Kookie(s) in my Oven

3. Sugar

Karissa’s POV

After having a full breakfast, the girls and I went out for a little retail therapy. It was unusual, being with my two best friends, and receiving more looks and whispers than we ever had before. Two junior high schoolers in basketball jerseys even ran up to Niah to ask her for an autograph.

“Is this our new normal?” I asked my friends, who both shrugged and went back to browsing the clothing rack.

“Everyone’s been super nice so far,” Niah replied off-handedly, holding up a navy tank top, before putting it back on the rack.

Quinn wrapped her arm around my shoulder, “I’m used to this, given my clients.”

“Well, yeah, but it’s still a bit much, right?” I shuffled on my feet, feeling a little uncomfortable.

Niah waved me off, “The guys have it worse anyway.”

Quinn nodded, “She’s right.”

I sighed weakly, “You’re right, they do.” I headed over to another clothing rack, holding up a dress, ready to change the subject, “Queenie, this looks like something you’d wear.”

Quinn followed me over to the rack, taking the hanger from me. We were admiring the dress together when my phone rang. I looked at the Caller ID, sliding the red icon to ignore the call. I really didn’t want to talk to my Mom right now.

“Oohhh Rissa, look at this!” I heard Niah call from another section of the store. When I headed in her direction, my phone started ringing again. I rolled my eyes and glanced at the Caller ID again. This time, it was from a number I didn’t recognize.

I kept walking towards Niah, while answering my phone at the same time, “This is Karissa.”

I heard a man clear his throat before speaking, “Karissa? This is Choi Min Soo. Oh wait, “ he laughed in a pleasant sounding tenor pitch, “Did Nanna mention me as Alex? My American name is Alexander Choi. You met my grandma on a plane, right?”

I smiled; the way he called his grandmother “nanna” was adorable, “She hadn’t actually told me your name when we talked about you. I wasn’t expecting you to call so soon!”

Alex chuckled, “Oh, don’t worry; I just wanted to make sure I spoke to you before I had you show up at the clinic for an interview. We can consider this your phone interview, if you want. Nanna already told me if I don’t hire you, she’s going to disown me.”

I giggled, “Well, we certainly don’t want to disappoint her, do we?”

I looked up to find both Quinn and Niah making faces at me, both of them giving me an inquiring look without vocalizing the question. I stuck my tongue out at them and faced the other direction.

“If you’re free next week, I want to meet you in person and show you the clinic.” Alex explained, and I agreed easily.

“I can do that! It’s Saturday today, so how about Monday afternoon?”

“Sounds like I’ve got a date with my new intern.”

I grinned; this guy was smooth! “See you on Monday, Doctor Choi.”

“Talk to you later.”

We hung up the phone, and I turned around to find the girls watching me expectantly. I put my phone in my pocket and gave them both a thumbs up.

“Girl, who was that? Look at your face!”

I couldn’t help it; I was grinning from ear-to-ear, “I got a job!”

“Dayum, already?! You haven’t even been back for a day!” Niah cried, reaching over to hug me anyway.

Quinn smiled, hugging my other side, “Congrats, Baby Girl.”

I told them all about my meeting with Mrs. Choi, and how she was opening a new clinic for her grandson, Alexander. We made our way out of the store, towards another one.

“Wow, that’s amazing! I’m so proud of you,” Niah told me, pinching my cheeks playfully. I pushed her off of me, making Quinn laugh as she walked along beside us.

“I’m pumped. With this job, I can go ahead and apply for Summer 2 and earn some credit for this. I’ll get paid and get college credit at the same time!” I explained excitedly.

Quinn nodded, “That means you’ll have less classes to take in the Fall. Good job, girl.”

I grinned, as we walked through the food court, where “Blood, Sweat and Tears” was blaring over the speakers. I froze mid-step, turning to watch the music video that was showing on all the TVs around us. All of a sudden, it hit me that I would see Jungkook again for the first time after an entire year, in just a few hours.

I moved towards a TV to watch the guys in their element, with Niah and Quinn standing behind me.

“Rissa?” Niah questioned, looking between myself and the screen.

“NeeNee… What do you say to someone you haven’t seen in a year?” I wondered out loud, watching the video somberly.

Was he even interested in me anymore? Maybe he was too tired to realize he had called me last night…

Quinn patted my curls soothingly, “I missed you, for starters.”

“‘I like you’ always seems to go over pretty well with Yoongi,” Niah added thoughtfully, and then she frowned, “Especially if I add oppa to the phrase.”

Quinn chuckled, “Namjoon pretty much attacks me whenever I say it. I’ve decided to use it as my secret weapon,” she told us with a wink.

I giggled, snapping out of my troublesome thoughts, “Kookie’s not my oppa, and never will be, so I don’t have those problems.”

Niah poked my cheek, laughing, “Ooooh, are you claiming JK now? Look how she’s acting, Queenie!”

“I see her,” Quinn teased, and I rolled my eyes, moving away from the TV.

“How many nicknames do you two have for him? You can’t call him JJ *and* JK, that doesn’t even make sense!” I nagged, making my best friends laugh.

Jungkook’s POV

I stared at the clock on my smartphone for what felt like eternity. This photoshoot was taking forever and a year to finish up.

“We have some bad news, everyone,” Our manager called, waving us all over to the left side of the set.

“What’s going on?” Namjoon-hyung asked, in a concerned tone.

“Something is wrong with the photography equipment, so we’re going to have to postpone the photoshoot for two hours. We’ll have your lunch brought over so you can enjoy a long break, but we won’t be able to start until the repairs are made.”

“What?” Yoongi-hyung questioned loudly, and Hobie-hyung chuckled behind his hand.

“Can we leave, and then come back to start over later?” V-hyung inquired, and I nodded in support of his idea. If we could leave for a little while, then I would still be able to go see my Noona before the game.

“Well, since we don’t know how long it’ll take to fix this issue, it’s better if we stay here and wait.”

“Ugh,” Yoongi-hyung groaned, crossing his arms in frustration, “Damn it, that means I’m going to miss my Jagi’s game.”

Namjoon-hyung patted Yoongi-hyung’s shoulder, trying to give him some encouragement, “Maybe it’ll only take an hour to fix, instead of two.”

“Probably not,” he moped, and I sighed, understanding his feelings exactly. We bowed to our manager and headed back to the lounge area where we had been waiting around to start our photoshoot.

“,” Yoongi-hyung cursed out loud the moment we were out of earshot of our manager and the photography crew.

I glanced down at my phone again, trying to decide if I should text my Noona and let her know that we were going to be late to the game, if we made it at all.

Hobie-hyung looked over at me, and sat down on the couch beside me, shaking his head vehemently, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

Namjoon-hyung laughed, lifting an eyebrow, “Why not? What if she waits for him to show up?”

V-hyung frowned thoughtfully, “You shouldn’t be dishonest to her.”

“Our Coffee-noona is so laid-back that she wouldn’t care, either way. But I think Karissa-noona is a bit different.” Jimin-hyung interjected, with a shrug.

I ran my fingers through my hair; my hyungs were no help at all. I turned to Yoongi-hyung, hoping he would be able to be the tie-breaker.

“Let’s try to get through the photoshoot first, maknae.” Yoongi-hyung said finally, and I nodded, finding his suggestion reasonable. At least then, if we ended up waiting for more than two hours, we would know for sure if we could make it.

Unfortunately, time wasn’t on our side. It took exactly two hours and thirty minutes to fix the camera issues, and even with Yoongi-hyung and I doing our photos first, there was no way we would make it to the arena to catch any of the game.

“Aish! This took way too long. Let’s hurry.” Yoongi-hyung and I rushed from the photo shoot location as soon as we were given the all-clear to leave. A car was ready and waiting to take us to the game. The sun was starting to set by the time we left.

Yoongi-hyung and I were impatient the entire trip. I could see my hyung chewing on his thumb, his gaze landing on the clock every few minutes. The closer we got to the arena, the more nervous I became.

“Hyung…” I glanced at him out of the corner of my eyes. He turned towards me and I immediately clammed up.

Nope, nevermind. I can’t have this conversation with him at all.

“Just say what you want. You always do, anyway.”

I nodded, rubbing my hand across my chin, “... I'm nervous.”

“About seeing Kari-ah?”

I nodded again, releasing a pent-up breath.

“She's probably nervous too,” Yoongi-hyung turned to face me fully, a small smile playing at his lips as he spoke, “When my jagi left, my biggest worry was that she'd never come back to Seoul. What scared me even more was the thought that she'd never come back to me. Seeing her again for the first time only filled me with relief… it was like being able to breathe again after holding your head underwater until your lungs burn.” I listened intently as Yoongi-hyung continued, “You can be nervous, maknae, but the second you see her,” my hyung clapped me on the back warmly, “You won't be anymore.”

“Are you sure?” I questioned warily, not sure if there was anything that could shake the nervousness swirling around in my stomach.

“I promise,” Yoongi-hyung replied with a resolute nod, just as we the road that would lead us to the arena.

The excited energy increased inside me, but I repeated my hyung’s words in my mind: my Noona was probably just as nervous as I was.

Karissa’s POV

I knew I had no right or reason to be angry with Jungkook, but damn it, I was upset.

Throughout Niah’s entire game, I looked for the guys, scanning the faces in the crowd to find at least one of them. No matter where I looked, they were nowhere to be found. I realized by the third quarter that they weren’t coming.

I was disappointed, to say the least. I had done my hair and make-up for literally nothing. I had been so excited and nervous that I all but deflated when I realized I had gotten all worked up for no reason.

Niah had promised that I could sleep over at her house after the game, so I waited in the arena for her to finish showering and getting dressed. Afterwards, we left the arena together, heading towards the nearest train station that would get us home.

“I wonder if we should wait for the guys to come?” Niah asked me, as we walked down the arena's front steps.

I frowned, “Wouldn't they have told us if something came up though? I don’t think they're coming.”

Niah shook her head, looking out towards the road further ahead of us, “Yoongi would have told me if he wasn't coming at all. I'm sure they're just running late.”

I sighed, but kept my mouth shut. I didn't want to be a Debbie Downer and rain on Niah's parade. Better to say nothing at all.

“Let's wait for them.” Niah said resolutely, taking a seat on the steps. She just sat down and I watched her, sighing again and taking a seat beside her.

“Shouldn't we call them first?” I suggested, even though I had already taken a seat.

“Sure,” Niah replied, dialing Suga’s number. He picked up on the second ring.

“Jagiya, where are you?” I heard him ask in a rush.

“Outside of the arena. Where are you?”

“Coming to find you. Be still.”

Niah grinned, telling him that we would sit tight. She turned to me, winking, “Told ya.”

I would have said something back to her, but I was too busy freaking the hell out to reply to Niah's words.

Yoongi and Jungkook were heading towards us from across the plaza, both looking even more attractive than they normally do. They were fine as hell, even from far away, their skin glowing under the little bit of sunlight still on the horizon. Their clothes fit them like a glove and I'll be damned if every bit of my earlier disappointment flew away on the light May breeze.

As the two of them got closer into view, Niah stood up, waving in their direction. I could already feel my cheeks flushing hotly, and I hadn't even said two words to Jungkook yet. He was staring straight at me as they closed the distance between us.

“Babe, you made it!” Niah was smiling again as the two guys got within earshot of us. Yoongi’s bright smile was a rare sight to see, but I was almost used to it at this point. I turned away from Jungkook for just a second to watch Yoongi waste no time to wrap his arms around his girlfriend.

“I’m sorry we’re late,” He told her, pressing his forehead to her’s. Niah giggled, shaking her head.

“Noona,” I heard murmured lowly from in front of me, and I turned back around, coming face-to-face with none other than Jeon Jeongguk. He was giving me the most charming lopsided smile, and I felt all the heat rush to my face all over again.

“H-Hi Kookie,” I felt like an idiot, blushing and stuttering for no reason. Honestly, this was absolutely ridiculous.

In a span of two steps, Kookie eliminated the space between us, hugging me so tightly that he literally lifted me off the ground. He didn’t say anything else, and he didn’t have to; I wasn’t able to form any coherent thoughts anyway.

When he finally put me back down on the ground, I looked up into his face to find him beaming at me. He had in blue lenses that made his chestnut brown hair color pop. The shimmery eyeshadow on his lids were the icing on the visual cake. The guys must’ve come directly from a photoshoot.

“Noona, I missed you.” He told me boldly, and I nodded, wondering how on Earth I managed to stay away from someone this warm and bright for an entire year.

“Have you been doing well?” I was surprised to hear my own voice as I watched his face, paying attention to his every expression.

Jungkook pouted, shaking his head. He hugged me again, pressing his solid body against mine, “I’ve been horrible. I didn’t think I would make it.”

I felt the corner of my lips turn upwards, “Why not?”

“Noona, you’re being really unfair right now,” he mumbled in my ear, stepping away from me again. Goodness, he even smelled amazing.

“Welcome back, Kari-ah,” Suga said from beside us, and I turned my attention back to him and Niah. The two of them were all smiles.

“Thanks, Suga-oppa! I’m glad to be back.” I told him genuinely, my earlier nervousness and irritation completely gone.

Niah threaded her fingers with Suga’s, “We won our game!”

“I saw it. We were watching during the shoot.”

“Is that what made you late?” I asked, turning to Jungkook, who had moved to stand right beside me.

He nodded, “Some of the equipment stopped working, so we had to push the photoshoot back.”

“The other members let us take our pictures first,” Suga added, taking Niah’s duffle bag from her shoulder and slinging it over his own. “We’re going to meet them back at the company.”

“Right now?” Niah questioned, and the guys nodded.

“We promised,” Jungkook told us quietly, chewing his bottom lip thoughtfully.

“Well, do you mind if we tag along? We didn’t have anything planned after this anyway”

Yoongi grinned, kissing Niah’s cheek, “Jagiya, I’m telling you so that you’ll come with us.”

Niah giggled, wagging her finger at Suga, “You could have just asked me!”

Suga shrugged, tugging on Niah’s hand, “Come on. The car’s still waiting for us.”

We followed the guys to where their company car had been parked and was, in fact, waiting for the four of us to hop in. We rode all the way to Big Hit Entertainment just as the street lights and the sky started getting dark. We chatted about the photoshoot on the ride over, with Kookie and Suga telling us all about the funny things that happened on the set.

When we pulled up to Big Hit, the four of us climbed out of the car and headed inside. Since it was already late in the evening and also a weekend, most of the other employees had already gone home.

“I wonder where everyone is?” Jungkook questioned out loud, and I found myself wondering the same thing. We headed towards the practice room, with Suga standing in the front. He opened the door and just as I walked into the dark room, a bunch of popping sounds went off to my right and I was rained in confetti as light filled the room. All of the guys stood in an arc with Niah and Quinn, a table full of soda, soju and Korean snacks pushed against the wall.

“WELCOME BACK!”

Jungkook’s POV

I watched my Noona jump in surprise as my hyungs and her best friends showered her in confetti. Quinn-noona had planned a surprise welcoming party while we were at our photoshoot, getting help from Namjoon-hyung with our schedule.

The colorful bits falling into Karissa-noona’s cherry-cola colored curls looked so cute as she smiled and thanked everyone for putting together the surprise. Even as I watched her, I was struggling to hold myself back: her darker colored curls made her freckles stand out that much more, and her full lips were coated in a glittery gloss that made them that much more enticing. She was wearing more makeup than usual, but it was nothing like what Tiana-noona had done during our concert in Miami. Her curvy frame was still very much intact, too. Her jeans basically molded to her body, drawing my gaze to her voluptuous hips and thighs. She wore a white top that showed just a little bit of her stomach with flowly sleeves.

I pushed out a breath to force myself to focus on the fact that we weren’t alone in the room.

Joon-hyung came over to me and nudged me with his elbow, “Kookie-ah, you’re going to burn a hole through her,” he teased.

“My Noona got prettier without my permission,” I grumbled, watching her as she laughed at something Jin-hyung was saying to her.

“Woooooooow!” Joon-hyung exclaimed in English, “That was surprisingly aggressive coming from you,” he said, with a chuckle. “Be careful, or you’ll scare her.”

Before I could say anything back to him, Karissa-noona finally turned back to towards me, and I instantly moved in her direction. I reached out to pick some confetti from her hair, and she blushed prettily.

“Noona, you’re still being unfair.” I mumbled, pulling a shimmery piece of confetti from a curl just over her eyebrow. She blinked her hazel green eyes at me in confusion, and I smiled ruefully.

“What are you talking about?” She questioned, and I chose not to answer, removing a few more bits of confetti from her lovely curls. Instead, she grabbed my hand, making me drop the confetti I had gathered to the ground and focus on her instead, “Jungkook-”

“Wow, Karissa-ssi, maybe it’s because I haven’t seen you in a while, but you’ve gotten prettier!” Hoseok-hyung leaned on my shoulder, looking between the two of us before his gaze settled on Karissa-noona. The blush on her face grew, and she released my hand. I fought the urge to push my hyung off of me.

“T-Thanks,” she told him softly, shuffling on her feet. My heart stuttered in my chest; damn it, she was too cute!

“Don’t faint, Rissa,” Niah joked, walking over to us with two cups in her hand. She handed one to my Noona who took one sniff of the contents and laughed.

“What the heck did you put in this?” Karissa-noona asked, before she began to drink from the cup. She didn’t grimace at all, and just drank the alcohol easily.

“It’s a little something my Grammy called ‘crack tea’. We ain’t getting any moonshine here, but soju and vodka are a great substitute.”

“Niah, you’re an alcoholic!” Quinn-noona joked, heading over to take a sip from Niah-noona’s cup.

It gave me an idea. I reached for Karissa-noona’s cup, and stole it from her, taking a large swallow of the drink myself while she watched me. It tasted like a flavored tea, but sweeter.

“Oh no! Look, Niah, you’ve corrupted him!” Karissa-noona sounded a little worried, but I laughed and took another drink from her cup, before handing it back to her. She eyed me warily anyway.

“Our maknae’s pretty strong. He’ll be alright,” Yoongi-hyung explained, and I nodded, eagerly, determined to prove myself if I had to. After three cups of Niah’s homemade mixture thuogh, it seemed I had done the complete opposite.

I was tipsy, at the very least, and Hobie-hyung, Niah-noona, and Jimin-hyung were straight up drunk. The three of them were up to some ridiculous antics, and just as Niah-noona drunkenly suggested we order some delivery at fifteen to midnight, Karissa-noona snuck away from the party. I followed her quietly, wondering where she was running off to since she didn’t know the building very well.

I chuckled to myself when I saw her disappear into the restroom. I leaned up against the wall and waited for her to come back out.

“Kookie?” I heard her ask softly as she emerged from the bathroom. I waved at Karissa-noona when I pulled myself off the wall, feeling a bit of warmth pool in my cheeks.

“Now who’s drunk?” She teased, stopping in front of me to poke my cheek. I captured her hand in mine, pulling her into my personal space. I lowered myself to her height, delighting in the fact that she was so petite.

“It’s been a year, Noona.” I dropped my voice to a considerably lower pitch, making a flush of crimson spread across her cheeks. “And you’re still being unfair to me…”

“What did I do?” She questioned, tilting her head curiously.

I leaned my head a bit lower to speak directly into her ear, “You’ve gotten prettier and you changed your hair this much. You did all that when I couldn’t see you or talk to you. That’s mean, Noona.”

“Jungkook,” she began to say, but I shook my head, cutting her off as I wrapped an arm around her waist, trapping her against me. She gasped a little, and I knew then that I wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer.

“And still, you haven’t said anything to me. I guess you didn’t miss me at all?” I pouted, and Karissa-noona bit her bottom lip, drawing my gaze to her pretty mouth.

“...I really missed you,” she whispered on a hushed breath, searching my gaze with her beautiful eyes. I couldn’t stop myself as I closed the tiny bit of space between us and…

“Kookie! Rissa! Where’d you guys run off to?” Niah-noona’s voice echoed from down the hallway, and broke the spell that had washed over us. Karissa-noona turned her head away from mine at the last second, and instantly took a step away from me. I released her, fighting the urge to groan out loud.

“I’m… going to go see what Niah needs,” She explained, and with one last, lingering look at me, she disappeared back down the hall towards the others.

I sighed loudly, running my fingers through my hair in frustration. This was shaping up to be much harder than I thought.

End Chapter 3