To Kiss An Idol

144 The Fistfight

Nivritti kept mumbling about her day to Young-Chul. Without realising, she woke him up, but he kept silent and listened to her. Slowly, he went back to sleep again. She kept waiting for Kyung-Soo to arrive, but he was taking his sweet time.

When she had exhausted every topic, she grabbed her phone and scrolled for a long time. Yawn after yawn signalled her that she was too tired.

“You are sleeping, NK is late, I have exhausted every topic to talk to you. Well, you are not talking, I am just babbling about. I think I will rest my head for a bit. I am not sleeping just resting,” yawned Nivritti and she put her head down on her upper arm.

Within minutes she was in deep sleep. She was already tired after not sleeping well last night and the whole day for her was hectic. She was worried for Young-Chul, then angry that no one replied to her messages, and on top of that she was nervous that she had to give a presentation to the CEO again.

Suddenly she heard someone calling her name. Her mind went back to India. She was back in her own bed. It was early morning and her mother was waking her up to go to school.

“Five minutes, Mom,” she groaned. Her mother smiled and moved away from there.

The scene shifted and she was floating in clouds. She could feel moving across the sky, but she was not flying. It appeared as if someone was carrying her in their arms. On one side of her face she could feel the cold air, on the other side there was a sweet warmth that she was unable to explain. There was a big clock in the clouds that was going “lub, dub” instead of “tick, tock.”

“What strange clock?” she thought.

She was enjoying floating in the clouds when suddenly she stopped. Everything turned black. She was fixed in a position unable to move. Suddenly she felt something heavy, slithering over her shoulder. She could not see what was on her body, but it was constricting. She wriggled hard but was unable to get free.

.....

Slowly, the slithering thing reached her breasts. She tried touching it but all she could feel was a rubbery feel. Slithering even further, it reached around her waist and tightened it around her body. She tried to grab it so that she could get away from the bondage. She screamed loudly when she realised that the slithering thing around her body was a large, black snake.

Immediately she started shaking it off her body, but it refused to budge. No matter how hard she tried, it kept her stationary. Slowly it started constricting her lungs, making it harder for her to breathe. Suddenly she heard a few voices around her. She tried shouting for help, but no sound came out of her mouth.

Gasping for air and trying to shout to help, she woke up with a jerk but the seat belt, pushed her back in the seat.

“Snake! Snake! Get off! Get off!” she tried getting the seat belt off, but it just stretched and came back up.

Immediately she looked around, it appeared as if she was in a constrictive space. “What is this? She groaned and pulled on the seat belt urgently. She shook her head vigorously to wake up completely and opened her eyes fully. She sighed with relief to see that she was in a car and it was a seat belt around her and not a snake. She was just dreaming.

“Aishh… what stupid dream! I am just in a car,” she exhaled loudly. Her exhale stopped mid-way when she realised that SHE WAS IN A CAR. “How… how am I in a car? I... I… was in… MY’s room. What the hell is this?” Her brain was working overtime trying to figure out how she landed in a car.

But it was difficult to think as two men kept shouting near the car. “Ahh… who are these idiots!” she turned around to look where these men were and why were they shouting.

Her eyes widened and her heart raced fast after she saw that Jae-Geun and Kyung-Soo were in a fistfight. She immediately opened the car door and tried to move out of the car, but the seat belt pushed her back in the seat.

“Ah! Shit!” frustrated, she opened the seat belt and jumped out of the car. By then Kyung-Soo and Jae-Geun had each other hands locked and were trying to kick each other. Kyung-Soo would kick Jae-Geun on his buttocks and Jae-Geun would scream ‘ow’. Then Jae-Geun would kick Kyung-Soo on his bum and he would scream ‘ow’. It happened on repeat.

Nivritti tilted her head, yawned, and looked at them confused. “What are they even doing? Ugh… men!” she looked at their stupid display of dominance for a minute and then shouted, “enough.”

Both men stopped immediately and turned around. Both their eyes widened as they looked at her. They immediately let go of each other’s hands and lowered their head with shame. Slowly they lifted their head and looked at Nivritti, who tried to look tough but ended up yawning. Both men stifled their laughter at her. They realised that they both laughed, so they looked at each other and immediately averted their eyes, uncomfortably.

Nivritti’s anger climbed a notch up as they laughed at her. She reached near them and pulled their ears simultaneously. They both cried with pain. With their ears in her grab, she pulled them together and brought them to the front of the car.

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” they kept crying out loud.

She let go of their ears and they immediately caressed their ears to soothe the pain.

“Care to explain what you are both doing?” shouted Nivritti.

“You know him?” inquired Jae-Geun.

“Yes, I do. And you know him too,” shouted Nivritti.

“What? No, I don’t,” replied Jae-Geun.

“You have not met him before, but you know him,” replied Nivritti and looked awkwardly at Kyung-Soo. She knew he helped him choose the shirt for Chung-Ho.

“What are you talking about? And why did you lie that you left for home when you were in the hospital?” pouted Jae-Geun.

“You lied?” teased Kyung-Soo.

She pointed her forefinger and chided, “you…”

Kyung-Soo immediately backed up with fear.

She continued, “I had to lie for him,” and she pointed at Kyung-Soo.

“For him? What do you mean?” asked Jae-Geun. Everything was confusing for him. “Who is he?”

Nivritti signalled him to remove his mask. Clumsily, Kyung-Soo took off his cap and removed his mask. Nivritti placed her palm under his chin to highlight his face. Kyung-Soo kept taming his hair which was dishevelled due to the cap.

Jae-Geun just kept staring at him. He was even more confused.

“Ahh… seriously! You saw him that day in the café on the news,” screamed Nivritti, frustrated.

“Oh! ASD?” asked Jae-Geun.

“Finally!” exclaimed Nivritti.

“San Jae-Geun meet Nam Kyung-Soo, Nam Kyung-Soo meet San Jae-Geun, Jae-Hwa’s brother,” introduced Nivritti.

“Hi! Hi,” both awkwardly said hi to each other.

“Sorry! I didn’t recognise you. I am not that into k-pop,” apologised Jae-Geun.

“I am sorry too for not recognising you,” said Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti widened her eyes and started patting Kyung-Soo’s cheeks. The last pat was more of a slap. Without realising, Kyung-Soo had blurted out about his encounter with Jae-Geun. Nivritti knew that he had seen Jae-Geun that day when they all went shopping.

“What are you doing?” asked Jae-Geun, puzzled.

“Mosquito! Mosquito! There was a mosquito on his cheek,” scoffed Nivritti. She squinted her eyes and stared at Kyung-Soo for his blunder.

“By the way why would you recognise me? Have you seen me before?” asked Jae-Geun.

Nivritti closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. Kyung-Soo glanced at her and understood that she hit him for this blunder. Now he had to do some damage control and fast.

“Uh… Jae-Hwa showed me your picture once,” lied Kyung-Soo. Nivritti immediately shook her in no signalling that this lie won’t fly with Jae-Geun. He would have to work harder. “I… I mean… I mean she didn’t… showed me… I just saw… one in… one of her folders. You guys looked similar so I thought you must be brother and sister.”

Kyung-Soo immediately glanced at Nivritti for approval. She slightly nodded her head and Kyung-Soo sighed with relief.

“I still don’t understand why you had to lie,” said Jae-Geun.

“Because the presence of ASD is a secret in your hospital. One of the members is being treated and I can’t divulge more than that. I was with them when you called so I had to lie. Sorry!” replied Nivritti.

“ASD is in our hospital?” screamed Jae-Geun. Both Kyung-Soo and Nivritti jumped at him and covered his mouth.

“Shh!” both shushed him together.

“It’s a secret. No one can know,” whispered Kyung-Soo.

“Mmm… mmm…” mumbled Jae-Geun. Both Nivritti and Kyung-Soo removed their hands from his mouth.

“You cannot even tell Jae-Hwa. Do you understand?” questioned Nivritti.

“I understand but why the cloak and dagger?” asked Jae-Geun. Kyung-Soo facepalmed. Jae-Geun couldn’t understand his reaction. Why did he facepalm?

“Oh… don’t get me started on that,” shouted Nivritti. “It’s their decision. I will respect that.”

“What?” mouthed Jae-Geun. Kyung-Soo just shook his head in no gesturing for him to stop asking questions.

“I am going home,” announced Nivritti.