Chapter 110

110 The Sitting Arrangement

Nivritti picked up her bag and glanced at Jeong-Eun and Jae-Hwa. She stifled her smile and picked up her bag. She was surprised at how can someone not notice their sizzling chemistry. They wanted to touch each other but were avoiding doing that. There was a definite yet invisible pull between them.

Jae-Hwa was actively avoiding looking at Jeong-Eun whereas Jeong-Eun kept glancing at Jae-Hwa. He was fighting hard not to touch her red bangs that were floating over her eyes. Her red lips were parted as if trying to invite him for a kiss.

“Is anyone going to pick that up?” teased Nivritti and pointed at Jae-Hwa’s laptop bag. She placed her forefinger on her lips to hide her smile.

“Right! Right!” shouted Jae-Hwa and bent down again.

“I will do that,” said Jeong-Eun and he too bent down to pick up the bag.

Both Jae-Hwa and Jeong-Eun reached for the bag at the same time but this time instead of their hands touching, they both bumped their head. “Ow!” both screamed simultaneously.

Everyone looked at them whereas Nivritti laughed out loud at their cuteness.

“Hey! We are hurt and you are laughing,” complained Jeong-Eun while pouting cutely. That made her laugh even harder.

“You know you are cute, right?” smiled Nivritti.

.....

“I am cute,” sulked Thae.

“You are the cutest,” she playfully caressed his hair which turned his cheeks crimson.

“She never calls me cute. Everyone is cute for her except me,” sulked Kyung-Soo.

“She is so kind and playful with my younger brothers. I like her so much,” thought Him-Chan. “Oh wow! She was in my arms. Her hair was so silky. And her smell is so sweet. It must be an expensive perfume.”

Jeong-Eun finally picked up the laptop bag after rubbing his forehead for minutes to ease the pain. Jae-Hwa too kept caressing her forehead. She looked at him and he looked at her. Without speaking a single word, he just moved towards the workstation and Jae-Hwa followed him.

Everyone started walking towards the table and bench at the corner of the room to read scripts. Nivritti was walking behind everyone. There was only one thought in her mind, “I gave them everything I had to except NK’s shirt. I cannot give it in front of everyone. What to do? Think, Ritti, think.”

She looked around and saw the bag the guys dropped on the floor after wrapping the scarves around their necks. She picked up all the bags, slowly took out the blue shirt from her purse, and placed it in one of the bags.

“Guys! You should place the scarves back in the bags. I don’t think you will be able to dance with them. Take one bag and keep them in,” she suggested. “Here NK, take this,” she extended the bag with the blue shirt in it before him.

But that idiot never understood her signal. He moved his hands to grab an empty one.

“No, no, not that, this one,” she signalled to him. He looked at her with surprise. What was the difference between the bags? Why she wanted him to take a particular bag? “Just take it,” she emphasised.

“Okay!” he said scared. He took the bag off her hand. The moment he grabbed the bag he realised that the bag was not empty. There was something in the bag. What was in it? What was she trying to hide from everyone? He kept thinking. He stealthily peeped inside the bag and his blue shirt stared at him. He looked at Nivritti who was shaking her head surreptitiously in no. She was trying to signal him not to react in any way.

He immediately took off his scarf and dumped it in the bag hiding the shirt completely with the scarf. He then ran to his backpack and carefully placed the bag inside it. Meanwhile, she handed the bag to every other member, and they too placed their scarves in their bags.

“Sit!” said Thae and pulled her next to him.

After she sat next to him, Jung-Hwa came to her other side and said, “move.”

“What?” asked Thae.

“Both of you, slide,” explained Jung-Hwa. Both Thae and Nivritti slid a little and Jung-Hwa sat on her other side.

Now both Him-Chan and Kyung-Soo were fuming with anger. They wanted to sit next to her but both maknaes took the cake. Dae who was sitting directly in front of Jung-Hwa was watching everything furiously. They were treating Nivritti as royalty, and no one was paying attention to him even though he was the senior.

Jae-Hwa sat next to Dae and Jeong-Eun instantly sat next to her so that no one could grab that chance. Him-Chan didn’t want to sit far from Nivritti, so he sat next to Thae. Young-Chul sat next to Him-Chan and the whole bench was covered.

So, Korain went and sat next to Jeong-Eun. The only seat that was empty was next to Korain which was too far from Nivritti. Kyung-Soo cursed himself for running away towards his backpack. He could have placed the bag inside his backpack afterwards, but no, he had to instantly run and hide the bag. “Stupid! Stupid! Stupid,” he kept murmuring to himself.

Sulking, he walked towards the workstation and moved near Korain. He squinted his eyes and gave a death stare to Jung-Hwa. It felt like if Kyung-Soo would concentrate harder, he could explode Jung-Hwa’s head. He wanted to sit next to Nivritti, but Jung-Hwa stole his spot.

Jung-Hwa glanced at Kyung-Soo and was taken aback. “What is happening? Why is Hyung looking at me like that? What did I do now? Wait! I literally did nothing, then why is he staring at me like that? Okay, JJ, detective mode on. He is only staring at me. Let us check again. Yeah, it is confirmed he is only looking at us. Not at other members, not even Ritti. Woah! He is not staring at Ritti. What could be wrong? Why only me? Think, JJ, think.” He placed his forefinger over his chin and kept pondering.

His detective skills befuddled him. He mouthed at Kyung-Soo, “what?”

Kyung-Soo his eyes further, pointed his finger at himself, and mouthed, “I.” He then moved his finger at his neck and moved his across his neck while mouthing the words, “will kill.” And finally pointed at him, mouthing, “you.”

“What?” shouted Jung-Hwa. Everyone started looking at him, shocked. No one talked to anyone then why did he shout?