129 The Worry


    “Oh!” she eximed. “Jae!” she picked up the phone and greeted, “Hello!”


    “Sorry, Ritti! Don’t be sad or mad,” Jae-Hwa came straight to the point.


    “What happened, Jae?” she asked.


    “Um… Oppa has not called me yet with any news. I have tried calling his phone, but I can’t get through. I even called the hospital, but he is not there,” replied Jae-Hwa, guilt-ridden. One could hear the sadness in her voice.


    Nivrittiughed on phone after hearing Jae-Hwa, concerned voice. She was d that her friend worried about her.


    “Why are youughing?” sulked Jae-Hwa.


    “Because your brother was here,” said Nivritti.


    “What?” shouted Jae-Hwa.


    “Yes, his phone fell and he broke his phone. He came out of the hospital to repair it and on his way, he came to my house to tell me that I have an appointment tomorrow. He will not be returning home today as he has some case in the hospital. I think after he gets his phone repaired, he will call you,” exined Nivritti.


    .....


    “Woah! You know more about him, more than I know about him. Are you, his girlfriend?” taunted Jae-Hwa, surprised.


    “Jae! Shut up!” shouted Nivritti. She didn’t like her teasing at all. She felt ufortable being called someone’s girlfriend.


    “I was just joking,” apologised Jae-Hwa.


    “I don’t like such jokes,” said Nivritti, angrily.


    “Sorry! Please don’t be angry,” pleaded Jae-Hwa. “I will treat you to the world’s best coffee.”


    “Hmm, okay. But what is the world’s best coffee?” inquired Nivritti.


    “The coffee I make with my own hands,” replied, Jae-Hwa, yfully.


    Nivritti shook her head in disbelief, “you are an idiot!”


    “Ha-ha, I know,”ughed Jae-Hwa. She was d that Nivritti didn’t get angry for long at her. She realised that she should control her tongue from now on.


    Suddenly Nivritti’s doorbell rang. “Oh! Looks like someone is at your door. I will talk to youter. Good night,” said Jae-Hwa.


    “Okay, goodnight!” greeted Nivritti and disconnected the call. She ran to the door and looked through the peephole. A delivery woman in a ck cap was standing at her door.


    “Annyeonghaseyo!” the delivery person greeted as soon as Nivritti opened the door.


    “Annyeonghaseyo,” replied Nivritti. She took the parcel from the girl who bowed down to her and left. Nivritti had paid for the food online.


    She ran to the kitchen and took out a te. She opened the lid of the parcel and took in the buttery, spicy, delicious smell of the chicken. She closed her eyes to enhance her sense of smell and sighed with happiness.


    cing the hot, buttery naan and steaming hot butter chicken on the te, she moved towards her couch. She switched on her television and enjoyed her food while watching a soap opera. She would moan after every bite.


    “Ah, Heaven!” she moaned. She was not even drinking water as that would remove the delicious taste for a minute from the mouth. The tender, juicy chicken pieces would melt in her mouth. The slightly charred naan kept enhancing the already vourful vour.


    After licking the te clean, she just slid down on her couch forfort. Keeping her eyes closed, she kept halfying on the couch idly. When she felt the gravy drying on her fingers, she finally stood up and took her tes into the kitchen.


    She ced the te in the kitchen sink and rinsed her hands. She looked around at all the containers lying on the counter. One by one she started emptying them into the garbage. She had so many dishes to wash. How she wished for a dishwasher right now.


    First, she threw out the garbage and locked all the doors and windows. She cleaned her containers and tes and ced them on the drying rack to dry. Finally, she was feeling warm and content after having Indian food. Act after act of stupidity made her feel like an idiot but delicious foodforted her heart, and she was feeling a lot better.


    She decided to retire for the night. She closed herptop and ced it back in her bag. Grabbing her phone, she came to her bedroom and jumped on her bed. After getting inside the nket, she looked at her phone.


    Her mind went back to Young-Chul. He was not feeling well. Should she ask him how he was feeling now? Was she that close to him? Should she disturb him at this time? But he looked pale and tired, she wanted to know how he was feeling now.


    Crossing her fingers, she opened her messaging app and send a message to Young-Chul, “Annyeonghaseyo! How are you feeling now? Rest well and get better soon.”


    She waited for a few minutes but there was no reply. She kept tapping on her phone with her fingernails. “Should I ask him? No, not him. Maybe JJ,” she pondered.


    The next message she sent to was to Jung-Hwa. “Hi, JJ! How is MY doing? Is he feeling okay now?”


    She again waited for a reply, but her phone never chimed. “Has everyone retired for the night? Why is no one replying? Did something happen to MY? Is he not, okay? No, no, what am I thinking about? Everything is okay. Everything is fine. They are just sleeping. It’ste. They need their rest,” she kept talking to herself.


    “Ahh… what should I do? Stop being nosy, Ritti. Go to sleep. You don’t want to bete again, do you?” She switched off the light and covered herself with the nket. For a few minutes, she kept staring out her window in the darkness.


    “Shit!!” she shouted and sat up. “I can’t even sleep now. I only have one final path to walk on. NK. Oh, why? Why? Why only him? Why can’t JJ or MY reply to my messages? Now I will have to message NK,” she shouted and banged her hand hard on her mattress.


    “If he won’t reply, I am going to lose my mind,” she screamed. She opened her phone again and sent a message to Kyung-Soo. “Hi! Sorry for messaging you sote. I just wanted to ask about MY. How is he doing? Is he alright?”


    Message sent. Shey back down but kept staring at her phone screen. Continuously looking at her phone screen, she slept while waiting for a reply but that reply never came. Her phone never chimed. There was not a single notification.