To Kiss An Idol

172 The Messages

Jae-Hwa was lightly snoring next to Nivritti. Last night she kept tugging away at her blanket, so Nivritti brought out another blanket tonight, well, Jae-Hwa brought out. For the whole day, she didn’t let Nivritti do any work except read scripts.

Nivritti was staring at the ceiling begging for sleep to come. She was envious of Jae-Hwa as she fella sleep right after coming to bed. As her leg was on pillows, it was uncomfortable to sleep but the whole day Jae-Geun kept giving instructions to Jae-Hwa to take care of her and Jae-Hwa obliged.

Nivritti sighed and closed her eyes thinking that if she might close her eyes, she would somehow fall asleep. The moment she closed her eyes her phone chimed with a notification. She grabbed her phone and saw that message was from Jae-Geun.

“Are you okay?” he messaged.

“Yes, everything is fine,” she replied.

No pain?

No, everything is fine.

Where is that annoying girl? Is she taking care of you?

Sleeping. And she took great care. Thank you to you both.

.....

It’s nothing. Just rest well. Good night.

Good night.

Nivritti locked the screen and lowered the phone to her chest and sighed, “I should have taken the painkiller. At least I would have slept well. Why can’t I sleep? Pain is not that bad.” She facepalmed when she realised, “shit! I didn’t send a good night message to MY. Maybe that’s why I am unable to sleep.”

She was in the middle of sending a message to Young-Chul when her phone chimed with multiple messages. Frantically, she put her phone on silent, not wanting to disturb Jae-Hwa’s sleep. She checked the messages. It was from every member of ASD, except Young-Chul as usual.

Everyone asked her if she was doing okay and how was her pain. “It would have been so much better if we had a group chat. That way I would not have to send messages to everyone individually,” she pondered.

Jung-Hwa being the youngest, she messaged him first.

“How is the pain? Did you take any medicine?” he asked.

“Everything is okay, JJ. I am fine and pain is at the minimum. Will see you tomorrow. Thank you for asking. Good night,” she replied.

One by one she replied to everyone that she was doing fine. Finally, she opened the message from Kyung-Soo.

“Hi! Sorry for causing you pain,” he said in the message.

She read the message and suddenly was angry. “What is he talking about?” she mumbled to herself. “Pain? How did he cause me pain?

She immediately replied to him, “what do you mean?”

You ran after me and stubbed your toe. Sorry for telling everything to Jae-Hwa.

Well, if you would say it like that. I will have to agree with you.

You are so bad. Here I am apologising, and you are making me feel bad.

I am kidding, NK. It’s nothing. It was just a broken nail and a few drops of blood. You have no idea what I saw when I came to the hospital that day.

What? What did you see?

A hand. A bloody, severed hand. Oh, I still shudder thinking about it.

What? Why didn’t you tell me before?

We were busy with MY’s condition.

Oh right!

How is he doing?

He is fine. How are you?

I am fine too.

Any pain?

Almost none.

Will I see you tomorrow? Can you walk?

Of course, why would you think that I was taking leave? SJ came and checked up on my leg. He said I can walk but have to put less pressure on my toe.

SJ?

Oh, Jae-Geun.

He came, again?

Yes, again. He checked on my wound and tied the compression bandage.

Well, it’s a good thing, a doctor came to see you. Take rest. Goodnight.

Okay, goodnight.

Nivritti looked at the whole chat and contemplated, “what happened to him? He was chatting normally. Suddenly he says good night. Well, it’s late. Maybe he is feeling sleepy. Everyone is sleepy except me.”

Finally, she opened her conversation with Young-Chul and completed the message she was already typing, “it was great to see you sitting and eating and walking. Would love to see you dance tomorrow. Make sure to sleep well so that your body is well-rested. Remember that you are loved and adored by all. And I am always here. Good night.”

She sent the message and placed the phone on the nightstand. She shifted to her side and covered herself with the blanket. She closed her eyes and tried not to think about anything so that she could fall asleep soon.

Suddenly, her phone chimed again. She was surprised as everyone who knew about her injury had already sent her messages and she replied to everyone. Then who was messaging her at this time? Her heart sank with fear.

“Is he…? But how? No one has this number? He doesn’t even know where I am? He could never get this number,” she thought and with shivering hands reached for the phone.

She gulped and pressed the power button. The screen lit up and the notification appeared before her eyes. She could not believe what she was seeing. She sat up with a jerk, shocked. Frantically, she unlocked the phone.

For the first time ever, Young-Chul messaged her back. She had no idea whether to cry or dance with happiness. All she could do was cry and she could not dance on the injured toe. She clapped in tiny because she didn’t want to disturb Jae-Hwa’s sleep.

Immediately she opened the conversation.

“Is your foot, okay?” messaged Young-Chul.

I am fine. How are you? Did you eat well, rest well?

Don’t think about me. Think about yourself. Take leave for tomorrow and rest.

Oh, don’t worry, I am fine. There is no pain at all.

Are you sure?

Yes, MY. I am okay. Are you okay?

Was unable to sleep. I was waiting for your message. Now will be able to sleep.

You wait for my message?

For almost five minutes there was no reply. Nivritti kept closing and opening the app thinking that somehow the app froze, or her phone was unable to receive signals. But everything was fine. Then why did Young-Chul stop messaging her abruptly? Did she make a mistake? Was that question too much to ask?

Suddenly her phone chimed.

“Don’t take this any other way. If I say this to any other person, they might think I have a crush on them. I don’t have a crush on you, I can never have a crush on you. Still, your messages are like drugs that are making me better. Your affirmation tells me that I am still loved and have a lot of talent. Your messages make me smile. I am glad that Thae scolded you. If he would not have done that, we would not have become friends. If we would not have become friends, you would have no idea that I was depressed and no one like you would have helped me. When first you talked about mental health, I was skeptical, I was struggling. I had no idea that I could get help. I never thought that it was not something you have to be ashamed of. I was always afraid of talking about it. I was afraid of people judging me. I was afraid of living my life on my terms. I have been living my life for my fans, my members, my family since I was young thinking that if I speak up, they will reject me. But now I want to live for myself, just like you do. I want to do things that make me happy. I know you say that you will always be there for me. But if I do something stupid, will you still be there? Or would I lose you?”

Tears started streaming down Nivritti’s face. Young-Chul was being vulnerable. He was talking about living his life on his own terms but was still afraid that he might lose people close to him. She has been assuring her for days and finally, he opened up.

“No matter what happens. I will always be there for you. Even if you murder someone, you can call me and I will help you hide the body,” she joked. She would have given anything at that moment to see a smile appear on Young-Chul’s face.

As if you have experience with hiding bodies.

Why do you think I ran away from India? I am a serial killer and the police were about to find me.

You know two serial killers can never be friends.

You are a serial killer?

I kill fans every day with my talent and good looks.

Right. That is true. And you are not even getting punished. Lucky!

I am very lucky. To have found you at the time that I needed someone. Thank you.

MY! Talk to your members. They love you. They too need to understand what you are feeling.

I am not comfortable. I am trying to open up to them, but I need time.

If you need time, tell them that. They will wait for you, just don’t leave them hanging.

I will try. Now go to sleep. You need rest.

You too. Rest well. See you tomorrow. Good night, MY.

Good night, Ritti.

Nivritti had a sweet smile on her face. She placed the phone on her chest and suddenly her face contorted, her eyebrows knitted themselves, her lips pursed, and tears again started flowing from her eyes.