Grandma's Christmas Fudge

The Christmas party was in five days and Artemis still couldn't get her grandma's recipe right! She had been trying for the bigger part of that month and every time she made it she could tell that there was something missing. She used to have the recipe but, unfortunately, it was lost a year after her parent's car crash due to the move from the house to her new apartment.

Every year for Christmas, her grandmother would make her signature Christmas fudge. They were always white, green and red. They looked beautiful with the swirls all around and a candy cane made out of frosting on top.

The problem was that it was so simple. There were almost no ingredients but Artemis still couldn't get it right. She could make the fudge no problem. She mixed her white chocolate chips and her dyed frosting. She would refrigerate it just right. Then she would cut it and taste it. It never tasted right.

She added in the cherry extract and the green apple extract but something still wasn't right! She just couldn't understand where she had gone wrong!

Finally, Artemis decided that she needed some help. First, she went to Jun. Jun was also a chef so she figured he might be able to figure things out. She took the rest of the batch that she had made and put the squares in a bag. She jumped into her car and headed to Jun's home.

Ten minutes later she stepped out of her car and headed to the front door. Since it was a Saturday, Jun should be home at this time. Artemis knocked and then waited. She heard a loud bang and a scream. Her eyes widened in worry as she knocked again. There was silence for a minute before she heard footsteps running to the door and then it opened.

Artemis stared at the messy Jun. He had a pair of shorts on that were very sloppily pulled up and he was in the process of pulling a shirt over his head after opening the door. His hair was slightly wet and it looked like he had stepped out of a sauna.

"Are you okay?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah. I'm just fine." Jun said as he panted a little.

"Are you sure? I thought I heard a scream. Although, it sounded more like a girl. Do you have someone over or something?"

"No. No! Why would I have someone over!?" He shook his head vigorously and tried to cover the embarrassment on his face with fake confusion.

"Um, okay. Well, do have time to talk for a second?"

"Um, sure. What is it?" Jun asked.

"Can I come in first. It won't take long but it's cold out here."

"Oh! Um ..." Jun slightly closed the door and turned his head, looking around the room. "You know what? Could you give me a second? The house is a little messy. Let me just clean it up a bit."

"Okay. I guess I'll just-" The door was slammed closed before Artemis could even finish her sentence. "Wait here." She finished quietly as she stared at the closed door. She heard things being picked up and then a door opening. She could've sworn she heard quiet talking.

Five minutes later, Jun opened the door and invited Artemis in. Right as he closed the door she thought she heard another door close with it but she just shrugged it off and sat on the couch. Jun sat across from her and asked what she needed.

"I have a recipe that my grandmother passed down to me. I lost the recipe a few years ago and I'm trying to remake it. The problem is that there's something missing. Something about it just isn't right!"

"Did you bring any with you?"

"Yeah. Here." She took out the bag and handed it to Jun. He took it from her and took out a square to examine. He turned the little thing around in his hands.

"It looks good." Jun sniffed it. "Woah. That smells delicious!" He took a bite and immediately smiled. "This is delicious!"

"So?"

"So ... what?"

"What's missing?"

"I don't think anything is missing. It tastes perfect!"

"No. There's definitely something missing! I've tasted the original thing before! I just can't put my finger on it!"

"Well it doesn't taste like anything's missing." He took another bite and nodded his head while closing his eyes. "I wouldn't mind taking the rest of this bag though. I mean, if you don't need it."

"I do need it. I need to have some other people test it. Someone's bound to know what's missing." Artemis took the bag from Jun. "When you come to the Christmas party they'll probably be there. Unless I can't find the missing ingredient."

"If you can't find the ingredient, make them for the party anyway! They're delicious! Devine! Mouth-watering!"

"Whatever you say. I'll be going then."

"See you at the party!"

Artemis found herself at the shared apartment of Taeyeon and Jungguk next. She wasn't sure why she went there. Taeyeon was an actor and Jungguk was a model so she wasn't sure how they would be able to find the missing ingredient but she decided to try anyway. She knocked on their penthouse door and waited for them to answer. Just a short moment later, Taeyeon opened the door.

"Arty! What's up?!"

"Please don't call me that."

"How about Missy then?"

"How about you just call me Artemis?"

"That's boring. I'll just call you Arty." Artemis sighed but didn't argue.

"Can I come in? I need your help."

"Can I help too!?" Jungguk peaked over Taeyeons shoulder and waved.

"Sure." Taeyeon opened the door and Artemis walked in. She sat on the couch after staring at their half decorated tree for a second.

"What's wrong with your tree?"

"We were in the middle of decorating it." Jungguk said.

"Last time I came here it was already decorated." Artemis said.

"Well, Jungguk wanted to play the elephant game and he got so dizzy that he fell into the tree and knocked it over and all of the decorations fell off. Some of them broke!" Taeyeon said.

"What's the elephant game?"

"Oh! It's where you hold your arm close to your head and spin around until you're dizzy. Then, you try to walk all the way across the room and touch the other person." Jungguk explained.

"We were gonna have to fix it anyway since Jungguk kept eating all the candy cane's off of the tree."

"It's not my fault that they taste so good!"

Artemis gasped. "That's it!" The boys looked at her as she stood up. "That's what I was missing! Here!" She handed the bag of treats to Taeyeon and then ran out the door. "Thank you!" She yelled as she closed the door.

"What did we do?" Taeyeon asked.

"I don't know." Jungguk answered. "Let's just try those treats. They look good."

Back at the bakery, Artemis was whipping up a new batch of Christmas Fudge. This time, she added some candy candy bits into the white fudge. She froze it and it was done about an hour later. She cut it up and tried a piece. "Mmmmm! It's just like Grandma's!" She smiled as she wrote down the recipe. "Someday, I'll give this to my own granddaughter and I'll make sure to tell her not to lose it!" Artemis laughed to herself. Christmas this year would truly be delicious.