To Kiss An Idol

“What wrong message?” suddenly a voice announced itself. All turned around and saw Kyung-Soo pushing Young-Chul’s wheelchair in. “What wrong message?” repeated Young-Chul.

All looked at each other. No one wanted to trouble Young-Chul. “How are you?” blurted out Nivritti.

“Ritti!” Kyung-Soo raised his eyebrows at her. “Young asked you something.”

She closed her eyes and exhaled loudly. “I was talking about yesterday when that nurse saw me… I had to threaten her. I don’t want to threaten anyone, anymore.”

“Why did you threaten her?” asked Young-Chul.

“Because she saw us holding hands,” replied Nivritti.

“Why were you holding my hand?” teased Young-Chul.

“Excuse me!” complained Nivritti.

.....

“I am kidding,” smiled Young-Chul.

“And what if someone sees you with one of us? Why is that a problem?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“People will talk. They will gossip that we are having an affair,” replied Nivritti.

“And what is the problem with dating us?” asked Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti knew why he was asking. “You know why. Your crazy fans. I pity the girls you all will date,” said Nivritti. She looked at Kyung-Soo but immediately shifted her gaze towards Young-Chul as Kyung-Soo was staring at her with squinted eyes. It was clear that he didn’t like her answer.

Young-Chul was in deep thought. Nivritti who was looking at him found his expressions strange. Why was he concerned after she said something about dating?

Young-Chul shook his head and discarded every thought in his head. He looked at Nivritti and asked, “so if I ask you on a date, you won’t come with me?”

“Huh?” shouted everyone at once. That was a strange question as it came out of Young-Chul’s mouth. He never talked about dating or girlfriends.

“What is wrong with me? I am handsome, rich, and talented,” said Young-Chul.

“What… what are you talking about?” asked Nivritti.

“Yes, answer him. What is wrong with him?” smiled Kyung-Soo.

Seeing his smile, she understood that Young-Chul was making fun of her. “You are pulling my leg,” she sulked.

“No, no, I held your hand. I must like you,” teased Young-Chul.

“Oh my god! I hate you,” pouted Nivritti. “You are so bad.”

“Ha-ha,” everyone laughed but Young-Chul just smiled.

Kyung-Soo helped Young-Chul to walk to his bed and placed the wheelchair in a corner.

“May I?” asked Nivritti and pointed to the pillow. Young-Chul smiled and nodded at her. Nivritti leaned in and fluffed the pillow for him. Softly, she touched his shoulder and made him lean on the pillow.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I am fine,” replied Young-Chul.

“What did the doctor say?” she asked.

“He is still weak. They need to keep him under observation,” replied Korain.

“And?” she asked.

Young-Chul understood what she was asking. “I will start therapy after I regain some of my energy back.”

She pursed her lips and hit him on his shoulder, softly. “What kind of idiot are you? If you couldn’t sleep well, and couldn’t eat well, why didn’t you talk with your teammates? You guys say you all are like brothers, like family, then why were you suffering alone?” chided Nivritti.

“Ow!” Young-Chul caressed his shoulder. “You won’t go on a date with me. But are hitting me and scolding me, you are a strange girl.”

“MY!!” shouted Nivritti.

“Ritti! If it would have been easy for me to talk about my feelings with these guys, do you think I would have landed here?” asked Young-Chul.

“Right!” abruptly she wrapped her arms around Young-Chul and hugged him dearly. Young-Chul froze at her sudden display of physical love. Korain, Jeong-Eun and Kyung-Soo’s eyes widened with shock. Young-Chul didn’t even lift a finger. He just kept gulping as his throat felt dry.

“If you don’t feel like talking to them. I will always be here. You can talk to me anytime,” said Nivritti.

No one spoke for a minute. She broke the embrace and looked at Young-Chul. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah, yeah,” Young-Chul finally came back to his senses.

“Huh… can even handle a hug and want to date,” mocked Nivritti.

“That… that was a sudden hug. I was not ready,” protested Young-Chul.

“Don’t give excuses,” scolded Nivritti. Young-Chul smiled at her tease. All three standing in the room smiled at Nivritti’s and Young-Chul’s exchange.

They spend almost an hour talking and laughing.

“Yeah, everyone is missing you guys,” said Nivritti. “One of you coming to the script department for daily videos is the highlight of so many people’s lives.”

All the boys laughed.

“We all miss that too,” replied Jeong-Eun.

“I know how much you are missing us,” teased Nivritti. Jeong-Eun widened his eyes and stared at her. He shook his head stealthily in no. Nivritti pursed her lips and avoided smiling at him.

“Our fans too are getting impatient. They make us go viral every day on Communicator App,” said Korain.

“We should tell them,” interjected Young-Chul.

“What?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“About me. About what is wrong with me. About why we are not able to make daily videos,” replied Young-Chul.

“What?” shouted all at once.

“I will talk to Hu-ssi. I will tell him that I want to tell everything to our fans,” said Young-Chul.

“MY! Think about what you are saying,” said Korain.

“I know what I am saying. I want to tell people that feeling down is okay, feeling sad is okay, getting help is okay,” said Young-Chul.

“But MY…” interrupted Nivritti.

“Didn’t you want that too? You said idols should start talking about mental health. Don’t you want that now?” asked Young-Chul.

Nivritti smiled and went near him. She again wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. This time Young-Chul didn’t freeze. He raised his hand and patted her back.

She broke the embrace and said, “MY! If you are ready, you should definitely do that, not because I said so, or anyone said so. If you are ready to share your emotions, your feelings, your problems with everyone, I will be there to support you. But if you are doing this under pressure, don’t.”

“I think I am ready. I think my fans will help me cope, my fans will support me, if not them, I have you,” replied Young-Chul.

“You will always have me,” smiled Nivritti. “Okay, you take rest. I have to leave.”

“I will drop you,” said Kyung-Soo, immediately.

“No, stay. I can leave on my own,” said Nivritti. “Who will stay here tonight?”

“No one!” replied Young-Chul.

“What?” asked everyone.

“All of you leave. Now, I am okay. I can stay here alone,” said Young-Chul.

“No, you are not staying alone. You need someone with you. If doctors allow you to stay alone, I will chew their heads off,” scolded Nivritti.

“But…” protested Young-Chul.

“Fine! I am staying. You cannot make me leave,” snapped Nivritti.

“Ritti, go. I will stay. You both, drop her at her house,” ordered Korain.

“Hyung, I am fine,” said Young-Chul.

“Choice is yours. If she stays, she will keep hugging you the whole night. If I stay, I won’t even hold your hand. But you are not staying alone,” warned Korain.

“Fine, fine! You stay, not her,” said Young-Chul.

“Wow!” she clapped sarcastically. “And you wanted to go on a date.”

“I can go on a date. I won’t touch my date. Who says I have to touch my date?” asked Young-Chul.

“I pity your future girlfriend,” teased Nivritti. Young-Chul faintly smiled at her tease. Nivritti felt a little uneasy with his smile.

“Let’s go, Ritti!” said Jeong-Eun.

“Okay.”

After saying goodbye, all left Young-Chul and Korain. Nivritti, Kyung-Soo and Jeong-Eun got inside a lift and climbed down to the parking lot. Kyung-Soo pressed his key fob and the doors unlocked.

Jeong-Eun locked his arms with Nivritti and dragged her to the back seat. “Get in!” he requested. Nivritti smiled and sat inside. Jeong-Eun jumped next to her. Kyung-Soo raised one of his eyebrows and kept staring at both Jeong-Eun and Nivritti.

.....

He wanted to sit next to Nivritti, but stupid Jeong-Eun destroyed his plan. He opened the driver’s door with a jerk and sat inside. With a bang, he closed the door and the whole car shook vigorously. Bot Nivritti and Jeong-Eun looked at each other.

“What happened?” asked Jeong-Eun.

“I don’t know,” replied Nivritti.

Kyung-Soo squinted his eyes and kept staring at them in the rearview mirror. Jeong-Eun gasped when he realised what was wrong.

“What?” asked Nivritti.

“He wanted you to sit next to him,” said Jeong-Eun.

“Shut up! Don’t talk nonsense,” scolded Nivritti.

“You know he likes you, right?” teased Jeong-Eun.

“I know you like Jae,” she teased back.

“What?” shouted Jeong-Eun. “What??” Nivritti sniggered at his reaction.

“Why are you shouting?” scolded Kyung-Soo.

“Why are you getting worked up?” asked Nivritti.

“I was about to start the engine. His shouting startled me. My keys fell,” replied Kyung-Soo. And the next moment, there was a sound of keys jingling.

Nivritti smiled at his cuteness. He dropped his keys after he said ‘my keys fell’. “Your keys fell?” teased Nivritti.

“Yeah, yeah, see,” he lowered himself and picked up his keys. “You…” he pointed at Jeong-Eun. “Don’t shout abruptly.”

“Yes, Hyung,” replied Jeong-Eun.