To Kiss An Idol

“Check the news!” whispered Jae-Hwa to Nivritti.

“Okay, okay, I will,” replied Nivritti. She first started her laptop and her system and then searched for the news on her system. She read an article that took her to the original blog. She read what Missmatch wrote about Kyung-Soo. She chuckled out loud when she read the line about plagiarism.

She searched for any statement from K&Q, but it was still not there. What was the PR doing? Why were they not issuing any statements? She wanted to search more about Missmatch but she realised that she wasted a whole day yesterday and tomorrow was the update session.

So, after a few minutes, she closed all the tabs and concentrated on her scripts. No one from ASD came to get them. Not even Chung-Ho announced anything about them. He kept leaving the department every few minutes. No one knew where he went to with whom he talked.

But everyone knew being the head of the Department of Script department, he was going to discuss matters with the CEO. Everyone was thinking about when PR would clear the issue, but they were keeping quiet.

The only person sweating from all his orifice was Dae. The moment he arrived he saw Chung-Ho talking to Nivritti and Jae-Hwa. They were talking about the mob downstairs. His heart stopped when everyone mentioned Missmatch. He was surprised to know that Nivritti had no idea who she was.

Everyone ran and huddled around Nivritti and told her about Missmatch and the news she put out in the world. He kept gulping and breathing heavily, continuously praying to God that no one should tie him with her. He knew his PR team would send investigators everywhere to find out how Missmacth knew about it, and he didn’t want his name to come up.

After Chung-Ho scolded everyone to go back to work, he quietly walked into the office and without saying any word to anyone sat in his seat. He saw Jae-Hwa and Nivritti whispering something but was scared to ask what they were talking about. When he saw both girls concentrating on their work, he did that too.

.....

Finally, at noon, Chung-Ho came back from another meeting and announced, “those who are going outside for lunch, it would be better if you ate your lunch in the cafeteria. Also, if you chose to go out, you must not talk to any reporters camping outside. PR has chosen not to issue any clarification on the matter, and we are going to help them by not talking about it. Is that clear?”

There was a collective yes and everyone went back to their work. Tomorrow was the update session but instead of preparing for that Chung-Ho was busy in stupid meetings. As per his announcement, no one went outside for lunch or evening snacks.

The Rencontre team kept reading as many scripts as possible they could for the whole day.

It was almost time to go home. Chung-Ho came close to the Rencontre team and asked, “are you guys ready for the update session?”

All three looked at him but no one replied. “Okay, I understand everyone is nervous about tomorrow and I could not help you today because of that stupid matter. But don’t worry, I will prepare you tomorrow morning.”

“Tomorrow morning?” asked Jae-Hwa.

“That’s right. We will spend the whole morning getting everything ready for Hu-ssi. He will have the meeting with you in the afternoon. So, we have plenty of time,” replied Chung-Ho. All three sighed with relief which made Chung-Ho smile.

He then looked at everyone and announced, “everyone! Please avoid the main entrance for today and take the side exit. Those who have cars take exit D, the path has been cleared for everyone. Our security has concentrated the fans at the main entrance so other exits should be fine. Still, if you come across any paparazzi or media personnel, avoid engaging with them.”

The same announcement was made in every department. The moment it was time to leave the office, there was an influx of cars at Exit gate D. Jae-Hwa suggested to Nivritti that she would drop her off, and she accepted the favour. She walked all the way to the office in the morning and she could easily rest her legs now.

Both the girls were inside Jae-Hwa’s car, stuck in a long line of cars waiting to exit the building.

“Did Dae trouble you yesterday?” asked Nivritti.

“No, he didn’t. I avoided talking to me and concentrated on scripts,” replied Jae-Hwa.

“Good! Good!” gulped Nivritti. For a minute, there was silence in the car. Nivritti bit her lower lip and then again asked, “are you ready for tomorrow’s meeting?”

“Yes, I am. I hope that the number of scripts I have read is enough,” replied Jae-Hwa.

“Nice, nice, me too,” smiled Nivritti.

“What?” shouted Jae-Hwa.

“What? What?” asked Nivritti.

“What do you want to say that you are having difficulty saying?” questioned Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti bared her teeth to Jae-Hwa and smiling awkwardly said, “I have a favour to ask.”

“Just blurt it out, Ritti,” said Jae-Hwa.

“Um… after you go home, could you give a call to PJ?” requested Nivritti.

Instantly Jae-Hwa’s hands slipped from her steering wheel to the honk button and her car honked loudly. Everyone near Jae-Hwa’s car stared at her with confusion and disgust. All were quietly following the line, there was no need to honk. Jae-Hwa was embarrassed by her own action.

“Woah! That was not the reaction I was expecting,” teased Nivritti.

“Wh… why, why? Why should I give him a call?” shouted Jae-Hwa.

“Well, um… he barged in my house one night ago demanding what you talked with Dae,” replied Nivritti.

“Excuse me!! What?” yelled Jae-Hwa.

“Okay, stop screaming. It’s fine.”

“But why your house? Why not mine?”

“He does not know your address,” replied Nivritti.

“What did you tell him?”

“Nothing. I promised him that I will find a way for you two to talk but yesterday I had to take a leave and he could not talk to you. Today all this happened, and we didn’t meet with them. I don’t want him to again come running to my house. Please talk to him,” begged Nivritti.

“What if ask me about Dae? What am I going tell him?” demanded Jae-Hwa.

“That should be your decision, Jae. If you want to tell him everything, tell him, if not, tell him nothing. Just give him a call for his peace of mind and for mine. Oh God! His coat!!!” shouted Nivritti.

“What?” asked Jae-Hwa.

“I borrowed his coat yesterday. I completely forgot to wash it. Wait! Can I wash his jacket at home, or would I have to get it dry cleaned?” Nivritti kept talking to herself.

“How much medicine did you eat?” Jae-Hwa flicked her forehead, hard.

“Ow! Did your brother tell you nothing?” Nivritti rubbed her temple to ease the pain.

“No, he told me nothing. What?” demanded Jae-Hwa.

“Well, my period came abruptly when I was in the hospital,” said Nivritti.

“Hospital? Why were you in the hospital?” shouted Jae-Hwa.

“Ugh, come on! My therapy session, keep up, girl!”

“Right, right!” nodded Jae-Hwa.

“Yeah, and MY’s session was before me, and PJ and NK were waiting for him. Like an idiot, I stained my dress and PJ gave me his coat. Your brother gave me a scrub, I don’t think I will be allowed to return that, would I?” asked Nivritti.

“Scrub? I really don’t know. You will have to ask Oppa,” said Jae-Hwa after thinking for a while.

Finally, the car moved ahead a few metres.

“So, you will give him a call?” asked Nivritti.

“PJ?”

“Yes,” nodded Nivritti.

“Fine! I will talk to him.”

“You won’t freeze on phone, right?” teased Nivritti.

“Ha-ha, so funny,” smirked Jae-Hwa, sarcastically.

Almost after an hour, Jae-Hwa finally drove Nivritti to her house. Both said bye and Nivritti came out of the car.

Nivritti walked up to her house, hung her bags, took off her shoes and the first thing she did was get out of the dress and change her sanitary pad. She finally sat on the couch with a thud and placed the slightly wet towel on her face. She sat in that position for minutes.

She looked at the clock, it was about to be 8 at night. It struck her that Young-Chul had another session with the doctor. But if he too was stuck in the building like her, he was late for his session. Then again, she knew that they didn’t practice in the K&Q building.

She was keeping her pain at bay with the help of medicines and was in no mood to cook. She wanted something tasty, something Indian. She searched for what she wanted in the food delivery apps and her mouth started watering the moment she read ‘Biryani’.

She ordered the food and while waiting for it, she opened her laptop and kept working on the statics that she was going to present tomorrow. She used the template Dae had sent her. She kept jotting down the numbers in the template. She even added a few more rows according to the scripts she found.