Confusion

Nitya opened her eyes to find that Ji-hun was sleeping by her side; partially sitting with the top half of his body leaning against the headrest. One of his hands was gripping her hand and the other one was resting on his thigh, as if he had forcefully been asked to stay by her side and had fallen asleep while sitting there . Nitya knew that it was her habit to grab the hands of her family members, especially her brothers, to silently ask them to stay in her room till she fell asleep, whenever she was scared. How dumb could she be, she had probably mistaken him as one of her friends or family last night and hadn't let him go to his own room. 'But now she had to do something about it, otherwise it would be a big scandal with the potential to ruin his career, and she couldn't be the reason for that. No, no, no! She had to do something ASAP...' Thinking this, she impulsively touched his shoulder to make him lie on the bed in a good posture so that he could rest properly for a while, till she could come up with an idea. But, Ji-hun woke up with this touch of hers and sat up straight, looking at her. Nitya was a little startled, as he sat there smiling and asked "How are you feeling now?"

"Umm! I am feeling good, but why are you asking me this?"

"Really? Do I need to bring some medicine for your hangover; or wait, I will be sending something better for you!"

Nitya was not listening to him anymore, she was completely lost in her own thoughts of how she could minimize the ensuing scandal. She spoke up only after creating a fully-formed idea in her mind.

"Listen, don't go outside by yourself right now. I know I might have forcefully grabbed your hand in my sleep and how big of a scandal can be created by it, so I have an idea. I will call Ho-jin, Dae Jung, Chang Min and Kaoru hyung to my room along with Yeoubi hyung, that way nobody will notice that you were already in my room. And then, I will explain the whole scenario to them as well that it was entirely my fault. But trust me, I am really feeling extremely guilty about my act and I don't even remember how I ended up grabbing your hands..."

Nitya was doing the job she did best- monologuing by herself, not looking, even for once at the changing expressions of the person sitting in front of her. He was smiling at her cuteness, and raising his brows at the same time after listening to the master plan of the girl whom he was falling in love with, more and more deeply with every act of hers. But as she mentioned that she would explain the scenario to everyone and was willing to take the blame entirely on herself, he couldn't resist himself from speaking. Even though he wanted to listen more, she was the only person he would never get tired of listening to, but he had to stop her for now.

So he finally spoke, while cupping her face with both his hands, "You can never stop over-thinking, can you? And don't worry about the scandal, everyone already knows about us and Yeoubi hyung will definitely take care of it, I know this for sure. So don't stress yourself. And remember, we are heading back to Korea today and you can finally meet your brother after a while. But let me tell you, I have planned a surprise for you there, after what you did last night; I know you are the best at surprising people, but I can bet you will like mine as well!"

"Wait? What did I do yesterday? And what do you mean by 'surprise'- it was not meant to be a surprise, I wanted to tell you about it a long time ago but you took me out to get dressed up and everything. So I really don't get time discuss it with you, but you know the fact that I don't like-"

Ji-hun again interrupted her in between, saying "Thank God that you didn't get the time to discuss it with me or tell me beforehand, otherwise I don't know how would I have reacted-"

"Huh!? I am not getting you, why would you be confused about your reaction after knowing that?"

"Do you really think everybody can be as bold as you? I don't think so! But anyway, it's already late. I have to talk to Yeoubi hyung about your Visa as well, so you can rest a little longer and I will be sending you something delicious for breakfast. If you have a headache, I'll make sure to send something for that too! No need to come outside for breakfast, you should just rest here."

"Wait, how do you know that I have a headache?"

"I knew from the very beginning that you might develop a headache, so just relax. I would advise you to take a shower as well, but looking at the temperature and knowing your sensitivity towards temperature, I suggest that you use the shower, keeping the water at a moderate temperature. And yes, do remember to switch on your phone and call Surbhi back, as she might be worried." After completing his sentence he planted a kiss on her forehead and stood up to leave the room.

Before he could get to the door, he came back, ruffled her hairs and patted her cheeks to go through her to-do list once again. "Take a shower, then eat and then have some rest, I will see you before boarding the flight. So don't panic if my phone is unreachable for a while, always remember that I am never going to run away and I will never let you run away either. We will deal with everything, but together! Bye, I love you more!"

Nitya waved her hands saying, "I love you too! Bye bye," without the words even registering in her brain. Only after he had left the room did she realize that he was not a common friend of hers whom she had just graced with I love you. She really needed to work on this habit of hers, as she frequently bade goodbye to every friend of hers with a 'love you'. 'And what was he talking about, why would he not know how to react after seeing Chang Min Hyung's gift? Doesn't he like paintings as well, even though he couldn't draw well himself?'

She remembered that she needed to switch on her phone, but she felt the urge to shower as well. She switched on her phone and put it on charging, deciding to shower quickly. She would call Surbhi back after that; she couldn't exactly understand why she would be worried, but her headache was killing her now. She entered the adjoining washroom thinking after grabbing all her clothes, thinking why she didn't remember anything clearly about the last night. Nothing had been making sense since she had woken up, and in her haze of confusion, she ended up forgetting that she hadn't locked the main door.

As soon as she entered the bathroom, she heard a voice calling out her name. She heard the visitor say "Nitya noona" and understood that it must be Ho-jin. She shouted from inside "Ho-jin! I am taking a shower right now."

Ho-jin was flustered for a moment and replied, "Oh I am sorry, noona, I didn't know that. I will be leaving now, but there is an incoming call from Surbhi noona on your phone!"

"Please receive it, Ho-jin!" She shouted to be heard before he had left, continuing, "And tell her that I am taking a shower, I will be there in 10 minutes- maximum!"

Ho-jin replied "Okay," and he received the call. Without getting a chance to say 'hello', he was confronted with the fangs of a hungry tigress "Nitya Jaikar, you are so dead! Not that you can avoid it, I just wanted to tell you this in advance. And who was the boy with you last night-"

Ho-jin interrupted her, knowing that if he didn't gather the courage now, she might end him over the call, by the devouring power of her words alone. He blurted out "Noona! It's me, Ho-jin; and Nitya noona was with Ji-hun hyung last night. She got drunk and confessed to him last night!"

The anger in Surbhi's voice vanished for a second and she replied with a feeling of content, saying "Finally!" But within a few seconds, the part about Nitya being drunk registered in her mind and her next sentence was "Is she still alive? And does she even remember anything?!"

************************************