?"Thank goodness, that's over," Jay sighed as soon as the interview was finished.
"I couldn't have taken any more of that interview. It was horrendous!" he continued ranting.
Jay had just arrived from the restroom, his face still damp from washing it with cold water. He seriously felt like he developed hypertension throughout the interview.
If it weren't for the pretty reporter, Jay would have stopped the interview before it even finished.
The members didn't respond. Instead, they stared at him blankly—as if they were silently communicating with him.
"What are you staring at?" Jay asked, leaning against the wall and picking at his nose.
June subtly pointed at his right side, so Jay led his gaze to where he was pointing.
Jay's eyes widened when he saw the pretty reporter fixing her things next to him. Her eyes were wide in horror as she looked at Jay.
Meanwhile, Jay felt like a bucket of cold water was poured on him.
Dami swiftly packed her belongings and placed her bag over her shoulder, even though some of her stuff was still messy.
"Well," she started off. "Thank you for your time, boys. I hope the interview wasn't as horrendous as I had imagined," she said, emphasizing the word 'horrendous.'
Jay gulped as she glanced at him, disdain seen in her gaze.
"Oh, don't worry. You were the best!" Akira charmed.
Dami managed to smile before leaving the room, leaving Jay in a state of despair.
As soon as she was out of the vicinity, he fell to the ground and started dramatically sobbing.
Then, he glared at the members of EVE. "You guys should have told me that she was still here!" he exclaimed.
"Well, to be fair, you started yapping as soon as you entered through the door," Zeth deadpanned.
"That could have been my chance!" Jay continued to cry. "Now, I'll be forever alone!"
"Oh, stop being so dramatic," Akira deadpanned. "It's not like you have any chance with her anyway. You could zip your mouth shut for the rest of your life, and she still wouldn't like you."
Jay instantly stopped crying after Akira said those words. It hurt, but he knew it was the truth.
"Yeah," Ren chimed. "She kept on staring at June all throughout the interview! I think she was pretty upset that she couldn't milk out more answers from him."
Jay wiped his tears and clicked his tongue. "Him again," he whispered.
"Lucky, lucky man," Jay loudly said.
The other members turned to June, who seemed to be lost in his own headspace.
"He's clueless as hell, though," Sehun said. "I feel like he already broke so many hearts with his nonchalance."
"You're right," Jaeyong chuckled. "He doesn't even know we're talking about him right now."
Indeed, June couldn't hear his surroundings. He was busy?thinking about what Haruki said at the restroom a while back.
He kept thinking about it all throughout the interview, so he wasn't really able to answer the given questions to his best extent.
He went to his browser and searched for the possible keywords that could lead to the answers to his questions.
'Rooftop…Accident…Idol trainees.'
He pressed enter and waited for the results to show up.
"An Accident Was Made On The Rooftop? Past Idol Trainees Talk About How Their First Child Was Conceived," he muttered, shaking his head.
What kind of news article was this? How could they call their first child an accident?
June decided to try out another keyword.
'Rooftop…Murder…Idol Trainees…Phoenix.'
"A Phoenix Murders Three Idol Trainees on a Rooftop: Birdie Went Crazy," he muttered, getting more confused by the minute.
How could a singular Phoenix even murder three humans?
"What are you doing?" Jisung asked, sitting next to June.
June quickly shut off his phone and placed it in his pocket.
"Nothing," June said.
"Hmm, okay!" Jisung innocently said, not suspecting him at all.
June sighed and leaned his elbows against his lap. He was still stuck in a haze, but at least now he had an idea of why Haruki hated him.
June was just a bit worried about how this would impact his career in the near future.
If it was really murder like Haruki had implicated, then he didn't know what would happen.
"Anyway, now that King of Kings is done, what are we going to do?" Jaeyong asked, opening up the topic.
"Well, we need to think about the comeback, of course!" Jay chimed. "We have around two months left to prepare for it."
"No—like now. What are we going to do right now?" Jaeyong asked.
"Oh," Jay said. "Well, I guess you guys could rest."
The members gasped when they heard the forbidden R-word.
"R—rest?" Zeth asked, placing his hand over his chest.
"It seems like forever since I heard that word," Akira dramatically remarked.
Jay chuckled. "You should sleep in for tomorrow. I don't think we have any other group schedules lined up until the day of the comeback."
"Oh, thank goodness!" Sehun nearly shouted. "I can finally fix these dark eyebags."
June, too, sighed in relief. It felt like it had been a while since he got eight hours of sleep.
Their preparation for King of Kings had been tedious, and even though he was fast asleep after their practices, he was still thinking of their upcoming performances in his dreams.
The thought that they could rest for even just one day already sounded like a luxury.
Jay felt his heart swell with joy as he looked at the relieved looks on the members' faces.
It was one of his greatest sources of happiness—to see them happy in their work.
Just then, he felt his phone vibrate, so he quickly brought it out of his pocket.
He saw the new message and the contact name, causing him to instantly frown.
'Tiddy Bear.'
It was none other than Teddy, the producer with the most punchable face in the company.
He begrudgingly opened his message and froze when he saw the contents.
'Have EVE meet me tomorrow at 5 AM. We need to discuss the song they're producing.'
Jay slowly lifted his head and felt dejected when he saw the members discussing how they were going to sleep once they arrived at the dorms.
"Guys," Jay hesitantly said.
The members stopped talking and turned to him with raised eyebrows.
"You know that I love you, right? I love you more than my friends in college! Well, I didn't really have real friends, so I think it doesn't count. I love you more than my mom. Wait, no. That's not possible. She'll have to be dead for that to happen. Although, I feel like her ghost will still haunt me even if she was already a jar of ashes."
"Get to the point," Casper snapped.
"Anyway, I love you—more than my first goldfish in the first grade."
"So, don't hate me for saying this…"
"But you have work tomorrow at 5 AM."
