To Kiss An Idol

200 The Lie on the Fly

Everyone was picking up on the uncomfortability and chill in the air. They had never seen Jae-Hwa so distraught. She was shy and silent all the time but never angry. She just demanded that Dae should follow her to talk. Even Nivritti was shocked.

“Just a minute, Seong-ssi,” emphasised Jae-Hwa.

“Okay, let’s go outside,” replied Dae.

Jae-Hwa let go of Nivritti’s hand and stood up. Dae followed suit. Nivritti too started standing up when Jae-Hwa stopped her, “stay! It’s fine.”

Nivritti kept staring at Jae-Hwa with worry written all over her face. Jae-Hwa nodded at her and placed her hands on her shoulder to assure her. Nivritti licked her lips and nodded back at her.

This was the moment Kyung-Soo realised that something was wrong. Nivritti always licked her lips when she would be nervous. So, why was she nervous if Jae-Hwa wanted to talk to Dae? And what was the matter that Jae-Hwa couldn’t discuss before ASD? Why she looked so angry, Jae-Hwa never looked angry except to shout at Nivritti at times.

Dae and Jae-Hwa left the room and closed the door behind them.

“What was that?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“What?” asked Nivritti, casually.

.....

“Ritti!!” emphasised Kyung-Soo. He lowered his head slightly and with raised eyebrows stared at her.

“I really don’t know. All I know is they had a little fight about scripts yesterday when he dropped her at her home,” she lied and gulped as her throat was getting dry. She exhaled a big puff of air and unconsciously licked her lips.

“She is lying! Why is she lying?” Kyung-Soo immediately picked up on her expressions. She was actively trying to avoid looking at Kyung-Soo.

“Forget about them and focus on scripts. We have to give an update to Mr. Hu in a few days. Please help us out,” she requested.

When everyone again looked at the laptops, she turned her head to stare at the door. She was shaking her leg nervously and kept licking her lips. Every few minutes she kept staring at the door to see if Jae-Hwa was back.

She wanted to run outside to help Jae-Hwa. She had no idea what was happening outside. Was she shouting at Dae? Would Dae listen to her concern? Would he understand her position or would Nivritti’s suggestion backfire? He was famous for firing people. Would he fire Jae-Hwa too?

Nivritti kept clenching and unclenching her fists. When that didn’t calm her down, she started fidgeting with her fingers. Jeong-Eun who was now sitting next to her noticed every fidget, every shake, every expression. He tried hard to concentrate on the scripts, but Nivritti’s constant motion kept distracting him.

Jae-Hwa dragged Dae outside and walked into a corner. Dae knew she wanted to finish her conversation about him touching her. Although he liked touching her, he would have to act as if he made a mistake. Now he had to be in everyone’s good books so that he could gather news about ASD and inform everything to Missmatch. He was ready to accept his mistake.

But no matter how much he tried he could not forget the sensation he felt when he touched Jae-Hwa. Her tiny waist in his arms, her beautiful face close to his eyes, her soft skin in his hand made him feel young again.

What he didn’t expect was the feeling he would get after touching Nivritti. He knew she was older than Jae-Hwa but her skin was softer. And the whiff of lavender he caught when he used to stand next to her was overwhelming. The sweet smell would make him hate her more. He wanted to touch her too, but his hate would come in between.

“I know what you are going to say,” said Dae, condescendingly.

Jae-Hwa didn’t appreciate his tone. “No, you don’t. You can’t guess it in million years. You really can’t tell what a woman is about to tell you and never interrupt someone even before they started to speak.”

“Sorry!” ƒ𝔯ℯe𝘄𝐞𝐛𝒏𝐨ѵ𝘦𝒍. com

“So, as I was saying, I appreciate that you apologised to me, but I hate that you keep repeating your mistake again and again. When you touched me yesterday, I felt dirty. I know that was not your intention, and it matters too but my feeling and my sixth sense matter too. I didn’t like you touching me. You are my senior, you are my mentor, it is your duty to guide me, teach me, make me good in my job but please do it without touching me again,” rebuked Jae-Hwa.

“Jae! I would never do anything to make you feel you feel uncomfortable,” said Dae.

“But you did. Your touch made me feel uneasy. We were talking nicely, why did you have to place your hand over my thigh?” she asked.

“I was not thinking along that line. I was just being friendly. I apologise again. I assure you that will never happen again. If that happens again, you can report me to HR,” Dae joined his hand and bowed down to her.

“Please don’t do that. You are a senior,” Jae-Hwa felt bad.

“No, I am sorry, really sorry. But you know I am married, and I love my wife so much. I will never do anything to hurt her or any lady for that matter. I promise you I will never touch you again, you never even have to shake hands with me again. I will keep in mind to respect your personal space. You can keep sitting next to Nivritti, I am fine with it. All I want is for you to tell me if you feel uncomfortable with me ever again,” requested Dae.

Jae-Hwa being soft at heart took every word coming from his mouth as an apology. What she didn’t understand was that he was being a manipulator. The thing about not touching her ever again, not shaking hands with her was said to make her feel bad about herself. He was trying to make her feel guilty for stopping him from touching her.

He exaggerated everything and made her feel bad about herself. Now she was thinking if she overreacted. He was being polite and apologised constantly. She was feeling guilty for treating him like a pervert. She realised that he was just being friendly and maybe she blew it out of proportion.

“It’s fine, Seong-ssi. No need to go so far. I am sorry if I made you feel bad, but I really needed to tell you how I felt. I really needed to get everything off my chest,” said Jae-Hwa.

“I feel that, and I understand your feelings too. I apologise again,” Dae again bowed down to her.

“Let’s go inside. Everyone will be waiting for us,” said Jae-Hwa and walked in without waiting for Dae.

Jae-Hwa opened the door and entered in. All looked at her, but no one said a thing. She quietly came to her seat and sat down. Dae followed her a few seconds after and sat in his seat.

“Why did you guys fight?” shouted Jung-Hwa. Dae and Jae-Hwa looked at each other in shock.

“I told you JJ, something about the scripts. Let us handle it,” Nivritti immediately blurted out.

“Still there is no need to fight. What she did do wrong, Dae?” asked Jung-Hwa.

But Dae had no answer. He had no idea how to reply to Jung-Hwa. Nivritti just blurted out a lie and he could not figure out how to carry out that lie. Nivritti looked at him and saw his nervous face. His constant gulping told her that he had no answer.

“Jae forgot to mark a plagiarised script. Dae scolded her and was a little harsh to her. So, she fought back and was telling him to teach her patiently,” Nivritti took care of the situation.

Dae’s jaw dropped at her lie. “My god! This girl can make things on the fly. How does she think so fast? I was still trying to figure out what to say and she blurted out lie after lie just like that. Where does she get her idea from? And that without any flaw. Not even I can figure out a plot hole in her lie,” he thought. Finally, he was impressed with her brain.

“Dae you can’t be harsh to your subordinates. She is still learning, please teach her patiently. You have seen us, we were not experts, but with our hard work and constant practice, we have come this far. We know that Ritti has experience so she rarely makes mistakes. Jae could be like that too, all you have to do is teach her,” suggested Korain.

“I will keep that in mind Coin,” smiled Dae. But inside he was fuming with anger. A young boy was telling him what to do. He was trying to be over smart with him. But he just gulped down his ego and smiled at him.

He was going to be rich soon if he kept his ego and anger in check. He had to do a lot of work today. He had to get a virtual credit card today. He had to make a different e-mail id with Nivritti’s name and then create an account. He had to send the list of the selected scripts to Missmatch.