OST:  Tasty Love by KARA 

 

          The day after the “incident” with Jiyong, Nicole acted like nothing happened.  She returned to her daily routine and was the first one to wake up in morning, as usual.  Since KARA was on a short break after Japan promotions, most of the members decided to sleep in.  Nicole, however, woke up every morning for some exercise.  In order for her to stay fit and eat the way she wants, Nicole had to work out every day.

 

          It was a spring day in late April and Nicole was taking a jog around her neighborhood.  She wore a pink sleeveless exercise top with a hood and black exercise shorts with white stripes on the side.  On her feet she wore white and pink running shoes.  Because it was so early in the morning, Nicole didn’t worry much about being recognized like she was the day before.  However, she did take some precautions- she wore her hood up over a white cap on her head.  Nicole face was also bare and fresh from make-up, making it harder for some to recognize her.

 

          With her headphones plugged into her ears, Nicole hummed along to Lupe Fiasco’s The Show Goes On.  Though Nicole was a K-Pop Idol, she still enjoyed and kept up to date with American pop music.  Nicole wasn’t picky with music and listened to all types of genres.  If one were to search through her iPod, they wouldn’t just find pop or hip-hop, but reggae, rock, country, and even ballads.  Whenever Nicole felt down or sad, she would turn on her ballad playlist on her iPod.

 

          After a half hour of jogging, Nicole finally returned to the dorm.  The other members of KARA were still fast asleep.  After all it was only 7:35 in the morning.  Since she just finished exercising, Nicole decided to take a cool shower.  Another great thing about waking up early, she didn’t need to fight anybody over the shower.  Five girls and one bathroom, it was basically a war zone.

 

          When Nicole finished her shower and was all dressed, she continued her daily routine and went on to cook breakfast.  Nicole not only had a love for eating food, but she also had a passion for cooking too.  She was considered the best cook among all the other members of KARA and was unofficially given the role of being the “cook” of the group.  Also, because the other members idea of cooking was ordering take-out.

 

          As Nicole started on making a batch of pancakes, she plugged her iPod in to the speakers in the kitchen.  While mixing eggs and flour, Nicole sang and danced along to 4Minute’s Heart To Heart. 

 

          “Let’s have a heart to heart to heart……” Nicole started to sing the chorus as she poured some of the pancake mix onto the hot sizzling pan.

 

          “Unnie, Good Morning.”  Jiyoung greeted, still looking tired.  Nicole looked up from her pancakes and smiled brightly.

 

          “Good Morning, Jiyoung-ah!”

 

          “What are you cooking?” Jiyoung asked as she looked over Nicole’s shoulder.

 

          “Pancakes!” Nicole answered cheerfully.  Pancakes weren’t a traditional Korean breakfast, but Nicole felt in the mood for pancakes.  After, though she was Korean- she was raised in America for most of her life.

 

          “GYURI-UNNIE, can you please hurry up!  How long are you going to be in there?!”

 

          “Aishhh, I can’t believe you bee-lined me for the bathroom!”

 

          “It’s not my fault you’re all too slow!  And I will take as long as I like!”

 

          Nicole and Jiyoung shook their heads at the commotion going down the hall where the bathroom was.  After about two years of living with each other, the two youngest eventually learned that they weren’t going to get to the bathroom first.  Unless they woke up extra early like Nicole did every morning.  While Gyuri, Seungyeon, and Hara fought over the bathroom, Jiyoung made herself a cup of milk and Nicole returned to cooking her pancakes.

 

          By the time the other four members were all cleaned and dressed, Nicole finished the pancakes.  Like a family, the five members of KARA ate breakfast together at a table.  It was nice to be on a break.  Even Jiyoung had the week off from school.  The girls had had a hard and tiring past few months.  Now, all they wanted to do was relax and prepare for the next schedule of activities.

 

          “Jumpin’, jumpin’, jumpin’ up…”

 

          Nicole’s cell phone vibrated and she checked it to see the name Jinwoon.

 

          “Hey Baby!” she answered cheerfully.  The other members did not find Nicole’s greeting to Jinwoon odd at all, considering that’s how she greeted all her male idol friends.

 

          “Nicole-ah!  Why didn’t you tell me you were back from Japan?!”  Jung Jinwoon of 2AM yelled at her over the phone. 

 

          Nicole mentally slapped herself, she forgot to tell her close friends that she returned from Seoul and had a few weeks off.   Jinwoon was one of Nicole’s closest male idol friends, along with SHINee’s Key, F.T. Island’s Jaejin, BEAST’s Dongwoon, and other ’91 idols.  She was so close with all of them, that she had quite a few scandals with most of them, particularly with Jinwoon.  Rumors of her dating Jinwoon spread like wildfire last year.  However, Nicole only laughed it off.  After all, it was only a rumor and they were only just friends.

 

          “Oh right, I forgot!  I’m sorry……” Nicole apologized before joking, “But, I can tell you now!  Hey Woonie-ah, I’m back from Japan!”

 

          “Too late for that!  Thanks for making me feel special, Cole!” The ballad singer scoffed sarcastically.

 

          “I’m sorry!  I’ll make it up to you!”  She exclaimed, “I’m off for the next few weeks, so why don’t we go to the movies this weekend?”

 

          There was a pause and Nicole knew that he just wanted to make her wait in suspense.

 

          “Really?” Jinwoon asked excitedly after a few moments.

 

          “Yea, I’ll call Key and Dongwoon too!”  Nicole said, “Oh, and Nana.  She wanted to hang out once I got back.”

 

          “Oh……okay……” Nicole didn’t notice her best friend’s excited tone falter a bit.

 

          “Great, I’ll text you later!  Bye!”

 

          After Nicole hung up her phone, she noticed that her members look at her with their heads shaking. 

 

          “What?”  She asked, confused.

 

          “That boy so loves you……” Seungyeon said, while shaking her head.

 

          “No he doesn’t.” Nicole laughed at the idea, “That’d just be weird!”

 

          “Poor boy, he thought he would be going out with only Nicole…...” Gyuri started.

 

          “……But she goes on inviting half of Seoul.”  Hara finished.

 

          The three members nodded in agreement as they all laughed at Nicole’s naivety when it comes to the opposite .  One would think that Nicole would know a lot about the male gender, considering that most of her friends were male.  However, that’s all they ever are to her.  Friends.

 

          “YAH, it’s not like that!”  Nicole protested. 

 

          Ever since her scandal with Jinwoon, even her members were skeptical on whether it was true or not.  It took her a long time to convince people that she and Jinwoon were not in a relationship or in love.  However, even today there were many fans were believed that Jincole was real.

 

          “Unnie, relax.”  Jiyoung said calmly, “We know you and Jinwoon-Oppa are just friends.  They’re just making fun of you.”

 

          Gyuri , Seungyeon, and Hara burst out laughing while Nicole glared at each of them.  Their laughter was soon ended when they heard a knock at the door.  All five of them wondered who would be at their dorm at 9 in the morning since they were on a break.

 

          Jiyoung got up from her seat to answer the door, one of the downfalls of being the maknae.  Though she had a lot more energy and was considered to have more aegyo, when the older members didn’t want to do something- i.e. answering the door, taking out the trash, doing the dishes, etc. - it was up to her to do the job.

 

          “Manager-Oppa?”  The maknae greeted, confused. 

 

          The four older members heard their maknae and looked at each other with puzzled expressions.  Today was one of their days off, which meant they didn’t have a schedule today.  It also meant that their manager was off as well.  So, why was he here?

 

          “Good Morning Jiyoung-ah,” He greeted seriously as he entered the dorm, “Where’s Nicole?”

 

          From his tone, the members knew something was wrong.  Jiyoung nodded toward the dining room that was connected to the kitchen, too confused to speak.  Nicole turned to the other members with a worried expression.  They only shrugged.

 

          “Jung Nicole, I need to speak with you.”  Their manager said as soon as he entered the small dining room.  Not only was his tone angry and frustrated, but so was his facial expressions.

 

          Nicole immediately stood up and bowed at her manager, along with the three other members of KARA.  Jiyoung was shortly behind their manager with a confused and worried expression.

 

          “Yes, Manager-Oppa?”  Nicole asked hesitantly. 

 

          Usually, their manager was a fun-loving and kind guy.  However, whenever there was a problem with anything related to KARA, he scared all five of them almost as much as their president.  He treated them like his own daughters, even when he was angry.

 

          “Where were you yesterday afternoon?”  He questioned, his arms crossed.  Nicole looked off to the side and scratched her head.

 

          “Uhh......I went to a small café?”  Nicole said nervously.

 

          “Oh really?  Did you happen to meet Big Bang’s G-Dragon there?”  Though his words seemed like he was trying to start simple conversation, Nicole knew otherwise.  By the mere mention of Big Bang or G-Dragon, she cringed on the inside.

 

           “You met G-Dragon?!”

 

          Her members squealed excitedly.  Even though they were all popular idols themselves, they still got excited when male idols were involved.  Especially idols as influential and admired as Big Bang.

 

          “How did you……?” Nicole started, but her manager answered her question before she could ask it.

 

          “Because it’s all over the news and internet.”

 

          “Awh, am I a part of another dating scandal again?” Nicole whined and sighed from relief, “Don’t worry, the rumors will go away eventually!”

 

          Of all the idols for me to be rumored to be dating, why’d it have to be that jerk? Nicole thought in the back of her mind, annoyed. Well, at least it’s just rumors.  They’ll die down just like last time.

 

          “Unfortunately, Nicole, this is worse than last time.”  Her manager said, as if he just read her mind.  He handed her today’s newspaper.

 

          With all her members surrounding her, Nicole opened the folded newspaper.  Her eyes widened with shock at what occupied the first page.  On the first page was the headline, “BIG BANG’S G-DRAGON AND KARA’S NICOLE DATING?”  There were also pictures of Nicole and Jiyong running away holding hands.  However, the outrageous headline, the other pictures, or the contents of the article that included witness accounts managed to keep Nicole’s attention.

 

          Under the headline of the article was a large picture of what looked like Nicole and Jiyong kissing.  This confused Nicole, especially since she knew that she didn’t kiss Jiyong.  In fact, she hadn’t even had her first kiss yet.  In the picture, Nicole was leaning on her tip-topes with her face tilted toward Jiyong.  Though in reality, Nicole was just trying wipe Jiyong’s face, from the angle of the photographer- it really looked as if they were actually kissing. 

 

          “WHAT?!?”

  

_________________________ 

 

Yay, the second chapter is up!  Sorry it took me so long to update.  If you are reading my fic OMB, then you know how busy (and distracted with K-Dramas) I've been.  >.< However, I wrote this chapter all within one night and I got to say I'm proud that I updated both my stories all within one day......kinda lol.  In the next chapter, Jiyong is going to find out about the scandal.  Please look forward to it! ^^

BTW- how do you all like the poster and background?  It's all thanks to BabyCopGurl, she's absolutely amazing!