Chen and Baekhyun nervously exchanged looks with each other as Nami glowered at them from the entrance. She demanded again, her voice cold and unforgiving. "What bet?"

"Little Umma," Baekhyun began, his eyes darting wildly as he tried to come up with an explanation. "It's-It's not what you think it is--"

Chen interjected, "Yeah, erm, we were just talking about something else. Erm--" he gaped at Baekhyun desperately before continuing, "Poker. Yes! We were talking about poker."

Nami approached them swiftly, her eyebrows knitted and a scowl evident on her face. The pair had anxious smiles on as they backed away warily. But just as she was about to confront them again, the sound of approaching footsteps and the hubbub of voices caused her to turn around. As soon as she did, her gaze landed on the other EXO members who had returned from their other activities. Xiumin and D.O were the first to enter the dance studio. Their eyes widened in surprise at seeing Nami before them.

"Nami-ah!" Xiumin exclaimed, a smile creeping up his lips. "You're here!"

D.O shared his enthusiasm. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling better now?"

The others joined the pair in bombarding Nami with questions once they realised that Nami was amongst them again. But Nami didn't care for their questions. As soon as she spotted Chanyeol, who had come into the dance studio last, she marched right up to him. Being the last to realise that Nami was in the dance studio, Chanyeol smiled at her, oblivious of her fuming rage. He was happy at last to finally have the opportunity to speak with her face to face.

"Nami-ah--"

"Is it true?" she challenged, her eyes were hard and unyielding.

Chanyeol gave her a puzzled look.

"Am I just a bet to you?"

Chanyeol had his face scrunched up in confusion as he searched Nami's eyes. But as he was doing so, he suddenly noticed Baekhyun and Chen cowering in the background. He frowned as he realised what had happened. "Nami-ah, I can explain--"

But Chanyeol wasn't able to finish his sentence. 

He was midway speaking when Nami had swept her leg behind him and pushed him to the ground, causing him to land with a loud thud on his back. He groaned in pain, stunned that Nami had done her judo throw on him. It had been a while since Nami had done that. "Yah! You macho woman--!"

But yet again Chanyeol was unable to finish his sentence. As he looked up at Nami, he saw that tears were falling freely from her almond-shaped eyes. They looked hurt, causing him to feel a tight squeeze in his chest. 

Her voice cracked as she told him, "Chanyeol, you pabo."

Nami ran away from the dance studio as she choked back her tears. The EXO members looked from Nami's direction to Chanyeol, unsure of what to do. Chanyeol had made Nami cry before, during the photo shoot but, this time, something was different. Nami wasn't just upset, she seemed deeply wounded by Chanyeol's actions.

"Nami-ah--" D.O was quick to run after her but Xiumin held him back. As he did so, Chanyeol hastily got up from the floor and sprinted towards the exit to pursue Nami.

D.O turned to Xiumin, baffled as to why he had got in his way. "It's not for you to go after her, D.O-ah" he declared as his gaze locked onto D.O's wide eyes. "Nami-ah and Chanyeol-ah need time to talk things out."

D.O protested, "But hyung--"

Xiumin glared at him and D.O conceded reluctantly. He knew best not to cross Xiumin when he was angry. Xiumin turned his attention to Chen and Baekhyun, who had retreated farther away from the others. "You two," he said sharply, "have a lot of explaining to do."

The pair exchanged anxious stares at one another again before gulping in fear at their hyung's raging wrath.

~*~

"Nami-ah, wait!" Chanyeol pleaded as he made a grab for her wrist.

She shook him off, refusing to turn around and face him. "Let me go!" she shouted. Nami continued briskly walking down the corridor, wiping away the tears that refused to stop falling from her eyes. She sobbed quietly, trying to fight them back, trying to show that she wasn't hurt but, to no avail.

Chanyeol continued to pursue her. He took big steps, almost leaping, so that he could catch up with her and block her from escaping. Once he was in front of her, he clamped his broad hands on top of her shoulders and held her firmly, forcing her to stay despite her trying to wriggle free.

"Let me go!" she screamed at him again but he refused.

"Nami-ah, please" he begged. "Let's talk this over." He watched as Nami's eyes met his and he observed the pain in them. The squeezing in his chest returned but much stronger now.

"You want to talk?" she sniffed. "Fine. Let's talk."

Chanyeol swallowed as he tried to explain, "In the beginning, it did start off as a bet."

Nami's eyes flickered as if he had inflicted another wound on her. She stared at him coldly, her lips set in a hard line.

"It started off as a bet between Baekhyun, Chen and I. It was a stupid bet that we made before I met you" his voice trembled, "before... I fell for you."

Nami looked up at him, her eyes still b with tears. "No" she muttered while shaking her head at him. "I won't be fooled anymore."

"Nami-ah, please" Chanyeol begged. "It's the truth."

She broke away from his grasp and took a step back, "What truth?" she spat. "I don't even know what's real anymore, Chanyeol. How can I tell if any of this is real when, all this time, you were lying to me?" Fresh tears sprung from her eyes as she whispered, "You used me. And I'm through with being used."

Nami attempted to walk past him but Chanyeol blocked her path once more. "I didn't use you" his voice was stern. "Why aren't you listening to me? I told you, this was a stupid bet that we made before I met you. Before we had what we have now."

"Don't" she snapped. "I don't need to hear your pathetic excuses anymore. If you have nothing better to say then, just let me go."

"No" Chanyeol refused strongly. "I don't want to." He looked at her earnestly, "I know I've hurt you and I'm sorry but, I can't let you go. Please don't be like this. Don't you see I'm trying?"

"Trying?" she repeated bitterly. "Trying for what?"

"Trying for us" he answered desperately. "I'm trying to keep us together." He looked at her sadly, "Please. Give us a chance. Don't you want us to be together?"

Nami searched his woeful eyes and saw the sincerity in them. The truth was, she really wanted to be with him. She loved Chanyeol so of course, she wanted things to work out between them. But the problem was, she didn't know if she could trust him again. She had given him that one chance and he had blown it. She didn't want to risk getting her heart broken again. She didn't know whether she could survive it a third time.

Nami returned his gaze. "How can I trust you anymore, Chanyeol?" she asked him desperately. "How can I trust you when all this time, you were only being nice to me because of your bet?" Her voice cracked as she continued, "How can I trust that this isn't all just a game to you? That you aren't just playing around with me again?"

"I'm not playing around with you!" he was exasperated. "Nami-ah," he said her name with an agonised expression, "I'm serious about you. About us."

"Then why didn't you tell me?" she asked him, her voice was weak. "Why did you hide it from me?"

Chanyeol wasn't sure of what to say. "I didn't- I didn't think it mattered..."

She scoffed bitterly, "That's your problem. You didn't think it mattered. You didn't think of how it would hurt me." She glared at him, "You didn't think about my feelings at all." Nami choked back the tears that keep threatening to fall from her eyes. The pain in her chest was so sharp and so intense that it affected her breathing. It was like someone was crushing her from the inside, rendering her breathless.

She stared at Chanyeol and tried to figure out what to do. She had trusted him. After the incident, she had endured a spirit-crippling trial that she wasn't sure she could ever recover from. There were so many times she had wanted to leave Seoul, abandon her report and throw everything away. She just wanted to go home and be with her family, friends, and be back to where everything was familiar. She wanted to leave but, she fought on because every time she felt like giving up, she would see Chanyeol's face. He was the only reason why she decided to stay. But that was before she found out she was just a bet to him.

A bet as cheap as ten-thousand won.

She looked away, her pain renewed. "If y