To Kiss An Idol

167 The Bandage

Everyone was staring at her bloody toe and cringing at the dangling nail and her ripped skin. Kyung-Soo kept his expression neutral not showing the pain he was feeling as Nivritti kept tightening her grip on his arm.

“Here!” Jae-Hwa came running with the nail cutter.

“Ritti! This is going to hurt as I am going to cut your skin,” warned Korain.

“I can do it. I will do it,” she shouted and leaned forward towards her leg, but Kyung-Soo was in her way. His face was in her way. She immediately leaned her head away from his face.

“My arms-,” he pointed at his hands, “-your fingernails-,” he signalled at her nail, “-just sit back, here, take my arm, close your eyes and sit back,” commanded Kyung-Soo.

“But it will hurt,” she sobbed. Young-Chul approached her, grabbed his sleeves, and wiped her cheeks.

“Yes, it will hurt. But something tells me you can endure it,” said Young-Chul. “It is a matter of a few seconds. Just close your eyes and it will be done.”

“Done!” shouted Korain.

“What?” yelled Nivritti, shocked.

.....

“Yeah, he distracted you and I cut your nail,” replied Korain with pride. “I will put the band-aid now.”

“No, band-aid won’t cut it. We need to put on a proper bandage,” interrupted Jae-Hwa. Everyone looked at her, puzzled. “Trust me, having a doctor in the family, I know few things.”

“Okay,” replied Korain and moved away to give space to Jae-Hwa. She knelt down, placed an antiseptic cream on her wound and covered it with clean cotton. She then wrapped the bandage and covered her toe completely.

“Do you think she needs a tetanus shot?” inquired Him-Chan.

“I had one before I came to Korea. I was asked to be updated on every vaccine and shot,” replied Nivritti.

“Okay?” asked Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti nodded and finally Kyung-Soo removed his hands from her shoulders. She turned to look at Young-Chul and said, “thank you.” He slightly smiled at her. She then looked at Korain and Him-Chan and thanked them too. f𝐫𝑒𝗲𝙬𝒆𝚋𝐧૦𝘃𝗲l.c𝚘𝘮

“You are welcome,” said Korain. Jae-Hwa closed the first-aid box and placed it on the table. Everyone sat, some on the couch, some on the floor and sighed heavily.

“Can’t you see and run?” shouted Kyung-Soo, abruptly.

“Did you have to tell Jae-Hwa about Jae-Geun?” she shouted back and wiped her tears.

“She is our friend, she must know everything,” teased Kyung-Soo.

“And you must get a beating,” snapped Nivritti.

“Hey!” shouted Korain. “Tom and Jerry! Enough! She is injured because of you, and you are still fighting,” Korain rebuked Kyung-Soo and hit him on the back of his head.

“Sorry, Hyung!” replied Kyung-Soo.

“And you!” he shouted at Nivritti. “He is right, can’t you see and run?”

“Why are you shouting at me? I am injured,” pouted Nivritti and tears again started flowing from her eyes.

“Oh, oh, shit! Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you,” apologised Korain.

“Don’t worry, he gets a little scary when he gets angry,” comforted Him-Chan.

“Do you guys smell something?” asked Jung-Hwa, sniffling.

“Oh shit!” shouted Jae-Hwa, suddenly and jumped from the couch.

“What?” asked Jeong-Eun.

“My kimchi fried eggs. Ahh… they are burned,” she sulked and instantly ran to the kitchen.

“You mean you guys were preparing breakfast?” asked Korain.

“Yeah!” replied Jae-Hwa, scrapping the burnt eggs from the pan. She switched off the burner and slapped the pan on the counter. “Shit!”

“You guys didn’t have breakfast till now?” asked Jung-Hwa. Nivritti shook her head in no.

“I jumped from the bed after she screamed and banged the door in your faces. I told you before going to the bathroom,” replied Nivritti.

“Ooh! Yeah, right. Sorry,” said Jung-Hwa.

“Let me help you, Jae!” offered Jeong-Eun.

“Yeah, I can eat again,” smiled Jung-Hwa.

“Fine, I will help too,” said Kyung-Soo and moved towards the kitchen.

“No!!!” everyone shouted at once except Jae-Hwa. All looked at everyone and then halted at Nivritti. They knew why they shouted as Kyung-Soo was a disaster in the kitchen, but they had no idea why Nivritti shouted.

“Why did you shout?” asked Jung-Hwa, mischievously. Kyung-Soo looked at him and tucked his lower lips between his teeth. He squinted his eyes, and his eyes threw daggers at Jung-Hwa.

Nivritti gulped after realising that every eye was on her and waiting for her answer. “Um…” she gulped again. “Um… he has blood on his hands. He needs to wash it before handling things in the kitchen,” her quick brain immediately thought of an excuse.

“Oh, right, blood,” laughed Thae. “We thought you know about him and his relationship with the kitchen.”

“His relationship with a kitchen?” asked Nivritti.

“Yeah, if you leave him alone, he will burn down the whole house,” Him-Chan rolled his eyes.

Nivritti stared at Kyung-Soo and with a smirk on her face, teased him, “reallllyy!!”

“Yaaa! Himchana!” shouted Kyung-Soo.

“Well, that is true,” taunted Korain. Everyone started laughing at Kyung-Soo. He folded his arm over his chest and sat on the couch, pouting.

“I am coming, Jae,” Nivritti started to get up from her seat.

“Sit down!” everyone shouted at once.

She looked at everyone with widened eyes and slowly sat back in her seat.

“Don’t you dare move! God knows what you will break next,” shouted Kyung-Soo.

“Ha-ha, Hyung you break things, she breaks bones,” laughed Jung-Hwa. Nivritti immediately hit him on the back of his head.

“Ow!” he cried.

“One from me too,” ordered Kyung-Soo. But before Nivritti could hit him, Jung-Hwa stood up and ran to the kitchen.

Korain too took off his coat and went into the kitchen to help others. Jung-Hwa collected his and Jeong-Eun’s coat and hung them on the hangar near the main door.

While Korain, Jung-Hwa, Jeong-Eun, and Jae-Hwa cleaned the utensils and started working on breakfast from the scratch, all others sat in the living room quietly.

“Feeling, okay?” asked Young-Chul.

“Better,” replied Nivritti.

“Pain?” he asked again.

“Bearable,” she replied.

“Good! Take rest and don’t wear any shoes for a few days,” he ordered.

“Yes, doctor,” she teased. Thae and Him-Chan sniggered at her tease.

“You think you are so funny,” snapped Young-Chul and looked away from her. She smiled sweetly at his fake coldness.