"What is wrong?" Carolina asked again when they were away from Riko.
The five women pushed each other, before one of them asked.
"How is it after saw Ethan oppa so close? Isn't he more handsome? His face is shining, isn't it?" one of the women asked.
Carolina looked at them with a confused look.
Ethan oppa?
Who?
Looking at Carolina who was silent, the woman who confronted her said, "Don't pretend you don't know! You're an intern at NamTech, right?"
Carolina didn't like the woman's tone at all, but she glanced sideways for a second and saw that Riko was still there. She finally put a smile back on her face.
"Yeah, I did intern at NamTech, but I don't know who Ethan is," Carolina answered honestly. She even only remembers the name of Andi who was her supervisor in Andi's team and had forgotten the name of the HRD staff that Sir David knew. Who is this Ethan anyway?
"Is he the security guard I met in front of the office, huh?" Carolina thought again, but she immediately shook her head, why do these kids call the security guard in front of the office as oppa.
"Older sister Carol don't know, do you? This is him," the woman who greeted Riko gave her cellphone.
Carolina was a little hesitant at first, but she finally took the phone.
"Oh so it's Ethan they mean," thought Carolina, looking at the photo of a man in a suit and red hair. Come to think of it, she had no idea what the man's name was. She only found out from the email address the man gave her.
Carolina then glanced down to read the news.
BREAKING NEWS
Nam Ethan, a cast in the drama...
Carolina's eyes then fell on comment
Nur_Ariyati_1695's: "*Smiling face emoticon with heart eyes*"
Rosegatty: "Ethan oppa is so handsome! *Smile emoticon*
See all 15,415 comments
Bunda_kabade: "Seeing from the interior lobby and comments above, it looks like this is a NamTech company."
Rahma_Hariyanto: "INFO the blurry photo is an intern from the engineering faculty of a smart university. Those who are curious, just DM me. I'll send it"
Nining_Fakhira_9271: "Ethan oppa must get the CEO role in the drama! Like who agrees!"
Carolina, who hadn't seen the photo the person who commented was referring to, looked back at the post and realized that there were 2 photos attached.
After seeing the photo, she finally remembered the old man who was with her in the lobby that day.
"D*mn! Turns out he was paparazzi. By the way, the red apple is a celebrity, isn't it?" thought Carolina again, who had already guessed what the situation was.
"What? You're the one in the photo, right?" another woman asked.
Carolina finally nodded, with the evidence on social media, she couldn't dodge by making excuses, after all, they must have come looking for her because they had already found out first and she was the only one who did an internship at the NamTech company.
"Are you really the one in the photo? Did you really see Ethan oppa in person?" asked another.
Carolina nodded again. Even if she said no, they wouldn't believe it, so she'd better admit it.
"Jinjja*? OMG! Ottoke*! Ottoke! Ottoke!" suddenly one of them who had been silent, became hysterical.
(*Jinjja = Really?
Ottoke = how is this, a kind of expression when they are confused about what to do)
The woman who had been in the back came forward. and grabbed Carolina's hand.
"Eonni*, can I also come with Eonni to NamTech, hm, jebal*?" she said, still holding Carolina's hand and looking at Carolina with pleading eyes.
(Eonni = female nickname for older women
Jebal = Please/beg)
Seeing one of their friends who pleaded with Carolina, the others also started to join in.
"Eonni," they said, including the woman who had confronted Carolina. Even though at first the woman looked prestigious to do so.
Carolina, who did understand Korean, only sigh. She could already guess that they were watching too many Korean dramas judging by the way their speaking style was starting to become Korean.
Carolina finally knew that this was their reason who looked hesitant when asked by Riko. Riko is indeed famous on campus because he often becomes a committee, and he is also famous for not liking women who idolize idols or South Korean artists.
"Sorry, but I can't take you to my internship," said Carolina, who then released her hand from the woman's grip.
She's just an intern in the IT department, not the red apple's room.
Even though she knew the red apple's room and had even been in it. She chose not to tell them about it and would not let them come with her.
What would her image be at NamTech if she brought an unauthorized person into the office with her?
"Eonni, jebal, just take us to the lobby," said the woman who was still pleading. Carolina raised an eyebrow, if they just want to enter the lobby, shouldn't they just go in? Like her yesterday?
Looking at Carolina who seemed confused, one of them explained.
"It said NamTech currently doesn't allow outsiders in without making an appointment," she said.
Well, then, it's none of my business.
"I'm sorry, but I can't. I'll go first, okay?" seeing those who seemed to be begging, Carolina immediately ran over to Riko.
"Why? What happened?" Riko asked as Carolina ran to her.
"Come on let's go," said Carolina who immediately pulled Riko.
Seeing Riko who was by Carolina's side, the five women no longer chased after her.
***
"Huft ... Huftt .." Andrew caught his breath when he arrived in front of the lecturer room. He looked at his surroundings but couldn't find Riko or Carolina.
"Did they fight somewhere else, huh?" thought Andrew.
"Bro, did you see Riko or Carol?" Andrew asked when someone was about to enter the lecture room.
"I saw them looking for the dean," said the person.
"Oh okay, thanks," said Andrew.
"Looks like she's fine, thank goodness!" Andrew thought then after thinking back, he decided to go back to the cafeteria, waiting for Riko who would definitely go to the cafeteria and ask what happened earlier.
***
"Where are you going after this? Do you want to go straight back to the boarding house?" Riko asked when he and Carolina had submitted a photocopy of their Study Card Plan to activate their academic registration.
Carolina glanced at the clock on her cellphone screen, 11:45.
"I think I want to eat in the cafeteria first, how about you?" asked Carolina.
"Same, let's just go together," said Riko.
The two of them finally walked together towards the engineering faculty cafeteria.
During their way, Riko occasionally glanced at Carolina who looked worried about her surroundings, but Riko, who was naturally indifferent, didn't ask the reason why Carolina looked worried. That's none of his business.
Ever since meeting the five women and finding out why they were looking for her, Carolina had become wary. She didn't really know whether the red apple was an idol or an actor, but looking at the number of comments on the social media post, it wasn't even 24 hours. Carolina could tell that the red apple was popular.
Although her face is blurred in the photo of the post, her identity can be said to have been discovered. So she was a little wary as she walked, afraid that someone else would come in her way and ask for help like before.
The five women luckily didn't get physical when she refused their request, what if she ran into some barbaric fans? Who will play physically for refusing their request.
"Hey bro!" said Riko when she saw Andrew who was sitting with his other friends.
"Come on, Carol," said Riko to sit at the table with Andrew and the others.
"Ah, I guess I'll just sit there. I don't like cigarette smoke," said Carolina looking for an excuse. She wasn't currently in the mood to always smile at Andrew, given that it was the man who put something in her drink. So she decided to sit at another empty table. Well she had no problem eating alone so far.
"Oh, okay," said Riko then walked over to Andrew's table and the others.
"Go away, this is a chair for Carol," said one at the table, holding one of the empty chairs there.
"Because you smoke, she doesn't want to come here. It's good that me as a loyal friend want to sit here," replied Riko who immediately took the chair.
While Andrew only glanced at Carolina briefly, he decided to ask Riko what had happened before finally approaching Carolina.
"I don't really know what happened, really!" said Riko then told the incident earlier.
Andrew just remained silent, then stood up from his seat and intended to approach Carolina. But he was surprised when he saw that the 5 empty chairs at the table were already occupied by other people, and there were three other people standing near them.
"What exactly happened? Is Carol being bullied?" thought Andrew worriedly.