was so cheerfully motivated and how she didn't hide her flaws. He had decided long ago that, even though she was a reporter, he would disregard that fact and accept her as herself. Surely, she wasn't faking her sincerity in making snacks for them? Why would she go through all the trouble of practising how to make sushi if she didn't care about them at all?

He glanced at the other snacks that she made and noticed something odd about all of them. They were all snacks that Xiumin liked. When he voiced out his observation, Nami froze. "Ah, r-really?" her voice wavered slightly, "must be a coincidence."

D.O tucked away the edginess he was feeling in the back of his mind. He was aware he had competition but he wasn't going to back down from the race. He had already accepted his feelings for Nami and now all that was left was to reach out to her. And he hoped, one day, she would reciprocate his feelings back.

He just hoped that that day will come soon.

~*~

It's three days before the concert and I have been coming to EXO's rehearsals almost every day to feed them lunch. At first, they were reluctant to try my food but, after some encouragement from D.O, they eventually started eating heartily upon discovering how much my cooking skills had improved.

"This tastes great, Little Umma!" Kai said as he munched on my home-made snacks appreciatively.

I thanked him, "It was all because of D.O-ah. He helped teach me how to cook properly."

"No wonder it's edible" Chanyeol murmured, thinking that I wouldn't hear. I ignored him.

"Once we're done eating, let's practise from the top again" commanded Suho. "We still have to get the timings right--"

The door burst open and the familiar clop-clopping of platform boots echoed around the dance studio. "Hi, oppa!" Everyone knew who it was without having to turn around. It was none other than the prissy princess, Lee Suji.

She strode over to where we were gathered in a circle, the sound of rustling plastic filling the dance studio along with the clopping of her boots. She was carrying two plastic bags filled with cans of energy drinks and high-end protein bars. She had been coming in almost every day with the same expensive snacks.

Chanyeol groaned from across the circle as Suji headed straight for him. "Hello Suji-ssi" he greeted her monotonously.

Suji had the widest smile on her face as she approached Chanyeol with the bag of snacks in her hand. "I bought these for you, oppa," she told him in that sickly sweet voice. "Oh and for everyone else" she added as an afterthought.

The EXO members exchanged looks with each other as Suji gave Chanyeol the goo-goo eyes. Kai and Sehun sniggered under their breaths.

Suji dug her hand into the plastic bag, "Oh and I also bought this for you, oppa." She pulled out her hand to show that she had bought Chanyeol a silk tie and cufflinks set. She smiled at him sweetly. "You can wear it during the concert."

Chanyeol accepted her gift hesitantly, "Thank you, Suji-ssi. But you really shouldn't have--"

"No worries, oppa," she said cutting him off. "It's just a small token of my appreciation for saving me before."

"More like a small token of torture" mumbled Baekhyun to Chen. Chen chuckled.

Chanyeol looked uncomfortable. "You don't have to keep doing things like this. I get it. You're thankful but it's burdensome if you keep showering me with gifts."

"But you deserve it, oppa! If you hadn't saved me, I would have gotten into deep trouble with appa."

I rolled my eyes. Suji was putting on the drama again.

"You're my knight in shining armour, oppa--my saviour-- and I don't know how I'll ever repay you," she said it so sweetly that I thought my ears would start bleeding.

"You've repaid me enough times, Suji-ssi" Chanyeol replied, edging backwards as Suji had started to close the distance between them. "And anyway, you don't need to come in every day to buy us food. Nami-ah has been feeding us just fine."

Suji scowled at the mention of my name. She darted a look at me and the food that I made. "Those cheap snacks?" she spat contemptuously. "You're satisfied with those cheap and tasteless snacks? Ha! You're better off eating premium dog food compared to what she's capable of making."

I gritted my teeth at her insult. If it weren't for the fact that she was Lee Sooman's daughter, I would have already clobbered her teeth in the second she had stopped speaking. Suji eyed my immobile reaction and gave a triumphant smile. She knew I was powerless against her.

"Well, oppa. I will leave you now" she told him. "I have to talk to appa about the concert to make sure EXO gets the best coverage possible." She blew him a kiss before sauntering out of the dance studio.

As soon as she was out of sight, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"You've got it tough, hyung" Sehun addressed Chanyeol as he patted him on the shoulder. "Suji-ssi's been at you ever since that incident."

"Yeah, she's always up your " Baekhyun muttered. "And, because she's always around you, she's also up our asses too."

"Don't be so crude, Baek" Chen told him off. "What if she hears?"

"I don't care" Baekhyun replied confidently. "But more importantly, Chanyeol, what are you going to do?"

Chanyeol sighed. "I've been trying to tell her to go away in the nicest way possible but she won't take a hint. In her mind I'm her prince and that I'll sweep her off her feet and go live happily ever after! She's stuck in her own little fantasy world."

Baekhyun smirked, "Well, you did say she was your type before."

Chanyeol glowered at him, "If I knew she was this annoying I would have said otherwise."

I watched as Chanyeol, Chen and Baekhyun got into a heated conversation about Suji. I really despised that girl. Just seeing her face constantly reminded me of how I injured my leg and how Chanyeol had chosen to save her instead of me. I knew he had a perfect explanation for that but, I couldn't help feeling sore over it. Suji was a constant reminder of how I didn't belong in the same world as EXO. I was a nobody; a commoner; a reporter; a fraud.

"Are you okay, Nami-ah?"

I turned to my right and saw that D.O was peering at me. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

"Don't let what Suji-ssi said bother you" he said kindly. "I think your cooking has improved a lot and I prefer it more compared to what Suji-ssi brings." He smiled as he asked, "and do you know why I like it more?"

I shook my head.

"It's because I know you made it from the heart."

I felt my mouth stretch into a smile at D.O's words. Sometimes, it was surprising that D.O knew exactly what to say to make me feel better. "Thanks, D.O-ah."

"Okay, everyone," Suho said trying to catch everyone's attention. "Let's just finish eating so that we can get back to rehearsing."

Kai had a curious expression on his face as he picked up a kimbap and put it in his mouth. "Kinda think of it, hyung. Does it bother you that Suji-ssi's all over Chanyeol now?"

Suho arched his brow. "Why would that bother me?"

Kai continued, "Well, originally she was always fawning over you. Now, all her attention is going to Chanyeol."

"If you want all her attention, Suho-hyung, I'll gladly trade places" Chanyeol offered to him with a hint of desperation.

Suho laughed. "You can have it. I'm glad to be rid o