To Kiss An Idol

99 The Save

Kyung-Soo kept staring at Jae-Geun waiting for his answer. Why did he want Nivritti to like the shirt? Why did he care whether she liked it or not, it was merely a gift.

“Of course, she is giving the gift, if she does not like it, why would she gift it to someone else?” explained Jae-Geun.

“Right!” Kyung-Soo raised his eyebrow after the explanation. He knew that Jae-Geun was right. “I think she will like it.” He thought for a minute and said, “if not, you can bring her to this section and let her select everything on her own.”

“That I can do,” smiled Jae-Geun.

Kyung-Soo noticed that Nivritti and Jae-Hwa were searching for him. He asked, “did you bring your sister too?”

“What? How do you know?” Jae-Geun was shocked.

“Well, you guys look similar, and she is approaching with the girl you are scared of,” replied Kyung-Soo.

“To tell you the truth, friend, I don’t want to be afraid of her. She is just so...” Jae-Geun had no words to explain Nivritti.

“So?” but Kyung-Soo wanted an answer.

.....

“I don’t know,” Jae-Geun shrugged his shoulders. “Anyway, it was nice to meet you. My sister is calling me, I should go.”

“Yeah, bye,” said Kyung-Soo. He saw Jae-Geun walking away from him and talked to himself, “what were you going to say? She is so, what?”

He kept tracing Jae-Geun’s steps towards Jae-Hwa and Nivritti and show them the olive green hanbok. He was glad to see that Nivritti liked his choice.

He followed them to the billing area where he saw Man-Shik helping her with the billing. Another worker brought a lot of boxes and packed the clothes inside them.

“Why is packing her clothes in boxes? Why is she gathering garbage? Oh, I will never understand this girl. Well, Jae looks happy,” Kyung-Soo kept commenting. Jae-Hwa grabbed all the bags and handed them over to Jae-Geun.

“You guys really brought me here to carry the bags,” pouted Jae-Geun which made Kyung-Soo smile.

“Jae! Stop it. Jae-Geun, give me some of the bags,” scolded Nivritti. Kyung-Soo smiled at her kindness.

“Oh, come on! Why do you think he exercises? He can all the bags,” contrasted Jae-Hwa and started pulling Nivritti out of the store.

“Shit! They are leaving,” thought Kyung-Soo and ran to a billing station. “Please make it fast, I am in a little bit of a hurry,” said Kyung-Soo, urgently.

“Yes sir,” replied the cashier. While she made the bill for him, he took out his Raume O card and handed it to her. The Cashier’s eyes widened, and her jaw drooped to the floor. She was holding a black card in her hand which she had always heard about but never saw it. She immediately swiped the card and Kyung-Soo was out of the store in a jiffy.

Kyung-Soo never lost sight of Nivritti and the party and followed them. He was surprised to see that they were exiting the store via the main gate.

“Did they come by metro or bus? How will they take so many bags via public transport? Oh, this girl! They should get a cab. But where are they going now?” pondered Kyung-Soo.

He started following them. He had no idea why he was doing that. He had no idea why he was following her. Was he following her or him, he had no idea.

“Oppa! Car is in the parking lot, where are we going?” shouted Jae-Hwa. Kyung-Soo sighed with relief after hearing that they came in a car.

“I am carrying your bags, driving you around, I need compensation, treat me with coffee,” demanded Jae-Geun. Kyung-Soo smiled at his claim.

“Okay, fine. Nivritti paid for clothes, you drove us around, I will treat you both. Let’s go,” announced Jae-Hwa.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Where is the sun? Which direction did it rise from?” exclaimed Jae-Geun. Jae-Hwa rolled her eyes at his expression.

“What?” smiled Nivritti.

“She never spent a single dime on me and today she is going to treat me. Sun must have risen from the west. Something is wrong with this day,” educated Jae-Geun.

“Oppa!” sulked Jae-Hwa at his tease. Nivritti started laughing out loud. Looking at her laugh, Kyung-Soo’s heart started beating fast. He had to exhale loudly to calm himself down. He loved it when she would be happy.

Since the day she arrived, he had seen her crying multiple times and it always ached his heart. Her red nose, her red eyes, her swollen eyes, no matter how cute she looked in them, it always made him sad.

Jae-Hwa started walking in the front and pulled Nivritti along with her. Kyung-Soo shook his head and thought, “this idiot! He could have kept every bag in his trunk and then they could have gone for coffee. Just take some ideas from me. I am so intelligent.” He then realised that he too was holding the bags in his hands.

“Great! I was criticising him and I am holding the bags myself. I am an idiot,” he facepalmed. “Wait! I had to follow them. I had no time to go to the car. I was right, I am intelligent.”

Mumbling to himself he kept following them. Jae-Geun was walking behind Nivritti which was making it difficult for Kyung-Soo to look at her. He would get glimpses of her. Her long, silky hair was waving with her every moment. Her white dress till her calves were bouncing with her every step. He kept smiling sweetly all the way.

The whole street was crowded, and it was getting difficult for Kyung-Soo to follow them. Sometimes he would get too close to them and other times, he would trail behind.

He was walking close to them when a group of young people came rushing in their direction. They were too happy and busy with themselves to notice anyone. Running and jumping and bouncing they moved forward and one of the boys bumped into Nivritti.

She was not ready for such a force. She stumbled backwards. She tried to balance herself but failed. She was on the verge of falling. Jae-Hwa tried to grab her arm to pull her back to safety, but she could not touch her hands. Before Jae-Geun could let go of all the bags and catch her Nivritti was stopped by a kneeling man who was trying to tie his shoes.

Kyung-Soo saw her falling and ran to her. He knew he could show his face to Nivritti as she would scold him for following her. He had to think fast and save her. He immediately knelt down and raised his hand, stopping her from falling.

Her long hair landed all over his face. He closed his eyes and took in the soft sensation of her silky hair. The lavender scent was strong. He gulped and took a big puff of that perfume. His hands kept caressing the soft fabric of her dress.

The boy that hit Nivritti came running to her. “Kweanchanayo?”

Nivritti immediately stood up and looked at the boy. “I am fine, no worries,” she assured him. She didn’t realise but she spoke in English. the boy realised that she was some tourist.

Kyung-Soo looked around. Everyone was concentrating on the boy, he stood up, picked up his bags and vanished from there.

Jae-Geun looked at the boy and ripped at him, “you guys don’t watch where you go. What if someone would have been hurt? What if she would have fallen and hurt her head or broken her bones? What would you have done, huh? Excitement is good, you guys are happy among friends but is it okay to not look where you go?”

“Yeah, answer him,” scolded Jae-Hwa.

“Guys! It’s okay,” said Nivritti in Korean. The boy’s mouth fell with shock. The tourist was speaking in Korean. Even her pronunciation was flawless.

“Ajhussi! Joesonghabnida,” the boy started bowing down to Jae-Geun. He then looked at Nivritti and opened his mouth.

But before he could speak, Jae-Hwa shouted, “Ajhussi! Ajhussi!! Does he look like an uncle to you? If you are calling him uncle then you will call me and her, aunt. Do you have eyes? Can you see? We look like aunties to you?”

Nivritti could not control her laughter and covered her mouth with her palm.

Kyung-Soo heard everything and started laughing out loud. Jae-Hwa was concerned that the youngsters would call her aunt. He kept looking at Nivritti and saw her stifling her laughter. That made him laugh even more. All those who walked past him looked at him like they were in presence of a mad person.

“No, no, you don’t look like aunty, you look like Nuna,” said the boy, scared.

“Nuna, joesonghabnida. I am sorry that I hurt you. I was just not looking at the way that I was going. Joesonghabnida,” the boy kept bowing to Nivritti. All his friends came and all shouted, “Joesonghabnida” at once and bowed down to her.

“Relax guys! I am fine, thanks to this gentleman,” she said and turned around to look at her saviour. But the street was empty, her saviour was gone. She looked around but could see no one. Jae-Hwa and Jae-Geun too were taken aback. That person was there just a minute ago. Where did he vanish?