"Aaaaah!"
A loud scream was heard in the female's dorm. However, it seemed like the people who were currently in their rooms didn't mind the noise since Jia had already warned them that today was EVE's comeback.
"It's so good," Jia sobbed, hugging her knees as she rested her head on the floor.
Meanwhile, Wei walked in circles around the living room, still not over with how good EVE's title track is.
"They're so sexy, I can't," Soomin sniffed, also feeling emotional despite the song being a powerful anthem.
Bora clicked her tongue, tilting her head to the side as EVE's new title track, Skyrocket, played once more on their television.
"Is it just me who doesn't like it that much?" she asked, feeling quite afraid of their reactions.
"Hey!" Jia immediately said, getting up from the floor and pointing an accusing finger at her friend. "EVE can never release any disappointing songs."
"I get that, of course," Bora said. "In essence, I can never be disappointed in them because I love all of their voices and appreciate their talents. However, I still have my preferences in music. I just can't force myself to like a song that my favorite group releases just because they're my favorite group."
Her friends were silenced.
"I hate that you sound reasonable at the most unexpected times. Why can't you be like this in other matters too?" Nari asked.
Bora smirked. "What can I say? It depends on my mood."
"Anyway, I think this also isn't my favorite song from EVE," Nari said, finally having the courage to confess her inner feelings because of Bora. "I still really like it. I just like the other songs better, I guess?"
Jia sighed, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Well, I understand where you're coming from. A song can't be universally good. It's just the way that it is."
"We still have one last song to listen to, though," Jia said, going to her phone and scrolling to the very end of the album.
"This is the song that EVE wrote and produced," Bora said.
Jia's eyes sparkled as she looked at the title—Luster.
"You guys better not say anything bad about it," Jia warned. "It's perfect to me, even if I haven't heard it yet."
Her friends all raised their hands in surrender.
Jia finally played the song, and a refreshing, bubbly intro resounded in their room. In fact, due to the thin walls, their neighbors, too, were listening along with them.
June's voice started the song, which was already a great start. Jia gasped in surprise since he sounded so sweet, so different from how he usually sounded.
She laid back down on the floor as the song continued, not being able to process how good it was.
The chorus finally came, and they ambiguously looked at each other.
Even their neighbor, who was busy crocheting, stopped what she was doing to listen to the song playing next door.
"Well, that's catchy," she muttered, nodding her head to the beat as she continued crocheting.
Her other neighbor, who was catching a cockroach in her living room, also halted for a moment to appreciate the song playing next door.
"That doesn't sound like a typical idol's music," she said before letting out a loud scream as the cockroach flew around the room.
Meanwhile, the group of friends remained silent until the very end of the song. Even after it was over, they still didn't say anything. At this point, the first track, Shuttle, played once more, but they were still silent.
After a while, Bora finally broke the silence, a wide smile on her face.
"It's a bop," she said.
***
Meanwhile, June was getting calls left and right after the comeback live. They were now back in their dorms to rest because they had a music show filming tomorrow morning.
"Yo, bro!" Minjun called, his voice even deeper than before.
"Have you been doing anything different lately?" June couldn't help but ask.
"What are you talking about?" Minjun asked, confusion heard in his voice.
"You're growing up really fast," June muttered. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. What's up?"
"I just want to congratulate your team. The album's doing really well. You have more than two million pre-orders now, and the music video hit one million views in three hours," Minjun said.
"Thanks, little bro. We worked really hard on it," June smiled.
"I have to say—Luster is great. I can already see it being blasted everywhere."
"Hopefully, it does," June muttered.
"Well, that's it! I know you have a lot of calls, so I'll end it for now."
Minjun ended the call before June could even say his goodbyes. He shook his head in amusement, about to text Minjun and reprimand him for having bad manners, when he suddenly received three texts all at once.
Mimi (Idol friend): Your songs are really good. The girls really like it. I personally like Luster the most. Fighting for all of the promotions!
Hana (Actress friend): The songs are crazy good this time. However, the song you wrote is the best out of all of them. I've been singing it for the past hour. I'll be blaming you if I can't memorize my lines because your song is playing in my mind!
Jia (Fan friend): Umm, thank you for making such great music for us. I don't know if you'll see this, but I really appreciate you and the group for all of your hard work. I really love the songs and already have them on repeat!
June smiled when he saw the three texts from the three gorgeous ladies.
Then, he typed out his responses for all three of them before tossing his phone to the bed.
June: Thanks.
June: Thanks.
June: Thanks.
With that, he finally went out of his room to join his teammates for dinner. He was expecting a celebratory atmosphere when he got there; however, the atmosphere was surprisingly dark as he sat on his designated chair.
They were all staring at their phones, furiously scrolling as they chewed on their food.
"What's…going on?" June asked, confused by their behavior.
Sehun, who was the most reasonable person in the group, sighed before responding to June's question.
"They're monitoring the charts," he responded.
"Oh," June said, realizing that he hadn't checked the music charts at all after their album had been released.
"Well, how is it?" he asked.
Sehun pursed his lips.
"Not good."
