To Kiss An Idol

“Oh, that is good. Nice! So, what are you doing?” asked Anil.

“Just came from office and was setting up my new phone when she messaged, and I called you guys. Are you guys okay, now? No tension, no stress, happy?” smiled Nivritti.

“Yeah, you gave us a scare yesterday. We kept calling and calling. Our heart was about to burst,” replied Sheela.

“Sorry everyone, very sorry! And you, headache, why didn’t you e-mail me? You know I would have checked that. If I forgot to inform you, you could have used your brain and thought about e-mails,” scolded Nivritti.

“Not everyone is intelligent as you. Don’t start now. What could have happened and what I could have done is in past. From now on, I will send you a mail if you are not reachable on your phone and you too keep in mind to inform us,” sulked Apeksha.

“Yes, boss!” Nivritti placed her palm on her forehead and saluted her sister, jokingly. Sheela and Anil burst out laughing.

“She always does that. She always makes fun of me,” shouted Apeksha and walked away from there leaving everyone laughing out loud.

“You angered her. Why do you do that? Now she will keep sulking and we will have to bribe her with chocolates and ice-creams,” Anil shook his head in disbelief.

.....

“You guys are spoiling her. Just give her a bitter gourd smoothie, she will be fine,” joked Nivritti.

Anil ended up laughing at her joke. For a minute he kept laughing and then pulled a straight face, “you really are okay, right?”

“Yes, Dad, I am fine, I am happy. Do you think I will hide anything from you guys?” asked Nivritti.

“Really?” emphasised Sheela and stared at Nivritti.

“Okay, fine I stubbed my toe, but I am fine,” replied Nivritti.

“See, I knew you were hiding something,” said Sheela.

“Yeah, yeah, your mother instincts are bang on. But believe me, when I say this I am absolutely fine,” smiled Nivritti.

“Do you need money?” asked Anil.

“What? No, Dad. I don’t need anything. You guys should stop stressing about me, and concentrate on your spoiled brat,” replied Nivritti.

“Okay, fine, we believe you,” sulked Sheela.

“You guys take care. I will talk to you later. Say bye to Headache for me,” smiled Nivritti. Her parents too said goodbye and she disconnected the call, smiling from ear to ear.

She then opened the messaging app and saw the group RASD. It took a minute to realise what that was. She scoffed after she opened the group. There was no message for her as she just opened the app. She looked at the participants of the group and saw that it was ASD and Jae and herself.

She typed in, “Hi! My sim was activated just now. Just informing.” And she hit send.

Everyone sent her a ‘Hi’ back and she could not stop smiling. She ordered food and placed her phone back on the table. It was now the turn of her laptop.

She fired her laptop and started working. She opened up her site and started reading the scripts. It would take her only a few minutes to read the scripts. Script after script she kept reading till her eyes were about to fall down.

She had instructed the food delivery app to deliver her food by 9-9.30, so she had no worries about her food. She kept reading the scripts and transferring them to the selected folder if she liked them. She didn’t find any exceptional script that she would put in the ‘Kyung-Soo’ folder. But she found a few that she could put in the ‘Bad grammar’ folder.

Her doorbell rang and she saw the time, it was 9.10. She knew it was her food. Her foot was asleep as she kept it elevated for long so it took her time to open the door. She received her food and without wasting any time, opened the hot, delicious-smelling food and started eating.

She didn’t even get any plates or bowls, she devoured food straight from the packets. The hot steamy bibimbap was giving the necessary warmth. The greasy, crunchy fried chicken was just melting in her mouth.

Her mouth and her hands were covered with grease and sauce. She was licking her fingers when her doorbell rang again. She froze and looked at the door. “Did the delivery boy forget something? No, I received everything I ordered. Who came now?” she pondered.

“Who is it?” asked Nivritti. She was about to facepalm as she realised that she asked the question in English but realised that her hand was dirty. She was about to ask the same question in Korean…

… but in came the reply, “open the door Ritti, now.”

Nivritti was taken aback. “What is he doing here at this time?” she murmured to herself.

She looked at her hands, they were greasy. She didn’t want to touch the door handle with those hands. She stood up and walked to the kitchen to wash her hands and her mouth.

“Open the door!!” he shouted from outside, again.

“Just a minute. Wait!” shouted Nivritti back. She slowly made her way to the door and opened the door. “What are you doing here at this hour, PJ?” she asked.

But Jeong-Eun didn’t reply to her. He ran inside the house and pulled her away from the door. He was hyperventilating and sweating from every orifice.

“What? What?” shouted Nivritti and looked at the door. Immediately Kyung-Soo walked inside the house and closed the door behind him.

Jeong-Eun grabbed Nivritti’s shoulder and while rocking her whole body he pleaded, “tell me, please tell me. Did you tell us the truth? Were you lying? I am dying out here. Speak up, girl!!” Without waiting for her answer, he let her go and knelt before her. “I beg you, tell me.” He joined his hands in namaste and looked at her with puppy eyes.

Nivritti froze for a second trying to understand what was happening. Kyung-Soo kept standing at the door looking at Jeong-Eun and kept constantly rolling his eyes. Nivritti looked at him. She gasped when she realised that he was wearing the brown jacket she suggested he buy.

She could not believe these boys. Were they not human? They worked from morning till evening, after that they cleaned their house, they cooked for themselves, they did all their work on their own, still every time they looked gorgeous.

Kyung-Soo was super busy and tired but there was no trace of tiredness on his face, instead, he was looking handsome as always. Jeong-Eun who was on the floor, pleading to her with sad, puppy eyes looking super cute as always.

She blinked her eyes at both of them and then looked at Kyung-Soo. “What is he talking about?” she asked.

Kyung-Soo sighed, scratched his forehead and moved near Jeong-Eun. He kicked Jeong-Eun on his thigh and scolded, “stand up and speak clearly.”

“I need to know. I am dying,” shouted Jeong-Eun. Kyung-Soo facepalmed and shook his head in disbelief.

“I can’t, I can’t,” said Kyung-Soo defeated and walked away from Jeong-Eun, with his arms raised in the air in defeat.

“Will any of you tell me, what is going on?” shouted Nivritti.

“Ask him,” Kyung-Soo shouted back, annoyed.

Nivritti looked at Jeong-Eun who kept staring at her. “Oh, you child!!” shouted Nivritti and grabbed Jeong-Eun’s ear. She pulled his ear and made him stand up.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” Jeong-Eun cried with pain. As soon as Kyung-Soo heard the word ‘child’, she looked at Nivritti and saw Jeong-Eun shouting in pain. “Stop your nonsense and tell me why you are here,” she asked.

“What happened between Dae and Jae?” asked Jeong-Eun in a soft, sad tone.

Nivritti immediately let go of his ear and stepped away from him. She closed her eyes and sighed, “that’s what you wanted to know?” Subconsciously she instantly licked her lips. Kyung-Soo gasped as he noticed that.

“Yes, please!”

“I already told you,” replied Nivritti and lowered her head.

“Lying! She is lying. You saw that Hyung, didn’t you?” shouted Jeong-Eun.

With a jerk, Nivritti lifted her head and shouted, “what? No, I am not lying.” She immediately looked away from them.

“You are lying. You are avoiding eye contact with us. Your eyes are darting in every direction. And you licked your lips,” Kyung-Soo snapped his fingers and pointed his forefinger at her lips.

“What?” asked Jeong-Eun, confused. “What are you talking about, her eyes, her lips?”

“Those are signs that someone is lying,” explained Kyung-Soo.

“Ohh!!” exclaimed Joeng-Eun.

“I am not lying,” Nivritti shouted again. “And look I am staring at you, no darting of eyes or avoiding looking at you.” She stared at his face.

Jeong-Eun looked at Kyung-Soo, then at Nivritti. They were in a staring competition. He rolled his eyes and shook his head in disbelief. He simply took out his phone, stood next to Nivritti and clicked a selfie on his phone.