Stylist-noona was carrying two packets of azuki bean rice ball snacks and two cans of fizzy drinks as she headed back to the dressing room. As she approached the entrance, she suddenly heard two hostile voices arguing with each other. She recognised that one of the voices belonged to Nami. But the other one belonged to...

Stylist-noona peeped through the crack in the door and saw that it was Suji.

"You're a reporter for the BBC" she heard Suji say.

Stylist-noona pulled away from the door immediately. What?

"I know everything about you now. All the lies that you've been spinning all this time. You had everyone wrapped around your little finger..."

Stylist-noona listened intently to Suji and Nami's conversation. She knew that eavesdropping was bad but this was something beyond her normal black and white, good and bad scenarios. Suji was blackmailing Nami to leave. And despite her feeling betrayed that Nami had been lying to her all along, she didn't like how Suji was using her weakness against her.

To Stylist-noona, Suji was a royal pain in the but Nami was someone she considered to be a friend. She couldn't let Suji get away with it. Not if she could help it.

"I want you to leave" Suji declared bluntly. "I want you to cut ties with all of EXO and get out of this country and never come back."

Stylist-noona continued to eavesdrop on their conversation and the more she did, the more her dislike for Suji grew.

When she learned that EXO were going to be left in the dark, she knew that she couldn't let that happen. The EXO members didn't consider Nami as a 'lowly and replaceable housekeeper' at all. She meant more than that.

Stylist-noona had observed how much the EXO members cared about Nami and how concerned they were when she had been ill for a whole month. They had been so worried and often, she would overhear them discuss what to do about it, every time they were in the dressing room together.

And when Nami did get better, Stylist-noona observed how the EXO members looked at her with affection. That was when she was sure that Nami wasn't just a housekeeper to them. No, she was their little dorm mother. And Stylist-noona would be damned if she let Suji get away with keeping the EXO members ignorant of Nami's forced departure.

The sound of approaching footsteps caused Stylist-noona to suddenly retreat behind a crevice in the wall.

"I hope we never meet again" she heard Suji say condescendingly.

Stylist-noona saw Nami's cold expression. "Yes, I hope we never will."

As Nami stormed off, Stylist-noona noticed her wipe away tears that were falling from the corners of her eyes. Suji watched her walk away with a triumphant expression which made Stylist-noona want to smack her so badly.

Once Suji had left too, Stylist-noona quickly jumped from her hiding place and went inside the dressing room to search for her phone.

She needed to get hold of EXO. And she hoped that she will get hold of them in time.

~*~

"Thank you for coming! We love you, New York!" Chen screamed.

Chanyeol shouted, "Thank you for your amazing energy! We truly love you all, EXO-L!"

"Please continue to support us. It's been fun performing for you!" Baekhyun exclaimed while waving.

The audience roared as the beagle line conveyed their messages in English. The trio high-fived each other, pleased that all their English lessons with Nami had paid off: their pronunciation was on point!

All nine EXO members waved the audience goodbye as they exited backstage, content that their live performance had been a big success. They sighed with satisfied exhaustion as they crowded around the dressing room, sweat dripping from their foreheads and their muscles aching from dancing to so many songs consecutively.

But as soon as D.O entered the dressing room, with little energy he had left, he ran towards his phone, eager to check his messages.

Suho scolded him, "Yah, D.O-ah, you should take off your makeup and go shower first. Talking can come later." But as he was saying that, he too was checking his phone.

"You're such a hypocrite, hyung" Chanyeol pointed out. "You tell D.O-ah off for checking his phone first but you're doing the same."

"I'm different," Suho remarked. "I'm the leader so I have to check my phone first." Suho unlocked his screen and was surprised to find thirty unread messages and almost twenty missed calls. All of them were from Stylist-noona. "What the--?" Suho scrolled down and saw that all the messages she sent had 'urgent' written in caps lock. He decided to video call her.

"OMO, FINALLY!" she exclaimed frantically. "I've been trying to reach you all this time! What took you so long?"

Suho was taken aback by Stylist-noona's erratic behaviour. Her sudden outburst had also attracted the attention of the other EXO members who had come to see what the commotion was about. All of them were staring down at Suho's phone except for one: D.O was still busy trying to get a signal on his phone.

"What's up, noona?" Suho asked.

"You'll never guess what I find out!" she rushed to tell him. "Suji-ssi's up to no good again and she's blackmailing her and now she has to leave and I don't what to do and I wanted to stop Suji-ssi but if I did, I might get fired and if that happens then who will pay for the bills at home and--"

"Woah, woah, woah" Suho said while gesturing with his free hand. "Slow down, noona. I can't understand what you're saying."

"Is this about Suji-ssi again?" Chanyeol enquired disdainfully. "Ugh, I rather not hear it if that's the case." Chanyeol turned to leave.

"No!" Stylist-noona replied abrasively. "It's Minami-ssi," at the sound of Nami's name, Chanyeol stopped and turned back immediately. Stylist-noona resumed, "She's in trouble."

"What?" It was D.O this time. He too had overheard Stylist-noona say Nami's name. "What happened to Nami-ah? Is she okay?" He pushed through the other EXO members so that he was directly hovering behind Suho, who was sitting down.

Stylist-noona swallowed as she eyed the EXO members solemnly. "Minami-ssi's being blackmailed by Suji-ssi."

"What?!" the EXO members shouted in unison.

"What do you mean she's being blackmailed?" Xiumin queried. "Why would Suji-ssi do that?"

"I think the question here is, how is she blackmailing Nami-ah" Chen corrected. He turned to Stylist-noona. "What does Suji-ssi have on Nami-ah?"

Stylist-noona was quick to reply. "It came as a shock but apparently, Minami-ssi isn't a real housekeeper."

Chanyeol's eyes widened.

"Minami-ssi is..." Stylist-noona looked at the members seriously, "an undercover reporter."

The EXO members were speechless for a moment.

Chanyeol's worst fears had been realised. Nami's secret was out: everyone knows her true identity and now, she can't stay with them any longer. He eyed everyone's expressions and saw that they were still trying to process what they'd just discovered.

To his astonishment, Sehun started laughing. "You're joking, right, noona?" he said weakly. "Little Umma can't be an undercover reporter she's--"

"I wish I was, Sehun" she interrupted. "But I'm not. Minami-ssi is an undercover reporter and Suji-ssi