To Kiss An Idol

Kyung-Soo was too angry after looking at the video but as soon as Nivritti came close to him, he forgot everything. He forgot that he had her phone in his hand. He forgot that he was angry at those men. All he could see was her beautiful face and bruised hand. He had no idea why he reacted that way, he just brought her hands closer to his lips and planted a wet kiss on her marks.

Abruptly, she pulled her hand out of his hand. She stepped back shaking her head, almost on the verge of crying. “Enough, I cannot do this again. I literally can’t do this again.”

That was the moment Kyung-Soo understood everything. Why was she opposed to love? Why she was so adamant about her not getting involved? Why was she so adamant about the age? “How bad did he hurt you?” he asked.

She snapped, “As I told you I’m not hurt, it’s just a bruise.” She started moving towards the door.

But he instantly grabbed her by her waist, twisted her and pulled her closer to him. Her hand landed over his chest. Without wasting a beat, he said, “I’m talking about your ex-boyfriend. How bad did he hurt you?”

Nivritti was shocked. “What?” she murmured. She was surprised that Kyung-Soo asked her such a question. She never talked about him then how come he knew about that? She looked into his eyes with shameful, fearful, and guilt-ridden eyes.

“What was the age difference Nivritti?” asked Kyung-Soo. He softly peered into her eyes.

Her mouth fell open after his invasive question. She felt as if the earth slipped from under her feet. Her face went sad. Pearls of tears started forming in her eyes. She looked at him with tearful eyes. He moved her hand to caress her cheeks, but she shoved him and ran away forgetting her phone.

.....

Kyung-Soo closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief, “she needs to stop running away and talk for once.”

Nivritti controlled her tears and sat back in her seat. She realised that Chung-Ho was continuously glancing in her direction to make sure she was okay. She lowered her head so that Chung-Ho would not see her. Her flight mode kicked in. She wanted to run away from everything but that would again make Chung-Ho suspicious so she suppressed that thought.

Kyung-Soo came out of the conference room and went near Nivritti. Without speaking a single word, he simply placed her phone on her desk and walked away. He realised that she was not ready to talk. Maybe, it was him or the office, but it was neither the time nor the place to talk about her ex-boyfriend. Also, he knew that Bong would be waiting for him with his team members.

He ran to the 21st floor. A sweet, middle-aged woman wearing old-fashioned chained spectacles was sitting outside. The plaque before her read “Executive Assistant”. The moment she saw Kyung-Soo she stood up with respect, smiling brightly. Kyung-Soo bowed down to her twice with respect.

“Is everyone here?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“Yes, they are waiting for you,” replied the assistant.

“Thank you, Kim-ssi,” he again bowed down to her and moved towards the CEO’s door.

“Anytime, King.”

Kyung-Soo opened the door and barged in without knocking. Everyone looked at him. He looked around. The room was full of people. Not only his team member but the CEO, the COO, the head of the legal department and his team, and the head of the PR department and his team were also present. He bowed down to every one of them.

Hu Bong didn’t speak a word. He just looked at everyone sitting beside him and signalled them to ask away to their heart’s content.

The first person to open her mouth was the head of the legal department. “Where is it?”

“Where is what, Yun-ssi?” asked Kyung-Soo, confused.

“The footage!” she replied.

“Oh! In her phone,” answered Kyung-Soo.

“What is her plan with the footage?” asked the head of the PR team.

“Plan? What do you mean, plan?” shouted Korain. He was not sure what he was hearing. Being a quick-witted person, he immediately understood what the PR team was hinting at.

“Why she has that footage and what is planning to do with it?” asked one of the lawyers. It seemed everyone had the same idea, making a criminal out of Nivritti.

Jung-Hwa stood up from the couch with a jerk and gave everyone a death stare. “Excuse me! What do you want to say?”

“JJ!” Kyung-Soo held his hand and tried to calm him down.

But he jerked his hands away and moved a step forward. He shouted, “no, they are insinuating that she has some ulterior motive with that footage. They are accusing her of using that footage for her benefit. Do you have any idea what she did for another girl and me in that restaurant? If not for her, you would have a PR nightmare on your hand.”

“Then why does she have the only footage, JJ? Have you thought about that?” asked Yun.

“You think she has that with her for blackmail?” questioned Kyung-Soo, appalled.

“Yes,” replied a few members of the legal department and PR department.

He too stood up and moved next to Jung-Hwa. “Then why did she hand me over her phone and left me alone with it?” Kyung-Soo spat fire.

“You saw the footage?” Bong asked, shocked.

“With my own eyes,” replied Kyung-Soo.

“She made sure that no one would recognise me in that restaurant. She made sure that that footage was deleted from the restaurant server. She made my bodyguards scatter so that people won’t recognise me because of them. She even scolded me because I used violence, and you are doubting her,” interrupted Jung-Hwa. He was shouting at the top of his lungs. He was known to be a happy-go-lucky kid. He rarely was angry. Many were looking at his angry avatar for the first time.

“JJ is right. Have you lost your mind? She saved you guys from a headache, she saved K&Q from a scandal and this is how you reward her,” Young-Chul too stood up.

Everyone was silent after Young-Chul’s intervention. He was a man of few words but when he talked everyone listened. Seeing that even Young-Chul was talking on her behalf, the legal team and the PR team went silent.

“King! What do you think?” asked Bong.

“You know her, you saw her, you talked to her, you know she speaks her mind and never takes shit from anyone, well except when there is a dog present, she sometimes takes shit,” informed Kyung-Soo.

“Oh, the dog girl, whom Kat...” Bong did not finish his sentence and let his words trail.

“Yes,” nodded Kyung-Soo.

“Well, she is intelligent and smart. And after everything June and his bodyguards said, it is clear that she is on our side. Correct me if I am wrong,” notified Bong.

“You are right,” all the members of ASD as well Jung-Hwa’s bodyguards said in unison. Everyone lowered their head in shame except Hu Bong.

He had a sweet smile on his face. “Hmm... seeing how even these guys are in favour,” he pointed at the bodyguards and continued, “it seems that my legal team is highly distrustful. Don’t be angry at them JJ, it’s their job to be sceptical.”

“Fine,” shouted Jung-Hwa. He was too angry to calm down so soon. “They can be sceptical all they want but at least use their head. They should consider everything that happened and ponder on it, think about it logically, not talk out of their asses.”

“JJ!” Korain stood up and placed his hands over Jung-Hwa’s shoulder. As usual Korain’s angelic voice did its work. Jung-Hwa calmed down a notch.

“I am sorry.” He took a deep breath and continued, “two girls, who work for us were being harassed and I helped them. Everyone has been treating me like I committed a crime, even Ritti lectured me. You think she has an ulterior motive but for your kind information, she scolded me because I used violence. She made sure that there was no trace of my activity in the restaurant and these people are suggesting that she had a different plan in her mind. Do you think, she has the only copy of the footage so that she herself could destroy it later?”

“I am glad that she kept a copy. I saw it and now I understand why JJ acted the way he did,” Kyung-Soo spoke in his favour.

“I too would like to see that footage,” said Korain. “Imagine if she would have not made that copy.”

“Yeah, instead of helping her, rewarding her for taking care of JJ, we are making her the criminal,” protested Him-Chan.

“Really! We should make those girls talk to a therapist about their trauma at our expense. They at least deserve that. They faced public humiliation, harassment and we are piling on them instead of helping them,” snapped Jeong-Eun.

Last but not the least, Thae stood up with fire in his eyes. “I scolded her, I was in the wrong, but instead of going to HR or your legal team, she chose to forgive me. How can you think that she can do something cunning?”

Bong was smiling to see that his boys were standing together. No matter if they were taking a stranger’s side. This was the moment Bong understood that Nivritti was something special. Within a few days, she influenced the whole ASD team which was a rare task. “Guys! Calm down,” Bong stood up.