Kookie(s) In My Oven

1. Chocolate Chip

Karissa’s POV

“Noona, I’m going to wait for you.”

I rolled my pencil underneath my fingertips, staring off into space while my professor droned on and on about the nutritional value of legumes. It was a cold March day, but my cheeks were warm as I daydreamed about that night ten months ago.

This happened often, nearly every day, since Jeon Jeongguk and I said goodbye to each other for the last time. It was hard to believe that that night even happened, because it all felt like a dream. But I held the memory so close to my heart.

“In our next class, we’ll move on to the other food groups, so make sure you read up on the next three chapters. Class dismissed.”

I snapped out of my daze as my classmates began to gather their things around me, some dashing out of our classroom as quickly as they could. I followed suit, packing everything into my backpack and quietly making my way out.

This was my life now. Every day, for the last ten months, I went to my classes at the university, went to work, and then, I went home. I avoided any and all news from Seoul, and I avoided anything and everything BTS. Niah and Quinn called and texted me about once a week, and even Tiana was keeping up with the rest of us, mostly over Instagram and SnapChat. It was good to hear from my friends, but it was so hard for me -- I missed them all so much.

Since I didn’t have work today, I headed home directly from school. It was my turn to make dinner, and I had to help my Mom watch my niece and nephew. They were 8 and 4, respectively.

The entire family greeted me when I came through the front door, my 8-year-old niece cheering happily when she saw me in the hallway.

“Auntie K!” Amiah cried, running towards the front door to give me a hug. I kissed her bright, happy face, just as my nephew rounded the corner and saw me there too. I ruffled her curly brown hair and noted for the millionth time how much she favored my older sister, Brooke.

“K~!” Kris shouted, holding his arms up for me to pick him up off the floor. At least I had these two to keep my life interesting.

“My babies! Did you miss your TeeTee today?” I asked them playfully, winking at them.

“Yes!” They chorused and I kissed Kris on his little cheek. His hazel eyes lit up and he smothered my face in kisses. Kris looked nothing like the rest of my family, and took after his dad in appearance.

“Okay, okay, y’all let your auntie get in the house first.” My Mama cautioned from the end of the hallway, laughing at their antics. I set Kris down on his own two feet, dropping my keys in the basket at the door.

“Mama, when does Brooke get off tonight?” I asked, hanging my coat up in the closet and following my family members into the kitchen.

“Don’t know,” My Mom replied, reaching into the fridge to grab a carton of juice. I sighed, and took a seat at the kitchen table, next to the kids.

“Well then how are we supposed to know if-?” I began, but my Mom fixed me with a frustrated look over her shoulder.

“Kris, don’t start-” She warned, pouring juice in each of the four glasses in front of her.

“Yes, Nana?” My little nephew asked curiously, looking between the two of us.

“Haha, Mama, don’t forget, you’ve got two Krises now,” I giggled, patting my nephew on the head. “Anyway, I guess I’ll get started and if she’s comes home, she can eat.”

“Sounds easiest.” My Mom agreed.

It took me no time to gather the ingredients for homemade tacos, while the kids played in the kitchen to keep me company. My Mom took some time to herself, and while I was chopping up the onions, my sister came home.

“I’m home!” She called from the front door, and both of her children bolted towards the front door. I stayed right where I was, finishing up with the onion and moving on to a tomato.

“Karissa, you ain’t gonna speak?” My sister asked, kissing her teeth in annoyance as she strolled into the kitchen. She dropped a handful of envelopes on the table, “Guess who got another scholarship in the mail?”

I frowned, turning around to face my sister tersely, “Why do you do that? Was your name on it? Stop opening my mail, Brooke.”

“Remember what Mama said, little sister. We don’t have secrets in this family,” She replied in a taunting tone, and I rolled my eyes, washing my hands off and moving over to the stack of letters on the table.

My older sister and I had a weird relationship. I loved her to death, and I loved my niece and nephew even more, but my sister purposely antagonized me as much as she could, for no reason. Quinn always said it was jealousy, while Niah said Brooke was just lonely, or angry over something from a long time ago. Whatever it was, I gave up trying to fix the problem she had with me a long time ago. It wasn’t worth the effort.

I pulled out the already opened letter, reading the congratulatory message for another scholarship I had applied for. I knew that one was coming, but there was a second letter from my university’s address that caught my eye.

I ripped open the envelope and read the words that I had been waiting to see for ten months.

“Oh my God.” I whispered, a grin bursting across my face.

“Oh, is that another scholarship? Yay for you,” my sister said, without an ounce of actual cheer.

“Nope, it’s even better,” I said, smiling so hard my cheeks were hurting. I wasn’t going to let her phase me at all, “I’ve been approved to go back to Seoul in the Fall!” I screamed, swinging my niece up into the air, and then kissing her cheeks, “I’m going back to Korea!”

But instead of matching my look of glee, I watched in confusion as the color drained from my sister’s face.

Jungkook’s POV

“Noona, I am going to wait for you.”

It was hard to believe that I had said those words to someone ten months ago.

It felt like an entire lifetime had already gone by, when really, it hadn’t even been a year. Our group had flown around the world so many times in the days that followed my last meeting with her, but none of those planes took me to where she was.

So instead, I continued to wait. Just like I had said I would.

It was hard, especially when I realized that my Noona had no intention of speaking to me at all. Suga-hyung had warned me that it would be hard, but I ignored his warnings until the very moment she cut off all contact with me. I knew she would put some distance between us, but this was much more than the oceans that kept us apart.

All I could do was miss her.

And I missed her so much. I missed her curly, auburn hair. I missed the adorable dimple on the right side of her face. I missed her expressive, intelligent hazel eyes that looked green in the sunlight and a cloudy brownish gray when she was upset. Every day, I could picture the wild paths of the dark freckles on her terracotta skin, spread across her nose and cheeks, and it made my chest ache.

Actually, torture might be easier to deal with.

“Kookie-ah, what’re you doing?” A voice asked from beside me. I snapped out of my daze, and turned to find Namjoon-hyung sitting beside me, with a smile on his face. I had never seen him as happy as he was lately. I knew a lot of that had to do with Quinn-noona’s constant presence. She happily went with us whenever we needed a translator, which made Monnie-hyung ecstatic whenever we traveled abroad. Even now, he probably had plans to see her later today.

“Nothing, hyung.” I answered, planting my chin on my knee as I continued to stare down at my all white Timbs. One thing I had learned in the last few months was that be my situation didn’t help me feel any better about it. So, I decided it was best to keep it to myself.

Monnie-hyung bumped my shoulder with his, giving me an encouraging nudge, “Don’t give up, ok? If she didn’t care, you wouldn’t be wearing those boots right now.”

Of course, Monnie-hyung was incredibly observant, and knew exactly what was bothering me. He also had a valid point. Karissa-noona had given me a sliver of hope when these shoes arrived at our doorstep, on my birthday in September. We hadn’t said two words to each other in four whole months, but the shoes came with a simple note: “From K.R.”

“You’re right, hyung,” I said with a sigh, picking at the laminate floor.

“How long has it been?”

“Ten months,” I blurted out immediately.

“At least you’re not counting the hours like I was,” Monnie-hyung replied with a chuckle. He patted me on my shoulder and lifted himself off the ground. “Practice is over now, so let’s do something. I feel like having a drink, don’t you?”

I nodded, and got up from the floor too, heading over to gather all my stuff from the practice room. When both of us had everything, we stopped by Suga-hyung’s studio on our way out. Niah was in there with him, playing a game on her phone on the couch.

“Hey! What’s up, guys?” She greeted when she saw Monnie-hyung and I.

Niah-noona was as cheerful and chill as ever. In ten months, she had graduated from Seoul U with a degree in History and had joined a professional Women’s basketball team in Yongin. Suga-hyung sulked a bit since that meant Niah-noona had to move further away from him, but he had actually gotten lucky -- Niah-noona’s other offers had come from the women’s team in Cheongju and a team in Italy. She saved him a lot of heartache by accepting an offer close-by.

With the money from her offer, she was able to get her own apartment, which left Quinn-noona’s apartment with two empty rooms. Monnie-hyung had been happy about that, and so was Suga-hyung; since each of their girlfriends lived separately now, it was a lot easier for my hyungs to spend the night outside of our dorm. It made our dorm a lot quieter on the weekends, but I was only happy for my hyungs.

“Look who came to visit!” Monnie-hyung shouted cheerfully, heading over to the couch to give Niah-noona a hug. When he released her, she came over to me with a grin.

“I’ve got some good news for you, Peanut,” she whispered as I enveloped her in a friendly hug, laughing at Niah-noona’s nickname for me. While we were drinking one night, Niah-noona confessed to me drunkenly that she loved peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Since everyone called me “Kookie”, she had gotten the bright idea to name me after her favorite cookies. I didn’t mind the nickname; it was silly, but also endearing.

“What’d you want to tell me, Noona?”

“Welllll,” she lowered her voice dramatically, and Yoongi-hyung chuckled, turning off his computer and joining us by the couch. “I just got a text from a certain someone and-”

“Jagiya, don’t drag it out; look at our maknae’s face,” Yoongi-hyung admonished, and Niah pouted cutely.

“You’re no fun, Yoongi!”

“So what’s this news, Niah-yah?” Monnie-hyung questioned curiously.

“Oh right! Kari’s application got approved! She’s coming back to Seoul!” Niah cheered, grinning from ear-to-ear.

I stood still, feeling an uncontrollable smile spread widely across my face before I could stop it, “Really?? Really, Noona?”

Niah-noona beamed at me proudly, “Have I ever lied to you?”

“Do we know when she’ll be back?” Monnie-hyung asked for me, patting my shoulder warmly.

“We don’t know yet; every university is different. If everything goes well in the Spring semester, she could be back as early as May or as late as September. She might even be back in time for your birthday, Peanut!”

I tried not to get my hopes up, but every word that Niah-noona said left me feeling incredibly happy. I couldn’t do anything but smile.

“Wow, he’s lit up like a beacon! You’re so cute,” Niah-noona cooed, making my hyungs laugh.

“Don’t fall for me, Noona. I’m already taken.” I replied, winking at Niah-noona.

“Haha, so much for impenetrable, huh? Kari’s got some skills,” She teased, causing even more laughter.

There was a knock at the door and Hobi-hyung appeared from the hall, waving at everyone.

“Whoa, Niah’s here?” He asked, heading over to give her a hug.

“You’re late, Hobie-oppa!” Niah-noona cried, swatting at his arm. He laughed, rubbing his shoulder in mock pain.

“Were you guys headed out?” I asked, looking between Niah-noona and my hyungs.

“Yeah, we were going to meet up with a few of my teammates for karaoke at Quinn’s favorite place. They really want to meet you guys.”

“And I want to meet them,” Hobi-hyung said, flashing a toothy grin.

“Oh, wait till I tell Kari. She’ll have to pick a new bias when she comes back.”

Hobi-hyung blinked in disbelief, “Karissa-ssi is coming back? When?”

I frowned, not liking the way his voice took on an excited tone, “Hobi-hyung, I thought you wanted to meet Niah-noona’s teammates?”

Monnie-hyung cleared his throat, “Well, if we have people to meet, we should probably get going then. Should I text my Wangbi-ah and invite her too?”

I frowned, “Hyung, I’m actually feeling tired. I’m going to go home.”

“Are you sure, maknae?” Yoongi-hyung asked me with a doubtful look.

I nodded, waving to Niah-noona, “Have fun, everyone.”

Everyone said goodbye to me, staring after me as I walked out of the studio. I made my way out of the company, feeling the cool March wind blowing against my face. It took a little while for me to get back home, but I made it to our dorm fairly quickly, since it was already one in the morning.

“Oh, you’re here?” ChimChim-hyung and V-hyung were both in the living room when I walked into our dorm. They were eating snacks and watching something on TV.

“I’m home,” I replied, removing my shoes and sliding on my slippers. I dropped down on the couch beside V-hyung, who nodded his head in greeting, and went back to something on his phone.

“He’s chatting with his Hwarang-hyungs as usual.” Jimin-hyung said, by way of explanation.

“Have you seen Tiana-ssi's new Snap?” I asked Jimin-hyung nonchalantly, and in no time, I felt V-hyung’s gaze boring a hole into me.

“No,” Jimin-hyung replied with a sheepish smile, “But the last one was…”

“She looked beautiful,” V-hyung replied, stressing the words to leave no room debate.

I laughed, climbing up from the couch, “I never knew makeup could be so unique.”

“It’s her art,” he continued, frowning thoughtfully as a notification buzzed on his phone. Jimin-hyung just shrugged and turned back to watching a drama on our big screen TV. I headed into my room, plopping down on my bed and pulling my own phone out of my pocket.

Every night, when I missed my Noona so much it weighed me down, I called her phone. Her Korean number had been deactivated since she had left the country, but still, I dialed the number, pressing my phone to my ear. The phone rang and rang while I held my breath, knowing damn well that she wasn’t going to answer the phone.

“The number you have reached-” I hung up the call before I could hear any more from the automated voice. I knew she wouldn’t answer.

I rolled over onto my back, holding my phone over my head as I opened up my photo gallery to find the most recent picture I had taken of her. It was during our concert in Miami, when Tiana had straightened her hair and done my Noona’s makeup so wonderfully. She had been talking about something with the other girls. The dimple in her right cheek was clearly visible because she had been laughing at something Tiana-noona had said.

“Noona, I’ll get to see you soon,” I couldn’t help the smile bursting across my face as I whispered the words to her picture. Was I crazy? Probably, but I couldn’t find it in me to care.

My Noona was finally coming back to me.

End Chapter 1