An Exchange

Jaemin had been invited to an early Christmas party by his friend, Jun. He thought it was a little weird to have it on the fifteenth of December and he was also busy with planning his Bakery Christmas party with his new girlfriend. He invited his girlfriend Artemis along and after they spent a good hour or two helping each other get ready (Mostly Artemis. she wanted to look good while meeting his friends for the first time), they headed to Jun's house.

When they got there, there was quiet Christmas music and a small group of other people. They were all friends that Jaemin knew. He introduced Artemis to all of them.

"This is Namjun. He is very smart but he breaks pretty much everything he touches. I don't even know how he managed to make cookies without burning his house down." Jaemin laughed.

"It's nice to meet you, Namjun." Artemis quietly laughed at the playful angry face that Namjun made at Jaemin.

"This is Doseok. He is pretty much a literal ray of sunshine. He also dances great." Jaemin said. Artemis smiled and bowed to Doseok. He bowed back.

"It's nice to meet you! I've heard some great things about you!" Doseok said. Artemis smiled and waved good-bye as Jaemin lead her to the next boy.

They stopped in front of two tall boys who were rough-housing on the couch. One of the boys fell off and then saw Artemis. He quickly stood up and smiled, bowing before looking at Jaemin expectantly.

"This is my girlfriend, Artemis. Artemis, This is Taeyeon. He may look like a man but he's a baby. Inside and out. The boy on the couch is Jungguk. He loves banana milk and annoying anyone older than him which just happens to be all of us." Both boys looked offended but they smiled when Artemis laughed and then they laughed with her.

"Nice to meet you!" The boys said together. Jaemin lead Artemis to the friend who was hosting the cookie exchange.

"This is Jun. He's the oldest and he likes to say he's the best looking." Jaemin said.

"It's nice to meet you!" Artemis bowed. Jun smiled and bowed back.

"It's nice to meet you too. Do you mind if I steal Jaemin for a little while?"

"No problem." Artemis smiled and excused herself to go put the cookies they had brought down.

Jaemin knew something was wrong. Jun would never pass up on a perfectly good opportunity to brag about his looks. Jaemin followed Jun silently to a back room and once the door was closed and locked Jun spoke.

"We found your mom. Yoonki is working on getting her out now." Jaemin's eyes were wide and now filled with tears. He took a few deep breaths before speaking. He chose his words carefully.

"Is she okay?" He asked quietly.

"She's a little beat up but we've got her and she's fine over all. You'll have to wait until the end of the party to see her. Yoonki should have her here by then. Just try to relax until then."

Jaemin silently left the room and went back to where the party was happening. Artemis approached him when she saw him appear in the room again.

"Hey Jae!" Artemis' expression changed when she saw his face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"I don't think so. You're paler than the snowflakes outside! You should sit down." Artemis led him to a seat that was slightly away from the others. "What's going on?" Jaemin hesitated before answering her question quietly.

"My mom was kidnapped a few months ago and my friends just found her and they're working to bring her back home. They said if everything goes well, she should be here by the end of the cookie exchange but I'm worried that something will happen to her or my friend."

"I haven't known your friends for all that long but I think you can trust them. If they say your mom is gonna be here soon, she's gonna be here soon. Let's just enjoy the party until she gets here."

Jaemin tried hard for the next hour and a half to be happy but it just wasn't quite the same. He was worried about his mom. The time passed by slowly but the party was finally coming to an end and Jaemin was actually starting to feel a little better. They had exchanged cookies and caught up with each other. They had also played some games and done some singing.

Everyone was starting to help clean up when they heard a knock at the door and then it opened to reveal Yoonki. When Jaemin saw him he remembered all his anxious feelings that he had managed to stuff away for the party. He ran up to Yoonki and grabbed his arms tightly, looking into his eyes.

"Where's my mom?" Yoonki just looked down and shook his head. Yoonki couldn't meet Jaemin's eyes and Jaemin knew what that meant. Jaemin was silent for a minute before he dropped to his knees and covered his face with his hands. Artemis hurried over and helped Jaemin up. She brought him to a couch and then hugged him tight while he cried into her shirt.

A few seconds later the room erupted into laughter. Jaemin wiped his eyes and looked at all of his friends in confusion. Artemis was just as confused. The two had no idea why they were all laughing at his sadness.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!" They all shouted. The door opened once more to reveal his mother. She had a few bandages covering her right wrist, legs and arms but she seemed fine besides that. Jaemin ran to his mother and nearly knocked her over with his hug.

"EOMMA!!" He cried. His friends started to laugh as he cried in his mothers arms and she cried with him. This really was a great Christmas. There will never be a Christmas cookie exchange that will match this one. A box of cookies for a much bigger treasure.