Bab 17: The Friendship

Kyung-Soo stood at his place, looking at Nivritti, perplexed. First, she was older than him. Second, she wanted nothing to do with him. Third, she called herself, ageist. Was she kidding or was telling the truth? She just gave her opinion about the ages and left him speechless. She never waited for him to speak.

Fuming and after giving her two cents to Kyung-Soo, Nivritti opened the door.

But to her surprise, Jeong-Eun who was leaning on the door stumbled on her. She involuntarily caught him and supported him. He was too heavy for her. Kyung-Soo saw that his team member was about to get hurt but the tiny angelic girl saved him. He ran to her aid and helped Jeong-Eun stand up.

Nivritti bowed down to him and asked, "Are you okay?"

Jeong-Eun took a deep breath and said, "Am I? Are you okay?"

Before anyone could say further, Chung-Ho interjected, "Nivritti, is everything alright?" the concern on his face was clearly visible.

"Yes, Mr Choi, I am fine," assured Nivritti.

"Naavaritti, we are sorry on Thae's behalf," apologised Young-Chul and bowed down to her.

"No, no, please it's okay," she cried out. "As Kyung-Soo said Thae had to test it. you don't need to be sorry about that." Everyone was surprised because she called him by his name and her pronunciation was on point. Nivritti noticed that. She realised she made a mistake. Everyone addressed Kyung-Soo as either king or Nam-ssi.

But Kyung-Soo was not fazed. "Her name is Nivritti," he said to Young-Chul.

"What?" Nivritti was confused about what he was saying.

"He called you Naavaritti," explained Kyung-Soo.

"Oh, it's fine."

"You just lectured me, a few minutes back," pouted Kyung-Soo. Every team member stifled their smile and looked down.

Nivritti looked at everyone, shocked, but no one was looking at her. She opposed, "I didn't lecture you."

"No, no, Hyung is right. One should pronounce one's name properly, Nivratti," smiled Him-Chan. Yet again, her name was pronounced, wrongly.

Kyung-Soo rolled his eyes as he was an expert in taking her name and said, "just call her, Ritti."

"Mr Nam?" Nivritti was stunned.

"What?" asked Kyung-Soo innocently. "You just simplified your name for me."

"Oh, so only he can call you, Ritti?" teased Jung-Hwa.

"That's not what I said," said Nivritti, defensively. She took a deep breath and said, "Okay, let's start from the beginning. Mr Choi, I am fine. Mr Nam explained everything to me." She was glad that Thae was not there. She was low-key scared of him. "You guys don't have to be sorry. What he did is for the best. Now everyone knows my fear, they won't see me as a criminal."

"No one saw you as a criminal," pointed out Korain.

"Okay, not criminal but a bit cruel." Everyone nodded. "I am not cruel," clarified Nivritti, sadly.

"Everyone knows that now. We are very sorry," Young-Chul expressed regret, again.

"Thank you, Mr Man, and please stop saying sorry," requested Nivritti.

"We will if you accept our friendship," offered Korain.

"What?" Nivritti was baffled.

"Be our friend and we will stop saying sorry," nodded Him-Chan with a sweet smile.

Nivritti smiled back, "fine, friends." She shook hands with everyone. Chung-Ho was very happy with the turn of events.

"Hey, we get to call you Ritti, you can nickname us, after all, we are friends," teased Jung-Hwa.

"What? No, that would be…" Nivritti had no idea how to finish the sentence.

"That's what friends do," educated Jeong-Eun.

"Yeah, our names are long, shorten it." Kyung-Soo teased her as she gave him the nickname NK.

She looked at him and understood everything. "Okay, fine, let's abbreviate your names." She pointed at every member and said, "SK, MY, JH, PJ, and JJ. Happy?"

Korain smiled at her nicknames. He then asked her seriously, "would you like to give a nickname to Kat after he says sorry?"

"Leave it Korain, give her some time," scolded Chung-Ho.

"Yeah, I am sorry to push," he apologised.

"No, it's okay," assured Nivritti.

"May I have your number?" requested Korain.

"Sorry?" her voice was louder. She never expected that any of the ASD members would have her number under any circumstances. But Korain was asking for it.

"Oh Hyung, so fast?" taunted Jung-Hwa.

"Shut up, JJ," Korain teased back and everyone laughed. "I was asking because if I had her number, I could ask her when her proposal gets ready. I need a copy, you idiot." He hit Jung-Hwa on the back of his head, playfully.

Nivritti too was relaxed after his explanation. "Right! Sorry, my Indian sim card is having some problems since morning. It stopped working," she lied. "I was thinking of getting a Korean sim card by the end of the day."

"Oh no problem, I will come and get it tomorrow before my meeting," said Korain.

"Of course."

"But I need your number as soon as you get it," interjected Kyung-Soo.

"Sorry!" she was again stunned.

"I need the number of everyone on the Rencontre team," he explained.

"Right!" said Nivritti.

"I have Choi-ssi's number and Seong-ssi's number. Now, where is the other girl?" inquired Kyung-Soo.

"Jae-Hwa, come here," commanded Chung-Ho.

She was too mesmerized by the presence of ASD members. "Ye… Yes, Choi-ssi," she answered and stood up.

"Bring your phone," he requested.

She picked up her phone and started walking toward them. She kept staring at Jeong-Eun. She had eyes only for him even though Chung-Ho was talking to her. She came near Chung-Ho. Being so close to Jeong-Eun, her heartbeat raced. She was unable to speak or breathe.

"Feed this number in your phone," commanded Kyung-Soo. He shoved his phone in her face which had his phone number displayed on it.

"Wha… what?" she could not believe that Kyung-Soo was giving her his number.

"This is my number, save it and give me a miss call. I will save your number as well and share this number with Ritti," he explained.

"Who?" she was confused. She never heard the name 'Ritti'.

"Me," explained Nivritti.

"Ritti?"

"Short form," clarified Nivritti.

"Oh!" Jae-Hwa saved his number and gave him a missed call and he saved her number.

"We are again sorry for everything that happened," said Him-Chan, politely.

"Hey, I accepted your friendship, why are you saying sorry again?" chided Nivritti.

"Okay friend," smiled Him-Chan. "I am going to get you our copy of the schedule."

"Sure."

"We should take our leave, Choi-ssi. This was a great meeting," thanked Korain.

"Thank you, Coin," said Chung-Ho.

"Oh, now it is Coin," teased Korain.

"I was angry," said Chung-Ho, casually.

"Yeah, you are scary when you get angry," laughed Korain.

"Get out, all of you. None of my team members is working, they are busy staring at you," said Chung-Ho angrily and then smiled at them.

"Ha-ha," everyone started laughing. The boys gave a sweet smile to Nivritti and left. Now the perception everyone had about Nivritti, changed. They felt sorry for her. They wanted to say sorry to her for judging her. Every single team member of ASD became her friend, and they were glad. They were even proud of her as her very first idea was selected and was praised by the CEO.

After ASD left, the script team started working. Chung-Ho, Nivritti, and Jae-Hwa moved to their seats and sat down.

"What happened to your phone?" asked Jae-Hwa behind her cubicle.

"What?" asked Nivritti.

"King asked me to save his number and then give it to you," explained Jae-Hwa.

"Yeah, my sim card is not working, I need a new one," enlightened Nivritti.

"Oh, no worries. Come with me during lunch, I know where you can get one," offered Jae-Hwa.

"Done," smiled Nivritti.

Then suddenly Chung-Ho called her, "Ritti!"

She stood up and looked at him. "Yes, Mr Choi?"

"Have you started working on the proposal?" he asked.

"No, Mr Choi," replied Nivritti. She thought, here comes another scolding.

But was surprised by Chung-Ho's answer. "Good."

"I am sorry!"

"Go get your laptop, first. Start your proposal in that, that way you will have all the material about Rencontre in a single system," said Chung-Ho.

"Okay."

"I will call IT, go to the 4th floor, and then tell them that I sent you," explained Chung-Ho.

"Okay."

Nivritti stood up from her seat and saw that a few of her team members were smiling at her. She returned the smile. She took the elevator and reached the 4th floor. A few rooms on the floor were locked and a big sign saying "KEEP OUT" was hung outside the door. She looked for the sign "IT DEPARTMENT" and entered the room.

Everyone was busy typing on their computers. Some were talking over the phone in Korean telling people how to log in or narrating the steps to change the password.

She stood for a few minutes, looking around but no one acknowledged her presence. She then tapped on the shoulder of a sharply dressed woman and said in Korean, "Excuse me, Choi-ssi send me."

Keeping her eyes glued to the screen, the woman screamed, "Park-ssi, this girl is here for you."