To Kiss An Idol

Chapter 10: The Tiff

Everyone was sharing their ideas, but Nivritti was standing still, silent. The only time she reacted was to cheer Jae-Hwa. Chung-Ho being as observant as ever noticed that. He knew she was still reeling with feelings about what happened yesterday. All she needed was a little compassion and encouragement.

“Do you have any ideas to share with us, Nivritti?” asked Chung-Ho, calmly.

She was avoiding eye contact with everyone. She just glanced at him and without looking into his eyes, silently answered “yes”.

“Go on then,” Chung-Ho gave her a nudge.

She looked around, all eyes were on her. She exhaled loudly and calmed herself. She would occasionally look at Chung-Ho and started describing her idea. Everyone was looking at her which made her nervous, but Chung-Ho nodded at her, and Jae-Hwa held her hand which gave her confidence.

She kept speaking and speaking and describing her idea. Jaws dropped on the floor. Everyone who was looking at her with contempt had awe in their eyes after hearing her idea. Her idea was awesome. The board didn’t matter anymore after her idea.

Chung-Ho kept staring at her with his mouth open. After she was finished, she looked at him and gulped hard. But no one spoke. Everyone kept staring at her.

.....

“So, any comment?” she asked Chung-Ho.

Her question jolted him out of his shock. He knew Nivritti was brilliant but was seeing her brilliance for the first time. Her previous employers had nothing to say but good things about her. They even said that they were sorry that she was moving on. The performance review she received from her previous employers cemented her position in the K&Q media company.

“That was brilliant, Nivritti,” shouted Chung-Ho. “Why were you so reluctant to share your idea?”

“Why wouldn’t she be, no one has talked to her since yesterday. Every one of you treated her like a leper,” Jae-Hwa scolded everyone.

“Jae-Hwa,” Chung-Ho calmed her down. He then looked at Nivritti. “Listen Nivritti, I know you are feeling uneasy as this is only your second day on the job and after what happened with Kat yesterday, you are scared. But remember we are here for you; you just need to keep working hard and presenting beautiful ideas,” said Chung-Ho with all the love he could muster.

“Thank you, Mr Choi,” smiled Nivritti.

“Now, do you know where the photocopy room is?” asked Chung-Ho.

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“Yes, Jae-Hwa gave me a tour of the building yesterday,” smiled Nivritti.

“You need to make a few copies of your presentation; Hu-ssi will need to approve your idea and you need to present it to him. If he rejects them, then we will keep working on the ideas on the whiteboard but present them just like you did now. Don’t worry, you won’t be alone, senior members of the script team, finance team and marketing team will be there. Also, our CEO is a very kind man so don’t get nervous,” informed Chung-Ho.

“Absolutely, Mr Choi. How many copies should I make?” asked Nivritti.

“Make at least fifteen for now. And please ask for help if you need it,” Chung-Ho patted her shoulder with adoration.

“Sure, Mr Choi.”

“The meeting is adjourned, we will meet again if something goes wrong with Nivritti’s idea. All of you return to your seats,” announced Chung-Ho.

Nivritti was the first to exit the room. She ran to her cubicle and sat down in her chair. She exhaled a big puff of air and let go of her tension and nervousness. Suddenly she felt that everyone was staring at her, that all the eyes were on her. she looked around and every one stopped looking at her and went to their seats. They all were impressed by her.

“Congratulations,” Jae-Hwa hugged her from the back to congratulate her.

“I can hear my heartbeat,” Nivritti was still nervous but slowly her heartbeat was slowing down.

“Girl! I can hear your heartbeat,” teased Jae-Hwa.

“Ha-ha. I was so nervous,” smiled Nivritti.

“Everyone saw that. But you were great,” Jae-Hwa was ecstatic for her.

“Thank you.”

Chung-Ho went to his seat and picked up his phone. He called the CEO and informed him that they were ready with the idea and that he should come down to the script department. As soon as Bong received the news, he called Kyung-Soo and asked him to reach the script department and wait for him in the conference room.

Nivritti made a few changes to her idea and structured the sentences better than before and gave the command to print. She ran to the copy room to get her printouts. It took her some time to wait for fifteen copies. After she was done with the copies, she went back to her seat.

“Nivritti!” Chung-Ho addressed her.

“Yes, Mr Choi,” Nivritti stood up to look at him.

“Are you ready with the copies?” inquired Chung-Ho.

“Yes, Mr Choi.”

“Could you go to the conference room and set your copies before every seat so that everything would be ready before Hu-ssi arrives?” asked Chung-Ho politely.

“Sure, Mr Choi.”

“Thank you, we will start the meeting as soon as Hu-ssi arrives,” enlightened Chung-Ho. Nivritti just smiled at him and nodded.

She stood up taking all the copies in her hand and went to the conference room. She neatly arranged all the paper and started keeping a copy in front of every chair. She was looking away from the door busy arranging the papers when she heard the click of the doorknob.

She thought Chung-Ho came to see whether she was doing her job properly. She turned around and her eyes widened. Kyung-Soo was standing before her. He was completely blocking the door, she had nowhere to run this time.

She kept staring at him with an open mouth, but nothing came out of her mouth. He was wearing a black turtleneck and brown pants. The black colour against his beautiful skin was making him radiant. One look at him and her throat dried.

She cleared her throat, mustered some courage, and asked, “what are you doing here?”

“You called me,” replied Kyung-Soo, casually.

“Excuse me!” exclaimed Nivritti.

“Didn’t the script team call a meeting?” questioned Kyung-Soo. She understood what he was saying, he was there for the Rencontre meeting.

“No one said anything about idols attending the meeting,” Nivritti was shocked. She thought she just had to present her idea before the CEO but now she had to present it before Kyung-Soo too. The man she was unable to face, she would have to face him for the whole presentation.

“One member of our team usually attends these meetings,” informed Kyung-Soo.

“Oh okay, well the meeting is not going to start for a few minutes. Mr Hu has not arrived yet. So, you can wait here,” said Nivritti.

She was done with placing all the papers on their proper seat, so she started moving toward the door. She tried walking past him and out of the room but before she could reach the door Kyung-Soo locked the door and looked at her.

Nivritti was taken aback. She never thought he would do anything before so many people. Anyone could enter the conference room at any given moment. “What do you think you are doing?” panicked Nivritti.

“Calm down. I just want to talk to you about what happened yesterday,” said Kyung-Soo coolly.

She knew what he wanted to talk about, but she was not ready for it. She wanted to forget the previous day completely. “Before you speak, let me be very clear; this is the first time I’m meeting you. I have never seen you face to face before in my life. So, I have no idea what happened yesterday or what you want to talk to me about,” Nivritti put her foot down.

“What?” Kyung-Soo was shocked and confused. They kissed yesterday, he clearly remembered that. He can never forget that kiss, but this girl was saying that this was the first time she was seeing him. Did she lose her mind? He scratched his head, “do you suddenly have amnesia? You cried in my arms and kis...”

Before he could complete his sentence, she got on her toe and placed her palm on his mouth to shut him up.

“Yeah, be louder. Just this floor heard you, let’s announce it to the world,” she gritted her teeth.

He smiled and removed her hand from his face but never let go of her hand.

“So, you remember everything,” smirked Kyung-Soo.

“Fine, I remember everything. But it will be beneficial for both of us to forget what happened and make sure it never happens in future. Do you understand me?” whispered Nivritti, urgently.

“No, I don’t. Why would I deny something that actually happened?” Kyung-Soo was unable to understand this girl. Whatever she was speaking was confusing him even more.

“Oh my God! Are you for real? Okay fine, we kissed, and it was a mistake which will never ever happen again,” shouted Nivritti yet it was more like a whisper.

After hearing the word ‘mistake’ Kyung-Soo released her hand automatically and kept staring at her angrily.

“Mistake?!” He scoffed. “I’ll admit that kissing you without your consent was wrong but while we were kissing nothing felt wrong.”

Nivritti knew whatever he just said was right. Nothing about that kiss felt wrong. But she had to avoid making more mistakes, she had to get away from him. “Listen Nam Kyung-Soo, that is too long, can I call you NK, okay I will call you NK.” Kyung-Soo just nodded. “You acknowledge that there is a power dynamic between us.”

Kyung-Soo was still confused. “What are you talking about? I am an employee of K&Q just like you. What power dynamic?”

“Yeah, but you are an employee that can get me fired but I can never do that.” She pointed toward both herself and Kyung-Soo and said, “so, this... will never be successful.”

He smiled at her and stepped forward, “so, you think something can happen between us.”

Nivritti exhaled in frustration and looked below. She then screamed in whispers to Kyung-Soo, “oh my God! Are you dumb? Okay, I was trying not to be rude, but let me be blunt, I don’t like you. God! I hate young people.”

As soon as she finished speaking, she crossed Kyung-Soo, unlocked the door, and ran away from there leaving Kyung-Soo perplexed.

“Young people?!! What did she mean by young people? How old does she think she is? 80? She is younger than me, right? Oh shit, now I don’t know her age as well as her name. I am an idiot,” he scolded himself.