INTRO: JOURNEY

Ch 1; A Scam?

"Or maybe take me on a date?" a soft voice mumbles. The speaker stares into her laptop with full attention. Her darkish brown orbs are fixated on the screen as her lips curls into a smile.

"Sure, buy you're paying." A shoulder-length-haired girl mocks. She eyes the older girl with a playful stare. And with that one single comment, Larissa's face falters as her lips form a frown in a second. The girl throws a pillow at another presence in the room whom made fun of her lyric.

The culprit glares at the younger girl as her fingers stop typing on the keyboard. "I am not asking you out on a date, moron. I'm working on new lyrics right now." She shoots back as her orbs are now glues back on the screen in front of her. Her junior simply laughs at her outcome as she starts focusing on hers as well.

In the medium-sized bedroom, two girls are both busy with their own worlds. The air con's temperature is set to 18 degrees which made the older shivers slightly. Said girl is sitting on the bed as she surrounds herself with dozens of pillows and dolls for warmth. Stacks of papers filled with her handwriting are scattered around messily as she often takes note of whatever crosses her mind at the time.

The other girl, as in the younger presence in the room, sit on the cream-coloured carpet right beside the tiny bookshelf. She immediately went to the elder's house since early in the morning. A midnight green headphone is attached on her neck. Both are busy with each other's business, but having a companion sounds better than having no one to discuss with.

Both girls shares the same hobby, as in song-writing. The duo enjoys writing poetic sentences and create a song of their own. At first, they were doing it for fun, but now song-writing is something they're addicted with. They found it fascinating.

The younger girl, Avalon, is currently scrolling through their very own special e-mail address as she eyes the inbox. Three new mails received, and they always bring good news. Two of them are sent by the same person, which includes some pictures attached. Proof of payment.

Avalon's face beams in excitement. "Lia, the user who bought As If and Highlighter had sent the payment an hour ago." She utters.

Song-writing had become some kind of hobby for them, and also a job. It's enthralling, especially when you're paid for it.

Larissa scoots over to the younger, trying to peek at the screen. "What's the other one?" she asks. The lass stares at the oldest mail between the three. For some reason, the sender's email address catches her attention.

Avalon simply shrugs on her seat. The sender's email address is still suspicious – too good to be true, must be a scam. "A spam. As if an agency in Korea would contact us, two newbie songwriters from Indonesia." She shoots with a mocking tone.

***

Around eight in the evening, both girls are back to each other's respective houses. Larissa is laying on her bed, phone on hand. The girl, for the sixth time, uploads a new lyric on her and Avalon's Songbay account – their source of income.

While scrolling through her files, the girl stops midway when she sees a familiar document. Devils' Lane, a song they uploaded for a competition three months ago.

Shit!

Larissa immediately checks her contact list and calls her partner. Her slender fingers are trembling when she put her yellow-cased phone near her right ear. Within a few seconds, Avalon picks up the call with an annoyed groan. "What the actual fuck, Lia?! You almost got me K.O., now shoot, or else I'm gon' straight to your house, right now, right at this time, and I am so gonna torture you then choke you to death and let you die alone – I'm pretty sure you're not gonna die with a lover by your side anyway, you know what I mean – so this better be important, talk!"

"..."

"..."

"Are you deaf? Fuck it, I'm ending this call. Shit! Fuck you, arsehole! Why are you even in my guild?!" Avalon curses, seems like the girl is back in her own world.

Larissa lets out a scoff, "Come. Here. Right. Now. I'll buy you pizza tomorrow, promise." She hangs up afterwards.

***

The sound of the doorbell's heard through Larissa's ears. She immediately throws herself out of the bed and quickly run downstairs to the front door.

"Larissa, dear, no running!" a middle-aged woman shouts from the kitchen.

"Sorry, mom!" she says while keep running to the door. The girl opens the wooden door and instantly drags Avalon by her right hand, after closing the door shut with a loud thud, causing her mother to scolds her once more.

"Hi again, Mrs. Chandra! Seems like I'm staying overnight coz your daughter here misses me like crazy!"

"Hello again too, Avalon. Just make sure she doesn't do anything weird!"

Larissa growls in return, "SHE will be the one who'll do weird things, mom!"

"Oh shut up, you just doesn't wanna admit it. I'll take care of her, madam, promise!" Avalon teases. Larissa's mother laughs. It has been a habit for Avalon to come and stay overnight at their house every now and then afterall.

Larissa rolls her eyes while pulling her partner upstairs to her room.

As both set foot on the elder's room, Avalon sits comfily on the cream-coloured bed with drawings of oranges on the bedsheet. "So what is this all about, Lia? Please don't tell me it is actually about you simply missing me. Cuddles cost 200.000 rupiah by the way."

"Ew, no." the latter scoffs.

While sitting beside the younger, Larissa turns on her laptop and hurriedly types on the search engine. She opens tab to tab within a few seconds as Avalon's eyes locked onto the screen. After opening around 3 tabs, she places her laptop on the younger's lap and clutches tightly to a nearby koala plushie.

"Check those out." She murmurs.

Avalon raises an eyebrow as she eyes her partner confusedly.

To :

Subject : Song-writing Competition Announcement

CC : -

Dear hansgreta,

Thank you for your participation on the song-writing competition that was held three months ago. We are excited to announce that you had been chosen as the winner of the competition. We give you our sincere congratulations. To confirm your identity, please fill in the form below and send it to the e-mail attached. We will be waiting for your reply. The rest of the information will be delivered along with the confirmation mail.

Sincerely,

Big Hit Entertainment

"Holy shit."