101 Cookies and Company

"Ugh! You're at it again?!" Cindy wrinkled her brows in vexation upon seeing Iris busy as a bee in her private studio after opening the door. This girl had been cooped up in this room almost 24/7 since a few days after their Christmas company celebration. Some days, Iris even slept in there instead of their dorms, making everyone concerned.

However, Iris kept up her fitness and health by eating, exercising, and sleeping regularly. So her LUXIA members weren't too worried; even though, they wished they saw more of her face during their holiday break.

"Sorry sorry! Today's the last day, cuz! I'll be done soon!" Iris scrambled to wrap up her audio mixing and tidy her work station.

"Hmph! You better!" Cindy pouted. "You promised to spend today with us shopping and eating at our favorite BBQ!"

Iris giggled at her antsy cousin. "Yes yes my dear. I will make it for sure! In 30 minutes I'll be set."

"Thirty minutes!" Cindy gasped and threw up her hands. "Whatever, you technically still have an hour before we scheduled to go. Everyone was just wondering where you were but course, you're here as usual. Big surprise you workaholic leader, ugh."

Iris giggled. "When inspiration strikes, you have to snatch it!"

Cindy waved her hands. "Yeah, yeah I know! Welp, I'll see you in an hour, I guess." She mock cried in distress with her hands curled like a cat around her eyes as if wiping away tears.

"Hahaha, no worries! See you all soon!" Iris assured without so much as a glance up from her screen.

"Psshhh~" Cindy pouted with her lips like a fish burbling to express her dissatisfaction. "See yah.." She closed the door that she had open this entire time and left Iris to her wizardry.

"Was she in there after all?" Rinah questioned Cindy when she returned to the dorms.

"Yah yah," replied Cindy with a wave.

"A shocker." Jiyeon commented with a side smirk and subtle lift of her right eyebrow.

"But she'll be coming still right?" Ahreum asked nervously in anticipation.

"Of course, she always keeps her promises as you know!" Cindy laughed buoyantly.

"Hmm, yes!" Rinah brightly smiled, thinking back to their duo YouTube creator days. Iris had been such a help in the past to now. She was a steady presence in all of their lives.

"I even baked her favorite cookies muaha!" Rinah cackled in mirth. "She won't be able to resist anyway, hehe~"

"Oh? The double chocolate vanilla honey ones? Damn, give me some too!" Jiyeon hopped up from her seat and sped over to Rinah's basket.

"Hey! You can't eat any now! Later!" Rinah shooed their hungry LUXIA leader away.

"Nooo~~ Iris is gonna eat and hoard them all away! Pwease? Lemme just have one?" Jiyeon uncharacteristically whined. Good food did strange things to hungry girls, especially when it concerned Rinah's baked sweets.

"Oof! Fineee~" The soft-hearted Riri couldn't resist the pleas of her desperate, famished leader.

"Yay!" Jiyeon snatched the largest cookie and chomped down, giving an in-heaven expression as the rich taste delighted her tastebuds. All of the girls had been fasting for lunch in order to eat out now in the late afternoon, almost evening, together.

For Jiyeon, she gets lethargic like a sloth when she's hungry but will jump on food opportunities like a voracious raccoon. Usually, she keeps up her nourishment level since her hunger leads her act quite silly instead if restrained and focused like usually.

Although all of them, except 'princess' Cindy, could cook well, Rinah was the queen of the kitchen and made the most delectable things, spoiling all of the other LUXIA member tastebuds. After her was Ahreum, and then Iris and Jiyeon.

Their leader actually had a lot of skill handling cooking utensils and tools, but only memorized the simplest recipes and didn't like following complex recipes. So on days when Rinah or Ahreum cooked, the whole group cheered.

However, they still rotated this cooking duty. But tonight, they were gonna party hard and eat lots before catching the last of after Christmas deals.

They would've done this sooner if Iris hadn't been struck by inspiration since receiving the CD and music box with BTS Jin's song for her. The whole group knew of the two's affections for one another despite the time and distance. And they understood how his song and her torrent of emotion could spark a creative rush for their ingenious composer.

"Oh hey!" Cindy suddenly called out to the girls after she noticed something pop up on her cellphone screen.

She walked over and the members intuitively huddled together to read and listen as Cindy announced, "Yeji just texted me and asked if we all wanted to hang out in three days with the ITZY members and some TWICE, GOT7, and Stray Kids members!"

"Hmm? A JYP meetup? Wow sounds fun! And look, they even already reserved the entire restaurant WOW!" Ahrie was astonishing upon skimming over the test messages.

"That sounds awesome, really fun." Jiyeon grinned. "It feels like forever since we last hung out together besides music shows and other stuff."

"Yeah and from the looks of it, we might even see people from other groups! Is JY Park doing some kind of idol bash or something for the New Year?" Rinah surmised.

"Hmm! Seems like it!" Cindy nodded thoughtfully. "They're sending out the invites casually over SNS, but it's a private event."

"Oooh~~ I look forward to it!!" Ahreum cheered with a joyful giggle.

"Ahahaha!!" Jiyeon suddenly burst out laughing and pointed to Yeji's last message that popped up as she and Cindy had been texting about details while they were all huddled together.

"She's contacting you because Iris hadn't been checking her SNS lately, that silly girl of ours!"

"Oh!" Ahreum exclaimed with wide eyes as she read over the last text that came in before breaking out in giggles. "No wonder! I thought three days notice seemed a little short for such a big gathering!"

"For real, good thing we all have their contacts. Although, I guess she contacted you first since you're cousins," said Rinah.

"Yeah, Yeji was worried something happened to Iris since she usually replies quickly."

Rinah shook her head. "Thank goodness her creative streak is wrapping up today! I can hardly pull her out of her studio when she gets like that, haha!"

"Yes!" Jiyeon chuckled just as the entrance door to their dorm opened.

"Oh? Looks like I missed something?" Iris asked curiously as she stepped inside and saw them all bunched together.

"Yeah! Check your SNS you dummy!" Cindy chastised.

"Ahh??" Iris raised her eyebrows. "Why..?" She whipped out her phone and logged into her messages. Her changing expressions gave away her thoughts.

"Oof, my bad girls! Hehe!" She scratched her head in embarrassment. "I'll have to make it up to Yeji and the others for being so rude. But I can read the rest of the missed messages later. I'm gonna get ready to go out!"

"Yes finally! Let's go!" Cindy beamed and ushered Iris into her room.

Soon enough, all of the girls and their empty stomachs were ready for a wild night of scarfing down delicious food and dropping their wallets for after Christmas and New Years deals. With good food and company, LUXIA had a ball that day.

And of course, Jiyeon's prediction was right. No one was gonna lay hands on Iris's cookies.