Our Little Dorm Mother

Chapter 42- You Pabo

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."