42 The Narration
Everything quieted down after that. All were busy working on their scripts and all the phones were silent. Occasionally one or two phones would vibrate but the owner of the phone would immediately put them in their bag. They didn’t want Chung-Ho’s wrath.
They all knew what they did was wrong. They speculated things about Jae-Hwa when they had to support her, console her. She had been working with them for a few months and was part of their team. They had no idea why they acted like that when ASD was involved.
When Thae scolded Nivritti, they blamed her, they shunned her. Again, today they blamed Jae-Hwa just because a few bodyguards came to drop her. They would get judgy and nasty if the name of ASD was ever involved. They were just too possessive about them.
Meanwhile, Mr San broke the embrace, apologised to Nivritti for hugging her without asking and thanked her again for protecting his daughter. He said goodbye to his daughter and Chung-Ho and left. He had to talk to his team and ask them not to spread rumours about his daughter.
Nivritti went and sat in her seat. Chung-Ho came to Nivritti’s seat and asked, “are you alright?”
Before she could answer, three large men entered the script department again. Nivritti saw them and stood up. They bowed down to her and said softly in Korean as the whole department was eerily quiet, “We are leaving, ma’am.”
“Thank you for your help,” she replied.
“You did all the work. Do you need first aid?” the bodyguard showed concern.
“That’s what I came to ask too,” interrupted Chung-Ho.
.....
“No, thank you. I am fine,” replied Nivritti.
They bowed down to her again and left.
“Are you sure?” inquired Chung-Ho, again and pointed at her arm.
“CH! I am fine,” replied Nivritti, smiling.
“Okay.” He patted her head and moved back to his seat. He glanced a death stare at a few people who were looking at his and Nivritti’s interaction. They immediately went back to work.
Chung-Ho was so angry at his team, that he kept making them work harder. He would find mistakes with every script, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, every comma and kept scolding them for every mistake.
In the meantime, Jung-Hwa reached the practice room. Everyone was pacing around the room waiting for him. He was late. His bodyguards phoned ASD’s manager that they had to split up, but he didn’t go into detail as Nivritti made clear that no one can know about the incident. Everyone was concerned for Jung-Hwa.
The door flung open, and Jung-Hwa stormed in with his bodyguard. Rest three were still in transit. All the members saw him and ran up to him.
“Where were you? What happened to you? Where are your bodyguards? Why did you have to split? Are you alright?” They showered him with questions. The manager who was still on the phone disconnected his call and came running to Jung-Hwa.
“Show me your hand,” he demanded.
But Jung-Hwa was shocked. “Lee-ssi!”
“You have no idea how much pressure I had to apply but finally your bodyguards told me everything, show me your hand,” he ordered, again.
Jung-Hwa moved his hand inside his pocket instantly and answered, “I can’t. my bodyguards will hear from me once they arrive. Also, there are many people here. Someone tried hard to hide everything from the world, I cannot let her work be undone.”
“Her?” only one word ‘her’ was enough to get Kyung-Soo’s attention. Till now, he was concerned for Jung-Hwa, trying to figure out where he was and what he was hiding. One word out of his mouth and he realised he was protecting – her.
But before he could say anything, their manager, Lee shouted politely, “Everyone! Please be advised that today’s practice has been cancelled. Please leave the room in an orderly fashion. Khamshamnida! We will inform you about the next practice via email.”
Every backup dancer glanced at each other in confusion and shock and started gathering their things. After a few minutes, the room was empty except for ASD, their manager, and their bodyguards.
“Now tell us,” demanded Lee.
Jung-Hwa looked at Kyung-Soo with concern. He knew that the news was going to cause him pain. But before he could talk, there was a knock at the door and the rest three of Jung-Hwa’s bodyguards came in.
Before they could ask him the questions, Jung-Hwa blurted out, “why did you tell him everything on phone?”
“We are sorry but Lee-ssi was very persistent. He kept calling us for updates,” one of the bodyguards replied and hung his head low with shame.
“She worked hard so that no one can know what happened? What if someone was listening in on the conversation,” scolded Jung-Hwa.
“We never used your name. We made sure that the details were vague,” the bodyguard replied.
“Yes, they were vague. They just told me that something happened in the restaurant, you helped someone, you all had to split and then they said to look at your hand,” explained Lee.
“Hmm,” exhaled Jung-Hwa with relief. He again looked at his bodyguards and asked, “now tell me, is she alright? Are they both alright?”
“She is amazing!” blurted out the second bodyguard. It was clear that everyone involved in the restaurant fiasco was impressed by Nivritti.
“Excuse me!” exclaimed Jung-Hwa.
“Well, when we reached the K&Q building all started talking nonsense about you and the other girl, Jae something,” narrated the second bodyguard. Hearing the word Jae, Jeong-Eun jerked his head up and stared at Jung-Hwa’s bodyguard.
“What?” inquired Jung-Hwa.
“Yeah, because we are your bodyguards, they started talking about your and her relationship, no one was ready to listen to us. She kept crying and telling them that she was bullied by four men and now they all were doubting her, but no one was ready to listen. We could hear them typing and messaging on their phones. We even tried talking to them, but no one was listening to us as well. Then she arrived, she just rained hellfire on them,” answered the second bodyguard.
“Yeah, I heard everything. She was on fire. She ripped everyone apart and took your and that girl’s side. I was standing at the script department door and these two were making sure that everyone would return to their department,” continued the third bodyguard.
“Um... sorry, everyone to their department?” Kyung-Soo asked as he had no idea what the bodyguard was implying.
“Yes, the whole corridor of the 11th floor was occupied by people from every department to get the gossip after they heard that we dropped a girl,” the third bodyguard explained and rolled his eyes.
“I tell you these K&Q employees, they are too much sometimes,” shouted Jeong-Eun. He was furious on Jae-Hwa’s behalf. He was more furious that everyone tried to associate her with Jung-Hwa.
“Enough with the suspense, will you tell us what happened?” screamed Kyung-Soo. He had enough. He knew who they were talking about, and he wanted every detail.
Jung-Hwa gulped, “okay, you send me to get lunch from that new restaurant.”
“Yes, so?” shrieked Kyung-Soo.
“When we reached there, we were still outside when we saw a bunch of men harassing two girls inside that restaurant,” Jung-Hwa started his narration. Kyung-Soo’s eyes widened. He realised what he was about to hear. His body started shaking with fear and anger. He clenched his fists tightly. “And no one was helping them. Girls were, Jae-Hwa and Ritti,” narrated Jung-Hwa hesitantly.
“What??!!” everyone shouted at once. They knew that the bodyguards were talking about Jae-Hwa and a girl but were shocked to know that the girl was Nivritti. But Kyung-Soo was furious and concerned.
“First, they were holding Jae-Hwa’s hand and we saw Nivritti saying something and they let Jae-Hwa go. But then they held Ritti’s arm and pulled her by her waist.” There was a collective gasp. Him-Chan gritted his teeth. Kyung-Soo’s eyes started shooting fire. Jung-Hwa was actively trying to avoid looking at him. He knew his Hyung would be enraged. Yet Jung-Hwa continued, “but she was not afraid, I was very impressed. She twisted his finger and got out of his grip. But then another man moved forward to hit her. I could see no longer, and we all ran in and I... I punched that man.”
“You did what?” shouted Korain.
“Why didn’t you intervene sooner?” screamed Kyung-Soo.
“You told me to stay away from violence,” protested Jung-Hwa. “Anyway, I intervened as fast I as could. I reacted as they were about to hit her, and I could not see that. Then she made sure that no one would record me and even made the restaurant delete all the footage and gave the manager a piece of her mind. The only footage of the whole drama is in her phone.”
“What happened to those men?” inquired Young-Chul.
“They ran away, Ritti made them do that,” replied Jung-Hwa.
“What? Why was the police not called?” demanded Him-Chan.
“Ritti avoided that, for me. If the police would have come, it would have gotten out in the world that I punched someone,” explained Jung-Hwa.
“So what, it was not a blind act of violence, you were helping people,” snapped Kyung-Soo.
“No, Ritti was right, violence is never good. She handled the situation just by talking and a simple act of self-defence. I punched that man violently. She said that our fans love us, and we are their idols. We have to lead by example. Moreover, if our fans would have found out that I saved a girl, the overzealous fans would have started saying nasty things about her. They would have made her life hell,” educated Jung-Hwa.
Everyone realised he was right, Nivritti was right.
“That girl!” murmured Kyung-Soo. His heart was jumping up and down in heart as he wanted to see her eagerly.
“Now, show us your hand,” said Lee. Jung-Hwa took his hand out and showed it to everyone.
Everyone gasped. “Oh, your knuckles,” shouted Korain.
“That’s nothing. You should see her arm,” blurted out Jung-Hwa.
“What? Why?” demanded Kyung-Soo.
Jung-Hwa closed his eyes on his blunder and murmured, “shit!” He then exhaled and answered, “the man grabbed her arm with all his strength. There are four purple marks on her arm.”
Smoke came out of Kyung-Soo’s ears. He was mad to hear that she was injured.
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