To Kiss An Idol

The moment they entered the building they saw Dae entering a lift. Both girls looked at each other in shock. They came back after getting a sim and talking for so long and he was still on the ground floor.

“What is he still doing here?” asked Jae-Hwa. “Was he waiting for us?”

“Why would he? Maybe he came back for some work or was talking to that lady,” replied Nivritti.

“For such a long time?” Jae-Hwa was shocked. “Who was she? Why do I get this feeling that I know her? Oh, my mind is so occupied with Seong-ssi that I am unable to think about anyone else.”

“Then don’t. Solve your issues with him and you will automatically find out who she is,” said Nivritti.

“She has something to do with K-pop, I just can’t put my fingers on it,” Jae-Hwa rubbed her temple and kept thinking.

Nivritti pressed the calling button of the lift and looked at Jae-Hwa. “Don’t stress yourself. Relax your brain and automatically, your brain will give you an answer.”

“Right! You are right. I am thinking too much,” Jae-Hwa shook her head and the lift arrived. They went to the second floor where the boys had started practising and Dae was opening up his laptop.

.....

The girls reached the working station and sat next to each other. Jae-Hwa wanted to ask him who the woman was, but she stopped herself. She had more important things to discuss with him. She had to confront him but not before so many people. She was afraid that he would shout at her in front of others.

Dae gulped when they saw the girls approaching. “Did they watch me coming up? Oh, did they see Missmatch leaving? What if they recognise her? I know Nivritti is not a K-pop buff, but Jae is. How come she didn’t recognise her? Everyone who follows K-pop knows about her. Wait! If they saw me, why are they not asking me why I was late? Maybe they didn’t see me. Phew!”

Nivritti smiled at him and fired up her laptop. Jae-Hwa’s mind was preoccupied with all the words she was going to say to Dae.

“You bought your phone?” asked Dae to divert their attention from himself.

“Oh, yes!” replied Nivritti and showed him the phone.

“Wow!” screamed Dae as he saw the expensive phone. “You are rich!!”

Nivritti immediately looked behind her to see if anyone heard his scream. But every dancer was busy practising and the music was loud.

“Calm down, Dae! I am not rich. This is on EMI,” said Nivritti.

“Still!”

“You know this phone is cheaper in Korea. If I would have bought this in India, I would have gone bankrupt,” replied Nivritti.

“Really?”

“Yes, I would have to sell my kidneys,” she joked.

Dae smiled at her. Hearing about kidneys suddenly he realised, “Oh should have I told Missmatch about the medical report ASD were talking about in the chat? But again, I don’t know any details about that. From now on, I have to be super friendly with these girls. I need to know everything that is happening with them. They made a group chat, they must discuss everything. These young bastards! Why didn’t they add me to the group? Don’t they trust me? Am I not their friend? I have to pave my way and get myself added to the group somehow. You will have to work harder, Dae. Show them your nice side. Be nicer than Mother Teressa.”

He looked at Jae-Hwa. She was still trying to avoid looking at him. “Jae! Are you okay?” he asked, reluctantly.

“No, I am not,” replied Jae-Hwa.

“What?” asked Dae.

“Seong-ssi! I have to talk to you,” said Jae-Hwa.

“Anything, tell me,” said Dae.

Jae-Hwa glanced at Nivritti for support. Nivritti immediately grabbed her hand and tighten her grip. Her touch gave the necessary boost to Jae-Hwa. Dae noticed that, the glance Jae-Hwa gave to Nivritti.

“What the hell? Did this girl provoke Jae-Hwa against me?” thought Dae.

“Seong-ssi!” Jae-Hwa gulped.

“Dae, not Seong-ssi,” smiled Dae.

“Seong-ssi,” emphasised Jae-Hwa with determination. Dae’s smile faded at once. “I know you said sorry and apologised to me multiple times. When you first touched me, it was for saving me from falling down and you apologised immediately. I didn’t think about it twice but yesterday you touched me again...,” Jae-Hwa was giving a piece of her mind to Dae when the music stopped. Jae-Hwa stopped abruptly as she didn’t want to speak before everyone.

Jung-Hwa came running to Nivritti. “Did you get a new phone?” he asked and looked at Nivritti. He knew he had to act before Dae. But abruptly he felt a cold wave around him. The Rencontre team was not talking to each other, nor they were reading any scripts. Jae-Hwa’s face was red, and she was staring at Dae.

Jae-Hwa realised that her anger was visible on her face. She lowered her gaze and pulled her hands away from Nivritti’s hands. Jung-Hwa noticed the awkwardness between them.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Why is everything not okay?” asked Jeong-Eun from behind.

Nivritti closed her eyes and was about to reply when Dae smiled, “yes everything is alright. We were just discussing something about the scripts.”

“Why do I feel a chill then?” asked Jung-Hwa.

Nivritti immediately looked at him and shook her head subtly in no. He understood her gesture and shut his mouth. He opened his mouth again to change the topic, “so, show me your phone.”

Nivritti smirked at him and handed her new phone to him.

“Wow!” exclaimed Jung-Hwa. Nivritti could not hold her laughter anymore and laughed out loud.

“What?” asked Jeong-Eun, innocently. Nivritti knew they were teasing her. Nivritti just shook her head in disbelief and kept smiling.

“They are good actors,” Jae-Hwa whispered in her ear.

“Tell me about it,” replied Nivritti.

“What is happening?” asked Kyung-Soo who arrived with the rest of the team.

“Ritti got a new phone,” shouted Jung-Hwa.

“That’s good, but we are here for scripts. Concentrate on that,” scolded Kyung-Soo. Nivritti looked at him. He was avoiding looking at her and her phone. Nivritti realised that he was not as good of an actor as Jung-Hwa and Jeong-Eun.

Kyung-Soo sat next to Dae and asked him to show his selected scripts. Dae happily opened his folder and showed him the scripts. The rest of the boys too dragged Nivritti’s and Jae-Hwa’s laptops and spent half an hour reading the scripts. The scripts that they liked were marked favourites.

While everyone was busy reading scripts, Dae and Jae-Hwa were involved in a glancing match. Dae would glance at Jae-Hwa for one second and the other Jae-Hwa would glance back at him. Jae-Hwa had so much more to say to him, but ASD interrupted her mid-way.

Jung-Hwa who was sitting next to Nivritti kept staring at Dae as the laptop was far away from him and it was not possible for him to read any scripts. And being a detective, he had to know what happened between the members of the Rencontre team. Why did they abruptly shut up?

He wanted to ask Nivritti, but she had signalled him not to say another word. The curious cat in him was making him uneasy. He had to know. He was shaking his leg and fidgeting with his fingers. Nivritti who was sitting next to him was finding his jerks, annoying. She placed her hand over his thigh and looked at him.

“Calm down!” she murmured.

“Then tell me,” he mouthed back.

Nivritti sighed and looked at him, “can’t. Somethings are not for me to say.”

“That means something happened between Seong-ssi and Jae,” he whispered back.

“Shhh…” shushed Young-Chul as he was too immersed in reading a script on Jae-Hwa’s laptop.

Suddenly Jung-Hwa’s phone chimed. He looked at the phone. He had received a message from Jeong-Eun, “what you both are talking about? I heard the word ‘Jae’.” He showed the message to Nivritti. She rolled her eyes at the message.

Jeong-Eun was sitting next to Jae-Hwa, yet he heard her name. How smitten was he? Nivritti snatched Jung-Hwa’s phone and typed, “concentrate on the script, not in Jae, otherwise, I will tell NK.”

After sending the message she looked at Jeong-Eun who was staring at his phone, reading the message. He instantly looked at her, lowered his head and placed his phone back in his pocket.

“What about Jae?” pondered Jeong-Eun. He then realised that Jae-Hwa kept biting her nails. She would glance at Dae and then lower her head. His suspicions were getting wings. He really heard the word ‘Jae’. There was something going on between Dae and Jae-Hwa. He wanted to know. But he thought that it would be rude to ask about their matter.

Jae-Hwa could take no more. She grabbed Nivritti’s hand and gripped it tightly. Nivritti immediately looked at her. With confidence, Jae-Hwa looked at Dae and said, “Seong-ssi, can I talk to you outside for a minute?”

“Jae!” said Nivritti.