Baekhyun yawned as he stretched his arms over his head. "I'm sooo tired!" he moaned to Chen, who was doing his leg stretches. "I just want to go back to the dorm and sleep."

"Well, you can't do that" Chen replied. "We have to keep practising so that we don't mess up our choreography for our US tour."

Baekhyun pouted. "Ugh. D.O-ah's so lucky. He gets to skip out on some of the rehearsals because he's on WGM with Little Umma."

Chen frowned at him. "Yes. But that just means he has to work harder when he comes back."

It was already late in the afternoon and Chen and Baekhyun were back at the dance studio, practising their dance choreography with the other EXO members. Currently, Sehun and Kai were talking amongst themselves, while Suho and Xiumin had gone to sort something out with Manager-nim. Lay, being Lay, was probably still in the changing rooms getting dressed.

"When do you think D.O-ah and Little Umma will come back from their honeymoon? It's been a couple of days already" Baekhyun commented.

"I think they're probably back by now," Chen responded. "Manager-nim took their luggage to their apartment already so that must mean they're in the process of moving in together."

Baekhyun had a sheepish grin. "Wah, D.O-ah and Little Umma. Alone in an apartment together..." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Chen frowned at him. "You're such a , Baekhyun-ah."

"What?" he whined. "It takes one to know one. I bet you were thinking it too."

Chen scoffed, "Yeah, you wish."

But just as Baekhyun was about to reply, the doors to the dance studio suddenly opened and in came D.O.

Chen, Baekhyun, Kai and Sehun were startled at D.O's sudden appearance.

"D.O-ah!" exclaimed Kai, running up to him. He was excited to see D.O back. He pounced on him and s his arm around his neck to catch him in a headlock. D.O squirmed under Kai's choking hold. With his free hand, he tapped Kai's arm to signal his submission.

"Kai!" he gasped. "You're-- you're choking me!"

"Oops!" Kai answered as he loosened his grip on D.O. "Sorry, D.O-ah. I guess I got carried away."

"D.O-hyung, how was your trip?" Sehun enquired. "Did you introduce Little Umma to your parents while you were there?"

D.O answered reluctantly while rubbing his neck, "No. We didn't have time." And Sehun noticed that D.O seemed a little down. "But the trip was good. Nami-ah and I had fun while we were there."

"Where's Nami-ah now?" Chen enquired. "How come she's not with you?"

D.O averted his gaze. "She's back at the apartment. I've just come from having lunch with her and she said she wanted to rest so she went home."

"Oh..." Kai sounded disappointed.

"But she told me to give you guys these." D.O offered the other EXO members a paper bag that had the Japanese confectionary sweets inside.

Chen took it and opened the box. "Oh! They're desserts" he observed.

D.O nodded. "She wanted to get you guys a souvenir."

"A souvenir?" Sehun was in disbelief. "But, you guys were just nearby."

D.O shrugged. "Nami-ah still wanted to get you something."

Baekhyun took one of the sweets and popped it in his mouth. He grinned, "They taste good."

"That's good to hear," D.O said softly. "I'll tell Nami-ah that when I get home."

"Ooooh" Baekhyun teased. "When you get home" he repeated. "You mean when you get home to your and Little Umma's love nest!"

Kai and Sehun giggled as they joined in with Baekyun's teasing.

But to Baekhyun's dismay, D.O stayed quiet: he wasn't reacting the way Baekhyun wanted him to. He pouted, "Oh c'mon D.O-ah. It's no fun to tease you if you don't react to it." He eyed him carefully and then a wily grin appeared. "Ooooh, don't tell us you've fallen for Little Umma, now?" he joked.

D.O looked at Baekhyun squarely. "And what if I have?"

Sehun and Kai immediately stopped joking. Baekhyun was speechless while Chen was wide-eyed.

"Are you serious, D.O-ah?" Chen asked him. "You... like Nami-ah?"

"You're joking, right, hyung?" Sehun asked D.O. "You can't seriously have feelings for Little Umma."

Kai interjected, "WGM... it's all just pretend."

D.O exchanged looks with the rest of his group members. His voice was steady. "Why? Is there something wrong with me falling for her?"

The others gaped at each other. Chen was the first to speak, "It's just that...we always thought you were pretending. We knew you were quite close to Nami-ah but we didn't think that--"

"Yeah" Baekhyun agreed. "And there's Chanyeol-ah too."

"What about Chanyeol?" D.O snapped.

The others exchanged looks again.

"D.O-ah, we don't want you and Chanyeol-hyung fighting over Little Umma" Kai replied.

"We're not fighting over her" D.O retorted. "He had his chance with her and he blew it."

"Yah" Chen pointed out, "he had his reasons for doing that" and he looks at Baekhyun. Both of them felt partly responsible.

"Whatever the reason, Chanyeol should never have treated Nami-ah that way." D.O eyed the others determinedly. "I would never mistreat her."

Sehun looked like he was about to say something when the doors suddenly opened and Suho and Xiumin arrived.

"Oh! D.O-ah, you're back" Suho observed as he walked up to him with Xiumin trailing behind. "Looks like we'll have eight people for practice again."

"Omo, are those Japanese sweets?" Xiumin asked as he took one out of the box that Chen was holding. "They're so tasty."

Suho glanced at the other five members while Xiumin happily chewed on the Japanese sweet. He sensed that something was adrift. "Is there something going on?"

"No, nothing" D.O hastily replied. He turned to walk away. "I'll go and get changed." As D.O headed for the exit, Suho suddenly shouted after him.

"D.O-ah! Make sure you get Lay too. I think he's probably napping in the changing rooms again."

D.O gave a curt nod before disappearing.

"Now then" Suho declared as he tried to make eye-contact with the rest of the EXO members. "Go and warm up. We'll start practice again once Lay and D.O-ah are back."

While the others reluctantly dispersed to claim a space in the dance studio to warm up in, Chen exchanged looks with Baekhyun. They needn't say anything. Both of them could tell from the other's facial expression, that what they heard D.O say, bothered them both.

And Chen, most of all, couldn't help feeling uneasy about this sudden development.

~*~

Lay stared at the wall, in a daze on what he should do. He was in the changing rooms at the moment-- he had been here since they had arrived at SMHQ-- and he hadn't left because he didn't know how to face the other EXO members. How should he break the news to them that Nami wasn't all that she seemed?

When he discovered that Nami was a reporter, his first reaction was to tell the others. After he had packed away her things, he had taken his time in investigating Nami further. He felt reassured that she wouldn't find out that he knew her secret yet, since she wouldn't be coming back to the dorm for a while, as she and D.O were away on their honeymoon.

During that time, Lay had kept Nami's debrief folder and he had studied it carefully. It was mostly in English and since it wasn't his first language, he had had to enlist the help of a trusty source: A.K.A Google translate. After a few hours of tedious typing, Lay finally understood the contents of the folder.

His gut instinct was right: Nami was definitely a reporter.

As soon as it was confirmed, he wanted to tell the others straight away but realised that maybe, the others already knew and didn't mind it. He took it upon himself to investigate further by asking the others what they already knew about Nami. He hoped that they already knew her secret so that he wouldn't have to play the bad guy who ruined everything.

Lay had been hesitating because he knew that the EXO members really liked Nami.

During his time in China, he had kept in contact with Xiumin and Chen, who were his fellow EXO-M members back in the day, and therefore, he was really close to them. When Nami first arrived, Xiumin and Chen would update him on what kind of person she was and they would tell him all sorts of things that happened in the dorm while he was away. From their crazy stories, Nami seemed like a really fun person. Chen, who was his primary source of information, delivered his intel in a very cheerful manner, subtly hinting to Lay that the atmosphere in the dorm was finally brightening up thanks to Nami's appearance.

Lay remembered feeling reassured that the EXO members were doing well without him. And he had made a