The EXO members had been practising continuously for their upcoming US tour for the past two weeks. Every day, I had been coming to SM Entertainment to visit them and bring them food and beverages around lunch time. It became routine after a while. They would leave first and I would arrive at SMHQ around noon with the food I made and the beverages I bought. As usual, I would greet Ryuk and give him his coffee can as I went up to the dance studio.

As I sat down and watched them practise, I took in how their fluid athlete's bodies heaved from repetitive re-reruns and how they panted from exhaustion. They were very hardworking and, on top of their rehearsals, they also attended talk shows, radio shows and even fan signing events. It amazed me how they managed to keep smiles on their faces despite how exhausted they were.

When the music finally stopped and the EXO members reached their ending pose, I got up from my seat and walked over to them, carrying their towels. I went up to Chanyeol first. "Here," I told him as I handed him his towel and his energy drink.

He smiled at me as he slung his towel over his neck and patted his forehead with one end while he drank his energy drink at the same time. I observed how his dark hair was drenched with sweat and his black shirt had a V-shaped sweat mark in the middle. He saw me gaping at him and I quickly turned away to give the other EXO members their towels.

"Nami-ah" he called after me as I finished handing out all the towels. I turned around and saw that Chanyeol was approaching me. Once we were facing each other, he smiled nervously as he fidgeted with his towel. "Listen, I want to talk to you after practice, will you be sticking around until then?"

I looked at him quizzically, "Erm well, I have plans later on today."

"Plans?" Chanyeol was surprised at my answer. I guess having me around almost every day from lunch till the end of their rehearsal time made him think that I was always available. "What plans?"

As if on cue, my phone vibrated and I checked my messages. It was Hyun-suk. "I'm going out for a coffee with Hyun-suk today" I informed him as I answered Hyun-suk's message at the same time.

Chanyeol's face grew sombre at the mention of his name. "You're going out with him? The tech guy?"

"Yeah" I responded simply. "He invited me for coffee a while back."

Chanyeol's face darkened. "Will it just be you and him?" he asked. "No one else?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

I saw Chanyeol's lip form into a thin line. He didn't look too thrilled, "No. I don't want you to go with him."

"What do you mean 'no'?" I repeated astounded. "I'm not asking for your permission, Chanyeol. I'm just letting you know."

"But he's a guy!" he argued.

"And?"

He fumbled for his words as he tried to come up with a reasonable argument. "And you haven't known him for so long. What if he's sketchy?"

"Chanyeol," I said firmly, "I'll be fine. He's my friend and he's nice too. Nothing bad will happen. We're just going out for coffee."

But Chanyeol wouldn't give up, "Why can't you just make female friends instead?"

I sighed, "How can I make female friends when I'm living with you guys?"

"What?"

"You're EXO for goodness sake! Don't you know how many girls, especially EXO-Ls, would kill me for my job right now? If they found out I worked as a housekeeper for EXO, they would hunt me down and burn me on a stake" I exaggerated.

Chanyeol laughed lightly towards the end of my rant.

"I'll be fine" I reassured him. "I'll be back at the dorm later today."

Chanyeol gave me a hesitant look as I said goodbye to him and the EXO members before leaving the dance studio.

~*~

"Are you okay with letting Little Umma go?" Kai asked as Chanyeol got ready for their next song rehearsal.

Chanyeol grunted in reply. He had a lot of things on his mind and, most of them consisted of thoughts about Nami. Of course, he wasn't okay. Why would he ever want Nami to hang out with another guy apart from him?

"Well, it's not like Chanyeol-hyung can forbid Little Umma from doing whatever she wants" Sehun replied for him. "And that includes hanging around her guy friends. I mean, what can hyung do to stop her even if he could?"

Kai thought for a moment and a sly grin crept up his face. "He could start eureureong eureureong eureureong dae" he sang while enacting the dance moves to their popular single, 'Growl'. Sehun snorted as he joined Kai in dancing around Chanyeol, who glared at the two.

"Knock it off" he barked, which caused the pair to scuttle off, acutely aware that a real wolf may actually be upon them.

~*~

"I have a confession to make."

I blinked at Hyun-suk who was sitting across from me. We were at the café we had agreed to meet in and we had been sipping our hot beverages when Hyun-suk suddenly broke the silence.

"What is it?" I asked nervously. I always felt a little wary when people started conversations off with confessions.

Hyun-suk looked at me earnestly, "The truth is Nami-ssi, I'm--"

"Please don't say it" I interrupted. Hyun-suk blinked at me. "I mean, please give me time to mentally prepare myself for what you're about to confess."

He looked at me understandingly, "Of course."

"What kind of confession is it?" I asked. I was really hoping that he would keep his word when he said he only wanted to be friends. I didn't want to lose him if he ended up telling me he was actually interested in being more than that.

Hyun-suk was a little reluctant to say, "It's to do with EXO."

"EXO?" That came as a surprise.

He nodded. "The truth is...I'm an EXO fanboy." Hyun-suk looked at me expectantly as he tried to scrutinise my expression.

I was befuddled, "You're an EXO fanboy?" I couldn't quite believe it. "As in, you're their fan?"

He chuckled at my expression, "Yes, Nami-ssi. I'm pretty sure that's what 'fanboy' means."

"Wow" I replied, astounded. "I never pinned you down as a fanboy."

Hyun-suk smirked, "But that's not all" he leaned in as he anxiously stirred his coffee, "I'm also...gay."

I blinked again.

Hyun-suk had been staring down at his coffee as he nervously waited for me to react. He peeked up at me and saw that I was still speechless. "Please say something."

"Er, erm. Well, okay. You're gay. Cool." I tilted my head at him, "Wow, this is gonna take some time to process."

"I know I'm overwhelming you with a lot of information but, if we're going to be friends, I want us to be honest with each other. I don't want you to think I'm using you just because I know that you're EXO's dorm mother."

"Ah, so that's why you approached me!"

Hyun-suk smiled shyly, "Guilty as charged."

I grinned. "You know, I don't mind having a gay friend. My best friend is gay too."

"Really?" Hyun-suk was surprised. "No wonder I'm really comfortable around you! You're already immuned to my kind!" I watched as Hyun-suk perked up, "I'm so glad I told you now. I wanted to tell you when we first met but, I thought it was too soon."

I agreed, "Yeah but, I would have appreciated it since I actually thought you were trying to hit on me."

Hyun-suk grinned, "Nami-ssi, you know I find you gorgeous but, I don't swing that way."

"Clearly" I replied. "I just can't believe my gaydar didn't go off! I mean, it was on point when I found out about my best friend."

At this, Hyun-suk was intrigued, "Oooh. Do tell me more about this gay best friend of yours. Is he single?" He leaned in and cupped his chin in his hands as he flirtatiously fluttered his eyelashes at me. I thought to myself, Yep, definitely gay.

"As far as I know, he is." I thought about Nikka and noticed how we've never really talked about his love life. Whenever I brought it up in the past, he would change the conversation into something else.

"What does he look like?" Hyun-suk pressed on. "Does he live in Seoul?"

I snapped back to attention and shook my head in reply, "No, no. He works in a different part of the country" I lied. "But he's really handsome."

Hyun-suk was disappointed. "That's a pity. I was hoping you could set us up."

I giggled at the thought of Nikka and Hyun-suk together. It would be an odd pairing to see my friends from two different worlds meeting up and actually getting into a relationship. "I know, it's quite a shame actually. He's very charming too. I actually had a crush on him before I found out he was gay."

This piqued Hyun-suk's interest. "Oooh, really? Spill the beans!"

I reminisced the time when I first met Nikka.