Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Teasing

Even after Jae-Hwa ordered her food, she kept staring at the menu. She kept educating Nivritti about Korean food. In excitement, she would blather in Korean but would correct herself and then explain everything to Nivritti in English. Many times, Nivritti tried to tell Jae-Hwa that she was fluent in Korean, but Jae-Hwa never gave her the chance.

Nivritti was happily listening to Jae-Hwa ramble on about all the delicious food that café had. She kept sipping a boba tea and kept talking about different delicacies. After a few minutes, their piping hot food arrived.

As Nivritti was not used to Korean food, she played safe and ordered a sandwich, yet again. She took a bite of her chicken sandwich when Jae-Hwa’s phone rang. She was having some delicious meat and rolls and was in no mood to answer the phone.

“Ahh... who is calling me right now?” she groaned and cursed. She put down her chopsticks, opened her purse and took out her phone.

Surprised she looked at Nivritti. “It’s Choi-ssi.”

Nivritti too stopped eating. “What? At lunch hour? Pick it up!”

Jae-Hwa just nodded. “Yeoboseyo! Ne, ne, ne,” she kept nodding at whatever he was saying. She was talking on the phone but kept staring at Nivritti.

.....

“What did I do now?” was all Nivritti could think. “Do I always have to be scolded by everyone?”

Jae-Hwa disconnected the call and looked at Nivritti.

“What?” asked Nivritti, concerned.

“A member from the finance team is looking for you,” informed Jae-Hwa.

“Finance team?” inquired Nivritti.

“Yeah, they made a mistake in their estimate, so they came to give you the new estimate and want the old estimate back. They are unable to find it on your desk,” explained Jae-Hwa.

“Yeah, I locked every paper in my drawer. Don’t worry I will return now to help them,” said Nivritti.

“No, no finish your food,” insisted Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti smiled and said, “I will take this sandwich with me.” She opened her purse and took out her wallet. “Here, take my card. Enjoy your food. I will see you back in the office.”

“No, I will come with you,” said Jae-Hwa.

“Jae-Hwa, eat, relax. They need me not you,” asserted Nivritti.

“But...” Jae-Hwa protested.

“Hey! Eat,” Nivritti touched her hand and emphasised.

“You can go alone, right? You won’t forget the way?” teased Jae-Hwa.

“Are you teasing me?” smirked Nivritti.

“Only a little,” smiled Jae-Hwa.

Nivritti gave Jae-Hwa her credit card and left the café. She went back to the K&Q building and reached the lift area. While walking she would occasionally take a bite of her sandwich. A lift was about to close when she shouted, “Please hold the lift.”

A hand appeared between the lift door and the doors opened. She entered the lift and saw a man wearing a black mask standing inside. She bowed down to him and thanked him. She pressed the button for the 11th floor and stood in a corner.

The sandwich in her hand was about to be finished. She was about to take another bite when the man standing next to her removed his mask. Her hand froze close to her open mouth. Her eyes widened and she kept staring at him.

But Kyung-Soo just kept smirking at her. He was going to the script department to get the daily video script. He wished for a glimpse of her. He was thanking his luck when he saw her coming from outside and running towards the lift area. He was alone in the lift and was excited to be with her alone.

The lift kept climbing but Nivritti was frozen. She was not breathing, she was not gulping, she was not even blinking. She didn’t want to be alone with Kyung-Soo but somehow, she would always end up alone with him. She was cursing her luck.

Kyung-Soo’s smirk grew into a smile. He moved close to her, grabbed her hand, and pulled her closer.

“Hhuh,” she gasped. He looked at her and without speaking a single word, just took a bite of her sandwich. The hold which she had on the piece of bread, loosened and the food was about to fall but Kyung-Soo caught it before it could touch the ground.

“Do you want it?” teased Kyung-Soo. He just could not stop smiling.

Before she could answer the lift doors opened and she came back to her senses. She ran away as fast as her feet could take her. Kyung-Soo laughed at her loudly and dumped the last piece of sandwich in his mouth.

“You think you can run away from me,” he laughed. “I too am going to your department.”

But Nivritti could not hear him. She was half running, half sprinting. She would keep looking back to check if he was following her. To her shock, he was indeed following her. She was about to enter her department, but Kyung-Soo kept following her. She had had enough.

She stopped on her way, looked at him and waited for him to approach her. She snapped at him, “what do you want? Why are you following me?”

“I am not following you. You are walking ahead of me,” mocked Kyung-Soo.

She was hating his smile. It was as if his smile was mocking her. “Really!! What the hell do you want? I clearly told you everything in the morning...” she started scolding him.

But he interrupted her rant, “script!”

“Excuse me!” Nivritti was confused.

“I am here for the script,” explained Kyung-Soo.

“Heh!” Nivritti raised one eyebrow, still confused.

“Daily video script,” Kyung-Soo explained further.

“Ohh!” now it was clear to her.

But the moment became embarrassing. She was confident one moment and the next she was humiliated. She thought he was following her, but he was there for his work. She gave too much importance to herself. She lowered her head with shame and started walking in.

Suddenly he shouted, “Wait!”

She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, calmed herself down and turned back, “What, now?”

“It’s after lunch, I hope you got a new number,” stated Kyung-Soo.

“Right! Yes, I have,” she knew she had to give her number to him. She was part of the team and maybe in future he would call her to discuss a script.

Kyung-Soo folded his arms over his chest and demanded an answer, “So, when were you going to give me your number?”

“Um... after work, when my sim would get activated,” replied Nivritti, carefully.

“That long,” commented Kyung-Soo.

“Yeah, the shop owner told me it would take hours before my sim would start working,” explained Nivritti.

“Well, he is not wrong,” said Kyung-Soo.

She inserted her hand in her purse and took out the packet of her sim. It had her number written over it.

“This is my number,” Nivritti shoved the number in his face. Kyung-Soo took out his phone and saved her number on his phone.

“Now I can call you anytime, right?” taunted Kyung-Soo, stifling his smile.

“What? No,” she shouted. “You asked for the number because I am on the Rencontre Team. This is not for you to flirt,” she scolded.

“Why do you think I will flirt? This number is for work only,” Kyung-Soo teased again.

“I...” she was speechless with his taunting. “Leave it,” she snapped. This time she opened the door and walked in.

Kyung-Soo could not stop laughing. He went behind her and went to Chung-Ho. He greeted him and asked for the script. While Chung-Ho was sorting out his script, Kyung-Soo kept glancing at Nivritti. Nivritti too kept gazing at him from the corner of her eyes and the moment their eyes would meet, she would immediately look down.

Kyung-Soo shook his head with endearment over her cute reactions. He received the scripts and before leaving again looked at her. She glanced at him at the last moment. He was happy that she did. He winked at her, and she choked on her saliva. She began coughing violently. Kyung-Soo had to stifle his laughter.

He exited the script department and started laughing his head off. He loved teasing her and watching her reaction.

After Kyung-Soo left, Chung-Ho came and stood next to Nivritti. He handed her the new estimates and took the old estimate back. He looked at her proposal and explained to her the paragraphs she needed to change.

He sat with her and helped her all the way through. The finance team forgot to include the travel expenses from the airport to the hotel and vice versa. So, they had to revise the estimate. But that meant double work for Nivritti. She had to check every point where she added the financial estimate and had to change every figure.

Jae-Hwa came back with a coffee and gave it along with the credit card to Nivritti. She saw both Chung-Ho and Nivritti working hard on the proposal. They even worked on a few dummy scripts that were about to be used as examples of the script they were looking for.

Slowly, evening arrived, and it was time to go home. Chung-Ho looked at his wristwatch and said, “Ritti! It’s getting late. You should leave.”

“But Mr Choi,” protested Nivritti.

“You can keep working at home, that’s why you have this laptop,” explained Chung-Ho.

“Yes, Mr Choi,” nodded Nivritti.

“There is only a little work remaining. You can get it done at your home, but don’t work too hard. You worked hard all day, take rest too,” said Chung-Ho.

“I will.”

“Good job today,” he patted her back with pride.

“Thank you, Mr Choi,” she smiled at him.

“What, no nickname for me?” he teased her.

“Ha-ha,” she laughed out loud. “Should I call you CC, CH, Ho?”

“No, Mr Choi is good,” he smiled.

Nivritti bid him goodbye and looked around. The department was empty. Only she and Chung-Ho were there. She placed her laptop in the bag and left for her home.