To Kiss An Idol

50 The Chores

Keeping Jae-Hwa and Jeong-Eun in mind, Nivritti exited the building. She kept her fingers crossed. “Please don’t let it backfire, please don’t let it backfire,” she kept praying over and over. “I am an idiot, I did what JJ tried to do with me and NK,” she shook her head in disappointment. “Jae would be angry at me too,” she sighed.

Her feet kept moving forward but her mind kept going back to the moment she told PJ about the parking area of Jae. She really wanted to go back to that moment and take everything back. Because of her muscle memory, she started moving towards her house.

Suddenly she realised that she had chores to do, errands to run. She groaned with disappointment and turned around. Walking all the way, she reached the supermarket and went to aisle after aisle. She picked food and drinks worth a week and paid for everything.

Picking the two large plastic bags filled with food and drinks, she walked all the way to her house. She dumped the plastic bags on the kitchen counter and went to her room to change her clothes. As her mind was still occupied by Jae-Hwa and Jeong-Eun, she decided to clean her house and forget about them.

What done was done, she could not do anything about it. To keep pondering over the same subject would help her in no way. Rather, she must spend her time doing something productive. She folded her hair in a tight bun and went to the kitchen. First, she arranged all the things that she brought in the pantry and in the fridge.

Next, she decided to cook her food. She boiled some potatoes and prepared Alu curry with some rice. She left her food covered in the kitchen and came to her living room.

She mapped out every chore she had to do in her mind and started with the living room. She changed the cushion covers, dusted the couch, and wiped the table. She changed the sheets of her room and dumped all the clothes in the washing machine. While the clothes were being washed, she grabbed the broom and swept the floor.

By the time she wiped her floor, her clothes were done. They were half-dried from the dryer and then she hung them on her balcony. She walked into her living room and exhaled with happiness. Her house was looking clean and tidy. It was the turn of the bathroom to be clean.

She spread the cleaner all over the tiled bathroom, wore her yellow gloves and started scrubbing. She was humming a Hindi song when her doorbell rang.

.....

“What? No! how am I going to open the door? Bathroom cleaner is all over my hands, well, over my gloves, but still,” she groaned.

She crooked her head out of the bathroom door and shouted, “who is it?” But there was no answer.

Kyung-Soo had no idea how to reply to that question. Should he say his full name or just NK?

“Who is it?” she shouted again.

“Ah... this girl!” murmured Kyung-Soo. “It’s me,” his voice croaked.

Nivritti’s mouth widened with surprise. She knew that voice. “What the hell is he doing here?” she asked herself. “Um... sorry! Won’t be able to open the door now,” she shouted back.

“What? Wait! Why won’t she be able to open the door now? What is she doing? Is she with someone? Oh! I am an idiot,” Kyung-Soo facepalmed.

But Nivritti continued, “I am cleaning my house at the moment and my hands are dirty, sorry.”

“Phew! Thank God!” exclaimed Kyung-Soo. “But I am all exposed here. What if someone sees me?” he lied.

“You again forgot your mask?” scolded Nivritti.

“Sorry!” shouted Kyung-Soo.

“Idiot!” murmured Nivirtti. “Ohh... he is so irritating.”

“What did you say?” asked Kyung-Soo.

“Nothing, just type 2048 and enter before anyone sees you. I don’t want to manage another scandal today, hurry!” she shouted.

Kyung-Soo flashed a devilish smile but of course, it was hidden behind his mask. Instantly he pressed the numbers and pushed the door open. He entered and closed the door behind him. He turned around and saw a little head tilted and popped out of the bathroom staring at him with narrow eyes.

“You liar!” she screamed.

Kyung-Soo removed his mask and flashed his pearly teeth at her.

“You are not as cute as you think you are,” she rebuked.

“Hey! I am not cute. I am hot,” protested Kyung-Soo. Nivritti just rolled her eyes at him.

“What are you doing here?” asked Nivritti. Now she was standing at the threshold of her bathroom with a toilet cleaner brush in her left hand.

“Question is what are you doing there?” he smirked.

“What? I am cleaning my house. This is the last stop, my bathroom,” she replied, proudly.

Kyung-Soo tried to stifle his laughter but failed spectacularly. She started laughing out loud.

“What?” Nivritti raised her eyebrows.

“Nothing! Nothing,” he again started laughing.

“What?” Nivritti raised her voice.

“Really, nothing. I just never pictured you cleaning your toilet,” he said.

“Not everyone is a multi-millionaire like you. We have to do our work on our own,” she mocked him.

“Hey! We do all our work on our own,” he objected.

“What?” she was shocked.

“Yes, cleaning, cooking, everything, we do it on our own,” he informed her.

She lowered her gaze with guilt. She judged him too soon. “Even with your busy schedules?”

“Sometimes we do get help when we are too busy but mostly, we do all our work on our own, except shopping for groceries,” he notified her.

“Groceries?”

“Yeah, we can’t go to a supermarket or any market. We can cause trouble for local authorities,” he said.

“Right! Your fans,” she nodded.

“Are you going to come out or we are going to keep talking like this?” interrupted Kyung-Soo.

“Give me a few minutes,” said Nivritti. “Meanwhile, sit. There is cola in the fridge and chips in the overhead pantry, help yourself,” she said and closed the bathroom door. Kyung-Soo for a minute looked around and whistled at the pristine condition of her house. Not a single thing was out of place.

He removed his shoes and entered her kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a can of cola. He opened all her pantries and finally found the chips. He looked for the spicy flavour and took it out. He looked around for chopsticks but found none. So, he had to wash his hands before eating.

Even after he finished his chips and cola, Nivritti was still inside the bathroom.

“What is she doing? What is taking her so much time?” pondered Kyung-Soo. While he was waiting for her, he dumped the packet of chips and can in her garbage can and started working on his phone.

After about an hour or so, the bathroom door locked and opened. Kyung-Soo looked at the door after the click. Nivritti came out wearing a grey t-shirt and black trousers with a towel tied to her wet hair.

Kyung-Soo gulped after looking at her fresh face. His legs involuntarily stood straight. His phone dropped on the floor, but he never even noticed. He kept looking at her from head to toe. Even her heels were beautiful. With the opening of the door, the whole room started smelling like lavender.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, taking in the sweet smell. He loved when she smelled like lavender, now he knew why she smelled like that. Her bodywash was lavender scented. He wanted to run to her, grab her tightly and kiss her for eternity.

His hands automatically moved to his chest and started rubbing to ease his emotions. His heart was filled with joy and love. His heart was so full that it was overflowing with adoration.

Nivritti closed the door behind her and looked at Kyung-Soo. His eyes were staring at her. His glance sent goosebumps all over her body. She had no idea why, but she liked the way he was looking at her, with love in his eyes.

“What?” he asked, softly.

“Huh...” was all Kyung-Soo could say.

“Are you alright?” asked Nivritti.

“Yeah, yeah,” Kyung-Soo smiled awkwardly. “Why do you have such a hold on me?” he thought.

“Did you eat?”

“Yes.”

“Want some tea?” asked Nivritti.

“If you are having.”

Smiling, she went inside the kitchen and started preparing tea for both of them. While the water was boiling, she opened one of the overhead pantries and tried taking out one of the cups. Her daily cup was at the counter and needed one more, but it was kept too deep for her to reach.

She stood on the tip of her feet and started feeling with her fingers. But before her fingers could reach the cup, Kyung-Soo’s fingers touched her fingers. A sigh escaped her mouth. Every single hair on her body stood up. As she kept crooning her head to see the cups her towel came undone, and all the wet hair landed on Kyung-Soo’s chest.

The towel fell on his feet. The coldness of the towel and her wet hair send a shiver all over his body. Even her hair smelled like lavender. He lowered his head and took a big sniff of her head. He wanted the moment to freeze but he was in her house for a mission.

He simply grabbed a cup for her, placed it on the counter and backed up.