81 The Neckline
Nivritti was trying hard not to laugh. Kyung-Soo was standing before her staring at her with squinted eyes and a bundle of clothes in his hands. He let go of the clothes and ran his fingers through his hair and his forehead was now visible.
It was not visible because of his mask but he was smiling and looking at Nivritti. Just a day before he saw her crying all night, pouring her heart out. It was good to see her happy and smiling. He was thankful to Jae-Hwa.
“Try the dresses and show me,” shouted Jae-Hwa from outside the door.
“Okay!” said Nivritti. And again, one look at Kyung-Soo and she had to control her laughter.
“Oh, you find this funny,” Kyung-Soo lowered his mask and spoke. Nivritti widened her eyes and again shut his mouth with her hand. His back again landed on the wall.
“Shh... she is outside,” she scolded and placed one finger on her lips to signal him to keep quiet.
“What did you say?” shouted Jae-Hwa.
Nivritti angrily looked at Kyung-Soo and whispered, “she heard you.” She then cleared her throat and shouted, “nothing. I was just saying that go find something for yourself and try those dresses. We are here for you, not for me, go, Jae, go.”
“Okay, okay, I am going,” said Jae-Hwa and her footsteps faded away.
.....
The moment Jae-Hwa left, Nivritti let all her inhibitions go and laughed out loud. His heart leapt out of his chest after looking at her beautiful, laughing face. He contorted his lips to avoid laughing with her, but he was unable to hide his smile. And then he laughed with her, loudly.
Adoringly looking at her, he kept laughing with her. The fine lines around her eyes, the raised cheeks, the lifted lips, and her pearly whites were enchanting. She threw her head back and kept laughing loudly. It was then Kyung-Soo noticed her smooth neck and the plunging neckline of the dress. He gasped after realising that she was wearing a revealing dress and it was the second time he was looking at her bra.
Up until now, he was concentrating on her sweet face but now his eyes stared at her smooth, wheatish skin. He could not understand how she could look good in every colour, and in that dress, she was looking smoking hot. The air-conditioning of the mall failed. He started sweating. He gulped and immediately averted his eyes. Placing a finger inside the collar of his shirt, he shook the fabric to let the air pass as he suddenly started feeling hot.
But Nivritti was oblivious to what was happening with Kyung-Soo, she was too busy laughing at him. She would sometimes throw her head back and laugh at him and other times she would hold her stomach and keep laughing. Unconsciously, she again threw her head backwards and laughed. But this time her legs too stepped back, and her shoes landed on her white dress.
The slippery white dress had no friction and hence, her foot slipped. She tried to balance herself, but she failed. It was almost certain that she was going to fall. But Kyung-Soo grabbed her palm firmly and pulled her strongly towards him. He let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist and held her safely.
Her hands landed on his chest and her laugh immediately vanished. Her open hair finally rested over his arm. Nivritti’s eyes landed on his eyes. Those mesmerizing eyes were staring into her soul. No matter how hard she tried to stay away from him, no matter how hard she tried to push him away, someway or the other she always landed in his arms.
Her brain always told her to stay away from him, but her heart felt safe with him. Now he was the only person outside her family who knew everything about her, her good memories, her bad memories, her achievements, her failures, her proud moment, her guilt, everything. She was way closer to him now.
She realised that somehow, she always felt close to him. She felt that way when she met him for the first time. Why she hugged him, cried on his chest, and kissed him during the very first meet, she had no explanation.
Even now she could feel his rapid heart rate. She had no idea how much time had passed since she landed in his arms. She was breathing heavily while staring into his beautiful eyes. Unconsciously, she did what she always used to do when she was nervous, she licked her lips and gulped.
“Shit!” Kyung-Soo immediately shouted and let her go. He closed his eyes and shook his head in disbelief.
“What?” asked Nivritti.
“As if you don’t know,” Kyung-Soo raised one eyebrow.
“I licked... my lips,” inquired Nivritti.
“Yes,” Kyung-Soo replied. He kept answering her but would glance at her for a second and would avert his eyes instantly. He didn’t want to look at her cleavage, but his eyes were not obeying him.
Nivritti observed his awkward expression and found it bizarre. She could not understand why he was behaving like that. Why was he avoiding looking at her? First, she looked behind her to see if something was there, but just a wall stared at her. She then looked in the mirror to see if she had something on her face, but it was clear too.
And then her eyes landed on the yellow dress that she was wearing. Her cleavage was staring into her face. She instantaneously placed her palms over her skin trying to hide it and turned away from Kyung-Soo, embarrassed.
“Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! How can I forget about my neckline?” she murmured. She wanted to hide her face with her hands but that would mean that she would have to expose her neckline.
Kyung-Soo understood that she was feeling ashamed.
“I will leave you alone,” said Kyung-Soo but she never looked at him. He started collecting his clothes and unlocked the door. The moment he was about to step out, he came back in with a jolt, locked the door, and stood in front of it with his back sticking to it. It was clear that he was trying to block the door with his large body.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” he shouted.
Nivritti was concerned with his sudden behaviour. She just turned her head towards him and asked, “what happened?” his face had fear written all over it.
“Jal saeng-gin namja! Jal saeng-gin namja!” a woman’s voice reached inside.
R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at f(r)eew𝒆bnovel.com Only