To Kiss An Idol

204 The Assurance

The click sound froze Nivritti. It took her a moment to realise what that sound was. She was shocked at what just happened. “What was that?” she shouted and looked at Jeong-Eun.

“Tell me everything, else I will post this pic on my social media account and say that you are my girlfriend,” threatened Jeong-Eun while flashing the photo on his phone’s screen.

“Excuse me!” both Kyung-Soo and Nivritti shouted at once.

“Hyung, stay out of it,” warned Jeong-Eun.

“Are you out of your mind? How could you click a photo without my permission? Delete it, delete it now,” shouted Nivritti, angrily and moved towards him.

“Tell me everything and I will delete it,” replied Jeong-Eun coolly and took a few steps back, creating distance between himself and Nivritti. “And no lies,” he added.

Nivritti pursed her lips and her breath shuddered. Kyung-Soo noticed the sudden change in her expression. She again licked her lips, but it was not nervousness that was on her face. It was pure fear.

She gulped and kept breathing through her mouth, “I can’t PJ, I can’t. It’s Jae’s matters. You should ask her. Just delete my photo.”

“Don’t you think I wanted to? I don’t know her address and I didn’t want to ask her in our group. I was even scared to message her about this matter. Did Dae do something, again?” asked Jeong-Eun.

.....

In her fear, Nivritti didn’t notice the word ‘again’ from Jeong-Eun’s mouth. Her focus was on her picture. “I really can’t!!!” shouted Nivritti. But it was not anger, it was panic. She started to shiver.

“Fine, then it’s going on my account,” Jeong-Eun again flashed her photo in her face.

Nivritti started breathing heavily, she was on the verge of hyperventilating. She moved towards Jeong-Eun and with quivering lips, she begged, “please PJ, don’t!” Her eyes started filling with tears.

With a jerk, Kyung-Soo snatched the phone out of Jeong-Eun’s hands and deleted the photo.

“Hyung!” shouted Jeong-Eun.

“Not a word! Go, wait in the car,” said Kyung-Soo calmly. He was talking to Jeong-Eun, but his eyes never left Nivritti’s face. He knew what she was thinking, what she was feeling. He could see the constant gulps and constant licking of the lips. He didn’t want to see tears coming out of her eyes.

“But Hyung,” protested Jeong-Eun.

Kyung-Soo jerked his neck and looked at Jeong-Eun. His wide eyes, his flared nose, his pursed lips notified Jeong-Eun that he was angry, and no one dared to disobey angry Kyung-Soo. Jeong-Eun lowered his head, nodded at him and walked out of the room.

The moment Jeong-Eun left the house, Kyung-Soo turned towards Nivritti. Her head was hung low and drops of tears were falling on the floor. He closed his eyes and took in all the pain he felt after looking at her crying again. “Stupid, PJ!” she uttered under his breath and gritted his teeth.

He gulped and moved close to her. “Ritti!” he said softly. Something was in his voice. Whenever she heard his voice, she would feel at ease, she would show her vulnerable side. Hearing his voice, the dam of her sadness broke, she covered her face with her hands and cried loudly. Kyung-Soo didn’t waste a single moment. He placed his hand over her shoulder and pulled her in for a hug.

He wrapped her arms around her and placed her head softly on his chest. “Okay, okay, okay, it’s okay. Everything’s okay, Ritti.” He softly caressed her hair and patted her head. “The photo is gone, no one knows you are here. I deleted the photo.”

“No one can know, NK, no one can know. No one must know where I am. No one can know. He cannot know. He must not know,” sobbed Nivritti.

“No one will ever know, you are safe here, you are away from him, you are miles away from everyone, please calm down. I will talk to PJ. I am sorry on his behalf, I am really sorry, please believe me when I say that you are safe,” consoled Kyung-Soo.

“What if he finds out?” wailed Nivritti.

“He will have to go through me,” assured Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti moved her hands off her face and wrapped her hands around Kyung-Soo’s waist. Her hands made the jacket to lift slightly, and she touched the soft fabric of the shirt. She turned her head, and her cheeks noticed the softness of the shirt. She realised that it was the same white cashmere shirt that always used to comfort her.

For a minute or two, she kept hugging him, taking in the softness of the cloth, the warmth from his body. He kept patting her head to calm her down saying words of assurance to her. Due to heartache, she was not even bothered by her toe. She again let her tears wet the expensive cashmere shirt.

Suddenly she realised that she was hugging Kyung-Soo again, she was again close to him, in his arms. She was angry when he blurted out what he felt for her, and she shut him down. Then why was she hugging him back now? She needed his care and concern at this moment, so it was okay for her to hug him? But when he would talk about his emotions, she always shut him down. How selfish was she?

When she recognised that she was taking advantage of him, she cursed herself and broke the embrace. “Thank you,” she said and stepped away from him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, worried.

“Better now, thank you,” replied Nivritti. “Apologise to PJ from me.”

“You are distraught and sad and still you are thinking about him?” he scolded.

“Just tell him that it was Jae’s matter, and it is not okay for me to talk about it. If he wants, I can fix a meeting with her and he can ask her on his own,” suggested Nivritti.

“Did he harass her? You know he always does that?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“What?” asked Nivritti, shocked, and looked at him with surprise.

“That asshole!” shouted Kyung-Soo.

“You… kn… know?” stammered Nivritti.

“There are rumours. But no woman has ever come forward. He is good at his job but too many women have been either fired or resigned after working under him,” replied Kyung-Soo.

“Why didn’t you tell me before?” asked Nivritti.

“You never said that there was any problem with him,” he replied. “Did he ever…?”

“No, not to me. He barely acknowledges me,” Nivritti shook her head in no.

“What did he do to her?” he asked.

“NK! I…,” she scoffed.

“Did he touch her? Did he say something to her? Just tell me if you guys want to get away from him,” said Kyung-Soo.

“I reprimanded him today and Jae presented her side telling him, her every emotion and feeling. He apologised and said that nothing like that will ever happen again. He even apologised to CH,” informed Nivritti.

“Are you sure the problem is solved?” he inquired.

“Yes, it is, or I hope so, if not, you know I can handle it,” said Nivritti.

“Yeah, I know. If it’s about someone else, you will do anything to help them. Just promise me, if he troubles you, you will fight back the same way,” said Kyung-Soo.

“I will, I promise,” replied Nivritti.

“That’s good to hear. I will tell PJ what you just said,” sighed Kyung-Soo. “But I am sure he will want to hear Jae’s side too.”

“I will ask Jae to talk to him,” replied Nivritti.

“Finish your food, sorry to interrupt your dinner and again sorry on PJ’s behalf.”

“It’s okay. He does not know,” smiled Nivritti but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “He does not know I am basically running away from everyone.”

“Don’t say that. Starting your life back again does not mean you are running away,” replied Kyung-Soo. “So, you have a session tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

“It’s good. Talk to your doctor about it and feel at ease. I hope you can overcome your fear of dogs again,” smiled Kyung-Soo.

“I hope so too. Most of all I want to get rid of the nightmares,” blurted out Nivritti. She immediately closed her eyes when she realised what she just spewed out of her mouth.

“Nightmares! What nightmares?” shouted Kyung-Soo.

“Shit!” murmured Nivritti. She looked at Kyung-Soo and replied, “it’s fine. It’s nothing to worry about. When I arrived here, I had a nightmare that he paid me a visit. I talked to the doctor, and she said that it was triggered because of change. I will talk with her in detail, and I will sort it out.” But that didn’t assure Kyung-Soo. His look told her that he was not at all convinced.

“Really NK! I am fine. I have had no nightmares after that. You know I changed my sim, right?” asked Nivritti.

“Yeah, because he called you,” replied Kyung-Soo.

“That’s right, and the nightmare happened after that,” said Nivritti.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” inquired Kyung-Soo.

“At that time, we were not friends, and you didn’t know anything about my life,” replied Nivritti.

“Why not after that?” he asked.

“I didn’t have any nightmares after that, so, there was nothing to tell, NK,” said Nivritti.