One month later...

Chanyeol took off his sunglasses as he departed the aircraft. He squinted his eyes as he used his hand as shade while he took in the view of the beautiful, clear blue sky. He smiled. "It's been so long. I can't wait to see them again."

In a good mood, he strolled towards Immigration in the airport, security forming a barrier around him, as a legion of fangirls swarmed to welcome him. As swiftly as he could, he searched for Manager-hyung, who was picking him up. His face lit up when he finally found him.

"Chanyeol-ah!" he greeted happily, as he waved at him.

"Manager-hyung!" He waved back.

The pair both paced towards the exit so that they could avoid the traffic of persistent fangirls who were screaming for Chanyeol to look their way. When they were finally in the safety of their own car, Manager-hyung turned to Chanyeol. "How was your time in China?" he asked.

Chanyeol grinned, "It was good. I made a few friends while I was there." Chanyeol looked out his window and saw that they were passing by skyscrapers and many impressive buildings. The architecture in the US was not so much different from South Korea but, he could tell he was in a different country. Chanyeol observed how people of many ethnic backgrounds walked the streets with their distinct westernised style.

"The other EXO members can't wait to see you again" Manager-hyung stated. "They keep asking about you."

"Really? How have they been?"

"They've been well" Manager-hyung replied. "But, you'll be reunited soon. They should arrive by tomorrow. If I've got my timings right, the EXO members will be catching their plane later in the afternoon since it will be evening in Seoul."

Chanyeol merely nodded. Although he missed the other EXO members, there was one person he missed the most and constantly thought of during his time in China. He glanced at Manager-hyung, unsure of how to ask him about this person indirectly. "How's D.O-ah?" he nonchalantly asked.

Manager-hyung seemed unaware of his true intention. "He's been doing fine. To be honest, I haven't seen him around SMHQ a lot since he was out participating in WGM." He turned to Chanyeol from the passenger seat up front. "Have you been watching the episodes?"

Chanyeol nodded. "Yeah. I-I have."

"D.O-ah and that model, Nami-ssi, have really good chemistry, don't they?"

Chanyeol's lips formed into a thin line as he forcibly replied, "Y-yeah. I guess they do."

Manager-hyung continued, "The ratings for WGM were really high because of the pair. Although, there were a few haters from angry EXO-Ls which caused a few hiccups during production."

Chanyeol was quiet. He had seen the gossip articles and hateful messages on social media that were targeted at Nami. Most of them were from disgruntled fans who didn't like Nami getting close to D.O. He had feared this would happen but thankfully, no real harm had been inflicted on Nami by being on WGM. However, without a doubt, Nami had become one of the most searched people on the internet, due to her collaboration with D.O.

"I wonder if those two are actually dating?" Manager-hyung mused.

This startled Chanyeol, "W-what?"

He chuckled. "It's just speculation on my part but, I feel like the chemistry between them was so real that, they might actually end up a couple."

"D-don't joke like that, Manager-hyung" he replied, but inside, Chanyeol felt the same way. He had been following the episodes for WGM religiously and he had seen how Nami looked at D.O. Each time he saw her smile at him, something in his chest stirred. He knew what that look reminded him of-- it was the same look she used to give him when they were together-- it was the look of someone in love.

Chanyeol cast his gaze to outside the window once more. He already knew that something between Nami and D.O had changed over the past month and he was slowly accepting it. At first, it had hurt him to see Nami happy with someone else but, gradually, he was able to heal. It's okay, he kept reassuring himself. He trusted D.O-- D.O was his best friend-- and he knew that he will cherish Nami like no other.

Chanyeol looked to the front of the car determinedly. There was one thing he needed to do before he could completely give up on Nami: he needed to test D.O's love for her. Can he trust him with Nami's secret?

If D.O really loved her, he will accept her. If not, Chanyeol would be there to protect Nami. And this time, he won't fail her again.

~*~

"Have you packed everything, Sehun-ah?" Suho asked as he peered at him through the crack in the door.

Sehun finished zipping his luggage by sitting on top of his suitcase. "Yes, hyung. All done."

Suho pushed the door open and saw that Sehun was alone in his room. He surveyed his surroundings and relaxed when he found that Kai had already packed his luggage too. Almost everyone had finished packing for their flight to the US, which was later on that evening.

"Looks like everyone's almost ready to go" Suho declared to Sehun.

"I can't wait to get to the US, hyung. I heard that the bubble tea sizes there are big!"

Suho grinned, "Yah, we're there to perform not to drink bubble tea."

Sehun replied, "Even so, I'm definitely going to try and get a litre full of choco bubble tea." Sehun looked at the ceiling dreamily before he asked Suho, "We'll be meeting Chanyeol-hyung at the hotel, right?"

Suho nodded as he inspected the weight of Kai's luggage. "Yeah. I got a message from him a while back. He said that he was on his flight already. He must have arrived by now."

"I bet Chen-hyung and Baekhyun-hyung are really excited to see him" Sehun mentioned. "They've been really restless over the past month."

Suho chuckled, "Well, the beagle line wouldn't be complete without Chanyeol-ah."

Sehun paused for a while as he thought. He exhibited a pensive expression, "Hyung, what will happen to Little Umma while we're away?"

Suho eyed him quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"Well, WGM is over now and we're going to the US this evening." He tilted his head as he asked, "So what will happen to Little Umma while we're touring the US?"

Suho curled his lip as he thought. "Well, she'll go back to being our dorm mother" he replied. "Everything will go back to the way it was before."

Sehun looked uncertain. "But will it really?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Little Umma's become quite popular after WGM" Sehun explained. "I mean, the whole nation knows her as Minami the model."

Suho nodded. "Yes, that's quite true."

"So, wouldn't that affect her work as our dorm mother?" Sehun argued. "Will things really go back to the way they were before?"

Suho frowned as he thought. "Honestly, I don't know."

Sehun sighed. So much had changed since D.O and Nami had gone on WGM. When they first agreed on doing WGM, they hadn't thought about the long-term consequences of participating in the show-- not that they had a choice in the matter anyway.

Through WGM, Nami had attracted a lot of attention in both the wanted and unwanted sense. Because