109 The Gifts
Everyone was looking at Nivritti with concern. Thae was feeling bad, extremely bad. The moment she screamed all the boys came and stood near her. Luckily, the dance team was yet to arrive and no one else saw the drama being unfolded.
She drank the whole bottle of water in an instant and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Jae-Hwa took out a tissue from her purse and wiped Nivritti’s cheeks and got rid of the tears glistening on her face.
“Thank you,” she whispered to Jae-Hwa. Jae-Hwa just blinked once at her and smiled. Nivritti could feel everyone breathing around her.
She realised that someone was more upset than her because he had to send his beloved dog away. She looked at Thae and started apologising profusely, “I am sorry, I am sorry, TK.”
He immediately held her shoulder and asked, “what are you talking about?”
“You had to send your dog away because of me,” she cried.
His mouth fell open with shock. He pulled her close and hugged her tightly. “Oh my god! Are you an idiot? There is nothing to be sorry about. I am sorry that you had to face your fear again. I am sorry for the pain.”
Kyung-Soo smiled at their interaction. He loved the way Thae was holding her and consoling her. The moment he heard the sentence out of Nivritti’s mouth, he shook his head in disbelief. She was scared yet she was thinking about Thae. She felt bad that he had to send his dog away because of her.
“But you love him,” said Nivritti.
.....
“Yes, I love him, but I care for you too. It was time for him to go home. What will he do here while I rehearse?” he asked.
“Still, I am sorry,” she sniffled.
“Ritti! You don’t have to be sorry,” said Young-Chul. “Anyway, Yong hates being in midst of a crowd and loud music. We were about to send him away, but we were late.” Nivritti lifted her head up and smiled at Young-Chul. Sweetly, he patted her head.
“Are you okay, now?” asked Kyung-Soo.
She broke the embrace and turned around to look at Kyung-Soo. She loudly gasped the moment she saw him. He knew why she gave that reaction. He was wearing the brown jacket that she suggested to him. The brown jacket with black buttons everywhere was making him look like a biker bad boy. His porcelain skin in contrast to brown and black made him look even more enticing.
“How can someone be so handsome? It is not fair to others,” she thought. She realised that everyone was waiting for her reply, so she cleared her throat and replied, “I am okay, now. Thank you for asking.”
“Ritti!” interrupted Korain.
“Yes, SK.”
“Pull up your sleeve,” he demanded.
“Excuse me!” she was surprised at his request.
“He wants to see your injury,” explained Jung-Hwa.
“Oh, it’s fine,” replied Nivritti.
“We are sorry for not asking you about that. We were hesitant to call you. We didn’t think that it was a good idea to call and disturb you,” educated Korain.
“Nonsense! You guys can call me anytime,” said Nivritti.
“Okay, will keep that in mind. Now, your sleeve,” Korain pointed at her arm.
Dejected, she scoffed and pulled her sleeve up. Four faint black marks were visible on her hand. “See it’s fine now,” she said.
Young-Chul grabbed her arm and brought her arm closer to his eyes. “Yeah, it looks slightly better.” He touched the marks with his finger and softly traced over the mark. “Any pain?”
“None. I am fine,” she replied. Young-Chul let go of her hand and then she turned towards Jung-Hwa. “What about your hand?”
“Better than yours,” answered Jung-Hwa.
“By the way what is all this?” asked Jeong-Eun.
“Oh right! I forgot. I brought something for you guys. Hope you will like it,” said Nivritti.
“For us?” asked Kyung-Soo, excited and surprised.
She picked up all the bags and one by one handed them to all the members. “I didn’t know what to get you guys. What can you give to the people who have everything?”
“But why?” asked Thae.
“For helping me and standing with me in front of Mr. Hu,” replied Nivritti.
“What???” shouted Korain. “Of course, we would have stood with you. You were right and you saved this idiot...,” he patted Jung-Hwa on his back. “...and saved our company from a big scandal. It would have eclipsed our Rencontre.”
“I would never have let that happen. My blood, sweat and tears are now invested in Rencontre,” replied Nivritti which made everyone laugh. “Okay, okay, open your gifts and if you don’t like the colour, you can exchange them with others.”
All opened their gifts and saw the pretty pastel-coloured scarves.
“Woah! Wow!” everyone exclaimed at the same moment. “These are pretty. I love it. This is my favourite colour,” everyone kept talking over each other.
She looked at Jae-Hwa who smiled at her. Both were glad that the men liked the scarves. Nivritti then looked at everyone who let go of the box and were wrapping the scarves around their neck. Young-Chul and Him-Chan exchanged their blue and yellow scarves, and all looked happy.
Nivritti was shocked to see that the moment the white scarf was revealed everyone handed the scarf to Kyung-Soo saying that it was his favourite colour. She was extremely glad to see that the scarf she wanted for him somehow reached him.
“Um... what is in it?” asked Jung-Hwa, pointing towards the last bag that was still on the floor.
“First promise me you will not get smug,” said Nivritti.
“Smug! I am never smug,” pouted Jung-Hwa.
“Okay, then. This is for you,” she said.
He gasped with child-like excitement and shrieked, “two gifts?”
“Yes. You first saved me, I just returned the favour,” she smiled at him.
“Two gifts! Two gifts,” without opening the second gift he started shouting in a sing-song voice and stuck his tongue at Thae.
“Not smug, at all,” teased Nivritti. Everyone again laughed out loud.
While all this was unfolding, while Nivritti was handing over the gifts, Dae quietly moved towards the bench that was supposed to be their working station and placed his bag on it. He now understood what was in the bag. It meant that she brought a gift for Chung-Ho too.
And what everyone was talking about? How did she save Jung-Hwa? How did she save K&Q from a scandal? What happened on Friday that only these people knew and no one else? It was clear that it had something to do with Jae-Hwa and Jung-Hwa and Nivritti had an important role in that.
He had been working for ASD since the beginning but they were not that close to him. This girl came just a few weeks ago and they acted as if they knew her for ages. She even bought gifts for everyone but forgot him. He too worked with her. Not that he needed something from her, but a gesture would have been much appreciated.
He rolled his eyes at every one of them and switched on his laptop. He had no interest in what they were doing. He noted that she didn’t bring anything for Jae-Hwa, still, she was happy. Why was she happy? Why everyone loved Nivritti so much?
Yeah, she was intelligent, had good ideas but he was more experienced. Chung-Ho favoured her over him. He outright rejected his idea but loved her idea even though it was just her second day. What hold did she have on everyone? Why everyone fell in love with her? That was gradually making him despise her.
“Oh my!” exclaimed Him-Chan after Jung-Hwa opened the box and took out the white hoodie.
“This is beautiful, thank you,” shirked Jung-Hwa with happiness and hugged Nivritti dearly.
“You are welcome. The moment I saw this hoodie, I imagined you in it,” replied Nivritti.
“Thank you, Ritti,” said Korain.
“You are welcome.”
“But you didn’t have to get anything for us,” said Kyung-Soo.
Nivritti looked at him again and the wind was knocked out of her chest. The white scarf around his neck looked more beautiful after being around his handsome face. She gulped and replied, “it’s just appreciation for you all for sticking with me. World-famous idols standing up for a mere employee means something to me.”
“Hey!” scolded Thae. “What do you mean by ‘mere employee’? You are our friend, do you understand?”
“Sorry!” said Nivritti defeated. “Then accept these gifts as a present from your friend.”
“That’s better.”
“Let’s start our work before the dance crew arrives. I won’t get time after that,” requested Kyung-Soo.
“Yeah, we can help too,” offered Korain.
“Okay, let’s go,” said Nivritti.
Jae-Hwa bent down to pick up her laptop bag which she let go to take care of Nivritti. But before she could pick that up, Jeong-Eun reached for the bag to help her. Their hands touched each other at the same time. Both gasped simultaneously and pulled their hands back.
Their eyes met and both were back in the parking lot hiding from everyone. Jae-Hwa immediately lowered her eyes with shyness, but Jeong-Eun loved her expression. He bit his lips to avoid smiling at her. He was aware of his surroundings and didn’t want anyone to know about his feelings for Jae-Hwa.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m