Our Little Dorm Mother

Chapter 34- Guy Friend

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.