To Kiss An Idol

166 The Bloody Handprint

“Ow! Ow! Ow!” cried Nivritti in pain. She closed her eyes and lowered her head. She immediately stepped on her injured toe with her other leg and pressed on it hard to subside the pain. When that didn’t help, she raised her leg and held the toe tightly in his hand.

Everyone turned around to look at why she cried. Kyung-Soo stopped running and looked at her. She was on one leg and jumping in pain. She kept stepping back so that she could rest against the wall. But due to her pain, her distance perception was slightly skewed.

All stood up to look at her.

“Are you alright?” shouted Korain. But Nivritti kept her eyes closed and her jaw clenched due to the pain. Tears were streaming down her face. Kyung-Soo’s heart stopped after looking at her crying. He cursed himself for hurting her.

Him-Chan who was closest to her stood up and ran to Nivritti. One eye was closed, and she kept searching for the wall with another. She kept jumping on one foot trying to reach for the wall. Before she could reach the wall to get some support, she lost her balance and was about to fall on the floor when Him-Chan wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer to him.

Nivritti immediately opened her eyes and Him-Chan’s face appeared before her eyes. She had to let go of her leg the moment Him-Chan pulled her. Her hands landed on his chest, his fast-beating chest. Kyung-Soo froze in his path the moment he saw Nivritti in Him-Chan’s embrace.

But Nivritti had no time to think about Him-Chan or his arms around her. The tingling pain was too overwhelming. She again lowered her head and grabbed her toe.

“Bring her here, Hyung,” suggested Thae and cleared the couch for her.

“Can you walk?” asked Him-Chan. Nivritti nodded. He wrapped her arm around his shoulder and while jumping she came near the couch.

.....

Carefully Him-Chan pushed her onto the couch. Her whole leg was bursting with pain. She pressed harder on her toe to numb the feeling. After pressing for so long, she felt her toe sweating due to the heat. Kyung-Soo ran to her and knelt down near her feet.

With quivering lips and puppy eyes, he looked at her, but she still had her eyes closed, tightly, trying to deal with agony.

Suddenly, Jeong-Eun shouted, “Hyung, what is that on your coat?”

“What? Where?” Him-Chan shouted. An ugly brick-brown stain spoiled his expensive sky-blue long coat.

“She is injured, and you are fascinated with a stain?” scolded Korain.

“No, that’s not it. I think that… that is…” said Jeong-Eun.

“Blood,” Young-Chul completed the sentence.

“What?” shouted everyone and stared at the coat. There was a bloody handprint on his coat. Kyung-Soo’s brain immediately started working overtime. The stain was not there when Him-Chan entered Nivritti’s house. No one touched him except Nivritti. Her hands landed on him when he saved her from falling.

Kyung-Soo grabbed Nivritti’s arm and jerked it away to reveal the injured toe. Jae-Hwa gasped at the sight of the blood. Kyung-Soo sucked his teeth the moment he saw the broken nail. The nail was overturned due to the pressure of the impact and broke revealing red skin. The nail was hanging at the corner attached to the skin.

Nivritti sucked her teeth and shook her leg in agony.

“Do you have a first-aid box?” asked Kyung-Soo. But Nivritti didn’t reply.

“Go, look in the bedroom,” Young-Chul shouted at Jae-Hwa.

“Right! Right!” Jae-Hwa ran to the bedroom and searched all around.

Kyung-Soo grabbed her toe and pressed on it hard to stop the bleeding. He then looked at her wet face and said, “Ritti! Ritti! Look at me. You need to tell me if you have a first-aid box.”

“In the closet,” she sniffled.

“Jae! Look in the closet,” shouted Jeong-Eun and ran towards the bedroom to help her.

“PJ! Get the nail cutter too,” shouted Kyung-Soo. Jeong-Eun halted in his path to listen to Kyung-Soo and then raced inside the bedroom.

When he entered, Jae-Hwa was already standing with the first-aid box in her hand and was on the verge of closing the closet.

“Do you know where she keeps her nail cutter?” asked Jeong-Eun.

“You take this. I will look in her dressing table for a nail cutter,” said Jae-Hwa in an urgent tone.

Jeong-Eun took the box from her and ran to the living room. “Here!” he said.

Korain grabbed the box and said, “Kyungsoona! Move, I will do it.”

“But Hyung,” protested Kyung-Soo.

“You know I am better,” said Korain.

Kyung-Soo nodded and slowly removed his hand from her toe. Now his hand was red in colour. The blood stopped oozing out of her leg, but the pain was still there. The moment he removed his hand, she again started shaking her leg to match the tingling feeling.

“Ritti! You need to stop shaking your leg,” commanded Korain.

“It’s… it’s…” she sucked her teeth.

Suddenly, Kyung-Soo grabbed her shoulder and leaned over her. “Ritti! Look at me,” he said. Nivritti looked at his face and stopped sobbing. “Take deep breaths and stop shaking your leg,” he said. She gulped at the command and her shuddering breath slowed down.

“You are doing great, Kyungsoona. Keep her calm,” said Korain.

Korain opened the first-aid box and saw that everything was neatly placed in it. He took out the cotton and antiseptic liquid and softly dabbed it on her toe. She cried with pain and screamed loudly as the antiseptic liquid burned her skin.

Phu! Phu! Phu! She exhaled loudly and jerked her leg away from Korain.

“Kyungsoona!” Korain warned.

“Ritti! Grab my hand. You can press on as hard as you want. Just forget about your leg and your pain. Keep looking at me,” said Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti immediately grabbed his arm and dug her nails. He was thankful for his coat that he didn’t feel the full assault of her nails. Korain would apply the liquid and she would dig her nails further into Kyung-Soo’s arm.ƒ𝒓e𝐞we𝚋𝙣ｏ𝚟𝚎𝘭.co𝙢