บท 15: The Test

Nivritti was shocked. Chung-Ho asked her something she never would have dreamed of in her life. She thought she was safe from personal questions in a professional setting. But she was wrong. She was not ready for the question, but she had to reply. She could not leave him hanging.

"Um… I needed change, Mr Choi," replied Nivritti and avoided eye contact with him.

"That's the code word for personal problems," commented Chung-Ho.

"You can say that," smiled Nivritti, sadly.

He understood that she was not ready to share her personal problems with anyone. So, he said, "Okay, then no more personal questions, let me help you get rid of these papers."

She looked around the conference table. There were a lot of papers lying around. She made over 15 copies of her presentation. "What are we going to do with these?" she asked.

"Recycle, of course," replied Chung-Ho. Nivritti just smiled. She was happy that K&Q was trying to think about the environment. But it would have been better to avoid paper altogether. As she was new, she didn't comment on it.

Suddenly Chung-Ho said, "Oh, I forgot to tell you. You need to go to the IT department and get yourself a company-issued laptop."

"I have a laptop at my home," replied Nivritti.

"I am afraid you cannot work on a personal computer when the work is about K&Q," warned Chung-Ho. His tone was serious.

"What? Why?" asked Nivritti.

"Security issues. We have had a lot of incidents where rival companies have tried to sabotage or steal our ideas through people's personal computers," informed Chung-Ho.

"Corporate espionage??" Nivritti was shocked.

"You have no idea," Chung-Ho raised his eyebrows. "They will also give you an encrypted pen drive and a hard drive. Everything is encrypted in such a way that only our company's pen drive and hard drives can be used with our computer."

"Wow! Really?" Nivritti was impressed. She knew that stealing ideas was the most common offence in copywriting business. So, was aware of what media companies had to deal with.

"Yes."

"That's extreme," commented Nivritti.

"Just imagine what if your idea gets stolen," Chung-Ho presented her with a scenario.

"I would be devasted and pissed," replied Nivritti.

"Exactly, that's why so many precautions. So, after we are done here, go get your laptop," commanded Chung-Ho.

"Yes, Mr Choi," nodded Nivritti.

Nivritti collected her copy of the presentation, placed the paper that Chung-Ho gave her and placed all of them in a single file. She then shut down the laptop that was inside the conference room that everyone used for the presentation and started collecting the remaining presentation copies along with Chung-Ho.

They were in the middle of placing back the chairs and collecting the papers when the door of the conference room opened, and Kyung-Soo walked in. Both Nivritti and Chung-Ho looked at him with surprise.

"Yes, King, do you need anything?" asked Chung-Ho politely.

"Choi-ssi, could you step outside for a moment? Kat needs to talk to her," replied Kyung-Soo.

Nivritti's heart stopped. Her jaw dropped to the ground. Her mind started working overtime thinking about what Thae was going to talk to her. Was he going to take revenge? She shouted at him so was he going to shout at her again? What was going in his mind? Kyung-Soo knew that she was afraid of dogs, then why was he taking Thae's side?

"He will have to talk it before me," said Chung-Ho, firmly.

"Please, Choi-ssi," begged Kyung-Soo.

"You heard what Hu-ssi said, he needs to control his anger," said Chung-Ho. He too was sure that Thae was going to scold her again.

"He is not going to shout at her, I assure you. Please trust me," pleaded Kyung-Soo.

Chung-Ho thought for a minute. He knew Kyung-Soo was very much capable of controlling Thae. He looked at Nivritti and asked, "will you be, ok?"

Nivritti gulped but had no answer. Chung-Ho went up to her, placed his hand over her shoulder and said, "I will be here, you just say the word."

But Kyung-Soo interrupted, "I will be here for her. I give you my word, he will not shout at her." there was a hint of authority in his voice. Chung-Ho understood that he really wanted Thae to talk with her.

"Is that okay with you?" Chung-Ho asked Nivritti.

"Yes, Mr Choi," nodded Nivritti.

Chung-Ho patted her on her shoulder, took all the papers with him and left the room. Kyung-Soo moved toward her and stopped when he was close.

"Don't panic," he looked her in her eyes.

"What?" she asked as he was confused.

Kyung-Soo stood next to her, faced the door, and shouted, "Kat, get in."

She couldn't understand what was happening. Why did he ask her not to panic? What were these two going to do?

To her shock, the door opened and Thae walked in with Yong in his arms. A yelp escaped her mouth and she jumped to her side. She had no memory of how she ended up grabbing Kyung-Soo's arms tightly, but she was clinging to him for her dear life.

Thae kept moving forward and Nivritti's hold was getting tighter. She dug her nails in Kyung-Soo's arms, but he didn't even flinch. Without saying a word, she kept staring at the dog.

Thae was so sure that he didn't make a mistake, so he decided to test her. He wanted to punish her for scolding him before so many people. He dragged Kyung-Soo outside after the meeting and told him about his plan. Kyung-Soo tried hard to stop him.

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Kyung-Soo in whispers.

"I know she is lying. She is trying to make me into a villain," commented Thae.

"Thae, I saw the fear in her eyes. I know she is telling the truth," exhorted Kyung-Soo.

"Then let me test it. If I am wrong, I will apologise," said Thae.

"There is nothing to test, you are wrong," chided Kyung-Soo.

"And what if I am not wrong?" counterpointed Thae.

"What do you want?" demanded Kyung-Soo.

"Get her fired," Thae gritted his teeth.

"What?" shouted Kyung-Soo. Everyone in the script department looked at them. Kyung-Soo lowered his voice and said, "You are making a mistake, Thae."

"Fine, then my plan will prove it. I am ready to apologise to her if I am proven to be wrong," spoke Thae.

"You won't rest till you do this, right?" asked Kyung-Soo, defeated.

"Yes."

"Fine, I will help you. But after that, you will never open your mouth in front of any employee, ever," ordered Kyung-Soo.

"I promise."

Thae ran to his security team and brought his dog with him. He had to know if he was right. He had to prove the girl wrong. He kept moving forward toward her. Her body kept freezing yet she was shivering violently.

He chided, "I wanted to see if you were telling the truth. Kyungsoona Hyung said he saw fear in your eyes yesterday, but I had to make sure. I never make mistake when it comes to judging the character of a person. And I would like to be right this time too." His eyebrows were knitted, and he was looking at her with disgust. He didn't like her at all. He wanted her gone at any cost because she hurt one thing precious to him.

Thae took another step forward towards Nivritti. She didn't know why but the warmth of Kyung-Soo's hands gave her the courage to slightly move. Her voice came back, and she screamed loudly. She threw herself in Kyung-Soo's arms and hid herself in his chest.

She shouted and pleaded and begged, "please, please, please, take it away. Please." She couldn't even look at the dog. She started sobbing.

Her reaction shocked Thae to his core. The girl was telling the truth. She had Cynophobia. He was wrong. He judged her poorly. His sixth sense about judging the character of someone betrayed him for the first time in his life.

Hearing her scream, every member of ASD came running in. They all stopped at the door as they saw Kyung-Soo hugging a girl. There was no room for any other person to get in. Chung-Ho tried making his way in but there was no space. He wanted to help Nivritti but had no way. He was lost in the sea of people.

Thae's heart broke after he saw her shivering and wailing with fear. Kyung-Soo was holding her tightly in his arms.

"That's enough Thae, now are you satisfied? Get out, now," Kyung-Soo commanded. "Everyone, get out of this room, NOW. Leave her alone," he shouted at the top of his lungs. Rarely anyone had seen Kyung-Soo getting angry but once he got angry, it was impossible to calm him down.

His team member knew that, and they all ran away from there after seeing his angry avatar. But Thae froze. He never thought that he would see such a violent reaction from Nivritti. He didn't know what to do. He just stood there holding Yong in his arms. Jeong-Eun grabbed the back collar of Thae's shirt and pulled him out of the room and locked the door.