To Kiss An Idol

“If you want you can keep it,” offered Kyung-Soo.

“Really!” a bright smile appeared on Nivritti’s face. She was glad that she wouldn’t have to take the shirt off in front of him.

“Really,” he nodded and smiled at her.

“But this is your shirt. You came wearing this. Won’t someone find this odd?” asked Nivritti.

“No, I just have to pay for the shirt that I am wearing, and no one will bat an eye,” replied Kyung-Soo.

“But you will have to buy new cloth because of me,” she said with sad eyes.

“I was going to buy this shirt that I am wearing. I ran out of the room to get away from her. Also, I like this hoodie,” he said and picked up the hoodie that was on the door. A few more clothes were hanging by the hook that Nivritti picked from the bench just after she arrived in the room.

She scrunched her nose and looked at the hoodie with disapproval.

.....

“What? You don’t like it?” he immediately noticed her expression.

She instantly straightened her face and replied, “I never said that.”

“You didn’t, but your face did,” said Kyung-Soo.

“What? No, this is good,” lied Nivritti.

“Ritti!” he lowered his face and raised his eyebrows.

“Yeah, I don’t like it. I like this brown jacket better,” she picked up the brown jacket from the hook and handed it over to him.

“What if I don’t like it?” inquired Kyung-Soo.

“Simple, then don’t buy it,” replied Nivritti, casually.

“Okay,” he smiled at her and collected all the clothes hanging from the hook, and was ready to leave. “See you at work.” He unlocked the door.

But before he could open it, she shouted, “wait! Let me see if the path is clear. I don’t want people to call me a liar. If anyone sees you exiting, they will know that I was indeed hiding a man.”

“Okay.”

Nivritti opened the door and popped her head out. She turned her head in both directions. The moment she was about to declare the clearance of the path Man-Shik appeared at the end of the corridor.

He nodded at Nivritti, and she smiled back at him.

“You cannot leave, sorry. Man-Shik is waiting at the end of the corridor,” she entered in and spoke. Suddenly a weird thought appeared in her brain. “It seems like he is keeping an eye on me.”

“Nonsense! Why would he keep an eye on you?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“Maybe he believes that I am hiding you inside or maybe he saw you. Oh no!” screamed Nivritti.

“Now you are thinking too much. If he is keeping an eye on you, why is he waiting so far from you? Why is he not patrolling outside your door? And if he saw me, why did he reprimand that girl, why didn’t he come in and pulled me out?” counterpointed Kyung-Soo.

“Good points!” praised Nivritti.

“Thank you! Honestly, I would like to know the working of your brain,” teased Kyung-Soo.

“Excuse me!”

“Sometimes your brain works faster than the speed of light and sometimes it just stops working. Why is that?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“No idea. I work better under pressure,” replied Nivritti.

“I thought so. And also, when it is about someone else, I have seen your brain churning ideas like that,” Kyung-Soo clicked his fingers and praised her.

“That is also true,” smiled Nivritti and they both started laughing.

“Well, let’s sit and wait for Man-Shik to leave,” suggested Kyung-Soo and sighed loudly.

“Right!”

They both moved towards the bench. Nivritti pushed all the dresses off the bench and they both sat down. Kyung-Soo sat with all his clothes in his lap. They sat in silence for a minute and then Kyung-Soo broke the ice.

“You almost gave a heart attack to both the girl and Man-Shik,” said Kyung-Soo.

“What? What do you mean?” asked Nivritti.

“You called them by their names. They were shocked to learn that you can read Korean,” explained Kyung-Soo.

“Obviously, if someone looks like me, no one expects them to know even basic Korean. True that a few travellers and vacationers learn the basic greetings like Annyeonghasyeo, or Khamsamnida, but no one expects them to be able to read Hangul,” educated Nivritti.

“Again, I am in awe of your brain,” said Kyung-Soo.

“Now what?” asked Nivritti, embarrassed. She was slightly loving the compliments but kept trying hard to hide it.

“Expert in seven languages, that is awesome,” said Kyung-Soo, impressed.

“Many people can do that,” replied Nivritti, casually.

“True, but I have never met one. You are the first,” admired Kyung-Soo.

“Okay, then, you are welcome,” she teased. Kyung-Soo smiled at her naughtiness. He was glad that she was feeling better. He was happy to see her make jokes. “Is JJ, okay?” she asked.

“What?” Kyung-Soo was taken aback. She had to deal with an ordeal and then she spent a whole night crying her eyes out and still she was concerned about Jung-Hwa.

“His hand, is that okay?” explained Nivritti.

He adoringly looked at her and replied, “yes, he is okay. His swelling is down.”

“That’s good,” sighed Nivritti.

“He has an army of doctors to treat him. What about you, did you show your bruises to a doctor?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, I did,” she replied quickly as she did show her hand to a doctor.

“Really?” but Kyung-Soo was not ready to believe her.

“Yeah, Jae-Hwa’s brother is a doctor. He looked at my injuries,” she explained.

“Oh, that is nice.” He was happy to hear that she went to see a doctor. “Where does he work?”

“I don’t know,” replied Nivritti, thinking hard. She spent so much time with Jae-Geun but never asked anything about him. She made a mental note to ask him about his hospital and his work. Now she felt guilty as he thought about her eyes, but she never showed any interest in him. He was Jae’s brother, after all, at least she can ask him about his work.

“Didn’t you go to his hospital?” asked Kyung-Soo, confused.

“No,” she replied.

“Then where did he...” he asked perplexed.

“Oh, he saw me at my house,” she answered.

It felt as if lightning struck all over his body. The poison of jealousy ran through his veins. He didn’t like that another man was in her house, visiting her. “Excuse me!” he shouted.