Nivritti didn't want to cry in front of everyone. She kept wiping her tears so that no one could see her, but she was aware that people were thinking about her, talking about her. After all, she was the one who was scolded by one of the most famous people on the planet.
She could take no more, so she stood up from her seat and ran outside. A few people saw her running away crying. They felt bad for her but were also angry as she hurt a small dog, a cute helpless dog. Kyung-Soo too noticed that she ran away.
He saw her wiping her tears multiple times. He was feeling bad for her. He left the script department and went on his way to the lift, but something came over him. He wanted to check on Nivritti. He went to the stairs. She was still crying.
He moved his hands to touch her shoulder, but she was sobbing uncontrollably. He didn't want to startle her. He didn't even know what to say or how would she react if he touched her. After all, a member of his team shouted at her in front of her team, that too on her very first day on the new job. He could not even try to understand how humiliating that must have been.
He pulled his hand back. He fumbled with his hands as he had no idea what to do. Should he talk to her or leave her alone? His team member would be waiting for him. He kept pondering over what to do.
Finally, he decided to talk to her. He had to know if she was okay. He could not bear to hear any more sobs from her.
"Are you ok?" asked Kyung-Soo, softly.
He didn't expect what happened next. It took him by surprise. As soon as she heard his words, she turned towards him and buried her head in his chest and started sobbing.
Kyung-Soo let out a gasp as she hugged him because he was not ready for such a reaction. Well, he was not sure what reaction he would get but this was something else. She wrapped her arms around his waist as he was too tall for her and kept crying on his chest.
He was shocked but he understood the reaction. That after being humiliated in front of the whole department that too on someone's first day if anyone would say even a kind word to them that would make anyone react in the same way.
The soft, white cashmere shirt felt great against her cheeks, and she found comfort in the softness of the fabric. He had no idea what took over him. He let the papers slip from his hands and wrapped his arms around her and without thinking twice pulled her close to himself.
Kyung-Soo gasped as he felt her close to himself. She was still sobbing. He closed his eyes and let her calm down on her own. They stayed in each other's arms for minutes. Kyung-Soo's hands were wrapped over her long-braided hair. He could swear he never touched such soft hair before in his life.
He let his head fall over her head and enclosed her completely in his embrace. Slowly her sobs subsided. She was coming back to herself. She was taking deep breaths and sniffling occasionally. She was on the verge of stopping crying.
Suddenly she realised she was hugging someone. She was too scared to find out who. She was new to the office then who took pity on her that they came to console her. But she had to see who the person was.
She pushed him away and looked up. Her jaw fell to the floor. She regained her senses but was about to lose her mind. One look at the man who was comforting her, and her eyes widened with shock. She froze with fear.
Her eyes then fell on the wet shirt. She knew that the shirt was soft, which meant it was expensive. She again got scared because she thought that Kyung-Soo will again scold her for destroying an expensive cloth. All she could do was apologise for what she did.
"I'm so sorry. I am very, very sorry. I didn't mean to spoil your clothes," cried Nivritti. She had no idea what came over her. She just pulled her long sleeve, covered her palm with it and started wiping her tears off his shirt.
"Hey! It's fine," said Kyung-Soo. But Nivritti was not ready to listen. She kept rubbing his shirt with her sleeve. To stop her, he grabbed her wrists and made her look at him but she kept her head low.
"I'm very sorry," said Nivritti with tears in her eyes. Her tears were falling on the ground making it wet drop by drop.
"It's ok," Kyung-Soo tried to console her.
"I didn't mean to do that," sobbed Nivritti.
"You already said that," said Kyung-Soo with a smile on his face.
"No, I meant I never wanted to hurt your dog," replied Nivritti.
"I know."
"What? How?" asked Nivritti still unable to look him in his eyes. She was also unaware that her hands were in his hands. He was not ready to let go.
"Just like I know that you are afraid of dogs," answered Kyung-Soo.
As soon as she heard his reply, she looked into his eyes for the first time. Kyung-Soo's heart skipped a beat after looking at her face which was red after crying, her cute red nose, her big brown eyes, her full lips, and her hip-length black hair tied in a braid. His mouth fell open and started gasping for air.
"How did you know?" asked Nivritti, shocked. The way Kyung-Soo was staring at her was making her nervous.
"So that's true," smiled Kyung-Soo.
"You guessed?"
She gulped and licked her lips as she always licked her lips unconsciously when she was nervous or scared. But this gesture of hers made Kyung-Soo widen his eyes and he gulped hard.
He was staring at the cute girl before him unable to speak. But she asked him a question, and he must reply. "I... I saw you running away from a puppy," he stammered. He then cleared his throat, focused on his voice and continued, "no one runs away from a puppy, they are just cute but you did and the fear on your face said everything. Why didn't you tell everything to Kat when he was shouting at you?"
"I was really scared, and he had that dog in my face," replied Nivritti and she again licked her lips. Kyung-Soo exhaled loudly. "Oh my God! That poor dog, I hurt him," sniffled Nivritti.
"He is fine, it was just a tap. Worst scenario, it was a bruise," consoled Kyung-Soo.
"Are you sure? Did you hear from your vet?" inquired Nivritti.
"No, but I saw the chair hitting him. It just touched him a little; he is going to be fine. Trust me," said Kyung-Soo.
"I hope so." She again licked her lips unconsciously. This time Kyung-Soo lost all control over him.
He pulled her slightly closer and said through gritted teeth, "you need to stop doing that."
"Doing what?" she asked. She looked surprised as she had no idea about what she did.
"Licking your lips," barked Kyung-Soo.
"What? What are you talking about?" It was getting more confusing with every passing minute. She had no idea what he was talking about.
"You keep licking your lips, it's very distracting," educated Kyung-Soo.
"What? I don't lick my lips. Wait! What do you mean distracting?" asked Nivritti.
Finally, she realised that her wrists were still in his hands. She tried to pull her wrists, but she failed. She looked at him and again tried to pull her hands but in vain.
"Yes, you do. You have been licking your lips since you started talking. I think it's an unconscious gesture that you don't know about," informed Kyung-Soo.
"Will you please let go of my hands?" she pulled again but Kyung-Soo tightened his grip.
Without hearing her he continued, "and by distracting, I mean that I really want to hear what you have to say but because of your lips all I can think of is this...
He pulled her wrists pulling her close to him, moved one of his hands on her waist and another one on the back of her neck and softly placed his lips on hers and kissed her. Kyung-Soo could not explain what came over him, he had never done anything like that ever in his life.
But the feeling he was feeling was indescribable. He wanted time to stop so that he could keep living this moment for eternity. For the time being, he forget that he was a world-famous musician, he forgot that he was the leader of a world-famous boyband and if someone would find him like this it will be the scandal of the millennium.
His heart was ready to race out of his chest. Her skin, her soft hair, her lips, her taste, the kissing sensation were other-worldly. Kyung-Soo had dated girls before, but no one had such sway over him.
On the other hand, while Nivritti was feeling fear, nervousness, humiliation before and was shocked by his sudden action, slowly a sudden feeling of peace took over her. She was unable to understand why she was letting him kiss her, moreover why she was kissing him back.
The sweet and soft kiss suddenly changed into a passionate one, his hand moved onto her head feeling her soft and silky hair whereas her hands moved along his arms and landed on his neck. She wrapped her arms around his neck.
To kiss her Kyung-Soo had to bend a little but as soon as the feeling took over him, he grabbed her tight and lifted her with ease with his one hand without breaking the kiss. Her response of kissing him back was driving him crazy when all of a sudden, there was music, loud pop music.