To Kiss An Idol

The moment he left the office yesterday, all he had on his mind was how to take everything away from Nivritti. On the very first day, she made a friend who stood up for her before the whole department.

Then Chung-Ho stood up for her, scolded Thae for her and those privileged kids, those ASD declared her their friend. No one was so well-liked, so kind. She definitely was faking. She was hiding her true self. He just had to expose it.

His mind went back to the fateful Friday when the whole office was gossiping about Jae-Hwa and Jung-Hwa. ASD, Chung-Ho, Nivritti, even Jae-Hwa knew what happened that day but they never thought of including him. He knew that she went to the CEO’s office with Chung-Ho but had no idea what happened inside.

All he knew was that the office received a collective scolding. He was sure that it was her doing. The way she stood up for Jae-Hwa and protected her, of course, she persuaded Hu Bong somehow to write that message for the whole office. But how was she able to persuade him? What kind of witch’s power did she possess?

No matter how much his wife asked him to eat and drink the whole night, he refused. He locked himself in his home office and pondered upon how to exact revenge on Nivritti. He didn’t like Jae-Hwa too but in the case of Nivritti, it was pure hatred.

The laptop was open before him, but he was thinking about Nivritti. “You have only seen my warm side. I will show you who I really am. This Rencontre was supposed to be mine, you came and stole it. You took that away from me. This Rencontre would have taken me on the road to promotion. After Choi-ssi, the department would have been mine and this Rencontre was my stepping stone. Now, I will take everything away from you. I will take away your friend, Jae-Hwa. I will make ASD your enemy. I will get you kicked out of the Rencontre. I will get you kicked out of K&Q. Let’s see who will support you then and who will remain as your friend.”

He kept planning his revenge the whole night. He knew to get Jae-Hwa away from her, he needs to win her confidence. Then only he can sow the seed of jealousy and betrayal among friends. From now on he would shower all the love, all the praises on Jae-Hwa which would make Nivritti jealous, and he would slowly poison Jae-Hwa’s mind against Nivritti.

His plan started the next morning. To butter Jae-Hwa up, he bought a coffee. He knew that would look suspicious, so he bought one for Nivritti too. Both Nivritti and Jae-Hwa were surprised at his gesture. He never brought anything for them, then why did he bring coffee suddenly?

.....

“What is this, Seong-ssi?” asked Jae-Hwa.

Seong Dae placed all his things on his desk, which was next to Jae-Hwa. He smiled at her and teased, “you don’t know what coffee cups look like?”

“Um… I know. But why did you bring it?” blurted out Jae-Hwa.

“Can’t I treat my people?” asked Dae sweetly.

“Of course, oh you are the sweetest, Seong-ssi,” laughed Jae-Hwa.

“Thank you, Mr. Seong,” said Nivritti.

“Oh, you don’t have to say that. It’s my pleasure. I just want you guys to be happy. If you would not be happy then how will you work happily?” smiled Dae and turned to look at his laptop. “Be happy as long as you can because soon, I will turn your life into a nightmare,” Dae muttered to himself.

Jae-Hwa raised her eyebrow at Nivritti to which she just shrugged her shoulder. They both picked up the coffee cups and sipped from them. Everyone started their laptop and started working on the scripts.

Nivritti was glad to see that there was still no news about ASD’s absence. Although, she wanted K&Q and Young-Chul to stop hiding the truth but still was glad that no media house got the wind of it. Otherwise, they would have definitely spun the news for the worse.

“Rencontre team!” shouted Chung-Ho. Nivritti knew what he was going to say.

“Yes, Choi-ssi. Yes, Mr. Choi,” said the Rencontre team.

“You are going to work in the office for the rest of the week. You will meet with ASD next week,” announced Chung-Ho. Nivritti just nodded her head as if she was expecting the same news. She was wondering if Chung-Ho knew what was happening. “So, you all have a lot of time to collect as many good scripts as you can. Make me proud. And remember to keep track of all your scripts as you will have to give an update to Hu-ssi, in a few weeks.”

“Yes, Choi-ssi. Yes, Mr. Choi,” said all three members of the Rencontre team.

“Go back to work,” said Chung-Ho.

“Psst!” said Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti looked at her and asked, “what?”

“What is happening with ASD? What are they busy in?” asked Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti knew the answer but could not tell her. She gulped. She had to come up with an answer soon. “Why? Missing PJ?” she teased.

“What? Shut up!” Jae-Hwa turned red with embarrassment. “I am just worried.”

“I think they are okay. We should concentrate on our work and not on them,” replied Nivritti, trying to make Jae-Hwa stop from talking about them.

“You have their number. Why don’t you ask them?” whispered Jae-Hwa.

“You have their number as well. You ask them,” contrasted Nivritti.

“What? Huh… I can… I can never… I have never…” Jae-Hwa could not speak properly. She started hyperventilating.

Nivritti raised one eyebrow at her. “Girl! You sit with them, you have talked to them, why are you still scared?”

“Ha-ha… I am not scared. What are you talking about?” protested Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti curled her mouth in an ‘O’ shape and exhaled loudly. “Yeah, right! You are not at all scared.”

“Hey! I am not scared,” pouted Jae-Hwa.

“Then give them a call,” Nivritti folded her arms above her chest and stared at Jae-Hwa with a raised eyebrow.

“I would give them a call…” Jae-Hwa cleared her throat, “but I have a lot of scripts to read. I will talk to them later.” She immediately hid behind her cubicle and started staring at her laptop.

Nivritti chuckled at her words. “This girl!” she too started working on her scripts.

“Jae-Hwa! Do you need any help?” asked Dae. Nivritti raised her head as she heard his voice.

“What?” asked Jae-Hwa, surprised. Never before had he offered his help. It was not that he never helped his junior but he never came to anyone to help before, people had to go to him.

“Choi-ssi, said that you should get your scripts checked by us. Sorry, we both have been busy and we all keep dumping the scripts in the same folder. I will make time to check your selection from now on, I promise. In the meantime, you know you can come to me, right?” asked Dae in the sweetest voice possible.

“Yes, Seong-ssi. I will definitely ask for help,” replied Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti was happy that Dae was paying attention to his juniors. A few days back, Jae-Hwa felt uncomfortable with him, maybe he was making up for that. She still remembered that when Thae spilt cola on her, he was considerate and sent her home. He was a nice person, he was just cold.

Maybe that day when Jae-Hwa felt uneasy with him, there was really something going on with his family and he was not thinking straight. Because before that day he was always respectful and only kept his focus on his work. That was the only day he behaved somewhat peculiarly. And everyone should get the benefit of the doubt.

Smiling at Dae’s behaviour, she again concentrated on her work. After a few hours, Thae messaged her with an update on Young-Chul. “Hi, Ritti! How are you? Sorry, we are unable to meet. But don’t worry Youngie Hyung or as you say, MY, is doing fine. He woke up and ate a whole bowl of soup. His vitals are okay, but he is too weak from lack of sleep. Doctor Oh said that he will keep Youngie Hyung for two more days so that he can gain strength and sleep well. He also said that it would be better for Hyung if you would came and meet him. He said how much you helped him last night. Also, he said that almost all his test results are normal. I am not that into science so half of what he said flew over my head. If you want, you can ask NK Hyung. If you can come in the evening, that will be good, if not, SK Hyung will send you an update. Bye, take care.”