THE MANAGER NIM

09. THE INVISIBLE MAN

Before you could realise what's happening, your heart is filled with straight lines, blood rushes to your heart and the blankness protracting around you in that unlit room suffuses through your mind momentarily, leaving you in a befuddled state.

"Dowa jwoyo!" that stranger's plea slides into your ears as a mere whisper.

Timely someone flips on the light, illuminating the inky room.

Adrenaline shots through you as your brain grasps the position you're seized in when you see the mirror in front of you.

That stranger is literally clutching you in a back hug.

In that single-breasted coat accompanied with a French beanie over his head, he looks like a fuse of Sherlock Holmes and a mafia leader.

Every inch of his face is buried under a face mask and a broad sunglass.

But, just from the pressure of his firm hold, one can say he spent half of his lifetime in a gym.

Squirming in his steely hold you try to break-free from his muscular arms and suddenly the sound of a pair of stilettos clicking against the ground echoes across the deserted foyer, outside.

His grip around your waist intensifies with that sound and you can feel his body trembling against your bare back, the sound of those heels abruptly halts near your room.

"Please help me, please!" his hoarse voice again sounds feebly near your ears, but this time he requests in English and it's filled with pure horror leaving your mind in a baffling mystery.

A soft knock at your door draws your attention from your perplexing thoughts.

"Hello ma'am, any problem there?" a female voice asks in English, they must've noticed your non-native face before.

No answer, you just silently stand there in a stupefied state, contemplating, whether to help the stranger or not.

"Ma'am, sorry for the interruption, but can you kindly unlock the door?" seems like she wants to check with her own eyes.

"No! Don't!" he says cautiously in a stern voice.

You close your eyes and inhale sharply, vaguely sorting out all those clashing thoughts inside your mind, you let out a huge sigh.

"Hello boss! Can you just..." you look down at his arms gesturing to release you.

He skeptically releases you from his hold.

You quickly turn towards the mirror.

Peering at yourself in the mirror, you softly smudge your lipstick using your fingers around your lips.

The stranger continues to stare at you in the mirror in a confused state.

You swiftly whirl around and proceed to open the door, throwing a stern look at him.

You partially open the door and make sure to hide the stranger behind you.

"Is there any problem ma'am?", a sales assistant enquires you as soon as you open the door, but she looks different from the one who asked you to wait a few minutes back. With that nerd glass and those long bangs which partially covered her eyes, you could barely see her face.

"What? No? I'm all fine Ms..." your eye roves through her outfit to find her name batch, but there is none.­

"But a strange commotion drew me here, is anyone else there in your room?" she asks dubiously.

Something feels odd about her, why is she not looking straight at your face?

"Oh well about that, my...my boyfriend is in here" you reply, faking a demure smile.

"But only one person is allowed inside a trial room, at a time ma'am" she says hesitantly.

"Oh...umm actually I was struggling with my blouse zipper, so he came in to help me with that. Honey, quickly fasten it and step out" you gesture at the stranger who is hiding behind you to fasten your blouse's zipper, hoping that she will leave the place with your valid reason and convincing act.

But to your dismay she doesn't budge, so with no other go you incline towards the stranger and whisper in his ears.

"Seems like she won't leave until she witnesses what I said with her own eyes, so you better fasten my zipper for real and leave." You whisper in an inaudible tone, but his enhanced hearing picks it up anyway.

Gasping the situation, his slender arm reaches out to your blouse and swiftly fastens the split opened zipper, sending chills down your spine.

Once he fastens the zip, both you and the sales assistant anticipates the stranger to step out of the room, but in contrast he pulls you in, towards him in a flash.

As you crash-land on his broad chest, he hastily bolts the door.

Again, you are clutched back in his warm hold, but unlike last time his hold is gentle and your head rests over his chest, right under his chin.

As he turns his head to examine the door and the situation out there, your eyes proceed to peek at his face in close-up, but his mask smothered all his features.

Abruptly, he shifts his attention to you, locking eyes in a deep gaze. Dazing into his concealed iris behind the translucent black glass, unwittingly your hand reaches up to take off his glass.

In a jiffy he gains back his consciousness and quickly dodges your hands.

A hue of red spreads across your cheeks as you realise what just happened.

"Why did you just­ pulle_"

"Because I can't step out, someone is stalking me!" He interjects with his answer before you complete your question.

Stalker!

Is he a celebrity?

A CEO?

A royal heir?

Actually, who is this guy?!?

Why is everything about him as mysterious as his face?

Why are you even helping him, to begin with?!

As the questions start to wiggle their way out of the mud of your mind, you turn towards the guy who already planted his left ear over the bolted door's surface, in order to eavesdrop.

Jungkook's face pop's up from your lock screen as you get a message notification.

"Shit! Someone informed my sister that this room is occupied by a couple and now she is searching for me!" instead of thinking what to do next, you look up at his face outright panicking.

Without uttering a word, he quickly swipes the display of his smart watch and in a split second the light goes off, darkness floods the room again.

Standing in the middle of that ray less room, you can hear the movement of the door's latch and a pair of sneakers slithering over the floor.

Promptly, the power comes back illuminating the fancy room.

-

"And that 'invisible man' vanished from there, just like that! Leaving you all alone?!" your aunt's eyes protrude out from their sockets.

After you brief out the whole scenario to clear the misunderstanding caused by your sister's perspective of the story, your aunt's jaw drops down to the floor and she even gave him the nickname 'invisible man'.

After supper, she tucks you into bed like a baby, smearing Devi Durga's scarlet kumkum over your glabella.

Thanks to her, now your forehead resembles the red traffic light.

"Now, now, no evil will haunt my sugarplum's dreams, sleep well Ammu!" she pats upon your head softly.

But who is going to tell her that the 'invisible man's' mysterious eyes are haunting every nook and cranny of your brain, already.