To Kiss An Idol

46 The Thanking

Everyone was listening to Kyung-Soo quietly and nodding at his every word. Nivritti tried looking at him but would lower her eyes after every glance.

“So, I am not fired?” she stammered.

Bong, who was quietly looking at all the sparks flying between Kyung-Soo and Nivritti, the looks they kept exchanging, the obvious tension between them, came forward and said, “that’s not the reason you are here. We wanted to, no, I wanted to thank you for using your fast-thinking brain to get out of that situation quickly. You took care of yourself, San-ssi’s daughter, and June. You made sure no one knew he was famous or travelling with bodyguards. Everyone thinks he was some CEO. You got the CCTV footage. The way you handled everything was amazing. I would like to reward you with a bonus.”

“What?” shouted Nivritti.

“I will inform the finance team and they will be in touch with you,” smiled Bong.

“But that is not necessary. You gave me a bonus recently, I don’t need another one,” protested Nivritti. Bong was again impressed. Who in their right mind would say no to a bonus? This girl was different.

“Ritti! Just take it,” emphasised Young-Chul.

“Yeah, just take it,” nodded Korain.

“Congratulations,” Jung-Hwa threw himself at her and grabbed her in a bear hug.

.....

Kyung-Soo faced her and said, “thank you for taking care of our kid.”

“I’m not a kid anymore,” pouted Jung-Hwa and let Nivritti go. Bong and Chung-Ho could not help but smile at his cuteness.

Korain hit the back of his head playfully and everyone started smiling.

“By the way, why did you take that footage in your phone?” asked Bong, abruptly.

Nivritti looked at him and replied, “I don’t know. I just kept a copy, you can have it.” She took her phone and presented it to him.

“I feel it would be best if we destroy it,” said Bong.

Before Nivritti could reply, Kyung-Soo interrupted, “but what about those men?”

“What about them?” asked Nivritti.

“Don’t you want justice?” questioned Kyung-Soo.

“For me to get justice, JJ will have to face assault charges, I don’t want that. Moreover, he punched one and I broke another’s finger. That is enough justice for me,” answered Nivritti.

Kyung-Soo was not happy with her answer while Bong was overwhelmed that she was still thinking about Jung-Hwa. “Thank you,” he cried.

“You are welcome. Here, this is the footage, you can delete it by yourself,” she again gave her phone to him, but Bong never moved a single finger towards the phone.

“I want to keep it,” shouted Jung-Hwa, unexpectedly.

“Why?” screamed everyone, simultaneously.

“I like the way I punched him,” Jung-Hwa grinned from ear to ear. Korain and Young-Chul facepalmed, hard.

“No, your phone could be hacked, and then this footage could end up on the internet. It’s best to delete it permanently,” suggested Nivritti. Bong widened his eyes at her suggestion. It was true that his phone could get hacked in the future. He never thought about that. Even the PR team didn’t think about the same but this girl, this quick-witted girl thought about it.

“Okay, let’s do this. Let’s all watch it one last time,” said Bong.

“Few of us will be watching it for the first time,” interrupted Jeong-Eun.

“Fine, let’s watch it for the first and the last time, and then we will delete the footage. All in?” asked Bong.

“Yes,” was the collective answer.

Nivritti gave her phone to Bong and all huddled around him. The facial expressions kept changing as per the events happening in the video. There was a collective “ooh” when Jung-Hwa threw the punch.

“Assholes!” exclaimed Young-Chul after viewing the video. “Why didn’t you hit them on their nuts?”

“That thought didn’t even occur in my mind,” Nivritti thought back.

“Come with me to Wing-Chun classes,” offered Young-Chul.

“With you, no thanks,” said Nivritti.

“Am I that bad?” teased Young-Chul.

“No, no, don’t take it otherwise. I meant I won’t ever go anywhere with an idol. You guys have some crazy fans, jealous fans. I don’t want to deal with them, ever. Just look at what happened with Jae. No one saw her with JJ, only his bodyguards came to drop her off, yet she was left in tears,” explained Nivritti.

“Well, you are not wrong,” nodded Him-Chan. “Some of our fans are too possessive, especially yours, Hyung,” he said to Young-Chul. “Spare her.”

Nivritti smiled at him, and he smiled back. Bong gave her phone back and she deleted the footage in front of them.

“Okay, so that’s done. Let us all get back to our work and Ms Rathod, thank you again,” thanked Bong.

“You don’t have to say it, Sir,” said Nivritti.

“Choi-ssi, take extra care of her. Her brain can be a great asset,” praised Bong.

“You don’t have to tell me that,” laughed Chung-Ho. “Let’s go, Ritti.”

She just nodded and smiled at him. Before leaving the room, Nivritti halted and turned around. First, she looked at Kyung-Soo but averted her eyes immediately. She then looked at Jung-Hwa and finally landed on Bong.

“I have a request, Sir,” said Nivritti addressing Bong.

“Anything.”

“Could you make sure that everyone stops gossiping about JJ and Jae-Hwa?” requested Nivritti. It made Jung-Hwa smile. She was still thinking about his reputation and Jae-Hwa’s honour. Jung-Hwa respected her even more.

“I am sorry, but you keep talking about JJ, is JJ, June?” inquired Bong.

“Right! Yeah, it’s a nickname I gave him. I don’t want to offend anyone by mispronouncing their name. Also, nickname suggests that I am in their inner circle, and I like that,” explained Nivritti.

“I like that too,” smiled Jung-Hwa.

“We all like that,” Thae moved near Nivritti and placed his hands softly around her shoulder.

“I will have a conference call with all the HODs. I will instruct them to quash every gossip that is floating around,” assured Bong.

“Thank you, thank you very much, Sir,” bowed Nivritti and moved out with Chung-Ho.

Surprisingly, Jeong-Eun shouted, “oh I forgot to thank her. I will be back.” He ran after her leaving all perplexed.

The moment he came out, she was about to get in the elevator. He called her by her name, “Ritti!” she turned around and looked at him. “I need to talk to you.” Chung-Ho was in the lift, and he placed his hands on the door to stop them from closing.

She first looked at Jeong-Eun and then at Chung-Ho. “CH! You go, I will be there in a minute.”

“You sure?” inquired Chung-Ho.

“I am sure,” she blinked once and assured him.

“Okay,” he moved his hands from the lift door and the lift closed.

She walked up to Jeong-Eun and asked, “Yes, PJ!”

He grabbed her hand and pulled her into a bear hug. She had no time to react. Her eyes widened and her body stiffed. Slowly every member of ASD kept hugging her. It was strange to her, but she started accepting their touch. “Thank you,” exhaled Jeong-Eun.

“PJ!” Nivritti realised that Jeong-Eun was tensed, and he relaxed after hugging her. She moved her hand on his back and caressed him with adoration.

“Thank you for helping JJ and... Jae,” he stammered.

“Jae!” exclaimed Nivritti. It was a sudden shock to her, but it made her smile.

He broke the embrace and faced her. “How is she?” asked Jeong-Eun.

She smiled and assured him, “she is fine. She cried for a bit but now she is fine. I will always be there for her, PJ. You never have to worry.”

He again hugged her, this time tighter. “Thank you again.”

“You are welcome,” she patted his back. He let her go, ran his fingers through his hair, and with a final smile started walking inside the cabin. She too started moving towards the lift when a thought appeared in her mind. She turned around and called him, “PJ!”

He turned around, “Yes.”

A devilish smile was playing on her face. “Evening, six o’clock, basement level 2, grid no. 52,” she gave him a cryptic message.

“What?” Jeong-Eun was confused.

“Evening, six o’clock, basement level 2, grid no. 52,” she repeated. “Be there,” she winked and left him pondering over what she said. Before he could ask her again, she was inside the lift and gone.

He stood there bewildered. “What? What did she mean by that? Oh, not everyone is smart as she is. What do I do with that message? Basement level, grid 52. What is grid 52?” she left him scratching his forehead.

While he kept working on breaking her coded message, the members of the team came out of the room.

“Did you thank her?” asked Young-Chul.

“What?” but Jeong-Eun was still working out her message.

“Did you thank her? What were you thinking?” Him-Chan hit him on the back of his head.

But he ignored him. He looked at Kyung-Soo and Korain and questioned, “Hyung, do you know any grid 52 in this building?”

“What?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“Grid 52!” repeated Jeong-Eun.

“Yes, every parking level has grid 52. Why do you ask?” replied Korain.

“Oh,” exclaimed Jeong-Eun.

.....

People park in grids, every space is given a number. How do you not know that?” scolded Korain.

“Do I drive a car?” inquired Jeong-Eun.

Right! You don’t have a driver’s licence. But you travel in a car. You never noticed where we park?” asked Korain.

“No.”

“I have asked you hundreds of times to get one. You should know how to drive,” mocked Thae.

“You all are my drivers. Why do I need to learn to drive?” taunted Jeong-Eun with a smirk.

“So, you will take one of us on your date?” teased Jung-Hwa.

“Why not, people do take their drivers,” mocked Jeong-Eun.

“Idiot!” Kyung-Soo shook his head in disbelief. “Let’s go.”

Everyone followed him and they went to their practice room.