To Kiss An Idol

191 The Uncomfortability

Jae-Hwa was staring at the floor, biting her lips with fear. The fabric of her trousers was in her palms, and she was holding onto it for her dear life. Her knuckles were turning white. Even though Dae apologised to her for his behaviour she still felt uneasy in his presence.

Nivritti looked at her and found her expression, bizarre. She thought that Jae-Hwa was fine in the morning, she was smiling and happy. She was cheerful when she was in her house, while driving, and also at the police station. She even replied to Chung-Ho with a broad smile then what happened all of a sudden.

Something was off with Jae-Hwa, she just could not put her finger on it. She just knew that Jae-Hwa was thinking about something and that something was making her afraid and uncomfortable. She placed her hands over her shoulder and pressed on it to comfort her. Jae-Hwa lifted her head and gave a faint smile to Nivritti. Nivritti was shocked at her gesture. It was the same expression that she saw on her face when they were in the restaurant.

Something or someone made Jae-Hwa afraid. But there was no one here. It was just her team, many of which were still arriving. She made a point to ask her what happened and to help her in any way possible.

Nivritti realised that Dae was waiting for her reply. “He was scolding me because I didn’t reply to his message.”

“Oh, then I should do that too,” replied Dae.

“What?” shouted Nivritti.

“Yeah, I send you a message asking about your injury, but I received nothing from you,” pouted Dae. His acting of getting hurt was on point. Nivritti felt bad for not replying to both of her seniors.

“Dae, CH, I am sorry for not replying but yesterday I lost my phone,” answered Nivritti.

.....

“What? Where? How?” asked both Chung-Ho and Dae.

“I have no answer. One moment I had it with me and the next I lost it,” replied Nivritti.

“Yeah, you replied to my message when I asked you about your foot in the morning,” recalled Chung-Ho.

“Right, and that is the last time I remember my phone being near me. After that I have no idea what happened or where my phone went,” replied Nivritti. She again looked at Jae-Hwa who was avoiding looking at everyone.

Nivritti placed her palm over Jae-Hwa’s palm and pressed it as tightly as possible. With her touch, Jae-Hwa relaxed and let go of her trousers.

“Oh, do you have any sensitive items on your phone? What if someone gets a hold of that?” asked Dae. He was trying to be extra sneaky.

“Don’t worry, Dae. I took care of everything. I even filed a police report,” replied Nivritti.

“What?” shouted Dae, scared. After the name of the police, he started sweating. His mind started creating a scenario that the police were hitting him and pushing him inside a jail cell for stealing Nivritti’s phone. “Why, police?” he stammered. “It’s not like someone stole it, you lost it.”

“Oh, for the issuance of the copy of the sim,” answered Nivritti.

“Oh!” Dae tried laughing but an awkward chuckle escaped his mouth. “Why did this girl have to file a police report? What if someone finds out I took her phone? Shit!” thought Dae and kept his fake smile on his face.

“Are you okay, Jae?” asked Chung-Ho after he noticed that she was extra quiet today. Everyone was talking except her.

“What?” Jae-Hwa looked up at Chung-Ho. He brought her back from her land of thoughts.

“You are awfully quiet. What happened? Are you okay?” asked Chung-Ho, again.

“Yeah, yeah,” she replied and looked at him. But her eyes automatically diverted towards Dae. One glance at Dae and she again lowered her head. Nivritti and Chung-Ho noticed that and looked at Dae for explanation.

It was clear that Dae’s presence made Jae-Hwa uncomfortable. Even Dae picked on that vibe. “Shit! This girl will be death of me. I am trying to get her away from Nivritti, but she is moving far away from me,” pondered Dae.

Now he had to do damage control. Before Jae-Hwa would talk about him, he knew he had to say something and control the narrative. “I think she is still angry about yesterday,” said Dae.

“Angry?” asked Chung-Ho.

“Yesterday?” queried Nivritti.

“Yeah, while talking I placed my hand on her leg and I think she hated my touch. Although I apologised to her but looks like she didn’t forgive me. Sorry, Jae! I didn’t mean anything by that touch. If I made you feel uneasy or you got angry at me, I apologise from the bottom of my heart. You are my junior, I cherish all my juniors and we are friends. I assure you I will not do anything to make you feel like that ever again. Sorry, please forgive me,” Dae joined his hands and apologised to Jae-Hwa.

“No, no, it’s okay. Please don’t apologise, you already did that. I was just not feeling okay when you touched me. I know that you had no intention of making me feel bad, but you know confined space and unfamiliar touch, I just didn’t like it,” said Jae-Hwa. It looked like she forced herself to speak those words.

“Then let’s shake our hands and become friends for life,” smiled Dae.

But Jae-Hwa hesitated. “I think we should take a break from physical touch. She still feels awkward, Dae. Give her some time and when she will feel okay, I am sure she will approach you by herself,” protested Nivritti and placed her arm around Jae-Hwa’s shoulder.

Dae gritted his teeth but kept a giant smile on his face. His eyes almost closed after he kept the smile on his face. Crow’s feet appeared at the corner of his eyes. He wanted to choke the life out of Nivritti’s body. “She has to poke her nose every time in every matter,” he snapped at Nivritti but never let the smile fade.

“Yes, yes absolutely, you are right. I must give her space. Sorry, Jae-Hwa for being insensitive. I will keep it in mind. Let’s start our work,” said Dae while clenching his fists.

Nivritti pushed Jae-Hwa along with her and all went to their seats. Nivritti looked at Jae-Hwa and wanted to curse at her. She came to her house and never spoke about what she was feeling. She thought of asking Jae-Hwa if she was feeling okay, but she thought that it would be rude to ask that question in front of Dae.

She didn’t even have her phone else she could have messaged her. And she didn’t want to ask her any personal questions on the K&Q messaging service on her system. She would have to wait to get Jae-Hwa alone, away from Dae and ask her what happened in detail.

They worked in the office for about two hours when Thae arrived in the script department.

“Annyeonghaseyo, Choi-ssi,” greeted Thae.

“Good morning, Kat,” replied Chung-Ho. “You are late today.”

“Yeah, we all slept late last night, so wake up late,” replied Thae.

Nivritti shook her head as she knew why they were late. All were late up waiting for Young-Chul and Kyung-Soo to come back. On one hand, she was happy that they came to check up on her but on the other hand, she was angry that they didn’t take care of themselves. Their schedule was already busy and they were wasting time on her.

“Let’s go,” said Thae and came near Nivritti. “Give me your bag.”

Nivritti opened her mouth to protest but Thae shut her up with a show of his forefinger. She put her laptop on sleep and placed it in her bag. She stood up to go when Chung-Ho interrupted, “guys! This Friday Hu-ssi has asked for an update meeting. Make sure to keep the numbers of scripts you read and details about them with you.”

“Okay,” all three replied and went away with Thae. Nivritti was walking slowly due to her leg and Jae-Hwa and Thae were walking close to her.

But not Dae, he was walking ahead of them, murmuring to himself, “oh, it’s just stub toe. Why does she have to act like she broke her leg? I have had greater injury than her and I never needed help. I hope she breaks her leg, stupid moron! Who does she think she is? Jae-Hwa was ready to shake my hands but no, she had to butt in. what did I do, just place my hand over her thighs. Why is that a big deal? ASD can hug Jae-Hwa but I cannot simply place my hand on her leg. Since when that is a crime? Girls nowadays are getting more sensitive. It was not like I was making a move on her. I am happily married, and my wife is more beautiful than her. Yeah, Jae-Hwa is young, but I am not interested. Oh, kids can walk faster than her.” He kept grinding his teeth.

“Sorry, Dae, for walking so slow,” apologised Nivritti.

“What? Can she read minds?” thought Dae, shocked. He turned around and looked at Nivritti. With a sweet smile on his face he replied, “no, no, it’s okay. I can understand. It is hard to walk with an injury. Don’t mind me, walk at your pace.”