To Kiss An Idol

Kyung-Soo started with his plan, “Now the matter of how I would approach this, let me ask you Choi-ssi; who are going to read all scripts?”

Chung-Ho thought for a minute and then replied, “Um... Nivritti as it’s her idea, then we need a script editor so, Seong-ssi will be best for you as you are all more familiar with him, and Jae-Hwa, she is a junior scriptwriter and would benefit from this experience, so yes these three and rest of the team will be busy with your daily work.”

Nivritti beamed up with happiness over Chung-Ho’s choice. She was glad that Jae-Hwa was in her team. She too looked at Nivritti and grinned from ear to ear.

Nivritti was oblivious to the fact that not only Kyung-Soo, but another member of the team was staring at her pretty smile. First, all the team members were scared of her as she shouted at Thae but after hearing what she had to say, they realised that Thae judged her without having all the facts.

But then one by one she started smiling at them. When team members would add to her idea, she would smile, when team members would speak for her idea, she would smile. As scary as she was while she was scolding Thae, similarly she looked kind and polite when she would smile.

“Then these three need to be with us all the time. They can keep selecting suitable scripts for me to read and as soon as I get time between my busy schedules, I’ll scan them,” continued Kyung-Soo.

.....

It was like a shock to Nivritti. She would have to spend days before him. She didn’t want to be anywhere near him. She didn’t want history to repeat itself. So, in order to avoid him, she said, “or we can keep scanning scripts for you, and you can come in between for a whole day, and we can discuss scripts with you then.”

Kyung-Soo immediately understood that she was trying to avoid him. He smirked at her and thought, “trying to spoil my plan of seeing you daily, Ms Nivritti? I will never let that happen.” He then said out loud, “I don’t have even a day to spare. We got our schedule for the next 2 months and it is jam-packed. Moreover, Rencontre is in 6 months, so I don’t think your suggestion is going to work for me. You guys need to work with me on this.”

Everyone knew that Kyung-Soo was right. Their schedule was always packed. They were very hardworking. They established themselves as an international brand just by working hard. If one would say boyband, the first name on everyone’s mind would be ASD. Theirs were really a story of rags to riches.

“Okay, King, they will do as you say. Give them your schedule so that they know where they have to go,” said Chung-Ho. Nivritti was disheartened. Now she will have to be with him every day. But Kyung-Soo was over the moon. What he wanted, he received, he would get to see her every day.

“No need, I’ll send for them according to my schedule,” said Kyung-Soo.

“But it will be better if you give them the schedule so that they can be prepared in advance,” interjected Bong.

Kyung-Soo could not say no to him. “Okay Hu-ssi, Johan, provide her with our schedule. Congrats again, Ms Nivritti.” He looked at her and smiled.

Everyone was happy as the very first idea was approved. They would not have to come back again and again for new ideas.

Bong clapped his hands, and everyone looked at him. “Okay, let’s start working on this idea.”

He addressed Nivritti first. “Ms Nivritti, make the proposal by tomorrow, add the ideas that were discussed in the meeting and submit the proposal to the marketing team. Provide a copy to Korain too so that he can share his ideas with the IT department.”

He then addressed the rest of the team starting with the marketing team. “Marketing team, work with her and get this idea into the world within a week as it will take a lot of time to sort through the scripts we would receive, and we only have 6 months.”

“Korain, get the meeting with the IT department and share your ideas.”

“Finance, get ready to loosen your purse because this is going to be huge. And nothing should be cheap. We want our fans to enjoy as much as they can. They must love Rencontre.”

Second, to the last, he chose to reprimand Thae, “Kat, try to control your anger. I don’t want any more outbursts.”

“And last of all, well done Script team and welcome Nivritti. That was an amazing idea. Thank you for choosing to work with us.”

Nivritti bowed down with gratitude and answered, “thank you so much for your kind words, sir. I am happy to work here.”

“Okay the meeting is adjourned people, get ready for a lot of work and then a lot of fun,” smiled Bong.

Everyone stood up smiling and went over to Nivritti to congratulate her. The marketing team and finance team were the first to follow Hu Bong out of the conference room. Chung-Ho signalled the rest of the Script team to leave, and he remained behind to help Nivritti.

Kyung-Soo didn’t want to leave but Thae dragged him outside, he had to talk to him urgently. But Korain approached her and shook hands with her.

“It was a good idea,” smiled Korain.

“Thank you.” She smiled back. “I will get you the proposal as soon as possible.”

“Ohh no worries, I will come and get it from you early morning tomorrow,” replied Korain.

She noticed Jung-Hwa was standing behind him.

She addressed him politely, “your idea was great.”

“It was just an extension of your idea,” praised Jung-Hwa.

“You care a lot about your fans, your idea proved that,” Nivritti praised him back.

“That we do. Whatever we are, we are because of them, because of their love and support,” answered Jung-Hwa.

“There is no doubt about that,” Nivritti could not stop smiling.

Him-Chan was done waiting for his turn. He came forward and presented his hand to her. “Congratulations on your idea being approved.”

She took his hand and shook it. “Thank you so much.”

“I will get you, our schedule. I just have to get it from my bag pack,” said Him-Chan.

“No hurries. You can take your time,” said Nivritti humbly. Him-Chan smiled at her politeness.

Young-Chul and Jeong-Eun too congratulated her, and everyone left her alone with Chung-Ho.

After everyone left, Chung-Ho said, “it was a good meeting, Congratulations, Nivritti.”

She looked at him. He was looking proudly at her. “Thank you, Mr Choi, for all your support.” She knew if he wouldn’t have given her the courage, she would not have spoken, and her idea would still be an idea that never saw the light of the day.

“I could not protect you yesterday, I am sorry,” Chung-Ho’s face dropped low with shame.

“No, no, never say that. It’s not your fault,” she ran to him and placed her hand over his shoulder and comforted him.

“It’s not your fault either,” said Chung-Ho.

“No one knew that I have cynophobia,” said Nivritti, sadly.

“But still he was harsh with you. I should have stopped him,” Chung-Ho was filled with guilt. Not only didn’t he protect her from Thae, but he also didn’t protect her from his team. No one talked to her for a whole day, and he never said a word to any of them. Nor did he say any supportive word to Nivritti, not until Jae-Hwa pointed out how everyone treated her.

“Don’t think about it. What done is done. Let’s start from the beginning,” she smiled at him and assured him.

With her assurance, he lifted his head and looked at Nivritti. She was kind enough to forgive him. “Of course. You can come to me anytime you want, with any problem you have.”

“I will keep that in mind,” said Nivritti, sweetly.

“Okay, take this paper. I have written the minutes of the meeting in it. Add the terms in your proposal,” Chung-Ho shoved a piece of paper in her face.

Her heart was filled with warmth and gratitude. “Thank you, Mr Choi.” She looked at the paper, whatever they discussed in the meeting was written on it in bullet points.

“You are very welcome. I am glad that you came to work with us. I know our rivals too were in the market to grab you and your services,” blurted out Chung-Ho.

His comment made her jump with surprise. “How do you...?” she was unable to complete her sentence.

“I do my research, Nivritti. Your work, your ideas were excellent and the recommendation your previous employer gave was exceptional. He praised your brain so much,” commended Chung-Ho.

“He is too kind,” extremely fondly she remembered her previous employer, DEEP, a famous production house in India.

“May I know why you left that job when they were so fond of you?” inquired Chung-Ho.