“Should I just pour water on her?” a voice asks, causing Solbi to slowly awaken. She’s not fully conscious, judging by the fact that she can’t really tell what’s going on around her, but all she knows is that she definitely wants, scratch that, needs, more sleep.

            “Wouldn’t you get the covers wet?” another voice joins in. “None of us know how to do laundry.”

            “Oh shoot, you’re right,” the first voice remembers; a slight pout is evident in her voice. Solbi groans, rolling over – away from the ‘loud’ noises – and tries to go back to sleep. “Oh look, she’s up.”

            “I don’t think she’s actually conscious though,” a third voice pipes up. “We should try something like...” The voices settle down for a second, something Solbi breathes a sigh of relief to (in her head of course). She snuggles back into the cool covers of her new bed and is about to fall back asleep when she’s tackled to the floor. “Get up! Some police officers are outside asking about something you stole and they’ve already got Sanghee ssi and Liqin!”

            “W-what?” Solbi’s eyes fly open at the sound of the authorities. She blinks blearily as she looks directly into the bright light on the ceiling and cringes from the harsh beam. “P-police? I stole something?”

            “Why do I have to get captured?” a soft voice asks. Solbi turns her head to spy Liqin and Eunhwa sitting on Eunhwa’s bed. Both of them are fully dressed and cleaned, and Eunhwa was even snacking on some kind of... bread? When did they get bread in the dorm?

            “Because I don’t know, you seem kind of weak,” Ina shrugs from her vantage point and pokes Solbi’s cheek. The younger girl had fallen onto the floor beside Solbi after she had so politely slammed into her sleeping form.

            “That’s mean,” Liqin comments, but no one seems to hear her.

            “Anyways, Solbi, you’re the last one up so you should hurry up and get ready. We have to get going in like, five minutes by the way,” Eunhwa says around a mouthful of bread. Widening her eyes, Solbi shoots up again, ignoring Ina’s hiss of pain when her shoulder collides with the other girl’s hand. Scrambling for her phone, Solbi unlocks it and sees a good four or five texts from Sanghee about how she was coming to pick them up.

            “Why didn’t anyone wake me up before? Where’s Sanghee ssi?” Solbi panics, standing up and immediately starting to tear her pajamas off.

            “Uhm, do you have a sense of privacy?” Ina covers her eyes jokingly. “And she’s been kidnapped by the police. Okay, fine, I’m kidding,” Ina rolls her eyes when Eunhwa kicks her lightly. “She went out to make sure that our schedule for today was set.”

            “And we did try to wake you up,” Eunhwa adds while Solbi grabs the first things she can find out of her closet – which happen to, luckily, actually match. “But I don’t know, you kept rolling around and none of us were really invested in the action so it took a good thirty minutes.” Solbi groans again, trying to smooth out the wrinkles of her shirt before racing into the bathroom in order to brush her teeth and wash her face. As she runs into the bathroom in between the two member rooms, she idly thanks the heavens that at least she doesn’t have to wait for anyone before the dorm door opens and all hell is unleashed.

            “You’re still not ready yet?” Solbi would sigh if she didn’t have a toothbrush in and toothpaste dripping onto her chin. She rolls her eyes when Sanghee flies into the bathroom, mouth set in a thin line and eyes narrowing in disappointment. They make eye contact through the mirror and Solbi merely shrugs, to which Sanghee groans before flying off – no doubt to bother one of the other three girls. As fast as humanely possible, Solbi manages to somewhat tame her bed hair and grab the necessary things she thought she needed for the rest of the day (mainly her phone and earbuds) before being pushed out of the door along with the other girls by an impatient Sanghee.

            As everyone files into the car and Sanghee drives off, Solbi leans back into the seat and lazily watches Eunhwa make faces in the mirror at Liqin – who merely glances at their leader with an uninterested face. Solbi can hear Ina humming quietly to a song playing through her phone and the car drifts off into an easy silence. The soft sounds of the traffic outside of the car eventually lulls Solbi to sleep and she is – once again – rudely awaken by Ina poking her side. Grumbling something about never getting enough sleep, Solbi gets out of the car with a yawn and realizes with a start that they’ve arrived at the broadcasting station.

            “Holy ,” Solbi mutters to herself, causing Sanghee to elbow her sharply. “Oh right, sorry,” Solbi apologizes before they’re ushered inside the building. They are immediately whisked away into the waiting room, where a team of stylists and other staff members are waiting. Within moments Solbi finds herself seated in a chair – jacket still on – as a stylist runs her fingers through her hair. Solbi relaxes as a team of artists mold her into an idol. Someone is running product through her hair while another stylist asks her to look up in order to apply makeup. Yet another staff member is placing her clothes beside her so she can get changed later on and Solbi can faintly hear Sanghee arguing with a stylist over some kind of shoe? Solbi grimaces (in her head, the stylist would have her head if she moved her face while she was applying foundation) at the thought of having to wear high heels and she can only hope that Xiuxin managed to convince the rest of the styling team that she wouldn’t have to wear them.

            “We’re looking pretty hot,” Ina comments an hour later after Cosmos is fully “idol-fied”. Solbi nods to show her agreement and turns around to stare at her outfit. It was tight fitting – a lot better than a dress or cutesy skirt – and luckily, her heels weren’t that bad. She’d have still preferred to be wearing sneakers or something of that nature though.

            “That we are,” Eunhwa repeats, before Sanghee comes over and motions for everyone to sit down. Taking a spot next to Liqin on the couch while Eunhwa continues standing with Sanghee and Ina perches on the coach’s arm, Solbi focuses on what Sanghee was saying.

            “Alright, so you’ll be making your debut here on M Countdown, in a couple minutes they’ll start running through the different groups. We’ve managed to get you a slot for both your hype track and debut track so you’ll be going twice for rehearsals – make sure to change quickly. After rehearsals, there’ll be a bit of time before the actual live stage but please stay close by in case we need you. After the actual show, you’ll be participating in an interview about the debut stage and things like that – so be prepared. That’ll take most of the day I think. Then we’ll go back to the company and talk about your debut and review things that need to be assessed. Everyone got that?” Sanghee looks around the room and, once satisfied with the amount of nodding, leans back. “Alright, you guys have time to relax before the rehearsal. Go out and greet the staffs and other groups, just make sure to be back in time for your stage.”

            “We will,” Eunhwa replies and the four girls drift away from the couches and eventually end up just standing outside of their dressing room. “Well this is kind of awkward,” Eunhwa laughs as the group merely watches staff members come and go – occasionally bowing and greeting those that look somewhat important. “Does anyone have someone they want to go visit?” Eunhwa turns to look at her group.

            “Uhm, not really?” Ina replies.

            “I don’t really know anyone...” Liqin responds, looking down at the floor.

            “Let’s just roam around then,” Solbi decides for the group, and before anyone else can stop her, she runs off in a random direction. Sighing, Eunhwa ends up following her which leads Liqin and Ina to trail behind. Walking around with the rest of her group slightly behind her, Solbi ends up at the main stage area where the MC’s and other groups are beginning their practice runs. “Hey isn’t that Key sunbaenim from SHINee?” Solbi motions at the MC’s who were starting to go through their lines.

            “And the one next to him is Lee Jungshin sunbaenm I think?” Eunhwa peeks closer. “Wait, who are those people beside them? Guest MC’s?” Solbi jumps slightly in order to see over Eunhwa’s shoulder and tries to get a good look at the figures standing off to the side. It isn’t until they walk onto the stage when Ina gasps and Solbi recognizes them.

            “Aren’t they Jeongyeon ssi and Chaeyoung ssi from Twice?” Solbi points them out, to which Eunhwa and Liqin nod in understanding. “Didn’t know they were going to be here today, are you allowed to promote when you don’t have an album out?”

            “Of course you are what kind of question is that?” Ina snaps, glaring at the ground. Solbi raises her eyebrows at Ina’s sudden change in mood and makes eye contact with Eunhwa. The leader shrugs, turning her questioning gaze towards Liqin but is met with a blank and slightly confused stare. Deciding to let the comment go, Solbi checks her phone and starts waving at the others to head back.

            “It’s almost time for us to get ready,” Solbi slips her phone into her bag once she gets back to their practice room before heading off to the main stage. As they stand off to the side after greeting the staff members, Solbi mentally runs through the choreography in her head. She sees Eunhwa talking to Sanghee off to the side while Liqin is also dancing in spot. Ina, standing beside her, seems oddly unfocused, seemingly more concentrated on the other side of the room where the MC’s were still practicing. “Hey,” Solbi makes her way over to the Vietnamese girl, “is everything okay?”

            “Fine,” Ina narrows her eyes before looking at Solbi and shooting a small smile in her direction. “Let’s go, we’re almost up.” Nodding, Solbi waits for Ina to get up onto stage before following her. Shaking her feelings of confusion and suspicion, Solbi runs up to the rest of the group and gets into position. After rehearsing both dances twice, the group is ushered into the hallway.

            “Hey, it’s the rookies!” a voice calls, causing Solbi to turn around. The group stops and looks back to see BTOB bounding up towards them like excited puppies. Smiling awkwardly at the sudden interaction, Solbi makes note of the cameras in Ilhoon’s and Changsub’s hands as well as the staff member following them with yet another camera and puts her game face on.

            “We just watched your rehearsal,” Eunkwang explains, motioning towards the camera. “And the staff-nim gave us a mission to interview a group that caught our eye so here we are! Could you start by introducing yourselves?” Eunkwang grins at Solbi before stepping back slightly so the camera could capture them instead.

            “A-ah, of course,” Eunhwa recovers from her momentary shock before making sure the rest of them were ready. “Alright, past the stars!”

            “We are Cosmos! Annyeonghaseyo, uri Cosmos imnida!” Solbi and the others join in, smiling widely at the camera. BTOB and some of the staff members around them start clapping and Solbi ends up joining in politely.

            “How about we do individual introductions?” Hyunsik pipes up from behind Sungjae.

            “Sounds great,” Solbi sends him a thumbs up to which he returns with a funny face causing the two groups to laugh slightly. “Annyeonghaseyo, naneun Cosmos’ brightest star, Soleil imnida!” Solbi greets the camera, bouncing up energetically and making a jazz hand motion in her enthusiasm. She’s rewarded with a chuckle from behind the camera and some of the BTOB members copying her movement. She grins at the camera and winks before stepping back to let the others introduce themselves.

            “Annyeonghaseyo, naneun Cosmos’ dream girl, Liqin imnida,” Liqin says more softly. She smiles gently at the camera causing Solbi and Ina to hum an OST tune – which causes her to blush.

            “Aw, how cute,” Minhyuk coos, causing the rest of s to hoot in agreement. Flushing even more, Liqin bows to the camera before retreating behind Ina.

            “Annyeonghaseyo, naneun Cosmos’ lead vocal and troublemaker, Ina imnida,” Ina waves coolly at the camera, nodding at the imaginary viewers once before flashing a smile.

            “Ina imnida,” Minhyuk mocks jokingly, causing Ina to send him a slightly confused look. “It sounds funny,” he explains waving his hands in the air. “’Cause the pronunciation is similar.”

            “Ah,” Ina nods. “I didn’t know that.”

            “Are you a foreigner then?” Ilhoon asks, moving his camera a little higher to compensate for Ina’s height.

            “Yes, I’m from Vietnam,” Ina explains, nodding along with the rest of the BTOB members.

            “Then you should recognize the joke even better than the others right? Since they sound similar you might just walk around mixing them up,” Peniel jokes. “Can you imagine? Going up to someone and saying imnida Ina?” His joke is met with a chorus of laughter, although Ina looks a bit annoyed at the jab. Solbi leans over to throw an arm around Ina’s shoulder and subtly draws her back so Eunhwa can step forwards and introduce herself.

            “Just play along with it,” Solbi whispers into Ina’s shoulder. “Just think of it as good fun.”

            “They don’t know me,” Ina narrows her eyes as Eunhwa blows a kiss at the camera.

            “Well that doesn’t mean they can’t start getting to know you,” Solbi says, shaking Ina gently. “Just pretend it didn’t happen alright? We wouldn’t want our debut starting off with the wrong foot.” Grumbling lowly, Ina nods but looks away from the camera, staying just out of sight of its lens for the rest of the encounter.

            “Annyeonghaseyo, naneun Cosmos’ leader and rhapsodic rapper, Aspen imnida!” Eunhwa greets the camera. She blows another kiss at the lens and laughs when Eunkwang pretends to grab it and put it in his pocket.

            “Alright then, we have a question for you guys,” Minhyuk announces. “Which member of BTOB do you think is the best?” he grins, causing the rest of the group to start boasting about their talents.

            “I can break a watermelon with my forehead!” Sungjae announces proudly.

            “Wow, charming,” Solbi teases, laughing at the scandalized face Sungjae gives her. “Anyways, I think the best member of BTOB would be...” she trails off, enjoying the look of anticipation on each of their faces. Just as she was about to say her answer however, a staff member calls for BTOB to get to their practice stage. “Aw, what a shame, looks like this interview will have to be picked up later on,” Solbi smiles.

            “Fighting!” Cosmos choruses as BTOB groans at the lack of an answer. Bowing, BTOB quickly leaves the hallway in order to prepare for their rehearsal while Solbi and the rest of the girls walk back to their dressing room.

            “Where were you guys?” Sanghee looks up at the four girls the minute the walk through the door, foot tapping on the ground impatiently. “There are only a few more practice runs to go through before the real show starts and you guys still need some last minute touch ups.”

            “We ran into BTOB sunbaenims in the hallway,” Eunhwa explains as Solbi drops down into a chair and lets her styling team mold her back into idol condition. “They had a mission or something to interview a new group that caught their interest and so they decided to go with us.”

            “It was kind of awkward and very surprising,” Liqin adds on as a stylist rakes a comb through her hair. “I hope we presented ourselves well.”

            “I’m sure it went fine,” Ina rolls her eyes. “The public will love it, even if it’s fake as .”

            “Ina,” Sanghee chides, tapping the Vietnamese girl on her knee. “We talked about this. Don’t let that bother you, come on! You’re making your debut in less than thirty minutes you should be happy, excited even!”

            “She’s right, it’s almost time to shine,” Eunhwa nods, clasping Ina’s shoulder in a somewhat comforting manner.

            “Like me,” Solbi grins, flashing a bright smile. She receives a round of groans and an eye roll from Eunhwa but Ina seems to smile a little more authentically so Solbi counts it as a win. The girls drift off into a silence as staff members buzz around them, fixing hair here, applying a little more eyeliner there, soon enough, another staff member enters the room to tell them that they were up soon.

            “Come on kids, let’s go,” Eunhwa announces, rubbing her hands nervously. The others nod, shout a ‘fighting!’ at Sanghee, and follow their leader as the oldest girl walks towards the stage. As they wait backstage, there is some last minute fixing of microphones before Eunhwa turns to look at them and they form a circle with their hands touching in the middle. “Okay guys, this is the moment we’ve been waiting for. I don’t want to make things cheesy but pretty much anything I say right now will come off really lame,” Eunhwa smiles at that, “but really, we’ve trained and dreamed our whole lives for this moment so if you even dare walk off this stage with a single regret, you’ll be kicked out of the dorm. Got it?” Solbi laughs at Eunhwa’s threat while the others nod. “Alright, let’s make this stage one without regrets! Cosmos!”

            “Time to shine!” Solbi and the others cheer, raising their joined hands upwards before they’re ushered onto stage. Blinking, Solbi barely registers the unknown faces looking up at them. All she can hear is the thundering beat of her heart and the excitement buzzing through her. Peeking a glance at the others, she sees the same, dreamy look in their eyes, and knows that everything will be alright. As the last of the backup dancers make their way to their spots, the music starts and Solbi loses her mind as she goes through the choreography and song that she’s spent weeks training and slaving over.

            Within moments, both Diamond and 4 Walls are finished and Solbi holds the last pose. Panting softly, she grins as she hears some of the audience clap for them. When the camera director signals that they’re finished, Solbi and the others happily leave the stage – still buzzing from excitement. Everyone is smiles and giggles as they make their way back to their waiting room. As Liqin opens the door, Sanghee stands up immediately and throws her arms around Ina and Solbi. Laughing, the girls hold hands and spin around – forgetting about everything other than the fact that they had really done it. Debuted, performed, and finally started their path as an idol. Things wouldn’t be perfect, and they certainly wouldn’t be easy, but at that moment, Solbi couldn’t bring herself to care.

I’m sorry for not updating... My trip to NYC happened and then I had to catch up on a bunch of assignments and I was sick. And I’m so dead right now because I just came back from a science competition but I felt the need to give you guys a chapter aha. COSMOS HAS DEBUTED FRIENDS. WAHHH. I wonder what’ll happen next~

I also added/edited some of the sub-unit stuff so you should... check that out if you want lol.

Literally I was supposed to do this last chapter but I forgot whoops. Parts are as follows:

Aspen - Amber
Ina - Krystal
Liqin - Luna
Soleil - Victoria

Hope you're smiling!

~ Yun